New Job, Fun Discovery and RAIN!

So, it’s been a while since my last post, but really, this place is like groundhog day.  It is pretty much the same thing over and over and over…at least until now… I found out at the end of last week that I would be changing jobs.  Actually, my branch chief was talking to one of the other guys in my office while I happily taped pictures of my bitties to my wall next to my desk and he turns to me and says, “Please stop doing that you’re not going to be here much longer.”  So, that's how I found out about my new job.  Imagine my surprise! 

Anyway, I have moved down the street to the “Pink Palace” and am now the Senior Trial Counsel (Prosecutor).  Military Justice is pretty much the bread and butter of the JAG Corps and is usually the busiest office other than Administrative Law.  Apparently I am the Captain who has the most Military Justice experience, and the office was needing a little extra assistance, so the Staff Judge Advocate (SJA) decided to send me in.  There is a lot more work to do on a daily basis, so the days go by much faster.  Although I really miss my friends in Counter-Corruption, I have to say that my new work friends are great too.  We do have a lot of fun, and the best part is that I get to return to my legal passion, criminal law.  Oh yeah, and my office now has a window – Awesome!



"The Pink Palace"

There are rocks everywhere here at Bagram.  They are horrible rocks of all different sizes designed simply to roll the ankles of anyone that walks on them.  Seriously, they are the bane of my existence.  So, I was walking to work the other day at the “Pink Palace” (isn’t that the coolest name for a workplace.  I mean could it fit me any better?!) and as I was trudging through the rocks I looked down and saw the most awesome sight.  On the ground was a rock that had “Baton Rouge, Louisiana” written on it!  It was so cool and the find made my day.  I took a picture of it because the #1 safety rule around here is you don’t pick up anything that you don’t drop.

The best part of my whole week came last Sunday.  Two of my co-workers and I were sitting outside under an awning, talking about a project we were working on when all of a sudden I heard the distinct sound of rain drops on the tin roof overhead.  I had been thinking all day that it smelled like it was going to rain, but it has smelled like that before and nothing has happened.  Anyway, I heard the raindrops on the roof, jumped up from the table where we were sitting an ran out into an open area where I wasn’t blocked from the sky.  I felt the distinctive feeling of rain drops on my skin.  There were only about five of them, but they were wonderful.  The two guys I was working with looked at me like I was absolutely insane.  I told my “battle buddy” that we needed to go for a walk to pick up something for our project, right away.  My hope was that we would get stuck and have to walk back to work in a rain storm, but no such luck.  By the time we made it to the road, the rain had stopped and the dark black rain clouds slowly dissipated without any more rain, but the feel and smell of a summer rain made my day.