Thanks for Facebook's near daily reminders of things that happened in the past, I have the pleasure of reliving many of my favorite memories from my time in Afghanistan. It only seems appropriate that I am reliving them from a room at the Navy Lodge in Gulfport, MS - my home for the past 2.5 months. I am being deployed again.
In late 2016, I learned that I had been selected for promotion to Lieutenant Commander, the 4th level of Officer (O4) in the US Navy. I wouldn't actually get to assume the title and get promoted for 10 months. As time went on, it became clear that my promotion put me into a new category of eligibility: the Navy needed O4s to fill Individual Augment (IA) positions. Even though the Seabees aren't doing quite as much over seas as we used to - there are no more Regiments or Battalions running around Afghanistan - there is still a need for the technical knowledge and expertise that CEC officers bring to the table. That need is filled by IAs, typically supporting the Army, where you get orders for about a year and go off and do whatever job they needed you to do.
With my deployment to Afghanistan becoming more ancient history by the day, the need for IAs ever increasing, and my newfound promotion - it was clear that I was near the top of the list for an involuntary year-long vacation to somewhere miserable. Add to all of this a relatively new job with the State Department, and my pending marriage, and there was a decision to be made.
Anna and I talked in depth - I had spent almost 10 years in the Navy, the proverbial half-way point before I could pull a retirement. With a looming deployment on the horizon waiting to rear its head, what should I - what should we - do? I wasn't willing to give up a year or 15 months, it was too much, and I didn't want to be attached to the Army or some other service. It seemed like it was time to get out of the Navy.
Then an old Navy friend called. They were getting deployed, they needed an O3 or O4, they needed me, and it was only 6-9 months. In what seemed like a matter of hours, my name was in front of the Commanding Officer of the Battalion, a man that I actually worked with back in Afghanistan. He wanted me on the deployment with his team. I got the formal call confirming my orders were official in August, the day before my promotion ceremony.
I reported to Active Duty the first weekend in November and spent a week in Norfolk, VA doing all the monotonous paperwork and sitting through monotone briefings about things that had no real bearing on me. Then on to Gulfport, where this story started. I will be here for a total of 3 months doing training, preparing my mission and my team, and getting all the basic skills necessary for this deployment.
Gulfport is the "other" Seabee base - Naval Construction Battalion Center Gulfport, as it's officially called. The unit I got hooked up with is Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 22, a reserve Battalion, but they're not actually the ones deploying. NMCB 11, an active duty Battalion, is. NMCB 22 is tasked with supporting various components of the NMCB 11 mission. And unlike my previous deployment where we all went downrange together, this deployment has us spread across the globe.
I will be heading a team of Seabees supporting US and local forces in north and west Africa. Who exactly I am working with or for, and where exactly I am working, will not be a topic of discussion on this blog. Unlike last time where I was a part of the machine, filling a role in someone else's mission - I am the Officer in Charge (OIC) - this is my mission, my team, and my responsibility. It's a huge honor, and as terrifying as it sounds. Everything that happens will be mine to own - the good and the bad.
I pray - and work hard to plan - that it's only good.
In late 2016, I learned that I had been selected for promotion to Lieutenant Commander, the 4th level of Officer (O4) in the US Navy. I wouldn't actually get to assume the title and get promoted for 10 months. As time went on, it became clear that my promotion put me into a new category of eligibility: the Navy needed O4s to fill Individual Augment (IA) positions. Even though the Seabees aren't doing quite as much over seas as we used to - there are no more Regiments or Battalions running around Afghanistan - there is still a need for the technical knowledge and expertise that CEC officers bring to the table. That need is filled by IAs, typically supporting the Army, where you get orders for about a year and go off and do whatever job they needed you to do.
With my deployment to Afghanistan becoming more ancient history by the day, the need for IAs ever increasing, and my newfound promotion - it was clear that I was near the top of the list for an involuntary year-long vacation to somewhere miserable. Add to all of this a relatively new job with the State Department, and my pending marriage, and there was a decision to be made.
Anna and I talked in depth - I had spent almost 10 years in the Navy, the proverbial half-way point before I could pull a retirement. With a looming deployment on the horizon waiting to rear its head, what should I - what should we - do? I wasn't willing to give up a year or 15 months, it was too much, and I didn't want to be attached to the Army or some other service. It seemed like it was time to get out of the Navy.
Then an old Navy friend called. They were getting deployed, they needed an O3 or O4, they needed me, and it was only 6-9 months. In what seemed like a matter of hours, my name was in front of the Commanding Officer of the Battalion, a man that I actually worked with back in Afghanistan. He wanted me on the deployment with his team. I got the formal call confirming my orders were official in August, the day before my promotion ceremony.
I reported to Active Duty the first weekend in November and spent a week in Norfolk, VA doing all the monotonous paperwork and sitting through monotone briefings about things that had no real bearing on me. Then on to Gulfport, where this story started. I will be here for a total of 3 months doing training, preparing my mission and my team, and getting all the basic skills necessary for this deployment.
Gulfport is the "other" Seabee base - Naval Construction Battalion Center Gulfport, as it's officially called. The unit I got hooked up with is Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 22, a reserve Battalion, but they're not actually the ones deploying. NMCB 11, an active duty Battalion, is. NMCB 22 is tasked with supporting various components of the NMCB 11 mission. And unlike my previous deployment where we all went downrange together, this deployment has us spread across the globe.
I will be heading a team of Seabees supporting US and local forces in north and west Africa. Who exactly I am working with or for, and where exactly I am working, will not be a topic of discussion on this blog. Unlike last time where I was a part of the machine, filling a role in someone else's mission - I am the Officer in Charge (OIC) - this is my mission, my team, and my responsibility. It's a huge honor, and as terrifying as it sounds. Everything that happens will be mine to own - the good and the bad.
I pray - and work hard to plan - that it's only good.
