Wi Ja

New Orleans

As this story unfolds, I was a civilian civil engineer with the US Army Corps of Engineers in the New Orleans District.  I had been there about five years, and was in charge of the Red River area.  I controlled the budget for projects, consisting mostly of emergency flood control measures funded by federal dollars authorized by the US Congress under Public Law 99.  I was the one that justified the project, requested funds from our headquarters, coordinated with state and local officials, designed the emergency improvements, and wrote the contracts for construction. 

It was during this time that I first met Rob.  Our work responsibilities back then did not overlap, and we did not interface on any of our projects.  Off duty I was working on my commercial pilot license and was planning to take my required long cross country flight as pilot-in-command.  I planned a trip from New Orleans to the Bahamas.  Even though most of the costs were picked up by my Veterans Benefits, I still had to pay a significant portion of it out of my own pocket.  To reduce my costs, I had advertised in the New Orleans District compound for anyone wanting to fly to the Bahamas with me on a cost-share basis.  

Flying to the Bahamas in a small airplane piloted by a low-time pilot working on his commercial license was just a little bit too much of an adventure for the New Orleans District employees -- except for Rob,  He was interested and asked if he could bring a couple of his buddies outside the district.  So on the appointed day, he and I and his two pals met at the airport and prepared to board a Cessna 182 four-place, fixed landing gear, airplane I rented -- with me as the pilot-in-command. 

It was a little more than 800 air miles from New Orleans to Freeport Bahamas.  The aircraft had a range of almost 1,000 miles.  But I didn't want to be flying on the edge of the aircrafts performance capability.  It was a well-used aircraft, kept in good condition by the flight school where I trained.  But with wear and use come inevitable performance degradation.  Besides, the aircraft performance figures published by Cessna were optimal figures for a new aircraft flown in standard conditions. 

Down here in the deep south, many factors made less than ideal flying conditions, such as high humidity, and high summer temperatures.  In addition, there were the unknowns and unexpected, which meant prudence dictated a reserve of at least a half an hour fuel be reserved for such contingency.  I habitually calculated a one-hour reserve.  

One selected engine power settings, which then dictated the fuel burn rate, which then, together with the number of gallons of fuel in the tank, dictated how much time in the air one had before the fuel was exhausted.  So it was time in the air that I calculated first, and I made it the law.  From the power settings I calculated my airspeed, and from winds aloft predictions calculated my probable groundspeed, and from that how much distance I could probably fly while retaining my reserve. 

The time-in-the-air rule is one I deduced myself -- because you can't stop and park on cloud if you run out of fuel.  Before your time-in-the-air runs out, you must land and refuel, regardless of how much distance you planned to cover.  Many factors, such as differing wind aloft, different air temperatures aloft, and poor engine performance, might cause your aircraft to realize a much slower groundspeed than you originally calculated.  Many a pilot had run out of fuel, and many of those died as a result, all because they did not realize that it was fuel on board divided fuel burn rate that dictated their allowable time in the air on any flight leg -- not miles on the ground. 

Once my passengers showed up at the airport, I had a chance to weigh them and their baggage.  These clowns brought a lot of luggage with them, and they didn't want to leave any of it behind.  The baggage was within the weight limit for the cargo hold, but it would have put us over the gross weight limitation with full fuel.  So I had to offload considerable fuel from the tanks to stay within the maximum gross weight limitation.  That, and an hour reserve, forced me to scheduled a refueling point halfway, when I would have preferred to refuel much further on. 

The flight plan took us from New Orleans lakefront Airport to Perry, Florida, about 400 miles away.   Flight time to Perry was about two and a half hours -- which was a ground speed of 160 miles per hour.  The weather was good all the way, the air was smooth - without any turbulence.  I flew about 5,000 feet above sea level, and we had a pretty good view of the southern coast.  I landed at Perry to refuel because it had a long runway and very little traffic.  I didn't want to have to refuel again, and I also did not want to be low on fuel during the water crossing.  So I topped off the fuel tanks, in Perry -- not something I would have done at the flight school in New Orleans.

Topping off the tanks caused the plane to be over its maximum design gross weight.  This meant the plane would be sluggish to handle, and raise the stall speed -- requiring me to take off with much higher airspeeds than normal.  I used a lot of runway on that takeoff out of Perry Airfield, letting the aircraft accelerate to 100 miles per hour before raising the nose, and letting the aircraft fly itself off the runway at about 120 miles per hour.  Normally, one would raise the nose at about 60 miles per hour, and the aircraft would fly off at about 90 miles per hour. 

