The Highs and the Lows of this Job

The high included a nice flight by U.S. Army Blackhawk helicopter out to one of our Provincial Reconstruction Teams (PRTs) to participate in a change of command ceremony.  The weather was great and I really enjoyed the ride out and back.

The low had to deal with a sewage backup on our compound.  I am responsible for the facilities on our small compound to include all the buildings and everything associated with them.  Well, as I sat in the DFAC to enjoy my lunch today, I received a call from one of our employees that the bathrooms in our buildings were all backing up and not draining.  Lucky Me!  So, I wander back to the compound, call the plumbers from one company who discover that the compound septic tank was beyond full.  That required a call to yet another company to come bring the infamous SST out.  SST is the acronym for $hit-$ucking Truck.  On my second call to the company that runs these SSTs, I was told that they had a problem with emptying the trucks, that the facility to empty them was having trouble and all the trucks were full.  Okay, I made signs to put on all the bathrooms asking folks to use the porta-johns on the compound.  Finally, about 4 pm, the SST showed up and we were back in business.  It’s a crappy job, but somebody has to do it! 

What a week.  Again, Friday morning rolls around and, since I have no real reason to get out of bed, when the alarm went off at 0530, I just turned it off and rolled back over to continue sleeping.  I finally got up at about 0830 to start the day, thinking that I have all day to go out and get my long run in.  As I was sitting on an outside staircase, waiting for the SST, I was yawning and our Chief of Staff walk by and said: “why don’t you go to bed?”  I told him that I don’t know why I am so tired today, and he said it’s no wonder you are tired when you are putting in 80+ hour weeks.  Busy days and marathon training make Rich a tired dude!  Good night!