One Year.

Although I think most everyone looks back to late July 2010 as the time when this deployment began for me, it was really March 15th, 2010 when this really all began. As I have explained before, I work full time for the Iowa National Guard as a Federal employee. On March 15th of last year, I left my Federal employee status and began working for the Iowa National Guard as a full time service member in support of this deployment. I relocated offices on Camp Dodge, and along with my current boss (MAJ Edwards), began assisting him with swimming through endless piles of requirements and regulations that had to be addressed before pushing our Brigade out the door last Summer.

As people often do after reaching a milestone like this, I thought about all that I have endured since this began. We started off in a temporary office, squeezed into an old medical clinic on Camp Dodge (we were actually in an old patient screening room) We set-up computers, phones and a white board in that little area. And for those who don't know my boss...he's a big dude. He's 6'4", and I'm not exactly small at 6'0". It was a little cramped to say the least.

We then headed to Camp Ripley, where we spent a solid 2 weeks in a tent writing operation orders. 18-20 hour days were the norm, and after surviving it, I thought I'd never have to go through something as brutal again (I was soon proven wrong). Although we were very busy at Camp Shelby, looking back on it, it was probably one of the more quiet times that we had in our Plans Section (the section I am in) during this deployment. And then, there was the National Training Center....

NTC was one of the worst experiences I have ever had in my 16+ years in the Army. It was absolutely horrible. The conditions were bad, and I don't remember ever having to go without sleep like we did at NTC. It seemed nothing we did was right. I distinctly remember after arriving being assigned the task to write the plan for how to move our Brigade out to the field after arriving at NTC. This was no laughing matter, and I worked hard on it. I ended up briefing the entire Brigade Staff, several other Battalions and the NTC Cadre. After it was finished, I thought that it had gone fairly well....until the Brigade Commander pulled me aside, and told me what he thought. Seriously, I can't repeat what he said on this blog, but he wasn't too thrilled. Oh well, I figured it wouldn't take us long to bounce back...right?

After arriving in the field at NTC, we went straight to work, and work we did. The hours were so incredibly ridiculous, I have no idea looking back on it how we even functioned. At one point, I remember staying up for 36 hours straight, going to bed for 8 hours, then staying up for an additional 38 hours straight. At another point, I remember working until 3:30am on a briefing for the Brigade Commander. The briefing was to be presented to a General the next morning. After we had finished, we all went to bed...only to be woke up a few hours later by our panic stricken Brigade Executive Officer who couldn't make any sense of our presentation. We looked at it, and couldn't quite make sense of it either. The briefing didn't go so well to say the least. So much for bouncing back. Only 8 days after leaving the "box" at NTC, we were sitting in our current offices here at Bagram Airfield.

Although we have somewhat found our rhythm, we are still plenty busy. It seems every time we catch up, there is something else to be done. The light is beginning to appear at the end of tunnel. Only 8-9 weeks until I am home on leave, then only a few weeks to go after that. I can't wait...