Free Red Flags by Juris Jurjevics Page A

legitimately and the supply the next morning used to jibe at least some of the time. Not anymore. Not even close."
    "That's classified information, Ruchevsky. How the hell—?"
    "Gas goes missing in the night every night. How does your depot sergeant account for the difference?"
    Gidding shrugged. "Leaks?"
    "You're telling me that's the official explanation? That's what you put in your reports?"
    "Seepage, actually."
    "
Thousands
of gallons of seepage?"
    "Yeah," Gidding said. "Slow but steady." He pointed his clasped hands toward Ruchevsky. "Look. The POL sergeant is just covering his ass. He's got no way of securing the bladders. You and who else is going to spend the night outside the perimeter guarding a bunch of fuel and oil and aviation gas? The ARVN guards on duty see nothing and say nothing about what goes on there after sundown. If I underscore the discrepancy, the sergeant gets burned. What would you have me do?" he said, exasperated. "Close down the supply point entirely to stop the siphoning? Not fuel our vehicles or the aircraft that land here? If you haven't noticed, half of all our supplies coming into Viet Nam go missing. A lot goes missing before it even reaches a dock. More disappears
from
the docks and supply depots onshore and the trucks hauling them away."
    "More seepage, I suppose?"
    "That's our story."
    "You and I know where that gas is really going, Major. The difference is you think it's perfectly okay."
    "I don't condone it. I just think it's ... realistic to expect it."
    "The price of operating here."
    Gidding exhaled a great sigh. "I really think you're exaggerating the problem, John. Okay, we pour him a concrete slab and call it a tennis court. If that's what it takes to keep him happy, why not? General Westmoreland presented Premier Ky with two prototype helicopters after the premier signed over land for Westy's new headquarters complex. How's our concrete a big deal?"
    Ruchevsky frowned. "It's not just the gas. The Chinhs are really pushing it. You want the latest? His wife just cut a deal with some Chinese moneymen in Cholon for them to log hardwoods here in Phu Bon."
    The major looked bemused. "The roads aren't exactly secure," he said. "How do the loggers expect to get this lumber out of the province?"
    "They've gotten a pass from the local VC provisional government."
    "You mean they paid a tariff."
    "I mean they bribed the Communists with cash money—dollars we probably supplied."
    "Look, John," said Gidding. "I'm not happy to hear it, but it's not any different than what our local merchants do to bring in luxury goods on trucks. They pay Charlie's road tolls and we get to drink Cholon cognac downtown. How do you think barges loaded with Coke machines get shipped around the damn delta intact? Or the huge petroleum depot south of Saigon avoids even a single tracer round from setting it off?"
    "Besides the safe-conduct fee, the VC are also getting heavy timbers out of the deal to build sturdier fortifications and bunkers."
    Gidding assumed a bored expression and looked at his wristwatch. "I think you're absolutely exaggerating Chinh's situation."
    "He's a crook."
    "He's a realist. The country runs on graft, if you haven't noticed. Whatever you make, however you make it, you keep forty percent, gift the rest to your superior, and the next guy does the same. We're not here to critique their damn society. We're here to win the war. What's the big difference between us giving them rice and arms and their
taking
some gasoline? We're the sugar daddy."
    "Supplies get diverted and sold on the black market," Ruchevsky said. "Not nice but—okay. What's not so okay is that Chinh's biggest customer is the opposition. If you're arguing he's no worse than any of the others in his position, we're in trouble. Good day, Major."
    I walked Ruchevsky to his vehicle.
    "Meet me back here in an hour. You didn't shower this morning, did you?"
    "No, boss. I know the drill."
    The less aftershave and deodorant,