Messages Home: Feb. 5, 2009

From Loretta Jasper, CSJ, who is working for a month at Rose Barracks in Vilseck, Germany. To learn more about her mission, click HERE.

Voila! I finally have access to the post without my POC (Point of Contact) signing me in (a.m.) and out (p.m.). We were able to solve the mystery a whole 24 hours earlier than anticipated, but four days later than most. The actual event of getting my temporary Installation Pass this afternoon was a four-day, ten-minute walk to/from my office to the correct building and then the ten minute process: photo, finger print and a couple of signatures.

Many of the buildings which involve me at this point at the Vilseck post are close together. The brisk, wintery air is a great perker as I walk from place to place. Nice! Also gives me a flavor of the folks who are sharing the sidewalks with me. Friendly and open with the greetings as we pass.

What was the scramble all about? It began in Dec/January when my predecessors and POC (new to this base at this time) were tending to Installation passes at a time when folks recently returned to this base from Iraq went on leave. Since many of the employees on base are spouses, temporary staff filled in during Dec./Jan., and entangled the process. The regular person was on site today. Yippee!!!!!!!!!! Mystery solved!

As a result, come tomorrow I now have access to Graf, the companion base 20 minutes from Vilseck. Since my partner in service provision is arriving tomorrow afternoon, I believe it best to have some sense of the layout of Graf, since I get to show him around the posts and the notebooks which are passed on from consultant to consultant. Oh well.

My housemates, a group which compares in ages to my older nephews/nieces, are a delight to be a part of in the eve….a wonderful normalizer to start and finish the day.

Loretta Jasper