Bob Jackson

Bob is a close friend of Fred and Jack. Before moving to Brentwood, he had no close friends, since his job in the military had him moving to a new base quite often. He often laments at not deciding to leave the military sooner. But Fred will always point out that if he had not built up the experience in the military he may not have had the qualification to be in charge of the Brentwood RCMP.

Bob was an only child who liked to spend most of his time alone as a child. His mother was the CEO of a military parts manufacturer, and his father was the CTO of a virtual reality entertainment company. They spent much of their time away from home, leaving Bob with only a maid and butler to keep him company. He was a member of the Scouts of the North, an outdoors youth group, where he was usually the first in his troop to win awards for anything involving outdoor survival. As a teenager he joined the Royal Canadian Army Cadets and quickly realized he felt most at home in their more rigid, disciplined environment.

Bob joined the Canadian Armed Forces after graduating high school. He hoped to one day work his way to the top ranks, but soon the amount of red tape and bureaucracy in the military caused him to think he made a huge mistake in joining. He decided to request work as an MP, since he assumed they didn't have to deal with anything other than enforcing the existing rules. He was offered a job at a research base but was told it would only be temporary. But if he was willing, he would be put into a pool of MP's who were regularly assigned to temporary bases around the world. He jumped at the chance to be paid to travel and accepted.

After his first two assignments, in an empty desert and in the arctic circle, Bob began to think he had made another mistake. He didn't want to spend the rest of his life guarding building he was not allowed to enter, in desolate location with nothing to see. His attitude change on his third assignment, when he was assigned to a military base is Italy. The Canadian and Italian military were working on new transportation which was classified, but didn't need to be kept thousands of miles away from the public. The base was right in the middle of Italy, so for the six months he was assigned there he was able to see much of the country during his off hours.

Bob met his future wife while in Italy. He never mentions her by name, and has yet to tell Fred or Jack what it is. She was assigned to the same base, but doing different work. After his assignment was over, the kept in touch and met up whenever they were close enough. After a couple years, he suggested they get married since they were both always on the move and probably would never meet anyone willing to marry people who are always on the move. Bob described that suggestion as “the dumbest, most unromantic thing I ever said”. Despite his bluntness, they did get married since she agreed with his sentiments. They spent their entire marriage working on different bases and often got into arguments about not being together more.

Bob eventually started to regret joining the military. He had worked up to the rank of major and still had great potential. But he had hoped working with the MPs would keep him away from all he disliked about the military, but it did not. He had lost count at the number of colonels and generals who threatened him with a court marshal if he didn't let them inside the facilities he was in charge of guarding. Every one of them had been cleared to enter, but in every case they didn't have the proper entry documents or ID when they arrived. He knew that as an MP he could not bend the rules for anyone or he would definitely end up in trouble.

After twenty years, Bob had enough of being threatened and decide to leave the military. He enjoyed his work as an MP, so he decided to try the RCMP since they were the closest thing in civilian life. He rose up in the RCMP quickly due to all his experience in the military. He impressed his superiors with his dedication and discipline to the point that they offered him a job running any detachment in the country where the current inspector was about to retire. Everyone was surprised when he chose Brentwood, since it was in the middle of nowhere. He assured everyone that a small detachment like Brentwood could use someone like him to whip it into shape. His real reason was that he wanted to get away from all the politics of the job and find a place where he could help people. His wife's brother owned a small farm near the town, so he did know a little bit about what he was getting into.

Bob bought a small house in Brentwood for him and his wife, and asked her to request time off so they could spend some time together. She scheduled one month off during the summer so she could see the town at its best. That first week was filled with almost constant arguments between them. They quickly realized they had almost nothing in common. The only reason they married was because neither believed anyone else would be interested. She spent the second week at her brother farm then went back to her base after they accepted an early return. Within a week they were divorced. He remained friends with his ex-wife brother, but has not spoken to her since the divorce.

Although there were times that the detachment was overrun with problems, Bob didn't regret choosing to come to Brentwood. He often said that “I'll take a thousand lost hikers being routed through this detachment over one general threatening me with a cell any day.” Bob had met Fred years before when he had been one of those lost hikers, so he was happy to find Fred living in town. He knew Fred would be interested in fishing trips. Something his brother in law had no interest in. Bob met Jack when the Search and Rescue arranged for all their trainees to meet the leaders of the town. Bob, Fred and Jack would go on to become close friend who jumped at every chance to go on a fishing trip.