Chapter One - part eleven

  James was finally summoned once again. He had no idea of where he was going or what it was about. He just knew he was going. He walked into a large room to find he wasn't alone. All three of the other pilots still being held for debriefing were there, but they weren't the only ones. The Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of the Air Force were both seated in front of them. A good dozen high ranking officers, none with less than two stars, from several nations were also seated with them. James had a feeling that he was about to find out just how bad things were and just how much trouble they were all in. One of the men seated there was General Davis. Once James was in place he saluted and took a seat next to the other three facing, for lack of a better word, the 'court'. Once he was seated the Secretary of Defense stood up and moved around the table to stand directly in front of James. James had a distinct feeling he was about to become the center of attention.

   James was right. The Secretary spoke without hesitation. "So this is 1st Lt. James Andrew Cooper. I must say I was expecting a young man, but he almost looks like he should still be in high school. Tell me Lt. Cooper how is it that someone so young can become involved in so much controversy? First you earn your call name at the Academy, 'Ironman', for running the Ironman with another cadet in your arms. Then you show up on your first active duty deployment and end up in a dogfight involving two other nations. How did you manage such a feat?" James hesitated just a second and started to speak, but was cut off as the Secretary continued. "Don't answer. Young man, I have spent the last four hours listening to these three, first individually and then as a group. The story never changed. Major Hawks and Captain Cooper, your wife, were forced to defend themselves when attacked. That defense very likely did take them into unfriendly airspace, but not until after the fight was already going on. The big issue seems to be who was at fault for what followed. Next I looked at the senior officer involved, Lt. Colonel Wilson. He has a reputation as an outstanding pilot and a great leader, but he also has a tendency to take extreme risks to carry out his missions." He paused for a moment before continuing.

   "You were his wingman, so I guess I have to excuse you for becoming involved in this fight. You followed him in and you did a remarkable job at first. However, when he went down you continued to take some very large risks. In fact I am told you did some flying that many people say couldn't be done. Up until he went down you were following orders exactly. You were only disabling the enemy jets, not destroying them, but after your wing man went down those orders seemed to go down with him. You immediately engaged again and destroyed two Iranian jets in a matter of seconds. Then you turned your efforts against a ground force you weren't equipped to fight and put yourself in great danger from anti-aircraft missiles. Somehow you managed to out fly two missiles and all but eliminate the enemy on the ground, but even that wasn't enough. I am told you next directly engaged five more fighters in a head on battle. You destroyed two of those immediately and a third as they were about to do the same to you."

   The Secretary paused again to shake his head. Then he continued yet again. "In one short air battle you have become the first true American Ace in several decades. Perhaps even more amazing is the fact that you are alive to tell the story. And that brings us to your lovely wife.” He stepped over in front of Sarah. "You I can at least understand being involved in all of this, you were following orders and being a 'good soldier', until your husband decided to play hero again. Then being the devoted wife, that I am sure you are, you turned back to stand with him. That was very heroic, but even more foolish. You disobeyed direct orders and not only engaged enemy planes again, but you did so with deadly force by blasting the last remaining threats to your husband right out of the air without warning." Shaking his head again he moved on to Lt. Colonel Wilson. "Of course neither of these young, inexperienced, pilots would have been put in a position to do what they did, if you hadn't disregarded common sense and inserted yourself into this mess. And trust me; this has become a world class mess." He stopped and returned to his seat. Then looking at them he spoke in a much softer tone. "I hate cleaning up messes, especially those made by other people."

   Next was the Secretary of the Air Force. This man was a politician and had no military background. He spoke without getting up. "I believe Secretary Parker has summed it up rather nicely. The four of you have managed be a part of the biggest mess I have ever seen. Frankly, I am amazed that four highly trained officers in the United States Air Force could be responsible for such a huge mess. However, it has become clear to me that the four of you alone are responsible for taking us to the very brink of world war. That said; you also seem to be the same people who managed to pull us back from the edge. By your foolish actions, foolish to the point of being insane, you have done what we have been unable to do for years. You have made the United States Air Force feared to the point that nobody wants to get close to us again." He shook his head and turned his attention to General Davis and General Adams, who were seated together. General Adams was commander of the European forces. "I must say you all have some very convincing supporters. These two men have not only backed all of you, but also have recommended all of you for commendations. I thought they were as insane as you, but after reviewing the action reports I have to admit they may be right. As foolish as what all of you did was... it was also extremely heroic. Major Hawks, Captain Cooper I have approved your commendations. You did nothing wrong to start this mess. You were doing exactly what you were told to do when you were attacked without warning or reason. While I am not pleased that you disobeyed orders and returned to the battle Captain Cooper; I honestly can find no good reason to punish you for that. You not only were returning to aid your fellows, you were returning to aid your husband. Your actions weren't completely beyond the expectations we have for our fighter pilots. You did save lives and planes." Then he turned his attention to the remaining two pilots.

