Goodbye, LTC Klingaman

In keeping with my sad tradition, it is time again to note the departure of a valued comrade. Randy is now back in the land of beer and Harley's, having some quality time with his wife, son and daughter.

Given the relative newness of the rest of the Assessments team, Randy was clearly The Oracle, the man with the inside knowledge, the contacts, the proven methodologies, the Plan, the whole Been There, Done That view of our world. We have much catching up to do in his absence.

He's clearly in a better place with his family, but it remains to be seen how he'll fare when he reports to a couple of shady boondoggling buddies of mine in Chrystal City. He will, at a minimum, add a touch of class to the joint.

Thanks, Randy, for all you've done for USF-I and our cause in Iraq.

What else might be new or even remotely newsworthy around here? Not much, it turns out.

I am about to begin some redecorating in my humble abode, thanks to the timely arrival of some colorful accessories provided by my sisters in response to my whining about the whole drabness of the place. I now have flower and Tiki garlands and streamers and tablecloths, pink flamingoes, brightly colored kazoos, a batch of Hawaiian print shirts, a rainbow array of plastic Tiki cups, and other stuff I haven't yet pulled out of the boxes. No mere CHU for me anymore. It's Copa CHUbana now, my own little tropical retreat, a little slice of paradise tucked in this small corner of hell.

The only other thing worth complaining about is the dreaded "duck and cover" alarms they use here to warn us residents that something bad is inbound. Or not. Or is already here. July was a regular riot of rockets, but too frequently the alarm was after the boom -- sometimes a minute or more! Whatever the device is that is supposed to track these things was apparently set to pick up nothing smaller than a Saturn V. Unnacceptable!

So they tweaked it. Now, there is not a rocket to be seen or heard and the damn thing goes off four times a day. At least one of these times will be between the hours of 0200 and 0400. And at least one will be while you are walking to another building in the middle of the day and have to run into a concrete shelter, which is not unlike a fired-up kiln as you wait it out in the 120 degree heat.

I hope they find the sweet spot soon.