In our jobs we interact with many contractors. Some are US citizen's but many are from other countries. We have many contractors from Turkey. I interact with Turkish contractors twice week discussing road in utilities construction in a part of the base called South Park. Another Turkish contractor put in the gate shown in the previous post. His name is Ali. He is very nice and has been inviting me to his compound for a bbq he has on Saturday nights. Most of the time I have meeting that goes pretty long on Saturdays. Last weekend, the meeting ended fairly early and Ali had finished the gate a few days before and said "Sir, you must come to the bbq". I convinced Lt Germany - my new office mate and team member if he would go and we decided to try it. When we showed up, the fire was going and Ali told us that the food would be ready in 40 minutes - we were a little reluctant to stay, but did. We asked him how many people come and he said 20-25, we said "really". Soon after his wife, both very hospitable, started bringing out food. There was humus, onion salad, a vegetable salad, a cucumber dish and flat bread. They cooked marinaded steaks on the fire that were soon ready. If turned out to be very good and sure enough the people started rolling in - US service members, other contractors, other NATO military members. He was proud to say after he got off his cell phone that the special forces guys got called out on a mission and wouldn't be there tonight - he said that he would have a special bbq for them in the middle of the week. It turned out to be a pretty good time with some very good food and we were glad we went. Below is a picture of Ali and his wife and some of the folks who showed up to eat. 1Lt Rob Germany is the man on the far right.
1Lt Rob Germany is an active duty Air Force Officer originally from Atlanta, GA and now stationed in California. Rob is now my only team member after Sr Chief Shea and the rest of the Navy members have moved on. He has a great personality and sense of humor that is not only a huge advantage for the job we do - primarily interacting with people - but is great to have in the office. He is able to make me laugh and have been a pretty good team of 2 so far. I reserve the right to bring him back in later posts as well...
Recently, I received notes from my daughter's 5th grade class ( Mrs Kluck ) at Lincoln Elementary school. The notes took almost a month to get here - incidentally, I found out that letters and envelopes can take up to a month, but boxes arrive in 1-2 weeks. Every student wrote me a note. I read them all. Most had an attempt to draw a picture of my daughter. It was a very nice gesture and I appreciate them taking time to write. Below is a picture of me in my office holding the letter from my daughter.
In another package that arrived much quicker, my daughter's class wrote me poems about fall. Fall is my favorite season, so the teacher wrote that since I was not there for fall, they would bring fall to me. The poems were great and they add to the decor of my office. Here is a pic of me with the poems.
If you are wondering about my attire...on Sundays, if we do not have meetings - which isn't very often, we try to dress down and wear our PT's ( that is short for Physical Training Clothes). The Air Force clothes aren't the most comfortable, but they are more comfortable than the uniform and boots. If you notice, I chose to wear long sleeves because the weather is cool enough to....good for me.
I did receive a nice care package from the nice people at UTZ in Hanover, PA thanks to Joni in the administrative office at my school. UTZ is a big snack manufacturer near where I live. They sent two huge boxes of snacks. They were a big hit. Some of the folks here had never had them. It was also a nice talking point about home. Here is some of the crew digging in...
Time continues to move along. With the addition of more folks in the Garrison Command office and our efforts to define our mission, the pace of work was less hectic this week. Hopefully, we can continue to work more efficiently and effectively which will make life better for all of us...and team 4.
Hope this e-mail finds you well. Thanks for following along and for the e-mails - I am never too busy for them...Until next time....v
