How do you say "Banana Daiquiri"?

As expected, the past few months have been busy. I've managed to knock out several courts-martial (to include a GCM in which I got my ass thoroughly kicked), extricate myself from volatile situations with both biker gangs and a muster of peacocks while at a wedding in Austin, Texas, complete Squadron Officer School by correspondence, shoot a MK-19 automatic grenade launcher, and keep my NJP program running without the building burning down. I'm sure I've learned some valuable lessons along the way but it is all lost on me as I'm still trying to figure out what the hell happened during Inception. 

As I left  the theater, I walked behind a couple that was clearly on their first date. The woman asked the guy, "sooooo, what was up with the spinning top at the end?" Initially I decided the woman was a few clowns short of a circus and this guy's best play might be to just leave her at the theater. Upon reflection, however, this woman may have been a genius.

But the top was Mal's Totem, not Cobb's....Mind. Explosion.

One of the realities of military service is the constant rotation of friends and co-workers. Deployments, temporary duty assignments, and permanent changes of station mean that none of us remain in the same place for very long. We constantly meet new people and lose old friends. This happens primarily during the summer months, the famed "summer cycle." While we lost some keepers from my office this rotation, their replacements look to be fitting in just fine. With our current staff and ridiculous volume of military justice, this has got to be one of the best first (or second) assignments in the JAG Corps. I should learn about my second assignment in a few months with a PCS to my next base in June/July 2011. We'll see what the powers that be have in store for Johnny Utah.

 Special Agent Johnny Utah hopes to be catching some killer tubes Osan Air Base this time next year. I heard they live to get radical there. 

Speaking of deployments, I am shipping out this week for a six to seven month tour. I'll be attached to the legal staff of Joint Task Force Guantanamo, U.S. Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. I anticipate being able to continue blogging down there, so hopefully I can keep you all posted on how that develops. 

"Take caution in your tone, Commander. I'm a fair guy but this heat is making me absolutely crazy."

 And for those of you thinking of it, the answer is yes. With this deployment, I am one step closer to  Lieutenant Junior Grade Daniel Kaffe in A Few Good Men. And with the White House talking about easing travel restrictions to Cuba proper, I may also get one step closer to Fredo in Godfather II.

"Banana Daiquiri."    

While I am incredibly fortunate to have landed a deployment that is not in an active war zone, I've run out of fingers and toes to keep track of the number of my friends and peers currently in the Stan and Iraq. Out of my office alone, we have three paralegals deployed. While much has been made of the symbolic end of combat operations in Iraq, well over 50,000 combat arms and other personnel remain in theater, plus the thousands supporting their efforts in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, etc. And this is to say nothing of Afghanistan. It is an incredible lot that volunteer to put themselves in harms way and be separated from friends and family.   Keep them all in your thoughts and if you are the church going type, your prayers.


See you all again in March 2011.