Early December update

[aadler]

 
This will be quick, because I have writing to do before I go to bed.

Open first cut — Military Issues

There’s supposed to be a promotion board next week, which won’t do me any good because I wasn’t notified of it until it was too late to get a new packet ready. (The one that was previously put together for me got outdated by events; not much would be needed to formulate a new one, but the little necessary would require leeway that simply isn’t available.) On the good side, there will be another board in February, and my command channel seems pretty determined to get me to a higher rank before we deploy.

Which is good. At our most recent drill, a separate detachment was formed out of all the people in the unit who are (for one reason or another, mostly medical but not all of them) non-deployable. The number wound up constituting roughly 20% of our total strength; we’ll have to fill out the roster with people from other units, but that was also the case with our previous deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan. The big deal is that my own detachment was hit especially hard: over HALF of our personnel are now in the ‘broke-dick’ detachment, and the only remaining person with rank higher than mine is now the man in charge. And I’m his ranking subordinate.

When I explained this to my wife, I used a direct comparison: “How did you feel,” I asked her, “the first time you looked around at the other nursing staff and realized you were the most experienced person on the floor?” Her answer was instant: “Terrified.” Now consider the difference. If she messes up, she could kill a patient. If I mess up in a combat theater, I could kill myself and the people with me. Same principle, higher intensity.

We have time. I just have to be absolutely sure I’m ready. Because not only will I absolutely be a team leader, I’ve been warned that I may be tasked — simply because I’ve managed to stack up rank and in-theater experience — to take charge of a field team. Not what I expected to be responsible for at this point in my life.

Close cut

Open second cut — Personal Issues

My daughter is to be maid of honor at a wedding on New Year’s Eve, and it appears that I’ll be driving her to New Mexico for the event. She wanted to fly, but we couldn’t afford to buy a ticket well in advance (only recently did Susan get a big enough paycheck to mostly catch us up on overdue expenses), and as we all know, the price of a flight goes up as you get closer to departure time. So, I’ll probably start off with her on the exact one-year anniversary of last year’s post-Christmas trip. (That one made a nice hypothetical Q&A: “What did you do the day after your wedding?” “I took my new wife’s van and credit card, and left for California with two girls thirty years younger than her.”)

Susan is seriously wanting to acquire some property. Possibly part of a ‘nesting’ instinct, ensuring her own security while I’m in Iraq. She contacted some people, and we pre-qualified for a housing loan, subject only to providing some documentation and signing necessary papers. Susan found a listing for a place less than twenty miles down the road, a relatively nice house in a small town half an hour from her job. I’d like to actually see the place, but it sounds good, the photos look good, and the price is really good.

Close cut

Open third cut — Fanfic Issues

“Queen’s Gambit” is now past the 33,000-word mark. That makes it, as it stands, the third-longest fanfic I’ve ever done. I’m gradually working my way toward the end of it, a page or two per day. It resists me, but the slow-but-steady approach is grinding it out inexorably. Keep going, don’t quit, maintain the pace till I get there. It’s been nearly two and a half years since sroni gave me her draft; I all but promised her I’d have it ready by the end of this month — which is also the end of this year — and I have a little over two weeks left. At my current rate of composition, I can manage 5,000 to 6,000 words by then, which looks to be enough to finish it out.

sroni is looking forward to that point, because she wants to jump in and get started on her third Queenverse story. I want to move on to other stories of my own. My original goal was to do a dozen stories this year, one for each month. It now appears that I’ll barely manage a quarter of that. Once QG is finished and out of the way, perhaps I’ll find the energy to speed up my output.

Close cut

Okay, not quite as quick as I thought. But there it is.

Comments

[ozma914.livejournal.com]

If you were *not* concerned about taking on the extra responsibilities, then I'd be worried.

[aadler]

Sometimes it’s appropriate confidence; I’ve served with many men who gave every sign of knowing what they were doing, and then proved by performance that their self-assurance was fully justified.

In my case, I think we’ll all be better served by my not taking anything for granted.

[ozma914.livejournal.com]

Sure, I've known people like that, too. But "don't take anything for granted" is a pretty good rule to live by.