Donovan Briley

Donovan Briley, known as Bull, was a chief warrant officer and the copilot aboard Cliff Wolcott’s helicopter. He died when it crashed, an event the book later identifies with Super 61. His brief portrait is shaped by a stark contrast: the powerful man remembered running the previous day, and the body his fellow soldiers had to recover and carry.

Identity and Death

Briley’s rank and role are stated directly: he was a CWO and the copilot of Wolcott’s helicopter. The account identifies the crash as the cause of his death; it does not supply further biographical details about his life or service. His place in the narrative is instead established through the aftermath of the crash and the reactions of those who encountered his body.

Recovery and Handling

Sgt. First Class Al Lamb helped move Briley’s body into a newly opened space. As Lamb set him down, Briley’s head struck the wall with a soft, sickening thud. Lamb then flattened the body so it would not remain folded at the waist when rigor mortis set in. The practical care of that adjustment makes the recovery scene both immediate and intimate: even amid the work of handling the dead, the men were attentive to what would happen to a comrade’s body next.

The Living Memory and the Body

Lamb remembered Briley from the day before, running in spandex shorts and looking powerful. Against that image, the physical condition of the body made the loss especially difficult to absorb. Lamb’s thought, “Jesus, this is a sad day,” gives the scene its plainspoken measure of grief without turning it into a formal tribute.

When an armored personnel carrier arrived with Briley’s body on top, Spec. Steve Anderson recoiled and turned away. Briley’s body was discolored yellow-orange, and brain matter was visible through a deep head wound. Asked to help bring the body down, Anderson could not do it; Pvt. Terry Butler volunteered instead. Anderson still watched as they slid Briley from the carrier and blood ran down its white side. The account’s shifts between Lamb’s careful handling and Anderson’s inability to face the body show different responses to the same death, while preserving the physical details that made the loss impossible to keep abstract.

Narrative Significance

Briley’s presence in the book is brief, but his death is rendered through specific acts of recovery rather than through an account of his final moments. A remembered run, a head striking a wall, a body repositioned before rigor mortis, and the effort to lift him from an armored carrier give his loss a human scale. The contrast between remembered strength and the damaged body makes the aftermath of Super 61’s crash tangible to the soldiers who had to carry it.