I did not dare try to force the airplane to climb at 90. which was its normal climb speed, because I did not want to be anywhere near stall speed.  So I set the angle of climb so that we climbed at 120 miles per hour.  That gave us a very slow climb to altitude of only 300 feet feet per minute.  Normal climb to altitude would be around 900 feet per minute.  Fortunately, there were no gusts or turbulence that might have upset the aircraft.  But once we were up to cruise altitude, and had burned off some fuel, the plane settled down to normal handling and we were cruising again at  160 miles per hour.  

A couple of hours later we were over West Palm Beach, Florida, and I turned due east towards Freeport, Bahamas, which was about a 90 mile stretch over the Atlantic Ocean.  I climbed to 8,000 feet above sea level, and about the time I lost sight of the Florida coast I saw the Bahamas -or rather, I saw the clouds hanging over the Bahamas.  It was only a thirty minute flight, and soon I was landing at the Freeport airport without incidence. 

Going through Bahaman customs was a breeze.  We found an economical motel to stay at, and I rented a car.  The car was an American car with the steering on the left side - as in the US.  But the Bahamians drive on the left side of the road, as they do in Britain, which meant I was looking down the shoulder of the road as I was driving, rather than looking down the center of the road.  It was very confusing, and more than once I found myself driving in the wrong lane. 

Rob and his friends were interested in diving, and we ran across a dive team who invited us along for a deep dive.  As we were rolling along, the dive master begin asking about our experience, which turned out that none of us had any experience whatsoever.  So the dive master booted us out, with a warning that diving was very dangerous, and required training and certification.

With diving out, the next thing on the island was gambling.  There was a big fancy casino nearby, and that's where Rob and his two buddies spent the rest of their time.  I had about $40 of money to spare, which I promptly lost to the one arm bandit.  After that I watched some people gambling thousands of dollars away. 

We spent a couple of days there in Freeport.  On the third day we toured the island in the car, and then departed the next morning.  The flight back was uneventful.  It was their first trip in a small aircraft, and my first over-water flight. All-in-all, It was a pretty good adventure, and money well spent. 

It was not long after the Bahamas adventure that we had a significant change in the New Orleans District's Engineering Division.  The chief of the Engineering Division retired, and the chief of the Design Branch, who was in line to replace him, chose to transfer to the Savannah District, which was where he was originally from.  Both of those men were my patrons -- I made them look good, and they in turn advanced my career.

But with them gone, I suddenly inherited all their enemies, in addition to the enemies I had generated on my own, and found myself not a favorite anymore.  Fortunately, I was offered a promotion in another Corps of Engineers organization.  In fact many of my colleagues also left the New Orleans District.  I got a promotion to the Middle East Division, and Rob went to the Far East Division.   

Winchester

I first spent a year with the Middle East Division in Winchester Virginia, where our engineering group labored making plans and specifications for our many projects in Saudi Arabia.  I was a construction coordinator responsible for making sure the construction concerns from our staff in the field were properly integrated into the plans and specifications prepared by the design engineers.

On one occasion I had traveled down to our higher headquarters in Washington DC to attend a seminar on scheduling techniques.  I was giving a presentation on the precedence scheduling techniques -- trying to get our headquarters to approve its use on our projects.  I didn't get a formal approval, but I also didn't get a flat out rejection. 

The main antagonist in our Washington DC headquarters was adamantly opposed to its use in the US Army Corps of Engineers.  But we did not submit our plans and specifications to our higher headquarters for approval, and I had demonstrated that I, at least, knew how to make good use of it, and that most of private industry also used that technique.  So I removed the prohibition against in our contracts. 

It was always somewhat amusing to me that someone in my rather lowly position at the time could make such a decision.  It was what everyone in my outfit wanted to do, and I was in a position to write and modify the special provisions that governed that issue -- so I just did it.  Of course, if something went wrong, I would be the one all the fingers would point to, as the command chain would disavow knowingly approving my actions.        

While down at our DC headquarters I happened to walk by a cubical, and to my surprise, out popped Rob,  He called me over to stop and chat a bit.  On his wall was an 8" by 10" portrait of one of the most beautiful Asian girls I had ever seen, with three small kids.  He noticed me ogling the picture, and said it was his wife he met and married during a tour in the Korea District of our Far East Division, where he ended up after leaving the New Orleans District.  he said the youngest two kids were his, and the oldest was hers by a former marriage - according to him, a South Korean pilot who had been killed in action.

