JCOC76 Begins!! Guest Blog Post - Allison Barber

JCOC 76 is underway and so far, so good. The day at the Pentagon had moments of great reflection—beginning with a ceremony to honor POW/MIA’s and finishing with a tour through the new Pentagon Memorial that just opened on 9-11. The day also had some “cool” factor as we witnessed two flyovers and a military parade.

We heard from Deputy Secretary England, General Paxton and Bob Hastings. They shared their insights and overview of the work at the Pentagon and around the world. The thing they all had in common was jealousy. Each of them want to be on JCOC with us!!!!

After a day at the Pentagon—which included a lot of walking—(the Pentagon has 17 miles of hallway…we left our footprints on several miles!!!!!) We went to Andrews Air Force Base to have dinner and then we were on our way to the C-17 Globemaster III. Everyone was hoping for a seat in first class—once they got on the big cargo plane, they realized how lucky we were to actually just have seats!!! Not only do we have seats, we have cots. Thank heavens since we just flew 11 hours to Greece.

Not sure how people survived on JCOC before ipods and dvd players. Maybe they read!!! Kind of hard to do when you are so tired your head keeps falling off of your neck.

We are about to land so everyone is awake, drinking coffee, eating fruit and granola bars (notice the constant that every few hours, we are eating?) Trying to gear up for dinner…which is what we will do when we land in Greece. Due to the time difference, our bodies think it is morning but the clocks on the wall say it is dinner time. Oh well, we will work off all of the calories when we hang out with the Marines!!!

The JCOC participants are terrific. Great energy, enthusiasm and curiosity!!! It is going to be a great week…

Following a 45 minute drive through some Greek villages right off of a postcard, we have arrived at our hotel.  And, like clockwork, room keys were distributed and bags either picked up or delivered very quickly.  Our earlier than planned arrival here afforded everyone an opportunity to freshen up before dinner.  More than one person was very grateful for that extra time.

The highlight at dinner (not counting the fantastic Greek cuisine) was having the opportunity to listen to Admiral Mark Fitzgerald, commander of the U.S. Naval Forces in Europe and Commander of NATO's Southern Command.  He kept everyone engaged as he described the range of his responsibilities.  Our time with him went by entirely too fast and we soon had to say "good night" to him and begin moving to our lodgings for the night.  As usual, there's just not enough hours in the day.  But, tomorrow is going to be a great day with the Navy!

Allison Barber

Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense