' The Longest Night ' & ' Crossing the Rubicon ': The Original Map Illustrated and Uncut Final Volume (Armageddon's Song)
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Characters (In no particular order…)
I was asked whom the characters in Armageddon's Song were based upon, and to be honest there are a few who are amalgams of people I have met throughout my life.
'The President' is an easy one as I tend to picture a situation and hear dialogue form before I write. I found that the 'ideal' of a President was not a real person but rather one created by Aaron Sorkin. At least so far as speech and mannerisms, in my mind’s eye anyway, President Josiah Bartlet, as portrayed by that brilliant American actor Martin Sheen, pretty closely fits the bill. Mine of course is a little more complex as will be discovered. A good person by nature who may have trouble sleeping some nights, owing to his being forced to work in dirty political waters.
‘Regimental Sergeant Major Barry Stone, 1st Battalion Coldstream Guards’ is a combination of three terrifying individuals (to be a young soldier in the British Army in the early 1970's)
RSM Torrance, Scots Guards, who reigned over the Infantry Junior Leaders Battalion at Park Hall, Oswestry in Shropshire.
Garrison Sergeant Major 'Black Alec' Dumon, The Guards Depot, Pirbright, Surrey and later Garrison Sergeant Major London District. And finally Regimental Sergeant Major Barry Smith, 2nd Battalion Coldstream Guards.
Sergeant Major Torrance was outwardly fierce but inwardly fair, and an ideal individual to be dealing with a couple of thousand 15 years old schoolboys who had to be turned into the next NCO Corps of the British infantry.
'Black Alec' is of course a legend. Those dark, sunken eyes and unblinking, cold stare. 'Captain Black & The Mysterons' except for that voice, the gruff Yorkshire accent that barked a command out on one side of a parade square and flowers in their beds outside Battalion Headquarters a quarter mile away would wilt and die.
RSM Smith was a pretty decent actor I think. The act was to make everyone, including young subalterns, believe he was perpetually angry and a heartbeat removed from downright furious.
I was on barrack guard one night when one of the old soldiers, an 'old sweat' with a few campaigns under his belt, and as it turned out at least one demon, went berserk. He had a rifle and bayonet attached to it in a barrack room he was trashing. The Picquet Officer voiced the possibility of arming the Picquet Sergeant, with obvious consequences, should the soldier in question make a fight of it, which he would have. The RSM intervened, whatever past trauma was troubling the soldier, he knew about it. He sent everyone away except for a couple of us and he waited out the storm. The RSM entered on his own an hour later, and spoke in a normal voice for long minutes before exiting and handing me the rifle before leading the soldier to the medical centre, speaking quietly to him all the time.
Next day, RSM Smith was of course once more a heartbeat removed from outright furious.
General Henry Shaw USMC, another easy one, but also oddly out of time. It was back in 2004 when I added General Henry Shaw, and in my mind Henry is Tom Selleck as 'Frank Reagan' except that 'Blue Bloods' was not yet screened. Possibly Mr Selleck played another role around that time which was solid, professional and reliable-to- the-end in character. If I say so myself I do like General Henry Shaw, I could serve under a leader like that.
Sir James Tennant, the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police is to me 'Foyle’s War' Michael Kitchen an exceptionally talented British actor of the finest type.
WO2 Colin Probert, Coldstream Guards.
When we first encounter Colin he is out in the ‘Oulu’ shadowing a patrol on Sennybridge training area. He is a bit senior to be ‘Dee Essing’ as a man of his rank should be running the office, keeping on top of the admin and as the company level disciplinarian; he should be ensuring no one is slacking off. Officers are not going to do that.
However, Colin is a soldier, not an administrator and not a ‘Drill Pig’, so getting out with the students is something he would contrive somehow.
Colin is a Geordie from Newcastle who did not fancy shipbuilding, when there were still ships to be built of course, and made his way to the Army Recruiting Office armed with his O level certificates.
Brookwood station is where he arrived at ‘The Depot’ he may even have visited the gents before the 4 Tonner arrived, and seen ‘Flush twice…it’s a long way to the cookhouse!’ graffiti on the wall of trap one.
‘Cat Company’ aka Caterham Company, is where Colin would have been introduced to the first mysteries of the British Army in general, and The Guards specifically.
A Platoon Sergeant and a buckshee Guardsman/Household Cavalry Trooper (the B.R.I, Barrack Room Instructor) would teach them how to iron, polish, bumper and buff, plus who and who not to salute.
I can see him sat on the end of his bed, sporting the haircut to end all haircuts as he polishes his boots for the first time, wondering what the hell he has let himself in for.