Now. I had my own family - a wife and three kids.  I was happily married to Maria, or so I thought.  Still, the image of Rob's wife lingered in the shadows of my mind as someone I would have liked to have met under different circumstances.  I have an ideal image in my mind of what I would like my fantasy woman to look like.  And the picture Rob's wife looked awful lot like that fantasy.  It was one of those day dreams one has - you can't control them, they just pop in your mind from out of nowhere now and then - to be discounted in the reality you are immersed in, with very little chance, if any, of ever becoming a reality. 

Saudi Arabia

Our main headquarters was in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, I had been sent there from Winchester a few times on temporary duty lasting a couple of weeks to a month at a time.  I was quite enthralled with the strange culture, and still have vivid memories of the pungent smell of ground spices wafting through the Suq (open market) in downtown Riyadh, and the ever present and oft repeated plaintive wail of the Muslim call to prayer, when every activity would stop, shops would close their doors, and all the faithful. and some of the unfaithful, would be herded into the mosques for the obligatory prayer session. 

Saudi Arabia was one of the more conservative Muslim countries, and had been that way for untold centuries.  It was, at the time I first visited, in the throes of modernizing much of its infrastructure, while at the same time holding on to all its conservative cultural values. 

Saudi women were obliged to cover their bodies from top of their head to their toes.  They couldn't drive.  Sexual contact, even social contact, between unmarried females and males was forbidden, except for immediate family members.  Strict sharia law was enforced.  On Fridays, in the center of Riyadh, thieves hand their hands severed from their bodies, murderers and rapist were beheaded, and adulterers were stoned.

The US Army Corps of Engineers had been tasked with helping modernize the Saudi Military.  Its vast intake of petro-dollars had made Saudi Arabia a prize plum, and without the US as patron and protector, Saudi Arabia wouldn't long survive.  But being forever beholding to a foreign power wasn't what the Saudi royal family had in mind.  They were heavily engaged in improving their capability to defend themselves.  Still, it was the US that they considered the "least evil" ally, not only the most capable to come to their defense, but also the least likely to annex them.    

My first visit to Riyadh was to accompany over a thousand pounds of design drawings and specifications, and some electronic equipment as my personal baggage.  Riyadh was in a state of chaos then, and you didn't dare to just ship things over any other way and expect to find it on the other end.  When I got to Riyadh, it was then a giant construction camp, and the Airport wasn't much to talk about in a positive light. 

I collected all the baggage in five or six large baggage carts and wheeled them through customs without incident.  Then I stood around in the airport wondering where my contact was who was supposed to meet me.  I had no idea where to go on my own.  I waited about two hours, and then I saw a westerner that was a Corps of Engineers employee.  He said he couldn't help me just then, but he would alert someone to come and get me and my excess baggage.  About an hour later, our Saudi expediter showed up and took me and my excess baggage to our local private "hotel."  In the morning I followed the drawings and specifications to the place where they were literally dumped.  

During those temporary stays in Riyadh I had no specific assignment other than to get an appreciation of the tremendous challenges our people were facing there, to get to personally know the players, and to help out as best I could.  And that's what I do best.  The crew stationed in Saudi Arabia were careful about who they selected for positions there.  Going there TDY (temporary duty) gave them a chance to evaluate potential hires,

I asked everyone I met in Riyadh what they did, and how I might help them.  Inevitably they would relate their problems to me -- much of which was the challenge of just surviving, and finding the basic necessities of life.  The main project-related help I gave them back then was locating all the plans and specifications we were sending over from our engineering office in Winchester.  Once they got to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia they had just been sticking them somewhere in a vacant office without distributing them.

I appointed myself logistician, and began segregating the drawings and specifications and delivering them to the proper players.  I soon came to know who was who and where I could be most helpful.  I didn't need to have anyone direct me.  I just evaluated the situation and lent a hand wherever I could.  

After a year in Winchester, I mentioned that I would like a tour in Saudi Arabia.  I was immediately offered a position in our Riyadh headquarters - in what we called our Engineering Planning and Liaison Office, which coordinated directly with our Saudi counterparts on what military projects they wanted us to design and construct for them. 

I transferred to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, with my wife, Maria, and my three kids.  My kids were already familiar with two cultures -- mine in America, and Maria's in Mexico.  But Saudi Arabia was completely different.  It was so foreign that we made no attempt to integrate with the local population - which was just fine with the Saudis, because they considered our culture to be corrupting -- not to be too visible to their people.  Instead, we had our own little America there, complete with "International" schools with an American curriculum, our own commissary and post exchange, our own postal system, and our own dedicated housing compounds, which were walled, and gated with security guards.  

