Gruesst Euch Heidelberg!

Saturday 31 Oktober 2009
1845

“Gruess Dich!” is an informal way of saying “Hello!” in German, and that’s just what I did today, both to the country and city at large and to any individual people who would listen. :-) ("Gruesst Euch" is the plural version - I'm getting used to German grammar again...)

This assignment didn’t happen by accident. It occurred to me nearly a year ago that as long as I had made the decision to resume my military career and do my best to stay on active duty, there was no reason I could not try to get a tour in Europe again. I started poking around, and by last spring I was on a full-court press hunting for a position here. I treated it just like you would any other job search, and was fortunate to be accepted into the USAREUR ODCSENG (US Army Europe, Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff, Engineers). I’m not sure exactly what job I’ll be doing there yet – they’ve mentioned several different potential assignments. But whatever it is, it will be in Europe and not the desert, so I’m as happy as a clam.

I flew out of Doha International Airport at 0145 this morning, and arrived in Frankfurt around 0630. I got a little sleep on the plane, but not much. (I’m completely exhausted, so this will be a short entry!)

Someone was supposed to pick me up at the airport, but they seem to have gotten their signals crossed. After a couple of hours and a few phone calls, I ended up taking a shuttle from Frankfurt to Heidelberg. Under other circumstances it might have bugged me a little, but I was just so happy to be here that it didn’t matter at all. Besides, it was a nice ride and gave me a chance to simply look at the scenery (and speak a little with the driver) without having to talk about military business.

I was expecting to have to stay in Army Lodging on one of the bases here, but the officer I spoke with told me to go ahead and go to a hotel nearby. Since I’m alone for the weekend (What? You don’t work Saturdays and Sundays here?), this is much better, as it has more convenient access to the public transportation to get downtown.

It was nearly noon before I was completely situated and ready to decide what to do with myself for the rest of the day. I was very tired but also excited to be here. I considered a nap, but decided to go walk around downtown for the afternoon and just go to bed early. Early to bed on Halloween – what a party pooper! Oh well, that’s just how it goes.

I had a nice afternoon walking around downtown. The weather was very nice – chilly but with the sun peeking in and out all day. I bought a city map and took a few pictures. None of them is very good, and I didn’t get any of the castle (although I had a very nice view of it as we drove into town). Here are just a few for the flavor of it:




View up a side street off the Hautpstrasse in the Fussgaengerzone (Pedestrian zone)




A view north up the Hauptstrasse




The doorway into one of the buildings of Heidelberg University




I ate lunch at "The White Swan" - the little sign on the doorway says "1778"





My first meal on this tour in Germany - Jaegerschnitzel, Pommes Frites, and Heidelberger Pils. Mmmm!





This store was too funny. The lady working in the store was standing in view when I first walked by, and she would have fit right in - dressed to the nines in really outrageous clothing. But she stepped out of view before I could get my camera out.

I finally got tired and got on the Strassenbahn (streetcar) and came back to the hotel. After this it’s a nice hot shower and bed. Tomorrow is another day free to explore before I get started on my business here. (I don’t think it will take me long to get used to these two-day weekends again!)

Mood: Tired and Happy
Music: City street noises

Farewell to Qatar

Friday 30 October
0830

Well, today is my last day here. Tonight I go to the airport, and at 0145 I’ll be wheels up on my way to my next duty assignment.

This has been a very interesting tour in many ways. It had challenges and frustrations like I’ve never experienced before, but I learned a lot both through dealing with those and also from the staff and civilian contractors I worked with.

For much of the time here I felt as though I was swimming upstream, and not always fast enough to overcome the current. I seem to have managed not to be swept out to sea, though, so that’s something. In retrospect I did manage to accomplish some things I’m proud of, although I didn’t get as much done as I’d hoped I could when I started. I suppose if you have any kind of ambition or desire to do a good job, it always feels at least somewhat that way, but in this case I really did feel as though I’d been held back or let myself down somehow.

Then I had my farewell events, when you get together and say goodbye and thanks to the people who helped you, and they say some things about you. These were kind of an eye-opener for me.

The first one was my official “Hail and Farewell” with all the officers and NCOs, held on post in the club. It was ok, but not really special. We try to make these a nice event, but so many people come and go, we have one every month, and many of them are eminently forgettable. When I got the floor, I took the opportunity to publicly and sincerely thank a few officers who had really gone out of their way to help me, and from whom I had benefitted and learned some things while here. So that was nice and I was glad to be able to do it.

