To all Loyal readers, MERRY CHRISTMAS!

After wrapping up with the last of the interviews we excused ourselves to the guest quarters under the pretenses of freshening up for dinner – our intent was to VCATS with the whole gang at the office. All the players were there with Queen Jenny and her big baby filled abdomen sitting in my office chair, looking like she owned it with Marcy and Lorrie at her sides. Behind them stood Jason, Renay Reese, Cindy. Ching Lee joined us by remote.

The more I thought about it, we should set up one of the meeting rooms under lock and key for emergencies only and high end executive meetings like this.

“OK we will deal with the bad things first,” I announced.

“First off, I heard back from Amy and the General – Amy has confirmed that the bodies will definitely be landing late Tuesday morning at Dover AFB. General McJames has been able to get approval for our C130 and G5 to land at Dover. The casket of Albert Koons will be transferred to the C130 and then be flown to the Lancaster Airport,” I stated. I finished that statement with, “I think that will be better than trying to motorcade that far,” I said.

I would like the honor guard to meet the C17 when it lands at the base.

“Vicky and I will land at Morton Tuesday morning and will change, then fly to Dover with our honor guard. From there, we go to Lancaster to transfer to the funeral home hearse,” I said.

“Ching Lee, the service needs to be on Wednesday if it can be done. Work with the family, the pastor, the funeral home and let me know as soon as it is firm,” I said.

“Have you received any information from the VA for Phil Adams yet?” I asked.

“The VA uses Smith’s Funeral Home for the burials at the Preston VA cemetery. I have also done a complete search on Phil’s family he is the last on his family tree,” Jenny said.

“OK, Smith’s will need to be there to get the body on Tuesday and they need to plan the service for Thursday,” I said.

“On to the order of business, what have you learned about the plane,” I asked.

“BJ, have you seen Vance’s pictures of the interior of the jet yet?” Marcy asked.

“No, I have not had the chance to check my emails,” I replied.

Marcy continued by saying, “the picture of the outside that you sent were great- when we got Vance’s pictures of the interior I thought Lorrie was going to have one of Jenny’ babies,” Marcy said.

“Marcy!” Lorrie uttered.

“As I was saying, Jake fell in love in love with it too – as we all have” Marcy replied.

“Jack looked at the avionics list, they are first rate and apparently there was an upgrade on the jet before it left the factory.”

“After Robbie looked over the copied log books from Vance, he called and talked to the representative who he uses for technical support from Gulf Stream. They pulled the complete history on the plane.

“In Gulf Stream’s report it states there have been no repairs and the plane has been back to the factory for its annual inspections.” Lorrie said.

“Jake is working with Jeanna on the money part. I will have firm numbers later today for you,” Marcy said.

Then Marcy commented by saying, “Lorrie wants us to buy it even if Jake does not want it. We are going to be hurting for jets at the end of January and all of February; the vacation rentals are nearly full and that means more flights than we can handle without an additional plane.”

“You don’t know the half of it yet,” I replied.

“Jason, how is the hiring for the 30 going?” I asked.

“Roseanne has made contact with the first 30, and only couple have not responded yet. Those who have will be here on Monday for all the fun, “Jason answered.

“Well, that is good start, but here is another problem. We need to hire another 80; we need a total of one hundred and twenty. Vicky and I had the pleasure of sitting through a meeting with Victor Edmonson and Elmer Hobart – the topic was on yesterday’s review of the embassy security audit. The state department has authorized 18 embassies that are in high risk areas, North Africa and the Middle East each get five more contract security personnel from JBG ASAP,” I replied. That means we need a grand total of 100 more employees,” I said.

“In order to get the numbers up quickly, pull all the college security employee files of those who are former military and closely look them over. What I am thinking is we offer them a temporary assignment to the embassy group for no more than a 60 day rotation with hazard pay,” I suggested.

I finished the statement with, “It will take that long to get the new hires up to speed – to get them equipped, to train them and get them in place,” I said then added.

“The hazard pay for the time they are there will be set at, five hundred dollars a day – tax free, is the new pay rate at those 18 embassies now. I will send you the list in a few minutes Marcy it goes into effect on Monday.”

“WOW” Marcy said, “That is really going to cut into our profit margin.”

“No, the bill back to state is now eight hundred a day per employee,” I responded.

“Whew, that’s better,” Marcy replied.

“Here is the rest, Marcy, you need to order 18 more armored Suburban’s for those embassies. They each get another one and you are going to have to torque on the up-fitter ASAP is the word.”

“As a result of the audit the rest of the choppers need to be swapped out as soon as we can get it done. We need to rebuild all that come back, if it is financially feasible. The State Depart is looking at requests from the embassies for more choppers,”

“To fulfill this order we will use the Iowa National Guard they have a C130-30 – the extended model. We can put the Black Hawks in without disassembling so much of the choppers, just the rotors I was told. The guard has a bunch of pilots who need flight time. We pay fuel and expenses and they will ferry the choppers for us.”

“When we have 8 suburban ready to go, the DOD will fly them out of Dover on a C17 to wherever they need to go. The back bill to us $12000 an hour. If they can schedule a return with DOD freight, we will only have to pay one way. Marcy, the add-ons are to be billed to the State Department as we.”

“Jason, a couple more things; find out from the gun club if any land is available. We need to build a mock town for hostage rescue and live fire training. Check all the existing employees and possible new hires for demolition and explosives experience.”

“As a second thought, see if the farmer will sell us his farm that butts up to the airport. If not, see if he will lease us the property for a 10 year term. If it comes to that, make it worth his while. Jason, pull any help you need from any department to get these things done,” I said.

“Jenny, get with Jamie; tell her the firearms training is going to go ballistic. It is time she had a staff of her own. Ask her if she knows of a couple of people who she would like to have work under her to help with the training – maybe a few members from her Olympic team might fit the bill,” I said.

“Before I forget, I have the pleasure to go to Washington with Victor on Friday, we will be testifying before the Senate Embassy Security Committee. That’s why I hope the funerals will happen before then,” I said.

“I know this is a lot to dump on you guys so quickly. I wish we were there to help. Vicky and I have to run; we have to play politics again and play nice to people who would just as soon cut our throats. Keep me informed, I will try to VCATS again before we call it a night.”

Vicky and I went to another embassy feast with the powers to be from Dubai. Ambassadors from other countries were invited guests. I was introduced to the British, German, French, Italian, Spanish and Indian ambassadors. Again, the evening ended without me causing an international incident. I was starting to relax a little at these events – was it a good thing, or a bad thing? Only time would tell.

It was midnight in Dubai, 11 AM at Summers Lane, we had another VCATS with the back home – it was a quick one. Things were moving on all fronts. By the time we got up in the morning, there may be more new on things in the works; at least I hoped so. We expressed of love and loneliness at being away from our mates again and then called it a night.

Edit by Alfmeister
Proof read by Joe H.