Eighth in the series. Read after the break…
Insight
By Scott Lowther
Copyright 2019
1973, May: Denver
The war in Vietnam was now officially over. The Director of the Office of Insight thought back, nearly thirty years, to the end of another war. That earlier time, their small staff of the Office held a small but genuinely joyous party. She had a fondness for that party, for it was then that her future husband had finally built up the nerve to talk to her.
This time, there was no party. Partly it was because this war ending was not a great victory, simply a relief. Certainly, the United States had won the war, to certain limits of the definition of “to win.” North Vietnam had been driven out of the South, the threat to the sovereignty of the South was over for the moment. A peace treaty was signed. Things would remain peaceful and the south would stay free and prosperous, so long as the Communists could be trusted to abide by their commitments.
Director Felber snorted derisively to herself.
There was another thing to consider, and for the Office to jump on as quickly as possible. As with the end of World War II and the end of the Korean War after that, there would be mountains of ordnance to be disposed of. And as with at the end of those previous wars, the Office should try to procure as much of it as possible. Jet fighters and the like were of limited value, but the war in the jungle had involved a massive counter insurgency and close support campaign. Attack helicopters, troop transport helicopters, ground attack planes, jeeps, guns, rocket launchers, grenade launchers… all the sort of materiel that could well come in handy. The Director started writing a memo to the Acquisitions Department.
She retrieved from a locked cabinet an atlas. This was filled with maps showing Office of Insight holdings around the world; she focused on the maps of the continental United States. There were a number of old warehouses and bunkers, some publicly known, others deviously hidden, near both coasts. The book also had basic contents listings. Most of the facilities were listed as being about 2/3 full.
The Director went back to her memo writing, and added another line telling Acquisitions that it was time to look at getting more storage facilities.