On Distant Shores (Exiles Triology Book 1) (6 page)

Mike completed the paperwork and called the supply office to see if Staff Sergeant Drucker was in.  Specialist Winters answered the phone.

“This is supply, Specialist Winters, how may I help you Sir/Ma’am.”

“Hello, Specialist Winters, this is Chief Duggins.  How are you today?”

Specialist Winters was a young black man, dark complexion, tall, with the skinny frame that goes with miles of running.  He was a good soldier and his enthusiasm for the Army was a real pleasure to be around. 

“Sir, I’m doing fine.  How may I help you today?” the young soldier inquired.

“I have a special request for munitions, and I need Sergeant Drucker to expedite for me.” 

“Sir, I’ll see if he’s in his office,” the Specialist stated.

“Roger,” Mike replied.

Mike was put on hold, and he couldn’t hear anything.  A few minutes later and a voice came on the phone.

“Mike, how are you today?”

It was Command Sergeant Major (Retired) Owens, once the 10
th
Special Forces Group Sergeant Major, and now Mr. Owens, who was a Government Services rank 11, or GS11.  Mr. Owens pulled a few strings with old friends to land a job as the government civilian that worked in supply for the unit.  And, since he was a weapons guy from way back, it was a good fit.

“Hey Sergeant Major, how are you doing today?”

“Mike, it’s Mister now, you don’t have to call me Sergeant Major,” Mr. Owens replied.

“Yeah, I know, but you deserve the respect, so I’ll probably keep up that habit for awhile.”

Mr. Owens chuckled, “Mike, Sergeant Drucker isn’t here right now.  But I can help.  When are you bringing down the paperwork for your munitions?”

“Ah, I guess word has gotten around, then,” Mike stated.

“Yeah, Major Salk sent me an email detailing what you would need for the mission.  When do you need it by?” Mr. Owens asked.

“Well, we’re going to palletize it tomorrow.  Can you have it ready to go in the morning?  I’d like to put the munitions on the bottom.  The weight helps stabilize the pallet.”

“Yeah, Mike, we can get that together.  Some of us may need to stay a little longer today, but that’s what young soldiers are for.”There was a slight pause, “Isn’t that right, Specialist Winters?”

Mike heard a muffled, “Roger that, Sir.” 

“Mike, don’t worry, we’ll have it ready to go for you in the morning.  Who’s coming down with the paperwork?” Mr. Owens asked.

“That would be Rob, Sergeant Major,” Mike replied.

Mike could hear the glee in Mr. Owens voice, “Good, I can screw with him about baiting young Lieutenants in the 3
rd
ACR.”

Mike laughed, “Yeah, we’ve been messing with him about that all day.  The only thing he can’t figure out, is who the hell told everybody about it.”

“Well, I may be old, but I still like to go and drink a beer and talk to the honeys,” Mr. Owens replied.  “Besides, when your son is one of the bouncers, you hear a lot of things.”  Mr. Owens changed topics back to munitions, “When’s he coming down?” he asked.

“Sergeant Major, I’ll send Rob down to you right now.”

“That would be great.”

“You have a great day, Sergeant Major.”

“Oh, I will.  I’ll let Specialist Winters do all the heavy lifting.”

Mike chuckled and hung up.  Mr. Owens was a great guy, but God help you if you screwed up something.  Mr. Owens ran the S4 shop with a meticulous attention to detail.

Mike yelled, “Hey Rob, can you come in here please?”

Rob appeared at his door.

“Rob, can you take these papers down to Mr. Owens?”

Rob reached forward and took the paperwork out of Mike’s hand.  He looked it over, double checking what Mike had written on the paperwork.  Mike waited to see if Rob had any questions.  Rob finished and said, “Yeah boss, I can get this down to Sergeant Drucker.”

Rob turned and left the office.  Mike heard the door to the team room open and shut.  Mike got up from his desk and walked into the team room.  “How’s it going?”

