The commander of the 503rd Regiment in John's mind is naturally Gavin. As the third commander of the 82nd Division after Bradley and Ridgway in history, Gavin was the first to be parachuted into the battlefield with an M1 Garand rifle instead of a traditional officer pistol.

Unlike Ridgway and Taylor, who were halfway airborne commanders, Gavin was involved in almost the entire development of the early American Airborne Forces from scratch. After the retirement of William Lee, the father of the Airborne Forces, due to illness, it can be said that no one knows better than Gavin how to train an airborne force and direct them into battle.

From the very beginning, John planned to make Gavin and Taylor his right-hand men in the 82nd Division. It's just that, unlike Taylor, he didn't plan to intervene in Gavin's transfer before. Because according to his prediction, when the 82nd Division was reorganized, Gavin would be automatically transferred, so he didn't have to worry about it.

Now, there is a vacancy in the position of head of the 503rd regiment, but it gives John a new idea. Do you want to think of a way to transfer Gavin in advance?

There are two benefits to this. First of all, Gavin has a very good set of military training, and he was present in the design of all training subjects and the formulation of tactical regulations for the early US Airborne Forces. With him as the commander of the 503 Regiment, he does not have to worry about the training of the regiment.

Secondly, since the two of them jointly published the military book on airborne operations, Gavin is also a well-known expert in air combat tactics in the military. I heard that William Lee is now very important to Gavin, and after he joins, the 82nd Division will have a better chance of winning when competing for the reorganization.

However, if John wants to get Gavin to the 82nd Division now, it will take some effort. He did the math and found that there were at least four levels to pass.

The first step is to obtain the consent of Canadian himself. After all, the twisted melon is not sweet, what John needs is not a subordinate, but a younger brother who is of the same heart and mind as him, and it is not good to be hard.

Fortunately, Gavin was nurtured by the Vanderbilt family, and through several collaborations, John's personal relationship with him was not bad. In addition, coming to the 82nd Division as the commander of the 503rd Regiment can be regarded as a leapfrog promotion, Gavin should not have too much resistance.

The second level is how to get Ridgway to nod his head. Now among the vacant positions in the 82nd Division, he and Li Qiwei don't think about it. One of the three chief officers of the division headquarters is naturally determined by the above, and it is impossible for either of them to get involved in this personnel appointment. The post of chief of staff John has already been "promised" to Taylor, and then grabbed the position of commander of the 503rd regiment, leaving only one for Li Qiwei as a training staff officer, is he, the deputy division commander, too strong?

Even if Ridgway is kept in the dark for a while, he will definitely not be able to hide the relationship between him and Taylor and Gavin in his work in the future. What will Li Qiwei think when the time comes? In the end, he is a decent division commander, and his own deputy position can't make the relationship too stiff, right?

Fortunately, Li Qiwei is a relatively pure soldier and is not too keen on fighting for power and profit. So after thinking about it, John felt that Taylor's matter had Marshall's endorsement from Chief of Staff (on the surface, Marshall had arranged for his assistant secretary to be the chief of staff of the 82nd Division), and he could put it aside for the time being. Gavin should be open and honest about this matter, and it would be better to discuss it with Ridgway. As long as he can convince the other party that this is beneficial to the future work of the 82nd Division, there is still hope that this level will be passed.

And the third level is even more difficult, how can you get William Lee to agree to release him? At this moment, this veteran is still dreaming of becoming the commander of the first airborne troops in the United States, and if he goes to poach his favorite general, can people be happy?

John can't run over and tell people that you're going to have to stay at Fort Benning to train paratroopers anyway, so you might as well lend me Gavin first. I guess if John dared to say that, that Southerner would have to shoot him with a gun.

Therefore, if John wants to dig Gavin to the 82nd Division, the only way is to exchange interests. I remember that in his previous life, John once saw this statement: The reason why William Lee failed to become the commander of the first airborne division in the United States was because when he was in charge of the "air infantry" program, he offended the army air force in order to compete for the ownership of the airborne troops. Some people are determined to stop him, and they don't want him to get this honor.

Previously, John would have been skeptical of this claim. In this life, he in the middle of the middle will not believe this kind of nonsense at all. The struggle for power is not a resentful woman, how can it be so simple.

As far as John knew, at the moment the Army Staff had two options for how to form an airborne division. The first was to merge William Lee's paratrooper test unit with a division as a whole to form a new airborne division, with William Lee as division commander. The second option is for the paratrooper test unit to continue to exist as a training base, and to transfer key personnel to join the newly formed airborne division, while William Lee will continue to preside over the training at the paratrooper school.

John felt that in addition to the obvious reason that the Army's top brass finally chose the second plan, there was probably another purpose that was not humane to outsiders, in addition to the obvious reason that it was urgent to train more airborne personnel. The Army's top brass feared that if the first plan was adopted to make William Lee, who was in charge of the "air infantry" program, the commander of the first airborne division, become the commander of the first airborne division, his influence on the new branch would be too great.

Think about it, if a person creates a new class from scratch, and all the troops of that class are derived from this person's command, then I'm afraid no one will be able to shake this person's influence in that class.

Checks and balances are still important for those in power. They could accept William Lee as the "father of the Airborne Forces", but they could not accept that he established absolute authority in the Airborne Forces. It is okay for William Lee to be the commander of the airborne division, but he must wait for them to start anew and cultivate a group of characters who can compete with him.

John speculated that Ridgway, who was trusted by Marshall, was the man promoted by the Army's top brass to undermine William Lee's influence. Originally, everyone thought that there would be a battle between the two of them. As a result, no one expected that William Lee would retire due to a heart attack before the Normandy landings, allowing Li Qiwei to pick up a bargain for nothing.

John felt that maybe he could use that to make some trades with William Lee. Since William Lee does not know that he is not the commander of this division at the moment, can he use the condition of letting Gavin enter the 82nd Division as the commander in advance in exchange for William Lee's support for the selection of the 82nd Division for reorganization?

Anyway, William Lee is bent on building a new airborne division with his own experimental unit as the main body, and as long as the 82nd Division is not too bad for him, which division to choose is not a choice. Get a well-established ace standing master, and it will be more troublesome for him to transform. Now that John took the initiative to extend an olive branch over, so that his love would be able to advance to the 82nd Division to occupy a position and play the front station, he should not refuse to take it.

For John, the deal both increased the chances of the 82nd Division and cleared the charge of digging William Lee's corner. Please, I'll let Gavin come to the 82nd Division as a regiment to help you. As for the future, is it because of your own bad luck and poor health, can you blame me?

In the first three levels, John was able to solve it by himself. Only the most critical fourth level, he is really not sure. How can Gavin be the head of this 503 regiment? Transferring a major from another unit to the 82nd Division as a colonel is obviously not something he can do as a deputy division commander. But if this problem is not solved, it is useless for him to communicate well with the three people in front of him.

Now there is only one person who can help John with this problem, and that is Stimson. But John really didn't have the face to beg him again. Everyone has taken the initiative to help you get promoted, and they have to help you recruit a younger brother. Wouldn't that seem like a waste.

Thinking that Gavin was also a peripheral member of the Vanderbilt family, John felt that it would be better to ask William's cousin to intervene in this matter. It is not his sole responsibility to cultivate the rising star of the family. Moreover, when Stimson was canvassing for votes in Congress, William also helped a lot, and he should have more weight than himself when he spoke.