Chapter 35

They were going to fly to West Point early the following Monday. On Sunday, Camille came in and offered to wash Kelly’s hair. She washed it, styled it, and combed it out. Kelly loved the look the girl achieved. Then Selma came in and did her trick on the back of Kelly’s neck. The girl was asleep almost instantly.

On Monday morning Kelly and Mike got up early to have breakfast. Returning to her room, Kelly found her white dress uniform laid out on the bed. Mike said it was the uniform of the day for the commencement. After Horace drove them to Andrews Air Force Base they met the President and then boarded a Presidential helicopter for the flight to West Point.

When they boarded the chopper, Kelly was surprised to find Cathy flying up, too, along with Sam. She said with a grin she was coming along to keep him from putting his foot in his mouth. Kevin and Katrina had driven up the previous day with Kevin saying something about a reunion.

When they arrived at West Point, Kelly was ushered to a place of honor on the speakers’ platform with Mike at her side. When the President came up and took his seat on the platform, the Corps of Cadets snapped to attention as the band played Hail to the Chief. He winked at Kelly. At least she thought he did.

The commandant of the academy, Lieutenant General Oscar Caffrey, came over to Kelly and gravely saluted her. She was on her feet for the President’s arrival, and she returned the salute and extended her hand. He seemed genuinely pleased to meet her.

The degree award was made to the President and then he began the featured commencement address: “Honoris causa. That is a phrase on the honorary degree I just received. It’s a Latin phrase meaning ‘for reasons of honor.’ In my case I guess the honor consists of having received more votes than the other guy last November. Honoris causa. ‘To honor, or to render honors.’

“I was rendered honors this morning. I’ll let you in on a secret: My greatest joy in being President is hearing Hail to the Chief. I love it. I really do.”

The President appeared to be thinking out loud. “To honor...” President Collins mused. “I wonder ... You see, we have a problem. Seated behind me is a young woman, Lieutenant General Kelly Jackson Callahan. She is the problem. Let me tell you a little about it.

“First, because she’s wearing her dress whites, she’s required to wear her medals. You see a gold cross hanging from her neck, shining in the sun. It’s the Gold Cross of Liberty. You have never seen it, because hers is the only one in existence.”

He grinned and turned to face Kelly. “Incidentally, Kel, they would like to borrow it to photograph it for the books and manuals on awards. They forgot to do it before it was awarded to you and yours is the only one in existence. Could you lend it back to us for a few days? Please?”

He turned back to face the gathering. “You may also see something else you’ve never seen before and likely will never see again. The next medal on her chest is the Medal of Honor. She’s the only person in history for whom two Medals of Honor are junior decorations.

“But I digress. The problem is that Kelly has no college degree. As one of our most senior generals this can be a little embarrassing. I thought of ordering her here to the Academy as a student and, in fact, I even talked to the Secretary of Defense about it.

“That idea didn’t work out too well. First, she’s married ... very! In fact Kelly’s expecting their first child in November. We’ve never had a married cadet at West Point, let alone a pregnant one.” The President grinned and continued. “But never let it be said we’re not creative. As President, I could waive the family thing.

“But then we get in deeper. Some of you may have seen your commandant, Lieutenant General Caffrey, salute Kelly. You see, she’s his senior. An element of the Cross of Liberty award is that the holder is senior in rank to any other person in the same rank or pay grade in the armed forces. Therefore, the only officers senior to Kelly wear four stars, and there aren’t many of those.

“But what the hell, we’re at peace, so I guess we could scrounge up a slightly used four-star to command this place while Kelly attends. But this brings us to the curriculum. The purpose of the school is to turn cadets into bright young officers ... junior officers. It has been pointed out to me that a lieutenant general is not a junior officer.

“But there’s more. I ask you! You graduates have completed your first-class year. Could you imagine trying to haze a plebe ... wearing three stars? Can you really?” The president grinned and said, “Oh, and I nearly forgot: She’s also the leading small-arms expert and unarmed-combat specialist in the armed forces. Trying to haze her could be hazardous to one’s health!”

The graduating seniors broke up in laughter. “But we’re creative. We’ll finesse the plebe summer. We would have to anyway for reasons I’ll come to in a moment. Once enrolled here, what would she study?

“Well the course of study here is primarily military science and engineering. Although there now is a broad range of majors available at the Academy, you must all take courses in military science. What does that consist of? Well, it includes military history, strategy, tactics ... that sort of thing.

“This creates another problem. You see, General Jackson teaches courses in that stuff. She’s president of the War College. And by the way — and she doesn’t even know this — the relevant faculty here at the Academy are all now enrolled in her courses. I suppose it could get pretty dull taking a course in a subject that you taught to your professor.

“But there’s more. I spoke a moment ago about her schedule this summer. She’s unavailable. She has an additional assignment serving as senior advisor on strategy and tactics to a joint congressional committee that is restructuring our entire armed forces. The two co-chairmen insist she’s absolutely irreplaceable. So we’ll have to finesse strategy. What else?

“Leadership! There we go. We’ll teach her leadership!” The President paused and looked over the sea of faces, then continued, “The hell we will! No one can teach Kelly Jackson about leadership! She is a specialist in small-unit operations. Sort of the efficient female approach to things. She won the war in Europe with three other people! That’s right: people! I didn’t say armies, or corps, or divisions. I said people. The other three are here with us today, also.

“But what the hell! This is the Army. So she gets a lot of mileage out of three people. What would this do to our defense budget if we cut the Army down to five people, the Navy to ten, and the Air Force to ten? How in hell could we possibly justify the 110,000 people in the Department of Defense? Now understand, bureaucrats are very effective at protecting their jobs, but there are limits! Even for them.

