The Aviators
Page 42
"A general court-martial?" General Kramer asked.
"A letter of reprimand," Bellmon said. "I've already prepared it."
"Colonel Augustus defied an order o( the Chief of Staff.
That is not the sort of the thing you punish with a mere letter of reprimand," General Kramer said.
"General, for one thing, Colonel Augustus was unaware When he took off that the Chinooks had been grounded. For another, so long as I command here, I will decide how to discipline my officers," Bellmon said.
"You say you've already prepared the reprimand?" 0'Herlihy asked.
"Johnny, would you ask the sergeant major to bring it in?" Bellmon asked.
"Yes, Sir."
"I've done everything but sign it," Bellmon said.
That is not the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, Oliver thought.
What actually happened was that Colonel Lowell, just before he flew back to McDill, spent five minutes behind closed doors with Bellmon. Then he came out of the office, took over Sergeant Major James's chair and typewriter, and with what Oliver had thought was astonishing typing speed, wrote draft. He carried it in to Bellmon for another three-minute session behind closed doors. And after he finally left, Bellmon handed James the letter and told him to have it typed up for his signature.
When Oliver walked into the outer office, Sergeant Major James had all five copies in his hand, waiting for him, which told Oliver that James had been listening to what was going on in Bellmon's office over the intercom.
Oliver took the sheath of paper into Bellmon's office.
"Give me the original, Johnny," Bellmon ordered, "and I'll sign it. Let these gentlemen see the carbons."
"Yes, Sir."
HEADQUARTERS
THE ARMY AVIATION CENTER & FORT RUCKER ALABAMA
20l-Augustus, Charles M 375545
29 May 1964
SUBJECT: Letter of Reprimand
2. If the facts are not as stated above, you may reply by endorsement hereto, citing your exceptions to them.
TO: Colonel Charles M. Augustus USA Signal Aviation Test & Support Activity Fort Rucker, Alabama
VIA: The Chief Signal Officer
Headquarters, Department of the Army Washington, D.C.
1; The fact of the situation as understood by the undersigned are that you, during the period 20-29 May 1964, a. Without appropriate authority, participated in an unknown number of flights [totaling 103.25 flight hours] in a Chinook helicopter assigned to the U.S. Army Aviation Board, Fort Rucker, Alabama, and temporarily assigned to the USA SCATSA, for which, as Commanding Officer of USA SCATSA, you were therefore responsible, and
b. That inasmuch as these flights, against standard operating policy, were not between military air bases, but between an undetermined number of civilian air terminals and other flight facilities, you denied yourself the opportunity of being informed as you would have, had you availed yourself of the use of any military air. base, that all flights of Chinook aircraft had been suspended by the Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations, U.S. Army, and,
c. That you not only failed to inform your flight crew ~hat these . flights were unauthorized, but implied to two splendid young officers, 1st Lieutenant Charles Stevens, Signal Corps, and 2nd Lieutenant Joseph M. Newell, Signal Corps, that their participation in these flights, which involved long hours at the controls, far beyond that routinely expected of officers, was of great importance to the One- Thousand-Hour Service and Logistics Testing Program, thereby inspiring them to a level of performance that under other circumstances would more than likely have seen them commended for a demonstration of superior flying skill and extraordinary devotion to duty, and which instead will see them officially reprimanded for performing aerial flight without first ascertaining beyond reasonable doubt that the flight in question is specifically authorized.
2. If the facts are not as stated above, you may reply be endorsement hereto, citing your exceptions to them.
3. If the facts are as stated above, and you do not wish to challenge them, you are herewith officially reprimanded. Your behavior in this matter is not only reprehensible, but baffling when considering your previous long and distinguished record of service in positions of great responsibility.
4. A copy of this reprimand will be placed with your service record, and' kept there for a period of twelve [12] months, unless sooner removed by competent authority, and will be considered when any personnel actions in your regard are undertaken.
ROBERT F. BELLMON Major General, USA Commanding
Brigadier General Max Kramer's face first grew white as he read through the carbon copy Oliver had handed him. And then his face grew red.
"Reprimand, my foot. Bellmon, this is more in the order of a commendation. The Chief isn't going to like this."
"Max," Bellmon said, "I don't recall giving you permision to address me by my last name."
"That is not a reprimand," Kramer insisted.
"Actually, General," Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defence for Research and Development John X;. O'Herlihy said, I think it covers the situation rather well. Colonel Augustus deserves to be reprimanded, and General Bellmon has termed his's conduct reprehensible." General Kramer looked at him.
