Chapter 27

As the VP of the Property Department, Samantha made the arrangements to have General Mike Henderson, Captain Fitz Morrison, and their Bond Mates join us for dinner. Their Bond Groups arrived less than a minute apart. Their kids and ours knew each other from school, so their kids headed for the kid’s playroom. Clara had arranged with Jenny for the kids to be separate from the adults, so we adults could talk business without being interrupted. Tara, Dori, and Asal had prepared a buffet dinner for everyone, so our guests were invited to help themselves.

Captain Fitz Morrison’s head Bond Mate Ciara said, “Thanks, but we should probably get our hellions fed first.”

Clara said, “No need to worry, Ciara. Jenny, Cindy, and Sara are minding the kids and seeing that they all get fed. So go ahead and help yourselves.”

Once we were seated around our dinner table, Sam started the conversation with, “Several days ago, I was talking with Mike and Jon about what my Property Department has been doing. They brought up the idea of my group setting up military housing here in Auburn.

“One of the problems is everyone living on the surface wants to move into private homes. Right now, we don’t have suitable homes and support in place for them to do that. It is going to take time to get everything in place to provide homes for everyone.

“Fitz, we decided that my department should start a pilot program for setting up Bond Group Homes, and since the idea was originated by Seal Team 2, we want you, your men, and their Bond Groups to be active participants in the pilot program. Once we have your people in private homes, we can evaluate the results and fix any problems we find. Would your people and their families like to help us get this job done?”

After a moment or so of thought, Fitz said, “I know I and my Bond Group will help. I suspect the majority of my men and their families will also do what needs to be done in order to move out of the Ark; so we can live as families.

“Do you have a plan for this pilot program and how do we fit into it?”

“Not yet, Fitz. My pilot program has just kicked off and tonight is our first planning session. Welcome aboard.

“Mike, are you and your Bond Group willing to join us in this effort?”

Adelle Henderson said, “Mike, Betty, and I talked it over after your meeting with Jon and Mike. We know that for now, we will continue to live in the Ark. Mike and Betty are too busy with their jobs, but I have time to work with your people.”

Sam said, “Thank you, Adelle. We are going to need a lot of help.

“Fitz, I’m assuming you and your men will be too busy at Blocking Posts 1 and 4 to donate a significant amount of time to this effort. But, I’d like to have as many of your Bond Mates as possible work with my department.”

“Ciara, since it will be primarily Seal Team 2’s Bond Mates working with my department, I would like you to manage their efforts. Are you interested in taking on that responsibility?”

“If it will get us into private homes sooner, I’d be happy to fill that position. What do you want us to do?”

“My department is still in the process of getting organized, and we now have this effort to handle. I am developing an organizational chart for my department and I’m recruiting people to fill the slots. If your ladies want full or part-time jobs, I have positions that don’t require a lot of experience. What I need the most are intelligent generalists with common sense that I can train; we can find the experts we will need later.”

Adelle asked, “What’s the first step, Sam?”

“I started a list of things that will be needed for a Bond Group to live in what I’m calling a Bond Group Home. What I need help with the most, right now, is expanding that list and creating a plan for providing what will be needed.

“I did some research on the sizes of the Ark’s Bond Groups. It turns out that most of our Bond Groups are larger than I thought. The fifth percentile Bond Group has two adults and two kids. The ninety-fifth percentile Bond Group has eight adults and fourteen kids. Our Bond Groups are also growing, so that needs to be factored into the calculations for the size of home a Bond Group will need.

“I tasked a couple of my people with determining the best approach to creating Bond Group Homes. They are mainly looking at converting private homes and apartment buildings. Their initial assessment is the average pre-meteoroid homes and apartments are too small for most of our Bond Groups. That means we will have to merge two or more of the existing homes or apartments to create a Bond Group Home. Another group of my people is looking into the construction effort necessary to create Group Homes from apartments and from private homes. My instincts tell me we should use private homes, but intellectually, I think the construction effort will be less if we convert apartments.

“Ciara, identifying additional factors that influence the decision is something that your group can look into in addition to working on my list.”

“Alright, Sam. I can think of a few just off the top of my head like places for kids to play. Do you want just a list of factors with descriptions or will you need additional data to support the factors?”

