Farewells

Today was a very melancholy day for me, as I said a series of goodbyes to the people I've been working with for the past four months. It's been a very tight-knit staff, and I will certainly miss many of them. I've had an unusual career, with many surprise assignments, many of which I leave saying "this has been the best tour of my career." I can honestly say that about the time I've spent here. It is the highlight of my career so far. Tomorrow will mark a new job at a new base, and the opportunity to make a difference somewhere else. While I'm looking forward to the new job (it's essentially a "promotion" in level in the organization, although won't affect rank or pay) at the same time I'm disappointed. One of the best parts of the job at the battalion level, where I've been, is the opportunity to work directly with the soldiers doing the job out there on the roads. I didn't realize until I turned over the job of helping these folks just how much that meant to me. My new job will be a bit more management, a bit more powerpoint, and a bit less direct involvement in tactics and equipping battlefield leaders to make the right decisions. Perhaps it will be as fulfilling as these past few months have been. But I can't help thinking that nothing will match up to the first part of my tour out here. Perhaps that's why I'm feeling melancholy... I feel like I'm at the end of the best 4 months of my 20-year career. On the bright side for blog readers, I'm sure I'll have a lot of new and interesting observations about the new base tomorrow.