Gen Honore, meet Capt Dan...

To demonstrate what kind of situation it seems only I encounter, this was within my first two hours on the ground in this forward base. That's Lt General Honore on the far left of the (grainy) photo...you may remember him as the Nat'l Guard general who was credited with being the only figure of authority worth a damn when he arrived in the post-Katrina New Orleans nightmare. I'm happy to report that a no-nonsense guy he still seems to be.
That's my commanding officer here standing between me and the general, Col. Patrick Donahue from Boston. He's very Italian, as you might guess. Col Donahue was funny: I had introduced myself to him a couple seconds before that photo, and he turned to Gen Honore and said, "Look, they must be getting serious about public affairs here--they sent me a Marine." Damn straight, sir.

I don't look at all like I've been traveling for 3 straight days at that point, do I? Aside from the surly expression in this unexpected photo, I was raring to go. After realizing no one was grabbing me from the dusty landing zone, I caught a ride in a gator (little 4x4's made by John Deere) to my new office, checked in, dropped my gear, and in no time was in the chow hall to make sure my new public affairs correspondents were ready for Honore's visit. Sleep be damned, there was work to be done (and yes, I realize how comical that is for those who know me well).