Richard Rodgers was a boy who could explain away the most terrible atrocities that the people of the world could think up. He had always thought that the great depression was caused by thrifty bankers who had withdrawn all their funds from the financial institutions and, in turn, desecrated the financial system of the country and left the more common people to fight for every scrap that they could get their hands on. The rich would only get richer and the poor would only starve. When he was old enough he had the idea in his head that his father was killed by either men of war or he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. So 20 years later he was always wondering if his own father had lived, who would he have become? If he made it through the war would he have kept his commission in the Army? Or would have he done something totally different with his life. Richard was raised by a mother who always stressed the pride and rewards in serving one's country in the military. Richard having reached his 21st birthday decided that enlisting in the Army was the most sensible and dedicated thing he could do. He would honor his father.
He excelled in his studies in grade school and was well on his way to becoming a 4.0 student in high school. He always loved solving a problem. He was always able to get outside of a problem, find a solution to it before anyone else ever thought of solving it like he just had. He was able to leave high school at the end of his third year. He was accepted to Dartmouth and along with his ability to solve problems, Richard could also decipher just about any code known to man. Be it numerical or alphanumeric. As he stands on the sidewalk in front of the armed forces recruiting storefront, he looks at the poster that hangs there in the window. There is a picture of a man and woman in a CD (civil defense) uniforms holding equipment watching Uncle Sam fire into the sky at bombers flying towards him. The caption says "New Hampshire needs Air Raid Wardens." As Richard turns away to enter the office he wonders how much they don't really know.
He swings the door open and enters the office and is met by a Master Sergeant. He is an older man but one that Richard thinks has seen more than his share of death and destruction to last a lifetime.
"Hello, son, What can I do for you?"
"Well Sir, I was thinking about enlisting." Richard says a little too quickly.
"Son, now are you sure you want to do this? You know that this is peacetime and there is no threat of war...at least not that I know of that is."
Richard extends his hand to shake with the Master Sergeant, which he gladly accepts.
"Master Sergeant my name is Richard Rodgers. I am aware that we are at peace now. However, I am here to honor my father. He was a Captain in the Great war. He died in France."
"Wait, did you say Rodgers?"
"Yes, why do you ask?"
"My GOD! Captain James Rodgers was your father?
"That's right sir."
"Well you see I served under Colonel Van Voorhis in with the First Armored Division in '32, and shortly after that, we became the 1st Cavalry Regiment. Your father's notes and diagrams became the standard in tank battle training. He was a visionary!"
"Sir, I am a bit lost. My father was killed while surveying one of the very first tank battles. I was told that his notes never made it out of France."
"Richard, that's not true. In his staff car in a hidden compartment, there were pages and pages of tactical drawings and notes showing each sides strengths and weaknesses. His notes were published into one of the Army's best tactical books for fighting tank battles."
"I had no idea."
"So Richard I'm not thinking that you want to be a foot soldier...do you?"
"As I see it, I want to do anything to serve my country. I will never look down on a man who want's to defend his country."
The Master Sergeant takes Richard to a testing room and gives him an advanced aptitude test. He leaves him to the test telling him that he will be back in an hour.
He starts the test when the Master Sergeant leaves. The usual boxes need to be filled out name, date of birth, height, and weight. He was allotted an hour. It only had taken him 32 minutes to complete the test. He was eying the door as the Master Sergeant quietly opened it and poked his head in trying to be quiet.
"Sir, I'm finished."
The Master Sergeant retrieved the test booklet and told Richard to come by in 3 days time to find out his test results. They shook each others hands and Richard left for home. On the walk back to his home he thought about the test. It had a lot of mathematical quotients and partial ciphers. He answered all of the questions to the best of his abilities.
It is the morning of the third day. Richard comes down from his room and to his surprise him mother had found some money to provide him with a nice steak and three eggs sunny side up. He ate heartily and his mother knew that he was going to be walking to the recruiters this morning.
"Richard, eat every last bit of your breakfast, you will need your strength today. It's not every day that we can afford a cut of meat like that."
"I am so grateful, thank you, mother."
And he eats. When Martha hears the sound of the fork hitting the empty porcelain plate she smiles at him and starts to clean up the dishes. He kisses her on the cheek and draws her into a hug. As she is embracing him back and before long he pulls away and heads for the back door. "Good luck son."
"Thanks, Mother. I'll be back soon."
After an hour walk, Richard is turning the corner that the recruiting office is on. He walks up to the door and the same Master Sergeant sees him walking up and waves him in.
"Mr. Rodgers."
"Master Sergeant, please call me Richard."
"Very well then. Richard, I am going to tell you that you scored exceptionally well on your test the other day. So much so that you are going to need to go to another location for one more test."
"Alright, what is this test?"
"Richard, I am not at liberty to tell you."
"Why not?"
"Well to tell you the truth, it's above my pay grade."
The Master Sergeant picks up a pencil and writes down the street address in Portsmouth, NH and tells Richard to report there by 0900 tomorrow. He is given a code word that is Firefly.
"Richard, use that code word at the front gate. Godspeed son."
Richard just stands there wondering what had just happened. The Master Sergeant just turned and left him standing there without so much as a word.
They are all studying the results of the test taken by Rodgers, R. What he has done is impossible. It was a 4 section test. The first part was spelling and grammar. The second part was advanced mathematics. Really advanced, like Einstein advanced. The third part was quantum mechanics. He was given to impossible to solve questions, and yet within 30 minutes or so he had finished the entire test. The last section was an essay on what he thought he thought the country would do if they were to be involved in another war.
For all practical purposes the answer that Richard had given summed it all up.
He answered, "We as a country would fight to defend our way of life."
Richard was owed a favor by his friend and now was the time he would collect it. He called his friend Bobby and asked him for a ride. They would need to leave by 7:30 am. He made arrangements to give Bobby fifty cents in addition to the favor to help with the gas needed to go to Portsmouth and return.
The address that Richard was given had to be wrong. They were at some type of fortified military installation. It had barbed wire sitting on top of a 10-foot high chain link fence. It was nestled at the base of a mountain and the compound was placed perfectly within a forest of pine trees. Bobby pulled up to the front gate as just as he stopped an MP jumped in front of his '28 Hudson Essex.
"No further." The MP stated. And raised his hand with a stopping gesture for good measure.
"What can I do for you son?"
"I am here to see about a second round of recruitment tests."
What is your name son?"
"Richard Rodgers"
"What do you catch and keep in a jar?"
Richard thinks this guy is crackers, but then he remembers what the Master Sergeant told him about the password.
"Firefly."
"Sir, you are allowed to pass but your friend will need to back away from the gate and park his car over there and wait for you to return. He then points to a place for Bobby to park his car. Richard gets out of the car and the MP lets him pass. Bobby backs up his pride and joy into the spot and waits.