How we got to Pocatello

You may wonder how in the world a guy from Alabama ended up in little old Pocatello, ID, where there is no real Army installations for miles.  Well, it started like this:  EJ Karlberg, the HHB, 214th FAB commander when I was the Assistant S3, was my assignments officer.  EJ was a good guy, and we weren't what I would call friends, but we did know each other.  I was in his battery and we did share a hotel room one night in Killeen, TX (not like that) and a rental car back to Ft. Sill.  I was in my second command at Ft. Sill, and about 4 years on station.  He called me one day and asked if I'd been on his webpage lately.  I said yes, why (thinking he was about to say, where do you want to go?).  He asked if I was familiar with the Harvard Strategist Program.  [that's a program where you go get a master's degree in Public Administration from the JFK School of Government at Harvard and then serve a utilization tour with the G3 and are crowned a strategist]  I said yes and he asked if I wanted to apply.  I said "don't you have to have a history or polysci degree to do that?"  He said something like crap, what's your major, I have to nominate somebody and I was just looking at GPA and you're one of the only guys I have that qualifies.  Chemical Engineering.  I think I can get you a waver.  I'm also looking at teaching at West Point.  You can only apply for this if you want it.... you want to do it?  OK, sign me up.

Well, time ticks by.  At that time, before constant deployments, you had your choice of the three R's after command, recruiting, ROTC, or AC/RC.  The job choices went up on the internet and there was some good stuff but I was waiting on a decision on the Harvard thing.  Time keeps going by and I'm still waiting and jobs keep disappearing.  Eventually, we're down to recruiting in Connecticut, recruiting in West Bronx, NY, and AC/RC in Pocatello, ID.  Jeni and I talked and did our research.  Pokey was definitely the lesser of the evils.  It was close to Yellowstone, good skiing, and Jeni's parents (we'd always been relatively close to mine and far from her's).

Then I got a phone call that told me that four people were selected for Harvard with two alternates and I was an alternate, so if Miss America can't fulfill the duties of the crown.......... and we're looking real hard at Pokey, but not a peep from EJ.

Fast forward a month or so and EJ and company come to Ft. Sill for a branch briefing.  One of the lines in his talk went something like this, "If you've been on Ft. Sill for 54 months and you think you're hiding, call us because we will find you."  Crap, that's me.  I went up to EJ after the talk and asked him if he was talking to me.  He said "no, I know you got caught in the Harvard thing and so I've put you in the next cycle."  I said thanks, but if you have to move me send me to Pocatello.  He got visibility excited and said you want to go to Pocatello?  I said "no, I didn't say that. I said if you have to move me don't send me to West Bronx, NY".   After he tried to sell me on the Bronx by telling me how many recruiting awards I could win, I said, "I don't need recruiting awards, If you have to move me, send me to Pocatello."  He told me that if I wanted Pocatello, he could cut the request for orders ASAP, just let him know.

I talked to Jeni over the weekend and we decided that we should take Pokey while we had the chance instead of betting on chance in the next cycle.  Sure enough, EJ called me the next Monday, and I told him to send me to Pokey.

Its a good story about how I got there, but I wouldn't trade that assignment for anything.  If I had to redo my career and only keep one assignment no doubt I would keep Pokey and trade in the rest.

This is the view from my front porch, October 31, 2003.

Caribou National Forest, 20 minutes from the house, where we walked the dogs...off leash.  Nobody cares what you do there, as long as you mind your own business and let them do their thing, too.

Plenty of snow, but that was part of the deal, and it makes for good "war stories" when friends from the south talk about their "big snow".