What was I thinking? I loved my old battalion. The team was fine-tuned. There were no issues. The HQ was devoid of drama. Now I was walking into a new command, a new HQ, and more drama than a soap opera. It was immediately apparent why the old commander and his top NCO had been fired. The battalion was every Soldier for themselves. Everyone had a "1000 meter stare." There were Congressional inquiries, EO complaints, "15-6" investigations, and just about any other type of negative personnel action you could think of. Rather than go negative, I looked for the silver lining. It wasn't hard to find. The Soldiers of the battalion were desperate for leadership and eager to move forward. Most of the Officers and NCOs were ready to embrace a realistic command philosophy. And, besides, I had my banjo. Now the tasks I faced were daunting. I had four months to rebuild the command team, fill holes in the battalion deployment roster (and there were many), establish an esprit within the unit, and accomplish a myriad of training requirements necessary to validate the unit for our mission in Iraq. Initially I would have to proceed without a battle buddy. I had no Command Sergeant Major. Yet armed with a TDY order I moved out smartly to Fort Lee, VA, which is on the edge of the Petersburg battlefield. Thanks to Marriott Execustay, I had a furnished apartment to move into. Unfortunately, I had to leave my banjo teacher behind. Seems I was on my own in my pickin' endeavors too. Within days of arriving at my new command I departed with my XO to Iraq for a Pre-Deployment Site Survey, or PDSS for short. This afforded me the opportunity to see where we would be living, meet the battalion we were replacing, and become better acquainted with our mission. Turns out we'd be headed to COB Speicher - a place I know very well from my last deployment. The banjo enjoyed a few MRAP convoys but really didn't see much action. It was a great trip because it got me focused on the big picture again. This came crashing down almost immediately upon our return to Fort Lee. Two days after we got back to the battalion I had to fire my XO. Now I truly stood alone as a command team of one. Fortunately, help was on the way in the form of my hand-picked CSM and a new XO. Progress was being made on all fronts though. Through all this I completed several modules of Army War College and became a little more acquainted with the fret of my banjo. I'm just a beginner on that instrument and have a long, long way to go. Most importantly, despite adversity my battalion was now becoming a cohesive team. They were beginning to believe in themselves, each other, and our mission.
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