A hardship TDY...

Many of you that have kept up with our blog remember the blog about the Antiguan Prime Minister calling my office and being in my office 5 minutes later...this event peaked the interest of the US Ambassador to Barbados and the Easter Caribbean and she asked me to come down and brief her at the Embassy in Barbados. Thankfully my boss signed off on the trip and off I went.





The first thing I noticed was the WIDE roads...there were actually 2 lanes on one side of the Median...(what is a median?) We have grown used to only having about 1 1/2 lanes to drive in, and having to drive down the middle to miss all of the potholes. It was very nice to save my kidneys a beating as we drove around the island.


The military liaison office dropped me off at my "hotel". It turns out it was an all inclusive resort on the beach. Unfortunately I arrived after dark on Tuesday night and really only walked down to the resatraunt for my dinner. It was a very good dinner and I just got up and went back to my room to crawl into bed...after preparing myself for my appointment with the ambassador on Wednesday. Fortunately the appointment was not until 1:30 PM, so I was able to walk on the beach and take some pictures in the morning. Unfortunately I missed the monkies the island is famous for.









The always fun self portrait. As I spent my 40 hours off of Antigua, I noticed how much of a beach snob I have become...while this resort had a fabulous beach, it was not the same without Vonnie and the boys...





The next "self portrait". This one was beside one of the 3 pools...one of which included a swim up bar...I was never able to use this as I was out before lunch, and not back until after the pool was closed, but it sure did look nice.





The real reason I went to Babados was to brief the Ambassador on the operation at Antigua Air Station...I got a tour of the Embassy and even got to join in a social they had for the newly elected Barbadian Government...it was a very nice time, and well worth the trip...I wish I had taken it sooner as the 65 US employees and their families depend on the support of the Embassy...I now have faces to go with the names and functions...definitely beneficial.

While I didn't get any pictures while at the embassy, I did receive a coin from the Ambassador. The front has her name and title and the new embassy...a very beautiful building and the closest thing I got to a picture of the embassy...the back includes the seal of the USA, the US flag and the flags of all 7 nations she is responsible for...a very very nice coin.

As is customary with coin exchanges, I handed the Ambassador a coin and gave her another.

Me: Would you be able to pass on this coin as well?

Ambassador: I will try, to who?

Me: The President!

Ambassador: (laughing) I sure can try, I don't know how far I will get.

Me: Thank you, you are much closer to him than I will ever be.

So who knows whether he will get it or not. Maybe I will end up with a Presidential coin out of the deal? It can't hurt to try.