Federal LEO or Other Jobs for Unfazeable Killer in 1953

[Icelander]

Later events will overtake Antonio 'Tony' Manzano's potential federal career, but while rolling for his performance in the Korean War, I got extremely high Reaction Rolls for some senior officers who witnessed Tony in combat.

Someone really senior noticed some of the things Manzano did and when I rolled some more, not just one someone senior, but he became notorious among the senior commanders after his battalion commander noticed him in his first fight (granted, D company lost all officers except one lieutenant, and most of their NCOs, so when the remains of a platoon were following this young PFC as he calmly directed their effective return fire with 3.5" bazookas, it stood out a bit). And over sixteen days where the 2nd CEB (Combat Engineer Battalion) was inserted by companies to plug holes in the defensive lines of the 2nd Infantry Division, most of them were killed or wounded, but this PFC just kept directing his fellow combat engineers in using their explosives and heavy weapons to stop the enemy assaults, all the while popping off accurate shots with a carbine he grabbed once his M1 Garand was too hot to fire safely.

Tony's not some kind of hyper-driven individual, an elite athlete or all revved-up about performing heroic feats. It's more that he's got a few things missing, psychologically. He doesn't feel fear, neither physical fear for himself nor anxiety over the future. Nor does he seem bothered about the mass slaughter taking place on both sides, the only emotion he shows is boyish enthusiasm when he gets to blow something up, and an easy confidence that even older, more experienced soldiers find themselves relying on.

Tony grew up during the Depression, where his large family was fed largely on what the men in the family shot, which definitely included Tony from the first time he picked up a .22 rifle and single-barrel shotgun from Sears. Other men in his family were far better outdoorsmen, but Tony could always shoot if he found a bird, squirrel or groundchuck. And so far, Tony doesn't feel any different shooting North Koreans than he did shooting squirrels, except they're bigger targets.

The 2nd CEB seems to have had terrible luck their first four months in Korea. Replacements from back home, the occupying force in Japan and Koreans as part of the KATUSA system barely kept pace with the horrendous casualties of constant combat with the North Koreans and when the Chinese invaded, the 2nd CEB was left to hold off several Chinese divisions while the rest of the 2nd Infantry retreated through a lethal gauntlet of six miles through a narrow passage under lethal fire.

Only about a quarter of the 2nd CEB made it back to friendly lines, the rest were killed or captured. Tony Manzano was one of the fortunate ones, despite a bullet wound through his torso he didn't notice in the heat of combat. After that, Tony was given a battlefield commission, as he'd been leading a composite platoon composed of survivors through the entire retreat, and there were not remotely enough surviving officers.

Tony Manzano served until the Armstice of the 1953. His battlefield rank was in the Army of the USA, which does not exist in peacetime. Given the collection of medals Tony earned over three years of war uncomplicated with fear, nerves or moral regrets, there might have been a chance for him to get a Reserve commission or at least a senior NCO rank in the peacetime Army.

Other than that, what might be some federal positions which a senior officer (who in peacetime might be a politician or hold some different government job) might feel a man without fear or any problems with violence could be useful in?

Manzano has a decent high school education and an Associate of Applied Science degree in gunsmithing from Trinidad State Junior College. He speaks some Spanish and Italian, he's learned a fair bit of practical engineering know-how during his service, mostly combat engineering, but he's commanded men building roads, bridges and dockworks too.

Going to college for a proper degree hasn't yet occured to him, but if someone suggested it, he'd try to get his A.A.S. degree and military service to count as credits, to minimize the time he'd have to waste in classrooms. More than college, though, Tony would like some kind of civilian career that won't feel boring compared to combat engineering.

He figures he could make a good secret agent, but the new CIA are notorious for mostly hiring Ivy League graduates from 'good' families, which Tony certainly isn't. In addition to his second-generation immigrant Italian ancestry, he's got a little Anglo, about a quarter Hispanic, and an eighth Isleta Pueblo Native Amerifan heritage. The FBI aren't above their own snobbery, and almost all of their agents are college educated, with many having graduate degrees in accounting, law or some scientific field for their forensics experts.

What might be a plausible federal position which a patron who was a senior officer in the military could place a young man without a bachelor degree? And where having ice water in the veins and never seeming angry or upset could be assets?

[Varyon]

The DEA seems like it would be a good fit (he could be an undercover DEA Special Agent), but apparently that wasn't founded until 1973, which is a couple decades too late for him to be coming back to it from the Korean War. The ATF also seemed like it could have potential, given his knowledge of firearms and explosives, but I'd imagine he wouldn't be a fan... and it also didn't exist yet when he got home from Korea (its predecessor did, but it only concerned itself with alcohol and tobacco taxes at the time).