I spent maybe six months or so in Riyadh at our Division headquarters, when I got a promotion with our Al Batin District, which was responsible for constructing our biggest project -- in fact, at the time, the largest project the US Army Corps of Engineers ever undertook -- the King Khalid Military City in the northeastern corner of Saudi Arabia, near the Kuwait border.  It was an entire military complex and city from scratch, in the middle of nowhere, with absolutely no local infrastructure to rely on.  The project was so big that the Corps built a dedicated port at Ras Al Misha'b to handle all the imported material, and a very large construction camp for the imported labor.    

For the first several months with the Al Batin District, I was asked to stay down in Riyadh to coordinate with Division headquarters, and also to coordinate with the Saudis.  Our Saudi liaison officer only traveled to the site once or twice a month, and when he did, I accompanied him.  Eventually he moved to the site full time, and brought his wife with him,  That was also when I moved up to the site full time and brought my family with me.  

I was there maybe a year when out of the blue, one of my colleagues ask me if I knew Rob, and what kind of fellow he was.  We had a strict policy of only hiring people who we personally knew, or had positive references from someone we knew and trusted.  The only reply I could give was that I knew him from the New Orleans District, but we shared no projects together, so I couldn't comment on his work.  I mentioned that we went on a jaunt to the Bahamas, and that I didn't know anything negative about him.  I also mentioned he had a good looking wife, although I had only seen her picture.

That wasn't a very positive recommendation, and I didn't think more of it.  I suspect our office declined to select him,  Then out of the blue he showed up on site - maybe a month or two later.  I later learned that Rob was more or less shoved on us by the new commanding general for the Middle East Division. 

Since I was apparently the only one in camp that knew Rob before, I was made his sponsor.  I tried to move him and his family in the house next door to mine, but it was already assigned to another new arrival, so we put him in a house a few houses up from mine.

Wi Ja

Wi Ja was Rob's wife.  Being as I was Rob's sponsor, it was my obligation to introduce him around the camp, and help him and his family acclimate to camp life.  So I included all of them in our social gatherings.  I found her quite friendly, and even especially attentive to me.  She would look me directly in the eye when she talked to me, which was quite often, and place her hand on my arm or even on my leg when she conversed with me.  And strange enough, Rob seemed to encourage it.

She later related to me that Rob had told her that I went "gaga" over her picture that time Rob and I met again in Washington DC.  And, to be honest, I was more than smitten by her in person, and she seemed to knew that I admired her without me ever saying a word about it.  

Now I never cast my eyes on anyone else's wife before, and I wasn't doing it just then, either.  But I was at a critical juncture in my life.  My wife of seventeen years, María, and I were on the verge of divorcing.  I chronicle that story in another vignette.  And that divorce was brought to conclusion a few months later.  But I swear on all that is holy and sacred that Wi Ja had nothing at all to do with that split up.  Rather it was Maria's year-long affair under my very nose, and more specifically, the betrayal, lies, and belittling from her that tore my guts inside out, that led me to divorce her.

After the divorce, and with Maria gone, I did turn my attention to Wi Ja.  There was something strange about her and Rob's relationship.  It was as if he actually encouraged us to be friends.  Or maybe she had something over him that required him to be compliant to her wishes. 

On one late evening, I was out in my driveway hoping she would ride by on her daughter's bicycle.  I waved to her and called her over.  I told her that Maria and I had divorced and I was looking for some consolation.  She came into the house with me and we talked and watched a movie.  She called Rob and told him where she was, but he didn't want to come over. 

Wi Ja ask me if I would play Tennis with her, and we spent a lot of time almost every afternoon lazily playing at Tennis.  I didn't play hard, jus enough to be a live rebound wall for her.  The more we played, the deeper my affection for her grew.  Many times, after dinner at our community mess hall, she would be sitting in front by the door, and as I walked by, she would ask me if I would give her a ride home.  Of course, I always would.  

Once, instead of going home, we went out to the desert and I let her drive the car around.  Women aren't allowed to drive in Saudi Arabia, so that was a real treat for her.  But while she was driving, a security vehicle came by and ordered us to stop.  We quickly changed places so I was the one driving, and as the security guard came up, I could see it was not an American, but a third world contract employee.  So I took a "me white boss - you worker" tone with him, and he turned around and scuttled away.

All this time, Wi Ja and I were not lovers,  We did not kiss or hold hands or have sex.  We were friends, that did things together, becoming very close - spending a lot of time together, very much happy to be in each other's company. 

