Best laid plans of mice and men

Well I hoped to be home by Saturday but the bus needed another repair.  Right rear CV joint and axle was NFG so that cost me a day in Madison, WI.  Found a great group of guys at Kelly Moss Motorsports who were able get me up & running, even coming in on Saturday morning to finish the job as the parts weren't there until then.

Ran into some great people along the way at the KOA Campgrounds I stayed at and had a good time but like anything else, the trip was longer than I wanted.  Time to be home and start working on the next adventure.....Had enough of being away from home. Really.

On the road.....

As previously mentioned, I am on an adventure of sorts.  Bought a 1974 VW Bus in Seattle and I'm taking her cross country back to Boston.  Something I have always wanted to do (Drive Cross the USA) and part of getting the right vehicle.

Have had a few hiccups - Fuel Pump went in Spokane, WA - That delayed me a day but found a shop with great mechanics.  Had to replace 2 front tires after road damage on Rt 16 leaving Mt. Rushmore ....These things happen on a 3000 mile drive in 40 yr old vehicle.

Every where I go, she's the "Rock Star" as all anyone wants to talk about is her, I'm just the entourage.  This VW Bus attracts attention everywhere we go.....

I'll post pics later once I get home .  Trying to get there sometime Saturday......Inshalla
 As my Afghan friends would say.

Lay Offs at NUWC at Newport, RI Navy Base

We have plenty of $$$$ for the lack wit in the White House to waste on numerous vacations & other BS but we'll shut down NAVY research into better systems of defense for our fleet??? Whiskey Tango Foxtrot ??? 

 2400 more furlough notices go out at NUWC 

Jun. 7, 2013 The Associated Press 

NEWPORT, R.I. — The second round of furlough notices for civilian employees of Newport’s Naval Undersea Warfare Center is being sent out. 

 WLNE-TV reports the letters were going out on Friday. A spokesman at the center tells The Associated Press that about 2,400 notices are being delivered. That’s in addition to 300 that went out last month.

 The furloughs are a result of automatic federal budget cuts at the U.S. Defense Department. Employees are required to take 16 hours of unpaid time off every two weeks through the end of September. Furloughs start the week of July 8. 

 The facility serves as a research, testing and support center for Navy submarines and ships. All 439 civilian employees at the U.S. Naval War College are also being furloughed.

Apologies and updates / On the road again.......

I apologize to anyone who has wondered why I have been lax in posting anything for a bit. Getting off deployment to Afghanistan is not as easy as it sounds.

I have been home for just under 2 1/2 weeks and it takes getting used to being back on home footing. I have visited with most friends and family, gotten caught up with some home stuff and also got busy on some work related items.  Then an opportunity comes along that changes the schedule.....

 I'm on a road trip of sorts and it involves a cross country drive. Landed in Seattle on Saturday and made my way across Washngton State. Pretty country and some serious peaks.....now, spending the day in Spokane. The Eastern part of Washington State is wide open farmland as far as the eye can see....It was breathtaking and eiree as there were places out there without people/towns/etc. as far as the eye could see. Lots of large wind farms near Yakima.....A great place for wind energy.

 More info to follow....Just wanted to let you know that Middleboro Jones is out exploring a little of the USA for a change instead of the wilds of Afghanistan.  Hope to be able to share some pictures soon.

On the Cape today

Took a ride to the Cape today....

Visiting with Dad and making sure the woods don't take over his yard.

 As always, a stop at the beach is required....A few people were sunning themselves. Looks like the start of a nice summer.

Sailing on the Charles with the staff of MGH Home Base Program

Spent Sunday sailing on the Charles River with the staff of Mass General's HOME BASE Program, the RED SOX Foundation and the staff of Boston Community Boating.

Colleagues back in Kandahar are dealing with heat, dust and the ongoing issues in Afghanistan but I was able to spend the day with my daughter on the water. A great day and a great time was had by all.

The Next Mission

Spent the first week home getting used to life in these United States again.  It takes a little while to get off the deployment express and get back to being part of the homefront.

Part of this is also looking at what options are available to me for the next mission.

I have been told by multiple friends and family that my days of traveling to Afghanistan are at an end. I've made enough trips there ( 7 trips in and out of country in total).

Working on the next plan and have been looking toward self employment.  There are resources available to help Veterans like me with setting up a business.  I have become somewhat disolusioned with work in corporate America as they are solely focused on $$$.  People have become a disposable resource to companies and for a HR professional who values workers, it has become disheartening.

