Book One
Innocent Liar
Innocent Liar
Posted 9/1/2009
CHAPTER ONE
January 2000
Camp Carol Depot
South Korea
“Mary, I know damn well they never arrived here.
If you shipped them two days ago we would be cannibalizing them
right now,” replied Specialist Four Gretchen Green.
“You mean if you received them you would be
cannibalizing them now. I
have the paper work that I signed off on, right in front of me.
I think that we may have a problem here.
Do you know how much those engines are worth on the black market?
--A bundle! Check around and
see if you can find any paper work on them and let me know what you
find."
“Roger that gal, I agree with you; I’ll see what I
can find down here. I’ll
call you as soon as I find anything.
Keep cool." And Gretchen
Green was gone.
Mary was a twenty-one-year-old Specialist Five at the
Camp Carol Maintenance Facility .
She was an attractive, auburn haired, brown eyed, five
foot-eleven inch, energetic woman, as well as a good Christian, and a
non-drinker, who didn’t smoke. Practically every male on the
installation called her the Virgin Mary behind her back, because she
rarely dated. She was
scrupulous, efficient, and a dedicated worker.
Her honesty, integrity, and attention to detail earned the
respect of her fellow workers and superiors as well.
Mary had graduated second, out of fifty-two, in her
Supply Technicians course at Ft. Lee, Virginia, and was a model soldier.
There were seven months left on her enlistment and she was still
not sure what she was going to do when she left the military.
Her parents died in an automobile accident when she was
seventeen. Friends of the
family in Vallejo, Washington took her in until she entered the Army two
months after her graduation from high school.
With the insurance from the parent’s death and the money she had
saved, college was definitely a possibility.
The young soldier was a small town girl and missed Vallejo.
With a college education, she could be of help in that community.
She wanted to contribute to the community that was there for her
when she needed it.
She knew that the Black Market in Korea ran rampant.
You could find as many military goods in town as you could find
on post. Being a supply
depot with civilian Korean guards on the perimeter was like putting the
fox in the hen house to guard the chickens.
The vast use of Korean clerks, warehouse workers, and truck
drivers made a disaster out of any form of a loss prevention program.
The Military Police did their best to check out-going vehicles.
There were numerous times when KATUSA (Korean Augmentation to the
United States Army) drivers, from the low ranking to the officers, were
caught hiding U.S. Government property under the hood of their vehicles
or strapped to the undercarriage.
Individuals that stole U.S. Government property were
immediately reprimanded and barred from the installation.
This was a smoke screen for the U. S. commanders.
Most of the time, the thieves were transferred to a different U.
S. camp where they resumed their midnight requisitions.
Usually they were physically beaten in front of their U. S.
counter-parts. This was done
more to impress the U.S. personnel than to punish the Korean violators.
However, if the truth were known it wasn’t for their stealing, it
was for being caught.
The Post Exchange and Commissary were fair game as
well. Sweetheart buying was
a common practice. A typical
incident consisted of a Korean dependent of an American Soldier making a
purchase totaling $222.22 and her Korean friend working the cash
register ringing up $22.22.
They would meet later and divide the ill-gotten gains.
The restriction of two cartons of cigarettes a day
was ridiculous. Who is going
to smoke two cartons of cigarettes a day?
Since American cigarettes were prized so highly on the Korean
economy, and brought a premium dollar, these dependents would go home,
change clothes, and make several trips a day for the smokes.
There were even some of the unscrupulous soldiers involved in
hustling cigarettes. There
were many incidents of GIs trading military equipment and commissary
goods for drugs as well.
Right after noon chow, Mary received a call from the
Pusan Can Point. “Mary, you
were right. There’s something very wrong.
While the Chief was out, I looked around on his desk and found
the paperwork you signed for those motors.
There’s also an endorsement by him dated tomorrow certifying the
engines were cannibalized. I
think someone is making a fortune here.
What do you think we should do?”
Gretchen stood looking nervously at the closed door to her
office.
“If you can, without getting caught, nose around and
see if there is anything else you didn’t see arrive that’s supposedly
been cannibalized. Pay close
attention to the high dollar items that come in at the can point or at
least supposed to come in.
You might even want to keep a secret log.
