“That’s a freight alright,” said Thompson. “Take a look all along the tracks and make sure they haven’t stashed some military equipment along the way. We need to find out what’s going on.”
“We’ll find them. May take us a couple of hours,” the supervisor assured him.
“Good. Better let the people know up the line what we found,” said Thompson. “At least the people in Vienna can sleep a little better tonight,” Thompson said.
General Claire Richardson, Hustvedt and Jeffers had gone over the briefing three times since settling aboard the Gulfstream G650 in Norfolk. They only stopped when a crewman brought in a meal. Jeffers got up to move to another part of the plane but Richardson stopped him. “Where are you going?” she asked.
“I thought you and the Admiral would want to eat together,” he said shyly.
Richardson let out a laugh. “No, we’re all working on this thing. Have a seat with us and just talk,” she said as he sat back in his seat across from the two. It was obvious he was a little uncomfortable sitting with the high hitters. “We’ve been working together for a while now and I don’t really know a thing about you, Rod. Tell me a little about yourself,” she said cordially. Hustvedt nodded and sat back chewing on his sandwich.
Jeffers shrugged. “I’m from a small town in Tennessee. My family was farmers until my father started a steel manufacturing company. We make parts and specialized equipment. My brothers all went into the business, but I took a different turn and went to the Academy. I just wanted to go to sea,” he said.
“None of the others in your family ever thought about being in the military?” Richardson asked.
Jeffers shook his head. “No, but we had relatives who fought in all of the wars. I even had one relative who walked from Eastern Tennessee to fight in the Battle for Kings Mountain back in the Revolution. It kind of gave me a kick to be stationed aboard the Kings Mountain as my first ship. Since then I’ve decided to make this my career,” he said.
“You’re like a lot of young men and women coming in right now. It’s almost like they get this urge and act on it,” said Hustvedt between bites. “It hit me the same way,” he offered.
“Me too,” said Richardson. “I started out when women were just getting into the military in a big way, so I knew I had a chance. My family was the same as yours. Most were into a family business. When I told my father I was going to be a Marine he thought I had lost my mind,” she chuckled. “But, he pinned my colonel eagles on my collars before he died. Something like that means a lot.”
“You know, I checked your record before you came onto my staff,” Hustvedt said to Jeffers. “I know Roger Hammond endorsed you, but I even talked a minute to Captain Davis. It seems like you leave a very positive impression with your superiors,” he said in encouragement. “Now what’s this I hear from Davis that you figured out the Venezuelan strategy before anyone else?”
Jeffers was blushing now. “It just seemed to make sense. When you put what happened into a time sequence along with the idea that someone wanted to accomplish a task, then it just made sense. I guess I was just the first one to get it,” he said meekly.
Richardson chuckled again. “When you figure everyone in Washington was running around with their head up their ass, what you came up with was remarkable to say the least,” she said with a smile. “Now tell me how you came up with this plan,” she said.
Jeffers thought for a minute. “Well, I needed a model, so I had them break out the original documents for Overlord. It turns out there are a lot of notes written in the margins. When all that was going on, Stalin was desperately trying to get the Allies to begin a second front so that it would take the pressure off his forces. The idea was to stretch the German military machine too thin. That way it would be much easier to make our advances. If you think about it, that’s what we have now, only the Russians are the aggressors. Look at the mass of the Eurasian continent. There’s a lot of land to fill. Because we are attacking on one front, they can throw everything at us and keep pushing on. So we pull the same thing that was done in 1944. We stretch them out over several fronts so they can’t concentrate forces. We also look at their assets. By attacking where we do, we are cutting off major sources of oil and natural gas. Just like with Hitler, we strangle them until they can’t do much. I was also guided by what Admiral Hammond said. He said we had to use the advanced technologies we have to make a difference in people and materials. He was right. That’s what has kept the Russians at bay so far. I’m not sure that will last forever, but while it does, we use it to our advantage. Once I came to those conclusions, I just replicated the planning of Overlord as it applied to us and added things that came to mind. You gotta remember I was doing this as a project for Admiral Hammond, not for some Allied advance. I just let my ideas fly and wrote it all down. I might have been too scared to come up with all this if it really meant men and women going in harm’s way,” he said.
Richardson sat back and admired the young man. He had used his training and knowledge to put together a masterpiece for a project and was humble enough to let you know that it was just something he dreamed up. She smiled at the man. “Maybe that’s the way we should do things in the future. People get conservative when they think people might die getting the job done. They stop taking chances and as a result, we get the same old thing all the time. Mounting this objective will stretch us as well as the Russians, but with other nations involved, we can make it happen. I understand you thought I was the one to lead the southern incursion. Mind telling me why?” she asked. The smile on her face told Jeffers it was okay.
“Every army needs a Patton,” he said. “In Korea you and the First Marines swept through Korea like spreading butter. Admiral Hammond told me one night he could sit on his ship and see your lines change every day. He told me you were so flexible that it really didn’t matter what the bad guys did, you always got around them. Down south, we need someone who can get around those mountains and move through their oil fields. That’s also their breadbasket. I figure it will be like closing a set of pliers. I don’t know anyone else that we have right now who could do it. And I’m not doing this to suck up,” he emphasized.
Both Hustvedt and Richardson laughed. “Actually, she was the first person I thought about too,” said Hustvedt. “I guess you have to live up to our high expectations,” he said to Richardson.
“Oh you make a woman feel wanted,” she quipped. “But at least you got me out of a desk job and back on the playing field. I guess I really have Hammond to thank for that.”
“Yep. He added his recommendations early on. Nobody else was even considered. I thought Black would shed a tear when he heard it. Of course the President had the final say,” said Hustvedt.
Richardson grinned. “Nice to have friends in high places.”
Hustvedt turned back to Jeffers. “Davis told me about you and a guy named Chambers getting people together to play music. You play a banjo?”
Jeffers’ smile broadened. “Yes, sir, been playing since I was about five. My whole family gets together and plays during the year. Lieutenant Chambers plays the guitar. You know, he is the only guy I ever came up against that could pick it like a banjo. Some of the guys on the ship would get together with us and play. Chambers could tear that thing up. When I got aboard the America I was walking down a passageway when I heard a guitar playing a piece he always played. Turns out he was transferred aboard for his second division officer tour. Looks like we will be playing again pretty soon,” he said with some joy.