I've been a bit ornery of late, arguing with folks about various things (mostly the Confederacy...don't get me started...no, really, don't get me started), all of which boil down to ego issues (them, not me...I am modest and meek).
Anyway, I am at a satellite camp here in Afghanistan. The main camp is Bagram. There, our planning cell (two bosnians, and an American woman), arrange the next day's flights. The planners routinely make mistakes. They routinely can't get out the list of flights until very late each night because they do God Knows What during the day. Virtually all problems the Air Operations department have start and end in the planning cell. Because they are virtually always wrong, they are constantly being checked on by the Boss, Tom. Because they are constantly being checked on, they constantly do whatever they can to cast the blame of any issues on others.
I've had to fight with them tooth and nail recently just to get some very basic, common sense changes made. All it took was them saying "sure. not a problem," but first we had to go through two days of me explaining why I needed (A) done, them responding something about (Q) which had no bearing, me explaining (A) again, as if to a child, them arguing (pi), me circumventing and explaining (A) to Tom in a matter of seconds and Tom emailing the planning cell and telling them to do what I tell them. Then the planning cell mass replies to the email from Tom, saying the suggestion to change (A) was theirs all along. It's lovely.
I've tried to work with them and just smile and be nice and give them way, way more information than they need. I call them with updates so they're not surprised by any of my requests. Today, I had way, way, way more people show up for flights for tomorrow than I had counted on. I didn't call the planning cell to demand an extra helicopter. I usually put people on military helicopters (which the planners have nothing to do with and so can't screw up), so it wasn't a huge issue. Still, I called the planners to let them know I had a very large amount of people needing to fly. I worked out over the phone with the American, Holly, that I'd send them on military but I'd send an email just to confirm our phone call. I did this in an email titled "Sweet Jesus!" Thirty minutes later, I sent my daily report to the planners which showed the people who needed to fly from my location.
Five hours later, I got this response to my daily report from one of the Bosnian planners. He made sure to include Tom on the email.
"If we had this information before 10 AM this morning we could plan to support this on Fluor Rotary.
Thank you for Fluor Rotary
Adnan"
That was his snide way of saying "We can help you if you tell us in time, but you didn't do your job." I'd had enough, and I've been in a combative mood of late, so I replied (to all):
"Adnan,
This information was included in my email to Bagram Travel titled "Sweet Jesus!", where I explained the situation. Please read all emails before flaming me to others. Especially when the explanatory email came thirty minutes before this one.
Or we can continue to send "your fault" emails. I'm a lawyer and I have a lot of time on my hands. I wouldn't recommend it, but it's your call.
Cheers.
Ajax Carpenter"
Update**********************************************
Adnan's reply:
"Ajax,
First of all considering traffic of emails which are coming to Bagram Travel inbox I have to admit that I do not have time to pay attention on Spam emails.
The subject of email should reflect the content of email and its importance otherwise it can be missed.
The purpose of my email was not pointing the finger to anyone, it was simply highlighting the importance of timely information for us. ( A day before you have been complaining how we do not support you enough).
Friendly advise: If you have a lot of time on hand please try to get information on time so that all of us can work better and end their workdays on time.
PS.
Your family must be very proud on the fact that you are a lawyer. "
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