Then earlier this week we got together for a few minutes at the end of the day in the office. The people in DPW had gotten a memento made for me, and wanted to give it to me before the movers came to get my things. I’m glad they did, as it would have been hard to carry and might have gotten damaged in the mail. It’s really nice – a framed plaque that includes a picture of our section (with some nice words on it about me), folded U.S. and Qatari flags, a pair of traditional Arabian knives (a la Lawrence of Arabia), a couple of US Army coins, and some desert-themed items to balance it out. It will definitely have a place on my wall:





What really struck me, though were the things people said about me. I won’t repeat it all here, but they were very complimentary, and said things about the effect I’d had on them that I would not have predicted. We all like to think well of ourselves, but if we’re honest about our limitations and our flaws, we know that we aren’t really all that special and that it’s the people around us that help us to be successful. But they really took me by surprise with some of the things they said, and it made me feel as though I’d had more of an impact than I was giving myself credit for. So that made me feel very good, and I appreciated it.


I had my outbrief with the commander, and had a chance to exchange views on my experiences here at CAS and how I thought things might be improved. I appreciated that opportunity. She is relatively new and just getting past that first few months of getting a feel for the command. So I hope that perhaps some of my observations might help to enable a few things down the road to go a little more smoothly. It’s in other people's hands now! In parting, she also gave me a commander’s coin:

CAS Commander's Coin - Obverse






CAS Commander's Coin - Reverse

My section wanted to take me out to dinner, and picked a nice place downtown where we went last night. I was very surprised when we walked in, because not only were the people from my section there, but so were many of the civilian contractors we work with on a daily basis. Socializing with our civilian contractors is not normally condoned due to possible perceptions of favoritism or improper relationships. But the OIC of the section had gotten special permission for this event, as a strictly voluntary, everything-at-your-own-expense farewell dinner for me. It was particularly appropriate to do so, because we actually only have a very few military people in our section, and depend entirely for our efficacy on the work of our civilian contractor counterparts. Without them we simply could not do our jobs. So it was very nice to have them all there.

It was a very enjoyable dinner – good food, a nice atmosphere, and very good fellowship among everyone there. I had a very interesting conversation with the civilian across from me, as well as with his wife. He is ex-military (A Vietnam veteran of the Americal Division) and I heard first-hand stories about rocket attacks on Da Nang and the massive Air Assault helicopter lifts out of Phu Bai. He and his wife have also had extensive time stationed where I am headed, so we had some interesting conversations about that area as well.

I have to say that I felt very honored by who all came – there were about 15-20 people, and amongst them were several of the on-site managers of the company we work with – all the people I work with on a daily basis and their top management. I didn’t expect that, nor did I expect the warm and sincere compliments they paid me after dinner. I am not often rendered speechless, but I came close this time. I did manage to say a few things and express my appreciation. I hope they understood how sincerely I meant it. We’ve been through a lot together, and I could never have gotten anything accomplished without them. They gave me a nice framed certificate as a memento as well, which will also have a place on my wall.

I really wish we could do things like that more often. The barriers that are set up between contractors and government employees are well-intentioned, and there are certainly very good reasons for delimiting and circumscribing the relationships in some ways. But I think that in our zeal to avoid the appearance of impropriety, we go a bit overboard (or perhaps a better metaphor would be throwing the baby out with the bathwater).

At least on a rear-area logistics base like ours, we are absolutely and completely dependent upon civilian contractors to do our jobs. As in any organization, you have to have good working relationships in order to function effectively. And since we’re all human, an important part of those relationships is the human side. You simply can’t separate them, no matter how hard you try. I have felt fortunate in that the civilian contract managers I’ve worked with have been very professional and capable, and we’ve been able to develop understandings that have helped us to overcome some pretty significant obstacles in our work. But I wonder how much better that might all have gone, had we been able to let our hair down once in awhile and simply go out and get to know each other as individuals. I hope that perhaps our dinner last night will have that salutary effect, and that after I’m gone, the current crew will gain some lasting benefit from the interchanges and fellowship we experienced.

So I’m left with quite a contrasting set of memories of Qatar – this was one of the most challenging, frustrating, and stressful assignments I’ve ever had in the Army, but I will remember my farewell send-off as one of the high points of my career. I sincerely thank everyone and wish you all the best. Patton’s Own!

Mood: Happy
Music: Bobby Horton – “Good-Bye Old Glory” (Songs of the Union Army):

Four weary years of toil and blood,
With loyal hearts and true,
By field and fortress plain and flood,
We've fought the rebel crew,
But Victory is ours at last,
The mighty work is through,
Sound drums and bugles loud and fast,
This is our last tattoo.

Chorus:
Farewell farewell to march and fight,
Hard tack a fond adieu.
Good bye "Old Glory" for tonight,
We doff the army blue.

O comrades that may ne'er return,
Who sleep beneath the dew,
Where Vickburg's gleaming signal's burn or
Lookout's crest of blue.
Where-e'er your blood has sealed the faith,
We brought in triumph through,
Goodnight to glory and to death,
And that's good morn to you.

