I know a lot of people wonder what I do normally at work, and I've talked about some of the big things that have happened, but here's a brief overview of the last couple weeks and whats in store for me at work:
Well, the conexes (sea containers) are sealed, our bags are packed, and we are now pretty much ready to head out to the sandbox. Almost is the key word. We still have a lot going on. Last week and this week, there has been an Arabic Language training class going on. I was supposed to be in, but fortunately they didn't have room for me. But my chaplain is in there. I still plan to learn the basics, but thankfully, it won't be from a firehose. This week has been pretty busy in the office. We ordered some spiritual reading and cds and such a while back, and it finally came in, so people have been stopping by to check out what we have on our shelves. We also have a lot of soldiers coming in for counselings--mostly typical military stress and combat concerns. Those who have never been combat really don't know what to expect, so it is natural to have some concerns. I give kudos to the soldiers who are willing to admit that they have fear or concerns about deploying rather than letting it bottle up inside.
I've been pretty busy myself preparing for a spiritual fitness breakfast we are hosting for our battalion next week. It took quite a bit of doing to get the food situation handled. The Dining Facility and their rules make it difficult to aquire food from them because they do not see a "prayer breakfast" as an official training event, which does not justify them allowing us to pick up hot chow to bring to our area for the event, nor is it enough to justify opening the DFAC early to allow us to us the space there before normal DFAC hours. Its all a bunch of politics that had to be sorted out. We have our command Chaplain (a Colonel) coming to speak to our soldiers about faith in the fight and some tips for keeping a good spiritual life while serving in the military. I am really excited for this.
Once that is over, we are preparing a pre-deployment blessing service for our battalion at the chapel. We'll offer prayers for every faith represented in our battalion, probably have a speaker, and just ask God to bless our battalion through our deployment. I have to finish most of the planning for that before block leave in December. I finally got my leave approved, and bought my plane tickets the other day, so I'll get to spend about 10 days with family and friends in early December. I am very excited for that. After block leave, I've got Christmas, and then immediately after that I turn in my car, store my household goods, and head out the door to Iraq. Its going to be very busy when I get back.
For the past 2 weeks, we've been preparing for our brigade organization day tomorrow. An organization day consists of subordinate units of the host unit competing in different sports, and my battalion has consistently come in 2nd place in our brigade for a while now. So the LTC and CSM decided to really put forth the effort--all our sports teams that will play tomorrow have been practicing together and developing as a team in order to hopefully win as many of the events as we can so that we can take home the trophy. Despite my success on my company team at our battalion org day, I chose to try out for volleyball--less pressure on my knees. I didn't make the cut though, so I will be a cheerleader tomorrow. No worries, it'll give me a chance to take some pictures, and maybe even relax without the stress of winning games on my shoulders. I'll post the outcome later--hopefully I'll have good news!
In the meantime, pray for our sister battalion, 84th Engineer who heads out in the next couple weeks for their deployment! In particular, the chaplain assistant from their bn and his wife, a 56M up at command, who are expecting their second child to arrive right before Thanksgiving! Maybe he'll come a little early so Dad can meet him before he leaves for Iraq!
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