rlfj: Blog

Well, we’re taking a break from Grim Reaper and going back to Carl Buckman. I am going to be putting out two chapters every few days. Book 4 is relatively short, fourteen chapters, so it should be up in two or three weeks.

There are some formatting errors in 47 and 48. I am checking with the Webmaster to fix this, and if necessary will repost the chapters with fixes.

Carl is now officially in the Army, which I never was, so I had to find myself some expert editing. Into the breach stepped an airborne trained helo pilot with experience around the time when Carl was supposed to be serving. Another one of my editors happened to be an artillery officer from the 82nd Airborne. These guys were Godsends! They did a great job editing and fixing some of my errors. Some were relatively minor, some were considerably larger, all would have detracted from the story. This has been fascinating in so many ways, and I have really learned a lot about airborne life that I would have never gotten elsewhere. I think I was able to fix everything, but any errors are mine and mine alone!

On a personal note, much of my family history is similar to Carl’s. I was talking to my brother over Thanksgiving (who is nowhere near as nutty as Hamilton) and he is a bit of a family historian and a genius. “Did anybody in our family own slaves?” The answer surprised me to a certain extent. Yes! Between 1750 (when we first arrived in America) and 1846, there were eight wills probated and six enslaved individuals were mentioned as property. That suggests to me that some of these individuals were passed down through more than one generation. They were all house slaves, as opposed to field slaves; as Carl mentioned, north central Maryland is not suitable for the big cash crops that used field slaves. I’m not saying this was a good thing. I consider slavery detestable. On the other hand, I am not here to pass judgment on my ancestors two centuries ago.

Enjoy!

Still lots of disagreement about how Grim should handle his insurance company not paying for the damage to his home. I think I will stick with how I handled it.

For those curious, attempted murder, even of a police officer, is not a capital crime. It only becomes a capital crime (death penalty) if the target actually dies. Therefore, the attempted murders of Little Billy and Grim don’t get the death penalty. However, the deaths of the other six terrorists do qualify for a death penalty (homicides during the commission of a felony; it doesn’t matter who does the killing, bad guys or cops.) Talk about being convoluted!

I am trying to avoid politics in this particular vignette, but some is going to have to intrude. A half-dozen terrorists getting shot up in Georgia is going to guarantee something political is going to happen! Reminder: If I write that a liberal says something liberal, it is a character in a novel! It is not something I particularly believe. Cool your shit down!

In a politically related item, Governor Deal mentions having Lieutenant Governor Casey Cagle say something, since he was running for Governor. At the time this occurred in the story, March 2018, that was correct. However, in real life, Mister Cagle lost his primary afterwards. Just thought I would mention it.

As one reader commented, Jack giving Grim money to repair his house could well cause tax ramifications from gifting. Yes, Grim could be hit with IRS problems because his house was shot up by terrorists. I didn’t want to get too technical, so I left that out. Still, it could happen.

For those who are curious, police consultants do exist. They do many of the things described in the story and are paid well for their services. Grim might be small potatoes at the moment, but can anybody believe he wouldn’t do well? We’ll just have to see.

It amazes me how I continue to get complaints about politics in this story. When I wrote A Fresh Start between 2011 and 2014, the main character was a moderate and centrist. Such individuals no longer exist in American politics. I doubt I could write a story like that any longer. American politics is no longer an argument between liberals and conservatives but has devolved into a blood sport. Political parties have become religious cults. We are more fragmented as a people than at any time since the Civil War. I am terribly afraid for our country.

In any case, we will be returning to Grim in a few weeks. In the meantime, we return to Carl Buckman and A Fresh Start. Enjoy!

A huge amount of outrage about Grim not being covered by his homeowner’s insurance. Lots of readers wrote about this. Some of the suggestions (edited for brevity):

“The FBI is not the final adjudicator of what is terrorism or a terrorist event. If the insurer declines coverage, sue them. Local courts will decide, and I doubt six guys and a driver make this ‘terrorism’. It is simply attempted murder of a police officer.” Sorry, I think that if the FBI and Homeland Security declare it terrorism, it will take a judge who likes being overruled to rule in favor of Grim.

“Point out that the story of a faceless insurance corporation screwing a MOH holder who was targeted for murder because of his lifetime of service to his country and community is not going to play well on TV and the Internet.” Very true, but no insurance company will chance a precedent where the next attack could be much, much worse. One reader even told me that his insurance company, hereby known as Brand X, would make such an exception. I checked with my own agent, who also worked for Brand X. He confirmed they wouldn’t pay!

Anyway, enjoy!

Nothing like a little action to liven up a story. Grim is in combat again. Enough said.

Several readers wrote with info about how Grim should have used a different rifle or a specific ammunition, or how such and so a round would have penetrated body armor, or how he should have seen the armor. A few general comments.

First, it was the middle of a cool night; terrorists are people too and may have been wearing jackets. Second, at the range Grim shot from, a frontal hit with NATO 7.62 from an M-14 might have penetrated body armor, but there are different types of armor, and he was firing from the side, not straight ahead. Would that make a difference? More on that later. Finally, why use an M-14 and not something more modern or specifically tailored to the task? As I mentioned earlier, the rifle was Grim’s personal weapon, a weapon similar to one he carried on his second tour in Iraq. The M-14 is powerful, accurate, and reliable. It is old school, heavy duty, and hard core. Want a description for Grim? How about old school, heavy duty, and hard core!

