Chapter 404

I drove from the Pentagon to the island; Vicky was hitting me with one question after another. She did not understand all the military jargon that went on at the table with the Generals.

We were on the Bay Bridge when I took another call on the Suburban’s On-star connect system that I had paired with my phone. The more I used it the more I loved the hands-free conversations. The down side was that sometimes the thing answered calls if I was close to the outside of the truck because of the time delay.

The call was from General McVee responding to my questions that I had left on his cell phone inbox.

“Good afternoon Ambassador, I see you are one of those people that when you fight, you fight to win; my kind of people.”

“I hate to lose if that is what you mean,” I replied.

“So do I,” he replied.

“To cut to the grit of the matter I was wondering if your men needed flight hours again this year?”

“It’s interesting that you called at this time because we are reviewing options on that. The governor had to call out the guard for the spring floods for 12 weeks so funding was redirected. Materials Transport command came up on the short stick again.”

“The governor promised that more funding was coming in the new budget and it did not happen; then there was hope that the reserve units would get more money from the Army in the Federal appropriations bill. The bill is still in limbo and there are no additional funds in it. We have been doing the absolute bare minimum to keep the pilots qualified. What do you have in mind?”

“How many C130 crews do you have that need time?” I asked.

“All of them.”

“OK, here is what JBG is up against. I’m sure you know about our expanded embassy contracts; we have 39 Black Hawks, 39 Suburbans and upgraded staff for those 39 embassies. October 1 is the target date but we have until the 31st to be in full compliance.”

“We could end up making 39 trips from Maryland to Africa and the Middle East. That would be very costly and time consuming if we have to do it that way.”

“The other thing I am working on is an air freighter that can carry multiple units in one flight. If that comes through then I would have the units delivered to central locations in Africa and use your men and planes to disperse them; either way there will be a lot of flying for your men on my nickel.”

“As we did the last time, JGB will pick up fuel cost, room, meals and incidentals. Maintenance costs run 100 dollars per flight hour on our C130s and we would be willing to pay the same. We will need both of your extended C130s,” I said.

“You would need to make sure that all their shots are up to date as well as their passports. I am assuming that each group would be able to do a two week cycle.”

“I will run it by the Governor. I can support your proposal; it worked out great for us last year and sounds like it will help us this year. The 100 per flight hour should seal the deal,” the General replied.

“How long before you know for sure about the air freighter?” he asked.

“Ten days or less,” I replied.

“I have a meeting with the Governor tomorrow. I will let you know as soon as I know.” Click ended the call.

“Now for the bad part of the day,” I said.

“What do you mean?” Vicky asked.

“We have to tell Lorrie about the people she is losing; she may not take that well,”

“I had forgotten about Lorrie. Are we going to Morton or going to wait until tonight’s meeting?” Vicky replied.

“The meeting is in an hour, we just as well wait; that will give us some time to do some more planning. We need to look at the map that Mary Ann put together for me and wrap our heads round where the central locations need to be.”

I called Lorrie on the hands free and asked her to have Robbie come to our meeting for a few minutes.

Vicky and I looked at the map of Africa that Mary Ann had made behind the closed door of my office. Bamako Mali, Kampala Uganda, Lusaka, Zambia, Cairo Egypt and possibly a stop at Rabat Morocco looked good for central points.

The meeting today was informative from many angles; the crash pad was done. All the furnishings were in and the place was ready. Forty rooms with twin queen beds, two dressers, one closet. Two occupants would share each room.

The Holiday East that we had been using was losing 40 room rentals a night from us starting Monday, saving JBG $2000 a night.

Laurie Crafton was put in charge of the rooms; Laurie had been handling the motel room scheduling for a while she was working with Ching Lee and Vicky when both of them were in charge of the training.