Countdown

 
This was a drill weekend for my unit. Relatively light — two days at home station, completing paperwork and checking the boxes on required briefings — but we’re coming down to the wire. Only two more drills remain before we go on mobilization orders: a four-day field exercise with as many things as they can throw at us, and a one-day drill to relax us and have a family picnic before we assemble a couple of weeks later to start downrange.

This is probably a really good time. The success in Iraq has to have stunned even its most ardent supporters: NO responsible person could have predicted how well things would work out, or how quickly. Last month, more soldiers died in-theater in vehicle accidents than from hostile action. And, for a change, I’ll be located at (not with, but alongside) our company’s headquarters, in duties that are unlikely to expose me to any significant danger. Except for my time at Guantanamo, this will probably be my least hazardous deployment.

However, it is still technically a combat theater, and things can change for the worse just as quickly as for the better. We’ve been enjoined to be ready for shift in mission, in location, in intensity, in duration. Even if this goes as steadily as seems likely, we increase the odds of a favorable outcome by being thoroughly prepared to deal with any adversity that might pop up.

I love this life. I take it seriously, though, and we’re approaching the time when seriousness will be called for.