Hillah, Iraq.

We are planning a big helicopter assault tonight. As the air officer, this means a busy day. I had submitted all the relevant paperwork, but there are always a bunch of last minute details. The new espresso machine is quite popular, and was more or less in constant use. Recently, we had the Iraqi interpreters purchase a set of Iraqi teacups on the local market. They are enameled porcelain, and are perfect for espresso, allowing us to drink coffee like a civilized person. SSGT has also gotten really good at foaming the milk, so lattes were also being made as we all worked up to the assault.

Of course, our secure email went down, so after a cup of espresso, I trekked across camp to get some questions that the helo squadrons wanted answered, questions that also required some phone calls, but the Team Room phone was busy, so I walked all the way back over to the Team Room, gratefully accepted a latte, and waited in line to talk to the Captain, who referred me to the Team Sergeant, but our phone was being used so I had to walk all the way back across camp to provide answers by email, and my replies had, of course, prompted more questions, and having opted for coffee over lunch, I made some phone calls (which was tricky because there are no secure phones available) and tried to resolve these problems as well as I could by dancing around the issues without breaking security, and dammit I was tired and I could use another coffee, which I got back in the Team Room to try to get a bit more imagery for the target, and the phone was still busy and our secure email still doesn’t work, which was irritating because we got some last minute intel regarding some other targets, and I was going to go to dinner but I will generate this email traffic instead, and I will just eat some pop tarts and have a Red Bull when I get back to the Team Room, but only after sending the last bit of email that I had time to before I had to change into my battle clothes, a feat done quickly because I had a phone call which necessitated yet another trek across camp to send that last question, and dammit, that was the last one they get because now it was briefing time, but this was okay because the helo guys are ready to fight and we can work out any remaining details later.

I walked into the briefing spaces to see the usual title slide replaced with one that read.

“Air Assets Canceled. Mission Canceled.”

All eyes looked at me. I just shrugged. First I had heard of it. We briefed the mission anyway, since we were all there, and then everybody went away. We made some phone calls, and it turns out that some staff officer didn’t feel comfortable about some of the remaining questions, and canceled our air assets, which meant canceling the mission. And just like that, we had nothing to do tonight.