Well….it seems that I just cant stay away from my cyberspace vanity (aka blog) with it’s vain stories, vain quips, vain photos...and it’s vain name for too terribly long. *alas*.
So here is the deal-y-o: I spent all of July suffering under the oppressive and gangly weight of far too much work with far too little help. For the most part, I stayed on the Forward Operating Base (FOB) and met with various contractors and local officials with the intent of lining up construction projects for the end of the fiscal year (which ends the last day of September). There are a few fun highlights that I will kick in later on this week. So stay tuned. The ‘short’ is that due to the aforementioned ‘oppressive and gangly weight’ and such, I was on the brink of activating my self destruct mechanism by the end of July.
In August, I was able to take my mid tour R&R leave. Thank God! This happily prevented the pending meltdown. R&R is a two week break that all servicemen on extended deployments, as I am, are afforded. Thankfully the two week period does not include travel time.....it takes almost two weeks to make the round trip.
I spent the entire R&R with my family on Peaks Island in Maine. And, happily, the timing was such that I was able to see a significant portion of my extended family while there. I didn’t check email, I didn’t go online, I didn’t watch the news, I didn’t answer the phone, --- in general, I didn’t do much of anything. It was grand.