The Aviators

by W. E. B Griffin

  "With the who?"

  "The WOCs, Mr. Secretary. The Warrant Officer Candidates-the kids they're teaching to fly."

  "Could we do that?"

  "You're an Assistant Secretary of Defense, Mr. Secretary.

  I don't think there would be any problem at all. And I could have you back here in under an hour. "

  "Well, it sounds interesting," O'Herlihy said.

  "And then I could tell Dinky that I at least fed you, Mr. Secretary."

  What the hell, why not? Even if curiosity does kill cats.

  "On one condition, Colonel," O'Herlihy said. "That you stop calling me Mr. Secretary. My name is Jack."

  "Thank you-jack-that's very gracious of you." O'Herlihy raised his voice and spoke to the orderly.

  "When General Stone comes out, would you tell him that I'll be back in an hour? I'm going to have breakfast with Colonel Lowell."

  "Yes, Sir," the orderly said. "I'll give him the message." lieutenant Colonel Lowell held open the door for Deputy Defence Secretary O'Herlihy. Parked at the curb was an Oldsmobile 98 sedan. As O'Herlihy walked around the back, he noticed the post sticker.

  He waited until Lowell had the car moving and then asked, "If you're uncomfortable around general officers, Colonel, how is it you're driving a car with a number one on the sticker? From what I understand that sticker goes with the commanding general's car."

  "Well. . . Jack, there are general officers and then there are general officers," Lowell said. "Bob Bellmon is one of the good ones. "

  "The implication is that Generals Stone and Kramer are not. "

  "Just between us boys, Max Kramer is a miserable shit," Lieutenant Colonel Lowell said. "I don't know Stone."

  "Isn't it a little dangerous for a lieutenant colonel to say that to someone like me-about a general officer?"

  "Well, there are lieutenant colonels and then there are lieutenant colonels. "

  "I'd just love to know what's going on here, Colonel."

  "Well, Stone is here to convince you that the Air Force should take over the testing of the Chinook. . . . And down the road, he wants the Air Force to take over the Chinook itself, which would effectively kill the whole idea of an airmobile division. If the Army loses the Chinook to the Air Force, that's the end of Army Aviation, which I'm sure I don't have to tell you. And Max Kramer, that spineless shit, is down here to roll over and wave his arms and legs in the air. "

  "Not that I should be discussing this with you-and not that that was the question I asked-but General Stone offers some very persuasive arguments. "

  "Well, I thought I would offer some very persuasive counterarguments." ,"General Bellmon sent you?" Lowell laughed.

  "Hell, no. If he knew I was here, he'd have me thrown in the stockade. He doesn't even know I have his car. We may get arrested at breakfast."

  "I don't think you're kidding," O'Herlihy said.

  "I'm not," Lowell said. "Well, here we are." They were outside a brand-new concrete-block mess hall building. Young men in flight suits were standing in a line.

  "This is what it's all about, Jack," Lowell said. "These are the kids who are going to fight in Vietnam. If you don't let the Air Force delay the Chinook into the next century, you'll save some of their lives. "

  "I don't need any lectures from you, Colonel," O'Herliliy said.

  Lowell ignored him. "I'm a lieutenant colonel," he said.

  "While lieutenant colonels ain't much, we do get to go to the head of line. Come on, Jack, we'll chow down."

  "I don't think so, Colonel," O'Herlihy said. "I think I would rather go back to the Magnolia House."

  "I would hate to have to tell Dinky that you couldn't find time in your busy schedule to even have breakfast with me," Lowell said.

  "May I speak frankly, Colonel?"

  "Please do, Jack. I like to get right to the heart of things myself."

  "You are implying that you have influence with Mr. Saybrook, which I find rather difficult to swallow, if it is based, as you say, on the fact that you went to prep school and Harvard together. . . . "

  "I didn't last long at Harvard, Jack. I was expelled, and they drafted my ass."

  "And to judge by your decorations, you have been in the army for some time," O'Herlihy went on, growing more angry by the moment. "Frankly, Colonel, I am offended by the name dropping, and I disbelieve that you have any influence on Mr. Saybrook. I am even more offended at the suggestion that he would not only attempt to exert improper influence on me but also-in the unlikely happenstance that I would attempt to so do-that it would influence my 'Official judgment in any way."

  "Well, that's blunt enough. And well said. Dinky said you are a pretty good guy as well as a good lawyer. Now let me be blunt. "

  "Go ahead. "

  "I called Dinky yesterday. Haven't seen the stuffy bastard in years. And I said, 'Dinky, I understand this guy O'Herlihy works for you.' And Dinky allowed as to how that was so, I said, 'Dinky, I need a favor,' and Dinky said, 'Name it' and I told him what it was, and he said, 'If you have any trouble with him, have him call me.' And then he asked me to pop over to Palm Beach and play the Argentinians."

