Creative Writing: Captain Bill Bees

Then he continued, defensively, almost apologetically, but speaking in a stern and gravely authoritarian voice .“God Dammit, that was a kill. I vote for a kill.
That's my vote!"
There was still an even more uneasy silence in the room as the Colonel looked slowly around and then fixed his eyes on Captain Bill Wheeler.
"What'dya think, Bill?" he asked Captain Wheeler. "What's your vote?" Bill squirmed uneasily in his chair, his eyes darting quickly at the Major
Cartwright who was across the table from him, then back to the Colonel. "Well sir, I, uh, I, uh, well, I...."
"Jesus Christ, Captain, spit it out!" Schinz commanded. Then, shaking his head in obvious disgust he turned to the major. "John, what's your feeling about this thing?" John also

"That's a vote of three to two. It's a 'kill'. This Board is adjourned.”
And without another word, the Colonel got up, pushed his chair from the table and walked out of the room.
Stunned, we all sat there in uneasy silence for a minute. The major, his face flushed, picked up his yellow, lined, pad and muttered, "See you guys later,” as he left the room. Poor Bill started apologizing to Katz and me, saying that it was obviously only a 'damaged' MiG, but that he just did not have the strength of character to stand up to the Colonel like we had. Then, as though realizing the gravity of his admission, he made a feeble effort to defend his vote.
“Really, you guys. What the hell difference does it really make anyway whether we gave Kulengosky a 'damaged' or a 'kill? What’s it gonna hurt either way?”
Lt. Katz gave him one of his superior West Point looks, and snorted contemptuously. I felt sorry for Bill. I shrugged my shoulders and said, "Not much, I guess, Bill. Not

Kulengosky was given credit for a kill or a damaged. Colonel Schinz was mad as hell at Katz, but he'll probably forget and forgive him because he's "only" a dumb ground-pounder. But I was the only one of the other three combat pilots on the board to defy him and vote against his wishes. I was sure that my vote would come back to haunt me, but what the hell? I certainly had Kulengosky pegged right. He was a fraud. No fighter pilot worth his salt would have claimed anything other than a "damaged" MiG to begin with. No other vote was supportable. I would have voted the same exact way if it had been
"Hunk", Frank, Don or Mac who had made the claim. But, of course, it was so blatantly fraudulent that none of them would have.
I walked along thinking that I wasn’t doing very well in my new assignment with the 51st Fighter Wing. I already had the Fighter Group Commander angry with me, and now I had disappointed and angered the new Deputy Wing Commander. I had never thought of myself as an overzealous moralist, and I knew that people who advocated absolute “rights” and “wrongs” frequently found themselves on shaky intellectual ground. But it just seemed undeniably wrong for someone like Lt. Kulengosky to lie about shooting down a MiG, and then doubly wrong for a