The Aviators

by W. E. B Griffin

  What about her?âť

  âśShe wouldn't let us in. Slammed the door in our faces.âť

  âśBellmon must have liked that," Stevens said.

  "He told me to find out what was going on, and left.âť

  âśAnd the Ice Princess told you?" Stevens asked.

  "A guy named Geoff Craig-he lives behind the Dantsâ(tm) told me. âś

  âśThat's right. You know him, don't you?âť

  âśI do, but how do you know that?âť

  âśGreen Grunt? In flight school? Supposed to be rich as hell? Same guy?"

  "Yeah. âś

  âśYou remember when Foo two damned near got overrun?âť

  âśI heard about it," Oliver said. "I was in the hospital.âť

  âśOh, yeah. That's right.âť

  âśFoo two?" Newell asked.

  "Green Grunt base on top of a mountain," Stevens explained. "An A-Team and a couple of hundred slopeheads.

  They fuck up Charlie's supply routes-âť

  âśWhy Foo Two? I thought those bases had-what do I say? -Army names," Newell pursued.

  "It probably had one, but the Green Grunts called it Dien Bien Phu two because they were surrounded and up to their ass in VC," Stevens explained. "That got shortened to Foo Two."

  "Was Geoff Craig at Foo Two?" Oliver asked.

  "He was the only American who came through it," Stevens said. "Everybody else got blown away except one master sergeant who Charlie carried away. When we got" there the next morning, there was VC all over the place. And you know they usually haul their dead off. Craig was pretty glassy eyed. He was as deaf as a post from firing mortars and machine guns all night in that rock fortress. . . YYou remember that, Johnny?âť

  âśIn the center of the camp, what they used as the ammo dump and the backup CP?" -Command Post.

  "Yeah. Well, anyway, Craig went there when the attack started, him and a dozen of our Vietnamese. While Charlie was wiping the rest of the place out, they couldn't get to the fortress because of the machine guns and the mortars. And they couldn't take out the fortress with their mortars because it was all solid rock-except for the roof, which was railroad ties and dirt maybe six, seven feet thick. So he spent the night firing mortars and machine guns, and he couldn't have heard an atom bomb go off when we got there.âť

  âśHe didn't get wounded?âť

  âśSome little shrapnel dings, and rock splinters. Shit like that. He took a zing on the face, and he burned his hands changing machine-gun barrels. But they didn't hit him. He was deaf and glassy-eyed, but that's all. So instead of med

  evacing the poor bastard, Green Grunts being what they are, they hung a gold bar on his collar, left him in command of a new A-Team, less officers. We took the A-Team in when we took out the bodies.âť

  âśI heard he got a commission in 'Nam," Johnny Oliver said. "I didn't hear how.âť

  âśHow'd you meet him?" Stevens asked.

  "He's related to a friend of Bellmon's, a light colonel named Lowell. I drove Lowell out to his house one time, and he invited me in for a drink. And Craig's wife and Bellmon's daughter are pals. I didn't know you were friends.âť

  âśWe're not. I saw him only that one time, at Foo Two.

  And I spoke to him here one time, and mentioned that, and he made it plain he didn't want to talk about it," Stevens said.

  "Well, anyway, Craig told me what had happened with those goddamned doctors, so I dragged him out here and made him repeat it to the General.âť

  âśIs Bellmon going to do anything about it?âť

  âśHe already has," Oliver said. "They won't do that again. Even after they grow new assholes." Stevens grunted.

  "So how did the Ice Princess treat you?âť

  âśAll right," Oliver said carefully.

  "Well, don't get your hopes up. She isn't about to let you into her pants.âť

  âśApparently you're speaking from experience?âť

  âśNot really," Stevens said. "She didn't even give me a shot at it. But on the same subject, tell me about Bellmon's daughter.âť

  âśNo," Oliver said: "I will not.âť

  âśAh ha-so you do have ambitions along that line. You are determined to be a general, aren't you?âť

  âśYou're on dangerous ground, Charley," Oliver said.

  "She's not giving you any, huh?âť

  âśI would be very surprised to learn she's giving anybody any," Oliver said. "She's a very nice girl. âś

  âśIn that case how about introducing me?âť

  âśFuck you!" Oliver said, laughing incredulously.

  "I'm serious, Johnny. Why not?"

  "Because I really like her, she's a pal of mine, and I don't want to have to kill you for what I'm sure you have in mind.âť

  âśWhat I have in mind is meeting a nice girl," Stevens said.