  "I find this whole' conversation incredible," O'Herlihy said. "I was about to simply forget it happened. But you have crossed the line, Colonel. I feel I must tell you that I intend to make an official report of this entire incident."

  "Before you do> that, Jack, why don't you call Dinky?"

  "Why should I?"

  "Because if you tell him what you intend to do, Dinky will tell you he hopes you will be happy with your new law firm wherever you can find one to take you on. "

  "You shouldn't make threats you're not prepared to back up, Colonel," O'Herlihy said and started to open the car door.

  Lowell reached over and grabbed his arm.

  "Take your hands off me!"

  "How much, expressed as a percentage, would you say the legal business of Craig, Powell, Kenyon, and Dawes represents of the legal practice of McRae, McRae, Henderson, Belker, and Saybrook?" Lowell asked.

  "Just for your information, Colonel," O'Herlihy said, "I am personally acquainted with Mr. Porter Craig of Craig, Powell, Kenyon, and Dawes. And he would be as justifiably outraged by this as I am. Now let go of my arm!"

  "Yes, Mr. Secretary," Lowell said. "Of course. Go write your report. But I think I should tell you that Porter Craig's son Geoff is an Army Aviator." O'Herlihy looked at him."

  "That's sort of scraping the bottom of your little barrel, isn't it, Colonel Lowell?" he asked icily.

  "And so is the vice chairman of the board," Lowell said.

  "To tell you the truth, Jack, I never really liked Dinky. Nothing would give me greater pleasure than to call him up and say, 'Dinky, you hire dumb people. You're fired. And you look like a horse's ass on the polo field.' "

  "You're telling me you're. . . you couldn't do that."

  "I have enough stock to control five of the nine seats on the Board," Lowell said. "If you write your report, I'm through in the Army. McNamara doesn't like me anyhow. If that happens, the first thing I would do when I got to Wall Street would be to get Dinky's word that he would fire you, and if he didn't I'd fire him. This is hardball, Jack."

  "I don't know why I'm listening to this."

  "Because you're smart enough to recognize the truth when you hear it. Which is all I'm asking of you, 0'Herlihy, that you listen to what I have to say and recognize the truth when you see it." O'Herlihy did not reply, but neither did he get out of the car.

  "Sometime today," Lowell went on, "a Chinook will land here. When it does, it will have completed the one-thousand hour test."

  "That's the one the Signal Corps colonel. . . stole?"

  "He didn't steal it; he had every intention of bringing it back. He's playing hardball, too. He and the two kids with him. If the Air Force is right, and the Chinook is unsafe, they have put their balls on the chopping block. The Air Force is wrong, of course. There's nothing wrong with the Chinook.


  But the three of them, at the very least, put their careers on the line. I suppose they could even be court-martialed. Or Colonel Augustus could. And they deserve more than to have an asshole like Max Kramer come down here and roll over for the Air Force just to increase his chances for a second star. "

  "I don't like to be threatened," O'Herlihy said.

  "Nobody does," Lowell ,said. "Sometimes it comes with the territory."

  They locked eyes for a moment.

  "There's a pay telephone just inside the mess hall entrance," Lowell said. "Why don't we get on it and call Dinky and tell him how we're getting along? And afterward, O'Herlihy, if you'd like, we could have some breakfast."

  (TWO}

  Officer of the Commanding General

  The Army Aviation Center & Fort Rucker, Alabama

  1505 Hours 29 May 1964

  Captain John S. Oliver was waiting in the downstairs lobby at the Post Headquarters Building when the staff car pulled up before the door. The driver ran around the car and opened the curbside door, and Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Research and Development John X. O'Herlihy and Major General Richard F. Jones, USAF, stepped out of the back seat of the Chevrolet. Brigadier General Max Kramer, USA, who had been riding in front with the driver, opened his own door.

  Oliver met them just inside the door of Post Headquarters.

  "Good afternoon, Mr. Secretary," he said. "General Jones, General Kramer. General Bellmon expects you, gentlemen. If you'll just follow me, please?" He led them up the narrow stairs to the second floor. Sergeant Major Harrison James came to attention as they walked in.

  Oliver walked quickly to Bellmon's open door.

  "General, Secretary O'Herlihy and his party are here," he said.

  "Ask them to come in, please, Johnny," Bellmon said, rising to his feet and walking around his desk. He offered his hand to O'Herlihy.

