18th September 1966
Laupheim, Württemberg
After spending a few days getting accustomed to the differences between how they did things differently here. They were regarded as professionals and expected to police themselves. There were the obvious details like the option of beer with every meal, far better food than he was used to and oddly, dinner for lunch. The thing that most surprised Ritchie though was the presence of the women who made up almost a quarter of those assigned to Laupheim, not the least of whom was their Liaison, Stabsarzt/Hauptmann Prinzessin Kristina von Preussen herself.
For the American soldiers, the long-term socio-political consequences of this joint operation could be interesting. Those who buy into the propaganda of American Exceptionalism and/or come from the more... conservative... sections of the US will go home convinced that all Europeans, but especially the Germans, are a bunch of wack-jobs who let women into the military & treat non-white people as equals. Those who don't share those views will be wondering if the Europeans, especially the Germans, who seem to be taking the whole "All Men Are Created Equal" business seriously, are onto something. After all, they just sent five people to the moon and back.
Disturbingly, the Germans seemed to know as much about their equipment as they did. Ritchie had eventually asked and had been told that the Kommando Spezialkräfte had been trained to fight the US Army in general and the 1st SFG specifically without further explanation. Kristina had also mentioned several other outfits who Ritchie had never heard of. Spetsnaz? Gesundheit. What that amounted to was being told that much of their gear was inadequate if they were going to play a cooperative role in the coming weeks. In Ritchie’s opinion they did not have to look so smug as they had explained how each new piece of equipment worked. Then Sunday came.
This shows a disturbing and spectacular failure on the part of the US intelligence services, especially military intelligence. How the f@#$ can US Special Forces be so f@#$ing ignorant of their foreign counterparts? Surely it must have occurred to someone that if the German Empire has the KSK, then it's neighbours and allies would have their own equivalent. And as for being surprised that the Germans knew about their equipment... my God, how bad are their training & operational planning staff?
Because Kiki had volunteered to join the FSR and be posted to an Army Helicopter Wing, she was required to wear the dark blue tunic of the Heer to formal events and probably would for the remainder of her career. Doctor Holz had joked that it was because the stink of that would never come off her. Not that Kiki minded though, she thought that it looked better than the light blue worn by the Medical Service. The Pour le Mérite that she was wearing tonight had raised a lot of questions among the Americans, as had the gold and white sash from the Order of St. Henry. They had instantly recognized the US Army Commendation Medal though and the question became how she had gotten it.
I can imagine some of the questions:
Yank #1: "Isn't that the same as our Medal of Honor?"
Yank #2: "I think so. Why does she have it?"
Yank #3 (possibly Parker): "It's probably political. She is their Emperor's daughter after all."
Yank #4 (possibly Richie): "Nah. I asked. She got it for rescuing wounded soldiers under fire in Korea. Repeatedly. The one next to it on her medal bar is the Korean equivalent."
Yank #1: "Wait, they let women in combat?"
Yank #4: "A woman was one of the founding members of this whole outfit. I think she's their commanding officer now."
Ben was threatening to come up here sometime in the coming weeks and Kiki looked at that with a mixture of amusement and terror. Amusement because Kiki didn’t think he was aware of the sort of reception that he would get in Laupheim and terror because she still hadn’t figured out how she was going to respond to his naming a part of the Moon after her. She still wondered what he had been thinking. In the weeks since the Press had learned of it and it had prompted a new round of speculation about their relationship, which was all too predictable.
One day Kiki might finally get the clue stick that he loves her, that he is an amazingly sappy romantic at heart, and that is why he named a part of the moon after her. Also, that he has the patience of a saint.
As the toasts were concluded everyone began their meal. Kiki just took sips of wine and delighted in being ignored. Specialist 2nd Class Valenzuela was talking with Major Parker and Kiki couldn’t help but hear Parker’s next words. “They seem nice but do not forget for an instant that these are the same people who killed Sergeant Casey.” That was entirely unexpected.
Parker is still suffering from foot-in-mouth disease, I see. Jonny Casey should be rolling in his grave at those words. First, Jonny himself would never have blamed the Germans, from memory he was all for blaming the idiots that were running his country & cursing his suddenly rotten luck. Second, stupid thinking like that, however justified the person thinking it might feel, could end up getting Parker's men killed if they don't trust their co-belligerents of the moment when the excrement hits the air impeller.
I hope that no one else heard that besides Kiki
Third, Parker said that in either English or Spanish*. In public. While sitting at a table with Kiki. And Kiki's protective detail. And German special forces personnel. At least some of whom will speak one or both of those languages, due to the US being a potential foe & their experiences in Mexico. So, yeah. I'd say the chances of other people hearing Parker say that are pretty high.
* Probably English, since Kiki understood every word.