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GWOT 2 - The Only Easy Day
Mar. 10th, 2019 10:12 pmGWOT 2 - The Only Easy Day
As the food situation stabilized, I devoted my attention back into reintegrating Cartwright's Cronies and upgrading our contract security force.
It was not terribly safe to keep them as prisoners. It was less safe to let them sit in cells with nothing to do. So after reviewing their statements, I convened an internal tribunal to judge their actions. As a contractor, of course, I should have had nothing to do with the subject; but as the contractor responsible for security threats, I had to do something.
The tribunal consisted of the VP of Facilities, the VP of Human Resources, and a randomly selected line manager from the software group. I submitted my investigative report on each. Dr. Betty Rize submitted her psychological report. They each had an opportunity to address the tribunal.
Three were retained in employment and reassigned to non Security functions. Four were dismissed from employment with prejudice. One committed suicide in his cell in a tragic accident. (I limped for the next day or two; I'd been the one to find him and try to wrestle his body down, too late.)
The four dismissed from employment were not made to walk out the South Gate. Instead, they were dumped on the streets of Bakersfield in a set of clothes, no luggage, and their last paycheck cashed in bluebacks, after a detailed biometric examination including DNA and a solemn warning to never, ever return.
One problem solved.
The next problem was the guard service. Between desertions (while I was gone), casualties and even internal attrition (people kept stealing my guards for CLIENT jobs), we were down to 25 effectives.
So I recruited from among the remaining non-CLIENT affiliates for the guard service. I didn't want to recruit 'outside' for a variety of reasons.
Then came training. The Kill House was once again made available to contract guards (another of Cartwright's innovations, to kick us out of the facility we had helped set up). Physical fitness again became a priority. Gallon jugs of sand and vertical bars may not be the best gym ever, but it got the job done.
Acculturation took longer. There was a reason the guard service did the things we did, and why. It took an amazingly long time to get through people's heads that guards do not work for employees, cannot be given orders by employees, cannot be disciplined by employees ... and there are solid reasons why all these things are true.
We ran fewer convoys, but tighter ones. Patrolling our vicinity and picking up supplies from transfer points. The time for rescues and looting had long past, so different skills were needed.
More foot patrols. More night patrols. More soldier work. A lot of weapons and tactics training. A lot of getting in and out of our buildings.
Our training ran in parallel with that of the Reaction Force, the employee volunteer militia. They were trained in static defense and in sweeping and clearing buildings. But they started learning patrols, convoys, sentry-go and removal of same.
Always unstated, always understood: the Reaction Force could wipe out the guard force at any time. By design. But they were more valuable doing their day job as coders and managers.
I look back on this as an idyllic time. Homeland was a constant threat, but one hovering in the background. We were consistently getting food. We even started getting - slowly, in trickles and drips - medical supplies. People weren't dying anymore, in either dribbles or in job lots.
Let that be a lesson to me.
The only easy day in Apocalypse ... was yesterday.
As the food situation stabilized, I devoted my attention back into reintegrating Cartwright's Cronies and upgrading our contract security force.
It was not terribly safe to keep them as prisoners. It was less safe to let them sit in cells with nothing to do. So after reviewing their statements, I convened an internal tribunal to judge their actions. As a contractor, of course, I should have had nothing to do with the subject; but as the contractor responsible for security threats, I had to do something.
The tribunal consisted of the VP of Facilities, the VP of Human Resources, and a randomly selected line manager from the software group. I submitted my investigative report on each. Dr. Betty Rize submitted her psychological report. They each had an opportunity to address the tribunal.
Three were retained in employment and reassigned to non Security functions. Four were dismissed from employment with prejudice. One committed suicide in his cell in a tragic accident. (I limped for the next day or two; I'd been the one to find him and try to wrestle his body down, too late.)
The four dismissed from employment were not made to walk out the South Gate. Instead, they were dumped on the streets of Bakersfield in a set of clothes, no luggage, and their last paycheck cashed in bluebacks, after a detailed biometric examination including DNA and a solemn warning to never, ever return.
One problem solved.
The next problem was the guard service. Between desertions (while I was gone), casualties and even internal attrition (people kept stealing my guards for CLIENT jobs), we were down to 25 effectives.
So I recruited from among the remaining non-CLIENT affiliates for the guard service. I didn't want to recruit 'outside' for a variety of reasons.
Then came training. The Kill House was once again made available to contract guards (another of Cartwright's innovations, to kick us out of the facility we had helped set up). Physical fitness again became a priority. Gallon jugs of sand and vertical bars may not be the best gym ever, but it got the job done.
Acculturation took longer. There was a reason the guard service did the things we did, and why. It took an amazingly long time to get through people's heads that guards do not work for employees, cannot be given orders by employees, cannot be disciplined by employees ... and there are solid reasons why all these things are true.
We ran fewer convoys, but tighter ones. Patrolling our vicinity and picking up supplies from transfer points. The time for rescues and looting had long past, so different skills were needed.
More foot patrols. More night patrols. More soldier work. A lot of weapons and tactics training. A lot of getting in and out of our buildings.
Our training ran in parallel with that of the Reaction Force, the employee volunteer militia. They were trained in static defense and in sweeping and clearing buildings. But they started learning patrols, convoys, sentry-go and removal of same.
Always unstated, always understood: the Reaction Force could wipe out the guard force at any time. By design. But they were more valuable doing their day job as coders and managers.
I look back on this as an idyllic time. Homeland was a constant threat, but one hovering in the background. We were consistently getting food. We even started getting - slowly, in trickles and drips - medical supplies. People weren't dying anymore, in either dribbles or in job lots.
Let that be a lesson to me.
The only easy day in Apocalypse ... was yesterday.