Chorus:
Farewell farewell to march and fight,
Hard tack a fond adieu.
Good bye "Old Glory" for tonight,
We doff the army blue.

Goodbye to muster and parade,
Goodbye the grand review,
The dusty line, the dashing aid,
Goodbye our general too.
Goodbye to war, but halt! I say,
John Bull a word with you,
Pay up old scores or we again
May don the army blue.

Chorus:
Farewell farewell to march and fight,
Hard tack a fond adieu.
Good bye "Old Glory" for tonight,
We doff the army blue.

Windows 7

Monday 26 October 2009
0700

Yesterday I downloaded and installed the upgrade to Microsoft Windows 7. It is Awesome!

I have suffered under Windows Vista for over a year, ever since I bought this new computer while on leave. I have never been quite sure whether the problems I was experiencing were caused by the hardware or the operating system, but I have always suspected that it was mainly Vista’s fault.

Slow startups, slow shutdowns, lagging performance (especially when opening new tabs in Internet Explorer), inexplicable crashes and lockups – it’s been a miserable year from a computing standpoint. For someone whose only connection with his family and friends is through my computer, this is a very big deal. Windows Vista totally spoiled the fun of purchasing a new computer last year.

I’ve been reading about Windows 7 for months in the Wall Street Journal, ever since Walt Mossberg started testing it. He has had good things to say about it all along, and I have been looking forward to the release. I had intended to buy it as soon as I got home in November, but when I read that you could download it from Microsoft’s online store, I couldn’t wait.

The download experience was a bit frustrating. I wanted a backup CD, but since I only have a PO Box to ship it to, that was a problem. They only deliver to street addresses. Once I gave them a street address, their website *still* wouldn’t take the order, because the billing address for my credit card is a PO Box. I had to wait until they opened at noon on Saturday (7 PM here) to get someone on the line.

I made the purchase and then waited for the promised email to come with the download instructions and the product activation code. It didn’t come, so I called back. After a couple dropped calls (after all, this was an IP call from a crowded, noisy public internet venue near the USO), I finally got someone who could help (well, his supervisor helped since his English and intellect just weren’t up to the task). The supervisor told me I could just go to a different page on the website and download it, and the activation code would be right there on the screen. Why didn’t they just tell me that in the first place??

I downloaded the software, after a number of false starts trying to decide what would be the best approach. First off, a screen came up telling me about a bunch of software I had to uninstall first because it wouldn’t work. Some of it was no big deal, but some of it was critical – e.g. the WiFi adapter device driver. How am I supposed to get online without that? So I decided to leave that in place, along with a couple of others that simply refused to uninstall themselves (the ATI graphics driver, for one).

Microsoft “strongly recommends” that you stay connected to the internet during the entire installation. I was concerned because this would require a choice between getting the upgrade and sleeping (with no internet in our quarters here, the only place to get online is a loud, raucous, crowded, smelly club environment). I went ahead and downloaded, and then once the software was on my machine and it said it was “unpacking” it, I headed for my room.

I left the machine running all night. When I woke up, it was waiting for me to put in the activation code. I had written it down, but somehow dropped a character. So I had to wait until I got back to the internet place to read it online again. Fortunately I had my iPod Touch, and could get online and back to the website (I guess I could have used one of the public internet computers as well).

Once I put in the code, it proceeded with the installation. I had to search for some device drivers and reboot a couple times, but it was fairly straightforward. I’ve been through this sort of thing enough times and experienced enough pain with other conversions that this one felt pretty painless and quick.

Once it came up, I was very impressed. The interface is overall fairly similar to Vista, with some noticeable changes in how applications are displayed on the task bar. Overall, it is *much* faster – faster to load, faster to respond, faster to enter “Sleep” mode. Very snappy and responsive.

Most importantly for me, opening multiple tabs in Internet Explorer is not the excruciating ordeal that it has been with Vista. You actually regain control of the pointer fairly quickly and can move on to open another tab. This is a daily thing with me, as I read the Wall Street Journal online. Dow Jones refuses to provide a downloadable version for offline reading, so I have to open each article in a separate tab so that I can read it at my leisure later when I’m not online. (I guess they just can’t imagine that somebody might not have an internet connection 24x7 – how to they expect people to read it on the train?).

I’ve only used Windows 7 for a couple of days now, but it hasn’t crashed or locked up yet (which was at least a daily occurrence with Vista). So I’m an enthusiastic convert.

Over the past year, I have quite often found myself cursing Steve Ballmer and Bill Gates into the deepest reaches of Hell as I struggled with Vista. Now, for what it’s worth, I just went online and bought a bunch of Microsoft stock in my retirement account. I think this is a solid product that people will feel much better about than Vista. Microsoft still may not be my favorite company (after all, I’m an ex-IBMer), but at least they're off my sh*t list.

Mood: Happy
Music: HVAC noise