On Monday April 13 I departed from Hartford for a business trip in Ft Walton Beach with a connecting flight flight in Atlanta. Due to high winds the plane circled the Atlanta airport until being diverted to Knoxville to fill up its thirsty tanks. The aircraft sat on the Knoxville tarmac for about an hour with its passengers inside. When it eventually landed in Atlanta I had, of course, missed the connecting flight and there were no more flights that day to my destination. Luckily I was able to get a flight to Pensacola where I found a taxi to get me where I needed to go.

The seminar I?m attending is going well and the living accommodations are adequate. The Air Force base nearby is host to AF special operations units, however, and the sound of gunfire and bomb explosions can be heard day and night. It is much like one might expect a war zone to sound.

April 15th saw hundreds of thousands of protestors around the nation show up for various ?Tea Parties?. I wish I could have attended one. Some comments by some news reporters about both the protests and the protestors were disappointing. It is never right to criticize anyone for peacefully exercising their rights of free speech, assembly, and protest.

On Saturday April 18th I received a call from Wackenhut HR (I?ve worked for Wackenhut since March 20). She called to ask if I am still on my military leave and to tell me to not report to my post when I return, but to report to the HR office instead.

?Is there a problem??, I asked.

?We?ll talk about it when you get back. I don?t want to disturb you while your on military leave,? she replied.

Are you kidding me? There are only two reasons to report to HR; you?ve been hired or you?re getting fired. And there?d be no reluctance to give good news over the phone. On the other hand it is illegal to fire a Guardsman because they have been deployed.