Not a lot to talk about our missions except they moved my flights to the right. Now we usually take off after dark and we have landed as late at 4AM. I prefer to stay on the day cycle and my body is fighting making the shift to later. The problem is we don’t know when things might shift back. It’s a constant flux as the guys in the command post work to match the assets in theater with the requests. We have been told more than once how surprised and appreciative the schedulers are with our willingness to flex. The other fixed wing guys demand much more rigid schedules that may or may not line up with the support requests. We just have to watch and make sure we don’t get jerked around too much but so far we have a good working relationship with our schedulers. The only other excitement we have had is a dustup over our replacements. One of the new guys isn’t going to be able to get here until mid-September. The staff back at OSAA came up with a plan to send someone over for 45 days as a bridge. We told them that didn’t make any sense because it was already arranged that one of the guys here is going to extend to cover the time. As compared to someone who already knew the mission sending a new guy that would be all trained up a few weeks before he was set to leave was a waste of time. We thought that was the end of it until a meeting two weeks later and the staff guy’s name was back on the list. We were told it was none of our business and it was too late to change anything. That didn’t go over too well and emails were exchanged. Long story short the staff guy is not coming and some people are not happy. To outsiders it may seem silly but people get very sensitive about this kind of stuff. Anyway, we think everything is settled now and it is just a matter of them showing up.
On a whole different subject I spent a few hours down at the boardwalk a couple of days ago. The boardwalk is like the mall of the base. It is just what you would think a big covered wooden walkway lined with shops. It surrounds a central open area that includes a running track, small soccer field and hockey rink built by the Canadians before they left. There is no ice of course but they have all the gear and they chase the ball (like field hockey) around the court. It looks way too hot to me, even at night. I went down there to celebrate July by getting a pizza at one of the stands. I ended up waiting an hour for that pizza so I had a chance to check things out. It was just like being at a mall in the states. All the young people go there to see and be seen and as the male to female ratio here is about 8 to 1 you can imagine the main attraction. There were MPs wandering around to make sure all the military were in proper uniform but about half of the people there were civilians (not just US but from countries all over the world). It was interesting and the pizza was pretty good.
Clear H 108 L 82
Glad you had a celebration in July. A celebration is a celebration no matter how small. (: The parade here for the 4th was as expected...horses (a few) kids (assorted in Spiderman suits as their response to "Who is your hero?" ...an adult category that meant ??! to kids (: Cars...old and loved, AND, bringing a tear to every eye, floats with soldier stuff...alive or not, this war or another. YOU, in the aggregate, are definitely heroes. (: We were right in there....proud and sniffy. (: Glad the pizza was good and what could you buy in the stores? Local stuff or stuff like toothpaste?
ReplyDeleteAbout half are food shops (not local but about everything else) and the rest are rug, clothing, jewelry, and electronic stores. I understand you can get some good deals on gems and rugs if you know what you are looking for. I have looked at some of the rugs and they are beautiful but you are still talking over $1000 for one. Much cheaper than in the states but still a lot for me.
DeleteEnjoyed your story (subdued, I'm sure) of conflict of wills of people on the ground vs. headquarters types. I'm reading abt. the Boer war of 1899 when Britain decided to annex the Transvall of the Afrikaans (the original Dutch settlers of S. Africa. The overall incompetence of the British leadership (esp. the civil politicians) was rather staggering. Just watched "A bridge too far" and was left with the same feeling. Sounds like things haven't changed that much yet. (~:}
ReplyDeleteI'm still processing "your" war. Sounds so much different from my reading of Iwo Jima, Okinawa & Korea. The best thing that ever happened to Forest Service fire fighting was when they contracted out the camps (~:} Just read an article in a science mag. that the science of robotics is developing so fast that a war using robots is becoming increasing possible!!
8-1 ratio - much better than forestry school in the 50's & 60's. Cheers!! ART
I remember thinking the same thing when I was reading that wonderful Scramble for Africa book. I am very happy to announce that I have never experienced anything remotely that bad in our military :). It's amazing most of their officers weren't shot just for shear incompetence. Thank goodness we got away from promoting people based on their families.
DeleteWe do have a much different war and contractors have made life a lot easier but unlike fire camp I'm not so sure war should be comfortable :). People might get too attached to it and if there is enough money involved you end up the same as fires - people start them to keep the money flowing.
It is amazing what they are doing with robots and I just read an article today about the push to loosen restrictions on exporting UAV technology and the concerns people have about the ease with which they can be used.
Liked "chow", "ciao" arrangement.....very sensible. Correct spelling is not the goal, understanding is. I tried to convince teachers of that reality but with little success. (:
ReplyDelete