What's my Job?

I’ve been on the ground and on duty for just under seven days and today’s the first time I’ve felt like I have a clue what I’ll be doing for the rest of my six months. It’s been hectic. The Lt Col I’m replacing hasn’t had a lot of time to explain things to me and even when he has the guidance has been vague. It’s not his fault. This whole organization is new. When Gen McChrystal took over as ISAF Commander, he/they decided to stand up the ISAF Joint Command (IJC) to more effectively manage the entire international Afghan campaign. On top of standing up a new organizational layer, parts of the old ISAF HQ and many new people/functions moved from downtown Kabul to Kabul International Airport. The Lt Col had been doing three different jobs really, so he explained how he envisioned my duty position evolving. As an Air Liaison Strategy Planner, I’ll help track and forecast asset/resource movement in and out of theater. (That’s not within my career field, but it’s interesting and career-broadening (and better than a year in Iraq.)) However, more useful than the Lt Col’s broad guidance, I’ve finally started attending some meetings, planning teams, and working groups. That has really helped. I realize now that there are a lot of other people in my situation and most of us are just getting together and working solutions for the challenges we’ve been given. It’s one of those ‘what-you-make-of-it’ situations where you hear part of a problem and say, “I’ll take that on” and become part of the solution. So now I’ve got to go find the people that have the information that I need to make my part of the solution work.