John Simpson

by Def Con One (lit)

  “Now as for the radio: when a call comes in, you send Police Four on all routine calls, and if we have a Police Five, you send him also if backup is warranted. Police Three, as you know, is Sergeant Gray or whoever is acting as the flight commander. He can roll on any call he chooses. You dispatch Police Three to any major incident or any incident that involves an officer at the full colonel level or above.”

  “So some shifts, we only have two cars on the road; Police Three and Four?”

  “Correct. It depends on who’s on leave, off sick, or assigned to some kind of special duty for that shift. The full complement is three cars, and two men on the main gate. On day shift, one man is assigned to each of the other two gates. We also usually have a third man on the main gate who handles visitor control. Any person or vehicle that is not military must be diverted to the visitor control building where that airman makes sure they are escorted by a military member. This extra man also has a patrol car at the gate and can be dispatched on a call if more men are needed, and then he would be Police Six. He also provides breaks for the other two gates when they are open, and one of the main gate guys handles visitor issues while he is gone.

  “Now, we are police control. You can reach security control via the phone, or radio. Security control has three vehicles that patrol the secured section of the base. In an emergency, you can request assistance from security control and, in some types of incidents, they are automatically dispatched to back up base police. So, if all hell breaks loose, you could have as many as six vehicles. The security patrols have two men in each vehicle.”

  “What kind of incident would bring in security units?”

  “One example would be an alarm from the Plans and Intelligence vault. Everyone rolls on that alarm because of what’s contained at that location.”

  “What is contained there?”

  “All of our security codes that are issued to the guys who go into the field, classified reports, maps, codes, and things like that. It requires a maximum response from us. There are a couple of other locations like that and you will come across them when you study the SOP books before taking over by yourself. The schedule for us is this: You learn this week, you take over next week with me still here. Two weeks from now, you have the desk by yourself. So, make sure you ask questions because I won’t be here and you don’t want to keep calling Police Three to find the answer to a question you should already know.”

  “I see there is a shotgun and an M16 mounted underneath the desk here. Are they loaded?”

  “Well, they would be worthless to you if they weren’t loaded. The M16 has a full clip in it, no round in the chamber, and is on safe. The shotgun has five rounds in it with a round in the chamber with the safety on. If you ever have to grab either one, the shit has hit the fan.”

  “What about chow?”

  “We get to enjoy a box lunch! How’s that sound?”

  “You’re kidding, right?”

  “Nope, ’fraid not. One of the patrol cars that go to the chow hall around 0200 to eat will bring back a box lunch for you. It will contain a sandwich, fruit, cookies, and juice. In order to relieve you to go yourself, the flight commander would have to take your place. That takes him off the road and unable to respond to any incident that occurs. Once I’m gone, you will be the only desk sergeant trained on this flight. It’s not as bad as it sounds, believe me. On a really slow night, you might get to go, but don’t count on it.”

  “What about day shift?”

  “You’ll get to go to the chow hall a little more often because this place is crawling with everyone during the day. It’s much easier to get relief for half an hour when all personnel are here in the building.”

  “Any other major items to discuss?”

  “Yep, one more. Down in the basement, which is through the doorway there, is the cell block, which contains any prisoners that are in our custody. They have to be checked on every two hours by you, and Police Three will come in to let you do that. They have to be escorted in handcuffs to eat at the chow hall, and watched when they shower. If you get a new prisoner in while you are on desk, they have to be processed by two of the men on duty. This includes a strip search and seizure of all items of a personal nature including belts, shoestrings, or anything else that could be used to hang themselves. Now the good news is that they are installing cameras down there so you won’t have to keep going down to check on them. The monitor will be placed here at the desk. And for God’s sake, if the building has to be evacuated because of fire or some other reason, don’t forget any prisoners below.”

  The phone rang and he answered it with his rank and name. It was an airman calling from one of the maintenance barracks complaining of a fight in progress. He hung up before Lemoyne could get his name.

  “Police control to Police Four and Five, report of a fight on the second floor of barracks two twenty-nine. The caller hung up before I could get any further information.”

  “Police Four and Five, ten-four.”

  He then moved over to the keyboard and typed in the time and details of the call and who was dispatched to handle it. As it turned out, the fight had broken up by the time the police units arrived. No one knew anything, and the call was cleared.

  “You will from time to time get calls from on-base married housing of domestic fights, and the normal stuff that the city police get. We have over four hundred enlisted and officer housing units on base, which does not include the big houses over by the flagpole that house the high-ranking officers.”

  “Yeah, I made sure I knew the location of all of the commanders on Officers’ Row before I left patrol.”

  “I hope so, because if you ever get a call for police assistance from one of those guys, you better know exactly who it is and where they are. The patrol units know the locations, but your caller might ask you a question about something to do with their neighborhood and you need to know it. When we have high-ranking VIPs, there is a large house three doors down from the base commander that is used to house them.”

