Monday, May 21, 2007

Back to Blackhorse


My official replacement at Blackhorse arrived and is now in place. His name is CPT Daniel Dickert and he’s from South Carolina. I was able to take him down to Blackhorse and introduce him to the staff and the ANA.

It was so good to be back “home.” (I told him that when you start calling your base “home” you’ve been here too long – and I’ve been here way too long!!) It was also really weird. He was moved into my old room and I ended up staying there with him. As you may recall, I started on one side of the room and then switched to the other side when my roommate left. Well I moved Daniel to the side that I most recently left and I ended up staying on the side I originally started. Can you say deja-vus (or however you spell it)?

I introduced him to all the Marines. They can be a rather intimidating bunch but I assured him that they were a good bunch of guys.

My main goal was to introduce him to the ANA. I was pleased to see that that went well. But at the same time it was hard. I hate to admit that when I left I was getting a little burned out from all the problems but as I sat there for the 2.5 days getting back into the mentoring game, I realized just how much I missed being a mentor. It was so great to sit in Karim’s office and the judge’s chamber and “discuss” issues. As I’ve been preparing this course I’ve come across several issues that need to be resolved and I was able to at least get answers to my questions. I didn’t always agree with their interpretation but at least I got some answers.

The day we went to Karim’s office, almost his entire staff was there. They all gave me hugs which was unusual as they’ve never done that before. But you know what, I didn’t mind it as I’ve really missed them.

And then being back with my “family,” that was probably the greatest part about being back. Seeing Merrill, Steve, Larry and all the others was wonderful. Wais has really missed me as well as he gave me an Afghan hug, something he doesn’t normally do.

So now I’m back at Phoenix. Do I call this place home? Uh, no. It’s the place where I sleep at night and work during the day but it will never be home.

Speaking of home, I can now say with 100% confidence that I will be home in less than a week!!! Can I just say that I’m a little excited? OK, maybe more than just a little. I actually packed tonight even though it’s still a few days away, that’s how excited I am.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Congratulations on completing your tour (in a week or less). I'll admit I have enjoyed reading your blog about your adventures. I know it has been somewhat like eavesdropping, since I have no connection with you other than you wrote about my cousin almost 6 months ago. Thanks for sharing, I know posting consistantly is very difficult but I thank you for sharing your perceptions.