24 May 2007: "Mandatory Fun"

It’s a common practice for commanders to plan for morale building events. Normally this involves some type of event like a softball or volleyball game. Everyone is required to be there. For that reason, we always call such an event “Mandatory Fun”. We had just that type of event today. My team is attached to a battalion here at Anaconda. Their commander decided to have mandatory fun today. It was a game of water volleyball at the LSAA pool. So at about 1030 we closed our shop and everyone headed to the pool. Although it was fun (and a welcome break), it only proved that we haven’t been playing much water volleyball. We sucked. My team took on the command section from the battalion. We lost three out of four games. It didn’t help that the bottom of the LSAA pool is slick as ice. No excuse though, we just couldn’t get it together.

Now in the Army we always live by the rule “Safety First”. With that in mind, everyone was reminded to wear sunscreen. I did and was thankful too. Not many others did. They paid the price. The sun here is blistering. Being in the pool only provided a deception. I heard a lot of people saying things like “I know my limit” or “I never sunburn”. Right! Later in the day there were a lot of burned lobsters on my team. By 1700 their faces were beet red and sweaty. They were moving painfully slow as well. As for me? I was fine. I had covered myself from head to toe in sunscreen. Perhaps my soldiers have learned a lesson.

After mandatory fun ended I told my team that they could stay in PT uniform the rest of the day. For some strange reason, I was the only person that did. Once I got back to the office it was around 1500. As there wasn’t much work to do for the team, I let them set up the “in-focus” and watch a movie. They elected to watch “Million Dollar Baby”. Meanwhile I continued working on some training plans for upcoming events. We wrapped up at 1700.

That’s about all that’s fit to print for today. I’m now the team chief of a bunch of red lobsters. Iraqi summer sun doesn’t screw around. Remember that if you’re ever here. Today’s safety message – Always wear sunscreen!