Friday was hectic in the office; Lorrie set up a commercial account with one on the international air carriers to get the 40 employees to Africa on Monday. All of them were flying out Sunday afternoon and would not arrive in Africa until almost 24 hours later with layovers in Europe.
All of those employees were scrambling to get last minute personal things taken care of. In a way, we were fortunate that out of the 40 only 10 were married or had families. All of them were relieved that they were going to be able to use our SVOL as often as they wanted to, to communicate with their loved ones. There had been a mad rush to move to the area for the family to be able to do that.
Jenna and Mid West had been a godsend working with our employees on housing. With her special JBG discounts, payroll deduction and mandatory IRA account savings accounts, they were getting rates less than 3%.
I sat in on the VCATS calls with Vicky. Together we made arrangements for the next class of 40 deployments; that was the only way I could think to call it. The forty on Monday were all set and the forty more the following Monday were the ones we were working on.
Then, after lunch, we went down the list to confirm when the accommodations would be complete on the rest of the embassies.
With the RRT group back, they were all going to be pressed into trainers. That was the only way we were going to meet the numbers. Jenny, Jason and the HR administrators were burning the phones to get firm dates when they would be here from potential employees.
To our good fortune – just as we would triple the output from the training program – the embassies would be finishing the rooms for them and the transportation for the helicopters should arrive.
By 5 all the bits and pieces had come together as close as we could get them; all long range planning changes checked at least twice.
The weekend was wonderful; the first in 8 weeks that we had not been in a full work mode. We had our first full blown orgy in 8 weeks on Saturday night with many of the normal players with Mischief, Mayhem and their boyfriends, Jenna, Marlene, Crash and the North six.
Sunday I cooked a big breakfast for the group that had stayed over. Then I spent the day with the boys and my mates. The only thing I did work-wise was to check the fence cams at Rochester to make sure there were no problems.
Monday morning I drove my armored Suburban to KCC. I was going to meet with Bob Jackson and Mr. Nobles after I looked things over. I had been gone 8 weeks and I was sure my desk was piled full.
Patti had it separated into piles and there was no junk mail to go through. The things that had been opened had sticky notes with the action she had taken. We had a discussion before I left and I gave her permission to open my mail.
I was wondering just how long it would take the pair to make it to my office. Sixteen minutes after I logged onto my computer, they walked through the door.
“Well, our world traveler has returned. It’s good to see you are healthy after all you have been through,” Bob said and added “You even survived four days in Washington.”
“After Kampala, Washington was a breeze,” I replied.
“You and Patti both drove this morning?” Bob asked.
“Yes, mine is armored, that’s all I’m driving from now on,” I replied before I added, “Patti can continue to use the KCC one.”
“I was getting ready to email you for a meeting but now that you are here, I will tell you now. I am not going to renew my contract at the end of the year. I need to be at JBG now that we have grown so much.”
“I’m going to need some days off along the way. I have to go back to Africa several times. You promised several professors that I would speak before their classes so we need to set that up as soon as possible,” I said.
“It is not a surprise; in fact the board and I have been expecting it for a while. Just pick a date and we will end the contract on that date,” Mr. Nobles replied.
“I assume you would recommend Patti to replace you?” Bob said.
“Yes; even if you contracted with JBG for security I would recommend Patti to be Director,” I said.
“Speaking of contracting the department, can you give us a price?” Mr. Nobles asked.
“Prices are Marcy’s department and I will get it in motion. JBG normally owns the cameras, security card system and the vehicles. I will get East Coast to come up with a value for that part of it. The vehicles are up to you,” I replied
“What about the five girls I have sponsored and I have three more for next year who I was going to sponsor – will the discounts still apply?” I asked.
“Pre-enroll them now, pay the first year before you leave and that will lock it down for the four years.”
“No matter how hard we try to keep this under wraps, it will be out in a few days; have Marcy put a rush on the price. For now, any statements we will go with the end of the year,” Bob Jackson said.
The office started filling up and I was needed at the counter; students had started coming in on Friday and orientation classes were to start tomorrow.
The rest of the day was busy; busy enough that I didn’t have time to talk with Patti.
At two, the three professors who wanted me to do a presentation to their class came in. I scheduled them to take place next week; I wanted to get them out of the way and over with.
Before we left at three I had Patti come into my office and explained that I was resigning at the end of December, and the possibility that JBG would be taking over the security. If JBG did take over, she would be my Director and if we did not, I had recommended that she be the Director for the college. I also added that our conversation needed to be confidential.
I had just settled into my chair at the office when Frank paged me on VCATS, “I got the DNA and prints today on Rashid; he is still in jail. He is going to be there a while until he is deported.”
“He came in through Canada and had been denied a visa by DHS two years ago. He was on a lot of watch lists. The Imam in New York is being looked at as we speak,” Frank added before he hung up.
At out meeting, Lorrie updated us about the four that had gone to Dover today. They were not told until this morning where they would be going and what for.
Adam – one of the pilots who were going – asked, “Why do we need to do that?” Then the little light went on – it was almost comical, Lorrie said.
“They are supposed to text me when they are finished today. They are driving over every day,” Lorrie added.
Normal business finished out the meeting. I was glad to go home; the hot tub and the boys had been calling me for the last hour. I needed to relax. Why I was so stressed out today, I did not know.
It was 8 PM when Lorrie received the text from Adam; they were just leaving the base in Dover. The day had been productive; each of them had spent 2 hour rotations in the simulator. Then they spent 4 hours in the pilot’s seat demonstrating procedures and knowledge of the aircraft. That was the schedule for the next two days.
On the final day they were doing Touch and Go’s with one of the bases M models. The G5M had all the latest bells and whistles and latest cockpit upgrades. The four had plenty of hours in both models.
Edit by Alfmeister
Proof read by Bob W.
Lol, even though my Christmas Gift came a day late – thank you very much for my Christmas gift. As always I am needy for my meds. Did BJ ever have that talk with the girls about the situations? Has BJ and the girls been together 5 years now & when will the rest of the litters start popping out; the new borns?
Happy New Year to all & g-dad help us when the devil is finally given the keys to DC in Jan.
Good morning Joe hope you had a Merry Christmas. Happy New Year. All new years bring change this is no different. Every thing will be fine, it was time for a course correction. The stock market and consumer confidence indicate a positive mood is settling in over the country and that is a good thing.