Home Goes The Warrior (39 page)

Then he looked down at Maggie. “Beside all of that, I finally have a home and a great woman who loves me.”

“I appreciate your offer, sir. I really do. But I’m not cut out to be either a Washington bureaucrat or a policeman. I’m just a simple guy who wants to do what he does best: fix ships. If I can do that with this woman by my side for the rest of my life, I will die a happy man. I’m sorry, sir. I want to stay right where I am. But thank you for the offer.”

Dumsfeld looked stunned by Lee’s response. “But don’t you want to fight for your country, Mr. Raines? Here, working with me, you can truly contribute to the improvement of your country.”

Lee slowly drew himself up until he was standing straight and tall, eye to eye with the Secretary of Defense. “Mr. Secretary, I
have
fought for my country, in
real
fights. I’ll be available to do so again if I’m called.”

He paused, with his eyes still locked on Dumsfeld’s. “Like all Americans, I’ve watched you politicians, on both sides of the aisle, do your little battles for years. With all due respect, neither of you are fighting for anything real. Your fights are simply ideological temper tantrums by spoiled brats who should be working together. These fights aren’t contributing to my country. In fact, they may be destroying it. No, sir. I want no part of your kind of life. But again, I thank you for your offer.”

Dumsfeld glared at Lee for a moment with his mouth open, prepared to retort. Instead, he shook his head and walked away.

Lee looked down at the woman in the crook of his arm, worry creasing his brow. “Maggie, I probably just turned down a fast track for promotion. Did I make any sense to you?”

“You big goof! If you’d even considered taking his offer, I would’ve screamed. I love you too much to want you living that kind of life!”

He breathed a sigh of relief. “Thanks, love.”

She stretched and gave him a solid kiss on the lips. Then she whispered in his ear words that he’d been waiting to hear.

“C’mon, big guy. Let’s go home, plan our wedding, and make our first baby. My clock is ticking.”

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

eff Noonan is a Montana native who retired in 2001 as the president of a nationwide corporation. He is married with four children and eight grandchildren.

As a young man, Jeff worked as a laborer for farms, ranches, lumber mills, and a railroad. He then served in both the Army and the Navy, retiring from the Navy as a commissioned warrant officer. While in the Navy, he commissioned five ships at Bath Iron Works, worked in guided missile research at White Sands Missile Range, and served two and a half years in Viet Nam operations. At the time of his retirement, he was a combat systems officer in Philadelphia Naval Shipyard.

After leaving the military, Jeff worked his way up from an entry-level technical position to become the executive-vice president of a 900-person corporation with offices worldwide. During this era, he moved two companies into the impoverished city of Camden, New Jersey, in order to provide jobs where none existed. Then he took over a troubled seven-person North Carolina company and turned it into a solvent corporation with over 250 employees. In recognition of these efforts, a U.S. Congressional Committee officially awarded him their 1999 North Carolina Businessman of the Year plaque during a Washington, DC, ceremony.

Jeff sold his business interests in 2001 and retired to his hometown where he was soon elected president of the Community Council, a position he held for four years. He was also the president of the County Chamber of Commerce for two years. His bright red hair has long since turned white and partially vanished, but he still lives very happily in western Montana.

1
BUPERS: The Bureau of Naval Personnel; This is the Navy group that manages all Naval personnel. All Navy transfer orders originate at this activity. BUPERS also maintains the official records of all members of the Navy.

2
Limited Duty Officer (LDO): A Navy officer, usually a former enlisted person, who is restricted to duty assignments involving the general types of equipment and systems in his technical specialty.

3
DLG; Destroyer, Light, Guided Missile: A Guided Missile Frigate. This was a general type of Navy ship that included several classes of ships. The DLGs were all reclassified as either Guided Missile Destroyers or Guided Missile Cruisers (depending on the size of the particular ship) in the early 1970 after an extensive overhaul and modernization program (the DLG Modernization Program) was completed on them.

4
Unrestricted Line Officer: A Navy officer, usually a university graduate, who is eligible for any officer billet, including those involving command-at-sea.

5
EDO; Engineering Duty Officer: A classification of Naval officer reserved primarily for officers with engineering degrees. Most officers assigned to shipyard duty, or to billets involving new ship construction, are EDOs.

6
IFF: Identification, Friend or Foe; Systems carried aboard all US military ships and aircraft that identify themselves to one another. Frequencies are carefully coordinated to ensure that enemies cannot accomplish sneak attacks disguised as friends.

7
ECM: Electronic Counter-Measures. Shipboard, airborne, or shore-based electronic systems used to jam enemy radar and radio transmissions.

8
P&E people: Planning & Estimating people are the shipyard people who do the actual planning and estimating of individual orders for the work to be done during a ship overhaul. Usually called “planners” they almost always have extensive shop overhaul experience that makes them proficient in their technical specialties.

9
POT&I: Pre-Overhaul Test & Inspection. This is a period during which strenuous testing and detailed inspection of shipboard equipments and systems is accomplished. The purpose is to identify repair and overhaul work needed during a planned future ship overhaul.

10
OEM: Original Equipment Manufacturer

11
DCAA, Defense Contract Audit Agency. The Government Agency that audits companies holding government contracts to ensure compliance with contract specifications and generally accepted accounting principles.