Another Tilt at a Windmill by Don Quixote

 In addition to a few “Forrest Gump” type moments during my dual professional careers as a military systems engineer, and naval intelligence officer, I also experienced some other Don Quixote encounters in tilting with windmills, beyond previously described events chronicled in this blog. This one however turned out to be a lot more favorable.

In the later part of May 1973, I had reached the rank of a senior Lieut-Commander in the Naval Intelligence Reserve. For my two weeks active duty annual training I was assigned to the headquarters of Commander, 3rd Fleet, on Ford Island, Hawaii. The fleet had originally been established 15 March 1942, under the command of Adm. William F. “Bull” Halsey Jr. In 1973 it was under command of VADM William T. Rapp.

I never had the privilege of personally meeting FLTADM William F. "Bull Halsey. However, I was serving in the USS Princeton (LPH-5) when the ship was used as a location (pier side Long Beach, CA) for the movie "The Gallant Hours" when it was made in 1960. The following is an image of FLTADM Halsey circa 1945, followed by one I took of Jimmy Cagney portraying the admiral, talking to Dennis Weaver (TV series Gunsmoke 1955), with Ward Costello to the right hand side. Suffices, Jimmy Cagney was extremely well cast for the role.

The following photograph is of VADM William T. Rapp, who obviously I did meet during my active duty tour.

VADM Rapp was similar in stature to ADM Halsey, also a naval aviator, and of a very similar personality, a veritable bulldog. His office and headquarters intentionally reinforced the comparison with photographs and memorabilia from ADM Halsey’s WWII era. With my designator having changed from 1100 (unrestricted line) to 1635 (intelligence) I was assigned to ADM Rapp’s N-2 (Intelligence) shop which was under command of CDR Earl Bowersox, with his assistant LCDR Bill Armbruster. Both of these gentlemen were extremely competent and intensely dedicated. I was there with a close friend LCDR Albert “Larry” Tuma from the same Naval Reserve Intelligence Unit, at the time located at Terminal Island, Long Beach, CA. The duty afforded both of us, who were approaching selection for promotion to Commander (major career point), a great opportunity for a significant fitness report from a three-star admiral.

 

CDR Bowersox had conceived and was advancing a concept regarding the projected employment of the Soviet Navy’s Pacific Fleet. LCDR Tuma and I were given the task of further analyzing the thesis, and articulating same in a finished intelligence document to be forwarded to the Chief of Naval Operations for concurrence, endorsement and promulgation as guidance to the entire United States Navy. Commander Bowersox had the title, “AVANT GARDE, The Threat Package Concept”, all we had to do was to develop and co-author the report under his “guidance", i.e. direction, all in two weeks. Suffices a bit of a challenge. As the contents were classified “SECRET-NOFORN”, although nearly 5 decades later, I can’t discuss the document further.

 

As LCDR Tuma and I were unaccompanied by family, we could devote a lot of hours to the assignment, my contribution principally being the technical knowledge, and LCDR Tuma, the ability to research the supporting reference documentation. We completed our final draft, and both received outstanding fitness reports.

 

Returning to my civilian job the following Monday, I took the opportunity to mention to my immediate boss, that I had a unique opportunity, without any substrative details, due to “Need to Know” requirements, regardless of his having the requisite security clearances. He more or less “patted me on the head, and blew me off”, directing me to return to my rather mundane task of reviewing and editing one-function engineering drawings.

 

Approximately six weeks passed and my boss called me into his office and told me that retired navy CAPT Tom Buell, one of our Honeywell sales representatives, who worked in our Washington,DC (Tysons Corner,VA) offices had visited one of his friends in the Pentagon’s E Ring. Continuing in a typical rather haughty tenor he advised me that one of Tom’s friends had given him a copy of a very recent document from the CNO’s office that was being promulgated for fleet wide guidance. Apparently that officer thought Tom had the need to know. My boss advised that perhaps I should review the document in order that I was up to date on the latest navy thinking on the Soviet Naval threat. Suffices he hadn’t even bothered to glance at the title page, just inside the document’s front cover, in which CDR Bowersox had very graciously acknowledged me as the principal author by full name, rank and affiliated unit. It was with a rather sadistic mind-set that I pointed the fact out to him. Needless to say, no significant response was forthcoming, while he ate crow, big time.

 

Given that opportunity, as well as several others with 3 star fleet commands, afforded me being selected for promotion to Commander, and subsequently to Captain.