  "I have fucked my way through all of the local talent, and what I am looking for now is a nice girlâť

  âśBullshit. A stiff prick has no conscience.âť

  âśHey," Stevens said. "I'm serious. I know she's a nice girl. I can tell by just looking. âś

  âśShe is a very nice girl," Jose said.

  "You know her?" Stevens asked, and then when Newell nodded, said, "OK, then you introduce me.âť

  âśI'll introduce you, Charley," Oliver said. "That doesn't mean she'll go out with you. But I'll introduce you. And if you get a half-inch out of line with her I'll-âť

  âśI just said, goddamn it, I want to meet a nice girl. I don't need your help to get laid, thank you very much, Captain Oliver.âť

  âśI'll bring her to the Norwich Dinner," Oliver said.

  "That's two weeks away.âť

  âśOK," Stevens said. "Thanks, Johnny.âť

  âśI'll be damned if I don't think you mean it," Oliver said.

  The enormous black woman who presided over the cafeteria on Sunday mornings waddled across the floor to their table.

  "The Generul's on the phone for you, Captain Oliver," she said. "He didn't give his name, but I knows his voice.âť

  âśThank you," Oliver said.

  âśMan's work is sun-to-sun," Charley Stevens pronounced solemnly, "but a dog-robber's work is never done." Captain John S. Oliver gave Lieutenant Charles J. Stevens a gesture known as the finger and then went to the telephone behind the serving counter. Oliver ducked under the serving rail and picked it up.

  "Captain Oliver, Sir."

  "Johnny, they just called me and said they have found the cause, or think they have, of the Chinook crash. I'm about to go out there. I thought perhaps you'd like to go.âť

  âśYes, Sir, I would. Shall I get the car and pick you up?âť

  âśI'll pick you up. Is that friend of yours with you by any chance?âť

  "Lieutenant Newell? Yes, Sir.âť

  âśThere is a good deal of what I think is legitimate curiosity on the post about what happened yesterday," Bellmon said.

  "Sometimes, Johnny, when you want to get the straight word out, you can do that better by word of mouth than with an official statement. Do you take my meaning?âť

  âśYes, Sir. I'll bring Jose Newell with us. But you're going to have to tell him it's all right to talk about it, Sir.âť

  âśOK," Bellmon said. "I'll leave right away. Unless you've just started your breakfast?âť

  âśNo, Sir, we're finished. Sir, there's someone else with us. Lieutenant Stevens. He's a classmate of mine, and he flew with Lieutenant Dant in Nam." Bellmon hesitated only momentarily.

  "Bring him too, Johnny," he said and hung up.

  [THREE]

  "I'd like to apologize for my appearance, Sir," First Lieutenant Stevens said to Major General Bellmon as Bellmon's Oldsmobile drove through the Officers' Open Mess parking lot.

  "Not necessary," Bellmon said automatically, then added: "Anytime I see a Norwich man with his zipper closed and wearing shoes, I know he's doing his best." There was absolute silence in the car. It was an astonishingly gauche thing for a general officer to say to two li
eutenants and a captain.

  They stopped at the end of the parking lot, by Chapel #1, a frame building painted white. Oliver saw what was set up in movable letters on the church bulletin board:

  Monday 1500 Hours Memorial Service For 1 st Lt John Marshall Dant

  "I think the last time I said that," Bellmon said, "was twenty-three, no, twenty-four years ago. At Fort Knox. I was a lieutenant, right out of the academy. . . I meant no offense, Lieutenant.âť

  âśNone taken, Sir.âť

  âśWhen Johnny came to work for me," Bellmon said, "my wife read the riot act to me. I was not to make any Norwich jokes. And I haven't. I suppose when Johnny told me you were classmates, I subconsciously decided the prohibition didn't apply to you. But I shouldn't have said it and I'm sorry. âś

  âśWe Norwich men understand what is considered humor at West Point, Sir," Oliver said.

  "Now we're even, Captain Oliver," Bellmon said, mockingly stem. "Any further witticism on your part will be considered impertinence.âť

  âśYes, Sir."

  "What's in that envelope, Johnny?" Bellmon asked.

  "It's a second set of the pictures I took at the crash site, Sir. I thought they might be useful out at Cairns. Newell and I were going out there-before you called, I mean.âť

  âśI thought that's what they might be. Show them to Lieutenant Stevens." Stevens examined the pictures. He exhaled audibly, and, very softly, said, "Shit." They were now at the main gate. The MP on duty had been leaning against the wall of the guard shack" casually waving cars past him. But suddenly, on recognizing General Bellmon's car, and then Bellmon, he snapped to attention and saluted crisply.

