JFCOM contractor sings the blues over closure

By Bill Sizemore
The Virginian-Pilot
© August 28, 2010

Went to work, got a bit of bad news

Ol' Bobby G said here's your fate, gonna shut you down, gonna lock the gate

Now we all have the Jiffy Com Blues.

- "Jiffy Com Blues," by Bobby "BlackHat" Walters

It's not even a done deal, but the impending closure of the Joint Forces Command already has made its way into Hampton Roads' pop culture.

Bobby "BlackHat" Walters, a civilian contractor at JFCOM who moonlights as a blues musician, has channeled his angst into a song.

Less than three weeks after the planned closure was announced by Defense Secretary Robert Gates, "Jiffy Com Blues" has been written and recorded and is getting local radio airplay.

"It was a song that needed to be written. It wrote itself," Walters, a Coast Guard retiree, said Friday. "Sometimes the blues can help you through a bad situation."

"Jiffy Com" is a longstanding nickname for the command among workers - one that is frowned upon by the brass, Walters acknowledged. But he said he didn't use it with mean-spirited intent.

"I thought that if I could write the song in such a way that it would bring a smile to people's faces, it could put a lighter edge on a very sensitive subject," he said.

Bill Sizemore, (757) 446-2276, bill.sizemore@pilotonline.com

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Maybe

Submitted by Localperson on Sat, 08/28/2010 at 7:47 am.

Had the brass not allowed so many contractors to be hired nobody would be singing the blues. Along with J1 doing their job so GS positions could be filled in a timely manner vice taking a year or more to OK the PD and start the hiring process.