Chapter 60

Sunday morning it was breakfast at Morton Field. Air Force One was sitting on the tarmac drawing attention while we were eating. The crew was putting last minute items aboard.

Two C130s had made the trip to Deep Water Cay last night. It was a good thing all the new cottages had been completed. The number of people going was double the size of last year’s trip, plus there was extra security after the latest attempt.

At 0900 - before we were airborne - there were a few things that all the so-called experts forgot to bring that required an extensive search of the baggage area and delay.

At 1030 I was on Marine One flying to Deep Water Cay. I had a silent laugh, it was JBG’s Sikorsky S92 with a Marine pilot and copilot at the controls. The Secret Service didn’t want one of the normal helicopters to sit at the airport for two weeks, nor on the beach landing pad to draw attention. So, they decided to use ours.

The Secret Service had Sikorsky come do an inspection on it and - as if that wasn’t enough -had the Marine mechanics from Quantico double check every inspection item with the Sikorsky mechanics. Then they sent the two pilots to a training session at Sikorsky on the operation of the S92.

They were shuffling all the important people back and forth on the helicopter. The little people, the final materials, and baggage were being sent in the several landing craft we now had.

One of the new landing craft that had been ordered was in a passenger configuration. It was made out of aluminum and double hulled foam filled for increased floatability if there was exterior hull damage. There were twin three hundred horsepower outboards mounted on the extended rear frame to reduce vibration and noise.

There were two rear facing hydraulic winches with two hundred and fifty feet of cable connected to anchors. The anchors could be dropped to be able to winch the boat off the beach, if needed due to tide change.

The dropdown front plate made it an excellent boat for beach excursions. The ramp hinge point was a foot off the bottom of the boat. It allowed the floor of the boat to stay dry when the ramp was down while sitting on the beach. It also allowed the ramp to be dropped level as a dive platform or for fishing.

It also had a canopy with dropdown canvas sides to keep the passengers dry in inclement weather. With the seating that Lorrie had ordered, it could carry forty people. I didn’t know who specked it out, but they had done an excellent job after I looked it over.

It was nice and quiet for runs to the big island and the casinos after dark; much quieter that the chopper. Radar and lighting made it all weather. It could make the run to the big island in 25 minutes and be tied up at the casino dock.

My mates and kids were in the first group to make the trip in the helicopter. The Secret Service had agents already there for several days for the advanced security. Andy and my Mossad ladies were already there.

My close staff including Troy, me and the Joint Chiefs were in the third trip the helicopter made. This venture was going to use every cottage that we owned and there were overflow people staying in the motel on the big island. I truthfully expected that many of those were going to spend their evenings at the tables in the casino.

After being unloaded, the Boeing that was Air Force One when I was aboard was flown to the Air Force base on Florida to stand by, in case it was needed.

An hour later we were walking in the sand, I had a cold beer in one hand and a bag with my phones, sun tan lotion and several towels in the other, looking for the perfect spot to place the towels to work on my natural tan. I had told my staff that unless it was necessary, I really didn’t want to be bothered.

All my mates were carrying bags, some with snacks. Jeanna was with us. After the birth of Elizabeth, Jeanna was always at our house. That was a good thing, all the grandparents were always at our house. We always had someone to sit with the kids when we really needed it.

Applying plenty of suntan lotion, I changed position every fifteen minutes for an even tan. The sand and salt air were refreshing and allowed me to clear my mind of the Washington merry go round. I was always in a position to watch the kids.

I thought about my family and what they were doing. It was good to be able to spend this time with them.

The boys, Takeo and Sara were with us. Adam and Elizabeth (now shortened to Liz) were with sitters at the cottage. My mom, Lisa and Mindy were in chairs by the pool planning the next trip they were going to make to Lancaster Pa. for antique hunting.

There was even talk about taking one of the jets to western New York, possibly to Canada. I heard Mom suggest they could take one of the C130s and carry a pickup and a Suburban so they wouldn’t have to depend on Canadian taxis to go looking. The pickup could carry the big stuff - if they bought any - back to the plane.

I kept on walking, making out like I had not heard that part of the conversation. That would be one expensive antique shopping trip. I wondered how the dads would get out of going. Then I remembered that the dads could plan hunting and fishing trips to coincide with antique hunting. Make that - two pickups and two Suburbans.

Mom and Mindy had gotten the antique fever now and Lisa was teaching them all the ins and outs of choosing the best pieces. With Dad retired from his thirty-year job getting his retirement check plus working for us, she had plenty of mad money to spend for things she could only dream about before.

A new glassed-in porch had been added, a sun room and two more bedrooms – for the grand children to have sleep over nights. My old bedroom was now her sewing room and Jake’s old room was Dad’s den.