MND-Baghdad held the official "Transfer of Authority" (TOA) ceremony today. 1st Cavalry Division passed the flag to 4th Infantry Division. I attended the ceremony at the MND-B HQ. I know that 1st CAV is very happy to be going home. Fifteen months is a long time to be deployed. By the same token, 4th ID is very eager to assume control. We always talk about the importance of conducting a "right seat ride" between the outgoing and incoming units every time a TOA takes place. It's a good concept and a very important part of the process. Normally, it also breeds animosity. The incoming unit almost always has an arrogant "know-it-all" attitude and views the outgoing unit with contempt. Meanwhile, the outgoing unit is tired, ready to go home, full of wisdom, but has very little patience for the arrogance of the incoming unit. By the time the official TOA ceremony is held the general opinion is it couldn't happen soon enough. As soon as the ceremony was over the outgoing and incoming units wasted no time. The HQ building had an immediate facelift both inside and out. When the day began the HQ was completely adorned with 1st Cavalry Division memorabalia and displays. By the end of the day, not a single 1st Cavalry insignia could be spotted in the entire building. Everything had almost instantaneously been transformed to 4th Infantry Division - the colors, the wall displays, the Division patches, and any other aspect of memorabalia. I couldn't believe how fast the transformation of the HQ took place.
My parent unit will be conducting a TOA with our replacement very soon. A teleconference had been arranged so that we could chat with the key leadership of the incoming unit. They are a reserve unit based in Brooklyn, NY. The teleconference was something they requested and coordinated a couple of weeks ago. I made it a point to get to a phone so that I could participate. At the appointed hour I dialed in the access number and code. The message was that the "conference leader has not yet activated the call. Please stand by." Then I was treated to funky department store music while I waited. After about twenty minutes the system announced that the conference leader had still not activated the call and to try back later. WTF? I called down to Kuwait to talk to someone in my parent unit. They were as shocked as I was. Where were they? It turns out they just didn't show up and they didn't let us know the teleconference was a no-go. Thanks. This is exactly how the animosity between incoming and outgoing units gets started.
I enjoyed wasting an hour of my evening for a teleconference that didn't happen. I guess they were busy. It is the Holiday Season.
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