Second Wind 3/6
A/N:
1. Part III, allowing for the 5 hour time difference, takes place at the same time as Parts I and II.
Glossary of military acronyms and abbreviations for Part III:
1. CNO – Chief of Naval Operations
2. General Counsel of the Navy – senior civilian lawyer in theDepartment of the Navy – by statute, the principle legal advisor to the Sec'y of the Navy
3. OGC – Office of General Counsel – civilian (civil service) lawyers – their areas of responsibility are generally separate from JAGs' though there is some overlap.
4. XO – Executive Office – second in command
5. MCPON – Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy. A senior enlisted servicemember who is selected to serve as a Special Assistant to the CNO as his principal advisor on morale and welfare issues, primarily involving enlisted servicemembers. The Sgt Major of the Marine Corps is his counterpart, reporting to the Commandant.
6. geo-bachelor tour – "geographic bachelor" - refers to a married servicemenber not taking his or her family to a duty station location; some duty stations are unaccompanied by regulation – for example, Diego Garcia.
7. PRD – Projected Rotation Date – for example, if your tour at a duty station is a three year tour, and you report in Jun 2006, your PRD on your orders is Jun 2009. In reality, detaching or reporting a month or so either side of the PRD is not uncommon.
8. NCIS SAC – Naval Criminal Investigative Service Special Agent in Charge
9. 32nd St. – refers to the major Navy complex in the vicinity of 32nd Street, San Diego.
10. reg – regulation
11. PCS – permanent change of station orders (transfer from one duty station to another)
12. FY – fiscal year – for government in the U.S.A. it's 1 October to the next 30 September. Money is often very short in the 4th quarter of the FY.
13. "gapping a billet" – this refers to the practice of not filling a vacancy. Sometimes it's because no one is readily available to order into the billet, sometimes it's to save money.
Noon
SecNav's private dining room
The Pentagon
13 October 2006
The SecNav's weekly "legal matters of interest" meeting with the CNO, Commandant, JAG and the General Counsel was winding down. The last agenda item, as usual, was the prototype Joint Legal Service Office (JLSO) in San Diego. Not quite two years ago, they'd agreed that jointness was the way forward to a more efficient, streamlined and fiscally responsible way to deliver uniformed legal services in the field. Handpicking JAG's well-regarded Chief of Staff as the first commanding officer had been intended to ensure the prototype's success. Her unexpected resignation to marry CAPT Harmon Rabb had caught them by surprise.
Stretched thinner than ever due to the continuing war on terrorism, they'd agreed on Sturgis Turner as a second choice, even though he'd been passed over for 0-6, figuring that Rabb's record had dwarfed his before the Selection Board and he was sure to pick up 0-6 above zone in 2006. It hadn't happened.
Rubbing his face, The Honorable Edward Sheffield sighed, wishing for the 78th time that he'd refused to sign off on Col Sarah MacKenzie's resignation and forced her to execute her orders. Sipping his 20th cup of coffee of the day, he launched into his usual Friday noon spiel.
"Well, Melanie and gentlemen, the JLSO is once again last but not least on the agenda. Melanie, you don't have to stay if you have something else – there's no real OGC involvement."
"I'm happy to listen for a few minutes and eat your chef's excellent lunch, Mr. Secretary." A political – albeit highly qualified - appointee as General Counsel of the Navy, Melanie Vanderlin was secretly amused by the continuing saga. From time to time, A.J. Chegwidden had loaned her MacKenzie or Rabb for brief periods - usually for international law projects, and she had a high regard for both of them. She'd felt from the start that Cresswell had bungled the transfer and resignation fiasco of the well-known duo.
Admiral Moses Gilgamesh and General Reuben Stark looked pointedly at Biff Cresswell. The three had agreed that the cornerstone for the prototype's success would be a strong CO and XO who would have the trust and respect of both a mixed Navy/Marine Corps staff and the Commanders, Commanding Generals and CO's in the large and diverse San Diego military region.
A coin toss had gained the Marines the first CO pick. MacKenzie had been their unanimous choice, and they'd agreed to let her choose a blue-suit JAG as her XO.
"Biff, we have to face facts. Turner is on his third XO and just isn't cutting it as a leader. The grapevine as well as feedback from the MCPON and the Corps' Sergeant Major, both of whom visited San Diego recently, reports nothing but an increasing intensity of grumbles from both the JLSO staff and the area commands. If the JLSO is to have a prayer for success, we've got to make a change, and fast. Now, who do you have to send in?" Sheffield was blunt. He was tired of the weekly whine.
"No one right now. We're stretched to the max because of the war; some of the possibles have opted to retire or been medical'd out." Cresswell's response rarely varied by more than a word from week to week.
Sheffield grimaced and threw his pen onto the table. "Not the answer anymore," he snapped. "I want this to work. We sold the senior leadership and Congress on the concept and re-programmed considerable funding for it." He'd had it with the whining about Turner and dropped his bombshell. "Now, what will it take to get Mackenzie back on active duty and out there?"
Cresswell's response was immediate and furious. "She had her chance and threw it away! She could have sucked up a geo-bachelor tour like others do. Do you think I liked being away from my family for three tours?"
The General Counsel decided to weigh in and try to help salvage things. "You could have refused to let her resign and given Rabb something in San Diego, especially after the court wouldn't let him take the kid – his ward - out of the country. We're supposed to have a spouse co-location policy and be sensitive to special needs children. I heard what happened – face it Biff, you were mad at both of them and punished them."
"Your OGC counsel can spend their whole damn career in one place if they want. Don't tell me how to manage my troops!"