As for the CIA, I'll note that my family has long suspected (and he allegedly confirmed it to some of his children on his deathbed) was a spy for the US during the Cold War when he lived in Germany (running a bar), and while he was college educated (although I'm not certain if that was from before he went to Germany or after he came home), it wasn't from an Ivy League school. But he had rare talents, including being very good at lateral thinking, so they may have made an exception (although I'd imagine he wasn't actually part of the CIA, but rather worked for them in a less official capacity as an informant or similar). That was sometime after the time in question, of course, as I don't think he was even born when the Korean War ended, but I could similarly see the CIA waiving some of that to recruit a rare talent. Of course, Unfazeable may be more common in this alternate timeline than it is in our own, in which case he may not be seen as sufficiently-remarkable to make an exception for.

[Icelander]

Originally Posted by Varyon

The DEA seems like it would be a good fit (he could be an undercover DEA Special Agent), but apparently that wasn't founded until 1973, which is a couple decades too late for him to be coming back to it from the Korean War. The ATF also seemed like it could have potential, given his knowledge of firearms and explosives, but I'd imagine he wouldn't be a fan... and it also didn't exist yet when he got home from Korea (its predecessor did, but it only concerned itself with alcohol and tobacco taxes at the time).

Yeah. Lots of federal agencies didn't exist yet and the ones which did were different in many ways. The Border Patrol had constant gunfights with alcohol-smugglers during Prohibition, but by the 1950s, I don't think there was any real need or much desire for gunfighters on the borders.

War on Drugs didn't really exist yet. The No. 1 Enemy of the State in the 1950s was Communism, but that witchhunt was run by politicians, journalists, bureaucrats and lawyers, there was never any need for steely-eyes shootists from out West.

Maybe, if I find some Reserve officers who served in the right units, places and times in Korea who were at the Justice, Interior or Treasury departments in their real-world lives, Tony Manzano might get enough influence on his side to be recommended for a position as a federal law enforcement officer. Formally, the Secret Service does not require a college degree, neither does the US Marshals Service, US Forest Service, etc.

I'm trying to find a federal entity which had armed investigators, inspectors or Special Agents at the time, and where someone might reasonably believe that they needed a fearless gunman. But without Prohibition, the federal government just wasn't fighting any particularly scary opponents on US soil.

An alternative might be if maybe a reserve officer who knew Tony Manzano in the Korean War happened to be, in real life, a prosecutor, Sheriff or police chief somewhere where a corrupt town needed cleaning up or a ruthless gangster / murderous gang / organized crime was intimidating regular law enforcement.

Originally Posted by Varyon

As for the CIA, I'll note that my family has long suspected (and he allegedly confirmed it to some of his children on his deathbed) was a spy for the US during the Cold War when he lived in Germany (running a bar), and while he was college educated (although I'm not certain if that was from before he went to Germany or after he came home), it wasn't from an Ivy League school. But he had rare talents, including being very good at lateral thinking, so they may have made an exception (although I'd imagine he wasn't actually part of the CIA, but rather worked for them in a less official capacity as an informant or similar). That was sometime after the time in question, of course, as I don't think he was even born when the Korean War ended, but I could similarly see the CIA waiving some of that to recruit a rare talent.

CIA's problem is that they aren't legally aĺlowed to operate in the US, and, at this point in time, J. Edgar Hoover's FBI claimed the exclusive right over all criminal and counterintelligence investigations in North and South America. The CIA was mostly out of the loop in Latin America, just had passport officers in embassies there and no significant operations. Remember, this is when the CIA just came into existence and both the various military intelligence services and the FBI felt the CIA were amateurs with poor training, low budget and mostly rookie intelligence officers, trying to horn in on intelligence work the FBI, ONI, NIS, CIC, Army Security Agency, Military Intelligence, and even Air Force OSI had been doing for many years.

If Tony Manzano were living abroad or had connections in some country the CIA was tasked with operating in, maybe they'd be interested. Hell, if William King Harvey at CIA's Berlin Station heard about Tony, he'd take him in a heartbeat. Then again, Bill Harvey had been fired from the FBI for not fitting Hoover's image of a prim, serious, professional, carefully-dressed G-Man. Harvey was frequently drunk, carried at least two guns at all times, seemed to get his suits and shirts pre-crumpled, stained and sweaty, and might have been the best field agent the early CIA had.

But Harvey himself can only barely keep his CIA job, he's constantly aggravating headquarters, disobeys orders and has zero influence over hiring, where properly-dressed managerial types are trying to hire clean-cut college graduates to show J. Edgar Hoover that the CIA could also be a professional, serious agency, where well-educated men went to have illustrious careers. Harvey himself might be a cowboy operator with a drinking problem and a bad attitude toward authority, but at least he had a law degree.

Originally Posted by Varyon

Of course, Unfazeable may be more common in this alternate timeline than it is in our own, in which case he may not be seen as sufficiently-remarkable to make an exception for.

Nope, not supposed to be. I knew he had a lot of high Will, Combat Reflexes and/or Fearlessness descendants or other relatives, but when I rolled for if he had any bonus or penalty to Fright Checks compared to what had been established about his character already, I just happened to roll 6-6-6.

