Defense: Mr. Pacific

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"With a small force." he says, "the Air Force has to be proficient in every respect." O'Donnell's Air Force is; yet it is still uncomfortable in its role. All its atomic capabilities are next to useless in countries like Laos. "It's like knocking an ant off a bicycle," says O'Donnell. But the Air Force notes that Red China, if it cares to ask for trouble, offers a number of atom-sized military targets.

¶ USARPAC (U.S. Army Pacific), ramrodded by a dapper New England tactician, General Isaac Davis White, chafes under the knowledge that, for all its experience gained in Korea, it is still the orphan of the Pacific. In an area that demands a maximum of mobility, the Army must make its plan without any guarantee that it will get the ships or aircraft to move it where it has to fight. Army soreheads grouse that Felt would never use a soldier while there was a marine left in the Pacific. In the Pacific, perhaps the Army's most significant contribution is the fact that it supplies 70% of the Military Assistance Advisory Groups, and all the MAAG commanders.

¶ CINCPACFLT (Commander in Chief Pacific Fleet) is Admiral John H. ("Savvy") Sides, whose exceptionally flexible and mobile carrier striking force is best adapted of all the services to the varied challenges of the new Asian frontier. Sides's big problem is ships. He needs more—more big carriers, more guided-missile cruisers, more modernized destroyers—to furnish Vice Admiral Charles ("Don") Griffin's Seventh Fleet with the firepower it needs. Vice Admiral Charles L. Melson's First Fleet, based in San Diego, is responsible for overhaul and training of units which may be assigned to Don Griffin's Seventh Fleet.

Eventually all the lines of Pacific command, all the responsibilities of the joint command, come back to Don Felt. Felt the diplomat must preserve the momentum that is leading to SEATO's improvement. Felt the politician must get sufficient support from Congress for the U.S. military aid program. Felt the military commander must know about Communist military threats before they are full-blown so that he can back up national armies against external threats, give them time to train up to the skills of Chinese Communist or local guerrillas.

Time was running short. Laos, where events tumbled forward with sweep-second hand relentlessness, was perhaps the least attractive theater in which Don Felt would want to apply his talents. But as the hour of necessity arises, he is prepared to keep the peace if possible, to win a war if necessary.