“Just the list and a short description for now; I doubt data will be needed. The third thing your group can do is find apartments and homes that would be suitable for converting into Group homes. Ideally, they should be close to each other.

“For now, use the rest of the week to assemble your team. We can assign office space on Level 16 to your group. When you are ready, my department’s people can meet with your group to decide what needs to be done and to create a schedule for doing the work.

Mistress Shelby Yearwood knocked on Larry Miller’s office door, and entered when Larry waved her in.

“Thank you for stopping by so quickly, Shelby. I read your report on the Mistress Lafferty affair. Jon was happy with the results, and I assume you haven’t heard from her since your last reported contact.”

“Thank you, Sir, and no I haven’t heard from her; hopefully I won’t.”

“Any particular reason?”

“To start with, she is opinionated and doesn’t seem to want to accept that the Constitution and laws we used to live under no longer exist. I wouldn’t be surprised to find that she is waiting for the US Government to show up and put everything back to the way it was.”

“Yeah, I know what you mean. Jon and I deal with people like that frequently.

“Anyway, Jon has a little task for me and I’m giving it to you. We have been making decisions about developing training materials for the Committee members and support staff without the data necessary to predict the number of replacement Committee members and support personnel who will need training. I don’t want to expend the time and effort necessary to develop a self-paced training course for just a few trainees. However, if the turnover rate is higher than I think it will be, developing a self-paced course may be worth the effort.

“Jon thinks the attrition rate of the Ark’s Departments will be similar to that of the Summary Committee. So he would like us to do some research on the turnover of the Ark Departments’ personnel and come up with an estimated attrition rate for the Summary Committee. What I want you to do is go a step further. Once you come up with a number I can give to Jon, think about a different way we might come up with an attrition rate. I think the task should take a couple of days, so when you have your numbers, come see me. If you run into a problem, let me know.”

Our efforts for reinforcing Company B in Folsom and restoring the Benicia Facility had proceeded according to the modified Stage 1 plan. However, I had not kept up with the schedule changes for the Stage 1 effort.

Sergeant Geraldine Previn was assigned to Major Ann Vannes’ Intelligence and Planning Section. Sergeant Previn was also a member of the team who created the original Ark Army plan for securing the Sacramento Area, and her part of the effort was to create an MS Project schedule for that effort. When the Ark Army’s original schedule was complete, she provided it to the individual Clara and I had selected to integrate the Ark Army’s schedule with the individual Ark Departments’ schedules.

When the schedule for Stage 1 of the original Sacrament Area plan fell apart, I had Mike assign Sergeant Previn to me to fix the problems with the overall schedule. That was when we learned Clara and I made a poor choice for the person to create the overall schedule. The problems with the overall schedule were so extensive that Sergeant Previn had to basically start from scratch. Clara and I tasked her with fixing the Stage 1 schedule first, and then with updating the remaining portion of the schedule to secure the Sacramento Area.

After several days of reviewing the existing schedule and working with three of the Departments’ representatives, she informed Clara and me that the Departments’ schedules lacked an appropriate level of detail, the time allotted to the tasks were too short, and the Departments’ personnel were overloaded with work. She also indicated that the remaining Department schedules appeared to have the same problems. She recommended that we scrap the current schedule and start from scratch. Once we understood the problems she described, we agreed with her recommendation. That was a bitter pill for Clara and I to swallow for we should have spotted the problems with the individual Department schedules a long time ago.

Since the Ark Army’s schedule for the modified Stage 1 effort was the most complete, Sergeant Previn used that schedule as the basis for developing a Master Schedule for the Stage 1 effort. She started the effort by updating the individual Department schedules for Stage 1 and integrating the schedules with the Ark Army’s schedule. By the time she finished integrating the first two updated Department schedules; Stage 1’s timeline had increased from six months to over two years. Clara and I knew that when the remaining Department schedules were updated and integrated, the two years was likely to grow to four or five years.

Mike and the Department VPs had scrambled to prepare new plans for completing the remainder of the Stage 2 effort. Clara and I decided that it made no sense to prepare plans for further stages, until we could assess what the situation would be like in four years. We informed everyone to put their planning effort on hold until further notice, which meant Sergeant Previn wouldn’t be able to update the remainder of the schedule. That had been a month ago, and now Sergeant Previn was almost finished with creating a realistic schedule for the Stage 1 effort.

