{"id":2520,"date":"2012-02-16T18:55:56","date_gmt":"2012-02-16T18:55:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/?p=2520"},"modified":"2012-02-16T19:14:05","modified_gmt":"2012-02-16T19:14:05","slug":"2520","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/2520\/","title":{"rendered":"VD at the Amen Corner"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
The Lovely Bea, Short Hair Mike and Pretty Jamie. Photo Socotra.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Short Hair Mike is a romantic, which is a refreshing quality in an Army Ranger. Pretty Jamie showed up a little before him at the Willow, and checked her phone for network time. \u201cIs he late for the date?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cAccording to my phone, he is.\u201d She looked up as The Lovely Bea entered through the dark-wood framed glass doors to the bar.<\/p>\n

\u201cHello, Lovely Bea,\u201d I said, brushing both cheeks with an air kiss. \u201cAre the boys taking you buys to dinner? That is so romantic.\u201d<\/p>\n

Short Hair Mike came up to the Amen Corner from the garage end of the restaurant holding a box with two floral arrangements, each in a little bud vase with plush animals clinging to the neck.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt looks like that little lion is humping the flowers,\u201d said Jim.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou are so romantic,\u201d I said. \u201cDid you get Mary anything for Valentines Day?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYes,\u201d he said. \u201cA six-pack of Budweiser.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Mac smiled broadly. \u201cSo I have been thinking about it and you have the year of the first Dining In wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI was moving pretty quickly that morning,\u201d I responded. \u201cIt is a first rough draft, after all.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mac nodded, and pursed his lips. \u201cThinking about it, Rufus Taylor staged the first Naval Intelligence dining-in. I was at FIRST Fleet then, in San Diego. So that places it when he was DNI and that was much later.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cSo you think \u201955 was not the right year?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, definitely not. Ruf did not become DNI until the Kennedy Administration,\u201d replied Mac. I was at the Naval Intelligence School over at Anacostia in the middle 50s. I was still a Lieutenant Commander at the time. I think I was, forever. I was just above the cut line for the biggest promotion the Navy ever had in \u201946. It was great to make it, but then promotions stalled out. It seemed like forever.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou said it was a good turn-out. How many of us were there?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere certainly were not as many as we have today. That was before the Air Intelligence crowd was transferred out of the unrestricted line and into the Special Duty community. Promotions were horrible for them in the URL- they competed against the pilots and you know how that turns out.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is what they are doing again, isn\u2019t it?<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe. There is a lot of uncertainty on that score. I am keeping my mouth shut on that one. I have no way of knowing now how many officers made up the community before the Vietnam conflict. Maybe three or four hundred, but it was a good show. Rufus held it at the Officer\u2019s Club at the Gun Factory. I think it was fairly crowded. It was Ruf\u2019s idea of building moral for the Intelligence Community, and over the next forty-four iterations did just that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI was Mr. Vice in every grade from LCDR on. I think I was the only retired officer to have to do it, too. Tony finally gave me a certificate saying I didn\u2019t have to do it again. Mr. Vice Emeritus, it said.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cRuf and I were together for the first time at Arlington Hall at the Navy Field Operational Intelligence Office. We used to walk around the grounds there, and I urged him to transfer over to the 1630 Intelligence Community.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou told me he started as a Cryppie. So did Jerry Clark. He retired as a Captain, but he went all the way to SES-6 or whatever the highest grade is. He was Deputy Director of DIA for years under Pat Hughes.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI finally made Captain, but I had to do it as a civilian,\u201d said one of the pretty ONI ladies.<\/p>\n

\u201cI did it as a civilian all the way,\u201d said her blond pal with a smile.<\/p>\n

\u201cRufus Taylor was a character,\u201d said Mac. \u201cHe used to keep a bible in his desk drawer,\u201d said Mac. \u201cHe used to work a biblical quotation into all his Naval Messages.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat wouldn\u2019t be permitted these days,\u201d I said. \u201cNot PC. We might convey the idea that somehow one religion is better than another, even if we are in a war with some religious nut-cases.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSeems like the wars are ending anyway,\u201d said Old Jim, draining his Bud. \u201dI assume we are declaring victory.\u201d He waved as Liz-S for another beer. Liz was looking a little frantic with the Valentines Day crowd swarming the bar, and poor Katia had just got off an airplane and looked exhausted.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes that what you have to do,\u201d said Mac. \u201cRufus retired down to Southern Pines in North Carolina. When he passed, I assumed there would be a big religious ceremony. I was shocked to hear that his wife said they were un-churched, and there would be no obit, no ceremony, and the Duke University Medical School got Ruf\u2019s body.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cUn-churched?\u201d I said. \u201cI don\u2019t think I have heard that word in years.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, I was sort of amazed that a man who quoted the Bible in his messages did not have any interest in it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is like the description in the on-line dating sites,\u201d I said. \u201cSpiritual, but not religious.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, certainly any situation under Heaven can be described in the Good Book.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI like the where the kids are tease a holy man, and he sets bears to tear them to ribbons.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is something to be said for that,\u201d said Mac. \u201cWhen Ruf and I were assigned to AFSA at Arlington Hall he would send periodic messages with the biblical quotes in them. He was Y1 and I was Y1E. He was also the Executive Secretary of a DCI subcommittee on \u201cSanitization.\u201d Morey Hellner was part of that thing, too,\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSo the community has been worried about covering sensitive sources and methods for a long time.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOh my, yes. I have told you that we issued Secret-level and even unclassified reports based on extremely sensitive JN-25 Japanese Naval Code decrypts. We just didn\u2019t attribute the information to where it came from.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI heard a very senior retired officer get real excited about that when he read the account of it in your book. He seems to think it is an approach whose time has come again.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNothing new under the sun,\u201d said Mac.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Jim looked on impassively, sandwiched between the ONI Ladies and Mac and I as he presided at the apex of The Amen Corner. \u201cI have not understood anything you guys have said in the last ten minutes.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is OK,\u201d I said. \u201cWe don\u2019t understand it either. For example, are we still 1630s? I know there is a retired designator- I forget what it is.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat the hell is a designator?\u201d growled Jim.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is a way to categorize the officer corps,\u201d said mac, taking a sip of his second Bells Lager. \u201cThe digits all mean something,\u201d said Mac. \u201cthe \u2018one\u2019 refers to unrestricted or restricted line. The second and third digits described the specialties within the restricted line- cryppies were 161x, intelligence weenies were 163x and so on.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThen, with the establishment of the Corps of Information Dominance, we became 1830s.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cActually, you became an 1833,\u201d said the blond ONI lady. \u201cThe last digit indicates your status. \u2018Zero\u2019 means regular, active, and \u2018One\u2019 means Warrant, \u2018Two\u2019 means temporary regular officer who had permanent enlisted status. The \u2018Three\u2019 means \u2018Regular office on the retired list.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThanks,\u201d I said. \u201cI always wondered about that. But do we know if they reclassified us as 1833s or are we still 1633s?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou would have to ask someone at BuPers in Millington,\u201d said Mac. \u201cI don\u2019t really care. I don\u2019t think they are going to call any of us back.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou are all crazy,\u201d said Jim.<\/p>\n