[jason taylor]

A real swashbuckler type could get in the China Air Transport but he would have to have Pilot or Mechanic (aircraft). He could also be an observer in the Asian wars.

[SionEwig]

For that time period, the US Marshals is the best bet. After that, the US Forest Service, the NPS, or Fish and Game. Though I'm not sure when NPS got armed rangers.

[Icelander]

Originally Posted by SionEwig

For that time period, the US Marshals is the best bet. .

Yeah. In the 19th century, the US Marshals made great RPG material. Could be and often were politically appointed and could deputize anyone, just as they pleased, argue about the legalities later, or maybe never, if no one survived to sue. They could be heroic PCs, staunch allies, checks and balances on bloodthirsty MurderHobo PCs, touchy rivals, honourable antagonists or black-hearted villains, sometimes everything at once, and all without changing a single thing from real history.

In the late 20th and now in the 21st century, the revival of the USMS power to deputize, this time used to let local and state law enforcement personnel take part in federal Marshal-led Violent Offender and Fugitive Task Forces, has made the Marshals the most glamorous federal LEOs again, as the reality of FBI, Secret Service and such jobs is that they almost never arrest anyone and almost none of them ever engage in firefights or car chases.

Well, Deputy US Marshals do. On those task forces, they physically arrest violent, wanted felons at rates not an order of magnitude above other federal agencies, but nearer two orders of magnitude above it. DUSM who've come to the job from local police departments say it's got all the action of real policing, with the bonus that other people process crime scenes, notify families, canvass witnesses or wait for county coroners all night. The Marshal-led Violent Offender and Fugitive task forces just hunt down suspects once there is a warrant, the part of the job most detectives and street cops admit they find most thrilling.

However, there's a caveat here. I... don't know a lot about the US Marshals Service since WWI and until the 1980s. From some mentions in biographies of law enforcement officers, I think this might be due to other federal agencies gradually absorbing more of their duties, purpose and budget, whenever a new federal agency was given any kind of law enforcement authority. Certainly, older DUSMs wrote of the time before the re-invention of the Marshals Service as a dark period, when they were relegated to serving as prisoner transport and bailiffs for the federal system, and little more.

I'd have to check what the status of the Marshals was in the 1950s.

Originally Posted by SionEwig

After that, the US Forest Service, the NPS, or Fish and Game. Though I'm not sure when NPS got armed rangers.

They were all armed. Bill Jordan was an armed ranger of the National Parks Service in the 1920s, I believe, rather than the Forest Service. Either one. In either case, he found it so boring, he jumped ship into the Border Patrol, at the height of the shooting around the Prohibition smuggling over the borders.

[Icelander]

Originally Posted by jason taylor

A real swashbuckler type could get in the China Air Transport but he would have to have Pilot or Mechanic (aircraft). He could also be an observer in the Asian wars.

Well, I know that Tony Manzano didn't learn to fly before he went to Korea. On the other hand, he was 17 when WWII ended. One of the things that happened then was that Oxnard Field, near where Tony grew up, received over 1,500 aircraft, B-24 Liberator and B-17 Flying Fortress bombers, as well as P-38 and P-51 fighters. They were supposed to be sold or scrapped and most of them were recycled by the Compressed Steel Corporation.

Now, when lots and lots of engines and machine parts are being scrapped for recycled steel, odds are that there are entrepreneurs who figure that parts of the aircraft engines must be useful for something from which they can make money, right?

Does anyone know if there were attempts to make race cars with fighter engines, industrial equipment with hydraulics or gearing, sandblasters with turbines or even unlikelier contraptions with various scavenged parts of what had, for the most part, been perfectly functional aircraft when flown in there (some came directly there, new from factories)?

Because I can imagine that hot-rodding teenagers might have been working for some of those aspiring mad geniuses, especially those, like Tony, who had good Scrounging skills and a decent technical know-how.

Does anyone know whether there were attempts to cannibalize the aircraft at the great aircraft 'Boneyards' in the Southwest USA after WWII?

[Donny Brook]

Green berets, founded 1952.

[DeadParrot]

Originally Posted by Icelander

What might be a plausible federal position which a patron who was a senior officer in the military could place a young man without a bachelor degree? And where having ice water in the veins and never seeming angry or upset could be assets?

Since he has proven himself as a combat engineer leader, possible some base commander might want Tony to oversee the construction of new runways and hangers as the base is upgraded due to Cold War concerns. Especially if local union/mafia/other issues are slowing the construction. "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" could be the relationship between the CO and Tony on how Tony keeps things on schedule.

[thorr-kan]

I'd echo Marshall Services or one of the outdoor branches. Alternatively, a state outdoor agency might be an option, especially someplace like Maine, Alaska, or Montana.

I'd suggest Merchant Marine, but that's more of a pre-WWII trope, and I've read too much Louis L'Amour.

Contracting with an international construction firm specializing in hot spots has options, too.