Picking up the phone, I called Mike Henderson. “Mike, I would like to review our schedule for completing the Stage 1 efforts with Sergeant Previn. Based on your latest status report, she should be almost finished with creating the new schedule. I think it would be a good idea for you and Major Vannes to attend the meeting. Tomorrow afternoon would be good for me if that is good for all of you.”

“Alright, Jon. Sergeant Previn has been handling that effort and providing status to Ann and me. She knows what she is doing, and so far, she hasn’t needed our help. So, we have let her handle the work without direction from us. While Major Vannes and I have monitored her effort, we aren’t up to date with the latest timeline for the Stage 1 effort either.

“I will make us available for the review, Jon. How does 1300 tomorrow in the Command Center’s meeting room sound to you?”

“Sounds good, Mike. I’ll allocate the entire afternoon to our meeting and I should be there at 1300. Bye.”

When I heard the tap on my doorframe, I looked up and saw Ted Peters.

“Come on in, Ted. What brings you to my office today?”

“I have been expecting you to contact me about the files, Jon. Jane and Ariel finished their search effort without finding further copies of the files, and I have prepared a package containing the hard drive, CDs, and printout you asked for. What do you want me to do with your package?”

“Bring it to my office when you get a chance, but call first to make sure I’m in. I’ll lock it in my office safe with the copies of the Introduction we used in the meeting.”

“Okay. Is there anything else you want the three of us to do?”

“No, not at the moment, Ted. However we do need to schedule another special Advisory Council meeting. I was thinking that since the three of you brought the matter to our attention, it would be appropriate for you to attend future meetings. I had Joan add you to the list of attendees. Hopefully one of you may have an idea the rest of us don’t think of.”

“Thanks for including us, Jon. I know Ariel and Jane are both very interested in being part of the process. I am also, but not as much as they are.”

“Clara and I talked about when to convene the next meeting, Ted. Most of us are overloaded with work right now, and there is no rush to finalize this issue. We decided to defer the meeting for several months. That should put us in a less busy timeframe.”

“Alright, Jon. I’ll let Ariel and Jane know.”

It was less than a fifteen-minute walk to the Command Center’s meeting room, but I knew people would stop me to say “Hi” or to engage me in conversation about something important to them. I followed my usual habit of leaving an hour early. That usually gave me time to listen to everyone and still make my meeting on time.

“Joan, I will be in the Command Center’s meeting room, if anything important comes up. I suspect the meeting will take the rest of the afternoon, so I’ll see you at home.”

“Alright, Jon. I’ll lockup when I’m done.”

I acknowledged the people I passed with a nod, and for whatever reason, only one person stopped me to talk; it was a short conversation and they had other things to do during their lunch break. I made it to the meeting room in twenty minutes, which was a record for me.

When I arrived, I was the only person in the room. Taking my usual seat, I sat back and relaxed after I set up my laptop and was ready to take notes. If no one saw me arrive, I should have a half hour of time to myself in which to just relax. Five minutes later, I was bored. I pulled up my Action Item file and started reviewing and updating the status of the things I had been working on. I was able to close two of the Action Items. Ten minutes later, the door opened and Sergeant Previn entered.

“Afternoon, Geraldine. Ready to start the meeting?”

“Hi, Jon. Yes, I’m almost ready. All I need to do is turn everything on, connect my laptop, and bring up the schedule.” A few moments later, Geraldine was done and sat down at the table with me. Over the past months, we had dropped my title and her rank, and we were on a first name basis, when no one else was around.

“How are things going between you and Master Sergeant Warton? Are you still thinking of joining his Bond Group?”

“Yeah, that’s still the plan if we can resolve our control issues. He still wants subservient Bond Mates, and I am not a weak-willed person who just accepts what a man tells me. We would be perfect for each other if it weren’t for that one issue, and neither of us wants to totally give in to the other. We have been trying to find some middle ground, but things haven’t worked out for us, yet.”

“Well, good luck. Clara wanted me to remind you that she would be happy to talk with you about your problem if you need another female’s opinion.” Before we could go further with our conversation, Mike and Ann joined us, so we had to end our private conversation.

