And so, a voice from the past and the chance of at least some form of employment, something I wasn’t going to pass up on.
The meeting between myself and Dave took place in a small office on Cottingham Road, not far from Hulls University.
It was odd seeing Dave again, but this time he looked kinda corporate, blue shirt emblazoned with a logo, a tie, with a similar logo, smart…not that he wasn’t when he worked for me.
It turned out, that whilst working at the House of Fraser with me and being part of the Territorial Army (TA), also being an ex-serviceman like myself, he had connected with a property company that had been looking for security services.
The property company had realised that Security was an income stream opportunity and had gone into partnership with Dave and set him up with a company.
There were a couple of other Hull-based Security companies but to be honest they had pretty bad press on performance and reliability…so hey all power eh?
We spent quite a while “pulling up a sandbag” (recounting tales of the past) but then Dave wanted to move on to the employment opportunity, thankfully haha.
It turned out Dave, now a Company Director, was actually seeking an Operations Manager…yup… and when I nudged he felt my pedigree was good to go and he offered me the job there and then!
There was, as you may imagine, a massive sense of relief at this chance of immediate employment which meant the redundancy monies could be allocated to a deposit for a house.
The position was salaried and below the going rate, but beggars cant be choosers as my dear mother used to say.
The company only had a small portfolio but the aim was, along with Dave, we would go push our faces into every corner of Hull to gain more contracts.
At the start, I think there were some office buildings in Hull's Old Town that needed Security involvement, a couple of night watchmen-type duties on a building site, and a caravan site in one of the outlying villages.
One of my first tasks was to ensure I went around the “troops” on a regular basis, making sure they knew we were looking after them and solving any issues they had.
The day I went to the caravan site was an interesting site visit.
Driving up to the gates, I quickly realised that this wasn’t a residential site, it was a holding area for caravans, caravans that may never be sold as the company that produced them was going through a bad patch.
Standing at the gate, obviously locked I awaited the on-duty officer to give me access.
The guy, Nick, a very smart fella, but clearly wary of me, gave me access.
“Dave rang and said you would be visiting…Ops Manager eh?” Giving me a sideward glance which more or less looked disapproving.
“Yes, first week, I wanted to get to know the people on the ground and see if there were any issues or anything needed from us.”
Nike stifled a laugh and led me to a caravan that had an open door.
“Come in, come in, want a brew?”
“Sure, yes that would be…” my sentence faltered as I looked around the caravan, clearly this was lived-in, basic but definitely occupied.
“So, you use this as your Guardroom?”
Nike laughed “Ha, you ex-services as well”?”
“Yes, a Snowdrop”
“Gawd help us then” he said cheerfully and thrust a tin mug of coffee in my hand.
It turned out that Nick, 26 years old, married with a new baby, was an ex-Royal Marine and the caravan site was “his”. He literally lived and worked there 24/7 and would only request the odd day here and there to go and replenish his supplies. (This was in the days that employment law didn’t really have much to do with this type of activity).
“I have to ask…would you want to look at other places to work within the company as it grows? Seems harsh you are stuck out here…”
“No! I won’t be here for more than another couple of months…”
“Oh?”
“This is a stop-gap, before my next assignment…I work on Grey Private Military contracts…Dave knows and will always offer me some intermediate work when I am home”.
There was a short silence…
“What kind of things does that involve…the private contracts? If you don’t mind me asking”
“Ha…live armed protection of arms runners in Africa, looking after Arab sensitive enclosures…stuff like that…it’s much like what I did in the service but I get paid about ten times as much lol”
Again silence.
“Sounds like a risky job…but I guess worth it?”
“I get ridiculous lumps of money but also I have a quarter of a million insurance built into every job…just in case I don’t come home, I know my wife and son will be ok.”
Leaving the compound, I told Nick to message me if ever he needed anything and I left with a massive amount of respect for the guy…not everyone’s chosen life choices, but clearly for him, and he said so at one point, it was what he did and he couldn’t do without it in his life.
This encounter clearly made me think, to ponder that “need”, above and beyond the monetary again…Nick was a smart guy and he could command decent civilian Security positions easily and without the risk to life.
That said, and given my service life encounter, which was, as some of you who have read this from the beginning, 7 years Royal Air Force and a possible 22 years if life hadn’t hit me with a googly…it’s still in me.
Even now 3 decades from my departure, service life, the experiences, the camaraderie…it still pulls at me. I am a knackered old git, but in honesty, even with all the turmoil in the world, I would “be there”…much of it is about protecting what you hold dear, not about going and killing other humans, no matter what you may suppose.
Anyway…enough of that for now.
The new job and a healthy bank account meant my soon-to-be wife (glutton for punishment me ha) set about house hunting. Somewhere comfortable that allowed for my boys to stay easily without cramping up in a single room.
The search begins…
Until Next Time
Make sure you check out next week’s issue!
Some more of my Newsletters: