I'm back!

Happy New Year!

I got back from Bahrain in one piece, but the whole trip is pretty hazy to me personally. It gets a little fuzzy right around the time we were all sitting around the hotel bar doing shots of Captain Morgan's and drinking Hennessy & Red Bull, doing "the shopping cart" and "the lawnmower" on the dance floor. The A-Rabs over there are pretty crazy, too. The men (wearing man dresses and that thing on their heads) apparently have no compunction whatever about dancing and grinding all up on each other to what, to me, sounds like the same whining songs over and over. Makes me feel a lot better about my signature dance, “The White Man’s Overbite.” (That's how I roll.) I shaved my chest with a pair of desk scissors sometime during the course of the weekend, too, but exactly when I'm not sure. I guess I figured I’d get a head-start on the surgery I had on the Wednesday after I got back. Itches like crazy now. Anyways, they tell me I had a pretty good time.

In other news, the new boss is here. Marine Corps Brigadier General Eugene “Gray” Payne is taking over for General Ladnier in the next couple of days. Seems like a real nice guy. He found out yesterday that he, too, picked up his second star, so that’s good news for everybody. Always nice when your boss starts off with a positive experience. With any luck he’ll replace me with a new Aide-De-Camp so I can focus on doing what I was supposed to be doing here from the git-go. It’s been educational and all, but I’ve gotten my fill of face time with the big brass and it’d be great if they could send me off to a corner for my last 48 days and just forget about me. It was an eye-opening experience working this closely with really senior military leaders, but if this job has taught me one thing about myself it’s that I am definitely a blue-collar guy. All the politics are just so...draining. It is, however, pretty fun to watch a bunch of normally haughty and high-handed officers trip over themselves trying to brown-nose the boss. But despite the entertainment value, I’m ready to get out of this desk and enjoy my last couple of weeks in relative obscurity. Maybe even get a day or two off.

Speaking of, it looks like I won’t be heading home early after all. They don’t want to let anyone leave without a relief on post -- Pandora’s Box and all that. Figured I might've had a shot -- the Navy Region Southeast Sailor of the Year board is going down February 4-8 and were I home I'd represent NAS JRB Fort Worth at that -- but alas, no dice. S'all good though. I’ve only got about six short weeks left and I can do that standing on my head, baby.

Catch y’all later!