01 July - entry 1

First a follow up on yesterdays "action plan". I talked to the NCOIC of the section that houses the majority of the commercial certification trainees and got the A1C into a regular training program every afternoon. She's scheduled to test in 3 weeks.

Today was a little more manageable, i didn't have nearly the avalanche of work that i had encountered on Monday. All the same, i still found myself not being able to do my job as a leader in the mentoring and training of my shop personnel. I have a somewhat disgruntled TSgt who is, rightfully so, getting fed up with the changing manning plans for my workcenter. He's got a program he doesn't want to see collapse when he steps out on leave in october, and he needs a backup to train in order to ensure his programs smooth operations throughout his leave. While I know we are getting some help for him somewhere in the future, i can't promise the guy anything because i don't have the authority to pull personnel from other shops. I'm lobbying the best i can, however with the current relationship i have with my boss, I'm unsure at how loudly my voice will be heard. The only real grace i have is the prospect of a new commander here in a few weeks. I try not to put too much emphasis on this hope, because it is a wildly unpredictable thing, but, it potentially holds the key to easing my manning issues should she feel particularly generous. For now though, lets see what i can control.

Two functions, emergency management and anti terrorism/force protection, ended up in my office. They do not belong in my office, they belong in the unit control center. They were shuffled over to my office to provide continuity through the unit control center manning changeover, and were never taken back. I'm currently shining up these programs and doing my best to ensure they're up and running, and then I'll transfer them back to the unit control center when their manning increases in another couple weeks. I'm doing this to free up my shop from yet another additional duty, thus giving my personnel even more freedom to handle the workload they already have.