Always On the Go

My command's terminology for me is a "roving" ROLFSO (Rule of Law Field Support Officer). The whole ROLFSO acronym/title is bad enough.  My command itself is ROLFF-A so now when I enter the staff room, one CPT in particular is fond of yelling "ROLFFA!!!!!!!!!!!" in his best WWF imitation voice.  Yup, I sure am mighty -- I am the Rule of Law after all.  But anyhow so I'm "roving."  As I've mentioned before I am traveling quite a bit.  This past week involved stays at two different COPs and another FOB before coming back "home" to the FOB where I actually have a bed and a desk.  I also spent time at the provincial governor's compound and two different district centers.  A lot of conversations this week revolved around judicial security after the incidents last weekend.  Not a new topic -- assassination of GIRoA officials is far too common -- but I think Kabul is finally paying attention to the need for increased AUP security for the judicial sector the way that AUP is assigned to District Governors for example.  Other highlights of the week included another public trial in one of my districts on Valentine's Day.  We got the media there so in addition to 100 Afghan men staring as much at me as the proceedings (so much attention from men on Valentine's Day...I'm such a lucky girl), there's a decent chance my mug ended up on Afghan television.  Hmmm not sure how I feel about that.  During another Afghan meal I made my first go at Afghan fish, straight out of the river that divides our AO no doubt.  Thank goodness for those malaria pills.  And I was able to dodge some bad weather here and there to make it back "home" for the first Sunday in a while.  Sundays are days of rest -- or at least no staff huddle or CUB which is as much as one can hope for deployed.  I look forward to returning to the days of my gym bag and coffee being the last things I grab on the way out the door.  But for now, my ruck, kit, and rifle are pretty handy :)