On My Way

Left Speicher early this morning. Currently stopped at Al Asad. Everything is going well, just slow travel as usual. Hope to be home by the end of the week.

Getting Closer

Things continue to progress and I will be wrapping up this deployment by the end of the month. Today I have an appointment to ship my footlockers via DHL back to Fort Riley. Since I have a compressed time line to get out of Riley I can not wait on them to get back in a shipping container that the unit will send back. It is shaping up to be a busy week. I am sitting on another separation board tomorrow and there is a range this week. We have made plans to visit DC on the July 4th weekend. That should give us a good idea of what area we want to live. Based on looking at the map we are leaning toward Burke, VA. It looks like a nice area that is equidistant between Mclean and Belvoir. There should also be a good fireworks show and concerts on the mall on the 4th. Looking forward to getting home.

PCS Progress

Received my request for orders this week. It confirmed an August 25 report date. That will be a quick turn around and I need to be getting out of here soon. Attended my redeployment brief yesterday, so things have started to progress. I should be home by July 4th. The RFO revealed that I will actually be assigned to Fort Jackson with duty in the Washington DC area. RFO states that I need to call Fort Jackson to sign in., but do not have to be physically present there. So that raises the question... Where will we be on the 25th? I assume that is the day that I will check in at the NCTC, but it could be the day that I sign in and start my 10 days of permissive TDY to look for housing. The orders should clarify. There are several points of contact on the RFO that I will contact this week for additional information. I also expect a welcome packet to be mailed to the house at some point. RFO confirms duty at NCTC for 9-12 months with a follow on at Fort Belvoir for common core ILE. The NCTC duty will be very close to 12 months. I looked at the Belvoir ILE schedule and there is a class that starts in August of 2011. That class end just prior to the Holidays. Yes that raised another question... Will we PCS at that point or start another assignment in the DC area? I will start working the follow on assignment in early 2011, so I can have something lined up. That is assuming we do not hate the DC area and want to leave after ILE. With uncertainty comes flexibility.

Assignment News

Shortly after returning to Speicher, which is much warmer now by the way, I got news from branch about the assignment. I will be working at the National Counterterrorism Center in Mclean, Virgina. Hopefully I can learn alot and contribute to their mission of protecting Americans at home and overseas from terrorist activity. Lots of pressure there not to miss the slightest clue that can be pieced together with others to prevent attacks. The president is looking to fill the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) job. The new director will be the fourth since 2005. Hard for them to stay on for too long when they ultimately take the blame for security incidents like the underwear bomber on Christmas day. The DNI serves as the head of the seventeen-member intelligence Community, but has no authority to direct them. Some, along with me, would argue that sometimes it is impossible to connect the dots prior to an incident, but when you look back at what was available it is all laid out nice and easy. Looking forward to the move and getting settled.

R&R

I finally got out of JBB and had a very short stay in Kuwait before making it home on Friday 7 May. After a couple days of relaxing around the house the weather was nasty so we booked a trip to Mexico and had a very nice visit down there. Had a nice visit in STL on the way out and back. Returned for a week of relaxing, and was able to stain the back door and do a few other things around the house. Spent two nights playing with my new telescope. Not much luck the first night, but after learning some lessons and doing a little more reading of the instructions, we had more success the second night (after waiting out a few cloudy and rainy nights). Once it is calibrated and knows it's location, navigation to other items is as easy as touching a few buttons. Focusing can be a bit tedious at times, but Saturn was definitely the highlight of the evening. Yes... we could see the rings! Also took a motorcycle ride a couple days before leaving and before the Kansas wind tried to blow us away. As usual I had a great time. By the way Teddy is a very talented frisbee dog. Wish I could have stayed home an additional day for every time I tossed it for him!

Delays followed by Delays

I am stuck at Joint Base Ballad. Delays yesterday have pushed everyone to the right. When that happened on my Arizona trip I simply rented a vehicle and drove. I do not have that option here, so I will just hang out. So I am off to keep myself occupied.

Branch AWOL

Still no additional information/confirmation on the assignment. Maybe I will have better luck getting in touch with them when I get to the states. Still set to leave here sometime on the 4th. Should be home around the 6th or 7th. Things are going well here. I took a PT test yesterday, because everyone is taking record in May. I will be gone for the scheduled date, so I took it early. It went well. I maxed all of my events. 82 Push ups/89 Sit ups/2 Miles in 12:55. Also did height and weight. I must have shrunk and inch because I am usually 70 inches, but they said I was 69. Must have not been standing up as straight as usual. I weigh 173 pounds, lightest I have been in a long time. I feel good though, so I think it is a good weight for me. Can't wait to get home.