Colin is 6’ 2”tall, so initially he would have been posted to 4 Company on arrival at Victoria Barracks, Windsor.
Selection takes place on height alone when you are a lowly and buckshee Guardsman. The tallest go into 1 Company; the next go to 4 Company. The short arses, 5’10” dwarves in comparison, find themselves in 3 Company. 2 (Support) was a mixed bag which could reduce a Drill Pig to drink as they were the specialists, the Mortarmen, Recce Platoon, Anti-Tanks and Assault Pioneers. They came in all shapes and sizes.
With promotion and courses such as Section Commanders, Platoon Commanders, and the All Arms Drill Wing, Guardsman Probert has become a Warrant Officer.
Sergeant Osgood.
Nobody knows his first name, and even Mrs Osgood calls him ‘Oz’, but he joined the army from the coal mines, tired of strike pay and bleak prospects.
Oz is already married when he joined the army, and Sarah had a baby on the way back then.
The Osgood’s and Colin will have quickly to become friends. When Janet and Colin eventually marry, Sarah would take the newly wed under her wing and show her the ropes, guiding her away from pitfalls such as those purveyors’ of innuendo, and assassins of character, the pad-hags.
With Colin and OZ away on exercise or deployed on operations the wives support each other.
Christina Carlisle/Svetlana Vorsoff.
I recall once seeing Anna Chapman, before she was notorious, and being struck by the way she stood out in a room, at complete odds with spooks such as Terry Jones in the book, but I fancy Svetlana would have that same effect.
At 5’10” tall, with curly chestnut hair to the backs of her legs and a dancers physique, Christina/Svetlana, is too strikingly beautiful to be a spy.
Having been robbed of a normal life and set to bedding whichever men and women the state required Caroline/Svetlana still had greater expectations. She does not object to the bedroom gymnastics it is just that it is not on her terms.
The Seventh Chief Directorate, into which she had been recruited, dealt with visiting foreign diplomats, politicians and businessmen. Her mind and high IQ are of little importance to her employer, it is her talent as a seductress and her talents between the sheets that are the only assets they value.
Somehow, Christina/Svetlana winds up in London with a flat in Knightsbridge and a legitimate six figure salary job at a leading merchant bank in the City.
She is living the life, or is she?
Major Constantine Bedonavich.
Constantine was an able and courageous pilot. He drove the SU27 Flanker until younger pilots were on the verge of making the old man of the regiment look precisely that.
His wife, Yulia, until recently the Prima Ballerina at the Moscow State Ballet, had friends in high places and instead of Constantine leaving the service he instead moved to London to take up the post of Deputy Military Attaché at the embassy of the Russian Federation.
The good major did of course need to undertake a course in fieldcraft and trade craft for ‘new agent and asset handlers’ at the embassies.
Yulia’s involvement with a billionaire entrepreneur and the divorce which followed, served to drive Constantine in
to his work rather than into a bottle, and the major developed into a highly capable spy handler.
Sir Richard Tennant.
Sir Richard wears two royal jubilee medals, his ‘undetected crimes’ medal aka Long Service and Good Conduct medal, along with the Queens Police Medal, but two other ribbons occupy the first two spaces. The General Service Medal with Northern Ireland clasp, and the South Atlantic medal. The Commissioner had not always been a copper; he had spent six years in the Blues and Royals, serving in the Falklands War as well as a couple of tours in Ulster.
Rather than sign on for another three years Corporal of Horse Tennant became Constable Tennant and attended the Metropolitan Police Training School at Hendon.
Theodore Kirkland (The President).
I have not given Mr Kirkland a political party affiliation. It does not really have any bearing on the story whether he is a Republican or a Democrat, he represents America in this story.
At the start of the tale the President has no affection, nor enmity either, for the military as he is just an academic who found himself in politics without actually encountering the military along the way.
I have left him as a good man but with a few flaws, because he is only human, and one who happens to be in the chair when a war starts.
Vadim Letacev (The Russian Premier).
My apology for coming up with a wholly unoriginal villain. He is Charles Dance (with his bad head on) and Vlad the Impalers more sadistic brother.
A man with no redeeming features, megalomania, a serious case of psychosis and probably halitosis too!
Lieutenant of Paratroops, Nikoli Bordenko.
“Ey, kak dela?” (“How are you doin’?”)
I had a platoon commander once who was pretty much the suave and dashing Nikoli. The Joey Tribbiani of British Airborne Forces, until injury forced a change of pace, and he came to us. I was never quite sure whether the injury was caused by landing badly after jumping out of an aircraft, or a bedroom window?
Good officer and a good soldier.
Flight Lieutenant Gerry Rich, RAAF.
