STRATCOM!

I walked into the TOC (operations center, where the staff works) the day after I finished inventorying and signing over the Maintenance Platoon equipment to one of the Chiefs. I had spent the evening before getting all of the brooding and pouting out of my system so that I could show up with a positive attitude, ready to make the best of things. I knocked on the Executive Officer's door and a crisp "what!?" came hurling back at me. Very officially I stated, "LT Ramos, reporting as requested, Sir!" There was a pause and then he shouted, "I'm not ready for you yet! Come back in 20!" "Roger that!" and I stood awkwardly in the hallway, peeking next door into the room I was relatively sure would be my new office. 20 minutes later I knocked on the door again he said he needed 10 more minutes. 10 more minutes of standing awkwardly in the hallway. It wasn't long enough to go do anything and I felt so out of place. Staff....I couldn't believe I had already ended up on staff! Damn. 

10 minutes later I knocked on the door and he said he was ready for me. I put my professional, confident face on and walked inside. He said have a seat, I did. He read the first paragraph in the initial counseling which was an overview of what STRATCOM! is and then explained a little further. He went on about how it would largely be what I made it because it is a new position but the Brigade and Theater commands were very focused on it. He stated my working hours were 0800 to 2100 daily and "there are no days off, this is WAR." He continued talking about a D3A targeting process...I had no idea what he was talking about but continued to nod, making a mental note to look that up. I asked a few questions, he gave a few answers. He seemed displeased with my NCOIC (non-commissioned officer in charge), that set off an alarm in my head given the fiasco I had just dealt with, but I was making this my new start and I decided it would be a clean slate for my new NCOIC too. He gave me a copy of my counseling and  I went to my office...next door. It was very dusty and I wasn't exactly sure what to do with myself yet so I found baby wipes and started cleaning everything. I figured my NCOIC would show up eventually and I would get some clarification from him on exactly what STRATCOM! is. An hour later he still hadn't showed up. There was a rock sitting on the file cabinet that had writing on it. I took a closer look and found it had hurricane flags drawn on it (we are Task Force Hurricane) with What is StratCom? written on it. Below that it said "ahh........". Yea, exactly I thought, who the hell knows. At this point I had decided it wasn't a real job.

I waited around for a while longer, logged in to my computers, explored the building a bit, checked back to see if my NCOIC had shown up yet, sent an email to the former StratCom Officer (who, by the XO's description had been an epic failure so I wasn't sure how much I was going to get from him) and finally headed back to my tent. I wasn't really supposed to start until the next day and I had no idea what to do anyway. There wasn't exactly a manual.

I was almost to the door and the current operations officer told me there was a staff sync meeting in 3 minutes as he passed me. Again, awkward standing in the hallway. I waited until someone emerged from their office and seemed to be heading to a meeting and followed them. Little did I know I was entering my first fire fight! I sat in the conference room, blank faced and quiet, observing. People were laughing, yelling, climbing on the walls, eating glue, it was insane! The meeting began and the play turned vicious. Buses were driving, people were getting thrown under them. Sniper shots whizzed past me, duck! shapnal! Who knew a staff meeting could be so dangerous! I looked at everyone in the room like they were lunatics. These people had be cooped up in offices far too long. I gotta get out before I lose it like these people! What happened to them!?

After the staff meeting I decided to check my email one more time before I left. The former StratCom officer was stationed at a camp very near ours. I knocked on the XO's door and explained why I needed to go to this other camp and meet with former Strategic Communications Officer. He agreed it shouldn't be a problem for me and my NCOIC to go the day after next and I was excited to be "leaving the wire" (going off base grounds) for the first time. 

The next day I met my NCOIC and explained we would be going on the trip the next day. He generally explained the products he had been responsible for before: newsletter, facebook, cutlines (picture briefs), weekly Staff Meeting slides, storyboards, articles, etc. From the products I was generally get the idea of the job but I was still missing what was strategic about it. My NCOIC seemed helpful and willing to work with me as a team so I was relieve and hopeful. We both headed home that evening and prepared for our trip.

Sadly in the excitement, I didn't pack my sleeping bag...