In the meantime, I’m going to talk to a friend of mine and see
what we should do. Be
careful, this situation sounds like it could be big time.
We’ll talk later, out!”
Mary’s office was approximately twelve feet square
located in the administrative end of a 300-foot wooden warehouse with a
loading dock that ran three fourths of the length of the building.
The administrative offices were housed in the south fourth of the
building. She was the
Noncommissioned Officer in Charge, NCOIC, of seeing that all of the
military items in Eighth Army area, which was all of Korea, that were to
be destroyed were shipped to the Cannibalization Point.
There were vehicles, vehicle parts, electronic
devices, and health and comfort items stored in her building.
She would sign the bill lading and clear the Korean driver
through the main gate. From
there, the items went directly to Pusan for destruction.
At least that is where they were supposed to go.
There were times when the items marked for
destruction looked brand new.
However, she didn't question her superiors.
She thought to herself, it is time to start.
She left her office and hurried down the hall to her
boss, Chief Warrant Officer Berry’s office.
“Hey Chief, have you got a minute?
I’ve something important to talk to you about.”
Mary closed the door to his office.
“Sure Mastrovoni, what’s up?"
The Chief smiled up at her from behind his military issued steel
gray desk.
“We’ve a problem. Those truck engines that I shipped
to Pusan never got there.
I'm sure that our Korean drivers are feeding the black market.
I wonder what we should do?”
The chief immediately lost his smile.
“Look Mastrovoni, your only concern is to see that the stuff gets
out of here. It’s Pusan’s
problem if it doesn’t get there.
Leave it alone, Pusan can take care of it.”
“My signature is on those documents. I don’t want it
to look like I was involved in the government equipment disappearing.
Chief, I cleared them out the gate.
You know what this looks like?”
“Mastrovoni, listen to me.
Don’t make any waves.
Drop it, now! If you don’t
drop it, you’re right; you could be arrested and sent to Leavenworth for
a long time. Just be a good
little girl, keep quiet and I won’t have to report that you’re sending
goods out the gate that never get to their destination.
You’re close to going home and I’m sure that you don’t want to
mess that up. In fact,
here’s a direct order for you, listen closely, just continue to sign out
your drivers, keep your mouth shut and don’t worry about what happens
after the stuff leaves here.
Now go back to your office and get back to work.
Got it?”
Mary stood in the hall for a minute; actually in a state of shock. She had never done anything that was even close to illegal before. Now she was involved in supplying the black market with her government’s supplies. My goodness, I bet those weren’t even salvageable engines; they were probably new ones that arrived as replacements, thought Mary. She chewed on her lip and walked slowly back to her desk. This was not going to happen; her loyalty was to her government, not that overweight criminal that just threatened her. The minute she entered her office, she closed the door and picked up the phone
*
*
*
The bare floor was constructed of concrete; the walls
were of cinder block. Eight
tables with four chairs each filled the room.
The walls were bare, except for two windows, one on each of the
outside wall, which were covered with faded, flowered curtains.
The Moonlight Bar and Grill was the McDonalds of
Weagan, the village just outside of the Depot main gate.
Mamma-san served a great hamburger with fried potatoes.
Her burger had just arrived along with a good old American Coke
when the object of her secret meeting arrived.
Captain Ernie Reed, the installation Provost Marshal was about as
straight laced as they come.
He was the Chief of the Military Police.
After he placed his order, Mary laid out the whole story.
“I’m afraid that I could be arrested.
I don’t know what to do but I feel like I should do something.”
Mary continued, “I’m due to rotate in a few months, and I don’t
want to get involved to the point that I’m going to have to stay here.
But, while I’m here, I’ll help in any way I can.”
Captain Reed wiped out his glass with a napkin before
pouring his Bud Light. He
was still waiting for his burger when he said, “Mary, you’ve done the
right thing. It sounds as
though this is a major operation.
I have a couple of PMIs, Provost Marshal Investigators, but I
think I’ll get the bigger boys on this.
Just go on about your business and they’ll be in touch with you.”
“Captain, they can’t contact me at work.”
“Don’t worry; just follow the instructions you're
going to receive. You’ll be
all right.” That night he
called the Eighth Army Criminal Investigation Detachment and arranged a
meet for a CID Agent and Mary.