News from Jon

Just got this news from Jon.

I was able to connect with Agur here last week. He's a Marine friend from my church back in California. He was out here on a short visit with his command, and he called me up to meet with him for evening chow one night, but I missed him. However, his departure was delayed, affording us the opportunity to meet for lunch, that was very cool. There is very little likelihood that we will be able to see each other later in the year while he is deployed here, as we will be serving on different bases, but it certainly was an encouragement to see him, if only for a brief time.

The temperatures here have been fluctuating between 100 and 110 during the day, and one of the contributing factors is the dust. The dust actually plays a part in reducing the rays that reach the earth, making it cooler. There is a lot more dust than I remember experiencing back in 2006, partly due no doubt to the reduced rainfall over the last couple of years. There's plenty of water here, though getting it to where it's needed in usable form is another matter...

My job seems to be transitioning from planning to execution, though I still spend a lot of time in meetings. I would not have anticipated that I would prefer the meetings to the activity, but in reality, the meetings were predictable -- and in many ways easier than executing ad-hoc tasks that don't hit the radar screen with much advance warning. I expect work to increase in speed and tempo over the next three weeks, but then I expect it to slow down a little for the period following that.

Thanks for the Moto Mails, cards, letters, and prayers. Morale is pretty high (mine is, anyway, I suppose it's not fair to speak for all deployed service and support personnel), and I feel cared for and protected.

Well, I'd better get back to work. Semper Fi, Jarhedjon