Lazily waving his back to his wife, Mitchell responded to Emily's nagging in a slightly hoarse voice, and walked slowly to the storage room alone, arranging his fishing gear and preparing to go.

Opening a large plastic box lined with styrofoam and filling it with fishing rods, buckets, and other miscellaneous items, the cautious former vice admiral glanced at the newspaper twice, rolled his cloudy pale blue eyes, pouted, tore open the paper and rubbed it a few times, and stuffed it into the plastic box as a cushion.

When he was packing up his things, the old man couldn't help but "puff" at the thought of the absurd content in the newspaper, and after his anger dissipated, he burst out laughing again:

“Hahaha――！

'As_bold_as_brass', those_physco......" ("Hahaha-! 'Cheeky', that group of neurotic ......")

At this moment, the newspaper stuffed into the cardboard box still shows a corner, which is printed with the state's news from the previous days:

"The Hawaiian Koreans marched against the United States' policy of appeasement towards Russia, and at the same time supported the latest research by Silla University professor Do Minjun, saying that Russia's number one ace pilot 'Viktor Rezenov' was Korean......"

As soon as the things were packed, about half an hour later, the off-road vehicle that came to visit the house stopped next to the garage, and two men in military uniforms walked into the living room of the old general's villa, with shiny leather shoes and shiny badges, which did not look like a suburban fishing outfit at all, but Mark Mitchell, who was used to the appearance of these soldiers, seemed to care, he and the young man carried the toolbox onto the off-road vehicle and sat on the back chair. The vicissitudes of life also seemed to have recovered a little blood.

"Huh. Joseph. I was surprised that you still have some time to go fishing. ”

"It's not appropriate to be busy in the office all the time, Mr. Mitchell, I have always taken many of your teachings to heart."

Joseph Prueher, a dignified officer of the U.S. Joint Pacific Command, was promoted to commander-in-chief of USPACOM when he signed Japan's accession to NATO, but it was really just a temporary official operation. He will now be honorably discharged and return to the Seventh Fleet as his deputy commander, taking care of the vast number of naval vessels and military personnel in the Hawaiian Islands that have been busy with the war in the Far East.

Although there are two examples of Italy and the Federal Republic of Germany signing a document with a defeated country in World War II to allow it to join NATO, Japan, which was under the control of the US military after the war and was not completely de-fascized, was a different situation, and many people in the Diet and the people disagreed with it.

Sending a temporary official to sign the paper, although only symbolic, can be regarded as a somewhat expedient measure.

For Joseph Prueher, as a commander in the Navy, he also worked under Mark Mitchell for many years. As far as he is concerned, he is still more accustomed to fighting than to be in charge of administration; At the moment, the war situation in the Pacific is full of smoke and mystery. He got his old boss discharged from the hospital and went home (anyway, what kind of hospital is this, how could Mitchell be mentally ill?). He made an appointment to go out fishing once and came to visit him after taking a break from his busy military affairs.

Driving all the way to the seaside, several officers and former officers in the car were very happy with each other.

Asked about Prueher's concern, Mark Mitchell raised his hand and rubbed his temples, he still has no memory of what happened on the aircraft carrier Carl Vinson in the Mediterranean.

Looking back, many memory scenes have become as much as soaking in water, he can only remember the cold winter in New York, and the expressionless medical staff inside the white high walls, taking medicine, blood pressure and electrocardiogram on time every day, those idiots in white coats seem to really think of themselves as an Alzheimer's patient, but fortunately, he was finally allowed to be discharged from the hospital.

"Hah! I can't remember any of those things. ”

While thinking about it, seeing Joseph Prueher next to him wearing a brand-new general's uniform, and then looking at the old military uniform with empty epaulettes and armbands on his body, the elderly former vice admiral couldn't help but feel sad, he put his hand in his pocket and was silent for a while, looking out the window at a green mountain field, and the distant military port that was always covered by this green, and the gray-white battleship was leaving a splash on the sea, which made him feel mixed in his heart.

Time flies, and now that the Russians are really fighting, the powerful maritime power of the United States of America still exists, but this qiē has no relationship with him Mark Mitchell.

The off-road vehicle drove all the way to a desolate and secluded sandy seashore with a very clean environment.

