This Changes Everything Read online

  “We can start processing your discharge or we can put you in charge of the surgical unit. Your choice.”

  “I bleed Air Force blue now, sir. I couldn’t give up all this fun if I tried.”

  Officers who enter the military through the Medical Corps program are fine officers and fine doctors.

  But they’re not necessarily the most presentable in a formal setting.

  The program puts its emphasis on medical skills, and rightfully so.

  But the doctors go directly from the campus of their medical school into the ranks of whatever branch of the military they’ve committed to.

  Without so much as a day of formal military training.

  No Officer Training School, or OTS.

  No Basic Military Training School, or BMTS.

  No formal training on how to march, how to shoot a weapon, or how to properly wear a military uniform.

  For most military doctors the lack of training shows. And not just the day they enter the service, but rather for their whole career.

  -13-

  Major General Stephens had dealt with many doctors from the Medical Corps.

  They typically had an empathy most officers lacked.

  It was a trait quite favorable in doctors and nurses and others in the business of healing people and helping them recover.

  And in fact a trait which helped drive them toward a career in medicine to begin with.

  The general was an expert in reading people in general, no pun intended.

  He could tell which ones were genuine and which ones were just currying favor. Which ones wanted something from him and which ones were willing instead to faithfully serve him.

  He knew even before the nurse came back with his ice that this slightly slovenly colonel before him was going to ask him for something.

  Going a bit further, he knew whatever he asked for was going to be either slightly illegal, slightly unethical, or both.

  Otherwise he wouldn’t have waited until the nurse came back with the ice and left again, for there would be no reason to need a private audience with the ranking officer.

  At the same time, General Stephens sensed there was no malice or ill will in the colonel’s heart, for he didn’t seem the type.

  He assumed, therefore, that whatever he wanted might not be completely kosher as far as military regulations were concerned. But that whatever it was wouldn’t serve as a detriment to his mission or to any other Air Force member.

  As we’ve already established, General Stephens was a patient man.

  He’d give the good doctor his lead and be quiet and respectful while he figured out what he wanted to say, then how best to word it.

  After all, Stephens was a people person who enjoyed good conversation.

  If the conversation took another hour, that was fine with him. It was certainly no skin off his nose.

  He was in quarantine.

  He had nowhere to go and all the time in the world.

  “Sir,” Sanders finally started, “I’m a doctor and have been for a very long time.

  “I deal with things like viruses and flesh wounds and triage.

  “I don’t know beans about habeus corpuses and pre-trial motions and courtroom etiquette.”

  “That’s fine, colonel. I’ll stop you if we start treading on thin ice. Go ahead.”

  “It’s just that… well, word is going around that colonels Wilcox and Medley are being railroaded by the Air Force Chief of Staff because he has a personal grudge with them.”

  He looked to the general. The unmistakable look in his eyes asked a question: Am I going too far?

  Not as far as the general was concerned.

  “Go on.”

  “Sir, I don’t know what happened out there at that bunker. There are all kinds of rumors going around, ranging from the ludicrous to the plausible.

  “And I wasn’t there to witness any of it.

  “Yet though I wasn’t there, I hold in my heart certain truths. Truths I’m so confident in that I’d stake my life on them.”

  “Such as?”

  “Such as those two defendants would never commit mutiny, or treason, or anything else they’re accused of.”

  “Mutiny won’t be charged. They didn’t meet the elements because they weren’t under General Mannix’s direct control at the time of the incident.

  “They’re being charged with treasonous acts during a national emergency.”

  “Yes, sir. But they’re innocent.”

  “I know you feel that way, colonel. But how can you be so sure if you weren’t there?”

  “Because I know them, sir.

  “The medical community here at Wilford Hall is small. Much smaller since the long freeze took the bulk of our people.

  “We were a family even before Saris 7.

  “After the freeze took most of us we were a much smaller but much closer family. We cared for one another and watched out for one another.

  “Then this whole thing with the bunker happened and since then things have been in turmoil.”

  “How so, colonel?”

  “To be frank, general, there’s no love lost between most of my people and Colonel Wilcox. He could be a pompous ass.

  “In fact, scratch that. He was a pompous ass most of the time. But he was one of us, and we treated him like that weird uncle who comes to Thanksgiving dinner or a family reunion and ruins the fun for everyone. But you try your best to overlook it because he’s family and you know you have to tolerate him.”

  “And what about Colonel Medley?”

  “Colonel Medley was a friend to everybody. The enlisted people considered him a second father, because he treated them fairly and with kindness.

  “To the company grade officers he was a source of constant support. If they didn’t know how to do something he did, and he was willing to provide them training and guidance.

  “Field grade officers praised him for his loyalty. He was the first one to volunteer for tough duty or for things no one else was willing or qualified to do.

  “To be honest he’s twice the officer as any of the O-6s here. Me included. It was…”

  He hesitated.

