Charles Taylor - Show of Force

When just he and Palmer remained, the sailor reached down and gave him a hand, pulling him shakily to his feet. At the foot of the ladder, David motioned Palmer to step up first as he looked back at the boat, now taking on water more rapidly. "No, sir." He put out his hand and shook David's firmly. "I'd like to follow you:"

The young officer nodded at the other man and stepped up the ladder to the main deck of the Bagley. It was solid, a secure feeling after the wild antics of their little boat. A messenger was waiting for him. i" The captain would like you to report to the bridge, if you're okay, sir."

"I am," David replied. As a corpsman handed him something cool to drink, the messenger wheeled about and headed back to the bridge to report to Carter.

David finished his drink, handed the glass to someone nearby, and strode to the ladder leading to the 01 level. He calmly walked forward on that deck and swung up two more levels to the signal bridge, nodding at sailors who stared at him silently. He moved past the flag bags at the rear of the open bridge to where Carter was waiting for him, standing beside his chair on the starboard wing. He saluted the captain.

"You wanted to see me, sir." David had suddenly become very tired. He decided he didn't particularly care what anyone else was going to say, even this captain before him.

Carter returned the salute. "You did a hell of a job in there, David, but you didn't follow my last orders."

David looked back at him. "No, sir," he said very calmly.

"Do you mind telling me why? You could have lost some good men, including yourself."

"You don't seem to understand. A lot of people were being killed. They were being slaughtered." He was very tired now.

"I know that, David. I've been there before."

"I saw Jorge in the water. He asked where my Navy was." He looked closely at Carter, tears forming in his eyes again. "Do you know where our Navy was, sir?"

"We may never know where it was, David. It wasn't out here today, and we may never know why either. But I don't ever want you to forget what I told you last night. And I think you may already have started to forget some of it. Whoever made this decision doesn't know you, or me, or even Jorge, but he or they taught you a lot about power today. And power doesn't always make the decision you think is right. But power can do that because it can do anything it wants. And if you're going to sail with me, you're going to have to remember that."

"And can it lie to men like Jorge?"

"You'll have to decide that for yourself some day, David." He looked closely at the young man, and remembered another young man, a Lieutenant Sam Carter, who had had a similar experience when he was commanding an LST at Inchon. More men had been lost then. "You've done a fine job today, and now I want you to go aft to your room. You're tired. Get some sleep, and then we'll talk some more." He smiled at David for a brief second, then turned, moving into the pilothouse.

The executive officer was at the chart table. "He was a little brusque there, Captain. I'll talk with him later."

"No, that's all right," replied Carter. "He just had to learn a tough lesson that most people are lucky enough to miss. He'll be okay."

DEAR SAM,

You never fail to make me feel like I'm the only woman in the world. I never suspected a thing last weekend when you suggested we take a weekend in North Carolina, "like a second honeymoon," you said. Now I know that I'm married to one of the world's great con men. And maybe I'm the most easily conned woman in the world, or maybe I just want to believe you'll never be in danger. Now, I can only say thank you, my love, for reminding me how important we are to each other.

And I also want to say "damn you" for conning me so beautifully. I had such a lovely time knowing I was the only woman in the world that had ever been loved so well, and I couldn't believe it when I turned on the radio this morning. Before they'd even finished reporting the Bay of Pigs invasion, I knew you were right in the middle of it. Now I realize part of the reason for the lovely weekend was that you had been worried enough that you might be gone for a long time — or even worse. So now you know,' you con artist, that I will be forever suspicious of you whenever you decide that we should have a second honeymoon.

You know that when Bagley gets back, I'm going to want to know everything you did, where the ship was, everything you saw, what everyone in the wardroom did. I want it to be like I was there with you because you can't imagine how lonely it can get back here alone. I plan teas for the wives and get everyone involved over at the "O" Club. And the other night I even had a dinner for the wives and invited over some of the girl friends, only the serious ones, not some of those others that you get such a kick out of. It was fun, but the younger wives either work or have little children. They're all busy and talk about all those things, and that's when I worry about you the most. I can call my family, and I do sometimes, but you know how my father can get when I start talking about you. He's so pompous about the days of the "black coal" navy when they were gone for months at a time, and my mother stayed home and kept quiet while he took his ships all over the world. And then he always wonders whether you're going to amount to anything, even though he says he throws around so much weight for you at Supers. I have to keep reminding him that you're one of the youngest destroyer captains in Norfolk, and that's when he makes me so mad by saying that he's part of the reason you've gotten as far as you have. You seem to take all of that so much better than I do. I just don't have the even temperament you have.

You can see why it gets so lonely sometimes. And now, I'm just waiting for the phone to ring and have Daddy ask if I know where you are or what you've been doing. He always does that just before he's ready to tell me all about it. Although maybe this time it was secret enough so that even he didn't find out beforehand. I hope so.

I guess I could keep going on, and I know you love to get letters even if you say you never have time to read them much at sea. I decided you just need someone to tell you how much you're loved, before you get too impressed with some of your ensigns' female friends. And, as long as you don't get a swelled head, you should be pleased to know that you were almost as good on your second honeymoon as you were on the first. I miss you.

All my love and kisses, Ann

Now that I've had time to think about it, I could have blown whatever career I plan to have in the Navy all to hell yesterday. At the time, I don't think I ever hated anyone as much as I hated Captain Carter. He was the coldest, most hardhearted, uncaring, inhuman son of a bitch I ever knew. When I finally got back to the Bagley, I was convinced that Sam Carter was the man who had killed Jorge. There was no doubt of it in my mind.

Today, I know he didn't, and that he was probably hurting as much as I was while I was doing all the arm waving. I really came close to insulting him in front of other people, something he always avoids. As I was falling asleep in my bunk, I wondered to myself if he was going to court-martial me for disobeying orders. I could have been killed along with Palmer and some of the others, but it never occurred to me when we were in the middle of the firing. I think I decided that he might even be right if he did court-martial me.

This morning, when I got up, I knew he wouldn't. And I wondered why not, if I deserved it as much as I think I did. After all, I was literally going against the wishes of the Commander in Chief by staying close to the beach and firing back at the Cubans. For some reason, I had just figured that because we were there we would get into the fight.