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Published On: Apr 26, 2006 10:02 PM
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Published On: Apr 26, 2006 10:02 PM
They're He-ere...
The new team arrived this morning, about 7 am.
Although in a way we were glad to see them, there were also all the problems
that seem to crop up whenever there is a team changeover. There's the "they're
overzealous; we're overtired" thing. They immediately want to know how
everything works, where everything is, and what everyone does while we're a bit
slow after working every single day since October and have been planning out how
we're going to explain these things over the next 3 days. This leads on to the
attitude of "they're demanding, and we're defensive." The how, where and what
becomes "why," which of course gets interpreted as the idea that they think
you're doing everything wrong.
Team transition is the longest 3 days of an assignment.
There's also the knowledge that you'll be leaving soon. That tends to slow things down a lot. Knowing that you have 3 days to impart every single thing that you've learned over the past 6 months... well, it's ridiculous to think you can do that, but the idea is there that you SHOULD do that. In the meantime you have to keep business running as usual, ensuring you don't run out of coffee, keep the messages delivered, and prevent yourself from breaking anything.
Oh yeah, packing has to be finished as well. And saying goodbye to everyone that you've grown to care about. Luckily, I've never tended to make many friends on deployments -- always a few, but never a lot. It's really best for everyone if the Red Cross guy doesn't. It's bad for me because the more friends I have, the more likely it is that one of those friends is going to get a piece of bad news from me while I'm here, and that really tears me up. It's bad enough ruining (or at least changing) the lives of complete strangers (although I'm non-egotistical enough to realize that it's the event that does that, and not me directly) without knowing them as well. Also, we're supposed to be there for everybody, and if we're there for too many specific somebodies repeatedly then others may feel shortchanged.
Hopefully I'll have a chance to say goodbye to my Asatru buddy over here. That's really about it for this deployment.
It's weird, though. I never realize how well-known I am on a deployment assignment. The new team told me that today they were walking back from the PX, and someone saw their Red Cross patches and said "Did the Big Guy leave?" They said, who? "The Big Guy. Y'know, the one with the ponytail." Which is funny in any number of ways to me. Over here, I'm the big guy. Among my friends, I'm one of the littler ones, and that's how I see myself. I also grew up skinny, and haven't really managed to stop thinking of myself that way, so it's nice to be the Big Guy (capitalization just another sign of my ego, of course). But the thing that trips me out is that everybody knows me. I have no clue who they are, and they might not even know my name, but they've seen me and talked about me (that big guy with the ponytail...). Sometimes they don't even know who I work for. I had a Lieutenant Colonel ask me one day if I was STS (Special Tactics Squadron). I've been mistaken for Special Forces more times than I can count. Even the Special Forces people aren't always sure.
Wow. This really wandered. Short version: the new team's here, and I should be leaving on time to be back to Kentucky on the 25th. If I don't talk to ya'll before I take off, ya'll take care now, y'hear? :)
Team transition is the longest 3 days of an assignment.
There's also the knowledge that you'll be leaving soon. That tends to slow things down a lot. Knowing that you have 3 days to impart every single thing that you've learned over the past 6 months... well, it's ridiculous to think you can do that, but the idea is there that you SHOULD do that. In the meantime you have to keep business running as usual, ensuring you don't run out of coffee, keep the messages delivered, and prevent yourself from breaking anything.
Oh yeah, packing has to be finished as well. And saying goodbye to everyone that you've grown to care about. Luckily, I've never tended to make many friends on deployments -- always a few, but never a lot. It's really best for everyone if the Red Cross guy doesn't. It's bad for me because the more friends I have, the more likely it is that one of those friends is going to get a piece of bad news from me while I'm here, and that really tears me up. It's bad enough ruining (or at least changing) the lives of complete strangers (although I'm non-egotistical enough to realize that it's the event that does that, and not me directly) without knowing them as well. Also, we're supposed to be there for everybody, and if we're there for too many specific somebodies repeatedly then others may feel shortchanged.
Hopefully I'll have a chance to say goodbye to my Asatru buddy over here. That's really about it for this deployment.
It's weird, though. I never realize how well-known I am on a deployment assignment. The new team told me that today they were walking back from the PX, and someone saw their Red Cross patches and said "Did the Big Guy leave?" They said, who? "The Big Guy. Y'know, the one with the ponytail." Which is funny in any number of ways to me. Over here, I'm the big guy. Among my friends, I'm one of the littler ones, and that's how I see myself. I also grew up skinny, and haven't really managed to stop thinking of myself that way, so it's nice to be the Big Guy (capitalization just another sign of my ego, of course). But the thing that trips me out is that everybody knows me. I have no clue who they are, and they might not even know my name, but they've seen me and talked about me (that big guy with the ponytail...). Sometimes they don't even know who I work for. I had a Lieutenant Colonel ask me one day if I was STS (Special Tactics Squadron). I've been mistaken for Special Forces more times than I can count. Even the Special Forces people aren't always sure.
Wow. This really wandered. Short version: the new team's here, and I should be leaving on time to be back to Kentucky on the 25th. If I don't talk to ya'll before I take off, ya'll take care now, y'hear? :)
Posted: Fri - April 16, 2004 at 03:33 AM