Then a trip to London came up.  My command had procured a mainframe scheduling software out of IBM's London branch to create a master construction schedule.  I was schedule to attend a user group conference there.  I asked Wi Ja if she wanted to go with me, that I would pay her way.  She said she had to ask Rob if she could go,  A couple of days later she told me he said ok.  So I gave her the fare in Saudi Riyals so she could buy her own ticket without being linked to me. 

I suspect some people in the camp might be talking about us, but there was no affair going on, so no one would have had any concrete evidence - because there wasn't any.  I had asked her if we might become lovers in London, but she said she could not answer that.  So I put no conditions on her.  Still, no need to fuel any gossip fires, so she flew down to Dhahran in the company aircraft, and I drove down in my car.  We rode the same airplane to London, but we did not sit together,

London

When we arrived in London, we took a Taxi together to the Chelsea Holiday Inn, a $100 a night five star hotel.  Nowadays that's not much, but back then it was quite a lot.  It was way beyond my allowable per diem.  But I chose the Chelsea for two reasons -- one was to impress her, and two, was that we were unlikely to meet anyone we knew there - it was just too expensive.

I only got one room for the both of us.  At first she suggested that we get adjoining rooms. I told her I would if she insisted, but it was already really expensive.  Then she said one room was ok, and  she and I sat down on the bed.  I still didn't know whether she would be willing to make love, and I didn't want to press her about it.  Up to that moment I had yet to even kiss her. 

Then I turned toward her, and she turned toward me and we kissed for the very first time.  She took off her dress, stark naked and beautiful.  I took off my clothes, then embraced her and kissed her.  We started making love and continued all evening.  When we finished our first orgasm, she lit a cigarette, and shared it with me.  She sang me a sad Korean love song.  Then we made more love. It was during one of our prolonged love making sessions she looked up at me with those deep brown eyes and told me she loved me.  And oh my god, was I in love with her.

We made love for three days straight, interrupting to take a meal now and then.  And of course, I had to attend the user group conference which lasted for eight hours each of two days.  By the third day, I was tired and needed a break from all the constant love making.  The conference was over, so I suggested we make a day trip to Bristol, on England's west coast.  On the way, the tour bus stopped by the famous Stonehenge Circle.  We walked around in London and Bristol, and on the tour bus holding hands.  One of the older matrons on the bus remarked that we must be newlyweds, because we looked so blissful together.  In fact, another women asked us if we were newlyweds, and all I could say was "something like that," which was true, and could be interpreted as a yes or a no.

When it was time to go home, we went to Heathrow Airport, and while standing in line holding hands, waiting to board the aircraft, the man in front of me turned around and said to me - "Hi Simon."  It was a someone from our US office going to our campsite who knew me well.  Our secret rendezvous had been uncovered, and soon Wi Ja and I would be the talk of the camp. 

Back in Saudi Arabia, My boss's boss called me into his office and asked me whether it was true that Wi Ja and I were in London together.  Wi Ja had told me she had wanted him to give her a job, but he told her that she was too pretty to work, and would be a distraction.  Now the command had a policy to give all the wives a job, just so no wife worked under her husband.  It was a way to keep the women from suffering boredom and discontent.  So the statement was contrary to that policy.  It didn't make sense by itself.  There must be more to it.   

I did not admit to having affair, since no one could prove that, but I couldn't deny we were there at the same time.  I did remark that affairs were rampant in the camp, including Maria's, which didn't seem to bother anyone.  So why was it such a big deal if Wi Ja and I were to have an affair.  That shut my boss's boss up, but I soon was to learn why it was such a big deal to the command.

Just before Rob and Wi Ja showed up in camp, there was a change of command for the Middle East Division.  One general retired and a new general took command.  Rob, it seems, was a close friend of the new general - on a first name basis.  And Wi Ja, it seems, was also important to this general.  maybe she was his girlfriend, and I was in essence, "horning in on the general's girlfriend."  Wi Ja never admitted to being such, but she didn't deny it either, saying only that the general very much liked her.      

Once, at a social, with the general in attendance, Wi Ja was there, and I came in and rather than just walk up to her, and confirm everyone's suspicions about us, I just stood in the middle of the dance floor looking at her -- which probably said more than if I just walked up to her  The general walked by me and tried to bump me along, then Rob came over and led me next to her.  She was smoking a cigarette, and I stealthily "borrowed" it from her, took a deep drag, just to have my lips touch where her lips touched.  Then I said to her, that I was going home, so I wouldn't create a scene, though I probably already had.  An hour later or so she called on the phone and whispered "I love you" to me.

She took to coming over to my house at noon every day, and we would make love.

(to be continued) ... 

- Simon Revere Mouer III