"Yes, Sir," he said. "If you look at it like that."
Herlihy stood up and offered his hand to Bellmon.
"Thank you, Mr. Secretary," Bellmon said.
"Just doing my job, General," O'Herlihy said.
When Oliver returned from escorting the party to their car, Bellmon was sitting behind his desk, looking thoughtful. It was a moment before he sensed Oliver in the doorway, and then he waved him into the office.
"That was close, Johnny," he said. "It could have gone either way."
"Yes, Sir."
"Well, take that letter and write the same sort of thing for Stevens and Newell. That will cover them in case that bastard Kramer tries to get at me through them. And he's capable Of it. "
"Yes, Sir."
"And Colonel Lowell does write a great letter, doesn't he? "
"Yes, Sir," Oliver said. "I'd say that qualifies as masterful. "
"I wonder that the hell was in Lowell's mind when he took O'Herlihy to the WOC mess for breakfast? He didn't say anything about that to me."
"Well, maybe he thought it would be a good idea for O'Herlihy to see the WOCs."
"With Lowell you never know," Bellmon said. "Well, get right on that, will you, Johnny?"
"Yes, Sir."
XVII
(ONE) The Magnolia House
Fort Rucker, Alabama
1515 Hours 10 July 1964
Brigadier General George F. Rand opened his eyes suddenly, looked around the master bedroom of the Magnolia house, and groaned, "Oh, shit!" The lights were on. TM-1-HU-1-Series, Operations Manual, Bell HU-1-Series Aircraft was in his lap. When he went to sleep, he'd been reading it propped up against the headboard of one of the two double beds in the room. Apparently he had hardly moved since. His lower back ached from being propped against the pillows. His neck ached from the weight of his head hanging I downward. His legs had been crossed; and the right one was asleep.
General Rand had been enrolled in the senior officers' flight program almost exactly four months. If things went well to
day, he would be authorized to wear the silver wings and shield of an Army Aviator. If they didn't go well, if he busted his-check ride, he'd made up his mind to leave the division.
There was absolutely no question in his mind that anyone wearing the hat of Assistant Division Commander-B, 11th Air Assault Division [Test] should be a qualified aviator. Preferably a long-time aviator, with thousands of hours in the air, fixed- and rotary-wing qualified, with all the bells, multiengine, land and sea, and a special instrument ticket. But an aviator.
If all went well today he would be designated an aviator.
But of rotary-wing aircraft only (and only Bell H-13 and HU-1B helicopters, narrowing his qualifications even further), wit
h no instrument ticket of any kind, and with a grand total of 210 hours at the controls.
That wasn't enough and he knew it. But at least the General would be a pilot. There was a hoary adage which General Rand devoutly believed: An officer should be able to do himself anything he orders someone else to do.
And there was more to it than that. An assistant division commander should be with his division. And he wasn't. More important, during the four months he had been at Rucker, the division had undergone significant changes: the Pentagon had ordered the testing program to be accelerated so that it would be completed by the end of the year.
By stripping aviation assets-aircraft, crews, maintenance personnel, and support equipment-from other units in the Army and ordering them to Benning, there were now four aviation battalions, more or less up to strength, in the 11th.
These included the 226th Aerial Surveillance and Escort Battalion (Mohawks and Armed Hueys); two assault-helicopter battalions (the 227th and 229th), also equipped with Hueys; and, finally, an up-to-full-strength Chinook Battalion, the 228th. The infantry brigade, the foot soldiers, was now not only up to strength, with three battalions (the 1st Battalions of the 187th, 188th, and 511th Parachute Infantry Regiments), but it had been augmented by three additional battalions from the 2nd Infantry Division.
And finally, five artillery battalions were now assigned to the 11th: three 105mm Howitzer battalions, one aerial rocket battalion, and one Little John Missile Battalion. And the whole force had been augmented by supporting-troop units, Signal, Military Police, Ordnance, and so forth.
Trouble had come with the troop augmentation. For instance, relaxed flight-safety standards had caused some really unpleasant accidents. Specifically, an attempt to fly a battalion of Hueys from Camp Blanding, Florida, to Benning in bad weather had been an unmitigated disaster, with helicopters scattered in farmers' fields all over northern Florida and Georgia.
General Rand had tried to keep on top of what was happening, spending his weekends and his few holidays at Fort Benning. But keeping up with what was going on .was not the same thing as making a contribution to it. That required an assistant division commander at Benning, not another guy spending his days at Rucker as an over privileged basic flight student.
