“I’m going to let the general explain,” Furness said, “because I don’t fucking understand it one bit.”
“Okay, listen up, all of you,” Patrick said on inter-plane. “This is Major Seaver’s copilot. A situation has developed related to the Korea crisis, and using my own discretion under the authority of the chief of staff of the Air Force, I have ordered all of the 111th’s aircraft and deployable aircrews to another location. We’re on our way there right now. It’s imperative that you follow my directions exactly, or you’ll be shot down. Do you understand?”
“What’s going down, Go-Fast?” asked Pogo Lassky in Aces Three-One. “Is this for real? What does he mean, shot down?”
“Shut up and listen, all of you,” Furness said. “I don’t know what’s happening, but the general is in charge. Be quiet, pay attention, and do like the man says.”
“How’s your fuel level, number one?” Lassky asked.
“I’m not under duress, Pogo,” Furness answered immediately. Lassky’s question was a code phrase, asking in as natural a manner as possible if there was a hijacker or any trouble onboard. “This is for real. We’ll be on the ground shortly, and then he’ll explain everything. Now listen good.”
“Hey, are you a terrorist or something?” John Long asked. “Is this some twisted plot to steal our planes and bomb Canada or something?”
“It’s a twisted plot, all right,” Patrick said with a smile in his voice. “And yes, I am stealing the planes — sort of.”
“Is this part of the pre-D?” someone else asked. “Is this part of the exercise? Some kind of loyalty or anti-terrorist test?”
“No, this is not part of the pre-D, and no, it’s not a test of your loyalty,” Patrick replied. “You can refuse to participate in what I’m planning on doing. I will not order anyone to follow my directions. You can fly back to Reno. I’ll even invalidate the flying portion of the pre-D.”
“Say what?” Furness asked incredulously. “You’ll what?”
“The squadron did almost perfectly in the generation and predeployment,” Patrick said. “You didn’t do so well in the flying part. I’ve already received hate mail from Air Combat Command, the Guard Bureau, and several wing commanders, and I’m sure there are more waiting to chew some butt. But I’m willing to tell ACC, the National Guard Bureau, and the chief of staff of the Air Force that I unfairly influenced the flying portion to make it more difficult than the regs allowed. You keep all your Probability to Launch and Survive points, and you do the flying part some other time with some other evaluator.”
“Why invalidate the flying portion of the pre-D?” the pilot aboard Aces Three-One asked. “What happened? How did we do?”
“I don’t know,” Patrick said. “I haven’t tallied the reports yet. I’ll debrief you all later.”
“If we were doing okay, I think you’d tell us, sir,” another crew member said. “Why don’t you tell us the truth? We’re big boys.”
“Any objections, Colonel Furness?” Patrick asked on interplane. There was no response — Patrick decided Furness knew exactly what was coming and was afraid to countermand a full report in front of the troops. “Very well. All in all, the squadron did very well — I’d rate you an ‘excellent’ overall, in fact. Almost perfect in Probability to Launch and Survive points. Almost perfect… right up until Major Seaver taxied out of the parking area. After that, it all went downhill.”
“What…?”
“One documented ROE violation, three observed range safety violations, one observed weapons safety violation, one possible safety-of-flight violation,” Patrick said. “That gives Two-One’s sortie a zero Damage Expectancy score, which takes you down to eighty-six percent even if everyone else was absolutely perfect. You need an eighty percent to pass. If Two-Zero gets charged with a range safety violation for participating in that ‘airshow’ stunt with Seaver, they’ll get a zero DE score too. Two noneffective sorties out of seven is an automatic fail.”
“Stand by!” Rinc Seaver thundered. “What the hell do you mean, we failed? What right do you have to tell my fliers something like that? Who the hell do you think you are, McLanahan?”
“That’s ‘General’ or ‘sir’ to you, Colonel!” Patrick snapped. “And don’t give me this innocence routine. You all knew what the ROEs are for this ride, and you deliberately broke them — not once, but three times: twice with the fighters and once with your own wing-man! And you know damn well that you were two hundred and twenty feet low on that last bomb release — you could’ve killed us all. I’ve got verified radar data from the AWACS plane. We haven’t even landed yet, and I’ve already received safety-of-flight complaints! You just don’t push the envelope or bend the rules, Seaver — you disregard them. You’re unsafe.”
“So if I’m such a hazard and a risk, why did you have us do all that other crazy shit over R-4808?” Rinc asked. “You want us for something, don’t you?”
“Right now I want your planes,” McLanahan said. “I’ll decide if and which crews I want for them later.”
“And what if we decide not to go along with this cockamamy scheme of yours?” Rebecca Furness interjected. “Why in hell should we do all this and risk getting busted and maybe even handing our planes over to a terrorist or some wacko? We don’t know jack shit about you or what’s going on. Why should we trust you?”
“The answer is, you shouldn’t if you don’t want to,” Patrick replied. “Anyone who wants to can depart the anchor, get a clearance and a squawk from L.A. Center, and take your plane back to Reno. I’ll invalidate the flying phase of the pre-D exercise, and I’ll make sure you get full recognition for your outstanding job during the generation and deployment.
“I don’t know what will happen if you return to Reno, guys,” Patrick went on. “If you’re lucky, Major Seaver and maybe Colonel Furness will get fired or reassigned, and you’ll get to do your pre-D all over again after a six-month probationary period. But odds are, you’ll get decertified. The Nevada Air National Guard will lose its Bones, and it’ll take every ounce of juice from your congressional delegations and state lobbyists to get a military flying unit back into the state of Nevada, let alone to Reno.”
“So what happens if we go with you, General?” Furness asked.
“Maybe the same thing,” Patrick admitted. “The Air Force and the Pentagon can nix my entire plan. Then I get canned along with you and Seaver.
“But if the Pentagon signs off on my plan, by wintertime we’ll be flying the most high-tech warplanes on the face of the earth,” Patrick continued. “You’ll be placed on extended active duty for training in a new class of warplane. You’ll train a new generation of bomber crews with a mission unlike anything the world has ever seen before.”
“Well, shit, General,” Seaver said sarcastically. “When you put it that way, what’s the big deal?”
“This is the big deal,” Patrick said. “My program is ‘black’ right now. That means it’s so classified that everything and anything that comes near it is sucked into a bottomless, agonizing pit of security rules that at best will drive you nuts.
“If you all agree to this, your lives will change forever. Your personal and professional lives, and the lives of your family, friends, and acquaintances, will be under intense scrutiny for decades. You will be giving up most of your personal freedoms and liberties by agreeing to do this. I know many of you joined the Air Guard to escape the life of an active-duty career military officer — well, if you agree to do this, life in the active-duty force will seem like a vacation in Hawaii compared to what you’ll be subjected to. You’ll be jerked around as soon as you get on final approach to our destination — I shit you not.”