Chapter 3

Sunday, the First Week

In the morning, I picked Amber up, and we drove to one of the Chapels on post that was having services. Amber had on a different dress than she wore yesterday. She looked very nice. She also had a small purse. We sat in the back and held hands. We didn't pay a lot of attention to the Chaplain, and we didn't know any of the hymns, but it felt good to be there.

After the service, some of the ladies, who were acquainted with Amber, came over to talk to her. They mentioned how nice she looked and asked to be introduced to her grandfather. Amber was stricken but did as requested. She introduced me as Uncle Jim. The ladies looked a little confused but accepted it with good grace.

After Church we went to the mall. Not to do anything specific, just to walk around and window shop, also just to be together. We held hands and walked for a couple of hours. We stopped at several ladies clothing stores. Malls seem to have a lot of them.

"Amber, how many dresses do you have?" I finally asked.

"Just the two you've seen," she said, in tears.

"Don't cry, Sweetie. Let's go in and see what they have. Since I'm the one that wants you to wear a dress or skirt, I'll get you some. Then you'll have a better variety to wear."

"Uncle Jim, I couldn't let you do that. I'd feel like a gold digger, if I did that."

"Nonsense, let me treat you. You know, I'm not just an old E-8. As a civilian, I made quite a lot of money. Let me spend some of it on someone that I really like," I told her. She finally agreed.

We spent several more hours in various ladies clothing stores. We wound up with four dresses, three skirts, six blouses, some underwear, and two pair of shoes. All were in various shades of green, red/orange, peach, gray, and light blue. We were loaded down when we left the mall.

That evening, I took Amber to an Italian Restaurant. We had a very nice dinner in a romantic setting. I drove Amber to her house. We sat in the back seat till 2100 hours again. I helped her carry her new things to the house. Her father was there tonight when she opened the door.

"Where have you been all day, young lady?" he demanded, angrily. He couldn't see me in the dark.

"We went to church and then the mall, Father. Then we had dinner," Amber replied.

"Who is we, and what are all these packages?" he demanded.

"We is Uncle Jim and myself. The packages are some clothes that he bought for me."

"Does he think that I can't dress my own daughter?" her father asked, getting angrier.

"No, Father. He has different standards of dress. He said that since he required me to dress this way, he felt he was responsible for my having the proper clothes to please him."

"And just what is he getting out of this?"

"Nothing, Father, but my company. He has taken me to church and the mall. We have had lunch twice and dinner twice. He bought me these clothes. All he has gotten out of this is to be called my grandfather." She started to cry as tears ran down her cheeks. "It's more than you or mother have done for me."

"Don't sass me, young lady. You are not too old too be spanked." her father said, in anger. It was then that I spoke up.

"Amber, be polite to your father. Colonel, your daughter has been a perfect lady and has done nothing more than walk around in public with me. Nothing more serious than holding hands has happened. Oh yes, and some crying. She is very emotional, but as I said, she has behaved like a proper lady."

"Oh, so you're here. I didn't see you in the dark. Why are you doing this? What's your ulterior motive?" he demanded.

"I'm doing this because I feel responsible for saving her life. She's a nice girl. A little lonely, but that's curable. That's what I've tried to do." Her father wanted to say something more, but instead turned away.

Amber took all the packages and put them on the floor. We returned to the darkness of the porch. I took her in my arms, and we kissed again for a long time. Finally, we broke apart. She went in and closed the door. I returned to the SBEQ.

Monday, Week Two

I was up early on Monday morning and dressed for the day. I was to report to the CG's office at 0930 hrs. This had been set up on Saturday. I was sure that the Sergeant Major would be there.

I went to chow at the PX cafeteria at 0700 hrs and had a leisurely breakfast. I got some dirty looks from people because of the old uniform but no one approached me as I truly looked like 'the old soldier'.

I arrived at Post Headquarters at 0815 hrs, an hour plus early. I had nothing else to do. I stopped in to see the SGM. While waiting for him, I saw Amber being escorted to a conference room by two CID types. I got up and followed. I knew they were supposed to question her today, but I did not like them doing it without witnesses. They went into the conference room and were closing the door, when I shoved it open.

"What do you think you're doing?" one asked me.

"I'm protecting this girls rights," I said. Amber heard my voice, turned quickly, and rushed over to me. She was shaking, and tears were running down her cheeks.

"Oh, Uncle Jim. I'm so glad to see you," she breathed.

"You can't stay in here," the second one said. "This is part of a criminal investigation."

"Son," I told him, "either I stay, or she goes. I didn't save her life to let you clowns make her hysterical this morning."

"You're not authorized... !" the second one started. I pulled out my cell phone, and hit the speed dial. They heard the receptionist answer and the name of my lawyer's law firm very clearly. It was a large and well-known one. I spoke into the phone,

"This is Uncle Jim. Is Harry in?" I asked.

"Just one minute, Uncle Jim," the receptionist answered. A few seconds later, "This is Harry. What can I do for you, Jim."

"Harry, I am at the local Army Post. Two CID types want to question a friend of mine without any witnesses. What is your legal opinion of that?"

"It sounds like it's illegal, immoral, and objectionable. Is your friend military?"

"No, she's a dependent minor."

"Is there a female MP there?"

"No, just two guys."

"How much do you want me to sue them for then? She can claim anything, and it will be her word against theirs. A crying female saying she had been mistreated will sway a jury every time, Jim." I looked at the CID types. They weren't happy.

"OK, you can stay," they said.

"Thanks, Harry. Bill me." I said, and closed the connection.

