"Morning Chops…"

Just the sound of those two words catches me off guard. I never expected to hear that title directed toward me…

A quick rundown of where I am now…After returning from leave, I was requested to cover some gaps for a few battle buddies which required taking on night shift operations. Rather ironic since one of my reasons for going on leave to Europe was to avoid the turmoil of a time shift from a 12 to 14 hour time difference. Oh well. I quickly adapted and became a creature of the night. Let me tell you there is something refreshing about living in the desert and working at night during the hottest months of the year. I flourished at this job. Although I will admit waking up to light and going to sleep to light was a little disorienting on the whole I took to this shift like a fish to water. After a couple of weeks of night shift one of my favorite Lt Cols – "Boss", who entered theater a couple of weeks after me, pulled me aside to let me know it was his turn to take leave and that he recommended to Sr. leadership that I take his post during his absence. I laughed at him and told him what a funny joke. "Boss… didn't I mention I am enjoying the low profile night job?" He wasn't joking… "It's an easy job – you'll love it…" Famous last words… "Sir, I'm an LTO3 type… You want me to manage my seniors?" Now he started to laugh quite jovially… " Hollywood – Tell me the last time you didn't boss your bosses around? Last I checked you wear 2 stars by proxy." Grrrrrrr… I was really hoping to ride out this fun gig for at least another week. No way around it I don't only make waves the waves often come back to over take me. I suppose taking it easy here is just not in my cards. I am now Chief of the Media Operation Center. People call me Chief or CHOPS (Chief of Operations) or just Boss. I have a fair-sized staff of people doing extended hours of busy work running on little sleep 24hrs a day and many Sr. Officers circling my desk by the minute. For better or worse this is a high visibility position and I suppose the most interesting aspect is the look of surprise whenever a new visitor sees me behind wheels. It's something I'm sort of used to by now. Most of my colleagues begin their introductions with "Don't mind his rank; he's a reservist with tons of experience…

Unfortunately, as I expected, one of those perfect storms was brewing – a significant portion of the staff and Sr. Leaders including Boss's supervisor were replacements that were rotating in. First task – train these new folks (including the three new Sr. Supervisors and my night counterpart) in their jobs while maintaining high ops tempo. One of the unforeseen benefits of being "an old-timer" is becoming the basis of corporate knowledge and default teacher. (Read: Grrrrr 2.0) My second and more important task – build morale. I approached this job as only a Jr. Officer can – with a "blissful ignorance" and a "better to beg forgiveness than ask permission" attitude. I reenacted the one day off rotation system and mandated the daily 2 hrs of PT time away from your desk schedule. These benefits were turned off a few month's ago by Boss's outgoing supervisor because of another restructuring. No one took the time to think about turning it back on. Why not take advantage of a regime change to re-enact good solutions? Mostly I just did it to look out for my folks the way Boss looks out for me. The smiles on everyone face tells me their morale is getting better already. It was even funnier for everyone to hear the Sr. Supervisor tell folks we were implementing a 1 day off and 2 hrs a day benefit a week after it had already taken effect. I'm guessing this is one time I won't have to beg forgiveness.

As it stands the Chief position doesn't benefit from the 1day off - 2 hours of daily PT. They have to pull watch duty 24x7 with their night ops counterpart in order to stay on top of operations and the world media and manage crisis communications. They are "the glue that holds this place together." Suffice it to say I'm eager for the Boss to return.