The Boat Man

Chapter 3

Major Bingham,

It is with great pleasure that I inform you of an opportunity that will change your life. At APEX systems, LLC, we provide veterans with opportunities to pull themselves out of the trenches and get back into the good fight. Are you tired of squabbling with others over menial wages and meaningless job duties? Fighting tooth and nail with your civilian counterparts? At APEX we offer a variety of opportunities for our hires as "leadership consultants". You will gain access to one of the most rewarding careers in this great country. You will find our benefits and base salary second to none. Our hope is that you will begin this journey with us, not only as an opportunity for you to enhance your career, but an opportunity to further enhance the lives of our fellow employees, and the clients we serve. Please see your interview time and the aforementioned job title and base salary below.

In honor,

APEX recruitment office.

Interview Date: July 12, 2005

Location: 1128 P Street Washington, DC

Time: 11:30

Job: leadership consultant

Base Salary: $175,000

"I can't sit around on my ass anymore" the drowned voice of Don came surging back to the forefront, "so I figured what the hell, it looked official enough" Don finally stopped as if out of breath. The balding man, who finally identified himself as Mr. Wade, exhaled slightly. He knew that explaining the situation to Don would be more troublesome than he originally anticipated. "You are not mistaken, it was intended to be vague, it was intended for someone just like you. The money, well that was just to get you in the door." "Actually, a lot of time, effort, and tax payer dollars went toward the research and analysis performed to ensure that both you and Mr. Bingham found your way into this office." Frank, now more confused than ever, replied "so what the hell are we doing here then?" Sixtyish bald man, now identified as a "Mr. Wade". Replied, "You are here because APEX selected you to be here." He said bluntly. Both Frank and Don's thoughts could almost register audibly. They both searched the storage facility that was "two feet above their ass" as Tom Hanks so eloquently put it in a league of their own. Neither of them could place this acronym. Almost as if Mr. Wade responded to a cue on a movie set ". Advanced Priority Extraction". Frank and Don looked at each other suspiciously. "And what the hell does that mean? That doesn't sound like something a leadership consultant would do" Don replied sarcastically. Instead of answering, Mr. Wade slapped two identical files on the desk in front of them. Both files so thick that a Stephen King novel would be dwarfed by their rotundness. The first file contained the heading "Candidate 1128-A_9 Bingham, F." The second "Candidate 3980-C_3 Mcreedy, D." Why don't you take a few minutes to thumb through those. I'll be back once I feel you've had enough time to mull it over."

As Frank and Don thumbed through every page that was filled with every aspect of their military careers, they looked at each other suspiciously. The first day of basic, their test scores, physical training results, aptitude, education, intellect, and preferences in anything from food to women shown back at them like a spotlight from the desk before them, things that even they couldn't remember themselves. Frank flipped to the page that contained his assessment and recommendations for his assignment to the elite "bushwacker" unit. This stunned Frank, he was told when he joined that unit that their activities and assignments had been strictly confidential. He wasn't even allowed to be on base with other units much less speak of it. Don finally spoke "what is this shit? You picking up on this?" Frank eyeballed Don who he guessed had similar "goodies" in his file, "Sure enough, everything right in yours?" Frank asked. "Hell yeah man, stuff I don't even remember. They have a fucking confidential test result that I wasn't even allowed to see in here. I remember taking it and thinking about cussing the CO who administered the test when he told me I couldn't see my results. He just said "you passed". Things gotta be over 10 years old." Frank flipped to the end of the file, which had seemed to go on forever. On the last page there was some sort of evaluation that included everything from Frank's height and weight to his IQ, allergies, and general disposition. In a caption on the bottom of the final page, he found a picture of Don with a green box that stated "Match: 96%".