and so they interviewed me, and the next day i got an e-mail from frieda guess who's out here, and sheaid, you've been hired. you're being offered a job. and then about five minutes later, she sent me another e-mail that said, and, oh, we're going on the advance party next week. so we're going to go for ten days to afghanistan, we want you to go. i was -- mainly because i was the senior civilian, i think, more than anything else. and so in the middle of april i wasn't sure, i was pretty convinced that i had been not selected. by the 21st of april, i was in afghanistan. and we spent two weeks exploring the lay of the land because we were the plank holder group, the first group of civilians to go over there. and so it was a little confusing to people, um, the difference between contractors and civilians and exactly what our role would be to fit in as functional experts, and also we wanted to be able to come back and optimize the training. as soon as we got back, training started. it's about seven weeks, and that training is laid out pretty well in the guidebook. it was very good training