I hit a milestone today - I'm 1/3 of the way through the first leg of my deployment.
The time between when I arrived and when I leave next June for R&R is 278 days, and I'm in the midst of my 93rd.
In many ways, it feels like I haven't been here that long. I don't feel as integrated here as I did at this point during my Iraq deployment, in large part because the resources were not in place when I arrived here. In Iraq, I replaced a colleague who'd done all the hard work to set things up for everyone that came after him - including me.
Here, I'm paving the way, defining my role in this theater, and striving to set up the infrastructure (particularly the office). It's a lot of hard work, though I'm not complaining - I'd rather be doing this than anything else. I will have a much longer deployment than my predecessor had in Iraq, and I've every expectation of building this up to a comparable level by the time I hand the reins off to someone else.
R&R = Rest & Relaxation