  “Go on, colonel.”

  “Sir, it was just a shame that Wilcox has rank on him. Medley would have made a much better base commander. And Wilcox should have been his deputy.”

  “Thank you for your input, colonel. Is there anything else?”

  “Yes, sir. As I said, I wasn’t there. I can’t testify as to what did or didn’t happen. But there’s a general consensus among my staff that whatever happened, there was no malice intended.

  “Whatever they did, my people and I are convinced that it was done out of ignorance or carelessness. And that…”

  “And that what, colonel?”

  “And that Colonel Wilcox initiated their act. And Colonel Medley blindly followed. If Medley was guilty of anything, he was guilty of being too loyal.”

  -14-

  General Stephens wasn’t sure about the point of Colonel Sanders’ testament.

  He might have been fishing for information.

  Perhaps to take back to his troops to allay their fears their colonels might not get a fair trial.

  Perhaps he even hoped for some inside intel that might indicate the odds of acquittal were in their favor. Or, that if both of them couldn’t beat the rap, at least Medley would walk out of the courtroom a free man.

  Perhaps he just wanted to plant a seed in Stephens’ mind.

  Stephens would preside over the court martial. He would act in the same capacity as a civilian court judge. He would decide what evidence to admit, which witnesses would be called.

  He would set the parameters for sentencing if the court martial panel found one or both defendants guilty.

  In the military court system there is no verdict.

  The military calls the decision finding guilt or innocence a “finding,” though it means exactly the same thing.

  If a finding of guil
t came back against one or both of the colonels it would be up to General Stephens to decide whether the evidence justified a death penalty.

  He might well decide a penalty of death wasn’t warranted. That might be especially true if there was no evidence of malice.

  It was possible they might be found guilty of breaching the bunker and exposing General Mannix’s secret to the world. But if they had no malice; if they had no ill intent; if they genuinely thought the bunker was occupied by thieves who stole food and supplies from the people of San Antonio…

  That was a different situation altogether.

  Under those circumstances General Stephens might exclude the death penalty from the sentencing phase of the trial.

  He might tell the panel what the colonels did was stupid. But that their hearts were in the right place.

  He might take death off the table and tell the panel to prescribe a sentence of not less than ten years confinement, and not more than life.

  Another odd thing about the military justice system is that the convening authority, or the one who orders the court martial held, has the final approval of sentence.

  In this case the convening authority was General Lester Mannix, the highest ranking officer in the United States Air Force.

  He had the authority and the duty to review not only the court martial’s findings, but its sentence as well.

  And the option of throwing out a finding of guilty and letting the defendants walk.

  He couldn’t assign a more severe sentence, but he could lighten it.

  In this particular case… a situation where he was also the aggrieved party… some might say General Mannix had a conflict of interest; that he must therefore recuse himself from the case.

  But recusal was a personal choice.

  And no one dare say, or even imply, that the general couldn’t be impartial.

  General Stephens didn’t have a clue how much if anything Colonel Sanders knew about how the military justice system worked or whether the colonel was trying to sway his thinking in any way.

  He got the sense that wasn’t the case, though.

  He’d take the colonel at his word he merely wanted to show his support for his friends and express his opinion that there was no intent to harm General Mannix or his people in any way.

  Some might say that any conversation such as this, with an outsider pleading on behalf of a defendant before the court martial panel president was improper.

  General Stephens didn’t see it that way.

  The way he saw it any court martial, or any civilian trial for that matter, was merely a series of opinions from beginning to end.

  An opinion as to whether Article 32 evidence was sufficient.

  An opinion whether trial at a local station might be prejudicial to the defendant.

  An opinion, in a case where the accused was enlisted, whether Article 15 punishment might be more appropriate.

  An opinion during trial as to whether called witnesses were reliable.

  An opinion during trial as to whether the evidence was sufficient to support a finding of guilt.

  And lastly, an opinion as to what punishment was warranted and fair.

  Given that a court martial was nothing but a series of opinions from beginning to end, the general saw no reason another opinion shouldn’t be thrown onto the pile.

  “Thank you, colonel. Understand I cannot tell you whether I concur with your opinion and the opinion of your people.

  “But it does help me get a little bit of insight as to the type of officers the accused are.

  “You may take this back to your people for me if you would…”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Tell them that I can assure them, and you, the accused will receive a fair trial.

  “Tell them as well that I’ve already gotten the word of the convening authority that he will accept the findings and sentence of the panel. He said it might go against his grain, but he’s committed to do so.”

  “Pardon me for asking, sir. But General Mannix could have swallowed his pride and not pressed this thing to begin with.

  “It seems to me he’s putting an awful lot of people through an awful lot of grief, just to make a point.

  “To make an example of two fine officers.

