2 October 2011

     As a huge fan of the long gone Comedy Central hit, Chappelle’s Show, I’ll never forget the wonky way it ended.  Dave Chappelle, sketch comedy genius, was at all time popularity high after the second season of the show ended.  Then the unbelievable happened.  He up and flew off to Africa in the middle of filming the third season, and that was all she wrote.

     In many ways, I pulled a Dave Chappelle with my blog.  I started out with a high-minded plan to constantly provide helpful and somewhat witty posts, and the wheels quickly flew off when I got to DCC and faced a few minor logistical challenges.  I still get emails notifying me of comments posted on older blog entries, and one in particular made me feel guilty for quitting on things.  The anonymous poster remarked “RIP LT Harper’s blog,” and my heart took a hit.

(I didn't disappear to another continent, but I did manage to go off the grid for a while.  There are probably plenty of people who saw this post pop up and question why I didn't, though.)

     After wrapping up my third month on the ground with the Fort Stewart Client Services Office, enough has happened that I’ve felt motivated to make a return.  Gone are the times of daily posts discussing the minutia of my routine.  Instead, my plan is to reflect on some of the larger lessons I’ve learned so far, and discuss my upcoming deployment.  With large strategy changes underway in Iraq and Afghanistan, deployments opportunities are shrinking.  I’ll be the first member of my OBC class to deploy, and my plan is to share lessons learned so that fellow Judge Advocates, who will inevitably deploy in the future, will have a better picture of what it’s like to get tapped as a junior member of the office.