Edward L. Rowny
During his visits to Air Force installations, he was struck by the number of women
the U.S. had in its armed services. The Soviet Union had less than 1/2 of 1
percent females whereas the U.S. had about 10 percent. On one occasion he went
down the line of an Air Force crew, starting with the most junior member. When
he got to the next to the last in line, he asked him what his job was. " I ' m the
deputy crew chief," he said.
"And who do you work for?" asked the marshal.
"For her, the crew chief," he said.
An astonished Akhromeyev gallantly kissed the fingertips of the female crew chief.
But Akhromeyev was most impressed by our Navy. He was taken aboard an
aircraft carrier and astonished to see planes taking off and landing at night. He
was shown two Navv fighters taking off simultaneously, at night, from a carrier.
He told me he had witnessed "the impossible."
Akhromeyev told me that the Soviet army was badly in need of sophisticated
equipment; it could not begin to match that of the United States. He also said he
was impressed by our noncommissioned officers. Enlisted men were commanded
by officers in the Soviet Union with no in-between set of experienced, career
enlisted men. He said that one of the reforms he would undertake was the
development of a noncommissioned officer corps. He said he was impressed by
the honesty and frankness of the soldiers he met. "They think for themselves and
are not taught by rote like our brainwashed soldiers. They will undoubtedly show
initiative on the battlefield," he added, "something we can't even count on our
officers to do."
Akhromeyev told me he was a true believer in the Communist system. "But the
system will need to r e f o r m , he said, "so the economy can afford a first-class
military establishment. One of the ways to save money," he added, "is to reduce
He said he was a believer in conventional
our oversized conventional forces.
arms control, but said that the U.S. should expect only token reductions in the
Soviet nuclear arsenal.
"The Soviet Union wants to be perceived as a superpower," Akhromeyev said,
"and the only way to be acknowledged as having that status is to maintain its
nuclear arsenal. The Soviets understand that the U.S. public wants arms
agreements acrross-the-board," he added, "and, therefore, the USSR will press for
naval arms control; since we are a land power, we would benefit from such
agreements." He said that the Soviets recognize that strategic defenses are
necessary and inevitable. The Soviet Union will continue to develop and deploy
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