aadler | Day 7 at NTC

I had thought I’d be awakened in the morning by people moving around me; that’s the way it’s been thus far, I haven’t needed to use the travel alarm I brought. As it happens, I was mistaken; I had wanted to get up at 6:00 AM, knowing today was when the exercise was due to “go live”, but didn’t wake until 6:20. I woke my team as well, and left them to take turns with personal hygiene while I reported immediately to the TOC.

Not that it made any difference. No one was looking for me; no one had questions or orders for me, and — after I’d worked up sitreps (situation reports) for the last couple of days — there was nothing for me to do.

I had been given to understand that the command element above — my commander and NCOIC, plus an officer and senior NCO the level above them — would be arriving this morning. That didn’t happen, which was no huge surprise since schedules here seem to be revised on a minute-to-minute basis. With the beginning of the exercise, cell phone use has been forbidden, so all outside communication has to be done through military-dedicated secure internet. There’s a CAT-5 cable at our space at the table, so I plugged it into the laptop I’d been provided by my unit. No connection; I asked someone about it, was told I’d have to submit a logon request to the commo people; I did so, someone eventually got to me … and that was when I learned that cable and logon weren’t enough, you also had to have a properly configured computer, and mine wasn’t. I checked on the possibility of sending up my sitreps through someone else’s connection, was informed I’d have to wait for my higher-level people to show up.

So, I gathered my gear and returned to the barracks tent.

Hmm. I hear helicopters. Does that mean my upline guys could be arriving even as I sit writing?

* * *

Yes, that was exactly what it meant, and their arrival is a huge relief. I was getting very self-conscious about being here without having anything to contribute. Now the middle layer is in place, to coordinate with those operating two (or three) steps above me and to hand down the orders regarding what to do next. The Army prizes initiative, but that’s initiative within a specific context, and my context just walked in the door.

* * *

Once my superiors were in place, I settled into some personal relaxation, happy to allow them to run the show. About 6:30 I was informed that I would be sharing night duty at the TOC, so I wound things up and made ready to turn in early.

In the meantime, I managed to turn out just over 1,000 words on “Queen’s Gambit”. At this rate, I might actually finish it.