Introducing the PandAs (or Pandi...)

 

I am part of the Program and Analysis division.  We shorten this to PandA and decorate our office accordingly.  It is lots of fun and these people are great coworkers!  And yes, we jokingly write Pandi as the plural.  It's a long story...  I believe I mentioned them briefly before, but here are the "formal" introductions.

 

Here you see me with MAJ Devin.  He insists that you can't smile in military pictures - which is anytime he is in uniform.  I tried to get him to smile and you can see that my only success that is that he is fighting it.  MAJ Devin was my officemate, until he left to go home this week.  He spent his days working hard and teasing me incessantly.  He also answered all my many questions about the Army and deployed life.  I miss him terribly! 

 



The guy on the right is LTC Hoberecht.  He is a cool guy.  He and I walked over to ISAF HQs today.  Along the way, little Afghan kids will run up and beg you to buy scarves and bracelets from them.  We decided to stop and make a purchase today.  After some haggling, LTC Hoberecht got a "good" deal from a little boy about 10 years old - three scarves for 500 Afghani.  There was a tiny little girl, probably 6, in a miniature Afghan National Army uniform also selling scarves.  To make it "fair" I bought from her.  Not as good a deal, though, two scarves for 500 Afghani.  The little boy was not happy.  The girl was dancing and laughing with glee, while the boy stomped back to his store.  As we walked away, I turned to see the little girl in tears while the boy scolded her.  One of the gate guards was close by watching the exchange between them.  I hope they are ok!  LTC Hoberecht and I decided we had never seen such distress come from a sale!

The guy on the left is LTC Schwartz.  He is my boss, or as we like to call him, the Chief of the Pandas.  He grew a mustache for Mustache March, but I don't think that is his normal style.  Right now he is dual hatted at the acting chief of the CJ-8, which contains several divisions, mostly dealing with money issues.  It is a complicated and busy job, but he is doing a marvelous job at getting stuff done and keeping a cheerful outlook.  We will certainly be glad to get him back when the new chief comes, though!

Then there is me.  You know me.  As you can see from the pictures, I kind of stand out.  I am grateful to be in this group and eagerly learning everything I can and trying my best to be helpful.  So far, so good!  I still enjoy being here.  I am connected at church, helping with set up and take down.  I have many new friends.  It must be something about being young, female, and civilian, but people keep greeting me as I walk past without me having made eye contact.  One Sergeant First Class stopped me and asked why I walk so fast.  I responded that I just like doing that.  He shook his head and now everytime I see him, he comments about my speed.  If it makes him smile, that's ok by me!

And now to sleep, perchance to dream! Tomorrow I get to worship God with the saints!