The bright afternoon sun shone on the undulating sea surface of the waves, and a few people jumped out of the car to feel the breeze blowing on their faces.

In winter in Hawaii, the climate is still very warm and pleasant, and sometimes it rains without warning, Mitchell and others, who have changed into hiking shoes, carry their suitcases to a reef suitable for fishing, and take a little time in this quiet harbor surrounded by a small coast.

Fishing, for a U.S. Navy fleet deputy commander, seems to be a break in the busy work, but for Vice Admiral Joseph Prueher, his invitation to Mark Mitchell is not a moment of boredom, but to take the opportunity to visit his old boss, and the vice admiral who has served in the Navy for decades, whether it is a long and tortuous career or a long and tortuous road to command, to see the current situation clearly.

Before the outbreak of the Great War, when the contest between the free world and the communist empire was discussed, most of the soldiers of the United States had an inexplicable self-confidence, and the question was often "when" rather than "whether it would win" - but once war did break out, all illusions and assumptions became vulnerable to the facts.

After nearly a year of war, the current confrontation between the East and the West is really not an ordinary bad situation for the United States.

At the end of the year, when Christmas is very close, the "free world" under the banner of the North Star has been doing its best, but not only has it failed to overthrow the Russian regime, but it has ended up with heavy losses on several fronts.

The war situation is so embarrassing that not only is the morale of the front-line soldiers of the United States not high, but even Joseph Prueher, a high-ranking admiral with firm convictions, now has to face more and more vacillation and hesitation of the middle and junior ranks; At the desk and in the conference room, the atmosphere inside the military is becoming more and more dull, and the huge military force, which has always regarded the evil empire as its only strategic opponent, now sees that there is no hope of complete victory, but does not know what else can be done for the United States, and when it is in a dilemma, it is natural that the soldiers under the Stars and Stripes are a little confused.

Once the wheels of the world war begin to rumble and roll, they don't know where they are going, and yet it is an unrealistic luxury to stop there.

With the baptism of brutal war, the sense of honor and mission of soldiers has been consumed little by little by the protracted battle, when the war opens its bloody mouth to reveal its hideous face, people's choice is often only numb, which may be a crisis for the army and the country, but it is not a bad thing for the entire human world.

However, whether it is numbness or confusion, the battle that should be fought must still be fought.

Joseph Prueher asked Mitchell about the current situation in the Far East, but received a surprising response:

"Oh, Joseph; As for the development of the war, I don't think that a retired old man can see farther than the guys in the General Staff. ”

Once in a position of high office, maneuvering on a huge aircraft carrier, now Mark Mitchell sits like an ordinary old man on a folding horse, staring at the unreachable line between water and sky; The line twitched slightly, the old man's lips twitched, and a brief silence was followed by a grumbling speech, which did not surprise Prueher.

After asking the question, he listened attentively, and Prueher knew that the old general in front of him would not remain silent:

"Joseph, you know, I'm Mark Mitchell, who served in the Navy for more than thirty years, from an Indianapolis graduate to fleet commander, and now an idler.

Looking back on my decades of navy career, I have participated in and commanded many combat operations, there have been successes and failures, but each time I have done my best; Most people may think that Mitchell is an old madman obsessed with war, or even worse, a military politician who is obsessed with power and scheming, but I know better than anyone what I have done all these years is for.

Yes, Joseph Prueher, my ideals, are not the same as those of the bombastic generals.

War should always be a means, not an end in itself, for the United States, and I knew this deeply when I was in the South China Sea...... Damn Vietnamese monkeys, don't mention the old things, those generals in the Pentagon, since they have done this far, how are they going to clean up this mess, and how can outsiders know?

Speaking of which, I might as well tell you one more thing, which I just remembered ......."

……

"W-What? ――A nuclear bomb attack? ”

"Yes, Joseph!

I see that your face is white; The nuclear bomb of the Russians scared you like this? ”

Hearing the words of the old general, the deputy commander of the Seventh Fleet was shocked by Mark Mitchell's words, and he really had no idea that the U.S. Navy had such a dangerous plan of action when the war in the Caucasus was in full swing.

Seeing Prueher's surprised expression, Mitchell, who was sitting on the fishing, said "haha" a few times, and a smile appeared on his face that only a mischievous child would have. (To be continued......)