Well, it's happened. 11 folks who have chosen to commit to a year of national and community service have been designated to my team. My role as team leader has gone into full effect this week, and Raven 4 has officially gotten its wings and taken off. I've got a team now; time to get things done.
And oh, what a team have I got. I won't go into much detail considering this is a public blog, but I'm happy to say I've quite a dynamic flock of individuals, and most importantly, a group that's as ready as I am for the shindig ahead of us. In spite of the lack of sleep and long hours, there is something to be said about such a high level of motivation and abundance of positive attitudes from these CMs that can make every hour worthwhile.
As for the administrative side of things, it's still as busy as ever. This week involved some budgeting for our first mini-project next week, the coordination of food shopping for 80 people, plenty of time on-duty making rounds, enforcing policies, saving lives when I can, driving driving driving, planning/running and postponing meetings, adding these postponed meetings to my ever growing to-do list, assigning specialty roles to the team, and yes, already writing up folks and putting together incident reports. Typically, this all happens in one day; and throughout that time, our CMs give us many reasons to keep it that way.
But it's gotta be said that our Unit is an incredible community of people who have already inspired me and reminded me why I am here. Everyone's ready for spike, to get going on projects, and to work hard in general.
Our first mini-project happens next week, a 3-day project with the team. It will be nice to see our team out in the field. Here we go!
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
The Journey has Begun...
I expected this to be demanding, but it is certainly something else to finally be going through it. I think it has been a couple of weeks now, and I'm realizing how difficult it is going to be to blog this year. But I am committed, so I'm going to make this work.
What in the world have I gotten myself into? Corps members arrived last Monday, and it's as if it has been one continuous day that has somehow lasted a little over a week now. I've always maintained a fairly busy lifestyle through school and jobs I've had in the past, but this is an experience that has overwhelmed my life to the extent that the personal has gone out the window. And yet, as utterly exhausted and adrenalized I've been throughout the past week, I've never had more of a drive to keep going than I do here.
It started last Monday, and I'm going to exaggerate here for effect. What felt like a natural disaster hit the region, as it did many other parts of the US. At least 2 feet of snow covered Perry Point, the day before our Corps members arrived to the campus. Now keep in mind, this isn't New England. I think there may be one snow plow stashed away somewhere in the city just in case of a flurry. So you can imagine how exciting it was to find out that a state of emergency was called, the VA was shut down, and vehicles were grounded. With flights coming in from all over the US the following day, we prepared for madness we knew would arise from cancelled and postponed flights of a good amount of the 212 corps members on their way in soon.
It was quite a day. My assignment for the day was to greet corps members as they arrived at BWI airport. I arrived in the morning, and ended up remaining there until about 11PM that night, awaitin postponed flights. Meanwhile, back at the Point, in-processing was in full swing and all of Team Green was at the peak of their game, getting these folks uniformed up, paperworked, ID'd and housed as efficiently as possible. The following day was more of the same, and a whole lot of in-processing to get the Corps the basics.
Shortly after, Mother Nature struck again. I suppose she decided the first curve ball was too easy to reach. I don't even know how much, but I believe at least another foot of snow graciously covered our base, and the VA shut down for two days. Keep in mind these two days were scheduled to be our first two official days of training. Wow, have we been flying by the seat of our pants! But in the end, a week later, the Team Green Monster has smashed through the snow, and we've got a stellar Corps here that is ready to hit the ground running, no matter how cold and deep their trembling feet get in this crazy VA winter wonderland.
In the interest of getting back to the point, and straying away from this rediculous writing mindset I've gotten into, I'll mention this. I'm exhausted, but exhilarated. Despite my lack of personal time, the time I've spent in just one week has been incredibly productive and eye-opening and enjoyable.
Tomorrow I find out who my Corps members are for the year. Oh so much more to come...
What in the world have I gotten myself into? Corps members arrived last Monday, and it's as if it has been one continuous day that has somehow lasted a little over a week now. I've always maintained a fairly busy lifestyle through school and jobs I've had in the past, but this is an experience that has overwhelmed my life to the extent that the personal has gone out the window. And yet, as utterly exhausted and adrenalized I've been throughout the past week, I've never had more of a drive to keep going than I do here.
It started last Monday, and I'm going to exaggerate here for effect. What felt like a natural disaster hit the region, as it did many other parts of the US. At least 2 feet of snow covered Perry Point, the day before our Corps members arrived to the campus. Now keep in mind, this isn't New England. I think there may be one snow plow stashed away somewhere in the city just in case of a flurry. So you can imagine how exciting it was to find out that a state of emergency was called, the VA was shut down, and vehicles were grounded. With flights coming in from all over the US the following day, we prepared for madness we knew would arise from cancelled and postponed flights of a good amount of the 212 corps members on their way in soon.
It was quite a day. My assignment for the day was to greet corps members as they arrived at BWI airport. I arrived in the morning, and ended up remaining there until about 11PM that night, awaitin postponed flights. Meanwhile, back at the Point, in-processing was in full swing and all of Team Green was at the peak of their game, getting these folks uniformed up, paperworked, ID'd and housed as efficiently as possible. The following day was more of the same, and a whole lot of in-processing to get the Corps the basics.
Shortly after, Mother Nature struck again. I suppose she decided the first curve ball was too easy to reach. I don't even know how much, but I believe at least another foot of snow graciously covered our base, and the VA shut down for two days. Keep in mind these two days were scheduled to be our first two official days of training. Wow, have we been flying by the seat of our pants! But in the end, a week later, the Team Green Monster has smashed through the snow, and we've got a stellar Corps here that is ready to hit the ground running, no matter how cold and deep their trembling feet get in this crazy VA winter wonderland.
In the interest of getting back to the point, and straying away from this rediculous writing mindset I've gotten into, I'll mention this. I'm exhausted, but exhilarated. Despite my lack of personal time, the time I've spent in just one week has been incredibly productive and eye-opening and enjoyable.
Tomorrow I find out who my Corps members are for the year. Oh so much more to come...
The Plunge
Awhile back, a good majority of Team Green participated in the Polar Bear Plunge, a fundraiser where thousands of people come together to take a dive into the Chesapeake Bay in 20 degree weather in just their bathing suits, all to raise money for the Special Olympics. It's a great event, and hopefully if I'm not sick next year, I'll take part in the dive as well. But it was great to volunteer. Check out the picture of Team Green below.
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