“Back to larger units. Kelly has had two larger commands. The first was a training company at Quantico, Virginia. Kelly took command two weeks into a ten-week program. When she took over, the company was about average in its performance. Eight weeks later, the company held every record they maintain down there. Every record they set still stands today.

“Oh, yeah, I forgot. Kelly’s style is to lead by example. She sort of says, ‘Follow me,” and the troops try to. Well, in the course of the follow-me routine it seems Kelly set every personal record they maintain. Every single one! And they all still stand!

“But hell, the Army has units bigger than companies. Last November Kelly was given command of the 101^st Airborne Division. Why the 101^st? Because it was in the garbage dump. There was no way anyone could screw up that bunch of weirdos. And a young girl commanding an assault division is a little weird, too, isn’t it? It was the only combat division — let alone assault division — that stayed home. Why? Because we thought they were a far larger threat to themselves and our friends than they could possibly be to the enemy. It was formally scheduled for extinction on February 5^th of this year. But Kelly screws that up, too.

“On February 1^st in war games against the 82^nd Airborne Kelly annihilates the 82^nd while suffering negligible losses. She earned for the 101^st the rating of the top combat unit in the entire Army. She then takes her division down to Central America where she cleans up some unpleasantness my advisors felt was insoluble. Of course, it took her nearly six weeks so I guess it must have been a tough assignment. I guess she can handle sizeable units.

“Oh, one more thing: When Kelly was relieved as commanding officer of the 101^st, Fort Campbell was almost flooded out by tears from crying men. I’m serious — General Adams, here, was down there that day. The troopers of the 101^st cried when they learned Kelly — not General Jackson, mind you, but Kelly — was being relieved as their commanding officer.

“But back to the Cross of Liberty. What’s that for? That’s for a small piece of history. She won the war in Europe, along with her husband, Major General Michael Callahan, who graduated from the Point six years ago, Major Ken Carson, who graduated three years ago, and his wife, Captain Mary Harris Carson, who graduated two years ago. Now West Point graduates winning wars for our country is part of a very old and proud tradition.

“But what do we do when she’s a high-school dropout? A girl who only turned twenty last month? In fact, a girl who was complaining to me on the flight up here this morning that her infant son will be six months old before she can legally buy a drink?

“There’s only one thing you can do — honoris causa — for reasons of honor. Kelly, come up here!”

He turned and watched as Kelly, still grinning about the President’s remark about her drinking, came up, faced him, and saluted smartly. As she stood on the platform, two female cadets came up behind her with an academic gown they held for her to put on. They then hung the hood symbolic of a doctorate degree around her neck. Finally, they removed her hat and replaced it with a black mortarboard with a gold bullion tassel.

General Caffrey replaced the President at the microphone and declared: “Kelly Jackson Callahan: For exemplary service to your country, for exemplary achievement, and for exemplary scholarship, it is my great honor to award you the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History and Military Strategy, honoris causa!” He held out the diploma and shook her hand.

The President led her to the microphone. “Thank you, Mr. President, and Commandant Caffrey. I don’t know what to say. I guess I now have a degree from West Point. I feel very proud. I look around and see bright faces, including a few women. What I would like to do is to meet with the women in this graduating class. I would like you to meet some very successful women who graduated from the Point, starting with my closest friend, Major Catherine King Adams. She is the senior officer in the United States Army. As Sam Adams’ wife, she tells him what to tell us to do.”

She turned to the commandant with a question in her eyes. He smiled and nodded his head. He went back to the microphone and said, “It sounds like a fine idea to me. All female members of the graduating class are invited to meet with General Jackson in the gymnasium immediately following the ceremonies this morning.”

Kelly went back to her seat. Mike rose, took her in his arms, and kissed her soundly. Neither heard the storm of cheering behind them as her cap fell off her head. When he released her, she just hugged him. Finally, she looked up at him and said, “Mike, could I trade aides with you for a couple of hours? I would like Katrina to come along with me.” Mike agreed immediately.

While her back was to the audience, she heard the President’s voice again. “I would like to conclude my speech today with a couple of additional remarks. “First, I was honored today to receive a degree from West Point. However, Kelly was not honored. She honored the Military Academy! As I tried to make clear, I received my degree essentially for doing nothing. Kelly received hers in recognition of demonstrated achievement far beyond human expectations or understanding.

“Finally, I would like to go back to the change of command ceremony at Fort Campbell. I neglected to mention that the 101^st Airborne now holds the flag symbolic of the finest combat unit in the Army, but the division doesn’t have it. Kelly does. It’s in her office, hanging on the wall. Why does she have it? It’s a solemn pledge to her from the men of the 101^st. They will keep it — and their standing as the Army’s top unit — in her honor. They’re the best! She made them the best, and by damn, they’re going to remain the best! Let me ask you? Is that not a test of leadership?

“One of the officers in the 101^st said it best. He said, ‘Kelly never gives an order. She just shows us what she wants us to do, and we try to do it. We never can, of course. No one else is that good. But we end up doing one hell of a lot better than we ever thought we could. Leadership? We would follow that woman to hell and consider it a rare privilege that she would allow us to keep her company!’

“Ladies and gentlemen of the Academy: You have before you an example you should try to follow — the finest person ever to graduate in the history of the United States Military Academy at West Point, Kelly Jackson Callahan!” The student body present and the graduates rose to their feet and gave Kelly a standing ovation.