Fourth at Fort Lewis

Today was the Fourth of July and it was pretty warm here compared to what the weather has been in this very temperate North West climate. It was supposed to hit the 90's and I would say it got there. There is a celebration at the sports stadium on base all day today. Feature act is the Drifters in concert and fireworks tonight. I actually went to see the movie Transformers today. I was a little too old for the cartoon when it came out in the 80's, but now that I am closer to 40 than 30 watching cars transform into robots seems pretty cool.

Life is getting fairly routine, for the time being. Yesterday I had the day off, but went in to review files for an extra duty that I was appointed. I have been tagged as a Financial Liability Investigation of Property Loss or FLIPL (the military loves its accronyms) officer. This was formerly called a Report of Survey officer, but Army has now adopted the DoD name and forms. When someone looses a piece of non-expendable property, the circumstances about the lost must be investigated to determine if the loss was caused by someone either willfully or through negligence and then a recommendation of financial liability. This one is a doozy and appears to be a comedy of errors, bad paperwork, and a very complex and busy unit that has deployed twice plus transformed its structure and was retrofitted with new equipment. Oh, by the way, nearly everyone that was involved in events leading up to discovery of the alleged loss has left the unit months and some years ago. What is really hard to tell is if the equipment was really lost, or the paperwork just got sideways in the property accountability system.

Anyways, the night before last, I couldn't fall asleep because I was thinking about it. So yesterday I went through every file, every scrap of paper, every shipping document, technical inspection, etc. I found one document referencing a technical inspection completed on one piece of equipment that was on the list of missing items. It was worth $10,000 alone. However, there are 60+ items that I couldn't resolve, hence why they were submitted to begin with--they cannot be accounted for. Trust me, no one would steal this type of equipment, no value outside.

Anyway, that is probably way too boring and detailed for most of you reading this blog, but that is the life of a military officer, particularly this medical logistician. It is really beautiful here. When it is not cloudy, there is a great view of the Cascade mountain range and a spectacular view of Mount Rainier. I will try and post a picture (or postcard) of it sometime in the near future.

Thanks for all your prayers and words of encouragment. It really gives me a peace and comfort that I haven't felt in previous deployments.

Don