How do you eat an elephant?
Well, it's official: The DoD announced today that the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division is deploying to Iraq in early '09. In true Ft. Drum PAO (Public Affairs Office) fashion, the official blessing was shared with the local news channel before we were informed. I'd be pissed at their oversight, but unfortunately this is par for the course.
The rumor mill's been kicking this one around for a while so the news does not come as a surprise. At any rate, I'm glad the official decision's been made. Living in limbo has been a pain in the ass. I'm ready to go, do what I've got to do and get it done. Manna, Lilz, and I will be in El Paso in a couple of weeks to spend time with the Fam and scout out a living space for the wimmins while I'm gone. I haven't figured out when or how I'm going to balance a trip to Houston yet, but when I do, I'll post the details and ensure we visit longer than a day and a half to catch up with everyone. I'm looking forward to some downtime, and now that I FINALLY (after 9 months of command) have a real First Sergeant, 2nd Platoon Leader, new Executive Officer and the mission readiness exercise behind us, I can breathe a little at work and actually focus on building the company instead of trying to keep us afloat.
Company command's been a hell of a ride and though I'm not out of the woods yet, I'm satisfied with what my men have accomplished. The crew I took to JRTC know their mission cold and performed incredibly well in spite of our anorexic numbers. Since our return, our numbers have become more healthy and we're finally approaching our authorized personnel end strength. August and September will be focused on bringing the noobies up to speed on route reconnaissance and clearance ops, with the rest of the fall dedicated to outload and TSIRT (Theater Specific Individual Readiness Training). Once the deployment timeline solidifies, I'll have a better idea of when we're punching out. 'Til then it's anyone's guess.
At this point, my only real concern is what's going to happen to me. I've asked my boss (the Battalion Commander) to let me keep the company until the end of the Brigade lifecycle (train, deploy, fight, "win", redeploy, stabilization, the arterial bleeding of personnel once stop-move is over, noobs arrive, rinse, repeat) in order to fix the continuity problems created by three changes of command, "transformation" and an extended deployment. Our "Road to War" training plan is straight and tested. Unit supply and maintenance discipline is improving. Our SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures) are being revised to more accurately reflect operations in the BSTB (Brigade Special Troops Battalion) and full spectrum ops (that aren't Cold War era) for the Brigade.
The problem is I haven't been to the Engineer Captain's Career Course. The course is supposed to teach me everything I need to know to be a successful company commander. It's not really a problem in my eyes (the course focus is primarily staff work); however, there is a school of thought that believes this course is what guarantees one's right to company command. Having been through the Bleeding and Purging phases of command (without the dedicated leaders that make life easier), I'm not thrilled at the prospect of just handing the company over on a silver platter to the next Engineer Captain that shows up in order to move to a staff job. Fuck that.
In five years of service, I've been in a company level leadership role for four. I hated staff work when I was in the three-shop (operations) with the 548th. Staff was bearable in Afghanistan because I had the flexibility to work with EOD, Civil Affairs and the Infantry as a liaison. The idea of BDE staff just doesn't do it for me.
I know this is selfish. At the same time, this is premature. There are no inbound Engineer Career Course Captains (yet). The boss is pleased with our progress since the Purging and so far, he plans on me keeping the company. I'll see how it shakes out.
Realistically, at the end of the day I'll execute whatever mission they give me to the best of my ability. It's pushed me this far. My role is to ensure my Soldiers are trained and prepared for war and set the conditions for success for the next guy, regardless of timeline.
That said, it's time to go. This week is a short week due to the Fourth of July holiday and we're celebrating by spending the time at the range. Known distance zero (200m) and marksmanship before our transition to live fire CQB (close quarters battle) assault lanes. Yahoo! Nothing better than the fireworks the Army provides.