Feb. 18

Today was a good day but stressfull at the end. good because it was my Friday and bad because I had to deal with some confrontation. I guess anything gets better with experience. When it comes to dealing with teenagers I teach and adults, i'm very different. With kids I'm strict, I'm consistent and fair with discipline, and I refuse to allow disrespect, does that mean I get angry, frustrated, and annoyed on occasion with kids? Of course! My patience level is still better then 90% of all americans. Adults, however, I'm still trying to feel it out. Adults are much more sensitive then kids and they will hold a grudge longer. My assistant NCOIC was telling me a certain story of when they first got here, and he was doing a shift brief, a crew member (part of our reserve unit), was talking when he was, he corrected her, and word has it this crew member was bitter for a long time. So when I talk to adults I try to be very calm, respectfull. do I let a few things slide that I see that i probably should correct on the spot,yes, it's something I need to keep getting better at, sometimes a let a few things slide to try to keep the peace, unlike as a teacher, i rarely let things go. But this personality of mine, I feel segeant "right" interprets it as me being soft, a pushover. It's funny though, SRA Christain said to the group last night after shift brief, "It's amazing but ever since you got here, everybody has been showing up to shift brief on time." Best compliment i have had so far on the tour.
Today was our NCO meeting where all the leaders of the groups go over things. I knew i would have to address dayshift taking my one of my only two dispatchers. i felt bad because i told her that if the command section took her troop, sergeant Delaporta,to be their network IT guy, that it would be hard to fight her over losing our dispatcher. I guess it sounds like i was agreeing but over 24 hrs of thinking and conferring with a few senior NCO's who "heard wind" (by the way, rumors spread quickly here and mostly everyone talks about mostly everyone behind their back) I decided to change my mind so i was going to bring it up with our top enlisted guy at the meeting to get the decision changed. I was nervous, thinking he/she would be angry and think I was a backstabber but can't a person change their mind? I felt I was backed into a corner and i didn't like it one bit. I had to write notes down, I had to have valid facts and statistics to back my point. Well, to make a long story short, we kept our dispatcher. I could say more but I better not, I'm just glad it's over and it was a good learning experience, I'm proud I stood my ground, I just hate learning the hard way. I think the tension between the shifts will increase, i just have to ride it out and sometimes take the high road. I know one thing that makes me feel good, that morale in our shift is very good, people are joking, smiling but there will probably be the worsening situation where the dispatcher and counter sup have not gotten along. I just need to try to keep them separated as much as possible. Anyway, I'm going to enjoy my day off, read, goof around with the computer, hey I may even watch a movie, haven't done that yet, work out and of course sleep a ton. I really hope i don't have to write about any more drama but I doubt it. Don't get me wrong, in general me and sergeant "right" get along fine back in reserves, we have known each other a long time, we just have different styles, different flaws, and different agendas. Somehow though, we need to make it work