Friday, September 28, 2012

More Dust Under My Feet

I am preparing to leave Camp Dwyer tomorrow after about three months here.  It's a bittersweet feeling.  Here I had my most rewarding work experiences in Afghanistan, having a defined mission that I could attack, and see measurable progress.  It was a pleasant change to the political nonsense, ambiguous directives, and complete lack of organizational support I've experienced most of this deployment.  I've also had the pleasure of working with Master Sergeant Hall, an industrious, polite, thorough senior NCO.  Her sense of humor and  innovative ideas have really enlivened the last two months, especially.

MSG Hall and me.  Yes, I'm standing on something.




At the same time, Camp Dwyer also has had its downsides, with bullying camp leadership that regularly overstepped their boundaries, and did their best to avoid taking responsibility for what happened on their base.  I also had to deal with the issues that followed from having a, shall we say, reality challenged team member on the ground here for a while.



Whether I loved it or hated it, seasons change.  The mornings have been pleasantly cool, and the days have been growing shorter.  Soon I will be back in the United States, a year older and hopefully at least a little wiser- but definitely thankful to be home.

ODSY, July 2012
ODSY, Sept 2012


HallowE09