The Send Off

Scott opening some of the going away gifts his squadron got for him

Last night was Scott's going away party thrown by his squadron. It was completely lovely! Almost the entire squadron was there including so many of the civilians and local nationals. We took over the restaurant and had to add four extra tables to the end of our already huge table. People got up and said the nicest things about Scott, gave him some really nice going away gifts and made the whole send off really special.

I kind of went into it dreading the whole thing, but everyone was so sincere in their appreciation of Scott and his work in the squadron. It was great. We've had some tough times while we've been here at Kadena in the work department. Everyone kind of agrees, as far as bases go (at least in the finance world), it doesn't get any worse than Kadena. A lot of work, a lot of stress, long hours, working weekends, late into the nights...and that's not even mentioning the nightmare that is August and September in the government finance world. In any case, I find it encouraging that people think it doesn't get much worse than this, 'cause everything else should be better, right? :) So, after enduring the workload (from my end) for the time we've been here, I was not feeling too much remorse about leaving Kadena. But seeing almost the whole squadron come out in support of Scott tonight was completely touching and made me really appreciate the great people of the 18th Comptroller Squadron. So goodbye 18th CPTS! We won't miss the workload, but we'll miss all of you.