Chapter Two Thousand Fourteen
14th August 1970
Berlin-Brandenburg International Airport
“I love you Ben, but you can really be a complete idiot. Please be smart this time, for me.”
That was what Kiki had said to Ben when they had last seen each other. It had been during the brief interlude that she had been waiting to board an airplane and he had found her at the gate. They’d only had a few minutes to say their goodbyes and had tried to make the most of it.
She had looked tired, and he knew that she was in a stressful position. Astonishingly Kiki had said that she was looking forward to the long flight to Buenos Aires because she would finally have a chance to sleep. It had been into this that he had suggested that if he volunteered for any overseas posting then they could be together again. This was after Kiki had said that at the moment all roads seemed to lead to South America. That had been what had caused her to tell Ben that it was an idiotic idea. In the days since, Ben had learned that things tend to take on a momentum of their own regardless of what had been asked of him.
SKG 18 had started training in the new fighter-bomber and General von Werra, the Commander of Berlin’s Air Defenses, had taken a keen interest in what they were up to. When von Werra had toured the hangers used by the Fast Attack Wing, he had commented that the whole city was proud of what their Jabos had accomplished in recent years. That had been when a fully restored FW190 had been unveiled that was painted red and white in the city’s colors. That was what SKG 18 had flown during the unit formation decades earlier during the Soviet War. The 190 was completely authentic having been in a private collection until it had been reacquired by the Luftwaffe. Ben had discussed what had happened with Wim and they had concluded that the General was responding to the grumbling about the transition to a new airplane. The message being that change was constant, so they needed to deal with it.
In the meantime, they had check rides to contend with and a great deal of studying to do. Then had come word that as soon as SKG 18 was deemed combat ready, they were to be deployed to a forward location. The trouble for Ben was that while he had not contrived to have that happen, it hewed too closely with what he had suggested, and Kiki had referred to as an idiotic idea. She was going to be furious with him.
San Gregorio, Chile
Jesus Aiza was one of the few men with a University Degree in what could only be described as the asshole of Chile. So, he had been commissioned as a Subteniente and told to keep a Platoon of what could only be described as adult sized children from doing anything stupid. The men of the Platoon regarded Jesus as something of a genius because he had read the Infantry Manual and knew which way the rifles were supposed to be pointed in. Not that they were proving to be any smarter in Santiago these days.
It was all because Jesus had stupidly fallen in love.
Before he had been conscripted, his brother had told him of an opportunity to travel to the North. The problem was that he had been infatuated with his girlfriend and couldn’t bear the thought of leaving her. A few months after graduation he had gotten notice that his Nation needed a bit of his time and he had been sent to enjoy life at the hands of sadistic instructors with the other Officer candidates. His girlfriend had not even bothered to tell him they were through, leaving him to figure it out on his own when she didn’t return his calls.
Then had come a series of postings further and further away from home. He had finally ended up as part of the force guarding what was considered the strategically important Strait of Magellan, as if it hadn’t been superseded by the Panama Canal decades earlier. There was no denying that this truly was one of the ends of the Earth. All the jokes that Jesus had heard about seeing the same eyebrow across three and a half of the local men here were not quite true, but that might have something to do with the profound love of sheep that these people had.
It was here that the saber rattling that Santiago was engaged in was most sharply felt. If el Presidente miscalculated, then Jesus and his men were just so much chopped suet and he had met the man who he suspected would be the one to carry it out a few days earlier when he had been up on the frontier. The Argentine Army didn’t scare him as such. Most of them came across like Jesus’ own men. Just marking time until they would be free to return to their homes and families.
Then there were the other ones who had arrived in recent months, foreigners who were truly foreign. All of them were professionals of the sort who were rare in the Chilian Army’s ranks. The man who had introduced himself as Unterfeldwebel Weise was like that, whatever an Unterfeldwebel even was beyond the apparent love the Germans had for tongue twisters. There had also been a bit of amusement when he had introduced himself. It seemed that Weise’s first name was Christian. Jesus found that to be a bit of a stupid coincidence and not in the least bit amusing.