No Additional Information

I waited until Thursday morning and did not get any additional information or confirmation about the PCS. I sent an e-mail on Thursday asking if they had any additional information, but did not get anything back. If I do not hear anything by Tuesday I will call. Never understood why people who say they are going to get back with you, do not send some sort of information or even a simple e-mail saying that they are still waiting to get it from someone else. I found out yesterday that I will start movement for R&R on the 4th. It will take about 3 days to get back to the states depending on flight schedules. Everything else is going well.

Assignment News

Since I was supposed to find out on Friday where we would be moving to I was excited to see an e-mail from MI Branch when I got to work on Friday. However, it was not an email giving assignment information... He wanted me to give him a call to discuss something. He said it was not a bad thing, but did not elaborate on what it could be about. I waited until it was a decent hour on the east coast and gave him a call. Turns out they had a fellowship available at Fort Belvoir, VA and had sent some files forward for selection to fill the slot. My file was selected and he wanted to know if I was interested in the opportunity. I told him I was, but needed to discuss it with Sabrina. I asked him about Gordon and Buckley. He said Gordon was off the table because of timing. Buckley was still open, but the unit was reviewing (Officer Record Brief) ORBs (mine was one of them) and were going to select who they want. I had bumped the DC area up to number 3 and 4 for the chance of possibly getting selected for a fellowship down the road in another year or so. The chance to slide into one right now is a great opportunity. Not too many officers get the chance, because it is a selection process and timing does not always work out. I called him back and told him I wanted to take the slot. He is supposed to send me more information early next week. It is either a counterterrorism or an inter agency (DIA, CIA, FBI, NGIC) fellowship that will most likely result in a masters degree in strategic intelligence and it will satisfy my ILE requirement and prevent us from having to PCS back to Fort Leavenworth, KS to attend the normal class there. Hope that is not too confusing. Cost of living in that area is crazy and we will not be buying a house there. There are some good rental places and our housing allowance there is $2,700, so we should be able to find a nice place with at least a little yard for the dogs. Another good thing is that it will be at least 2 maybe 3 years where I will not deploy! My report date will be in AUG/SEP so it will be a quick turn around to get out of Riley and report there upon my return.

No News

No word this week about the PCS destination or the promotion time line. I am hoping what happened with the Captain's list last week happens with the Major's list. The CPT list came out on 6 April. A few days later a message came out that promoted just over 1800 Lieutenants to Captain backdated to 22,23 March and 1 April. That happens quite a bit when the lists are slow to come out and some on the list have passed their projected promotion timeline. Anyway... still no word for the Majors, so really no change, just still waiting. PCS destination is supposed to be out by 16 April. No word either way about that, so I assume we will know at the end of the week. Everything else is going well. Can't believe we are 1/3 of the way through April already. Still set for R&R at the beginning of May.

A Few Changes

The rest of the list of available jobs came out early in the week. I was not interested in most of them since they are positions in IRAQ!! There are two slots available to Headquarters INSCOM (Intelligence and Security Command) at Fort Belvoir, VA (Alexandria). A couple days later that got split into two different location in the DC area. One of them is at Belvoir the other is at the Washington Navy Yard. The preference order changed slightly from the last post. Fort Gordon is still number 1. Buckley Air force Base moved to number 2. Fort Belvoir moved to number 3. Fort Huachuca moved down the list. Still set to find out where we will be headed on the 16th of April. Things are going well here. The S2 is getting ready to go on R&R next week, so I will fill in for him while he is gone. He should be back right at the end of the month, so I can head out on R&R the first week of May.

News Filled Week

Early in the week we got the list of available jobs/locations to PCS to. At first site I was not to happy with it, but after a little examination it is not too bad. I am still waiting on another listing that was supposed to be sent on the 26th. The directions from branch specifically said not to send in the preference sheet until the additional list was sent out. The additional list will have some O1A jobs on it. Those would mostly be non-branch specific. For example there might be some ROTC or other slots that MI branch has been tasked to fill. Human Resource Command (HRC) gets a big list of jobs that need to be filled. All of the MI jobs go to MI Branch to fill, but they also have to take their share of the non-branch specific jobs. Our top three on the list is Fort Gordon in Augusta, Georgia; Fort Huachuca in Sierra Vista, AZ; and Buckley Air Force Base in Denver, CO. I have several factors helping me out and making it look like I will get one of the top 3. My total time deployed, my job diversity (or lack there of) of assignments, and with this deployment my dwell time (time that I have been back from deployment) will be very low. All of those items should result in good outcome. Preference sheets have to be turned in by April 2nd and we should know on 16 April where we are going. Another big piece of news this week was the confirmation that I am on the promotion list to Major. My sequence number is 150. I will be able to predict about when I am going to be promoted after I find out how many are being promoted in May. I suspect it will be July or August before they get down to 150.

