downed two of them and Sweetness bagged the third while protecting my tail. Comm chatter informed me that the second element of our flight was also successful in splashing one before the remaining two turned tail for home. We formed back up and continued home ourselves. Our fuel was getting low but we would make it back before going dry.
After our debriefing in Ops we all headed to chow. Conversations were animated with hand gestures and much enthusiasm. It was like a proper fighter squadron after a successful day of missions. I sat away from the others and just watched them all carrying on with such gleeful energy. There was a sense of accomplishment and pride in their abilities and it showed. Even the ground crews were more talkative, bragging about how their birds performed or how they had survived punishing anti-aircraft fire and still brought their pilots home.
Commander Brinkman sat down next to me with his tray. I didn’t hear anyone call the room to attention and he motioned for me not to. He smelled of bitter cologne and tobacco as he glanced at me with gentle gray eyes.
“Thanks,” he said, motioning to the room with a hand gesture.
“You’ve turned this unit around in a week. I’ve never seen them this excited before.”
I tried to repress a smile but failed.
“It’s what happens when you get their confidence back, sir. The hard part is going to be maintaining it going forward,” I said.
He looked around the room with a the pride of a commanding officer. “Somehow I don’t think you will have any trouble with that, Devon.”
I wasn’t surprised he used my first name, but it was unusual. Probably second nature for him as much as for everyone else here. I decided to take advantage of the situation and ask him for something in return.
“Sir, the pilots are going to have a call sign naming ceremony tonight. Things could get out of hand a bit. I wanted to let you know ahead of time so your security forces were aware of it.”
He looked back and me and his smile faded away. I thought he was going to nix it right then and there.
“Whatever you need to do to keep this going, do it. I have a high degree of tolerance for my people’s indiscretions when they perform their jobs this well. Just keep it confined to the hooch shack and don’t let anyone get hurt.”
His face loosened into a knowing grin.
I smiled and then said, “Yes, sir.”
CHAPTER 7
Call sign naming ceremonies go way, way back. They can get pretty out of hand if left unsupervised. I gathered the flight leads in my office and lectured them on what I would allow and what I would not. Drinking till drunk, encouraged. Becoming a belligerent drunk, discouraged. Group consensus in naming, encouraged. Inappropriate names, discouraged. Leaving the hooch to wander drunkenly across the base and disturbing the peace, discouraged. Keeping the party confined and not requiring security personnel to settle disputes, encouraged. I finished by holding them personally responsible for anything that happens during the festivities. If anyone winds up in the brig or hurt, they won’t be flying anytime soon and their personnel records will reflect. I felt like the biggest bitch of the universe, but I knew they understood where I was coming from.
There were three pilots in need of a call sign and they had begun their bribery period early in the week. Newbie pilots to a flying squadron typically didn’t keep their old call signs but instead would be given a new one by their leads or myself. Your call sign usually came from some incident, either good or bad that happened to you in your first several weeks with the squadron. Pilots wore their acquired call signs on their flight suits instead of their real names. Everyone called them by the call sign and never by their names. If you came with your prior call sign on your uniform, that was considered bad form and you would be ridiculed for it. Not many pilots made that mistake especially if they saw
After our debriefing in Ops we all headed to chow. Conversations were animated with hand gestures and much enthusiasm. It was like a proper fighter squadron after a successful day of missions. I sat away from the others and just watched them all carrying on with such gleeful energy. There was a sense of accomplishment and pride in their abilities and it showed. Even the ground crews were more talkative, bragging about how their birds performed or how they had survived punishing anti-aircraft fire and still brought their pilots home.
Commander Brinkman sat down next to me with his tray. I didn’t hear anyone call the room to attention and he motioned for me not to. He smelled of bitter cologne and tobacco as he glanced at me with gentle gray eyes.
“Thanks,” he said, motioning to the room with a hand gesture.
“You’ve turned this unit around in a week. I’ve never seen them this excited before.”
I tried to repress a smile but failed.
“It’s what happens when you get their confidence back, sir. The hard part is going to be maintaining it going forward,” I said.
He looked around the room with a the pride of a commanding officer. “Somehow I don’t think you will have any trouble with that, Devon.”
I wasn’t surprised he used my first name, but it was unusual. Probably second nature for him as much as for everyone else here. I decided to take advantage of the situation and ask him for something in return.
“Sir, the pilots are going to have a call sign naming ceremony tonight. Things could get out of hand a bit. I wanted to let you know ahead of time so your security forces were aware of it.”
He looked back and me and his smile faded away. I thought he was going to nix it right then and there.
“Whatever you need to do to keep this going, do it. I have a high degree of tolerance for my people’s indiscretions when they perform their jobs this well. Just keep it confined to the hooch shack and don’t let anyone get hurt.”
His face loosened into a knowing grin.
I smiled and then said, “Yes, sir.”
CHAPTER 7
Call sign naming ceremonies go way, way back. They can get pretty out of hand if left unsupervised. I gathered the flight leads in my office and lectured them on what I would allow and what I would not. Drinking till drunk, encouraged. Becoming a belligerent drunk, discouraged. Group consensus in naming, encouraged. Inappropriate names, discouraged. Leaving the hooch to wander drunkenly across the base and disturbing the peace, discouraged. Keeping the party confined and not requiring security personnel to settle disputes, encouraged. I finished by holding them personally responsible for anything that happens during the festivities. If anyone winds up in the brig or hurt, they won’t be flying anytime soon and their personnel records will reflect. I felt like the biggest bitch of the universe, but I knew they understood where I was coming from.
There were three pilots in need of a call sign and they had begun their bribery period early in the week. Newbie pilots to a flying squadron typically didn’t keep their old call signs but instead would be given a new one by their leads or myself. Your call sign usually came from some incident, either good or bad that happened to you in your first several weeks with the squadron. Pilots wore their acquired call signs on their flight suits instead of their real names. Everyone called them by the call sign and never by their names. If you came with your prior call sign on your uniform, that was considered bad form and you would be ridiculed for it. Not many pilots made that mistake especially if they saw
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