Henry's Web Log

I’ve been asked by family and new soldiers headed here what a typical day on the COB is like for me, or for troops in general. During the winter, when I was meeting convoys, there really was no typical day! Every day was different depending on what was due in, and I could be grabbing a nap between 10pm and 1am to get ready for a 2am arrival; or I could be in the office most of the day with reports and email. I usually mixed up my day, though, to keep it interesting and blood flowing beyond my posterior- I’d go check construction progress on our fuel farm (and take pictures, make corrections, etc), or head over to the container storage yard to check security. I was often escorting Iraqi truck convoys into the COB and mispronouncing Iraqi phrases!


My new work is a sustainment brigade representative (liaison officer, LNO) to the Division Headquarters, and that’s considerably more routine. I’m in the G4 office, which oversees all supplies, equipment, transportation, fuel, water, and property accountability in the Division. I say, routine, but of course it's a lot of problem solving, and every day is different. Perhaps the best way to charactarize is that every day used to be insanely chaotic, now it's just chaotic. I’m definitely up earlier, though, starting around 0500 or 0530. One big driver for me being up early is that Mr. Sun starts his day off about 0500 here, and that’s going to get worse before it gets better!
Breakfast opens at 0530, so having a custom-made omelet is my new favorite way to start the day. By 0630, I’m in the office getting set up for the first meeting. Usually it’s an update briefing via video teleconference. Next, there’s a daily G4 “huddle” where we go quickly through all the outstanding issues. From there, a bit of time to work the issues and take care of business. Lunch comes along as my first chance to see what the day has turned out to be: Hot? Dusty? Thunderstorms? Then it’s back in the climate-controlled HQ for an afternoon meeting or two, more email, and reports.

One of the other soldiers in the G4 is also a blogger! Take a look at the adventures of SGM Dave Crotteau . He had a heck of a time getting flights in April, but finally made it. His April posts also include good descriptions of the environment here, and he concurs that being here is absolutely the right thing to do! Interestingly, his daughter, Jacki, is about to deploy over here as well!

Several times a week we have a Brigade Battle Update Analysis where the LNOs always have a slide about recent activities, presented to the Brigade commander and attended (online) by every section in the brigade (about 120 slides! Break for dinner, then back to work, until 8 or 10pm, depending on how things are going. During the huge build-up, we were often at work until 11 or later…but things are much better now. Plus, there's two of us now. Maj Jim Reis is a huge help. In fact, it’s not unusual now to hit a lull between meetings and have time to go to the gym or the Internet café. That makes a world of difference in my morale!

Below is a photo of my workspace. I've "marked my territory" within the sea of cubicles with a partriotic banner made by the great Cub Scouts of Pack 145 .