   "I must admit that I struggled with what to do about you Lt. Colonel Wilson. I could be very upset over your decision to rush in where fools would fear to go, but the result is hard to dispute. You did your duty by attempting to secure the safety of a fellow pilot and also an extremely sensitive piece of equipment. I have little doubt that had you not arrived when you did, we would have been facing a much more difficult situation. We would likely have been forced to allow Iran to gain access to some technology that has changed the balance of power or in order to prevent that... destroy it and our own people with it. I was more reluctant to approve your commendation Lt. Colonel, but the truth is we do owe you a debt." Only then did he turn his attention to James. Shaking his head he spoke directly to James. "You, young man, you worry me almost as much as everything that has happened here. I don't know how or why, but you seem to have the ability to put yourself right in the middle of the biggest problems in my Air Force. You also seem to have the ability to draw others in with you." He looked over at Sarah as he said those words. Looking back at James he sighed as he spoke. "I think I would sleep better if I just dismissed you from the Air Force, but I can't do that. You are, for better or worse, a hero. You may take some very foolish risks, but you seem to do them for very good reasons. Also Lt. Colonel Wilson has told me that you took out two jets before he even hit the ground after ejecting. He says you are as good a pilot as he has ever seen and that we would be fools to let you go. That may be so, but you still trouble me. In spite of that, I am still considering his recommendation that you receive the Air Force Cross. What you did was foolish almost beyond belief, but it saved lives and prevented the possible loss of valuable technology." That seemed to be the end of his comments.

  The Secretary of Defense stood up and spoke again. "At this time you are all cleared of any and all possible responsibility for these actions and at this time are immediately returned to active duty. General Adams, I leave these four in your hands. I suggest you and General Davis find a safe place to send them, until this all cools down... say five or six more years!" With that everyone except the two four star generals and their aids left the room. James and the others had stood and saluted as they left. They were still standing at attention when General Adams stepped up to them. He spoke very softly. "This has been a hell of a long week for all of us." He paused for a moment. "But if not for four fools who grew up to be fighter pilots, I think this week our world might have actually become Hell. General Davis, you see to the Cooper 'twins' and I will deal with the other two. Major Hawks, Lt. Colonel Wilson come with me." He turned and walked out with them at his heels. That left Sarah and James to face her 'Uncle Bill' alone.

   He said nothing for a while. Then shaking his head he grinned and gave Sarah a huge hug before he spoke at all. Then he all he said was. "Come with me." They followed him down the hallway and into another large meeting room. They found Senator Davis waiting for them. The next few hours they spent learning just what a mess everything had been. Sarah had actually been in more trouble than James for a couple of days. Only her dad being who he was had averted her being charged with disobeying orders. It seemed that King Mitab of Saudi Arabia knew and respected Senator Davis. When he learned that Sarah was his daughter and that James was her husband he had rescinded all his demands and actually wanted to give the pair of them recognition as hero's. The next big surprise was that they were both getting a month of leave. They would spend a week of it with the Saudi King, as his guests, and then they would get to fly home in the King's private jet for the remaining three weeks.

   That night when they were finally alone for the first time since this had all started. James and Sarah talked about everything that had happened. They now knew that only James had been recommended for the Air Force Cross. The rest of them had all been approved for the Distinguished Flying Cross. James hadn't been officially approved, but her dad said it was a done deal. They talked about a lot of things that night, but there was one thing they both agreed on. The both agreed they had been more fools than heroes, no matter what anyone else said. But at least they were fools in love with each other. That was something they could hang onto no matter what happened... loving each other. Maybe even more importantly they both prayed together. They thanked God for delivering them from the battle and from the consequences of that battle. They also each acknowledged that without their faith in God they wouldn't have been able to do what they had done. They might be getting medals for what they had done, but it was God who was the real hero. It was God who had won the battle.