  “Do we get those types often?”

  “I would say maybe every six to eight weeks, someone will come in that qualifies for that house; it is usually high-ranking generals or politicians. Speaking of which, on day shift, when they land at the military airport, they are escorted back here to base by a patrol unit. When nukes are landed out there that have to come here to base, more than one patrol unit and all security units are provided as escort and it is a code-three escort. Wherever that nuke is, that area becomes a national security site. We supersede civilian police and everything.”

  “How often does that happen?”

  “Maybe every three months. It’s mainly when they change out warheads on the missiles; some come in and some go out. But you’ll be on night shift for a while, so that will come in time to you.”

  “Anything else?”

  “That’s all I can think of now. So, just sit here and watch and ask questions if something happens or something I do doesn’t make sense to you.”

  The rest of the night passed quietly as I read the SOPs for the desk. Before I knew it, the sun was coming up, and the day shift was having guard mount and we were relieved. I was tired since my sleep was off with the change back to mid-nights. I got rid of my weapon at the armory, said good night to Todd who was also tired, and headed to the barracks where I hoped my new roommate would be quiet as a mouse. Before I could arrive at my room, however, I felt my stomach growl, and headed to the chow hall for a decent breakfast. After eating, I hit the sack and was glad to see no sign of my roommate.

  The next two weeks went by quickly as I learned everything I could from Sergeant Lemoyne while he was still around. I had been with Todd four times and on the last occasion of dinner and after-dinner gymnastics, Todd asked me to move in with him. All I would have to do is contribute to the utilities since I wasn’t making that much money yet. I was in favor of moving as we would both be working the same shift, and I could get much better sleep than in the
barracks. The added benefits were, of course, sex on demand, a more relaxed social life, and a chance to build a relationship with Todd.

  In the short time I had gotten to know Todd, I had found a genuinely warm guy underneath a certain amount of macho bullshit, which many men feel compelled to portray to the world. Sexually, I had gotten to the point that I could get him to melt into the mattress with my attentions in bed. I had learned to deftly handle his equipment and bring him a joy that he had never had before. He always complimented me on my efforts in bed.

  We decided that when we were on base together, we would eat on base. Otherwise, we would eat at “home.” I contributed some money to the food budget, but not as much as I would have liked to contribute. The night before we were to return to duty and I was to take over the desk by myself, I received the required permission from the CO to move off base. It felt good to leave the dully painted and noisy barracks for a house and domestic life.

  We ate dinner around 0100 hours, watched television for a couple of hours, and then made mad passionate love on the floor of the living room. By the time we were finished, it was almost 0600 hours, and we went to bed to sleep.

  We woke up at 1600 hours feeling well-rested, and decided to watch the news during breakfast. CNN was once again reporting that the Soviets were pushing into the Western Hemisphere in an attempt to force the United States to give them the Balkans. Once again, they were sending Soviet ships to Cuba, although this time, there were no missiles on board as there had been during the Kennedy administration. Washington was trying to contain the Soviets without force but their efforts were meeting with only limited success.

  A central demand of the Soviets was that they wanted us out of the Baltic region, and in turn they would stay out of the Western Hemisphere. Everyone knew that it was their intention to restore the entire old Soviet Union. The new Soviet Union was flush with petrodollars with which to rebuild their rusted military. The only problem with the plan was that some of the Baltic democracies were now members of NATO, which was not about to allow that to happen.

  CNN was also reporting that the former KGB had been reactivated and was found to be active in Western countries. Diplomatic protests were coming in from England, France, and Germany, condemning KGB activities within their borders including assassinations of former citizens of Russia who were cooperating with the West. Reportedly, the CIA was stepping up action in conjunction with counter-espionage elements of the FBI in an effort to thwart such conduct within the United States. No one had any real hope that this would be any more successful than it had been during the cold war.

  All military bases around the world were told to step up security in an effort to frustrate any infiltration activities by the KGB and their Middle East allies. China was eerily silent during all of this and tried to behave as if this was none of their concern. The fact that the United States owed China more than five hundred billion dollars in loans was a major factor for them being very involved with the crisis. Their pretention of not being interested was being bought by no one.

  Todd turned off the television and gave me a worried look. “You do know that if we go to Def Con One, that means war and also means nuclear launch is imminent, right? You will, after all, be one of the first ones notified of a change in defense condition, being on the desk. If that happens, don’t plan on ever leaving the desk as we’ll be on full action alert and no time off. ’Course, if we launch our missiles, the end of the world is upon us and it really doesn’t matter anymore. So, I suggest, Bryce, you learn all you can about your duties, since you might not have a chance to pull any books down if that happens. It will unfold very fast and you won’t have much time to think.”

  “Well, those are happy thoughts to have on my first night as desk sergeant. I suppose there will be at least one Soviet missile coming directly at the base police desk if that happens, huh?”