Iron Dragon

Well the event went well yesterday. It was kind of chilly to start (46), and we had a pretty good breeze that was blowing straight down the road that the run course was on. The wind was to our backs to start, which can hardly ever be felt. It was a head wind coming back and definitely slowed the run time down a bit. I did 83 push ups, 90 sit ups, 10 pull ups, 25 dips, and ran three miles in 19:34. Got a Certificate of Achievement and a Brigade coin. I did not get my coveted Iron Dragon Trophy, but I will get it when they arrive in the mail. Most importantly I do not have to participate in the mandatory staff PT twice a week and I am back to PT on my own. I am starting a new program on Monday and will also take a record regular APFT (Army Physical Fitness Test) before i go on leave. That will be good for six months, so should not have to take another one until I am settled at the new unit. Regulations prevent a record APFT within the first 90 days of return from a deployment.

PCS on the Horizon

I got an e-mail from MI branch early this week that stated I was being slated to PCS (permanent change of station) in the July-December time frame. They wanted an e-mail back by the 14th with justification to stay with my current unit. I wrote them back and told them my preference was to stay at Fort Riley and move up to the division staff for a year or so before I go to ILE (Intermediate Level Education). My second choice was to remain in 4th BDE and attend ILE at Fort Leavenworth, KS in FEB 11. My third choice was to PCS to either Fort Gordon, GA or Joint Base San Antonio, TX. They sent an e-mail back, 30 minutes later (that has to be some sort of record), that stated they can not send me to ILE in FEB because MI had half of the 18-20 seats that they usually get per class cut for the class that starts in August 10. So that means they are back logged and I am a low priority to go to class. They said to plan on a PCS in October. So the slate of jobs available is supposed to be out at the end of the month. We will pick our top five choices and should know by the end of April where we will be moving to. We are anxious to see the slate of jobs available. No guarantees that Gordon or San Antonio will even be available.

Moving Along

I have settled into the new routine and things are going well. Time is going by fast and this deployment continues to progress. Not much else going on. Still training for the Iron Dragon. It is going well. Trying not to over train. My right shoulder still gives me problems sometimes and can only take a limited amount of dips. The push-up motion has never bothered it, but can't say the same for dips or sleeping on it funny. The march event is scheduled for the 20th. So I have about a month left to get ready. Once I complete that, I will not be required to attend staff PT on Tuesday and Friday morning.

Looking to the Future

Deployments have a way of making me look toward the future. Planning events in advance and having things to look forward to make time go by a little faster. Just a few things I am looking forward to: Hanging out at the house with Sabrina and the dogs on a nice day. Visit to STL to visit family and Friends. Motorcycle trip to anywhere. Hiking trip down the Grand Canyon to visit Havasupi Falls. Trip to Mexico or anywhere else warm and beachy to relax on the beach. Trip to CA to visit Scott. Trip to AZ to visit family. Those are just a few events I look forward to.

Getting Settled

I am getting into the new routine. Since I am on the BDE staff I am included in staff Physical Training (PT) twice a week. I am training for the Iron Dragon PT test so that I am not required to participate in staff PT (once I take and pass it that is). The Iron Dragon PT Test is a modified PT test developed and run by the BDE Commander. Our regular PT test is 2 Minutes of Push-ups, 2 minutes of Sit-ups and 2 mile run. The Iron Dragon adds Pull-ups and Dips. Unlike the normal PT test that has a set point value for each repetition or time for the run based on age, the Iron Dragon has a set standard for all. In order to be awarded the Iron Dragon, participants must do 80 Push-ups in 2 minutes, 85 Sit-ups in 2 minutes, 10 Pull-ups, 20 Dips (no time limit for either) and a three mile run in 22 minutes or less. Form is strictly enforced, so there is no cheating allowed such as kicking on the Pull-ups. Must lock elbows all the way out and go all the way up. Last month over 40 Soldiers took the test and only 6 passed. The only prerequisite is that Soldiers have to score at least a 270 (90 points in each event) on the normal PT test. I am shooting for the March test.

What a Difference a Week Makes

Last week I directly rated 6 people and senior rated 5 others. I was responsible for everything that Bravo Company did or failed to do.... now I rate absolutely nobody and do not have 70 people looking to me to give them guidance and intent to assist them in the completion of their combat missions. I will miss being a commander. It was the most fun I have had since I was a platoon leader. I would change very few things about the way I commanded the Company. I tried everyday to make the best decisions possible based on the information I had at the time. Tried to be the best commander that each Soldier has had or ever will have. Now I have to wait to see if I will be fortunate enough to command a Battalion.

The change of command went well and I am settling into my new job. I suspect it will take about a month to get fully involved. R&R is just around the corner. Shooting for sometime in April or May. Closing in quickly on half way through the deployment.

Latest Date Change

Well we ended up getting Space A back from Paliwoda and made it back "home" just after midnight on New Years Eve. The change of command date has moved again to the right. It is now the 16th of January and we are getting close enough now where I would be surprised if it moves again. Only 10 days of command left. It has been a very mild winter here so far. We have been having highs in the high 50s and low 60s. December is usually the wettest month here and we hardly had any rain. No complaints from me about that.