DAY 139?

One quick link before the rant: http://www.ali.afcent.af.mil/news/story_media.asp?id=123145051

Now, on to the topic of the day: GOING HOME . . .

Today is supposed to be Day 139. I say "supposed to" because I have been locked in a colossal struggle with our Operations Officer (Ops-O) since Day 1.

First, a little background. I am currently assigned to the Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA). As with most government organizations, DCMA has plenty of personnel stateside. Here in Iraq, DCMA has ~220 positions. Half of those positions are filled by people who belong to DCMA in the states. The other half are filled by military like me who belong to their respective service back home. In a sense, I am an "augmentee" to DCMA.

What that really means is I get treated like a stepchild over here. Regular DCMA people fly commercial airlines in/out of Kuwait and stay at a rented house in Kuwait City with very nice accommodations, eat out at restaurants, and generally have a nice transition in/out of theater (Iraq). Additionally, DCMA personnel can book their own return travel on United Airlines months in advance. They know date/time/and actual seat.

Us augmentees get shafted. We ride a military rotator in/out of Kuwait and stay in tents with many other humans while waiting for transportation into theater. We have no idea how long we will be in the tents.

In reality, the military style transportation and waiting game is normal for 95% of the troops over here. The DCMA people have it really, really nice. Augmentees . . . not so much.

Here's the problem: our Ops-O is regular DCMA. She already has her return date picked and her biggest concern is whether or not to pay for an upgrade to business class and what Kuwaiti restaurant to eat at the night before she leaves. Tough situation. For me, I have to get scheduled on a hop to Kuwait, then sit in a tent until the next rotator goes to Baltimore (about once a week). No upgrade for me. Every seat will be filled by sweaty, smelly GIs (myself included).

Meanwhile, I was supposed to be home on June 6th (Day 179). Our Ops-O informed me a couple months ago that my orders also include an extra 6 days for turnover with my replacement. So, that's 185 days, then I can leave Baghdad, which means I get home a week or so later (about 192 days) - two weeks later than originally planned.

I know it's only two weeks and others have it much worse -- Army guys usually have 365 day tours (or longer). But two weeks for me is pretty significant, especially when our Ops-O decided she can leave 2 weeks EARLY because her replacement will be here and she doesn't need to stick around. Then, she arbitrarily decided to leave two weeks LATE so she can qualify for a different medal. That's a honorable decision, huh?

Here's the bigger problem: my replacement gets here on May 22nd! So, following her logic, I should be able to leave around May 28th or so. Not so. She wants me to stick around until at least June 5th - which happens to be the day of a big event she's responsible for. I have been helping her do her job since I got here. I guess she now has decided I need to be here to continue doing her job. Just a perfect example of NOT taking care of the people who take care of you.

I finally broke down and mentioned the subject to the Colonel. I absolutely HATE taking personal issues to the boss. I much prefer solving them without leadership involvement. No reason to burden them with petty issues. But, I had had (yes, double "had") enough with the Ops-O.

The Colonel's direction to the Ops-O: "Get Bill on the June 4th rotator - we have enough to cover down." For you non-military types out there, "cover down" refers to having enough people to get the job done.

You would think that would be the end of it. The boss has spoken. Again, not so fast. Just yesterday, the Ops-O informed me that I have a special code that precludes me from being assigned to the rotator. I have to get to Kuwait and then the Air Force will assign me to a rotator.

What she should have said was, "I saw what the boss said. We'll get you on the June 4th rotator. Don't worry about it." Instead, it's like pulling freakin' teeth with her.

Does it really need to be this hard?

40 days to go (or not).