Persian Gulf, July 26, 2010

We held a going away for our General, Major General McMahan on Sunday. We got to go to a resort on the beach for a few hours and forget where we were. He said that it was his gift to us—that he wanted it to be our day, not his. Nice thought, but we only got to do it because he is leaving!

This is some of our crew at the beach.
Note the Hooka Pipes!
You see them everywhere here.

We had an excellent buffet dinner at the resort. It was typical Middle Eastern menu: pita bread, pestos, a variety of salads, cucumbers, cheese, olives and the like. There was also beef, chicken and killer lamb chops. My favorite was the hummus spread…yum.

After dinner, the general spoke about our accomplishments over the last six months. He noted that the concurrent Iraq drawdown and Afghanistan plus up has been determined to be the biggest logistical operation since the World War II build up. He discussed that there have been many naysayers out there that said we couldn’t do it, and we did. There are deadlines for certain things, set inside the beltway, and we were on time or ahead of schedule on everything.

I feel privileged to have been in the “fight” at this time. I was personally involved in bringing 30,000 troops and their equipment into Afghanistan. I was intimately involved in bringing in two major army combat brigades. I have made such great friends in these and many other units. I am so sad to leave them behind!

I will tell you that my impressions of the Marines are that they have their shit together. They used the same air and ground lift systems as the other services, but we rarely heard a peep out of them.

My impression of the Navy is largely the same as Marines, and I was surprised at how large the Navy presence was in a country that is land locked! It turns out the Navy does most of the base construction. Because of their construction mission, they deploy with the “big-uglies”—bull dozers, well rigs, etc. These things are tricky to move, but we got ‘er done. I also met quite a number of Navy folks on individual assignments (like mine). It turns out that I liked every submariner I met (3). There is definitely a “type” that ends up being a submariner.

Another remarkable thing about the military is this: The war is fought, at almost every level, by “pickup” players. Meaning that there was a determination of the kind and size of the force, and then the Services went out and picked the next people and units in line to deploy. No one was handpicked to be here--we are all here simply because our number came up. There are no superstars, there is no A-team. You just play the position that is assigned to you to the best of your ability. In most cases, the assigned position lines with your skill set, but not always. When it doesn’t line up, your willingness to learn and be mentored is all that matters, and this also dictates your success (I’ve seen a couple of the unwilling be moved and even seen someone be sent home).

The military is moving towards fewer specialists and more generalists. I have not been a fan of this concept, but now I have a new understanding of why they are doing it. This proves to me, once again, that the core competency that leadership should be focusing on first is attitude; skill set is important but is secondary to having the right attitude.



We sat pool side waiting for dinner. I got to chat with these girls, who spoke just enough English so that we could get to know each other.  They seemed to be enamored by me and another girl in our group, and they wanted to know our names and who we were with (large group, all male but us). First I said friends, but they didn’t seem to get it.  Then I wondered if they were asking with MAN we were with!  After that I just said we are all family, and that seemed to satisfy them.  They had a young boy with them that I think they were explaining that they were with him, meaning that they couldn’t go out without a man…note the boy was younger than all the girls but one.