Shameless Self-Promotion

I wrote up my citation and my partner's citation. He shoud edit it and then we'll finalize it and turn them in. I tried to put in what my goals were for this trip but ground it in what we've already done. The citation the last guy wrote for himself listed some grandiose plans for the future that may have seemed plausible when he was drafting it early in his rotation but none of which seemed to have happened. So yes, he got an award that has fantasy and dreams for its official narrative.

If I was feeling lazy, I would have just swapped out my name for his and called it a day.

Hopefully, everything I listed comes to some sort of fruition. If not, then what I have is a bit overstated, but still valid. If so, well then it will be slightly understated. Not to be too cynical, but the award will be same either way and I'm not doing any of it for the oak leaf cluster on my Joint Comm anyway.

I had dinner with some SEALs. They have their own unique culture. I was more observing than participating. They were telling stories about a Platoon Chief that had all the new guys so scared that they literally hid in closets. Or about some big dude that was told he was no longer allowed to wrestle with new team mates because they were being found semi-conscious in the team room and it was disconcerting.

It was also interesting because a good chunk of their officers were enlisted SEALs before getting their commissions. They were commisserating with a senior NCO about new young officers that don't realize that they are no longer NCOs and that their jobs and relationship with their men has changed.

Officers that still think they are NCOs are probably a bigger pain for the other NCOs and Senior NCOs than anyone else. The guy ends up micromanaging the NCOs or trying to do their jobs for them. Meanwhile the higher level admin and top cover functions don't get done or fall on the Senior NCO, who then doesn't have time to run the day to day ops they way he should.

I'm off to the gym now. Knee is feeling better. We'll test it out on the rower, work our way up to the treadmill again.