The New Has Come...The Old Has Gone
This is definitely a time of transitions here at LSAA. My predecessor has just a few short days left. As he likes to say, "I'm so short I don't even cast a shadow anymore." I wish nothing but Godspeed to him and thank him for his service to this great nation and to the people of Iraq.
As you can guess, it's been a week of "drinking from a fire hose." So far, I have visited all the various yards that our battalion runs, I have studied for and passed my flight line test so that I can visit units near flight operations, I have read all the available Standing Operating Procedures (SOPs) for Anaconda, and I have set up my living area (a.k.a. "hootch") which will be home sweet home for the next 14 and a half months.
The most impactful thing that I have done this week is my first Ramp Ceremony. This is a brief ceremony to acknowledge the sacrifice of a Soldier who has died in service. These ceremonies are usually in the middle of the night, away from possible prying eyes, and are small private affairs. For reasons you'll understand, I can't put his name here, but I have remembered him in my personal, private journal and will continue to remember him for a long time. It's the second hardest duty that I have had to perform. However, while it is hard, it is necessary and it is an honor. I pray that I won't have to do many of them but, if I do, I will do them with all the dignity and respect they deserve.
The other key thing this week is a meeting today with the other chaplains on LSAA. For many of them, I am an appetizer, the first of many expected replacements. I am one of the first chaplains to rotate in, which means that dates that were so far away a year ago are now just around the corner. For them, I am a foretaste of the feast to come; a sign of a promise about to be fulfilled.
One of the lighter things is how people choose to mark time. Some are choosing to count days, others months. The most interesting is the guy who counts paychecks. According to him, there are only 27 more paychecks until we go home. To each his own.
Thanks for checking in; I'll post when I can. God bless!
As you can guess, it's been a week of "drinking from a fire hose." So far, I have visited all the various yards that our battalion runs, I have studied for and passed my flight line test so that I can visit units near flight operations, I have read all the available Standing Operating Procedures (SOPs) for Anaconda, and I have set up my living area (a.k.a. "hootch") which will be home sweet home for the next 14 and a half months.
The most impactful thing that I have done this week is my first Ramp Ceremony. This is a brief ceremony to acknowledge the sacrifice of a Soldier who has died in service. These ceremonies are usually in the middle of the night, away from possible prying eyes, and are small private affairs. For reasons you'll understand, I can't put his name here, but I have remembered him in my personal, private journal and will continue to remember him for a long time. It's the second hardest duty that I have had to perform. However, while it is hard, it is necessary and it is an honor. I pray that I won't have to do many of them but, if I do, I will do them with all the dignity and respect they deserve.
The other key thing this week is a meeting today with the other chaplains on LSAA. For many of them, I am an appetizer, the first of many expected replacements. I am one of the first chaplains to rotate in, which means that dates that were so far away a year ago are now just around the corner. For them, I am a foretaste of the feast to come; a sign of a promise about to be fulfilled.
One of the lighter things is how people choose to mark time. Some are choosing to count days, others months. The most interesting is the guy who counts paychecks. According to him, there are only 27 more paychecks until we go home. To each his own.
Thanks for checking in; I'll post when I can. God bless!
2 Comments:
Just curious -- does anyone mark the time by how many floor hockey games he has left?
Any time I'm in training or TDY I mark the passage of time by Sunday Comics.
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