I have started to read some books near the end of my tour. I was sent The Associate by John Grisham and that has started a run of John Grisham books. I am on my fifth one. They are easy and quick to read and serve as a nice way to wind down at night because they don't require alot of thought. Where did I get the books? - you might ask. The number of books here is incredible. Most people bring books and then leave them here. Every compound has their own library and there is an MWR (acronym for morale, welfare and recreation) with hundreds of books. If you are a reader, you certainly have your pick.
As part of the good-bye tour, I wanted to recognize two more people. Just like the previous engineers at COMKAF, I was fortunate to work closely with two very fine British officers in the CJ4 office. Andy Gow is the current real estate officer and has the very challenging job of not only balancing the land allocation for my (the US) requirements, but all the NATO requirements as well throughout the upcoming surge. He is a superb officer, but what makes him a star is his personality. He is always available to me and customers and is able to handle the stress with a sense of humor...that makes him fun to be around. Andy spent some time in the US on a previous assignment and says he wouldn't mind returning. It was a pleasure to meet and work with him. LtCol Phil Crick is the current base engineer. He is a very good facilitator. He is able to command a large room, clarify topics, assign tasks and do so in a non-condescending way and with a sense of humor. Like his predecessor, LtCol Green, he is a professional and exactly what this base needs during the next surge. I appreciate his sense of humor and his endless ribbing - I rarely leave a meeting with him without at least one good laugh. Both of these men have been a great support to me during my time here and I will miss working with them. Below is a picture of Andy Gow (Standing), LtCol Phil Crick (seated) and me in Andy's office.
We also moved locations this week. We moved from the "cans", where I sat for 5 and three quarters months, to the Prime Beef Compound. We moved into tents called Alaskan Shelters. They are actually pretty nice for tents. They have a concrete floor and offer a nice space. They have an ECU (acronym for environmental control unit) that effectively heats and cools the tent through a plenum that runs through the tent. The plenum has velcro flaps that you can open and close in each area so that there is a little bit of individual temperature control. The good thing is that the entire squadron is together and the space is free of the offgassing and poor air that we endured during the hot months here - it made me physically ill. The down side is that it is further from where I live and just outside of walking distance - you can do it, but it is a hike. This will limit some flexibility. My current walk to and from work goes through the boardwalk which was a nice walk, and this one will not. Lt Germany will miss the view - we were the only second floor around and our view was down a main thoroughfare. We will also be tougher to find by our customers. Due to the poor air, we would prop the door open when we were in there - it was kind of an "open for business" sign. All in all not a bad thing - it did allow me to clean up and organize my stuff as part of the move. Below are some pictures of my space - I will probably leave it bare for the few days I am in it..
Our last picture at the can:
Outside the new tent:
Inside the new tent:
My new desk:
Due to the fact that our office is now further from things, our squadron has ordered some Rhino's. They are similar to Gators but smaller. I had some issues getting my computer to work, so I asked one of our Sgt's to train me on the Rhino so I could drive it to do some errands. It puts a twist on getting around. Here is my attempt as a tough looking face, comes across a little goofy again, but I thought I would share.
As always, thanks for following along. A few more things to do and tickets to punch to get home...but it will be up to the military air system soon..pray for good luck. I will still be using my us.army.mil account for e-mail through my travels and then at home. I will not be on my afghan.swa.army.mil...obviously. So, keep in touch...
Until next time....
