Back to NAF

 I'm going back to NAF at the end of the month, goddammit. 

Fuck.

For the past year and a half, I was able to escape the pit of despair known as Non-Appropriated Funding, by getting a job as a contractor. The pay, the benefits, the working environment were all 100% better than previously working as a Flex-20, where equipment is always breaking down, stress levels are continually high, the pay is lousy, and the only benefits are the logistical support to BX, commissary, gas rations and post office access. Otherwise, you have the shirt on your back and that's it. No pay bonuses, no holiday-free days. You might get federal holidays off, or family days off, however depending on the job you do, as well as the management you work for, it's unpredictable. There have been plenty of times to where this has happened to me. 

The contract was up for renewal, and even had sole-source bidding guaranteed, but at the last minute, the company decided that it cost too much to approve, since this bullshit COVID pandemic had wiped out a significant chunk of their finances this past year. Everyone was convinced that it was going to be renewed, but the long periods of silence between HQ and the government should've tipped everyone off that something wasn't right. HQ finally announced 2 1/2 months before the contract expires, that everyone would soon be out of a job. No time for people to really plan or react otherwise. Jobs are hard enough to come by in the KMC to begin with.

I am going from a job that has been the equivalent of eating steak and potatoes, back to a job that is essentially a shit sandwich. And even half a shit sandwich at that. Dependas always get away with doing minimal work, if any, and always complain about how much it sucks. They get weekends off automatically, due to "family time", and rarely have to open or close. I was treated like a jack-of-all-trades until I took the contracting job, doing gopher-boy tasks and anything else that dependas couldn't be bothered with. 

I dare not protest too much, as returning to NAF is a life-preserver of sorts; a safety net. The world of contracting is wild  and unpredictable, and scary to where you can literally lose your job on the spot for something imagined, real, or otherwise. Just this month, a guy we'll call "Carlos" was removed from his job as a contractor within 24 hours, over an allegation. Allegedly him, a date, and a married couple they were friends with, all went out for drinks. As the alcohol flowed, people's inhibitions were lowered, and the suggestion that they all get together and have a 4-way was brought up. Allegedly Carlos was the guy who made the suggestion, and when his date/girlfriend/acquaintance/whatever she is heard this, she said that she wasn't into that kind of thing, and decided to file a SARC complaint. Upon hearing this, he lost his job, had his ID card pulled on the spot, and was literally on the next flight out of country. No investigation had been made to determine what the facts were, who said what, or how the situation happened. No different than the military, contractors are guilty until proven innocent, regardless of what civil rights or legal defense that person has.

I suppose that I'll never know all the details, since it's something that has been otherwise kept hush-hush. All I know is that Carlos was a cool dude who always got the job done, and always hit his monthly goals. He was a consecutive top performer. I don't know how he was outside of work, but considering that his dad also worked as a contractor for the same company, his reputation definitely carried weight. What's disturbing is that all a female has to do is to make the allegation and his life is now forever ruined. Okay, let's say for the sake of argument that Carlos did make an inappropriate suggestion - so long as the guy wasn't forcing himself on his date, or touching her without consent, just let the comment go. No need to go running off to tell Mom and Dad Army that the guy you're on a date with has a dirty mind. It's why I refuse to date military women, or women who are associated with the DoD - all that bullshit indoctrination fucks up their ability to look at things from a sensible perspective. It's bad enough that most military females have the emotional maturity of a 10 year old, but this is like giving a toddler a Molotov cocktail of sorts.

Anycase, I will go back to NAF, and essentially pick up from where I left off in October 2019. I'll go back to working with the angry racist black guy who is still there, spewing his subversive hatred and being impossible to deal with. Just lovely. Sadly enough, my perception is that my contracting job was a one time deal, in order to give me the opportunity to save up enough money to finance my move back to the US, if and when that day comes. I lost the free PCS that Uncle Scam provides people who are overseas, quite some time ago. I could still ask for an Exception to Policy letter, but 10 years after the fact, it would be shot down with a 99.9% guarantee. It goes to show that in the end you have to rely on yourself to do what needs to be done. This has proven time and again to be the case. So, NAF sucks, but it's the best thing I've got going for me. At least can I have some ketchup for the shit sandwich?

Heh.