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.