DAY 39: Goodbye, Part I

Tue, 4 October 2005

Chalk A
Over the course of the past few days, I conduct two redeployment briefings for my troops and though the last few days have been chaotic with very little sleep, it appears that everything finally starts to fall in place according to my plan for the return trip home. However, just when things are looking good, bad news rears its ugly head. Remember the “Dosey doe, and Away we don’t go” episode? (refer to Day 4) Guess what? Plans A, B, and C fall through. So, now I’m on to Plan D and split up the folks to push through half of the troops on to Manas. At the Passenger Service Counter, an Army Captain approaches the desk to inquire on his high priority Space Available (Space-A) status. The sergeant I’ve been working the issue with – a sharp guy that I will need to acknowledge when the dust settles – informs him the flight is completely booked with my higher priority troops. The captain then turns to me and all I can say is “Hey, sorry about that.” Frustrating that in this case, my success needs to come at someone else’s expense. But that’s the challenge we loggies face with so many unforeseen schedule changes. For this deployment, I definitely earned my “loggie” stripes.

Chalk B
While the first group was a success, the second group’s airlift was delayed and delayed until it was finally cancelled. Ugh, now I’m trying to manage two separate groups in two locations in two countries and in two different time zones. Never said it was easy…

My Return
I previously mentioned that I would be staying back for an important mission. However, the authorization for us to stay does not materialize until the very last minute – in fact, just 2-1/2 hours before our showtime to board the plane. I was packed and ready to go, but everything finally worked out in the end for me to stay.