Chapter 397

The days were counting down fast now; on Friday Gordon and I went to another official function at noon and then another gala at the German embassy.

The food was great; the band played a much larger variety of music. I danced with Gordon, several other ambassadors and with Anton. Anton surprised me - he was a much better dancer that I thought he would be. We both enjoyed ourselves with several energetic dances that left us breathless.

As before, the host passed out a thumb drive with pictures of the evening. I was sure the girls would love them.

As I was saying good evening to everyone in the process of leaving, Anton handed me a business card with hand written numbers on the back, “This is my private cell and house number. When you make that trip to Russia, please call me and I will see that you get a grand tour of Moscow, my home. I am headed there tomorrow.”

I wrote my cell number on back of my business card, “Call me when you are in the area. We will have that dinner we were talking about.”

I finished out the evening dancing with Gordon; tight slow dances that left me breathless for a different reason.

The east wall was now done and that allowed for a reduced security stance. The guys and girls had made daily trips to Lake Victoria and were swapping shifts so they could all get a chance to play in the water and sand.

There were daily volley-ball games that allowed us to stay fit and I played in all of them.

We slowly put things back to the way they were for Ambassador Bernardi. All the repairs from the terrorist attack were finished. The paint on the flag wall had been given a second coat, including some reflective touch-up to make it more visible at night.

The bunk rooms in the basement had now improved; each man or lady had a small private room with a single bed, a dresser and a door with individual lighting. Facilities for my security force of forty would be complete before I left.

We had one man in the group who had worked as an electrician before the service. Another sub panel was added in the basement to give the rooms plenty of outlets.

A contractor was hired to install the same kind of room AC units we had used in all the offices at the gym. I was amazed that seven thousand miles away and Williams AC units could be bought.

We were down to 6 days. All the food we had brought was nearly gone and the cooks had been hitting the local markets for weeks.

On Monday Ambassadors Morrison and Fauntroy came to see me. They had a donation of children’s clothing arrive that they wanted carried to Nimule camp. It was too much to put in the chopper so the flat bed truck and trailer was sent.

All the crates that we were not going to use to get back home along with the stack of pallets were loaded and sent. As before, the truck left early and the Ambassadors and I flew. I said my goodbyes to the doctor and the staff and promised to help as much as I could.

On Tuesday I spent all day on VCATS and part of the evening as well; in the morning I was talking with the ambassadors where I was sending new teams in October. All of them were in Africa and the Middle East so the time zone thing worked in my favor.

I had the list and the numbers the state department wanted at each Embassy. I was checking that there were adequate accommodations for all the additional people. Vicky or I would have to visit every embassy the week of the transition to verify and ensure a smooth transition.

Tuesday evening there were VCATS with Frank, Eric, and Victor. I worked Frank and Victor both trying to make changes. I wanted to change out each embassy’s security personnel as we had the right numbers trained.

If the department could make changes in the effective date for Kampala more changes could be made - I argued - and the transition would be smoother.

After I finished the conference call with the three of them, Victor paged back, “Woodman does not want Linda, Ellen or Alice back. In fact, he had dropped the request for any guards for his wife. You would not know anything about that, would you?”

“No, not a thing, LOL, you know damn well I do; and we did not need a body bag to end the problem,” I replied.

“Oh by the way, your official title, salary and authority had been extended until all congressional investigations are done. This was done to allow the State department to furnish legal representation, and for you to continue to have access to classified materials until the end of the process and allow you to officially use the confidentially and secrecy rules,” Victor added.

I finished out the day with a VCATS to the office; I had a lot of things to catch up on when I returned and after I spent 4 days in Washington.

The 25 to replace us were currently home preparing for the permanent stay at Kampala. They had been given sign offs by the trainers and Jamie. The fifteen who were here had been signed off by Jamie.

Andy and his leaders had been working with them on the other things they had missed by being sent here so early in their training. The state department had given them the course in diplomacy and all the other things they needed in sessions in the communications room.

The truck and trailer and the two cars that Andy had bought were staying. I had several lengthy conversations with Ambassador Bernardi about continuing aid to Nimule camp and using the truck and trailer for that.

The cars would allow my people mobility without depending on the local taxi service that could be a security risk or by using the limos.

Wednesday and Thursday were a blur, they went by so fast. Friday we began packing. The drones were packed and loaded on the truck with other things. I had one more Ambassador’s gala to go and that was tonight.

The State Department was sending a 787 to deliver my teams along with Ambassador Bernardi, his wife, personal secretary and personal cook.

JBG was supplying cooks to supply food for the shifts. The state Department was paying for all the food. I hoped that too many cooks did not spoil the stew.

Andy chose 3 men out of the fifteen who had been with us to be team leaders and had been working with them in that capacity for a week. This afternoon Andy and I would interview the three and decide which one was going to be security force site commander. We chose Caleb Brown to be the site commander and after his input Kasey Bacon as second in command.

In the 25 that were coming, ten were women and the trainers and my girls chose the one they thought was best for team leader for the women. Angel Hayes was to be third in command and supervisor of the ladies. The women were going to handle the communications center and the front office that dealt with the public and other duties when they were needed. Two of the men were pilots for the chopper.