The Bitter Taste of Reality

I just received an email from RADM Shear sent to all CEC officers. I toiled with whether to post it or not. It's not my intent to scare people, to bring fear or worry to those who read this. My intent moreso is to remind myself and others that this reality that so many of us are facing is very real. To think otherwise serves only to fool oneself with a false sense of bravado.

From the Chief of Civil Engineers:

CEC Leaders,
I deeply regret the loss of our fellow Naval Officer and brother-in-arms, LTJG Francis (Frank) L. Toner IV, CEC, USN. LTJG Toner was attached to NAVFAC HI and was on a one year IA to Afghanistan with the Combined Security Transition Command - Afghanistan. Frank was killed on Friday, March 27 at Mazar-E-Sharif, Afghanistan. Initial reports state that an Afghan National Army soldier opened fire on Frank's group, and then turned the gun on himself.

Another Naval Officer also died and a third was wounded.

Frank left NAVFAC HI in July 2008 for IA training before traveling to Afghanistan in October 2008. Frank was an exceptional young man and Naval Officer. He made a great and positive difference while in Afghanistan - just as he did while serving in Hawaii. His death is a very costly sacrifice for freedom. Those he touched during his life will never forget his smile, sense of humor, competitive spirit, outstanding work ethic, and love of Country. The Combined Security Transition Command - Afghanistan held a memorial service on Sunday morning to honor Frank and his fallen colleague.

The NAVFAC Hawaii Ohana/family is planning a Pearl Harbor service later this week.

Frank is survived by his Wife, Brooke, his parents Francis and Sharon, two brothers, and a sister. Brooke Toner was staying with her family in Idaho during Frank's assignment in Afghanistan and is now surrounded by family. We will put out information on memorial services and funeral arrangements as details become available.

Please pass to your wardrooms and extended CEC families. We mourn Frank's loss together. Please keep Brooke and all the family in your thoughts and prayers.

Frank arrived home on Saturday evening. It was my honor to represent all of you, in Dover, to receive him.

With Great Sadness, Greg

Semper Gumby

Semper Gumby... It's a term taken from the US Marine Corps, a twist on their motto - Semper Fidelis (Semper Fi) - Always Faithful. Semper Gumby lends itself to the beloved green friend of Pokey - Always Flexible. The divergence from the cartoon is that unlike Gumby, Semper Gumby often carries a bitter connotation with it; the only constant is change kind of attitude.

The importance of all of this is that at the Seabee Ball (which was a wonderful evening), LCDR Bates (another reservist mobilizing with the 30th NCR) told me that my future job had changed. During my short visit to Port Hueneme to attend some planning meetings with the Chiefs and Officers of the 30th, I apparently made a good impression on the Commodore.

*We pause for another Naval Organizational lesson: Battalions have Commanding Officers (COs), and the COs are responsible for the unit and the subordinate Detachments, which have Officers in Charge (OICs - that's what I do in San Diego). Regiments do not have COs, they have Commodores, who are responsible for the regiment and the subordinate Battalions.

I digress.

The Commodore of 30NCR was apparently impressed by yours truly (so much so he made a call to my CO to tell her how wonderful I am) that I was reassigned. Or maybe they just needed someone to fill the job, who knows. I'll believe the former for my own narcissistic purposes.

So I will now be working for the R-35: Future Operations. The whole R-3, R-4, R-6 nomenclature is a topic for another time. I have even less idea of what Future Ops does than I did for the SWO in the COC (getting a hang on these TLAs yet? Three Letter Acronyms)

Future Ops, to my limited knowledge, is the group responsible for talking to the supported commands, in this case the USMC, and helping to develop their needs. We might survey job sights, produce drawings and plans, order materials, develop schedules, determine manning requirements, etc. Once everything is put together and ready to roll out, it gets handed over to Current Ops for implementation.

Definitely a more involved job. Higher profile, higher importance, and a better opportunity for me to directly impact actual operations.

So, that's the job I have to learn now, until someone changes it on me again. I'm in Port Hueneme for the next 2 weeks at a Construction Battalion Operations course, so I'm in the right place learning the right things.

Let's get this party started...

This will be my first blog, and network connectivity issues notwithstanding, the first of many posts. Some things I have figured out since my mass email letting everyone know I'm going:

1. Afghanistan, here I come. I know exactly where, but can't post it online. That will be the case for a lot of situations, I'm sure.
2. I will be getting there sometime in August - again, can't say when.
3. I will be the Senior Watch Officer in the Command Opperations Center. The COC is basically the center of opperations. All the information on projects, inteligence, enemy troop movements, friendly troop movements, etc comes into the COC. My understanding of my job is to monitor all of this information and make sure it's going to the right places. I'll be working with the other officer from my unit back in San Diego, the Senior Chief from my unit (an amazing man to work with), and a handfull of enlisted folks, also from my unit. It seems that my guys here in San Diego will be my guys in Afghanistan, too. This should ease the transition for all of us.

That's all for now, but I will continue to post here as often as possible as more things develop. While I'm deployed, this will be my primary means of communicating with the "normal" world, so check back often if you're curious about My Time in the Sand Box.

-Kevin