Tom looked up and nodded, “everything here is in good shape.  We busted the dust off it.  We’re going to pack them in the travel cases next, and get them down to the armory.  I’ll make sure that the weapons we need are left up front so we can grab them first thing tomorrow morning.”

Mike smiled, knowing that Tom wouldn’t ever let any weapon get dusty, “Good work.  Tomorrow, I need you and Rob to go down and get the munitions from supply so that we can get it all on the pallet.  Sergeant Major will probably have it on the dolly waiting for you with Specialist Winters standing by to push it out for you.”

“Roger boss.”

Mickey was pulling up travel cases and setting weapons into them, “So, Chief, does the Sergeant Major know about Rob’s weekend?”

Mike nodded, “Who do you think told everybody about it.  I imagine that young Specialist Winters is about to hear some things that will give him mental images he will never forget, no matter how much he would hope to. That man could out swear a devil in a whore house.  Rob is going to get so much grief from the Sergeant Major.”

People are usually quite unimaginative when describing the act of intimacy between consenting adults, usually resorting to a few select curses.  Mr. Owens possessed the soul of a poet and the tact of a Bedouin goat farmer.  He was able to describe the act of coitus in amazing prose, which often stunned people into submission when he started.   He was such a master at couching his vernacular in subtle, sarcastic terms that many people didn’t recognize the insults levied at them. If you were not the target, it was a joy to listen to his mastery of carnal physical juxtaposition.

Mike jumped in and helped the guys with the cases.  Soon everything was prepped and ready to go.  Tom secured a dolly to transport the weapons on.  Mike, Mickey, and Tom started placing the cases of weapons on the dolly.

Everett stepped out of his office and raised his hands up as if he was a soccer referee signaling a goal, “I’ve completed all NCOERs.  I can have a life again without being tied to a computer.”  NCOERs were the evaluation reviews for sergeants in the Army.

Mike asked, “Really?”

Everett conceded, “Okay, mostly not be tied to a computer.”

Once again, Mike asked, “Really?”

“Man, you’re crushing my hopes and dreams here.”

Mike, Tom, and Mickey laughed.

“Well, at least you won’t have to worry about computers or reports next week.  You just have to worry about the after action report once we’re done.”

The door opened, and Rob walked into the team room, “Christ Mike, you could have warned me.”

“And, what would be the fun in that?” Mike asked.

Rob shook his head, “I don’t think most of that is anatomically possible, though there were a few suggestions that I would like to talk to Wendy about.”

“Who’s Wendy?” Everett asked.

“The blond from this weekend.  The one that I got in the fight over.”

Mickey cocked his head sideways.  “You mean you’re actually contemplating going out with the same woman twice?  You actually remember her name?”

Tom got a concerned look on his face, “Rob, man, you can’t do that to me, I live vicariously through you.”Tom married his high school sweetheart when he was 19, soon after he joined the Army.  He had three young children, and, as he put it, “A sex life measured by the sleep cycle of small children.”

Mike asked, “How did Specialist Winters take it?”

Rob shook his head slowly, “Dude, really.  He’s scarred for life.  I didn’t know black men could blush like that.  At one point, when Mr. Owens was talking about a big girl, a black cat, and a spatula, he actually had to get up and leave the room.  I couldn’t tell if he was laughing or crying, but I think he was having trouble breathing.”

Everyone started laughing.  Mr. Owens was always a good education for the younger guys around him.  They were still chuckling as they transported the guns to the armory.

--------------------------------------

              “I hate the military,” Jo wasn’t taking the news about Mike missing the ultra sound well.

              “I know,” he sympathized.

              She pointed at him, “Don’t do that.”

              “Do what?” he asked.

              “Patronize me.”

              He held his hands up, “Not my intent at all.”

              “And Gary knows about the ultra sound?” she asked.

              Mike nodded, “Yes, I mentioned it before he told me about the mission.”

              “And he still wants to send you?”

