On the personal side, I finished up a tone of loose ends. During the week before, while we were taking the class at EWTGPAC, I finished a bunch of IA (Individual Augmentation) courses on NKO (Navy Knowledge Online), finished the entire set of twelve prep courses for the Professional in Human Resources (PHR) certification exam, and signed up for that exam. Over the weekend I signed up for the PHR certification exam, and registered for my first HR course through Webster University. Also over last weekend I finished the final exam for my final course in the Certificate in Systems Analysis from Naval Postgraduate School. And by Tuesday of this week I finished the project for that course and turned in the 'Student Opinion Form'. Finally, I finished up my HR redesignation application and got that sent in by Thursday. Done! Done! And done!
On the professional side at MSRON 1, it was a different story. All the trials and tribulations that go with a turnover. Or more appropriately, taking over for someone who didn't exist beforehand. Standing our task group is essentially bringing in a bunch of reservists and taking over from the full time sailors who have been keeping things running.
Unfortunately, there were several unresolved issues that no one bothered to really explain to me before I got there. In a nutshell, a bunch of Selected Reservists who volunteered for this came in to take over from a few active duty sailors who never thought they would have to deploy in this organization. So in many cases, two opposite ends of the spectrum. As drilling reservists, we essentially get to choose when we deploy. Active duty has to go whenever they are told. And even if they just did an IA from their previous unit, e.g. they went TAD from a shore billet, they can still be sent on deployment right after joining a unit like MSRON 1.
To make things worse, a bunch of us show up early and expect the active duty staff to be real excited to see us. And to start working 12 hours a day five days a week, and another 6 hours on Sundays. Of course a lot of work went into getting us here, and getting orders for the rest of our very large group. So the natural conclusion by the full time staff is they were being 'punished' and forced to work extra hours. Of course nothing is further from the truth. The Commodore wanted us all PTing together at 0600 every day to build comraderie and teamwork. It just didn't come across that way.
So anyways, a challenging week getting people to understand the 'why' behind what we are doing, and essentially trying to prevent a mutiny. My department in particular. My entire staff is full time. So inserting myself in the chain of command, dealing with multiple people who want to go on leave, keeping morale up, all while answering the mail for the chain of command has been a real challenge.
On a lighter note, we did the usual Friday night dinner with those of us officers who aren't local. We went to a nice restaurant in Coronado. I treated myself to a seafood dish and a couple glasses of wine (I don't think they had beer). Then I got treated to a glass of port over some dispute we had with the bill. No complaints from me!
Then it was on to Moo Time for more Friday night ice cream. I had a small Sundae. Chocolate fudge and nuts and ice cream and more fudge and nuts :)
Saturday one of the other guys invited me to dinner at Chipotle. I became addicted to the place in Sacramento. He found out there was one in Sports Arena area. After a tasty chicken burrito bowl and a Pacifico, we drove over to Mission Bay. Drove by the places I used to live in Mission Beach, then up to Pacific Beach and back down Ingram Drive through the middle of the bay.
Late night of work tonight, so I'll just close with a nice photo of the sunset at Imperial Beach.
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