Every once in a while, somebody asks where I come up with the names of characters. They’re usually pretty normal names, but every so often I have to give into my strange sense of humor. Brutus and Beefy, two of the cops at the hospital, were named after some English Bulldogs various in-laws owned.

This story is going to be a bit darker than some of the others in this book, but I think you will like it. Enjoy!

I had an interesting comment from one of my editors on the FBI and HRT back when I was writing this section. The Hostage Rescue Team is an elite unit and routinely trains with other elite units. That sort of training involves plans and backup plans and backup plans for the backup plans. Against regular criminals and terrorists, these guys can rock and roll with the best. Unfortunately, every once in a while they run up against somebody who is just as well trained and who knows those plans. Bad things can happen then. It’s not always as funny as I wrote. Rogue special operators are the nightmare scenario for these guys.

On a separate note, I love the emails I get from non-American readers. It always surprises me how many overseas readers SOL has. I routinely get emails from European and Oceanic readers, going back to when I was writing A Fresh Start. It is always interesting trying to explain how our political and legal systems work, or frequently don’t.

One of the topics I get into with The Grim Reaper is the cost of being a cop in America. This stuff never shows up in the movies or police shows. Let’s consider just some of the costs the Matucket Police Department faces. All the costs I mention are realistic and from the period I wrote this story, 2018. Today, it would be even more expensive.

Police cars aren’t cheap. Take a routine patrol car. A current popular cruiser is the Dodge Charger Pursuit model. These cars need heavy duty brakes, heavy duty suspension, heavy duty engine, etc. Figure about $30k minimum. Small departments might pay more than large departments, because of economies of scale, but often group together under a statewide association. That’s just the start, though. Now you have to add in all the ‘cop stuff’ - radio, mobile data terminals, cage between the front seats and back, big first aid kit, breathalyzer, support weapons (AR-15 or tactical shotgun), body armor and helmet, etc. Every item you add to the car runs at least $500 to $1,000. Figure a final cost of $45k or more. Some departments use SUVs or pickup trucks, depending on local circumstances. These can cost even more. BTW, these vehicles are nonarmored. If you want Kevlar and ballistic glass, add a minimum of $10-20k.

The police officer himself is quite expensive. A patrol officer is carrying, at a minimum: a duty belt, a pistol plus spare magazines, body armor, handcuffs, collapsible baton, pepper spray, maybe a Taser, and a very expensive radio that ties into the equally expensive radio in his patrol car. Even the uniforms cost money; they might belong to the officer, but he probably gets some form of clothing allowance every year. Just getting out of bed and going to work, a police officer is carrying around thousands of dollars of equipment.

Special units aren’t cheap either. SWAT teams are sexy as hell, but very, very expensive. First, these units are very selective. Rookies need not apply. They choose from officers with some experience, who have been on the force for a few years. Since most police officers are in some form of collective bargaining agreement, the contracts specify that more experienced officers get paid more. Second, these officers get a lot more training, and that ain’t cheap. Officers in training aren’t officers on patrol, so you have to hire extra officers for when your SWAT team is training. Even simple stuff costs extra. Shooting is a perishable skill. SWAT officers might shoot 2,500 rounds a year, or more, per weapon; many officers train on more than one weapon. Even at bulk police discounts, each round can cost $.15 to $.25 each. Ammo alone can run $1-2k per officer per year, and more exotic weapons cost even more.

This gets very expensive very quickly. Following 9-11, the federal government opened the coffers to just about any police department that could come up with any conceivable reason to ask for money. There is no possible way that a mid-size department like the MPD could afford some of what they have without federal funds. Many departments have people who do nothing but file paperwork for grants and programs for federal funds.

For an overall analysis, consider the NYPD, the largest police force in the nation. The NYPD has an annual budget of $5.6 billion, supporting over 55,000 employees, 40,000 of whom are police officers. Granted, New York is much more expensive to live in than West Georgia, but that works out to about $140k per officer a year! The Atlanta PD, which is much closer to Matucket, has an annual budget of over $20 million, supporting 2,000 officers, a cost of about $100k per officer. (God bless Wikipedia!)

One point I want to add - the costs of the police do not include the costs of jails and prisons. Totally separate departments! When somebody is arrested, they are typically taken to the local police station, but that would have nothing more than a few holding cells and drunk tanks. If they don’t get arraigned and released, they typically are moved to the local jail, which would have its own officers and costs and budget. They are typically stuck in a jail until they go to trial, and if convicted move from the jail to a state prison. In New York City, the NYPD has an annual budget of $5.6 billion. The NY City Department of Corrections, responsible for the infamous Riker’s Island jail complex, has its own force of officers and an annual budget of about $1.4 billion. Then, if somebody is sent to prison, they become the property of the NY State Department of Corrections, with a budget of $3.2 billion.

This stuff ain’t cheap!