"Flight of the Intruder"
Stephen Coonts
St. Martin's Paperbacks
Pocket Books edition / October 1987
St. Martin's Paperbacks edition / July 2006
Page 365
"Well, Mister Grafton. You have an attentive audience here. Perhaps you could take this opportunity to explain why you felt a one-plane war was the way to go."
"Was that really a question, sir?"
"Uh-huh." Copeland gazed at the far bulkhead.
"It seemed like a good idea at the time."
Copeland fixed his eyes on the pilot. "Come, come, Mister Grafton. We're all sitting here with bated breath anxiously waiting your explanation. Why would a seemingly sane pilot and bombardier
Page 366
Jake took a deep breath. "I can only speak for myself. I got tired of risking my ass and my bombardier's, plus a valuable airplane, night after night, bombing targets that were absolutely worthless: suspected truck stops, suspected troop biovouacs, sampan repair yards that had been bombed ten times before, road intersections - you get the idea." He took another deep breath. "I don't know who picks the targets, but I'll bet a year's pay that they don't fly through the flak and risk their precious asses bombing them."
He looked around at the other faces in the room. "My first bombardier, Morgan McPherson, and about fifty thousand other Americans are dead. Not all these men died actually fighting. Some died on the flight decks, launching planes. But they were all engaged in one effort. So, what did they all die for? Does anybody know? I don't, but I do know this: McPherson didn't get killed hitting a worthwhile target. He died bombing a bunch of trees. I only wish he and I had been swinging with our best punch against a target that made sense when he caught that bullet."
