I just learned that an old friend, Jamey Halke, of the Naval Supply Systems Command (NAVSUP), has announced his civilian retirement.

I met Jamey in the early 1990s at the Naval Regional Contracting Center (NRCC) in Naples, Italy, where he worked for Captain Kurt Huff and the great Kevin McGinn. Jamey, Kevin, Angela Yates, and Sherry Taylor were among the very best of the old breed at getting the job done for our country and keeping the Navy at sea with no b.s. Mission! Mission! Mission! The stories they could tell.

Can you have fun in the course of a government contracting career? Here is Jamey's description of one facet of his:

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When I was hired in 1987 I didn’t know how many different types of contracts or requirements an “1102” could touch… or that sun really never sets on NAVSUP. On my first day at the old Ships Parts Control Center in Mechanicsburg, my division director Indulis Tupesis told me of a contracting office we have in Naples, Italy. Then I learned about the other offices in San Diego, Puget, Japan, etc   It turned into three assignments of almost 9 years total in Naples, a 16 month assignment in Singapore, a year in Washington at the old NRCC, and TDYs to about 25 more countries.

On a personal note, on my first trip to Napoli, Jamey took me on his legendary walking tour of the old city center, which he knew intimately. I saw and learned about things that most people who visit Napoli never hear of. On another day I met him before sunrise at the Pantheon in Rome's Piazza della Rotonda, and he walked me through the heart of that old city, even arranging a visit to the Vatican.

Jamey is one of the finest 1102s I have known, and he will be greatly missed.

Congratulations, Jamey! Well done, thou good and faithful servant. And here's to Istanbul!

Well done, good and faithful servant. There can be no higher praise in my opinion.