Jason A.

“really, its no problem if we pull over in a war zone so you can buy a watermelon sir”

He wanted me to stop so he could buy a watermelon – a watermelon that was being sold on the side of one of the most dangerous roads in western Iraq.  And it wasn’t even a big watermelon; it was about the size of a freakin’ cantaloupe.  Even watermelons in Iraq suck.  But what “the principle” wants, “the principle” gets.

It was a few years ago, and I was in charge of a PSD team, providing security for the senior military and civilian personnel in Al Anbar, to include the province governor, a Tony Soprano look alike with a big fat Iraqi mustache.  It was a relatively easy gig as long as I didn’t get the bosses, or their straphangers, killed.

None of the usual suspects screwed with my team or me.  If we needed some new gear, we got it.  If we needed to use the range, we took priority.  We didn’t have to wait at the various gates for permission to depart; we just freakin’ left.  When the movement control people got pissed, I just directed’em to the Chief of Staff.

When some State Department “GS-level who cares” tried to strong-arm me into taking him somewhere without approval from the big man, I politely told’em to go pound sand.  Hell, we’d occasionally even get four-day passes to Bahrain.  Like I said, the only real worry I had was getting the boss or one of my operators killed.   That’s where “the principle” comes in.

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