We spent almost an hour with the CID types. They got answers to most of their questions. They had been able to gather so much evidence because the heating plant door was locked. It could be opened from the inside by pushing down the door handle, but from the outside, you needed a key. They found the perp's key inside on the floor. Of course, the MPs had a master key to get in.

They also took a set of Amber's finger-prints to use for comparison with those found at the scene. They told us that all three men had been apprehended this morning at their unit formations. They had gotten their names from the fingerprint matches.

"You do know that it would have taken you three times as long with her in there alone. She would have been hysterical and crying. I can guarantee it," I told them, as they were leaving.

As we were walking back to the SGM's office, I noticed that Amber had one of her new outfits on.

"You look very nice in your new outfit, Amber," I said.

"Thank you, Uncle Jim. I'm glad that you like it," she replied.

The Post Sergeant Major was just coming out of the General's outer office as we were passing.

"Top, the General will see you in about 5 minutes. Bring Amber in. She can sit out here while we are in there."

"How was your interview with the CID?" he asked Amber.

"It went fine, Sergeant Major. Uncle Jim was there, and they behaved very nicely after his lawyer threatened to sue them," she answered with a little giggle.

The General's door opened then, and a full colonel came out. I took an instant dislike to him. He was a short, fat, bald guy.

"That's the Chief of Staff," the SGM whispered, and after he had left, "nobody likes him, even the General, but DA stuck us with him."

The General waved us in from his desk. He was on the phone. We went in and closed the door.

"Just a minute, Bill," the General said, " I want to put the phone on speaker so my Sergeant Major can hear this." He pushed buttons and moved the head-set while he told us," I have the G-1 at DA on the line."

"Go ahead, Bill."

"Charlie, like I said, we became aware of this mess over the weekend. The OD here was swamped on Friday night and Saturday. We started working on it on Sunday. This is a real cluster fuck. Apparently, someone hacked into St Louis, and they generated all of these recall letters. So far it looks like about a hundred and fifty for us, but that's not firm yet. This E-8 that you got is one of the older ones. Good record, I'm looking at it on the screen now. Anyway, the decision of the Chairman and the J-1, Oh, I didn't mention, it affected the Navy and Air Force also."

"Anyway the decision from the Joint Chief's office is to keep them for the initial time which is 6 months. Now your man, in particular, qualifies for promotion. The E-9 Board meets next week. Christ, I just looked at his DOR. This guy has more time in grade than 99% of the people in the service have in the Army. He could get promoted just on time in grade points — 27 years — Christ all mighty! If you have a place for him, go ahead and frock him. He is sure to be first or second on the new promotion list when it comes out. So figure four to six months for actual promotion and a years time in grade before he could retire again. I would say you should have him for a year and a-half easy, Charlie," the G-1 said.

"OK, Bill. My Sergeant Major is indicating that we have a place for him. I'll get the orders cut and forward you a copy," the General said.

"Right, Charlie. I hope all of them are as easy to solve as yours has been. This is a real mess. We may never find that hacker. Nobody knows how long those orders were in the computer before they activated. It could have been a day or a year. I have to go, Charlie. I have six other calls on the line. I'll see you at the next Commanders Conference. Out."

"Well, you heard the man," the General said as he hung up. "You're in for the duration, and should get promoted to boot. I'll have my G-1 cut the orders this morning, as soon as the Sergeant Major tells me where there is an opening."

"Sir," the Sergeant Major said, "remember your friends over at that sneaky pete outfit we have. They are always complaining about being short handed. I know for a fact that their Sergeant Major left about four weeks ago without a replacement. I even called DA about it, and they just said, "Sorry". Well, here we can kill two birds with one E-8. We fill their slot, and we get some one inside that we know."

"You are a sneaky old bastard, Sergeant Major. Now I know how you got promoted," the General said. "Fine, we'll do it. Have the G-1 cut the orders, and I will personally sign them so there are no mistakes."

"Top, you heard the man," he told me next. "Consider yourself frocked. The Sergeant Major will get you some pins and also get you a decent uniform."

"I'll get him over to Clothing Sales and get them issued as soon as we have his orders, sir," the Sergeant Major assured him.

"Fine, fine," the General said, "now get out of here, and let me get some work done." We saluted and left. Amber was still waiting in the outer office.

"Come over to my office," the Sergeant Major said, then added, "you too, Amber." We headed across the hall to his office. When we got there, he opened his desk drawer and pulled out an old worn set of E-9 pins. He turned and handed one to Amber, before he told her what was happening.

"Uncle Jim here is being frocked to E-9 as per the G-1 at DA's instructions, Amber. You can help pin his new stripes on." Then they both removed my old E-8 pins, and replaced them with the worn set the Sergeant Major had.

"The beauty of this, old son," the Sergeant Major said, "is that with these old pins, no one will know that you haven't been a Sergeant Major for a while. They will never know the difference unless you tell them, or they get a close look at your orders." Then he looked at Amber again.

"Young lady, you need to be in school," he told her. "Jim take her over to the school and get her signed in. I'll get your orders cut, and then we can go to Clothing Sales and have some fun." I took Amber's hand and got the shock again. I could tell that she felt it too, but we both hid the fact. I guess we were getting used to it. We went out to my vehicle.

"Are you really getting promoted, Uncle Jim?"she asked me on the way to school.

"Well, Honey, that is what the G-1 at DA thought. The board meets next week. It will take them a while to make the selections for the list, and then they won't start promoting from the new list till the old one runs out. So maybe 4 to 6 months from now, I could get promoted," I said. I also noticed I had called her Honey. When did I start that? Had it just slipped out, and what about those damned sparks? She must have noticed too.