Cookies

I’m continually amazed by how much work I’m doing over here as a 2Lt. I think coming over here now is one of the best career choices I could have made – thanks Lisa for encouraging me and your enthusiasm about it, you were so right! The joke is that supervisors are impressed when a 2Lt shows up for work in the first place, let alone really does work. So that’s not totally true, but it’s been great to have real responsibilities and be doing things that have a true impact over here. I’m very grateful for Sea Cadets too. I never expected that to have such an impact on my leadership skills now, and my ability to read people and understand what motivates others. ROTC did help, but not nearly as much as Sea Cadets. That was a real learning opportunity in that some cadets were there because they wanted to be, and others b/c they’re parents told them to go. Currently I supervise 10 people and they’re great, but it’s been a challenge to continually figure out what motivates them to try harder.. It’s not easy to motivate when they’re all my parents’ age, retired military, and things like that. Plus, they all make at least 3x what I do because they’re civilians and can pick their pay, or not come over here at all.

I talked to my mom yesterday and for awhile she didn’t want me to share any cookies she sent (to make sure I got my fill). A friend explained that while a person is deployed, that is their family. SO TRUE!! Like it or not, for 5 more months I have a new family. It’s actually been pretty good though. The people care about the mission, try hard (most people), and we’re all pretty positive. Plus, whenever anyone gets cookies, they come around and share. That’s good b/c they taste great, but they also ruin diets:) Good thing I'm running a lot!