And Stupidity Can Burn Down Houses

This week has been an interesting one.  We took our first real contact here, nothing to get really excited about I really had expected it sooner.  We have had some interesting lessons about the bureaucracy of the Army.  Not everyone in the Army is the same.  Some treat it like just a job, some like a calling, others treat it like professionals should.  The Army has many moving pieces and without direction they tend to stray a little bit...or a lot.  So when complicated tasks require multiple moving pieces to accomplish, it takes a tenacious soul to keep after the bureaucracy to produce results.  Some of my counterparts are more than willing to push information, provide me with resources and assets to help me or at least talk to someone who can help me.  The others believe there is no problem that cannot wait until tomorrow.  I find it difficult to work with people like that.  This is a combat zone, there are dangerous people here trying to kill US soldiers.  I can kill them first with the right information, but I need to get all my systems 100%.  I think the people back home deserve better than "It can wait until tomorrow".  If I knew, as a civilian, how much laziness existed amongst our armed forces (especially among deployed soldiers) I would be a little pissed off.  I am constantly pushing my soldiers to improve their work, improve other peoples work, branch out and see what other resources we can access.  It is my goal to provide as much information and as many resources to my commander as possible.  If there are air assets, I want them.  Information packets, I can get it.  I want to get every piece of help I can get.  Anyone who tells you they can do it all themselves is wrong.  Their stupidity can literally burn down their own house.  And I only say that because I saw it happen.  I don't need the credit, if we can make it back home with everyone we left with, that is all the recognition I want.

Get to the Top, Take a Knee and Drink Some Water

The feeling you get when you climb up the mountain, and are left there standing alone at the top, is the greatest feeling ever.  You can hardly breathe, hardly stand, and hardly keep from shouting at the top of your lungs.  You know that any direction you go it is all downhill.  You can finally enjoy the view.  On the way to the top you are looking at your feet, trying to get the best footing and the most leverage to muscle your way up.  You are too focused on your breathing and keeping yourself from passing out to actually enjoy the view.  This is how I have felt the last 3 weeks.  Moving steadily up the mountain, getting closer and closer to the top.  As I have near this point the last leg was difficult and obstacles were everywhere.  But it didn't matter really, because nothing could keep me from getting to the top.  We have come to a point in our operations where my team and I are settled and ready to advance forward.  Instead of analyzing the past we are set to move forward and address the future.  I can actually organize and task projects instead of the mass effort to get anything and everything done.  I know there will be other mountains to climb, and this year will pose some of the most difficult climbing challenges I have encountered.  But I didn't come to this party ill-equipped.  We have the tools to address each obstacle and the will to overcome any challenge.  Those who turned around, gave up, or said it was too difficult have no place here.  Here is where we have come to work, and its where we can most effectively get our job done.

Climb That Hill and Have a Look

Much has happened in the past week that I cannot discuss.  I am as busy as I have ever been.  I remember how before I left everyone claimed a year on deployment would be filled with boredom.  I expect it must come much later in deployment.  I have so many projects happening, and so much still to do before I feel established here.  I think as soon as I finally get settled and set to start working on autopilot I will either be home for leave or everything will change again and we will be hectic once more.  I love to work, I have always felt better about everything when I had something to accomplish.  I think this drive came from my competitive streak, that if I wasn't working then someone, somewhere was and they were getting better at my job than me.  I can tell I am becoming short with people though.  I am not trying to burn out, but I am constantly frustrated with the lack of common sense inherent to bureaucracy.  And what is the military with its share of bureaucracy?  There are far too many members of our armed forces for us to not have one.  But the standards don't always make the most sense for those on the ground.  I do miss my family and friends.  Partly because I no longer get to see them at will, partly because I wish they could share this adventure with me, and partly because I feel their lives are continuing forward while mine stays the same.  Not a logical sequence of thought processes, I know.  Not yet a month since we have left and only 4 posts.  I am not sure if it is too many or not enough.  I can never tell what is appropriate online, Tosh.0 has taught me that pretty much anything online can be appropriate.  Even videoblogs dedicated to hate.  For now I keep moving forward.  For us here on the ground, that is all we can do.  Its like climbing up a rock face, you could go all the way down to the bottom but would you really want to?  I am busy enough that the number of my posts will be determined by my workload, not by what is deemed appropriate by society.  There are a lot of personalities here, and they are bound to clash.  It is my hope that not much comes of it.

The First Snowfall

Everyone remembers the first snowfall when they were a kid.  Waking up, looking out the window and seeing all that white.  Then thinking desperately how great it would be if school was canceled.  The snow here is not at all like that.  The first snowfall means a number of things tactically but mainly it means winter has finally come upon us.  The ground is a muddy frozen track of gloom and your breath freezes on your face.  But I look out to the snow covered mountains thinking 1. How great it would be if school were canceled and I got some hot cocoa, 2.  How great it would be to snowboard down those mountains, and 3.  How much I can't wait for there to be enough snow here for a snowball fight.

I know this isn't the lengthiest of posts, but it says all I need it to say.  Snow can bring joy even in the muddiest, gloomiest tracks of life.

Stand Around the Campfire and Listen

I have been neglecting this blog.  Although in my defense I haven't done much in the way of work since my last post.  I went through the long and arduous process of being cleared for deployment and then eventually getting on a plane to come here.  Now that I am here in Afghanistan, it seemed like entirely too much process for such a simple thing.  I packed my bags, brought them to the airport, got on a plane, and arrived in a foreign country.  Not unlike any other time I have traveled abroad.  For many soldiers this was their first time out of the United States or North America.  Germany was an experience for everyone.  The airport in Leipzig had a small shop filled with steins and other classic German trinkets.  It made me smile thinking of my time spent in Bavaria after I graduated high school.  It was another life it seems, but all the memories of that experience are right here, rushing back to me.

Our first task as we get here is a briefing on the history of our operations here and the local customs and culture.  After we familiarize ourselves with the tactical environment we are immediately thrust into battle drills for various hazards we might encounter during our deployment.  We have practiced these drills countless times in the US but these are refreshers to make sure we are all still sharp.  Finally we are sent to a small range to verify we can all shoot a rifle or pistol and that our optics are accurate.  I was surprised to learn my optics needed no adjusting although I had never used this rifle before, all of my 9 rounds landing in a space the size of a quarter.  The constant preparation is like a weight now, to always be ready for anything at any time.  Rockets flew into Bagram while we were there.  It is such a constant occurrence, those who have spent much time here just ignore the sirens and go about their business.  Of course, we new guys are crouched in a bunker wearing all of our gear looking silly.

Back home, everyone has been impressively active in sending emails and promises of care packages.  I find comfort in their worry, it is good to feel cared for.  Every civilian operating with us never fails to thank us for our service and wish us a safe deployment.  The women tell us they "love each and every one of us".  Its almost as if everyone's mother is already here trying to give us hugs every time we turn around.