The Generals by W.E.B. Griffin Page B

is why you are not seeking the protection of the Thirty-first Article of War.”
    Lowell did not reply.
    “I asked you a question, Colonel,” Boone said.
    “The facts are before you, sir,” Lowell said. “I will not contest any decision you make in the matter.”
    General Boone glowered at Lowell and let him stew for almost sixty seconds before he spoke.
    “General Jiggs tells me you’re a pretty good shaker and mover,” Boone said.
    “That’s very kind of the general, sir,” Lowell said.
    “He wants to send you to Fort Hood,” Boone went on. “The 2nd Armored may have bona fide problems that we don’t know about, or it may have lead in its ass, but whichever, it’s not getting its show on the road as fast as it has to.”
    “So General Jiggs has recently led me to believe,” Lowell said.
    “Under other circumstances, Colonel, you would spend the next two weeks devoting what General Jiggs tells me are your considerable literary talents to replying by endorsement to a letter I would like to write you asking you to explain this latest escapade of yours,” General Boone said. “But the priority is getting the 2nd Armored out of low gear.”
    “Yes, sir.”
    “You will not, Colonel,” General Boone said, “consider that the exigencies of the service have once again kept your neck out of the noose, but rather that I am delaying my final decision about what to do about you until I have a chance to weigh your sins against the service you will render at Fort Hood. Do I make myself clear?”
    “Yes, sir,” Lowell said.
    Then General Boone read from a paper on his desk: “Your appointment as Deputy Inspector General, Headquarters, U.S. Joint Assault Force (Provisional), by authority of the verbal order of the commanding general, is effective immediately. You will proceed to Fort Hood, Texas, to investigate and if possible resolve certain logistic and transportation problems in the 2nd Armored Division by the quickest available means. You will identify yourself and explain your mission to the commanding general of the 2nd Armored Division on your arrival, making it clear to him that while you will report directly to this headquarters, your mission is to get the division moving, rather than to find fault with its commander or any of his officers.”
    “Yes, sir,” Lowell said.
    “Why is it, Colonel,” General Boone said, “that I feel I have just put a loaded pistol in the hands of a ten-year-old?”
    “I’m sorry you feel that way, General. All I can say is that I will try to justify your and General Jiggs’s trust in me, sir.”
    “My confidence, at the moment, is in General Jiggs, Colonel, not in you.”
    “Yes, sir.”
    “That is all, Colonel,” General Boone said. “I’ll have a word with you, General, if you please.”
    “Yes, sir.”
    Lowell saluted.
    “Permission to withdraw, sir?”
    “You are dismissed, Colonel,” General Boone said.
    Lowell saluted, did an about-face, and marched out of the office, closing the door behind him.
    “I wasn’t kidding about that loaded-gun business, Paul,” Boone said. “I’m sure your Colonel Lowell, who is a guardhouse lawyer if I ever saw one, is fully aware of the power I just handed him.”
    “He’ll get the division on-loaded, General,” Jiggs said. “There may be some bruised feelings, but he’ll get it moving.”
    “I hope that’s not auld lang syne speaking,” Boone said.
    “No, sir,” Jiggs said.
    “I felt sorry for Hanrahan,” Boone said.
    “Sir?”
    “Triple H Howard has been off planning the Airmobile Army, and has left Ken Harke in charge of Bragg while he’s gone. Harke let Hanrahan go off hunting without a word about what was going on about Cuba,” Boone said. “And Hanrahan’s deputy commander, who is Harke’s man, just turned over Special Forces to XVIII Airborne Corps. He then did not consider it necessary to get in touch with Hanrahan.”
    Jiggs had a lot of respect for Lieutenant General H. H. Howard, XVIII