{"id":29609,"date":"2010-09-01T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2010-09-01T03:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/WP-IMPORT\/2010\/09\/01\/the-professionals\/"},"modified":"2010-09-01T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2010-09-01T03:00:00","slug":"the-professionals-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/the-professionals-2\/","title":{"rendered":"The Professionals"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n


\u201cYeah,\u201d I responded. \u201cWhat was he then? Director of Naval Intelligence?\u201d
\u00a0
\u201cNo, he was up at CIA by then, as the Deputy Director. Bill Studeman was the DNI,\u201d said Mac. \u201cOf course, he got four stars as well.\u201d
\u00a0
\u201cWe wanted a four-star on the board,\u201d said Pete. \u201cHe agreed to do it, but he never came to the meetings. He was the one that did me in, career wise, when I was the Assistant Chief of Staff at Third Fleet. He was the PACFLT N2 at the time, and we were taking the staff ashore and relocating to Hawaii from San Diego.\u201d
\u00a0
I extended my hand to Pete. \u201cHappens to everyone, sooner or later, except for Bobby Ray and Bill. Put her there, Shipmate. I had that job, too.\u201d
\u00a0
\u201cInman says his calendar is normally full a year in advance,\u201d said Mac. \u201cWe normally had the meetings at my house in Arlington, and Art would call in from Newport.\u201d
\u00a0
I noticed that the Second Greatest Fighter AI of all time had arrived, and was leaning on the bar waiting for Jim to produce a beer. He still wears his fighter crew-cut, grown out a bit, and he looked stylish in a well-cut business suit. He is leaving major command to join the private sector, and I was hoping that he might join our little band of gypsies down the street. I waved at him to come over, and he almost collided with the Good Doctor, who was running late as usual.
\u00a0
The two shoe-horned their way into the conversation nook, and Mac grimaced at his Virgin Mary. \u201cI can\u2019t have olives this afternoon. Dental work today left me a little sensitive. But there is no horseradish in this thing. Anyone care for food?\u201d
\u00a0
The Second Greatest Fighter AI of All Time demurred. He had a dinner with the Israeli Naval Attach\u00e9 he had to get to, and shook hands all around. Mac glanced at the Neighborhood Bar Menu, which is still a great deal and Peter got the signal and came over, bringing a fresh bottle of pinot.
\u00a0
\u201cWhere is Sara With No H?\u201d asked Mac. The petite but fiery Lebanese waitress is a particular favorite of his, and I have to agree she is one of the prettiest women I have seen. Her dark eyes, with those exquisite lashes and delicate curved brow are deep enough to fall right into.
\u00a0
Peter frowned. \u201cSara is not with us any longer,\u201d he said delicately.
\u00a0
There were groans around the table. \u201cHow come?\u201d I demanded. \u201cWhat happened? This is outrageous.\u201d
\u00a0
Peter did not want to discuss the matter. \u201cLets just say there was an issue with management.\u201d
\u00a0
\u201cDamn,\u201d said Mac. \u201cI suppose we will just have to go talk to her at that other place she works. That is down at Dupont Circle, right?\u201d
\u00a0
\u201cYep. A place called Cobalt. She works the second floor service bar. We hung out the other night. She really resented being told that \u2018too cute is too hard.\u2019 She blew up, and demanded an apology. In the end she said she needed some time to cool off, and management told her to take just as much time as she wanted.\u201d
\u00a0
\u201cDon\u2019t blame her, I sad sadly. \u201cWe are going to miss her,\u201d I said. \u201cHow about an order of the Pork Spring Rolls, some deviled eggs, and the Miniature Fish and Chips?\u201d Peter nodded with approval. The Good Doctor added a half order of the signature Flat Bread with Shrimp, and Mac said: \u201cThis thing is going to be over by eight, right?\u201d
\u00a0
I nodded. \u201cI can\u2019t imagine going that long.\u201d
\u00a0
The Good Doctor looked over and said he wanted to listen to the President, too. \u201cHe is going to declare an end to the combat mission in Iraq,\u201d he said. \u201cThe United States has met its responsibility to Iraq, and it is time to turn the page and get back to the that country pressing problems at home.\u201d
\u00a0
\u201cIs this like the flight onto the aircraft carrier and the Mission Accomplished thing?\u201d
\u00a0
\u201cNo, not quite. I think the President is going to praise the troops who fought and died in Iraq, and still mention that he thought the whole thing had been a mistake in the first place.\u201d
\u00a0
\u201cI understand that the enemy gets a vote in these things, too\u201d I said darkly.
\u00a0
\u201cHe is going to emphasize that his primary job is addressing the weak economy and other domestic issues, and I think he will make it clear that he intends to begin disengaging from the war in Afghanistan next summer.\u201d
\u00a0
\u201cThat is not going to be good for business,\u201d I said. \u201cI think I have seen this movie before.\u201d
\u00a0
Mac cleared his throat, having seen the whole double-feature. \u201cWe used to meet at Bolling Air Force Base for years, at the NCO club. 9\/11 ended that when they locked down the base.\u201d
\u00a0
\u201cWe can wrap the business end of this pretty quick,\u201d I said, looking at my notes. \u201cI just need the quick story of how this professional organization started, and how the Foundation came to be. Was it just a club for the old Flag officers?\u201d
\u00a0
Pete shook his head in disagreement. \u201cNo way. Shap Shapiro was always interested, but in the background. He did not assume the Chairmanship of the Foundation until we got the legal opinion that we could not distribute funds through the Professional Association. That was about two years after we founded NIP.\u201d
\u00a0
\u201cWas that the original name?\u201d
\u00a0
\u201cNo,\u201d said Pete. \u201cOriginally, we were just going to be an organization of retired officers, instead of a comprehensive professional association of officer, enlisted and civilian intelligence specialists, active and retires with 501c3 status.\u201d
\u00a0
\u201cYep,\u201d agreed Mac. \u201cWe batted around some names. \u2018Naval Intelligence League\u2019 sounded too much like the other one. \u2018Naval Intelligence Retirees\u2019 sounded too geriatric.\u201d
\u00a0
Pete smiled. \u201cWe thought about Naval Maritime Intelligence Association, but that would have sounded like an enema.\u201d
\u00a0
\u201cWe wound up calling it NIP, even though we were afraid they would call us little NIPers.\u201d
\u00a0
\u201cWhich they did,\u201d I said.
\u00a0
\u201cThe Foundation came about in a curious way. The Congressman from Virginia Beach got funding for a new schoolhouse at Dam Neck, since he Air Force was going to close Lowry Air Force Base where we had our Air Intelligence School.\u201d
\u00a0
\u201cThat is the Navy-Marine Corps Intelligence Training Center, right? My younger boy may go there if he gets his commission this winter.\u201d
\u00a0
Mac nodded. \u201cInteresting story, that is. They decided to name the auditorium after Vice Admiral Rufus Taylor, who was the first designated intelligence specialist to make three-star. Well, that ticked off Eddie Layton\u2019s wife Karen was incensed, and wanted to ensure that Eddie was properly honored. She wanted to give skipper Bob Trafton $10,000 dollars to endow a fund for the top graduate of the Basic Intelligence Course in Eddie\u2019s name.\u201d
\u00a0
\u201cBob went to Bill Studeman, and the legal opinion was that the active Navy couldn\u2019t take the money direct. We found a corporate lawyer in Richmond and he set up the Foundation, and Shap brought an advisory panel of four star officers to give it some kick.\u201d
\u00a0
\u201cAnd now, 25 years into it, we are consolidating NIP and NIF,\u201d I said. <\/p>\n


