Night Hawks history (2) & The Watchers (1)

Gabriel holding close to him the devastation could bring to soldiers by not noticing dangerous situations early established the watchers. Trying to organize and organisation within the armed forces with the power to supervise is difficult for several reasons. One of those reasons is that people in power wouldn't want to give that power away. If you were used to being a king on your own little island. Who would want a courtier to come in and supervise his actions?

Especially if this courtier had the power to report to power higher ups if you did something out of bounds. Which could lead to several consequences. After being reviewed previously a decision would be made by a council. The decision of this council would state if you acted appropriately given the available information, that you didn't behave appropriately, but not because you didn't want to but because the way you acted was the right way according to you. However, the judgement could also decide that your actions violated the Uniform code of conduct for military employees. If this judgement was made it could lead to discharge from the army with full benefits, dishonourable discharge withdrawing all earned benefits previously as punishment for your actions, face jail time, community service or having to pay a fine. It could also be a combination of all of the above or anything in between.

Having been used to being King with of their part of the armed forces they didn't want to give that up. A second reason why creating the Watchers was difficult, was because of questions that would arise by creating such a force. Who would supervise this supervisory organisation, who could join this organization and what qualifications would you need to have to apply? The third and the last reason for difficulties for establishing such a force would be, where would the money come from to establish such a force and what rules or regulations would there be for the Watchers to follow and what consequences would there be if they didn't follow the established rules or took bribes?

These were all real questions which needed answering. Therefore even though Gabriel had accumulated a lot of power in the armed forces it wasn't just snapping his fingers to create this force. It took time and effort to convince others, to build a network and a framework in which they could work. Creating the Watchers took almost 15 years. The whole time it was a struggle, Gabriel owed many favours, and had to swallow his own blood several times to get to where he needed to be.

Then finally the day came that the Watchers were established. The Watchers consisted out of two parts. The first part was the visible Watchers Headquarters. Which could dispatch teams based on anonymous complaints, direction of supervisory organizations or requests of a commanding officer. If a commanding officer was confronted with a problem, which he didn't know how to solve and he didn't want to wrong anyone. He could call into the Watchers and request a team to come on site to do an investigation. Therefore the Watchers on the surface was a supervisory organization, but also a supportive investigatory team.

The Watchers however also had an hidden branch. A branch which not everyone was aware of. Not even the people working in Watcher Headquarters. These people might have heard whispers in the hallways, but the existence was never confirmed. Until you reached a certain rank and therefore clearance and it was deemed that you had to know the existence of this organization. This rank had to have been earned by building merit in the armed forces. The best way to build merit was by risking your life for the country you worked for. Therefore when you reached that certain rank the country would feel at ease to divulge the information to you since you had fully proven your loyalty to your motherland.

The shadowy part of the Watchers existed out of teachers. Who were skilled and loyal to their country and their uniform, but were too old to serve or teachers who, because of injury, were no longer able to serve. These teachers were scattered throughout the entire armed forces. They would tap seedlings they thought had what it took to serve the Shadowside Watchers. The people tapped, would stay in their own identity just serving like regular soldiers. However when they spotted things that weren't up to par they would inform their supervisors. Therefore being a secret intelligent organization within the army.

Others didn't continue to use their own identities. They would be "killed in action" given a new identity every single time and they would first be trained separately. They would learn how to be covert operatives and they would also learn several skill sets which would be required by army personal. There isn't one correct answer to what they learned, because while they all learned to be covert operatives, the skill sets they learned would be tailor made based on the person joining. If you were great with computers you could become a hacker, while for others who barely knew how to turn on a computer weren't trained in that direction. Some examples of training directions were: intelligence officers, trackers, snipers, assassinations, mountaineer, jungle survival expert or logistical genius and more. A person could become a specialist in one direction or several. All depending on the wishes of that person or the needs of the organisations, it was after all the army you didn't always have a choice. Sometimes you went where you were needed.

The sacrifices made by these people was huge. Their families left behind were told the person in question was killed in action and therefore they could never returned home. Therefore, most people joining this part of the organizations were orphans well cared for by the state. Who wanted to repay the homeland for their upbringing. While the sacrifices were huge. So were the benefits. The pay check was enormous and you were trained by the very best usually one on one to keep your identity absolutely secret. After you died, you got your first identity, you could request an identity switch later to start all over again or you would stay in that one identity not having to switch all the time. It was the best jobs for adrenaline junkies wanting to work for a cause. Sometimes you would be a new army recruit, other times you became a teacher. Some other times you joined a special forces teams who were suspected of wrongdoings. The job always asked you to give your very best otherwise you could end up dead.

When the Watchers was finally established Gabriel heaved a sigh of enormous relief. Nobody would understand how much he had sacrificed all these years. Still single and not having a family. Establishing the Watchers took all the energy he had day in day out for over a decade. He had become a seasoned politician, something he never thought himself capable of. Nobody would know what he sacrificed, but every soldier would be safer from today onwards after the establishment. That made all his hard work worth it.

On the day the Watchers came into existence a force existed. A force whose sole job it was to police the armed forces and track down any wrongdoings. To prevent meaningless deaths of the brave soldiers in the armed forces everywhere. If there is a hint of nepotism, impropriety, sexual harassment, or war crimes the Watchers would take action and investigate. From this day on the army would become a safer place for everyone in it and Gabriel could take a big sigh of relief.

He had finally reached what he set out to do all those years ago when he walked out of the courtroom, where the son of the general and the general were sentenced, and put on the dog tags of his fallen comrades in arms. He didn't let them down he had lived up to their entrustment. Where before, all he could do was bear witness to how his comrades died for no reason whatsoever. Now he had done more for them he had fulfilled his promise to his comrades. A promise for which these comrades had paid for with their life. Therefore, no matter how much he had sacrificed it was all worth it. The watchers was established, only because they had existed and died wrongfully. Their existence would save many others in the future.

From today onward the Watcher would be lurking everywhere. Being everyone's safeguard and safe retreat.