Work call this morning was at 0430 and I did my usual routine of picking up the augmentees at tent city and bringing them to the office. Once everyone was ready to go we headed out and arrived at CP Tango without incident. I thought it was going to be a normal uneventful exercise day…that was all about to change with "The Case of the Cold Coffee Incident"
I was in the office getting ready to start the day when my NCOIC says our four star general is in a meeting and his coffee is cold. The midnight shift that we relieved actually setup the meeting and they are supposed to take the coffee crafts there right before their shifts ends so it stays hot. So I had to grab a spare craft and run to the DFAC located on the entire other side of CP Tango. CP Tango is located in a mountain, so all the hallways are underground and there are a number of fire doors that you must go through to get around. I started breaking a sweat before even arriving at the DFAC. I headed to fill the coffee only to find out that their coffee machine is broken…it's serving cold coffee. This is why the previous shift (our supply KATUSA) served the cold coffee, he didn't even realize it wasn't hot. I headed back to our office and started brewing coffee in our big coffee pot (used for emergencies). The coffee wouldn't be done before this meeting was over, but we were planning to have it ready for the next meeting which started shortly. To make matters worse, we don't have enough coffee crafts to stock two meetings back to back. We need a little prep time to transfer from one meeting to another. I was running all over that stupid freakin' place trying to make sure everything was good to go for the next meeting.
After setup was complete I ended up getting stopped in the hall by one of the general's aids (a Lieutenant Colonel). He had to spend about 5 minutes telling me how important it is that we check everything before we setup a meeting. Instead of talking about the exercise, they talked about cold coffee and so on. I just said stuff like "Roger That" and "Yes Sir" every 30 seconds or so until he was done. What really sucks is that none of this was our fault…it was the previous shift's fault. I think I may strangle our supply KATUSA.
The pace kept a little busier than yesterday. We setup a couple more meetings and of course cleaned up and washed dishes. I was able to do some schoolwork at one point as well. I had planned to do some SkillPorts, but unfortunately the computer I'm working on does not meet the browser requirements and I can't do any updating until I get back to our office.
Our KATUSA is awesome. I always bring some snacks to eat, but he will always bring me back something from the DFAC when he goes and gets breakfast and lunch. It’s worked out quite well so far.
The next shift arrived almost on time today. I said hi to SPC Mick and Special K and briefed them on everything that's going on. The second shift really has it easy, their schedule is much more relaxed than even our most relaxed day! Anyway…I head out to get our SUV ready and warmed up, then wait…and wait. Same old story as yesterday. I was hoping that having our own SUV would allow us to leave on time and not wait for anyone, but it turns out that everyone wants to ride in my car…so I have to wait. Today we were waiting on a navy warrant officer who works in the command group…we left an hour late again today.
Traffic was slow again and there was a light rain, so it wasn't quite as bad as yesterday's ride back. Once we arrived back at the office I did my usual routine once again, I had to wait for everyone to arrive and then take a van to drop off all the augmentees at tent city. I then headed to my room and just laid on my bed for a bit. I just feel completely exhausted. The rest of the night only consisted of me eating dinner, taking a shower and watching a TV show.
Your Katusa is a good person. You have to remind yourself it could be worse then dealing with the complaints of cold coffee. The weekend is almost here... than you get to finally see me via video chat.
Kisses my love.
Thursday, August 18, 2011 - 10:49 AM
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