Chapter Eight
Who Do You Serve?
James had been
working for several months now to try and restore order in the entire nation.
Things west of the Mississippi were still moving forward at a decent rate, but
the work had slowed down with the arrival of summer heat. The power grid simply
wasn't ready to handle the full load of summer cooling demands again. That
meant brownouts and even blackouts were common events in most of the major
cities located in the hottest areas. The rural areas were a little better, but
there were still large areas that hadn't ever been brought back online yet. It
was even worse east of the Mississippi. James was still trying to establish
control in a lot of places in the east. The people had proven to be very
uncooperative in a lot of those places. The months of chaos with almost no real
help had made the people who had remained very independent and defiant of all
authority. James was still reluctant to use extreme force except as a last
resort. The use of too much force at the start had caused a lot of the current
resistance he was now facing.
General Hodges had
quickly become the 'front man' for James in D.C. as things had progressed. He
was still the man charged with planning and running a majority of the actual
operations that used military force to restore order or take control of an
area. However he now spent almost as much time playing politics. That was
something he had done for years at the Pentagon and he was almost as good at
political tactics as he was at military tactics. He had often joked with James
that war and politics were the same thing. Only there was still some honor left
in war! James could and occasionally still did deal with the politics of this
massive operation to restore order in the nation. But it was much easier for
him to do what needed to be done if he left the politics to Hodges and James
just dealt with the actual daily problems he faced. It had been a smoother
transition than either of them had expected on the military side of things.
Part of that was because most of the current commanders were eager to let
anybody else deal with the politicians for a change. Now that James was in
charge and Hodges was planning the initial military actions they were the focus
of the politicians and the former commanders could just refer any complaints directly
to them.
And there were
complaints to be dealt with each and every single day! James was amazed that
the people running things before he took over had gotten anything at all done.
He often told them that when he was meeting alone with them too. That simple
acknowledgement and recognition of their efforts did a lot to help the former
commanders see James in a new way. Knowing that he understood what they had
been dealing with and respected them for dealing with it had also helped him to
secure his position as their new commander. It helped the most with those who
still wore more stars that James did. He had been surprised at the actual amount
of resistance he had gotten and from where among the highest ranking officers.
The Army officers hadn't given him much trouble at all this time. They
respected General Hodges and still followed his lead and they all knew that he
followed James. The Navy had actually been the least troublesome. That was
largely due to the fact that James had worked hard to coordinate with them in
supporting Hawaii. James had and still did leave the management of the islands
well being to the Navy. He was only offering what support they requested of
him. The rest he left for them to deal with.
It had been the
officers in his own Air Force who had the greatest problem with coming to terms
with his command east of the Mississippi. A lot of that was due to the unheard
of advance in his rank and authority. They simply weren't willing to accept his
commands while they still had more rank than he did. That had quickly become a
major issue for James at the very start of this new mission. James had tried to
deal with it as diplomatically as possible, but had soon been forced to deal
with it in other ways. He simply had the problem officers reassigned by General
Kendrick who, as the Joint Chief, was currently the top officer in the
military. Kendrick answered only to the President, so they had no choice except
to follow his orders when reassigned by him. That had worked until the
President got wind of the real reason for the reassignments. His reaction had
been immediate and unpleasant for everyone involved! He had threatened to promote
James again and make him his Joint Chief, so it would be clear to everyone that
James was in command of this entire operation now. It had taken the combined
efforts of a lot of people to convince the President that would be the worst
possible solution to the problem. The anger and the determination of the
President had soon removed almost all of the objections about James having full
authority over much more senior and higher ranking officers though.
The problems with
military commanders had been minor though compared to the problems he had faced
with the political leaders. That was why General Hodges now handled the
politics as often as possible. It made little difference which one of them
talked to the politicians. The trick was to make the politicians believe that
they were being heard and that things would soon be changed more to their
liking. James was better, more patient, at the listening than General Hodges
was, but he was seldom successful beyond that. He would simply explain why
things wouldn't be altered and would proceed as he had planned to do things. A
few times of that and even the President thought it would be better if General
Hodges took over dealing with the politicians involved. That had left James
free to spend more time in the field. He had put that time to good use and had
gained a lot of support from the people as well as the troops. It was still
common for him to go with only a couple of hours sleep a day for several days
at a time. A lot of people were getting worried about him. He had been doing
this for months now with no breaks, but he simply refused to take an extended
break. There was too much to be done and too many people still in desperate
need of assistance. He had been provided a very nice apartment at a secure location
nearby, but he seldom did more than swing by for a change of uniform.
Finally one evening
the President showed up at the Pentagon where James did a lot of his work when
he wasn't in another city working directly with the people there. The President
listened to a short report from James and then politely, but firmly ordered him
to go to his apartment and get some well earned rest. He wasn't to leave his
apartment for at least full night either. James hadn't bothered to argue that
point since it was clear the President wasn't going to take no for an answer.
He did wonder why the President had made such a point of the issue of him
getting some rest at his own apartment though.
He had a very nice bed in his private office at the Pentagon. James
suspected that both Hodges and Kendrick had been involved. They had been after him for weeks now to take
a few days and get away from things. He would let them know he wasn't happy
about this, but also tell them that he did appreciate their concern for him. As
he headed over to the apartment his driver, a very young lieutenant, even told
him he was glad to see him going to get some real rest. James had shaken his
head and his finger at the young officer, but he had been smiling when he did.
It was going to be nice to get away, even for just a single night. James had
been dealing with one major issue after another without a break since he had
arrived in Washington. He couldn't remember his last full night of sleep. As he
thought about it James had to admit that he needed a short break. He decided
that he would call Sarah and the kids. He wanted to have a nice long chat with
them. It had been a long time since he had been able to make the time for more
than just a quick call. He could make a video call from his apartment too since
they would be at her dad's place they had the best possible services. He hadn't
been near them since the first of the year. It would be good to hear their
voices and see their faces, even if it did make him miss them even worse. He would get a much needed and well deserved
night of sleep after he made that call.
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