  "Good afternoon, Mr. Secretary," he said. He nodded at the two general officers.

  "Good afternoon, General," O'Herlihy said.

  "May I offer you some coffee?" Bellmon said.

  "That would be very nice," O'Herlihy said.

  "Johnny?" Bellmon said, and Oliver left to see about the coffee. "Please sit down, gentlemen," Bellmon added.

  Sergeant Major James entered, carrying a silver coffee set, and set it on the coffee table.

  "Without objection, Mr. Secretary, I'll ask my aide to stay," Bellmon said. "When there's an important meeting like this, a second set of ears to remember it is valuable."

  "Certainly," O'Herlihy said.

  "'Well, have you been able to accomplish what you came for, Mr. Secretary?" Bellmon asked as he went to the coffee table and poured coffee.

  "It's been a very interesting day," O'Herlihy said, "right from the start. I had breakfast in the WOC mess." He saw what had to be a genuine look of surprise on Bellmon's face.

  I'll be damned, O'Herlihy thought. He didn't know.

  "Your Lieutenant Colonel Lowell came to the Magnolia House," Brigadier General Kramer said, "and practically kidnapped him."

  There was another look of surprise, this one mingled with concern, on Bellmon's face.

  "Oh, I wouldn't say kidnapped, General," O'Herlihy said.

  "Actually, I found it fascinating. They're a fine group of young men, General Bellmon."

  "I think so," Bellmon said. "And just for the record, Max, Lieutenant Colonel Lowell is not assigned here. He's the Army Aviation Officer at STRIKE." The U.S. Army STRIKE Command, an in-place headquarters organization commanded by a four-star general, was based at McDill Air Force Base, Florida. When needed, tactical forces of all the armed services were placed under its command for operations around the world. "So I understand, General," General Kramer said. "I wondered what he was doing here."

  "He didn't tell me," Bellmon said. "He flew in yesterday. He's an old family friend, and he stayed with us. But he didn't tell me what he was doing here. And I didn't ask him."

  "Very interesting man," O'Herlihy said. "We have some mutual friends."

  "Is that so?" Bellmon said.

  "Anyway," O'Herlihy said, "to move on with this. . . we want to return to Washington today-"

  "Any problems with that, Mr. Secretary?" Bellmon asked.

  "No. The aides are packing us up right now. And while I'm on that subject, I'd like to thank you for the splendid hospitality."

  "Thank Captain Oliver," Bellmon said. "I left that in his very capable hands."

  "Well, Captain, you did a fine job. Thank you," O'Herlihy said.

  "My privilege, Sir. I'm glad you were comfortable."

  "To get on with this," O'Herlihy said. "Colonel McNair offered some very convincing arguments that inasmuch as two one-thousand-hour tests have been completed, there is really no purpose in the Air Force starting them from scratch-"

  "If I may interrupt, Mr. Secretary," Bellmon said, "for the record, I wish to associate myself, that is, the Aviation Center with whatever Colonel McNair said. "

  "I thought you might feel that way," O'Herlihy said.

  "General Jones still feels-and I think I should add he feels rather strongly-that further testing is required and that it should be conducted by the Air Force for the very good reason that they have the experience and the facilities. And General Kramer has said that to avoid any suggestion of parochiality he, speaking for the Army, will raise no objections to whatever I decide." Bellmon flashed General Kramer a look of pure contempt.

  But after a moment he forced a smile on his face and looked at O'Herlihy. "And what is your decision, Mr. Secretary?" he asked.

  "I think General Jones is right, of course," O'Herlihy said.

  "We're talking not only about a lot of money, but about the lives of those fine young men I saw at breakfast. On the other hand, however, I think we all know that sooner or later, probably sooner, the 11th Air Assault Division will be sent to Vietnam. When it goes, it has to have the capability the Chinook will provide. I think this is one of those cases where we have to accept the risk involved."

  "Permit me to say, Mr. Secretary," Bellmon said, "that I really think that is the correct decision."

  "I will arrange to have the next two production Chinooks off the assembly line diverted from here to the Air Force at Wright-Patterson," O'Herlihy said. "And I will ask that the Air Force give Chinook testing their highest priority."

  "Their input will be most welcome, Mr. Secretary," Bellmon said. "Thank you very much."

  "And that would seem to be it," O'Herlihy said. "As I said, we're anxious to return to Washington."

  "May I address the question of Colonel Augustus for a moment?" General Kramer said.

  "Certainly," O'Herlihy said.

  "I'm sure the Chief of Staff will want to know how you're going to handle that, GeneraL"

  "I intend to discipline him of course," Bellmon said.