Chapter 5

The Ear came looking for me late on Friday afternoon.

"I don't know what happened, but the Major is over in his office drunk as a skunk. He was in there screaming at the first shirt when he came back. I couldn't tell what he was saying because he was nearly incoherent," the Ear told me. "After that the first shirt went out to the site. I don't know what's up, but it must be something really big. I've never seen the Major that drunk before and the first shirt looked scared, too."

"I guess we'll find out what it is eventually," I said, already knowing what had caused them to be so upset. I left for the house right after that.

"Things will be OK now," Suenee told me when I got home that evening.

"Yes," I answered, "I think the Amulets spoke to me this morning. I heard a conversation between Major Taylor and LTC Hopkins."

"Yes, that was the Amulets," Suenee said and kissed me again.

Monday morning when I reported to work, the First Sergeant didn't appear to be in too good of a condition.

"Report to the Commander," was all that he said to me.

On entering the Major's office and saluting, the salute was promptly returned, though the Major didn't look that well either.

"At ease," he told me. "I don't know how you managed this Baker, but your security clearance has been validated and you will be starting work out at the site tomorrow. You can pick up your ID badge tomorrow morning," he said before pausing.

"I also have here," he continued after a bit, "orders promoting you to Staff Sergeant, E-6. Apparently they were issued over a month ago, but only arrived here recently." He handed me several sets of orders with Staff Sergeants stripes attached to them. There was no handshake or the customary congratulations, but I could get by without them in this case.

"Does this mean that I can resubmit my request for Command Sponsorship, sir?" I asked.

"Ah ... yes, I guess so,"he responded.

"Thank you, sir," I said with a smile. I came to attention, saluted and departed after the Major had slowly returned my salute.

"I'll see you tomorrow morning," the First Sergeant said, as I returned to the orderly room. Ear was behind him, and had a big grin on his face as the door hadn't been closed and he had seen and heard what went on.

I went up to the room where I kept some of my uniforms and got out the TW shirt there and took the shirt down to the lady that did sewing for the men in the unit and had her sew my new stripes on the TW shirt and my fatigue shirt also. Suenee and I had been to the PX over the weekend and I had gotten subdued Staff Sergeant's stripes there along with other things like several cartons of Salem cigarettes for my father-in-law. It wasn't a problem for me, as neither Suenee nor I smoked. We had visited her parents again on Sunday.

While waiting for the stripes to be sewn on my TW shirt, I went to the orderly room to re-submit my request for Command Sponsorship. Later that morning dressed in fatigues with my new stripes sewn on them, I visited the club in the day-room. Short Round and a number of the men were there. They were certainly surprised when I came in.

"Whoa," Short Round said as I entered, "look at this, guys"

"Hi, guys," I said, as I approached their table.

"Look at you!" Squirrel said.

"Yes, I got them this morning. Drinks are on me," I added. Everyone had a beer or two on me before I returned home very early that afternoon.

"Oh, Bill!" Suenee said as I entered the house, "you look so important now." She gave me a really long kiss, too.

"Yes, I'm supposed to start work out at the site tomorrow. It's out off of Ramintra Road in Bang Khen. The First Sergeant said to be there in the morning, but I don't know what shift I'll be working," I told her. "I may be late getting back tomorrow."

"Do not worry, my Bill. My amulet will tell me if you are to be late tomorrow," Suenee assured me.

Later that afternoon, we went to have my new stripes sewn on the rest of my uniforms.

I reported early the next morning, as I knew that the morning shift left close to 0730 to be at work by 0800.

"Good, you're here on time," the First Sergeant said, as I came into the orderly room. "You're on the morning shift for now. That may change later after you get used to the job. You'll be working in the comm center routing things and keeping things flowing," he told me.

The bus ride was ten miles long and somewhat hectic. The site was out in the country, surrounded by klongs and rice fields. There were houses up on stilts along the approach road to the site. You could see that the road had been improved quite a lot and there was a new bridge near the site.

