It's a Sunday and, as usual, I've had too much coffee. That means it's time for me to muse over Hack's excellent writing in his book, About Face. It's time to see what I can learn from the similarly bad-tempered.
I was the Task Force G-4, responsible for keeping the troops fed, the vehicles maintained, and all other logistic considerations. Part of the job was to submit a daily logistics report to the Pentagon's Tactical Operations Center (TOC), and one evening I made my usual call.
"TOC, this is Task Force Cassidy. I've got the equipment status report for you."
"Okay, give it to me," replied a young, brash voice that I disliked immediately.
I made the report. When I finished, the guy said very cuttingly, "Yesterday you had four hundred vehicles. Today you have three hundred ninety-nine. You're missing a vehicle. Where is it?"
Smart-ass whiz kid, I thought. "I wouldn't have a clue. It's no big thing--we're still one hundred percent operational. Probably a truck is down with a broken axle. Vehicles get sick, you know, just like people."
"Don't get smart with me, soldier."
"Look," I said, "I don't have time for this. Do you want the report or don't you?"
"Do you realize who you're talking to?" the guy roared through the line.
"Yes, I'm talking to a wiseass who's overimpressed with his own importance and who's got nothing better to do than mess with the troops."
"Let me speak to your commanding general!"
I suddenly realized I'd probably gone too far. "Well, who are you?" I asked.
"I am Robert F. Kennedy. I'm the Attorney General. I'm commanding your organization. I'm responsible for handling civil disturbance, and if I want to know every last detail, soldier, you'll provide it. Now get me your boss right now!"
Talk about centralization. I put the phone down and went to see General Cassidy, whom by now I knew quite well, and vice versa. "General, you won't believe what I've done."
"I'll believe it, Hack," he said, "just tell me."
"See, I thought he was some clerk at the Pentagon TOC giving us a hard time--but I just told the Attorney General of the United States that he was a wiseass."
Cassidy moaned, "Of all people, Hackworth! Of all people!" and headed for the phone in the Task Force TOC. It was just lucky for me that both men were Irish. Cassidy managed to convince Kennedy that it was the Irish in me that had started all the trouble, and the Attorney General accepted Cassidy's apology on my behalf. With that, the good general hung up the phone and left the TOC, shaking his head. "Of all people, Hackworth. Of all people."
I won't lie, this story cracked me up real good in the coffee shop today. Humorously, I can tell Hack was still a little pissed about what happened when he wrote about this event. Take special care when you read this part:
Cassidy managed to convince Kennedy that it was the Irish in me that had started all the trouble, and the Attorney General accepted Cassidy's apology on my behalf.
Notice how Hack places emphasis on the word me with italics. For General Cassidy to smooth the situation over, he was going to have to put the blame onto Hack, (whether rightful or not, that doesn't matter), by saying it was the Irish in Hack that caused the whole misunderstanding.
Hack gets put on edge simply by the tone of the voice on the other end of the line. Maybe he was already on edge since he was stressed out from all responsibility he shouldered trying to keep track of all the logistics details of his Task Force. Think about it. He's already running around trying to keep everything in order and then there's this young voice on the other end of the phone line questioning him about one damn truck unaccounted for out of four hundred.
Hack shouldn't have blown up and called the other voice on the phone a wiseass but he was a human. He wasn't ideal. While he could've handled the situation with Mr. Kennedy better, Hack did the next best thing he could after he realized he screwed up and the damage was done. He went to his boss, General Cassidy, and told him what he did. General Cassidy used his own prowess to apologize on Hack's behalf, tactfully using the fact that there's a bit of boiling Irish blood in both men to smooth the situation over.
By the time this happened, Hack had already established a good relationship with General Cassidy. Focus on this part of conversation between Hack and Cassidy:
"General, you won't believe what I've done."
"I'll believe it, Hack, just tell me."
I can get a lot of information about their relationship out of this seemingly simple interaction. First, I can tell that Cassidy is used to Hack coming to him to explain his fuck-ups. Cassidy is used to Hack telling him the truth about the situations he gets himself wound up in. I can also tell that Cassidy encourages Hack to come to him with what's on his mind because he just wants Hack to give it to him straight.
I can also tell that Cassidy expects better from Hack from his response to the news; "Of all people, Hackworth. Of all people." Hack is supposed to be an exemplary soldier who holds himself to a higher standard in Cassidy's opinion. I believe Hack was a model soldier but, at the same time, I understand that General Cassidy was responsible for controlling Hack's reins. My suspicion is that Hack took a bit of pride in disappointing his general in this manner, however. Hack loved to show off who he was. He knew when to put his ego in check but he also knew when to let it fly off the handle.
That's Hack for you. He doesn't give a fuck about your authority. He tries to do what's best to keep the things he's responsible for in order and if that means disappointing some people, even the people he admired and wanted to do well by, he took that hit. He's a soldier's soldier. A man's man.
If you're alarmed by the fact that I admire such a man, that makes me very happy.