Mike said, “Afternoon, Jon. I didn’t know you were here already.”

The odd thing about our addressing each other was Mike, Ann, and I used first names. But even in informal meetings like this one, we used Sergeant when addressing Geraldine and she usually used Sir to address us.

Mike was old school. He believed the use of first names between officers and enlisted personnel undermined discipline. As an ex-Ranger Staff Sergeant, I was comfortable with dropping the rank and using either first or last names when talking with enlisted personnel. Of course, enlisted personnel weren’t comfortable addressing me as Jon; but I insisted and usually wore them down.

“Yes, I was only stopped once, Mike, and it was a short conversation. Since we’re all here, let’s get things started, so we can get out of here as soon as we can.”

Mike said, “Sergeant Previn, what is the current time to complete Stage 1 of the Sacramento Area effort?”

“The schedule indicates five years and six months, Sir.”

Mike looks at me and said, “That is a bit more than we expected, Jon.”

“I know, but it is less than my worst case prediction of ten years.”

Looking to Sergeant Previn, I asked, “What is your gut feeling about the validity of the schedule, Sergeant?”

“Well, Sir, overall I think the schedule is almost doable, but I would feel safer if we added another year. To me, the time allocations for a number of the tasks seem to be a little short, and I think we will need more people to do the work than projected. The additional people will require training and time to come up to speed, which is not included in the schedule.”

“Alright, Sergeant, let’s start the review, and point out anything that you feel is a weak area. When we finish today, I would like to have a doable schedule ... barring, of course, any unforeseeable delays.”

Sergeant Previn walked us through the schedule explaining why she felt certain areas were weak. We tended to agree with her opinion for most of the tasks, and adjusted the time allocations to what seemed appropriate. I created several Action Items for me to follow-up on: the significant changes to task times, the apparent weak areas that we didn’t know how to fix, and possible alternative approaches I wanted to discuss with a few VPs. We added three months to the schedule.

When Sergeant Previn finished going through the final Department’s schedule, I complimented her by saying, “It looks like you did a good job, Sergeant.

“Mike, Ann, I’m more than happy with Sergeant Previn’s results. However, before we make this schedule final, I want to explore a few possibilities that may shorten certain efforts. I also want to assess each of the department’s projects. It seems to me that some of the project’s tasks are not critical to completing this stage of the effort. The work needs to be done, but I think the tasks could be removed from the critical path of the Stage 1 effort. If I am right, then we may be able to shorten the time for completing the Stage 1 effort.

“The next step as I see it, Mike, is to begin to define a new Stage 2 effort. However, I think we need to re-evaluate the situation.

“Our prior plan’s stages were predicated on a high probability of encountering large hostile groups of well-armed people. That is still a possibility; but by the time we are ready to start the new Stage 2, everything is going to be very different than it is now.

“We will probably be the only people with a supply of fuel for vehicles. That should give us a tactical advantage over any hostile party we encounter. It will also be an incentive for people to join us, which will hopefully reduce our overall time to complete the Sacramento Area effort.

“I think you’re right, Jon. I assume that you mean Stage 2 to be the addition of Folsom and Granite Bay to our territory. Once we finish Stage 2, it should be feasible to combine everything from Folsom to Angels Camp and assimilate that as a single stage. However, securing that area should be fairly simple, so we could include that effort as part of Stage 2.”

“Yes, I was thinking of Stage 2 being Granite Bay and Folsom. We can consider combining what were Stages 2 and 3 when it comes time to plan our new Stage 2 effort.”

Major Vannes added, “I’ve had my planning staff working on what can be done when we decide to expand out of the Stage 1 area. One of the things they brought to my attention was there are five hydroelectric facilities a few miles southeast of Angles Camp. If those facilities weren’t damaged too badly, we may be able to restore one or more of them to operation. There are also a large number of major oil fields in the area around Lodi, which will help us increase production of diesel.

“I think we need to make a trip to the five hydroelectric facilities. If they are still operational, it would be to our best interests to secure them, before they are damaged.”

Mike said, “That’s nice to know, Ann, and I agree with your idea. Jon, I know we are training Line Crews for restoring electricity, but have we started training people to restore and operate hydroelectric facilities and refineries?”