A busy time

I know I haven't written much this month. I realized today that it's because I have a lot of stuff going on at work, and those things dominate my thoughts to the exclusion of more interesting things. Even though writing is at times the most helpful thing for organizing my thoughts, it's during these stressful periods that I have the hardest time focusing long enough to write something coherent.

The first big thing is our battalion's change-of-command. Our battalion commander and command sergeant major were relieved the week before Thanksgiving, and the new command team set to be in place around the beginning of next month. Naturally everyone wants to make a good first impression, so there's a lot of focus being put on the upcoming ceremony.

My role during this exercise will be to escort our division's commanding general. That's not too big of an issue for me (I did a similar job during all of August) but I still want to make sure I don't screw up too badly.

A second, somewhat related, issue is that I'm still waiting for more details about taking company command. Now doesn't seem like a great time for questions, but I'd like to know if the new commander is still open to my old boss's plan and timeline.

Third, I'm still waiting for my Korea Assignment Incentive Pay (KAIP) to kick in. Back in May, I signed up to extend our two year commitment here in Korea into three, in return for an extra $300 per month. Though my DEROS (Date Eligible to Return from OverSeas) has changed appropriately, the money still hasn't kicked in yet. By this point I'm looking at almost $3,000 in back pay -- something that I'm hoping/expecting will come in very soon.

Fourth, we've got the battalion move in March. Right now, apart from the installation of additional internet connections, there's not much to worry about. However, it's one of those things that I still need to stay on top of, especially since there's a lot of coordination I need to do between the S-4 and the S-6. Given that the S-4's time in-country will end roughly about the time we move in, I'm also worried about the knowledge management side of things.

Fifth is the major inspection we're expecting shortly after our move. Though every shop and function will be inspected, it's in my role as the battalion's safety officer that I see the most potential to have a positive impact. Our battalion currently lacks an SOP (standard operating picture), though, so it falls on me to come up with one. Essentially, I have to rebuild the safety program's foundations while not messing up the existing structure too badly.

Though the easy thing would be to copy and paste a lot of text that no one will read and doesn't address real issues, I really want to build a good product -- something that will last through several years of turnover. It will require researching not only what companies are doing right, but also establishing the kinds of processes and systems that regulations require.

Lastly, there's a joint exercise with the Korean Army coming up, and my job will be as the liaison officer. I'm not sure what I'll be doing yet, but the time I spend trying to ready myself for this comes at the expense of the other issues I'm working on. On the positive side, the unknown aspects of the role keep me from stressing over specific matters, but the vagueness of it is like a dark, ominous fog.