After Before and After

Phase 4: Chapter 33

"Please state your name for the record" Barnes requested, a line she could recite in her sleep.

"Ronald Bailey" the witness answered in a familiar voice that made Ralph feel both nostalgic and heavy.

"And what is your occupation as is relevant to this case?" Barnes questioned.

"I am a retired officer of the United States Army, and the current Head Officer of the Junior Reserve Officer's Training Corps, or the JROTC program at Bainbridge Military Academy" Officer Bailey briefly summarized.

"Thank you for your service in the army, Officer. And thank you for dedicating your career to serving and teaching our future generation of soldiers" Dana kindly thanked the veteran, to which Officer Bailey smiled and nodded a single nod. "Can you tell me a bit about your role at the academy? What is it you do exactly?"

"I am in charge of overseeing the JROTC program academy wide. A lot of the time, my job involves a lot of paperwork on all the cadets we have enrolled at the academy. I'm in charge of signing off on all incident reports, reviewing report cards and JROTC assessments, sending letters, emails, and communicating with parents via the phone and in person as well. I also oversee all the JROTC instructors who work with and train the individual squadrons and entry training groups. I work with the instructors in charge of the training groups of boys who are under assessment, meaning they are not yet assigned to a squadron due to age, progress stage, or being new to the academy. I work with their instructors to assign them to squadrons when they're ready by reviewing their assessments and measuring their performance against other factors, including other cadets. I also oversee the RAF International Military School Training Program that sends one squadron per academic semester abroad to one of our joint military bases with the Royal Air Force in the United Kingdom."

"That sounds like a big job, you must have a lot on your plate" Dana insinuated dramatically, in the way she always does when she's trying to earn credibility for her witnesses. As Ralph always does, he subtly rolled his eyes in response.

"It sure is" Officer Bailey answered with a smile, "but I love what I do. It is one of the most rewarding jobs I've had, alongside serving in the army."

"Of course" Dana agreed warmly. "So Officer Bailey, tell me and the members of this court a little more about the international program you run at Bainbridge Military Academy."

"Ours is one of only three military schools for boys in the U.S. that partners with the Royal Air Force to provide on-site programming to our cadets that allows them to see and experience what military bases are like before they graduate and actually join their choice in branch of the U.S. military. There are over one hundred U.S. military bases currently in the U.K. We've partnered with well over a dozen of them over the years, working closely with the Royal Air Force, an ally of the U.S. military, to provide these programs to our cadets. The program is called the RAF International Military School Training Program, or IMSTP. It is an eight week training program intended to give our cadets a look into life on military bases, military training, the day to day life of soldiers serving overseas. We even have active soldiers come in and talk with our boys at least once a week throughout their time on the base. At Bainbridge Military Academy, we are lucky enough to be able to send two squadrons per academic year, one per semester, to the U.K. for this program. Every squadron enters the program one time before they graduate, usually a year or two after their official squadron is assigned. The timeline sometimes varies due to our yearly schedules and those of the bases we work with. A lot goes into planning these trips. I have staff members who work under me whose job it is to simply put this program together each year" Officer Bailey explained at length.

"It sounds like quite an incredible program you're running over there, Officer Bailey. Let's talk about the international program thst was scheduled for the Fall semester in 1990. What squadron was assigned to the program for that term?" Dana prompted.

"Our Unit 8 squadron" Officer Bailey confirmed.

"How many boys were in Unit 8 at the time?"

"Forty. All our squadrons typically consist of forty boys. It varies only when a student is pulled from the academy in the middle of an academic year, but we usually try to fill that spot rather quickly."

"Of course. Can you tell me what Royal Air Force base the Unit 8 squadron was assigned to for their term in the international program?" Barnes asked.

"We placed them at the RAF's Menwith Hill Station in Menwith Hill, England. Their military academy is called Grove United Kingdom Military Academy, which has a standard U.K. division just off the base, about three miles from it. Grove's U.S. IMSTP Division is run out of the Menwith Hill Station base. Their boys' military academy was the program our boys were to go through for their academic studies for the duration of their time over there" Bailey answered.

"And what were the dates that you had Unit 8 scheduled to be there for?" Barnes questioned.

"They were set to arrive on the morning of September 6th 1990, and depart from England on November 5th 1990, arriving back here in Georgia on November 6th" Bailey explained.

"Tell me about the transportation plan for the trip" Barnes prompted, "what methods of transportation were used?"

"We sent two staff members, including one of our two designated pilots, onto our academy's coach bus with all attending cadets. We had them drive out to the Lawson Army Airfield in Fort Benning where they were transported from the bus onto the military-grade plane. The additional staff member drove the bus back to the academy while the assigned pilot, in this case Johnathan Benson, flew the plane from the airfield to the base in the United Kingdom."

"Was there ever a need to assign an additional staff member to fly on the plane with the pilot and the cadets or was there always just one pilot?" Barnes prompted.

"No, we hadn't sent two staff members overseas prior to the plane crash. The RAF bases are always fully staffed for the entire duration of the time these programs run. The flight was the only time in which the boys were under the care of one staff member, and we still legally met the staff to cadet ratio required in policy" Bailey very willingly assured the court.

"Yes, I would assume so" Dana Barnes answered in agreement. "Thank you for telling us about your program, Officer Bailey."

"Happy to do it" the officer agreed.

"I have no further questions for this witness, Your Honor."