...that I first took an oath to defend our Constitution. The oath to which I swore went something like this:
I, [name], do solemnly swear (or affirm) I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God.
I trust and hope I have done my job up to the expectations of my fellow citizens as to what they think a federal agent should be doing. I may not have always gotten it 100 percent to every one's liking but I have never done anything to violate any one's rights, I have never even considered accepting a bribe or otherwise being corrupt let alone do anything like it, and for the great majority of the time I have striven to do my work to the best of my ability while serving the people of this great land. I even got a few awards along the way. I have worked as a Border Patrol Agent, A Customs Patrol officer, a Customs Investigator, a Customs Special Agent and an ICE Agent. In my investigative duties I have worked in financial investigations groups, narcotics groups, a general investigations group, and had a brief stint in a strategic investigations group. I have had temporary assignments to an intelligence group and to details throughout the country and to foreign shores. Thirty days in Haiti was an eye opener. I also traveled to Jamaica to testify at a trial, went to Haiti a second time for a few days and have had several temporary domestic assignments outside of my home office which included trips to: Puerto Rico (30 days), Charleston, SC (30 days), Albany, NY (45 days), Key Largo (3 weeks), Tucson (about 45 days), Laredo, TX (90 days), Washington State (30 days), Phoenix, AZ (45 days), Tucson, AZ (4 months - just this year); and there have been a number of shorter trips to places like Miami (several times), Orlando, Philadelphia (several times), San Juan (twice), San Francisco and so on. I have also been assigned to temporarily work under other agencies and completed several Secret Service details, and a five month assignment as a Federal Air Marshal (that one almost immediately after 9/11). I volunteered for all of the temporary assignments. Of course, I had some collateral duties too - I was a firearm's instructor for about 14 years. I do not have long to go now before retirement - maybe next year, maybe the following year, definitely by the year after that when continuing in my career is no longer and option for me because retirement becomes mandatory for me then.
It has been one heck of an interesting three decades since I took that oath above. I have seen the job change a lot over the years. It changed mostly due to changing attitudes of the people whom we serve. I'll not comment on what I think of that. Over those 30 years I have met a lot of interesting people. Some of them the people I have met coincidentally in the course of my duties, some I met because I investigated arrested them, others were they with whom I have worked. Out of all the ones I have met on the job, I figure I have made a handful or two of good friends (none of them people that I arrested). They know who they are - they are very dear to me even if we are not as close as good friends should be. They made it all the easier when times were tough on the job and off.
I also met a lot of very dedicated folks. Men and women who serve you each and every day and who face the prospect of being injured or killed in the line of duty while serving a nation that at times does not even seem to know or care they are in harm's way. Realizing that dedication, seeing it at work in they who live it, that has been one of the most wonderful things of my career. My biggest regret stems from that dedication too in that many whom we serve do not realize the service we give them. Yet, there are others who go out of their way to make us feel as if we have done something good that matters. To them I say thanks with all my heart. To my many associates and my few true friends on the job, I also say thanks, you have all helped to make it one heck of an interesting, fun, and worthwhile three decades long career for me. I can only hope that whatever time I have left on this job goes even half as well.
All the best,
Glenn B
... at least for me, was something I caught yesterday. In other words I had to work yesterday. While it has not been an unfamiliar thing for me over all the years of my career, it has become a rarer and rarer thing in recent years as I near retirement. The truly strange thing about yesterday is that I volunteered to work the day. Without going into details just let me say it was a potentially dangerous set of duties for me, as it is for all others who are doing the same thing. I would talk about it more, but am not allowed to do so. It was a fairly mundane day as far as they go if only because nothing bad happened; but I can tell you without a doubt that I was on high alert all day long. The others I worked with seemed to be fairly relaxed, but at the same time also at orange alert all day long (using the states of alert I have learned in firearms training that is the one just under red alert when the shit has actually hit the fan or is at least imminent). It certainly has a way of getting one wound up, and learning how to relax properly, as soon as you get off duty, after a day like that is nothing I have ever quite gotten the hand of. Sure you relax, over time, but you wind up taking some baggage home with you, and you need time to shake it off; someone who is understanding an cuddly helps also. I did not get any help yesterday. As a matter of fact I was up for most of the night. Slept on and off but was not able to get any solid sleep. I only crawled out of bed about an hour ago. I don't know how I did things like this when I was younger, but I did, and I slept a whole lot better then too.This all brings to my mind an intense movie I saw recently on television called No Country For Old Men. I thought so right after watching it, and I am convinced now, that the whole moral to that story (and yes there was a moral) was that old men should retire from law enforcement because it is definitely not for them. Old men being those who are eligible to retire, and while the retirement age for law enforcement officers is pretty low you can bet you are too old for the job once you hit about 50 to 55. There is a reason for that younger retirement age. I guess it has to do with all the foul things and terrible people we see and experience over the years, and with the abuse we take, and I guess with all the abuse we do to ourselves, and I suppose with all of the odd hours we keep, and with all of the baggage we bring home to our loved ones, and all the darker deeper stuff we never tell even them about (the stuff we hide away that we do not even want to believe ourselves), and with our fears.
