Reflections on one year in Iraq

Today, June 1st, is very significant for me. Exactly one year ago today I was sitting in a terminal at McCarran Airport, nursing a coffee and watching the sun rise over the Las Vegas strip one last time. Soon I would board my flight, destined for Fort Benning, GA, to be in-processed for my stint as a contract network engineer in Iraq.

While it would be roughly a week until I actually set foot in the Middle East, that day was the official start of my first contract, just as today marks the beginning of my second. That day also marked my first day employed as a civilian, having just honorably separated from the USAF after a four-year enlistment. More detail about my transition from Airman to contractor can be found in the blog I kept at the time for those interested.

Shortly after getting settled out here, I began to study for my CCNP. Originally I hadn't taken it all that seriously, assuming that I would forget much of what I studied before I had a chance to take an exam. I was wrong. This turned out to be a great study environment, as there's plenty of time and few distractions. I went through the entire Cisco Press CCNP set, taking notes on each chapter, then went through the entire set again, refining the notes as I saw fit. The cheat sheets published on this site were originally an off-shoot of this effort, as was the site itself.

Now that I'm confident in my understanding of the material covered at the CCNP level, I've decided to pursue my CCIE in Routing and Switching. Given that I just agreed to spend at least another year out here, it would seem crazy not to progress my studying. Considering how much I've learned so far just from the CCNP track, I'm excited to think how much more I can expand my knowledge over the coming months. Here's to another year of Cisco in the desert!