*Sorry this has been a little slow. It won't be anymore, promise!*
1930 Hours
Mac's Apartment
Georgetown
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK
"Mac, I know you're in there! It's Harm, please let me in! Come on, Mac! Please!"
Mac swore under her breath and walked to the front door. She knew why Harm was there—the Admiral had offered him his place back at JAG. What he didn't know was why he would be returning and whose place he would be taking. It was up to her to tell him—tonight. It wouldn't be fair to talk about his return tonight, and then drop the news on him along with the rest of the staff tomorrow. No, she had to tell him herself. 'Suck it up, Marine' she told herself, then took a deep breath and opened the door.
Harm fairly bounced in. "Guess what, Mac? Well, you already know, but guess what? I get to come back to JAG!"
Mac smiled softly at him. "I know, flyboy, I'm the chief of staff, remember? I had to sign off on it, too."
Harm's heart sang. She had called him 'flyboy'! She hadn't done that in ages! He looked at her and her soft smile. Her soft . . . sad . . . smile. He froze; something was wrong with her, or JAG, or his coming back to JAG. What was it?
"Mac, what is it?"
She heaved a mental sigh. She knew he would cut to the chase before long—it was one of the things that she loved about him, and that drove her crazy. "Come on in, Harm, do you want some coffee, or tea?"
"Tea sounds great. Mac, what is it? There's something funky going on, and I want to know what it is!"
"I'm sure you do, Harm. Take a deep breath before you hyperventilate, and you can follow me into the kitchen while I make the tea."
She walked to the kitchen, her satin robe swishing. She put water on to boil, got down two mugs and the teabags, and turned back to Harm.
"Harm, how much did you deal with staff changes and shifts while you were chief of staff?"
"Not much, Mac. I signed off on bringing Bud in, which was a plus, and I signed off on our partnership with the exchange program, which, from my point of view, anyway, was a minus."
"Well, Harm, since 9/11 I have been doing more work with the greater personnel issues. I've had to meet with BuPers and I've worked on reassigning and shifting some JAG personnel around HQ, JAGPAC, and the European bases. I had to sign off on Bud's transfer—a fact that makes me sick, but that's part of the job—but I even found the new JAG for ops at Gitmo. Well, the one area I haven't been working with BuPers is the Middle Eastern theatre. I do, however, know the JAG with the Marines in Iraq—he's a good lawyer—he was two years ahead of me at Georgetown."
"Mac, what are you saying?"
"Well, Col. Browning—the JAG in Iraq—a full colonel, by the way—is good. Really good. He was in the UN liason office when I was in Bosnia. He knows his way around the international scene. It makes sense, then, to have him where there will be the most international troops. At this point, that would be in Liberia—that is a U.N. cause. To make him even more valuable there, he was actually born in South Africa—his parents fled after his father was too vocal about criticizing the apartheid regime. So, BuPers, with my advice, has transferred Col. Martin Browning to the Liberian theatre."
"And?"
"And, that leaves the JAG position in Iraq open."
"Open for _whom_, Mac?"
"Harm, one of the things I've learned from my dealings with BuPers is that JAG is severely below standard in the range of O-4's to O-6's—Lt. Commander / Major to Captain (j.g.) / Colonel. Frankly, Harm, the SecNav didn't want to bring you back—something about raising his blood pressure, but all the others in that range were needed elsewhere, and those who can be spared, can be spared because they just don't have the skills or the time in rank or office. Sturgis, for example, doesn't meet the quals for chief of staff because he simply hasn't been in the JAG system long enough. He joined the sub service at a bad time—he was pushed out because they didn't need people of his rank, so he had to find something else to do. He came to JAG later, so he won't be able rise very far in that station, either. That pretty much sucks for him, but he's not the only one in that position. There are hundreds of officers in positions similar to his, and a quite a few in JAG. They make the best station chiefs and JAGmen to other offices, but they don't become the JAG, and they don't go into overtly volatile situations, such as Iraq or Liberia. In addition, most of the officers in JAG are Navy, not Marines, who are the first in and the last out. They won't send in a Navy officer when they can send in a Marine."
"So you're saying that the JAG officer BuPers is sending to Iraq is . . ."
"Me, Harm."
To Be Continued . . .