The site itself consisted of a couple of buildings and the large sheds that covered the parked 292 expandable vans. There was a long row of large wheeled generators and a gasoline storage area also. The area was fenced and had security gates and guardhouses at the entrance. There was a large klong (canal) behind the area.

The First Sergeant had issued me my security badge in the orderly room that morning and I showed it to the guard at the gate to get in. The badges were normally kept in the guard shack and issued when the owner came to work. I would need to turn mine in tonight when I left for the day.

The NCOIC of the comm center was a SFC Windburn. Everyone called him 'Whistler'. He explained my duties to me that morning and I got started. I had of course worked around many comm centers in the past and knew what to expect, but every organization has its little peculiarities.

I waited until Wednesday before I approached Whistler about bringing my radio out and setting it up out there.

"I have a classified radio in the S-2 vault. Can I bring it out and set it up," I asked.

"Classified!?" he asked.

"Yes, it's a new type of radio and very good at long distance," I told him.

"I don't think so," Whistler said. "All of the trucks are full and there wouldn't be any place to set it up. We have all of the radios we can use now. Besides you would have to teach the others how to operate it."

"Oh. I'm the only one that can use it. It won't function for anyone else," I told him. I noticed that my amulet turned very cold on my chest when Whistler was turning me down.

Thursday morning, the Ear came to get me before I got on the bus.

"You need to see the Major," he told me. "What did you do now?"

"Nothing," I told Ear and followed him up to the orderly room.

"Report to the Commander," the First Sergeant told me. I straightened my uniform, went in and reported.

"At ease," the Major said. "What's this I hear about a radio?" he demanded.

"It's the radio I was issued before coming overseas, sir. It was at the last school I attended. Everyone that graduated received one of these classified radios."

"Classified? Why wasn't I informed of this?" the Major demanded then.

"It was on my orders, sir," I stated.

"Where is it now?"

"It's in the S-2 vault."

"Well you just go over and get it. I want to see it," he told me. "I don't know if you should be in possession of such an item," he told me rather self-righteously.

"I'll have to check your security clearance with SSG Williams first, sir," I informed him.

"What do you mean?' I'm cleared to see everything in this unit. What classification does this radio have?"

"It's Top Secret, Compartmented, and Password protected, sir. And I don't believe you have a need to know, sir," I answered. I could see the Major blanch when I mentioned the classification. There was silence for several seconds.

"Wh ... why do you have it?" he finally managed to ask.

"I wish I knew, sir. I have been dragging that thing around in its 300 pound shipping container for over five months now and really have no idea why. Although, it did come in handy in Cambodia," I told him.

They had held the bus while I was in talking to the Major, so we were a little late getting to the site that morning. The guys coming off shift weren't happy about that but apparently it had happened a number of times before.

I avoided Whistler as much as possible that day and spoke to him only when necessary. I believed that he was the cause of my trouble this morning, and hadn't decided what if anything should be done about it. He hadn't said anything either except for necessary direction involving our work.

As my shift was leaving that afternoon, Short Round stopped me before I got on the bus.

"Hey, Super Sarge," he called and motioned me over to the side. "Both the Ear and Squirrel told me that the Major was up to see Willie this morning after you left. He wanted to see your radio. Willie told him that his clearance wasn't high enough and besides he didn't have a need to know. The Major was all kind of pissed up about that and went to talk to the Colonel.

"The Colonel came down to talk to Willie then and he took him down to the vault. They came back later shaking their heads, and the Colonel told Major Taylor to forget it. The Major was all pissed up when he got back to his office the Ear told me," Short Round finished.

"Thanks, Short Round. I owe you one," I told him. By now the others on the bus were anxious to go and I got on and we returned to Seri Court.

When I got home that night, Suenee rushed into my arms.

"Things happened to day. Are you all right, my Bill?" she asked.

"Yes," I assured her with a long kiss, "the Major found out about my radio. He wasn't happy that he couldn't look at it. I don't think it was anything important."

Things continued fairly normally for the next ten days. I spoke very little to Whistler and just did my job. There weren't any major flaps or any word from the orderly room. Everything seemed to have worked itself out.