The first call was to his wife, Linda, to fill her in on what happened and to ask if she felt that Chief Rollins might want to come work at Group. “100% certain she’d go with it,” was the reply, “Right now her branch manager is looking to PCS her to JRTC down in Louisiana.” His next call was to Rollins herself. “Hell yeah, I’ll do it!” she answered enthusiastically. Faith then stopped by the Group S1 office to ask the Group S1 personally to pull some strings and get Rollins on orders to Group. This turned out to be much easier to accomplish than Faith had anticipated. Faith had never worked with the Group S1 before, and was only doing so now with trepidation. Every time Faith had seen him in the past, he seemed bristly and brusque to the point of rudeness. He was also a major, so he outranked Faith. Faith was unsure how he was going to get the S1 to go along.
But, Faith put his “happy face” on and knocked on the S1’s door. “Come in!” a voice commanded gruffy. The S1 let out a loud sigh as he saw who it was entering his office. “Captain Faith,” he said matter-of-factly. He leaned back in his desk, pushing his glasses back up closer to the bridge of his nose. “You’ve been making life difficult for me recently.” Faith didn’t know exactly what that meant, but suspected it had something to do with the recent personnel changes he had been making in the MID.
“Well, sir, I’m afraid I have a bit more work for you,” Faith began in what he hoped was a friendly and optimistic tone. He then explained what he wanted: Chief Rollins on orders to be the new 2nd Group CI Technician. The Group S1 sighed loudly again, and then pulled out an enormous spreadsheet. He looked up a paragraph and line number.
“Well, you have a slot for her, but you already have a name put against it. Chief Dodger.”
“Sir, I fired him already,” Faith responded quickly.
“Yeah, I know,” the S1 answered. “But it’s not that easy. He’s tying down a slot here, so it’s going to be hard to get her on as excess.” He paused for a moment, thinking. “But he is due to start terminal leave soon, so that gives us some wiggle room.” The phone on his desk rang, and he stabbed the speaker button. “Call me back in fifteen!” he directed the person on the other end, without looking to see who was calling. Faith hoped it wasn’t anyone important.
The S1 then picked up the receiver and pushed a speed-dial button.
“Yeah, hey Bill, it’s Anthony. What’s it going to take to get Warrant Officer One Rollins from your G2 shop over here to Group. Yeah, I’ll wait.” After a few seconds, the S1 said, “I don’t want to hear about that, just make it happen.” Another pause.
“Look, you say she’ll be excess to us, but she’s already excess to you. PCSing her here instead of to JRTC saves the government money AND it gets us what we want, which is a decent replacement for that dirtbag, retired-on-active-duty warrant you stuck me with three years ago.” Another pause. Faith desperately wished he could hear the other side of the conversation, it did not seem like things were going well and he wanted to be able to contribute to the process. He started to say something, but the S1 held up a finger, silencing him.
“OK, great, thank you. So when is that going to happen?” Another short pause. “No, today is better. In fact, this afternoon would be awesome. We have a massive inspection coming up and Ms. Rollins is going to be key to the effort to pass it.” Upon saying this, the S1 looked up at Faith for confirmation. Faith nodded vigorously.
“That’s awesome. Thanks. See you on Sunday,” the S1 said before hanging up the phone.
“Tell Ms. Rollins to report here tomorrow morning for inprocessing,” he said. “Now, if there is nothing else, I need to call the Group Commander back and find out what he wanted.”
Faith, long being a proponent of the “once you get what you asked for, STFU” concept, thanked the S1 and left to call Rollins. He really hoped that she wouldn’t turn the offer down.
But, Faith put his “happy face” on and knocked on the S1’s door. “Come in!” a voice commanded gruffy. The S1 let out a loud sigh as he saw who it was entering his office. “Captain Faith,” he said matter-of-factly. He leaned back in his desk, pushing his glasses back up closer to the bridge of his nose. “You’ve been making life difficult for me recently.” Faith didn’t know exactly what that meant, but suspected it had something to do with the recent personnel changes he had been making in the MID.
“Well, sir, I’m afraid I have a bit more work for you,” Faith began in what he hoped was a friendly and optimistic tone. He then explained what he wanted: Chief Rollins on orders to be the new 2nd Group CI Technician. The Group S1 sighed loudly again, and then pulled out an enormous spreadsheet. He looked up a paragraph and line number.
“Well, you have a slot for her, but you already have a name put against it. Chief Dodger.”
“Sir, I fired him already,” Faith responded quickly.
“Yeah, I know,” the S1 answered. “But it’s not that easy. He’s tying down a slot here, so it’s going to be hard to get her on as excess.” He paused for a moment, thinking. “But he is due to start terminal leave soon, so that gives us some wiggle room.” The phone on his desk rang, and he stabbed the speaker button. “Call me back in fifteen!” he directed the person on the other end, without looking to see who was calling. Faith hoped it wasn’t anyone important.
The S1 then picked up the receiver and pushed a speed-dial button.
“Yeah, hey Bill, it’s Anthony. What’s it going to take to get Warrant Officer One Rollins from your G2 shop over here to Group. Yeah, I’ll wait.” After a few seconds, the S1 said, “I don’t want to hear about that, just make it happen.” Another pause.
“Look, you say she’ll be excess to us, but she’s already excess to you. PCSing her here instead of to JRTC saves the government money AND it gets us what we want, which is a decent replacement for that dirtbag, retired-on-active-duty warrant you stuck me with three years ago.” Another pause. Faith desperately wished he could hear the other side of the conversation, it did not seem like things were going well and he wanted to be able to contribute to the process. He started to say something, but the S1 held up a finger, silencing him.
“OK, great, thank you. So when is that going to happen?” Another short pause. “No, today is better. In fact, this afternoon would be awesome. We have a massive inspection coming up and Ms. Rollins is going to be key to the effort to pass it.” Upon saying this, the S1 looked up at Faith for confirmation. Faith nodded vigorously.
“That’s awesome. Thanks. See you on Sunday,” the S1 said before hanging up the phone.
“Tell Ms. Rollins to report here tomorrow morning for inprocessing,” he said. “Now, if there is nothing else, I need to call the Group Commander back and find out what he wanted.”
Faith, long being a proponent of the “once you get what you asked for, STFU” concept, thanked the S1 and left to call Rollins. He really hoped that she wouldn’t turn the offer down.