14th August 1970
Berlin-Brandenburg International Airport
“I love you Ben, but you can really be a complete idiot. Please be smart this time, for me.”
That was what Kiki had said to Ben when they had last seen each other. It had been during the brief interlude that she had been waiting to board an airplane and he had found her at the gate. They’d only had a few minutes to say their goodbyes and had tried to make the most of it.
She had looked tired, and he knew that she was in a stressful position. Astonishingly Kiki had said that she was looking forward to the long flight to Buenos Aires because she would finally have a chance to sleep. It had been into this that he had suggested that if he volunteered for any overseas posting then they could be together again. This was after Kiki had said that at the moment all roads seemed to lead to South America. That had been what had caused her to tell Ben that it was an idiotic idea. In the days since, Ben had learned that things tend to take on a momentum of their own regardless of what had been asked of him.
SKG 18 had started training in the new fighter-bomber and General von Werra, the Commander of Berlin’s Air Defenses, had taken a keen interest in what they were up to. When von Werra had toured the hangers used by the Fast Attack Wing, he had commented that the whole city was proud of what their Jabos had accomplished in recent years. That had been when a fully restored FW190 had been unveiled that was painted red and white in the city’s colors. That was what SKG 18 had flown during the unit formation decades earlier during the Soviet War. The 190 was completely authentic having been in a private collection until it had been reacquired by the Luftwaffe. Ben had discussed what had happened with Wim and they had concluded that the General was responding to the grumbling about the transition to a new airplane. The message being that change was constant, so they needed to deal with it.
In the meantime, they had check rides to contend with and a great deal of studying to do. Then had come word that as soon as SKG 18 was deemed combat ready, they were to be deployed to a forward location. The trouble for Ben was that while he had not contrived to have that happen, it hewed too closely with what he had suggested, and Kiki had referred to as an idiotic idea. She was going to be furious with him.
San Gregorio, Chile
Jesus Aiza was one of the few men with a University Degree in what could only be described as the asshole of Chile. So, he had been commissioned as a Subteniente and told to keep a Platoon of what could only be described as adult sized children from doing anything stupid. The men of the Platoon regarded Jesus as something of a genius because he had read the Infantry Manual and knew which way the rifles were supposed to be pointed in. Not that they were proving to be any smarter in Santiago these days.
It was all because Jesus had stupidly fallen in love.
Before he had been conscripted, his brother had told him of an opportunity to travel to the North. The problem was that he had been infatuated with his girlfriend and couldn’t bear the thought of leaving her. A few months after graduation he had gotten notice that his Nation needed a bit of his time and he had been sent to enjoy life at the hands of sadistic instructors with the other Officer candidates. His girlfriend had not even bothered to tell him they were through, leaving him to figure it out on his own when she didn’t return his calls.
Then had come a series of postings further and further away from home. He had finally ended up as part of the force guarding what was considered the strategically important Strait of Magellan, as if it hadn’t been superseded by the Panama Canal decades earlier. There was no denying that this truly was one of the ends of the Earth. All the jokes that Jesus had heard about seeing the same eyebrow across three and a half of the local men here were not quite true, but that might have something to do with the profound love of sheep that these people had.
It was here that the saber rattling that Santiago was engaged in was most sharply felt. If el Presidente miscalculated, then Jesus and his men were just so much chopped suet and he had met the man who he suspected would be the one to carry it out a few days earlier when he had been up on the frontier. The Argentine Army didn’t scare him as such. Most of them came across like Jesus’ own men. Just marking time until they would be free to return to their homes and families.
Then there were the other ones who had arrived in recent months, foreigners who were truly foreign. All of them were professionals of the sort who were rare in the Chilian Army’s ranks. The man who had introduced himself as Unterfeldwebel Weise was like that, whatever an Unterfeldwebel even was beyond the apparent love the Germans had for tongue twisters. There had also been a bit of amusement when he had introduced himself. It seemed that Weise’s first name was Christian. Jesus found that to be a bit of a stupid coincidence and not in the least bit amusing.