The reason for the slight delay on this week’s update is threefold: I wanted to wait until I had some confirmed information to put out; I’ve been extremely busy; and I thought it would make more sense to do the updates around the weekend rather than in the middle of the week. (Except I was late getting the Not A Blog™ updated so now week four’s update is at the beginning of week five.)

For nearly a week we had not heard anything other than rumor. There was some idea of what was to happen, but after all the goings-on that happened to me, personally, I was having none of that. Orders may not be concrete, but at least they’re official.

During this time I met up with the group I’ll be going over with. There are a few more who will be joining us later on, but for the time being, I’m the new guy who hasn’t gone through training but is here with a group who has. (The rest of them completed combat training before arriving. I was pulled just a few days into the course, as I mentioned last update.) Since the command here was neither expecting us nor had anything for us to do, we as a group agreed to set up our own training, which primarily consists of working on our core qualifications for the Expeditionary Warfare (EXW) Badge (colloquially known as a pin).

Pins are a big deal in the Navy. They show that the sailor has a body of knowledge and skills that includes some specialty, and which goes beyond their normal rate (job). I don’t have time to go into all the details, but you can read up on them, if you’re so inclined, via the Wikipedia entry on badges of the United States Navy.

The EXW is new enough that it isn’t yet officially designated in the Navy’s uniform regs and there aren’t many people who have it. On top of that, it’s almost unheard of for a reservist to score a pin because we don’t generally get assigned to billets which have that option available. But with our new mission, we apparently have this opportunity, so I’m going to go for it. Again, if you’d like to know more about this particular pin, see the entry on Enlisted Expeditionary Warfare Specialist.

Which brings me to the next topic: the new mission I’ve been assigned to. This is the annoying part of the story because, much like my originally assigned mission, I’m not allowed to talk about the details. A few days ago we had a brief regarding the new roles we’d be undertaking overseas. The short version is that it’s much more dangerous than the previous mission to which I had been assigned.

Despite the increased danger and seriousness of the mission, it is less time in theater. The training track is longer, though, which means I’ll still be getting home around the same time as before, but the actual time I’ll be out in the field is less. It also looks like it’ll be doing some incredibly cool work. Since I don’t know specifically what I’m missing by not being in the other mission, I can’t say for sure that I know it’ll be the better deal. However, every single person who knows anything about it has told us they think this is the better mission.

They think so because, you see, nobody has done our new mission yet. It’s not just our new mission, it’s the Navy’s new mission. We are literally the first group of people in the Navy to do what we’re about to do. Previously it was an Army and Air Force thing, but the Army is stepping away from the mission and the Navy has agreed to pick up the slack.

And because this mission is so new, everybody is watching our group. We were at a change of command ceremony recently for the command that we are administratively attached to. A few admirals attended and all of them knew who we were. For all this brass to know who a group of reservist intel specialists are is unheard of, and it speaks to the importance of this mission in particular. Not only is it incredibly serious work, but it’s being watched by some of the most important people in the Navy. Pressure? What?

This seems like a good time to contrast this pressure with the pressure I was feeling last week while at home waiting new orders. I can say with total honesty that last week was much worse. At the moment, I have a long road ahead of me with some very demanding requirements—but I know what they are. That makes all the difference. It’s being left to my own devices with ambiguous courses of actions, without knowing who to call, and then finally, being jerked around on the travel schedule that was so difficult. A known plan is always preferable, and since I have a very well-defined plan at this point (and I’m with other people who have the same thing to execute), I’m nearly stress free.

So things are much improved. I know a lot of folks back home are going to be disappointed to hear about the increase in danger with the new mission, but it’s a real opportunity and I’m excited about it. More as it develops.

-T