First taste of freedom

With his replacement trained and working independently, M. has finally been able to let go of the majority of his responsibilities at the office. And with that comes his first taste of pseudo-freedom...no more emergency software setups, endless hours in front of the computer, frustrated afternoons spent waiting out in the hot sun coordinating the cranes, flatbeds and other vehicles to move all of their stuff from one place in Iraq. To another. And another. He's still on call for his replacement to consult him if she runs into trouble, but he's no longer working at his old job 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Now, he's getting his things together for the trip south, picking up his last load of clothes from the laundry and he moved out of his trailer earlier today. ('Hey! No more trailer trash!') Tonight, he'll spend his first night in tent city (pronounced 'cit-tay', if you're me). I sense he doesn't actually mind moving into the tents all that much because it means he's one step closer to finally being home. He's tying up loose ends and saying temporary goodbyes to friends who are downrange, some of whom we know from San Antonio and a few from life in Germany. Today, he had lunch with S., my upstairs neighbor here in Deutschland. (I know, I know: the Army is pretty much the world's smallest place, in case you were wondering!) M. and S. are almost the same rank, and hence, it's probably not a huge surprise that the two of them have wound up sharing some of the same types of duties during the last 18 months (albeit for radically different types of units!) During their conversation today, though, M. discovered that S. doesn't have some of the information that he needs to do some of the tasks for his unit that M. has just finished up. Luckily, M. saved all of his 'how-to' files, so he'll be spending a good chunk of tomorrow packaging and sending emails over to S.'s office in the hopes it'll help him get his unit home on time, too. So, for right now, he's just tying up loose ends, trying to stay busy and dreaming of the trip home that's just around the corner...