(New officer and enlisted IDC qualification pins)<\/p>\n

\u201cLegal opinions change,\u201d Mac laughed. \u201cJust think how you guys will have to adapt the organization to the new structure of Naval Intelligence, as it gets folded into Communications, Meteorology, Cryptology and Public Affairs. The new Information Dominance Corps reflects the way things were before World War Two, when the Office of Naval Intelligence got into it with War Plans, and the Radio Wars started in the Navy.\u201d
\u00a0
\u201cYou were there for all that, \u201c I said. \u201cThat might be worth a look back for the 25th Anniversary issue.\u201d
\u00a0
\u201cIt might,\u201d he said. \u201cI was just a fresh-caught deck officer in 1941, but I can tell you quite a story. In the meantime, I need to get back to the Madison and hear the President explain things from the Oval Office.\u201d
\u00a0
\u201cI\u2019d be interested in an explanation for how this world came to be, Sir,\u201d I said gathering up my notes. \u201cMaybe we can get together at Willow again sometime soon.\u201d
\u00a0
I waved to Peter for the check, and Mac reached for his wallet. Now that<\/em><\/strong> is a professional. <\/p>\n

Copyright 2010 Vic Socotra
www.vicsocotra.com
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\u201cYeah,\u201d I responded. \u201cWhat was he then? Director of Naval Intelligence?\u201d \u00a0 \u201cNo, he was up at CIA by then, as the Deputy Director. Bill Studeman was the DNI,\u201d said Mac. \u201cOf course, he got four stars as well.\u201d \u00a0 \u201cWe wanted a four-star on the board,\u201d said Pete. \u201cHe agreed to do it, but […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29609","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-daily-socotra"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29609","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29609"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29609\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29609"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29609"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29609"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}