Hello everyone, sorry for the huge delay but it couldn't be avoided. I'm at a training site that emulates a base in Afghanistan, and they take the limited bandwidth situation to the extreme. Both in terms of available downtime for me, as well as in terms of throughput to the InterWeb!
Since my lasdt update I have visited Fort Gordon where I completed the Brigade S-6 Communications Officers course. An interesting course, it taught me the ins and outs of the role I will play while downrange in Afghanistan and what will be expected of me and my staff while were are there. It was challenging, as I learned more about Antenna and RF theory then I care to admit, and the boring minutae of virtualized servers. Glad I did it of course, but happier still to graduate and move one step closer to starting my mission.
I arrived at an Army Camp in Indiana at the beginning of December. Here I joined the main element of my team and began training as a whole unit, rather than developing individual skill sets. The people have been great and I'm excited to be working with them. Safe to say that all walks of life are covered by this group, and they come from every corner of the US and its Territories worldwide.
In fact, I feel bad for some of the folks from the warmer climes, since we've had some shockingly cold and damp weather since getting here. It's almost a cliche about 'Army' training, but as it turns out, this base has the facilities and staff we need, but the terrain and weather couldn't be further from what we'll experienience in-country!
So far I've spent time training on driving and maintaining various vehicles, crew served weapons, combat lifesaver medical techniques and plenty of language training. To be honest, the language stuff is taking me a bit longer than I had hoped. We won't even talk about learning to read and write Dari at this point! I'll get there, hopefully sooner than later...
Probably worth mentioning this one observation: I am so impressed by my Sailors, Soldiers and Airmen. They have such positive attitudes, endure the rigors of road marches in the bitter cold, miss no opportunity to laugh and in general make me see what a privilege it is to be an American. If someone doubts if the coming generations have any promise, I'm here to tell you with absolute certainty; They Do. Great people, and I'm glad to be rolling with them on this mission.
I've been in contact with a few of my Netezza friends, and I'll be sure to call them at least one more time before I board the plane. I hope to make more frequent updates to the blog, and of course, everyone should feel free to ping me at narmychief@gmail.com if they so inclined.
Best of luck for a strong close to FY2010 and for a great start on FY2011! I'm looking forward to surfing the wave when I get back!
