It's been a long while since I sat in or dialed in to one of the many Sun meetings that we must attend on a weekly basis. The lack of meetings has been one of the highlights of my tour over here. People that know me know that I hate meetings and my mantra when it comes to meetings is less is better! The only meeting that the key folks have to attend here at the Depot is my morning 0830 meeting where in 20 minutes we get status updates on what's on everyones plate, where I get to ask for updates or areas that need focus, a quick round table, and the "let's go to work" closing. Since all of us are all over the place during the day the comms is constant and if I need an update on one of the buildings all I have to do is walk over to the Corps of Engineer building or I more than likely will run into one of their engineers at one of the job sites. However with the Depot Integrator on board and as we approach critical mass on some of the construction it has become evident that there has to be some meetings so that critical info can be exchanged.
Although the meetings are kept under one hour which is the max my brain will function before it shuts off, I think that we are up to 5 set meetings a week and God knows how many impromptu ones if we are in crisis mode. Between the bridge crane and stand alone crane issue and the indicative list finalization and reconciliation there have been a flurry of those as of late! On top of that I have now split the Iraqi Army meeting into the north and south depots to reflect the MTOE and usually after those I am either ready to hit the gym and take out my frustrations on the elliptical trainer or I just go out for a power walk while looking at the construction sites to clear up my mind and refocus on what's out there!
SSG Gamboas replacements finally arrived this week so he is busy doing his left seat right seat with the two NCO's that will be part of the PMO team. I was able to get an additional head for our group based on all the work that SSG G has been doing and the fact that one NCO is not enough when our group is doing 2-3 tasks at the same time. Major Young's replacement won't arrrive until later this month and we have been able to get her extended for an additional two weeks so that she can cover down in my spot while I am on my TDY trip which I will elaborate on after it's over and I am back in Taji home of the real wild west! It's sometimes funny to see the expressions on SSG G's replacements as he explains some of his duties or they see first hand some of the stuff we have to put up with out here in Taji especially on the dark side (Iraqi Side). From what I have seen so far they will do just fine and am confident that they will have a better idea of what their job role is and duties are in the next few days. The joke around here is that my replacements name is COL Nobody since at this point there is no one slotted as my replacement. Although my boss said that the first O-6 who has the MOS qualification will be diverted to the Depot to replace me, I honestly don't imagine I will see him or her until early April.
Construction work at the Depot continues to move forward, as yesterday I signed for 2 more completed buildings; the Ground Support Equipment (GSE) facility and the Automotive facility. I also looked at the second floor of the Paint Building in the south depot and there were just a few minor issues that I had them touch up before I sign for that area of the building tomorrow. In addition I should be signing for another of the warehouses at the South Depot in the next 2 days.
I am still on the mend with my ITB so I have been hitting the elliptical trainer 4-5 times a week trying to get ready for this weekends marathon. Due to the injury I will not run it but instead will do two 13.1 segments this weekend on the elliptical trainer and as we would say here in Army get "constructive credit' for the marathon which mean a t-shirt and finishers medal. The guys in the IZ will be running the marathon at an undisclosed location (more to follow on that).
That's about it for now just wanted to give my wife Carmen a happy birthday shout out since yesterday the 11th was her birthday and rumor has it she really didn't celebrate it because she's waiting for this old Colonel to get his butt back home so that both of us can celebrate our birthdays together! Happy Birthday Carmen!!
The Colonel
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