August 24, 2010
I now have almost two full days of work in my new office behind my belt. When I say work, it is really entailing asking hundreds of questions about what is going on, reading through different SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures) and Army regulations, as well as meeting separately with all my staff and bosses to find out what they do (my staff) and what they want me to do (my bosses). My counterpart for whom I am taking over had appointments at another base yesterday and spent most of today out processing different places on post so needles to say I have thought of more questions then I have had answered. But I know through the time I have spent with her, that she wants to set me up for success so basically she will be spending the next week and half with me to have our left seat- right seat/ right seat- left seat ride, as the military calls it. (I watch her drive then she watches me drive)
Although she hasn’t been around too much over the past two days I have spent my fair share of time in the office. My job in the civilian world would be a 9 to 5 job, heck there are civilians contracted by the military to do my job and they get to work 9-5 getting paid twice as much. But I have the great honor and privilege of being a soldier and the government doesn’t have to pay me by the hour like they do their contractors; overtime means nothing to us. Therefore I can be working/training from 6 in the morning when physical fitness starts up until “the end of the day” which from what I gather is never earlier then 6pm in my office. Don’t get me wrong I do enjoy being in the military and I believe I will really enjoy my job but I find myself wondering over these last two days “where has all my time gone?” I get home at the end of the night, eat something, and am ready for bed so I can wake up the next day and do it all over again.
This brings back memories of classes I had in college where they constantly stressed that we had balance in our lives. They said if you spend all your time at work you will get burned out way too fast and it was unhealthy physically, emotionally, and mentally. This becomes another one of those “catch 22’s” in the military as an officer or senior enlisted. There is so much work to do that you never feel like it is finished and you constantly have your boss or someone asking you to do something for them. You want to help out your battle buddies and please your boss to remain successful but if you do this you will never have any time to yourself. To be honest I have no idea how people with families do it spending 60+ hours a week at work not to mention the occasional weekend day you have to pull duty.
I say all this, maybe for accountability that you all will make sure I am not killing myself at work but also I think I need to acknowledge that I can be in the military and have a balanced life where I still find time to do the things I like and relax. It’s definitely going to be a challenge, especially as a brand new second lieutenant working in a captain position but if there is one thing I have in life it is determination. I pledge to myself that by the end of September I will have a balanced rhythm and that everyday I begin my day with an end goal in mind and I leave when that is accomplished. It’s also a goal that I get my soldiers out at earlier times during the week for their well-beings as well as mine.
I think not just for me in the Army, but for all of those professionals in the working world we need to occasionally stop and look at our lives and make sure we are spending quality time with our family and friends as well as finding time to do what we love whether its traveling, sports, reading, art, another hobby or mixture of many things.
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