The Pentagon Wars: Reformers Challenge the Old Guard by James G. Burton

Author:James G. Burton [Burton, James G.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781612513690
Publisher: Naval Institute Press
Published: 2014-02-15T06:00:00+00:00

10

More Dirty Games

During the summer of 1985, I established a close relationship with the technicians, mechanics, and manual laborers who did most of the actual work at the Aberdeen test site. These were the people who set up the instrumentation, recorded the raw data, fired the weapons at the vehicle, and repaired the damage caused by each shot. I got to know them really well. I went out of my way to seek their opinions and views on everything that happened on each test.

Many of them had seen combat as GIs in previous wars. They understood the importance of the tests. As I showed a genuine interest in their views, they began to feel that they could influence the redesign of the Bradley and help to make it safer in combat.

They had little respect for BRL, or “management,” and shared my concerns that the bureaucracy would try its best to make these tests minimize the Bradley’s problems. Because they wanted to help, they became my eyes and ears inside the system. They made sure that I knew everything taking place behind the scenes. I had private viewings of the damages from each shot so that I could compare them with the formal documented results prepared by BRL. They called me long distance at home to tell me when they had been instructed to do anything out of the ordinary that might influence the test results. I received several of these calls and then arranged to stumble on the new setup or conditions as if by accident in order to protect my sources. It was a real cat-and-mouse game. I know I drove the BRL and Aberdeen management crazy, for I always seemed to know exactly what they were doing.

It was precisely a 220-mile round-trip from my house to Aberdeen. My little VW made the trip so many times that it seemed to know the route as well as I did. These trips were worth the effort. By observing the tests directly and writing trip reports that documented my observations, I brought checks and balances to the process. Many times, my reports differed from those written by Army observers on the scene. In any test program, there is always the opportunity to interpret results in a manner that favors the reputation of the system being tested. When those interpretations are further edited to protect the program at the intermediate levels of management, the final report for senior management often bears little resemblance to what actually happened.

While BRL ran its series of preliminary tests against empty Bradleys that summer, the pattern of checks and balances was firmly established. My trip reports became best-sellers around the Pentagon, Because they often contained interpretations of test results and implications of far more serious consequences than the official reports received through the Army chain of command, they led to spirited debate at the top.

Finally, in September, it was time for the real tests—one year after the formal agreement. Ten shots of small-, medium-, and large-caliber antitank weapons would be fired against the fully loaded Bradley.

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