Chapter 375

Bob Jackson, Mr. Nobles, and John Jenkins were sitting at the fancy meeting table when the general and I walked in. The general was carrying my portable office; that was one thing he was good for.

“Good morning Ambassador,” they all said.

“It’s still BJ to my friends,” I replied.

After the introductions I asked the general to wait out side while I had the meeting with them.

“I guess that you have seen the news it is a six week stint; the question is where do we go from here? There are several ways to go; one is a six week leave of absence. Another would be six week un-paid leave of absence. The final one is for me to resign,” I said.

“Kampala, Uganda of all the places in the world to go to they pick that god-forsaken place to send you,” Bob said.

“Well it is just for six weeks and I have had boosters for all my shots,” I said with a laugh.

“You know with all the people that have worked at the college I don’t think we have ever had an ambassador,” Mr. Nobles replied as if talking to himself.

“Are they going to pay you for the six weeks or are just donating your time for the contract?” Mr. Jenkins asked.

I knew where he was going with that question. If you want to keep money coming in you better keep the day job. I had an answer that was going to blow his socks off.

“The State department is going to double my JBG base salary for those six weeks. My JBG base salary is $25,000 a week,” I replied.

I could have counted fillings in their teeth if I wanted. What I did not say was that all six had of us had the same base salary. It was some kind of tax thing; we paid taxes on it but reinvested it all back into the company. We lived off Jenny’s and my day job salary. At the end of the year we always got big refunds. I did not understand how that worked and did not want to know. We paid tax accountants handsomely to deal with all that.

What I had done was to tell them straight forward I did not need the job if they wanted me to resign.

Bob immediately changed the subject, “we have already gotten calls from the history, world studies class, current affairs class, and they want you to participate in discussion groups with the students next year.”

There was a knock on the door, “I hate to interrupt but I need to confirm a couple things real quick,” The general said.

“Monday 0700 the C17 will be at Morton field. All the things you wanted were approved and will already be loaded. You said you were loading two armored suburbans, 10 pallets of hardware and one Blackhawk. How many seats are you going to need?” He asked.

“40 if we go in the 17. The department hasn’t responded as to how they are removing the current staff there. If they are going to come back on general aviation then we will go with the 17. If they are going to send an empty department plane to Kampala then we should go on it. We would be there when the 17 landed. Either way is fine,” I replied.

“I will get an answer for you Ambassador,” the General replied and left.

“BJ I don’t know but it seems like there is a lot more going with this than you are letting on. Armored SUV’s Blackhawk’s, pallets hardware, replacing the entire staff there” Bob replied.

“That is a very perceptive observation. I cannot confirm or deny that. It is about three levels above classified. The only thing I can say is just watch the world news,” I replied.

“We will approve six weeks of unpaid leave. You will have to pay for the medical for those weeks,” Mr. Nobles said.

“Who would you suggest to fill in for you? Bob asked.

“Patti. She knows the systems, scheduling, payroll and the people,” I replied.

“I think so too. Let’s go tell her. “ Bob replied.

After congratulating Patti we headed home. The general opened the rear door for me to set in the back, “You have some calls to make,” he said as he handed me the list.