  “I wouldn’t be surprised,” he answered with a laugh to break the tension.

  Chapter 5

  After guard mount, I took over the desk solo for my first time. Todd was Police Four, and I had a Police Five along with the flight commander, Sergeant Gray, in Police Three. Gray had been in the Air Force for more than twenty years, and he showed no signs of getting out. The Air Force was his life and he lived for his job and family.

  “You ready to take over, Callahan?”

  “You bet, Sergeant Gray. My only problem is I don’t have a rookie to make the coffee, so I’ll have to do it!” I said with a laugh.

  “Yeah, well, make it good. As you know, I drink this stuff all night too. If you need me, call me on the radio.”

  With that I was left alone in the base police building as total silence descended upon me. There were no prisoners in the cells so I didn’t have to worry about that. I began my shift report with who was assigned to which police unit, and then brought down the SOP books to begin reading once again the procedures that I might have to implement for various incidents. The night dragged on slowly as no telephone calls came in and everything was routine.

  Police Four relieved one of the gate guards so he could eat and then headed to the chow hall himself, where he picked up my box lunch for the night. Instead of eating hot food, he got two box lunches and brought them back to the desk where he ate his with me. When he finished, he went back on the road. Sergeant Gray checked in about every hour or so, and the night finally ended with the rising sun.

  The last thing I had to do was finish off my report, sign it, and disburse the copies once Sergeant Gray checked it over. Todd and I headed to the armory, got rid of our weapons, and left base to go home. Once there, we had a light snack and went to bed after about an hour. For my first night, I was glad it had been deadly quiet.

  We slept late the next day, catching up on lost sleep over the break. We got up just past 1800 hours and had breakfast. I cooked scrambled eggs, bacon, and toast, and Todd made the coffee. It was exactly what I needed.

  “Why don’t we watch the news before getting showers?” Todd asked.

  “Sure. Let’s see what the Soviets are up to today.”

  We turned on CNN and caught the middle of a story that was being relayed in baited breath by the anchor. The news bulletin was regarding two Soviet subs that had been located off the Atlantic seaboard of the United States. U.S. naval units were now shadowing the subs in an attempt to force them to leave the area. They had not entered the three-mile limit, so there wasn’t much the Navy could do.

  The camera switched to a news conference at the Pentagon with Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General McCarty. “We have been in contact with our counterparts in the new Soviet Union in an attempt to ascertain the reasons behind this provocative move on their part. Surely, they must realize that finding two of their subs off our coast was not going to be well-received by us. I’m sorry to report that their only response to our contact was that they could go anywhere in the world they wished to as long as they stayed in international waters.”

  “Todd, is it me, or are they trying to start a war, a real war, this time?”

  “Not sure. But if they are, they’re doing all the right things to make it happen. Maybe they think we won’t use our nukes.”

  “God, I hope we don’t use our nukes. As we said before, it would end life as we know it. What the hell is wrong with the Soviets?”

  “They’re playing balls-to-the-wall politics with a loaded gun. They want us out of the Balkans and they want to reabsorb those countries back into the union. It looks like they might be willing to risk war with us to accomplish that goal.”

  The phone rang and Todd answered it. When he hung up, he looked over at me with a frown on his face. “We’ve just been recalled to base. It can only mean that we’ve gone to Def Con Two. Let’s move it. Uniform of the day is combat fatigues.”

  Even though I felt a little stunned, I got up and ran to the bedroom. Todd was stripping off his clothes to get into the shower and told me to do the same. “We need to shower at the same tim
e so we can get back to base within thirty minutes.”

  I did as he said and we were both washed and rinsed off in under three minutes. We quickly dried each other off, tore into the bedroom and put on our green combat fatigues and combat boots. We were dressed and out the door in just less than twenty minutes from receiving the recall order.

  As we rushed to base, my stomach began to tighten up. It failed to ease any when we arrived at the main gate and found the gate guards checking everyone’s ID before they were permitted to enter. “Yep, that confirms it. We are at Def Con Two; we have a controlled-entry situation on base.”

  I didn’t reply. I just dug out my wallet and showed it to the guys manning the gate. We drove to the armory and drew our side arms. Thirty-two minutes from receiving the call, Todd and I walked into base police headquarters, in uniform and armed. The place was a madhouse, and conversation confirmed our defense condition. Sergeant Gray entered and called our flight together to brief us. I was to take over the desk at once so that the other man on the desk could go get some sleep as he would be working long hours as well. We would have seven police units on the road in addition to the security units. After another twenty minutes, the building was cleared of all personnel but me, and I took over the desk.

  I began my report and noted that I was coming on duty three-and-a-half hours earlier than usual as a result of the recall order. Police Three ordered two cars to the main gate to assist in processing the rush of inbound traffic due to the recall. Once everyone got on base, it would return to normal, and the patrols would go mobile once more. That would still leave two extra men on duty at that location until command evaluated manpower needs.