              Mike nodded, not willing to risk speaking at this moment.

              “And there is nobody else that he can send?”

              Mike nodded, “The other teams are all on mission.  We are the only team with people still on leave.”

              She glared at him, “And you have to go?”

              Mike nodded again, “different service, better to have an officer there, and Captain Bostak isn’t back from leave yet.”

              She thought for a moment, “I can call Rose to talk to him.”

              Mike’s eyebrow rose, and he grew very still.  He had a warning look in his eyes, “That would not be a good idea at all.”

              Jo thought a moment longer, then the tension in her body released, and her shoulders dropped in defeat.  “So you’ll be gone for three weeks?” she asked.

              Mike was at the sink in the island, making sure most of the food was off the dishes before he put them into the dishwasher.  Jo was on the other side of the island, facing him. 

              Tension eased, and he spoke softly, “Yeah, baby, we leave Monday morning and then we’ll be back in three weeks.”  Mike watched Jo mull this over in her mind, knowing he wasn’t completely out of the woods yet.  Mike worked in silence, knowing that Jo needed time to come to grips with the mission.

              Jo walked over and sat at the table, watching Mike prepare the dishes for cleaning.  She was very unhappy, but it wasn’t Mike’s fault that he wouldn’t be there for the ultra sound.  It was the damn military again.  She couldn’t wait until he was retired from the Army. 

The dogs were outside so that Mike and Jo could enjoy their meals without enduring the sad eyes and searching noses while they ate eggplant lasagna.  Vegetable dishes were such a disappointment to the dogs.Hescrapedfood into sealing plastic holders for leftovers on Thursday.  There wasn’t a lot left of the lasagna.  Mike was a very good cook.  That was one of the things that attracted Jo to him, that and his sense of humor.   She went out with several military guys when she first arrived at Fort Bragg, North Carolina and most of them were way too serious about themselves, a little on the arrogant side.  After some of the egos she ran into, dating Mike, with his self-deprecating humor, and easy going personality, had been a breath of fresh air for her.  They went out on a few dates, and then he asked her to come over for dinner.   After the beef tenderloin cooked with rosemary and garlic, the cabernet sauvignon from Argentina, and the tiramisu for desert, she was very impressed.  She didn’t want to leave that night, and he didn’t want her to leave.  When she woke up the next morning after a very close and loving performance the night before, she found that Mike had gotten out of bed and made her a three cheese omelet, she was in love.  The next few months were amazing, and Mike proposed.  She said yes, even though it had only been three months.  He told her that he was leaving for a new assignment at Fort Carson, Colorado, and he could not contemplate a life without her.  He didn’t want to have a long distance relationship.  He wanted her to go with him to Fort Carson.

              Her family was stunned by the news.  Her girlfriends from home were amazed that she was getting married.  They all thought that she would be the last one down the aisle, especially after hearing about her experiences with the men around Fort Bragg.  When they pressed her about getting married without really knowing the guy, she just replied, “He’s the one.”

              Her mom, Karen, flew down from Syracuse to talk her out of marrying Mike.  After talking to Jo, and meeting Mike, she flew back to New York and told the rest of the family, “He’s the one.”  After that, the family, somewhat reluctantly, was able to accept Mike as one of their own.

              It was completely different on his side of the family.  His dad, Jack, and his stepmother, Allison, were completely ecstatic that he was getting married.  They despaired that he would never get married.   He wasn’t a big dater, on the quiet side until he got to know someone, and with 50,000 military men in the area, available women were scarce.  Available women that were quality were even scarcer.  So they were overjoyed when the engagement and the wedding were announced.

              Three years later, now that they were expecting, the families on both sides were excited for them.  Allison and Karen both flew into Colorado Springs on the same weekend, so that they could spend some quality time with Jo.  Mike was peripheral during the whole weekend.  Allison hugged him, said “Girl talk, sweetie,” and shooed him from the proceedings.