More to follow as the next mission progresses.  Like other challenges I have faced, this one will be an adventure I am sure.

A Dull Tour is a Good Tour.....Remembering our fallen warriors

Getting used to being back home.....Helped out with breakfast at ALL ARE WELCOME Saturday morning which was nice.  Got to see my daughter perform the annual " That's Entertainment" show which I had missed for the past few years....also nice.

Having no major issues occur while deployed constitutes the "Dull Tour" side of things, but the time spent in Afghanistan was not without issues and challenges.

I've got the start of a book on my time in Afghanistan and will look to get it into format for e-publishing in the near future.  I like the idea of not having to deal with the publishing houses and all that related BS.  I wonder how many writers could have gone forward but were frustrated by the "system".

Getting used to being back home is a process and making sure all goes as expected takes time and effort.  I'll take it one step at a time and look to get myself back to normal here one day at at time.  Doing so will also be part of what I put in the book.

In the meantime, make sure to honor our fallen Warriors and show them that their sacrifice matters.  Yeah, holiday weekend and a break from work, etc.,etc. but take time for those who gave their all so you can have this break for work.

ALL gave some, but some gave ALL.  Sergeant First Class Jared C. Monti of Raynham, MA is an example in point.  He gave his life in Afghanistan trying to save his battle buddies.

We remember him and all others who gave the last full measure for their battle buddies and all of us.

Thank you to them and all who serve our great land.

Memorial Day 2013.... Nice to be Home

Getting used to being home in the good old US of A....quite a haul over last 36 hrs to get here from Afghanistan.

Memorial Day this weekend.....Please take time to honor our military who gave the last full measure of devotion to duty, honor and country.

It takes a small bit of your time but it means a lot to all who served.

Aloha Spirit - Retro VW Style

Demob countdown is down to 1....and I am dreaming of time in Hawaii..... Found this on the web

Awesome retro cool old steel... I plan on visiting Hawaii again...and will look to have an aircooled VW to drive when I get there.

JAWS - Movie Posters reimagined

If you've been paying attention to things on Cape Cod, you might know that summers there are now more shark infested than ever.  The seals are thriving due to protection as marine mammals and that in turn brings the Great White Sharks in for the summer.

That got me thinking about what would it be like if JAWS was made today, instead of 38 years ago...Just hope the sharks focus on the seals only.

Here's a couple updated copies of posters for JAWS, the quintessential summer movie.

 

 

The Demob Countdown continues...... "Getting Short"

I am getting " short " as the number of days until I demob is now at 3 !!!

It was a rough night for the people of Kandahar as they had to deal with another carbombing which caused up to 16 deaths and another 60+ wounded.....Sad, sad, sad.

While there are many things I will not miss about this place, (Flies, Dust, Heat, Conflict, etc.), there has been moments where the beauty of the desert presents itself.

Sunrise is one of my favorite moments in the day as all is still and nature shows us her palette of colors and textures can create.  Enclosed is a picture I took of one of those moments.

Hope all are well stateside and looking forward to joining you soon.

Gen. Stanley McChrystal writes about " The Courage to Change "

As a student of Leadership and a HR Professional, I have spoken to many about " change " and why it is so difficult for people.

WE are creatures of habit....each one of us has our daily routines and we use these to set our schedules on a daily basis. By doing so, we can control our life and try to have an expectation of what to expect.  I try to help others understand that "change" is the one true constant in life. 

Here, General Stanley McChrystal talks about how he had to come to grips with change to make sure his efforts and the efforts of his troops were effective.

This is part one of his posting and I will follow-up with part two when it is published.

The Courage to Change

By General Stanley McChrystal

May 14, 2013

http://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20130514223634-86145090-the-courage-to-change?trk=NUS_UNIU_PEOPLE_FOLLOW-megaphone-fllw

 

In the spring of 2004, while riding in the back of a darkened helicopter that flew low across the desert floor of Western Iraq, I had an alarming realization. My team and I were en route back to our headquarters in Balad, Iraq, having spent several hours with one of our units based outside Fallujah, a troubled city in Anbar Province. My visit had, as usual, allowed me to spend time with incredible people doing exceptional work. But a few hours on the ground had confirmed a nagging sense I’d had for several months—and I knew then that the road ahead was to be even more difficult than I had first anticipated.

