Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Rolling Off

So today is my last day at the TSA project I am working on for ICF International, I have been wrapping up my last few projects before leaving for training for the mobilization. I am very gratefully to ICF that I was able to secure a salaried job before graduating from GMU during the heat of the great recession in the winter of 2008. I came to the project with no background in logistics but a promise of a strong analytical mind and I feel I made good on that promise. I learned a lot about logistics, acquisitions, project management, and how the TSA does business in the little over a year I spent working here. I will never walk through an airport again without thinking about the Mean Time Between Critical Failure for the Advanced Technology X-Ray systems being used or how much that new Advanced Imaging Technology machine costs. The public expectations of what the TSA can do are monumental, as they should be, and I have a deeper appreciation for the challenges the government executives and front line TSOs face daily. As a company ICF International, and in particular my VP and managers have been incredibly supportive and I look forward to returning to this project or another in Homeland Security or DOD.

As I pack my duffle bags back up it is finally starting to settle in a bit that I am leaving again for an extended overseas trip. This being my second deployment has its up and downs. I know what to expect in a lot of cases, not that I assume Afghanistan will be anything like Iraq, but I know a lot of the training and experiences will be similar. I am better prepared and hope soldiers who have never been deployed before from our unit can turn to me for advice. I can also start to feel that pang in my stomach that will develop late at night while lying in my cot being away from my wonderful wife. Hopefully where we end up will have a level of connectivity similar to Camp Liberty in Baghdad which allowed me to speak to or instant message my wife and family on an almost daily basis.

Friday, January 29, 2010

On The Road Again

So a lot has happened since my last post. Barack Obama is POTUS, I finished my B.A. in Government & International Politics at GMU, I got a job with a consulting firm where I work with some great people, Mojo & I moved to Pentagon City, etc. The new place is great and being able to walk to work, bars, shopping, metro, being able to drive 2 minutes to a military base (Class VI!!) has been awesome. I am also on the verge of another Army sponsored road trip so I have been busy getting ready for that. Bought a new laptop, new duffel, new holster, all that good stuff. I am confident that my lessons learned from the last deployment will be very helpful this second go-around. More to follow...