Challenges of Command

Standing at attention shortly before an Article 15 appellate hearing, the brigade commander slowly inspected every member of the chain of command with his impenetrable gaze.  His eys went from left to right sweeping over the platoon sergeant, company first sergeant, myself, battalion command sergeant major, and battalion commander. 

Then his eyes came back to me.

During a three week period in September I served as the commander for our battalion's Headquarters and Headquarters Company (HHC).  My lot came to me due to my position as the company's executive officer (XO).  Despite the four months I had already served in that capacity, I was not quite prepared for what lay ahead. 

With his eyes back on me the brigade commander (whom I had only seen once before) asked who I was?

"2LT Rhoden, sir.  I'm the company XO and I'm serving as the acting commander while the CO (company commander) is on R&R."

He replied, "You're the commander then"

"Yes sir" was my response.

Then with the rapidity of machine gun fire he shot off a numer of questions in quick succession:

"How long have you been the XO?"

"What was your job before that?"

"What is your branch?"

"How did you gain your commission?"

"Where did you go to school?"

"What did you study?"

Just as nervous as the Soldier standing outside the brigade commander's office whose actions caused this meeting, I replied equally fast:

"Five months"

"This was my first job with the unit.  I arrived to the unit in late April."

"Transportation"

"ROTC"

"Brigham Young University"

"History" 

His only response "AIRBORNE!"

It begins . . .

Standing in formation outside of our battalion offices at Fort Richardson, Alaska I felt very relieved.  I did it!  I managed to wrap up everything before leaving the country for a year!  While I blew a sigh of relief, I still had no idea what lay ahead of me. 

As the battalion commander and command sergeant major spoke to our formation I noticed the family members of the deploying troops standing in the background.  Final good byes had already been said and they were listening intently, dreading the moment when we would load up on the buses that would take us to the nearby air force base.  The irony struck me.  While I couldn't wait to board the plane, many others were dreading this moment! 

May 2010 was a very busy month for me.  Over the course of 5 weeks I had driven 4 thousand miles across the North American continent to Alaska, located an apartment, moved my belongings into the said apartment, found out that I would deploy to Afghanistan, frantically completely all of the Army prerequistes to deploy in a fraction of the time others receive, learned how to navigate through Anchorage, packed up my belongings, moved out of an apartment, put my car in storage, and completed many other odds and ends associated with leaving the country for a year.  I completed all of this alone!  More than half of those tasks were accomplished during the weekend before I left including giving a talk at church.  No wonder I was so happy to deploy! 

As our plane took off from Elmendorf Air Force Base I saw the beautiful snow capped mountains surrounding Anchorage.  I thought what it might be like when I return.  What will the next year have in store for me?  What will I learn?  Will it ever slow down?  How will I change? 

After nearly eight months of deployment I'm still receiving answeres to those questions. 

Vignettes from the Past

To help compensate for the many experiences I had enroute to and in Afghanistan before I started blogging, I'm going to start writing vignettes from the past.  Enjoy!