  "I had what may sound like a callous thought looking at those," Bellmon said, as he returned the salute. "The Chinook fuselage is stronger than I would have believed.âť

  âśMaybe the pine trees cushioned the impact," Stevens said. "Maybe. . .âť

  âśI'm not sure what the physics are," Bellmon said. "What happens, specifically, when you lose one of your rotors? With the countertorque dynamics gone, what happens?âť

  âśNobody saw it go in?" Stevens asked, adding, "Sir.âť

  âśNo. âś

  âśWhat happened when you were shot down, Johnny? Did you lose a rotor?" Bellmon asked.

  "No, Sir," Oliver said. "I lost hydraulics. And I was flying a B- Model Huey anyway, so it wouldn't be the same thing."

  "I saw a Twenty-one lose its front rotor," Stevens said.

  "It just. . . went down. No wild gyrations, nothing like that.

  The nose just dropped and it went down.âť

  âśI understand you flew with Lieutenant Dant in Vietnam," Bellmon said.

  "Yes, Sir.âť

  âśHave you seen Mrs. Dant since this happened?âť

  âśYes, Sir.âť

  âśAre you aware of the visit Mrs. Dant was paid by two medical officers?âť

  âśYes, Sir.âť

  âśI'd like your opinion, Lieutenant," Bellmon said. "Think it over before replying. Would it help or exacerbate things if those two doctors, and the hospital commander, apologized to Mrs. Dant?âť

  âśSir," Stevens said, after a moment. "I don't think Mrs. Dant wants to see either of those two assholes ever again.âť

  âśOK," Bellmon said.

  When they reached Cairns Airfield and drove up to Hangar 104, there was a staff car with a covered general officer's plate parked in a space reserved for general officers. The driver, who had been leaning on the front fender, straightened as he recognized Bellmon.

  "Who the hell is that?" Bellmon asked rhetorically as he pulled in beside it.

  The staff car driver saluted.

  "Good morning, Sergeant," Bellmon said as he returned it. "Who are you driving around?âť

  âśGeneral Rand, Sir.âť

  âśI didn't know he was on the post," Bellmon said, smiling at the sergeant and then turning his attention, eyebrows raised, to Oliver.

  "Sir, neither did I," Oliver said.

  "Well, I'm glad that someone has apparently taken care of him," Bellmon said, and then entered a two-story concrete block building that had been built along the hangar wall.

  How the hell was I supposed to know he was on the post? Oliver thought angrily, and then came up with the answer: Because I am the aide-de-camp, and aides-de-camp are supposed to know when there are visiting general officers on the post, and they are supposed to tell the General about them.

  Generals don't like other generals running around loose on their post.

  When this one showed up, the FOD knew about it. Otherwise General Rand would not have been assigned a car and driver. And the SOP says the FOD will notify the aide. And the SOP also says the aide will keep either the General, or the sergeant major, or the FOD, aware of where he is.

  When the FOD tried to call me, and I wasn't in my quarters when I was off, Jesus Christ, with Liza-he notified the sergeant major. And I told him that I would either be in my room or Annex #1. Where I wasn't. So he covered for me, and did what had to be done.

  I have just had my ass eaten for dereliction of duty. And he neither raised his voice nor made a specific accusation.

  Oh, shit.

  [FOUR]

  Pipe-and-sheet-steel work platforms had been set up around the rear pylon of the crashed Chinook. There were half a dozen people up there, about all the platforms would hold, and one of them was Brigadier General George F. Rand.

  Dangling from a crane above the rear pylon was the rotor hub assembly, which had not been anywhere in sight at the crash site. It was only the assembly center; the blades were gone.

  "Good morning," General Bellmon called, raising his voice enough to be heard.

  Rand saw him and immediately started coming down the steps of the ladder. Another man came with him, a civilian in a leather World War II Air Corps flying jacket. Johnny Oliver did not recognize who he was.

  "Good morning, General," Rand said, saluting.

  "I didn't know you were on the post, George," Bellmon said. "My people been taking care of you all right?âť

  âśJust fine," Rand said. "When I came in last night, your sergeant major said you'd had a bad day and asked if there was anything he could do for me. I said all I wanted to do was pay my respects, and that could wait until morning. "Hell, I'll have to tell him we're old friends," Bellmon said. "You should have stayed with us, George.âť