“When I summon a staff officer, they damned well come to see me, not the other way around!”
Karen stood up respectfully and pointed down at her screen, where a large red ACCESS DENIED banner was displayed. “I want to see that investigation report,” she said.
“I’m not going anywhere, and I’m not talking to anybody until I’ve seen that investigation report.”
“What god damned report?” Carpenter shouted. “Pennington, out! “
An astonished Captain Pennington backed out of the office, giving Mccarty a “what the hell?” look. He got a nervous shrug in return. He closed the door behind him forcefully. Karen hadn’t budged.
“You know what report, Admiral,” she said. “The JAG investigation on the loss of the SEAL back there in Vietnam.
The one you told Mr. von Rensel you had seen, where . Sherman was adjudged to have done the right thing when he abandoned that man back there on the river.”
Carpenter started to say something but then faltered.
Train tapped his monitor with his fingers. C’mon, C’mon, he thought. She couldn’t hold this guy off forever.
“Sherman told us, Admiral. Before he was shot up there on that hill. He admitted seeing the SEAL. That’s not quite the story he told us before, but he admitted it to Galantz.
He also said that he did tell his bosses back there in Vietnam that he had seen the SEAL on the night of the incident, that they knew he had been left behind.”
“That’s not what the investigation says,” Carpenter declared.
An E-mail notice bloomed across Train’s screen, and he quickly switched screens to the communications program.
One message-from NIS-file attached. He accepted the message and then ordered the attached file copied for retransmission and forwarding. The system asked for the forwarding addresses. Train consulted the OPNAV directory and then sat down to type them out.
“Then let me see it, Admiral.”
“It’s classified. You’re not cleared.”
“It was over twenty years ago, Admiral. And after what 1, ve been through, I am more than cleared. In fact, I feel like telling the whole world about my fun weekend. Then everyone will be cleared.”
Carpenter stared at her, but then his expression changed.
“All right, Commander. Since you insist. Captain Mccarty will remove the lock.”
Karen got up, and Mccarty slid into her chair. After a minute on the keyboard, he got back up. “Call it up,” he said.
Karen sat back down and accessed the archive system.
This time, the file appeared on screen. Carpenter just stood there, looking as if this was just an enormous waste of time, the beginnings of a triumphant expression on his face: the admiral humoring the commander.
Karen began to scan the investigation report as fast as she could scroll through it. The basic letter report, followed by the appendices: the appointing order, the interview list, the findings of fact, the findings of opinion, the substantiatin documents. She was looking for two things: the Swift boat division commander’s statement and the all-important reviewing authority’s first endorsement.
There. The Divcom’s statement. Interview with Sherman.
The mining ambush. Subsequent actions to extract the boat from the kill zone. Damage to the boat. Injuries to personnel. A brief mention of the skipper thinking that he had seen the SEAL by the riverbank at the time of the engagement.
As Galantz had charged, and as Sherman had admitted.
Carpenter was looking at the screen over her shoulder.
“Well,” he said. “I guess it does say that So what?”
“That’s only part of it, Admiral,” she replied. “Now I want to see the final endorsement. Because whoever approved this investigation essentially covered up the fact that Galantz had been left behind.”
Carpenter stood back and took a deep breath, his eyes flitting from side to side for an instant. But then he gestured to Mccarty, as if to say, Beats me. Karen scrolled down through the document to the final section.
The final endorsement appeared on the screen. The reviewing authority, Commander Naval Forces, Vietnam. The major conclusion: concurring in findings of facts and opinions, with the exception that the COMNAVFORV did not concur that the SEAL had been at the rendezvous. That in the heat of an engagement, the skipper could not have seen the face of a man as mines were exploding and. heavy machine-gun fire laid down on the banks of the river. That the SEAL had, in all probability, never made it to the rendezvous. That the division commander was directed to take no further action with regard to the SEAL.
Carpenter again read over her shoulder. “Well,” he said, “I’m not sure that’s what I would have recommended.
Seems kind of coldhearted. But I guess that’s what they recommended, whoever they. were. Are we finished here, Commander?”
“Just about, Admiral,” Karen said. “I just want to see who signed this thing out.”
Carpenter again stood back. “I’m not sure why that Id be of interest, after so long a time. Most likely some’s who are long gone.”
Karen turned to look at him. “Are you sure, Admiral?
Because if the approving officers were still on active duty, and the Navy opens an investigation into why Admiral Sherman is lying in Bethesda with a gunshot wound, these names might be of burning interest within the flag community.”
Carpenter looked exasperated. “I think I’m getting bored with all this, EA. Why don’t you-“
“Ah, here they are. Approving for Commander Naval For&s, Vietnam.
Captain Mccarty, want to take a look?”
“Me?” He looked at Carpenter and then leaned down.
“Son of a bitch!” -he exclaimed.
Carpenter pushed him aside and looked at the screen. His face went white as the names jumped out at him. The two lieutenant commanders at headquarters of Naval Forces, Vietnam-the ones who had approved the investigation report: Lieutenant Commanders Kensington and Carpenter.
Carpenter. for JAG approval, Kensington as the operations officer. The fact that it was signed
“By Pirection” made it even more damning, because that phrase meant that the admiral commanding in Vietnam had nevey seen it.
“What’s the meaning of this?” Carpenter spluttered.
“This shouldn’t-I mean … “Shouldn’t be there, Admiral?” Karen asked softly. “But this is an archive file. Read only. No one can change an archive file, can they, Admiral?”
Train stood up in his cubicle and pushed the privacy panel aside.
Carpenter, visibly shaken, turned around to look at him, as did Mccarty.
“Commander,” Train said formally. “I’ve got what you need. The NIS query went through. I’ve got that Vietnam incident report right here.”
Karen started to’walk over toward Train’s cubicle, but Carpenter stepped in front of her. “What’s the meaning of this, von Rensel? You have no right to access restricted JAG information. That report is classified.
That report
“In light of the upcoming investigation that will be conducted into the injurie’s sustained by Admiral Sherman, your NIS liaison officer thinks this report is undiluted dynamite, Admiral,”
Train said as he pushed two keys on his keyboard. “Especially that approving first endorsement. It’s a great thing, that archive system, the way it preserves the facts. Preserves and protects them. And so is this E-mail system.”
“E-mail?” Carpenter squeaked, his voice rising. “What are you doing?”
“Why, I’m E-niaiung this to the CNO’s office,” Train announced, pushing two more keys. “And to the Vice CNO’s office.” Two more keys.. “And to your buddy Kensington. And to the Deputy JAG. And to my bosses over at NIS. And to CHINFO-he should know all about this, don’t you think, before the press gets into it? Before people start
