GO1B

Today has been such a weird day. It all started out last night - I couldn't sleep for some reason...despite the fact that I was desperately sleepy. I remember that I was still laying awake at 0230, and I started having these really sharp pains in my stomach and my mouth started watering...and I was thinking, "there is no bathroom close to me" and I was just praying that I wasn't going to get sick. Then I finally fell asleep and dreamed that I was getting sick, and then I woke up again around 0430, still with the sharp pains and watery mouth...and I laid there until my alarm went off at 0600. It still hurts tonight, even though I have eaten very mild foods today. I don't know what the heck is up, but I am looking forward to some sleep tonight!

Anyway, it has been SO BUSY today, which I love, because the day has flown by. And so here's the scoop: at some point this morning we got an e-mail that we were having a short notice "commander's call," which is basically a big meeting of our squadron. We all thought it was strange because we just had a commander's call last week and you usually don't attend one more than once a month. Everyone got suspicious - someone must be in trouble, something big must be going on. Then a few hours later we got an e-mail that the commander's call was cancelled. So we breathed a sigh of relief and figured whatever was up must have been resolved. A few minutes later our acting flight commander (next up in chain of command from me) came in and told us that our squadron commander is leaving "today."

Now, this is a woman who has been here for one YEAR, leading a huge squadron through some pretty incredible projects, and who is slated to return to the states in two weeks. She is done with her ONE YEAR tour in two weeks. Her going away party is planned. She gets to go home. And today, she is suddenly leaving two weeks ahead of schedule, with no goodbye or sendoff. And we are now hearing that our deputy squadron commander is stepping up as commander effective immediately. And that our sq. commander's next "assignment" will be in San Antonio, and if we see her, do not offer our congratulations on her next assignment. She will not want our congratulations, as this is not a "happy time for her". This can only mean one thing. Our commander has done something very very bad and is being sent home. And will face major disciplinary actions once she gets home; including, but not limited to, loss of rank and/or removal from the Air Force.

We suspect a GO1B violation. When you are deployed, there are a large handful of things that could cause you to be sent home unfavorably. Those things are usually covered in what is known on base as "General Order 1B". GO1B violations are non-negotiable. You break the rule, you go home. GO1B violations are things such as: going somewhere you aren't supposed to go, doing things you aren't supposed to do, possessing things you aren't supposed to possess, etc. There is a lot of speculation, we have no idea what is going on. But we do know that this is a huge deal, and that there is going to be some major damage control going on within the next few days. If our trusted commander isn't above committing a GO1B violation, why should a young airman avoid the same practice? Will be interesting to see how this all plays out...

In the meantime, it is a nice day outside and I am looking forward to a relaxing evening on the patio with my laptop and a cerveza or two and then sleepy, sleepy time.

OH! I almost forgot, we don't recycle here! I guess because we don't really have the resources to at this point. But pretty much all we drink is bottled water or sodas, and so there are 15,000+ water bottles going in the trash daily and thousands more cans. I told Megan about this, and she has suggested that I build a water bottle greenhouse. So I'm gonna get started on that. Going dumpster diving tonight for bottles. Hopefully I won't stumble across too many that are filled with pee (that is a problem around here...). Thanks for the heads up, Meggers.

Spirits are good today, not believing that I left Andrews THREE WEEKS ago today, and that on Friday it will mark the beginning of my 4th week here...time really does fly when you are stuck in the middle of nowhere with a bunch of smelly strangers.

Love y'all!

xo