Rand had twice gone to General Wendall to point this out . . and to suggest that Wendall replace him as assistant division commander and find someone to put in there who could do what assistant division commanders are supposed to do.
Both times, Hok Wendall turned him down.
The first time Rand went to him, Wendall explained that he didn't need him ~o much now as later. He was looking down the road to the time when the 11th Air Assault would be deployed. That's when he would need Rand's talents.
The second time he went to Hok Wendall, Wendall bluntly told him the subject was no longer open for discussion.
"You've been ordered to flight school," he said
"and you're expected to obey your orders. "
Hok Wendall's premise-that the contribution he would make later justified his absence at this critical period depended of course on his getting himself rated as an aviator.
And Brigadier General Rand was not at all sure that was going to happen. He was not a boy any longer, with marvelous reflexes and an ability to retain all sorts of technical minutiae. There was a very good chance that he would bust his check ride.
If that happened, he'd decided not just to insist on being relieved. That wouldn't be enough: he couldn't just do it the pro forma way and go to the division commander. That would put Major General Harrison O. K. Wendall on the spot. Rand had decided that he would go to Washington and wait until the Chief of Staff had time to see him. He would then explain the situation as he saw it and request relief and transfer someplace else where he could make a contribution. If that was denied, he was going to retire. He had twenty-three years' service. If necessary he could live on his pension.
Brigadier General George Rand's shoulder joint ached as he raised his right wrist to look at his watch, and again as he tossed the Huey tech manual onto the adjacent bed, and still again as he threw the covers off his lower body.
He grimaced and grunted as he swung his feet out of bed and then stood up. He was wearing a white T-shirt and Jockey shorts. The pajamas his wife had packed for him when he came down here would return to Fort Benning unworn. He forced himself to stand upright and then hobbled out. of the bedroom through the dining room and into the kitchen.
His aide had set out an electric percolator and a can of Maxwell House coffee on a counter in the kitchen.
He filled the percolator with water, and then the basket with coffee, closed it and plugged it in. He waited for it to grumble and spit and then hobbled back to the bedroom.
He opened. a drawer in a chest of drawers and took from it a fresh set of underwear, a pair of heavy woolen socks, and a Nymex flight suit. The flight suit had a number of embroidered insignia sewn to it. There were the insignia of the Army Aviation Center, a name tag, and on either side of the collar, a single five-pointed silver (actually white) star of a brigadier general.
General Rand pulled off his T-shirt and boxer. shorts and stuffed them into the bottom drawer of the chest of drawers, which he was using as a hamper. Then he walked into the bathroom, turned the water on in the shower, waited for it to warm up, and stepped under the steam.
Ninety seconds later he became aware that the telephone was ringing. He shut the water off and listened, hoping that his aide had shown up and would grab the phone.
When that didn't happen, he decided that it was the aide who was calling. He had a new aide, a pleasant kid from the class of 60, who had gone through the Basic School, done two years as a platoon leader in the 18th Infantry with the 1st "Big Red One" Infantry Division, and then gone to flight school.
Once he had received his orders to flight school, General Rand had replaced his old aide, who couldn't fly either. He had tempered the relief with a fine efficiency report, and he'd pulled hard enough at the strings available to him to get his ex-aide into flight school. But it had been perfectly clear to General Rand that an aide to' a general who flew should be able to fly himself.
Howard F. Mitchell had been on orders to the 11th Air Assault from Rucker when Rand picked him as his new aide.
Rand had subsequently decided that choosing him. had not been one of his brighter decisions. For one thing, Mitchell didn't know much more about flying than Rand did, and it would have made more sense to have an aide with a good deal more time driving airplanes than he did himself.
That of course was not Mitchell's fault. Neither was what Rand was coming to think of as Mitchell's affinity for malfunction. When Mitchell came near them, things seemed to break. Automobile batteries died. Telephones refused to function. Shoelaces broke. Since Mitchell had been the one who set out the percolator before leaving the, previous night, Rand would not have been surprised if it had refused to function-or burst into flames.
Mitch was probably calling now to report that the staff car had thrown a rod, or that on the day of his check ride there was about to be a hurricane, or the check pilot had come down with a sudden attack of hoof and mouth disease.
Naked, dripping soapy water onto the carpet, General Rand walked to the bedside telephone and picked it up.
"Rand," he barked into it.
"I can see we're in a fine, cheerful mood, aren't we?" his wife said.
"Susan, I was in the goddamned shower."