Flt Lt Rich is very similar to a former double glazing salesman from Melbourne who joined my team in the 80’s. He spoke about Australian celebrities as if they were friends and neighbours. He had the gift of the gab and Paul Hogan should have charged him royalties for all the lines Neil stole. He developed into a pretty good copper too.
Anthony Carmichael.
The only Russian spook I have ever met, knowingly, wore a pinstripe suit, the regimental tie of the Hampshire Regiment and spoke English with an accent a 1950’s BBC newsreader would have been proud of.
The Cast
The Americans
Theodore Kirkland
The President
Gen Henry Shaw USMC
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs
Terry Jones
Director CIA
Joseph Levi
CSA, Chief Science Advisor
Art Petrucci
CIA Chief of Station, London
Max Reynolds
CIA Langley
Scott Tafler
CIA Langley
Alicia O’Connor
Computer game programmer
Ben Dupre
Director FBI
Dr David Bowman
USS Commanche
Admiral C Dalton
USS John F Kennedy
Admiral Conrad Mann
USS Gerald Ford
Admiral Lucas Bagshaw
USS Nimitz
Captain Joe Hart
USS Commanche
Captain Rick Pitt
USS Twin Towers
Commander Kenny Willis
USS Nimitz
Lt Cmdr. Natalie Shaw
USS Orange County
Lt Col Matthew Shaw
USS Bonhomme Richard
Lt Nikki Pelham USN
USS John F Kennedy & USS Nimitz
Lt (jg) Candice LaRue
USS Nimitz
Col Omar Chandler
USAF
Major Caroline Nunro
USAF
Captain Patricia Dudley
USAF
Major Glenn Morton
USAF
Lt Col ‘Jaz’ Redruff
USAF, AC Air Force One
Major Sara Pebanet
USAF, Co-pilot Air Force One
Sgt Nancy Palo
USAF Air Force One
Major Jim Popham
82nd Airborne
Lt Col Arndeker
USAF
Captain Garfield Brooks
Green Berets
Senator Walt Rickham
US Senate
General ‘Duke’ Thackery
5th US Mechanised Bde
RSM Arnie Moore
82nd Airborne
Captain Daniel King
Black Horse Cavalry
Master Sergeant Bart Kopak
Black Horse Cavalry
The French
Admiral Maurice Bernard
Charles De Gaulle
Admiral Albert Venesioux
Jeanne d’Arc, ASW Group
Lt Arnoud Bertille
21e Régiment d'Infanterie de Marine
The Filipinos
Colonel Villiarin
Cebu guerrilla forces
Sergeant ‘Bat’ Ramos
Philippines National Police
The Russians
Vadim Letacev
Premier
Admiral Pyotr Petorim
Red Fleet
Marshal Gorgy Ortan
Army Group West
General of Aviation Arkity Sudukov
Air Force
General Tomokovsky
Army Group West
Svetlana Vorsoff
KGB ‘Sleeper’
Anatoly Peridenko
1st Chairmen of reformed KGB
Elena Torneski
2nd Chairman of KGB
Alexandra Berria
KGB stringer
Col Gen Serge Alontov
6th Guards Airborne
Lt Nikoli Bordenko
6th Guards Airborne
Major Constantine Bedonavich
Deputy Military Attaché, London
Vice Admiral Karl Putchev
Mao
The Australians
Perry Letteridge
Prime Minister
Gen Norris Monroe
1st Brigade
Cmdr. Reg Hollis
HMAS Hooper
LS Craig Devonshire
HMAS Hooper
AB Philip Daly
HMAS Hooper
AB Stephanie Priestly
HMAS Hooper
Flt Lt Gerry Rich
15 Squadron RAAF
Flt Lt Ian ‘Macca’ McKerrow
15 Squadron RAAF
Sergeant Gary Burley
1st Armoured Regiment
Tpr Che Tan
1st Armoured Regiment
Tpr Chuck Waldek
1st Armoured Regiment
Tpr ‘Bingo’ McCoy
1st Armoured Regiment
The New Zealanders
Barry Forsyth
Prime Minister
Sergeant Rangi Hoana
1st Bn Royal New Zealand Infantry Regiment
The Chinese
Guozhi Chan
Chairman
Tenh Pong
Defence Minister
Marshal Lo Chang
Peoples Liberation Army
Admiral Li
PLAN Mao Task Force
Captain Hong Li
PLAN Mao
Captain Jie Huaiqing
PLAN Special Forces
Captain Aiguo Li
PLAN Dai
The Brits (Second to None and therefore on the right of the line!)
The Rt Hon Tony Loude MP
PM
The Rt Hon Peter Dawnosh MP