\u201cProbably,\u201d said Mac with a smile, taking a sip of lager. \u201cRufus held a position under that diesel submarine officer Fritz Harlfinger. Rufus was know as the Director of Intelligence- Op-922, but not the Director of Naval Intelligence. Harlfinger kept the DNI car and anything else good he saw laying around the fifth deck of the Pentagon.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt must have been liberating to have an intelligence officer as the Director of Naval Intelligence.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, Ruf took over from \u201cRebel\u201d Lowrence, a submarine ace from the Pacific War. And wait- of course. The first Dining In was in 1964, the year after Rufus took over. That makes sense. I don\u2019t know where you came up with 1955.\u201d<\/p>\n

rly and I had not had my coffee,\u201d I said a little defensively. \u201cAnd the Dining In was the night before.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cRufus was relieved by Mike Rindskopf, who just died last fall.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI wrote an obit for him. He was a hell of a guy- submariner though. It seemed like there wasn\u2019t any place in Admiral Hymen Rickover\u2019s all-nuclear Navy for the old pig-boat guys, heroes or not.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTrue. Mike was followed by \u201cLucky\u201d Fluckey, the Congressional Medal of Honor winner.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI wrote one for him, too,\u201d I said. \u201cThe Galloping Ghost of the China Coast. Amazing stories about his exploits. His crew sank a train on the island of Honshu late in the war- first land raid on the Home Islands.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYep,\u201d Mac nodded. \u201cThen, Frank Murphy, a Captain sitting in and then that pompous fellow Fritz Harlfinger. If it had not been for Bud Zumwalt\u2019s special relationship with Rex Rectanus, I don\u2019t know what would have happened.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cOne thing is pretty certain,\u201d I said. \u201cThe business of the technical collection of intelligence from earth orbit, and the assessment of validity in sources and methods really take ssomeone who does that for a living.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPrecisely why Bud picked Rex and his DNI.\u201d Mac took sip of beer. \u201cAnd it was intelligence officers from there on, until now.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDo you think that the consolidation of the community is a good thing? They say that the Radio Wars that were raging since World War Two are over, and the Operators are happy with that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThey just don\u2019t understand it. The last time an Operator thought he knew everything was Richmond Kelly Turner, and he withheld the intelligence that might have prevented the disaster at Pearl Harbor.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cArg,\u201d I said. \u201cI am not going to open up that particular can of worms again. Do you think it could happen again?\u201d<\/p>\n

Mac shook his head. \u201cIt did happen again, remember?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI wonder what Ruf Taylor would have said about that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe might have quoted King 2:23,\u201d said Mac.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am not so good on my old Testament,\u201d I said, draining the last of this particular glass of happy hour white, a modest Pinot Grigio. \u201cHow does that one go?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAs I recall, Elisha was going up to Bethel, and as he was going along some children came out of the town and mocked his bald head.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat doesn\u2019t seem charitable.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt wasn\u2019t. Elisha cursed them in the name of the Lord, and then two-she bears came out of the woods and tore up 42 kids.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cReally? That seems like sort of an over-reaction.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes extraordinary action is required. You can look it up. I think Ruf could have written a good message around that. But did I mention Walter Lionel Pforzheimer?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWho?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe grand old man of the library at CIA.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, I don\u2019t think so.\u201d I grabbed another napkin, signaled Liz-S for reinforcements and waited for the Admiral to tell me the story.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Copyright 2012 Vic Socotra
\nwww.vicsocotra.com<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Short Hair Mike is a romantic, which is a refreshing quality in an Army Ranger. Pretty Jamie showed up a little before him at the Willow, and checked her phone for network time. \u201cIs he late for the date?\u201d I asked. \u201cAccording to my phone, he is.\u201d She looked up as The Lovely Bea entered […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2520","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-daily-socotra"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2520","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2520"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2520\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2524,"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2520\/revisions\/2524"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2520"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2520"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2520"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}