Half day, full moon

It's Sunday, which gives me some respite from the daily grind of financing the war. It's not so bad here, you know. There are many service men and women in worse circumstances than I find myself. One of the best newspapers I've ever read is the daily Stars and Stripes, which we get for free here. For good or ill, they tell it like it is when it comes to the stark reality of war. Almost daily, I read with sadness about the brave folks who pay the ultimate price as they fight for something bigger than themselves. Just looking at the numbers, those in Afghanistan have it the worst, but Thursday, S&S reported on a mortar attack which killed 3 folks and injured 15 (2 Americans) at the Embassy in the IZ (downtown Baghdad). I bring all this up not to cause consternation for my family and friends, but to give context when I say I think this is one of the best jobs I've had in my military career.

If you don't know, I was a willing (eager?) volunteer to deploy. I've always felt that my role as a mission support officer was missing a key element: a more direct contribution to the fight. Granted, the job I'm doing now is a staff job, and by all rights, could be done stateside. (Think of USF-I as a mini-Pentagon in Iraq.) However, just being here gives a perspective that simply isn't possible to gain if you've never been here. There's a greater 'sense of urgency' as we say, and it makes the time I'm away from home not insufferable. Add to that fact, I'm more comfortable now in my ongoing role of imitating a finance officer. So, all in all, not so bad.

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I've cleaned my room of the week's accumulation of dust. It's probably preferable to the mud that will come with the rainy season. Maybe I'll escape most of that. With everything spic and span, I'm just taking it easy, catching up on email and Facebook, and, of course, posting to Abi. There's not much to do here, as you might expect (though I say that from the perspective that, given my schedule, I have little time to do anything). But it's nice to have a few hours today to clear my mind before a new week begins. There was a full moon last night, the second I've seen since I've been here. So, add that to the list of my time-marking activities: counting full moons. Just five more to go...