"Hello, Mark!" On the airport tarmac in the western suburbs of Alexandria, John greeted his old friend Clark warmly, "Long time no see, this general's uniform is really spirited!" ”

"Thank you, John! Yours isn't bad either. Clark replied with a smile.

There were more than 20 people in the assessment team sent by the General Staff this time, but as a general-level officer, of course John couldn't afford to go up and hand over those middle- and low-level staff officers, he just had to greet Clark well. Colonel Taylor, who was standing behind him, was in charge of the rest.

Having been in office for almost two months, Taylor is now fully adapted to the job of chief of staff of the 82 Division. With John's help, the young colonel had firmly controlled the divisional staff and became John's most reliable assistant. For a small matter like the reception assessment team, without John's instructions, Taylor naturally arranged it properly.

After a brief pleasantry, John was about to turn around and get into the car. Suddenly, he spotted a familiar figure in the midst of the group of staff officers.

"Robert, why are you here?" John exclaimed in surprise.

"Hello, John." Coming out of the crowd was none other than Lieutenant Colonel Robert Crawford, a logistics specialist who had been recruited into the Operations Planning Division at the same time as John.

"Surprise!" Clark put his arm around John's shoulders and laughed, "Robert is in charge of this logistics assessment. ”

"Let's go, get in the car, get in the car!" In front of old friends, John certainly didn't need to put on a general's shelf. He grabbed Crawford and got into his car with Clark.

When John first joined the Army Staff, the two of them were a small circle of people, and they also bought a river shipyard together.

At that time, he and Bradley were lieutenant colonels, and Clark, Crawford, and Martin were majors. Now, Bradley and Clark are both major generals, and John himself is a brigadier general. Only Crawford and Martin still mingle in the circle of mid-level officers.

Martin is good to say, in the end, he is an orthodox military officer. Not long ago, I found an opportunity to enter the logistics command led by General Somerville. The promotion to colonel is just around the corner, and it will not be difficult to become a general in the future.

Crawford was more embarrassed. Perhaps overshadowed by John's impressive performance, the oil company engineer-turned-mathematician and co-ordination expert did not shine as he did in history, but gradually became an ordinary technical officer.

But John didn't underestimate Crawford just because he was still a temporary lieutenant colonel. Historically, Crawford was a major general and chief of logistics at the Allied High Command, a man who participated in the formulation of the Normandy landing plan and presided over the "Red Ball Express" operation. John believes that as long as Crawford is given the right opportunity, he will be able to impress everyone.

"Robert, aren't you in charge of aid to Russia? How did you have time to come over this time? As soon as he got into the car, John asked Crawford with great interest.

The last time John saw Crawford was when he was in Washington preparing for the Atlantic Conference. At that time, Crawford had just taken over the work of organizing the transportation of aid to Russia, and he was so busy that his feet did not touch the ground. The two of them just hurriedly took a look, and they didn't have time to have a good chat.

"The second batch of PQ fleets has been postponed. The passage over there had entered a winter freeze, and Rear Admiral Philip Vian thought it was too dangerous to force his way through the narrow channel in the ice. They are redrawing their plans to transfer their destination to Murmansk. And in order to secure the fleet's fuel supply, they also need to build a new supply base on the Norwegian island of Spitsbergen......"

"He was forcibly pulled over by me." Crawford was explaining to John when Clark interrupted, "That piece is a crater now, and it's better to be sheltered from the limelight." ”

"What's wrong?" John was shocked, he hadn't heard of any twists and turns in the matter of Su aid.

"McEnany is back on the staff, you know." Clark said meaningfully.

"Yes." John knew that Clark was talking about Maj. Gen. Joseph McEnany, the Army's former special representative to the Soviet Union. He was the one who accompanied Hopkins to meet Stalin before.

John met McEnany once during the Atlantic Conference. In his impression, this graduate of West Point's "Star Class" took a completely different path from his classmates such as Eisenhower and Bradley.

All along, McNerney has been working in the army administration, and it seems that he has also worked as a military prosecutor for a while, and he is a very dignified "administrative officer".

Historically, McEnany served as the Army's deputy chief of staff for administrative matters and later went to Europe to serve as Eisenhower's deputy. Although McEnany never commanded troops to fight in his life, he still became a four-star general after the war and became the commander of the American forces in Europe.

But what does McNerney's return to the Army Staff have to do with Crawford? John was a little puzzled.

"The establishment of the three major commands is just the beginning, and the next step is to make big moves in the army's institutional reform." Clark lowered his voice and said to John, "Chief of Staff Marshall can't tolerate the bloat of the Army anymore. He intends to carry out a thorough clean-up of more than 380 organs, departments, and committees of the Army, large and small, and cut at least two-thirds of them. McEnany was Marshall's pick on the knife, and he would be directly responsible for the job. ”

John suddenly understood. Crawford's current position, although his status is not high, but he has a lot of power and oil. Once McEnany begins to clear redundant personnel, a large number of officers will inevitably be "unemployed". In the eyes of those "old offices" who are accustomed to living a stable life and are unwilling to go to the army to endure hardships, Crawford, who is a halfway monk and has no foundation, is naturally the best target to replace him.

"Robert, what are you going to do?" John turned his head and asked the silent Crawford, "Do you want to leave the army or stay in the staff?" ”

"I don't know anything else, what else can I do but deal with data and reports?" Crawford smiled bitterly and said helplessly.

watched his former friends rise one by one and became big names to look up to. It would be impossible to say that Crawford did not have a single idea in his heart. However, Crawford also knew in his heart that he could not compete with John. Therefore, although he has only been promoted by one level after joining the army for more than two years, he still does his job honestly in the combat planning department without the slightest complaint.

But now, I am so hard-working, I still have to be calculated by those guys who are vegetarian. If Clark hadn't found out that the signs were wrong and pulled him, he might have been tricked. How could Crawford be convinced.

This time, he accepted Clark's suggestion and took the initiative to apply for admission to the assessment team, firstly, to avoid the limelight and temporarily avoid Washington's rights and wrongs. The second is to find John to sum up and see if he can find a way out by himself.

After all, in many ways, Crawford and John are in a similar situation. Although John has stepped out of the circle of logistics officers, maybe he can show Crawford a clear way.