Chapter Five - part five

   James took several long leisurely turns around the base. He flew over his squadron again, and again, and again. It had taken less than three minutes from the time he turned the beacon on to the time he pulled up from that last actual attack run. Three minutes and thirteen jets would have been destroyed by one pilot in one plane. James spent another ten minutes surveying the scene below before he dropped in and taxied back to the rest of the squadron. Everybody else was already in the briefing room waiting, everybody that is except for Brigadier General Holt. She was waiting for James. She was smiling when he joined her, but she wasn't when they walked into that briefing room together. She looked like she was ready to bite heads off. James took a position to one side of her and stood there looking straight ahead. She stood looking at the pilots for a long time, just like he had earlier. Then she spoke. They could almost feel the fire in her voice.

   "I want each of you to take a good look at your squadron commander. I don't think any of you have truly seen this man. Today you saw only a small part of the true man standing before you. Today some of you saw a pilot who gave an amazing demonstration of skill and tactics. Some of you saw a loud mouthed, smart ass showing you up. The truth is that what all of you should have seen was a comrade in arms, a brother, and a real leader. You should have seen what you could and should all strive to become." She held her hand out and her exec who was already waiting handed her four files. She held them up and then dropped them on the floor. They hit with a loud thump and papers spilled out. She never took her eyes off of the four pilots standing directly in front of her.  Her voice was as cold as ice when she spoke this time.

   "Those files hold the paperwork required to formally issue dishonorable discharges to the four of you. I had them ready last week!" She pointed to James. "That man wouldn't allow me to issue them! He still believed in you! He still thought you were worth something! Trust me when I tell you he is the only one left that does. Colonel Cooper has been an ace for longer than most of you have been flying. I know that some of you think that is old news and that he was flying against third rate pilots and planes. I also know that you think you are the best there is too. Well today this 'has been' took four of your 'best' down and prevented the rest of you from even getting in the air. He did it alone and he did it before you could even react. And he did it after telling you exactly how and when he was going to do it. I am going to leave those papers on the floor and I want them left there until he decides to pick them up. Today he proved to me that he alone has the right to decide what to do with them. He can shred them or he can file them for me. But know this! I have already signed them!"

   She walked out without another word, followed by her exec. James stepped up to the podium and stood looking out at the pilots. They were all clearly shaken. James spoke very softly. "I didn't do this to shame anyone or even to prove a point; although I think it did both. I did it to wake you all up. I don't care how good you are or what you are flying. If you don't fly as a team in a real battle... you may not be flying or even living when it is over. I don't care if you like me or agree with me. I do care if you will obey me. I also care about trust. I need you to trust me... and trust each other. I want to trust you too. Right now I can't do that. Now if any of you don't think you can start trusting me and each other; I want you to come and see me about it." James stepped forward and stood just in front of the four pilots he had chosen. "You four owe me nothing. You have shown a gift for flying that has earned you a chance to keep flying. However that gift doesn't guarantee that you will keep flying, at least not in this Air Force. You have a choice to make. Now if any or all of you think it would be different if you had been flying an F/A-48 instead of me, you are still wrong. I can and will fly against any or all of you, alone or together. I will fly in an F/A-48 or in an F-35. I will still toast all of you; no matter what you fly! Oh you may get me too, but I will take you with me. If you can trust that, I will trash those papers. If I need to prove that to you... then I will file those papers when I prove it or trash them if I can't. That choice is up to you. You have the ability and the desire to be great. The only thing you are lacking is the humility to understand you can't be great alone." James stepped back and stood behind the podium again. "If you are ready to trust me; I will see you here in the morning. Otherwise come and see me in my office before then. You are dismissed."

   For the remainder of the week things were very tense for the entire squadron. The entire 56th wing was talking about what had happened. As usual most of the talk was wrong. The papers lay on the floor all that week... and the next before James finally picked them up. He quietly tossed them in the shredder without saying a word. The squadron had changed. Oh there were still bugs to work out, but nobody failed to follow orders, even when the orders were wrong! James and Jeremy had given them bad orders on more than one occasion to see if they would follow them or abandon them without a moment of thought. Sometimes they had questioned the orders, but they never failed to carry them out. James had made a point of flying against every member in the squadron during those two weeks. He flew in an F-35 rather than his F/A-48. They seldom knew it was him until after the exercise was over. As promised he took every one of them down. They all learned to respect him on the ground and to fear him in the air. They learned that only working together could they hope to survive. Even Holt was impressed with the change in them and their attitudes by the end of those two weeks.

  James intended for the training to continue without let up at least until the scheduled break for them before the new class of ROCAF pilots arrived. Both he and Jeremy had switched back to flying the F/A-48's they had been assigned. They made life interesting for the squadron during all of the training sessions. The other pilots never knew if one or both of them might suddenly appear. They also had no idea of which side they were on until they spotted them. It was proving to be all but impossible to spot them too. They flew like they were on real missions using all the stealth and tricks they knew to slip in unseen. Time and again they would appear to wreck havoc during an exercise. The real problem was that because of the fear of that havoc it often happened when they didn't even show up. The debriefings were always focused more on what pilots did right and how to do better than on what they did wrong. The mistakes were pointed out and discussed, sometimes at length, but the focus was on the good not on the bad.