  “If the trial goes to completion and the findings aren’t what he hoped they were, can you really trust him to accept the findings?”

  What Colonel Sanders said came very close to being a violation of the UCMJ and could have landed himself in his own predicament.

  But General Stephens didn’t call him on it.

  And perhaps Sanders had a valid question, in light of the anger Mannix displayed on the night the bunker was breached.

  He chose his words carefully.

  “I’ve known Lester Mannix for many years.

  “He is many things.

  “He’s a terrible golfer and only a fair tennis player.

  “He’s a bore at a cocktail party and he’s horrendous at telling even the simplest joke.

  “But above all he is an honorable man. When he gives his word he keeps it.

  “The court martial panel will have the final say so on your colonels’ fate.

  “I’ll give you my own word on that.”

  -15-

  Sami was lying in bed in her RV, a pillow covering her head.

  The baby kept her up a good portion of the night.

  When she failed to get up for the alarm to pull her shift she slept in.

  A very concerned Brad woke her up and asked her, “Are you okay?”

  She said, “No. I died. I’m a zombie now. Leave me alone or I’ll eat your bwain.”

  He said, “Honey, you look like hell.”

  That was unlike Brad.

  Normally he was super-complimentary. He told Sami she was stunning and beautiful even when both of them knew it wasn’t true.

  For him to be so blunt convinced Sami she really did look like hell.

  Otherwise why would he say it?

  “You stay here in case Stef wakes up,” he told her. “I’ll work your shift for you.”

  “No. You’re on for third shift tonight. You need to get to bed and get some sleep.

  “I’ll be all right after I drink a pot or two of coffee.”

  “You sure?”

  “Sure I’m sure. I’ll drink two pots of coffee, I’ll work my shift, and then when I get off work I’ll come home and beat you to a pulp for telling me I look like hell.

  “What a thing to say to your wife when she’s going through post-partum blues and is very vulnerable.”

  “You’re right, my love. I used the wrong term. I should have said you looked like death warmed over.”

  “Oh, you’re gonna get it, buster.”

  “Oh, I’m gonna get it, am I? Isn’t that what put us in this predicament in the first place?”

  “I don’t understand.”

  “I mean, I got it several months ago. That resulted in the baby which resulted in the whole post-partum thing and took away your option of sleeping at night.”

  “Stop. You’re making my head hurt. I still don’t understand.”

  “Never mind. You know we can switch her over to the bottle. There’s plenty of powdered baby formula in the walk-in freezer.”

  “I don’t trust it, Brad. It’s expired.”

  “I know, honey. But Debbie tested it, remember? She drank two full glasses and suffered no ill effects, not even an upset stomach.

  “She said that sealing it in an airless pouch and freezing it suspended the deterioration. That it’s as good as it was the day you took it off the supermarket shelf.”

  “As much as I love and trust Debbie, I have my doubts. She may have suffered no ill effects because she has a cast iron stomach.

  “This is a woman who puts hot sauce on her hot sauce, remember? I think her intestinal system was pickled years ago.”

  “I figure as long as I can feed her I should. Why take chances if we don’t need t
o?

  “Besides, I enjoy feeding her. It’s helping us grow closer. I just love it when she looks up at me with those pretty little eyes and wraps her little fingers around my pinky when she has her breakfast.”

  “Okay, okay. I give in.”

  “Because I’m right like always and you’re wrong like always?”

  “Yes. If you say so.”

  “And because I’m beautiful and because you were just teasing about me looking like death warmed over because you’re a mean old butthead?”

  “Yeah. All that. I guess.”

  “And because I’m so beautiful and you’re such a butthead that you’re gonna make me my first cup of coffee while I’m getting dressed?”

  “Honey, I don’t think you’re gonna have time to do both.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Well, you have to be on duty in ten minutes. You’ll have time to drink a cup of coffee or you can get dressed but I don’t think you’ll have time for both.

  Sami flew out of bed and searched for her jeans.

  Brad kept right on talking.

  “Of course it makes no difference to me, but the guys would probably rather you choose the coffee and forget the getting dressed part. They probably don’t even know you sleep naked, but I guess they will when you finish your coffee and run out the door.”

  “Shut up and help me find my shoes.”

  Brad smiled.

  “Why? Actually I’m enjoying the show.”

  She ignored him.

  In three minutes flat she ducked out the door and shut it behind her.

  She made it to the control center with a minute to spare.

  She was relieving Karen, who was staring at one of the monitors as she walked up.

  “Hi, Karen.”

  Karen never looked up.

  “Hi, Sami. How’s the baby?”

  “Baby’s fine. Mommy’s sleepy.”

  Karen smiled without looking away from the monitor.

  “I remember those days. That’s the only thing I like about getting old. Grown children don’t keep you awake at night. And when you babysit the grandkids, you get to set the terms.

  “Term number one is no breast feeders stay overnight.