Baby Blue Paint

I am sitting in my new office today.  It is more of a general population area than an office.  I feel like I am sitting in a hallway with one exit to be perfectly honest.  The desk the new LT stole for me is still here and the walls have a fresh coat of baby blue paint.  I walked into the office and was greeted by the new LT who looked concerned about something.  He was logged onto my computer since his is not yet hooked up to the network.  He wanted to show me an email that the night LT sent to the boss and sent to him as well.  The LT requested to be sent home pointing out that he doesn’t feel mission essential and that the day crew doesn’t do anything anyway.  I know he has been upset for some time, but this was a shock to us all.  He is upset about the award he will be taking home after deployment, he is upset about a pending divorce, and he is upset that the boss wants us to switch shifts again.  He would rather work nights on Facebook for the rest of the deployment.  Let’s be real, that is all he does on night shift.  I ask him every night to review a project or help me put together a presentation and every morning I arrive to an email stating he did not have time to review/compile. 

So, now I have the XO breathing down my neck about this SITREP.  I handed it to my boss this morning for review after hoping the night shift would take a look at it, which didn’t happen.  Once his corrections were complete, I sent it to the XO.  The XO decided he did not like the product and made a visit to my boss’s new office to have a stern chit chat about the quality of the product he was handed.  My boss has way too much else to worry about that is a lot more important than a SITREP that is only going to be read by the XO.  Let’s be honest, what commander is really going to sit down and fully read four sixteen page reports?  Further proof that no one reads this report is seen when we include information in the report and we get calls a week later asking why no one mentioned said information.  My reply is usually, “It was in the SITREP,” to which they reply, “No one reads that.” 

Can you tell I really don’t feel like working today?  I made the additional corrections, but I didn’t turn it back in to the XO for several hours.  I don’t know why, but putting a time crunch on him makes me feel better. 

We are settling into our new areas today.  I acquired a corkboard somewhere in the transition.  It is a nice hunter green color and I have posted on it my calendar, work schedule, battle rhythm, and a collage of French Bulldogs I created.  I have the coffee station in front of me and the printers behind me.  I really don’t have a reason to get out of my chair.  The only negative about my location is that I am directly below an HV/AC system, but I have warned the E5 who has taken charge of the climate control remote that if he ever turns it on, I will castrate him.  There are two other systems in this office, so the system above my head being forever turned off is not killing anyone.