"Melanie. Biff." The two 4-stars spoke together. "This is getting us nowhere. We all wanted MacKenzie, we let her go, and if we want this concept to succeed, we need to fix things." The Commandant scorched Cresswell with a look and repeated the SecNav's question. "What'll it take?"
Biff Cresswell still had visions of a third star. He knew when to beat a strategic retreat. "She'd have to request recall to active duty." He took a deep breath and reminded himself grimly 'for the good of the service'...for the good of the Corps.' COMUSNAVEUR is totally happy with Rabb and his staff JAG team but the admin work is always a mess. Rabb's a brilliant investigator and litigator, a great leader, but he's just not cut out for meetings and reports. Having to gap his Deputy FJA billet just made it worse. My guess is the incentive for MacKenzie will be a good billet for Rabb in San Diego and letting her pick her XO. That's assuming, of course, that she's tired of playing housefrau."
The Commandant smirked. "I stopped in to see Rabb when I was in London last month. He looked frazzled and tired. Mac came in unexpectedly with their baby and he perked up. She looked ….I dunno …sort of lost. After she left, I asked him if it had worked out and if they were happy…. I couldn't get a really straight answer out of him. My guess is that neither one of them is totally thrilled with the way things worked out."
"Well, that's life," Cresswell snapped harshly.
"Gentlemen." Sheffield was losing patience. He had no intention of his prize project failing and having to explain it to Congresswoman Bobbi Lathem's subcommittee. "Who do you have to relieve Rabb and what can you offer him? You know MacKenzie won't go without him."
Cresswell knew it was time to bite the bullet. "When my senior JAG in Iraq short-toured because of bone cancer, I twisted Col Sybil Blankfeld's arm to take it. I had to promise her she could pick her next billet and she wants London. Something about promising her kid she can study ballet at the Royal Conservatory. I figured I'd extend her in Iraq a few months and get Rabb out of there a little early to make the PRDs match."
"Well, I'm sure she won't be sad at being short-toured," the Commandant grinned. "Do you have anything for Rabb?"
"Hey, just a minute," Admiral Gilgamesh bleated. "COMUSNAVEUR's a Navy JAG billet."
"Stuff it." Sheffield wasn't going to let the Navy/Marine Corps rivalry interfere. "Can she do the job?"
"Not a problem," Cresswell assured.
"So, what's for Rabb?" The General Counsel was interested in how this was going to play out. If things didn't work out, she'd offer Rabb or MacKenzie or both a GS 15 OGC job in a heartbeat. "And who gets Turner?"
"I'll bring him back to Headquarters." Cresswell sighed, resigned to his fate. "My guess is that LCDR Roberts will be part of the package. I can use Turner as Chief of Staff or he can be the senior litigation attorney until he retires."
"As for Rabb, I actually do have something he'll probably like and be really good at. The Regional NCIS SAC at 32nd Street called me this week and requested help. They have a number of really junior agents, they've lost some cases they shouldn't have, and need a top-notch investigator to supervise and train them. Rabb can do all that, and since he won't be in his wife's chain of command, he can maybe take an occasional case into court."
"Sounds like a plan." Sheffield relaxed his shoulders, pleased that Cresswell had caved. "What'd you mean about LCDR Roberts? He's been impressive – he's really grown into the Chief of Staff thing."
Biff grimaced. "That he has and I'll hate to lose him, but my guess is, MacKenzie will insist on him as her XO. Even if she doesn't, I think I should just hand him a set of orders and ship him out there. Except for a Rabb/MacKenzie team, they're the best chance we have of turning the JLSO around…. Damn, she's sure to want Coates too. It'll be like turning the clock back 18 months."
"Well, don't mess it up this time." The Commandant's voice was cold. "Who's going to call London?" General Stark's tone made it clear that it wasn't going to be him.
"Flip for it?" The CNO smiled slyly. Admiral Gilgamesh had enjoyed a private laugh when he'd heard the story of the coin toss at McMurphy's. ….until ensuing events in San Diego began to cause him concern.
"Hell NO!" Cresswell and Sheffield spoke as one.
"Ahh….I'm not their favorite CO." This was not a call Cresswell was looking forward to making.
"Tough." Sheffield was firm. "You and I caused this mess – you by getting pissed at them and me by letting you. You fix it. If either of them balks, you tell me and I'll call them. But my guess is that if either or both isn't thrilled with life in London they'll jump at it. Now, make it happen."
"Yes sir." Biff knew an order when he heard one. "I'll call them at home so I can talk to both of them."
"What rank and who's paying all the unplanned PCS costs? One of Turner's many problems has been lack of credibility because he's only an 0-5." The CNO wanted everything settled.
Cresswell grimaced again. He thought his face was likely to fall off. "When a name's removed from the promotion list for certain admin reasons, we have two years to restore it. This isn't quite what the reg was written for, but I think we can make it happen."
"I'll split the bucks for the six PCS transfers with you." The CNO nodded at his counterpart. Despite the loss of the COMUSNAVEUR JAG billet to the Marines, at least for one cycle, he was feeling conciliatory. "Maybe it was part my fault … I was pretty adamant I wanted Rabb for London."
"Okay. The new FY's begun so I've got PCS money again." The Commandant wanted to wrap it up and move on. Looking pointedly at Cresswell, he repeated Sheffield's directive. "Make it happen Biff. Email all of us after you talk to them."
"Yes sir." At least it won't break my budget. Small favors, Cresswell grumped to himself.
"Make it happen," the SecNav repeated himself firmly. 'Til Monday staff meeting, gentlemen and Melanie, barring another weekend crisis somewhere in the world."
End Part III.