I am in my mid fifties. Yep, I guess retirement time is knocking at my door. I don't know if I am going to be able to make it another year as I have been planning, but not because of anything to do with what I just mentioned. You see, even with all of the kind of things I just mentioned, there is no other type of work I would rather have done for my career now that I have experienced it. As a matter of fact, there is no other work I would rather do right now, and no other purpose that I would choose to fulfill than the most basic purpose of my job. That is exactly why I volunteered for a potentially dangerous assignment. It is not that I am unconsciously suicidal or anything like that; I take the prudent precautions that some others do not (such as wearing my body armor yesterday), practicing what I have learned in training often, trying to stay somewhat in shape (not doing to well there lately), and so on. No, the reason I like it is because there truly is no other job, no other adventure, quite like it. I still enjoy the actual down and dirty work. Once I get down to the bottom line of my work, once all the paperwork, all the politically correct bullshit, all of the rules are covered, my job is one of the most interesting, one of the most adventurous, one of the most enjoyable jobs that anyone could have. Well that is not quite right, because not just anyone was cut out for it, but you get my drift - it is the best type of job for those who actually choose it for their career and stick with it because they like it and because they realize the purpose of it. Hemingway was right in what he said about the manhunt, though I don't suppose he really understood the underlying reasons as to why someone would choose to hunt men, he sought only the thrill and not the fulfillment of the purpose. "There is no hunting like the hunting of man, and those who have hunted armed men long enough and liked it, never care for anything else thereafter."Hunting for men is the ultimate challenge whether they be armed or not; and when you come right down to the bottom line that is my job but for a purpose. That in its simplest terms being stopping bad men from doing bad. I will admit though I don't get to do it as much now as some years back, and I miss that part of it. Yet as I said, Hemingway was right and I can attest to that. In all, I have been doing it for some 29 years now and the actual hunt of bad men, the challenge of it, still fills my soul with a purpose as simple as good prevailing over evil. It makes for one heck of an adventure, and in my eyes the life of a lawman is the ultimate adventure. No Country For Old Men?- Hmm, I may not yet be quite that old, not just yet.All the best,Glenn B
It has been 28 years now (as of yesterday the 28th) since I started my career as an LEO in government service. Wow time sure flies, when you're having fun on the job, and even when the job sucks. Of course, that is time seems to have flown by when you look back on it if only because memory is so quick in going through or grasping the past. As for my remaining time before I retire, and I intend to retire in January 2009, my bet is the next year and 3 months seemingly will take forever.All the best,Glenn B
I trust and hope I have done my job up to the expectations of my fellow citizens as to what they think a federal agent should be doing. I may not have always gotten it 100 percent to every one's liking but I have never done anything to violate any one's rights, I have never even considered accepting a bribe or otherwise being corrupt let alone do anything like it, and for the great majority of the time I have striven to do my work to the best of my ability while serving the people of this great land. I even got a few awards along the way. I have worked as a Border Patrol Agent, A Customs Patrol officer, a Customs Investigator, a Customs Special Agent and an ICE Agent. In my investigative duties I have worked in financial investigations groups, narcotics groups, a general investigations group, and had a brief stint in a strategic investigations group. I have had temporary assignments to an intelligence group and to details throughout the country and to foreign shores. Thirty days in Haiti was an eye opener. I also traveled to Jamaica to testify at a trial, went to Haiti a second time for a few days and have had several temporary domestic assignments outside of my home office which included trips to: Puerto Rico (30 days), Charleston, SC (30 days), Albany, NY (45 days), Key Largo (3 weeks), Tucson (about 45 days), Laredo, TX (90 days), Washington State (30 days), Phoenix, AZ (45 days), Tucson, AZ (4 months - just this year); and there have been a number of shorter trips to places like Miami (several times), Orlando, Philadelphia (several times), San Juan (twice), San Francisco and so on. I have also been assigned to temporarily work under other agencies and completed several Secret Service details, and a five month assignment as a Federal Air Marshal (that one almost immediately after 9/11). I volunteered for all of the temporary assignments. Of course, I had some collateral duties too - I was a firearm's instructor for about 14 years. I do not have long to go now before retirement - maybe next year, maybe the following year, definitely by the year after that when continuing in my career is no longer and option for me because retirement becomes mandatory for me then.