At 49 years old, I was a two-star general, and less than a year into what would ultimately be an almost five-year tour as the Commanding General of the Joint Special Operations Command. Within two years I would be wearing a third star, and would ultimately spend almost the entire command tour forward deployed in combat zones. My position placed me in charge of thousands of the United States’ most elite service-members, men and women who had been screened and tested at multiple levels throughout their careers to make it into the military’s most demanding units. I commanded Army Rangers and special operators; the most highly-selected Navy SEALs; the best helicopter pilots in the world; the Air Force’s finest medics and communicator;, and a host of brilliant specialists whose diverse expertise was required to keep our organization moving. We were thousands strong, dispersed around the globe, and by any measurable standard the best trained and most rigorously selected organization that the battlefield had ever seen. My force comprised people selected (amongst other qualities) for their inability to accept anything but victory: We were hard-wired to win.

All of this made my revelation that spring all the more difficult. We were losing. There were no front lines to measure, no enemy higher-headquarters to spy on. This type of conflict was new to us. My units were nightly engaging Al Qaeda in Iraq’s fighters, but our enemy’s influence continued to spread. We were pushing ourselves to our physical and mental edge, but the enemy network was expanding faster than we could move. Most importantly, every metric I could think of was trending negative: al Qaeda acts of violence were on the rise, shadow governments were surpassing the influence of local authorities, civilian casualties were steadily rising, car bombs were exploding every day in Baghdad. Meanwhile, my organization simply had no more capacity, human or technical. Like most soldiers, I’d never contemplated finding myself on the losing side in a war, but I was increasingly convinced that this was what if felt like.

The word—losing—pounded in my head as the hot desert air whipped through the helicopter. I had felt it in my gut for several months, and my visit that night had confirmed it for me intellectually.

But the challenge was this. Our people weren’t losing: They won all their fights. Our units weren’t losing: They could point to their progress. Every element of my several-thousand-strong task force was effectively and steadily winning when it came to their area and their problem set. Yet, collectively, we were still losing. The challenge we faced, I was beginning to realize, was unlike anything we’d ever encountered—or, worse, anticipated—as a possibility.

The members of our force in Anbar were risking their lives every night to address the problem they faced. But did we have the right solution? More important, did we understand the real problem? It was hard for anyone in our force to truly articulate how their actions, effective as they were, tied to the larger effort across the battlefield to debilitate Al Qaeda’s insurgency. At best, I sensed, we were winning in small pockets—capturing enemy leaders and weapons—and hoping that this somehow supported an overarching strategy. At worst, we were risking, losing, and taking lives without knowing that those sacrifices were getting us any closer to ending the war.

At that point, on that night, I had more questions than answers. But I’d begun to understand what needed to be done. As the leader of this organization, I knew the first step would be significant, and it was one that only I could take. We needed to fundamentally change our organization, and that change would need to start with me. I knew, too, that I was entering what would be one of the most challenging periods of my career. I did so with a message that I and I alone could deliver to the Task Force. It went something like this:
You are the finest force the world has ever known, and I’m proud of everything you’re doing. You go out, night after night, into harm’s way—and do incredible things. As individual units, you're winning every time. I recognize and appreciate that. But I’m here to tell you we are losing this war. I know each of you is doing everything you can, and doing it better than history has ever seen. I also know that your families at home make sacrifices every day to support you, our mission, and our nation. I recognize and appreciate that.

So we need to make a choice. We can continue on this road, and all go home with medals and war stories, but those stories will all end with the fact that we, collectively, lost the war. Or, we can change how we operate. If we don’t, we will lose—of that I have no doubt. Changing will be a painful process, but the road we're on is destined for failure. So we start now. I will be here with you, every step of the way.

Thus began our journey

X-47B Unmanned Combat Air System (UCAS) makes Naval Aviation History

History in the making.....The US NAVY leading the military ( and the world) with technology.

Bravo Zulu !!


From Navy.mil

ATLANTIC OCEAN (May 14, 2013) An X-47B Unmanned Combat Air System (UCAS) demonstrator launches from the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush (CVN 77). George H.W. Bush is the first aircraft carrier to successfully catapult launch an unmanned aircraft from its flight deck. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Tony D. Curtis/Released

Way to go BRUINS !! GAME 7 OT 5-4 WIN Over Toronto !!