Tuesday, April 22, 2014

ESCAPE - Chapter 15

   On Sunday the troops were being issued gear and equipment. Tomorrow the various platoons would go out either as Red Team or Blue Team warriors. The company commanders and executive officers of the six Texas Army National Guard Special Forces units had been assigned as staff of Red Team or Blue Team roughly by rank and time in grade. The commander of Blue Team was senior of all the unit commanders. He had served a tour in Bosnia and a tour in Iraq. The second and third unit commanders in terms of seniority had not served in any theater of war so they were passed over. The commander fourth in seniority had served a tour in Iraq and one Afghanistan. He was appointed commander of Red Team. 
   Nathaniel watched the first sergeants in the six units when the troops arrived, and when they were setting up. He walked over to two of them pointed to the newly minted staff officers and said quietly, “You are the Blue Team sergeant major and you are the Red Team sergeant major.” The six units varied in strength. He was able to pick three units for Blue Team and three units for Red Team whose combined strengths were nearly equal.
   Nathaniel walked over to the group of officers with two large envelopes. In each one were maps, initial tactical location for the Team, bumper numbers of the vehicles assigned to it, and the location of its fuel and supply dumps.
   “You have one-half hour to study the contents of your envelope, divide responsibilities, and move your men out of this area. Any contact with local civilians is to be respectful but wary. Nothing in the rules says the other Team can’t dress up in civilian clothes and use civilian vehicles. Just pay for what you use! This isn’t Afghanistan.”
   He walked over to the large body of troops and told them,
   “Smoke them if you’ve got them. If you have a cell phone, get rid of it now. Any cell phone taken to the field must be destroyed completely and immediately by anyone who sees it. The enemy can track you by the emissions from your cell phone. Get rid of them now. In less than half an hour those two temporary sergeant majors are going to come over here and start barking orders to the three units assigned to them.”
   He walked away and went to the Humvee assigned to him. It was marked in large block letters “EVALUATOR”. He had it loaded with his field gear plus an assortment of pyrotechnics and other training devices such as trip flares, mock claymore mines, and sound effects such as recordings of incoming rounds, machine gun fire, people talking in a foreign language and laughing. His job was to infiltrate, terrorize them, wake everyone up, and disappear. That was his night time work.
   During the day he was grading the officers on the performance of their men. They were out there in the cold and rain or snow for two weeks. The other Team might find their food and fuel cache and steal it or destroy it. They would still have to stay out in the field and manage, however they could. Nathaniel was the only one who knew the initial tactical positions of both Teams. He was the only one who knew where both of the food and fuel locations were. If he found one unguarded, he might destroy it himself!
**********
   I was able to get on the road by 11 a.m. I drove to El Dorado, Arkansas and from there to Ruston, Louisiana. At Ruston I turned onto I-20 West which goes directly to Pecos, Texas. It is a long distance. I planned to go as far as Tyler, Texas on Tuesday. Then I hoped I could make it to Pecos by Wednesday night. That leg of the journey is over 500 miles. It was 9:30 p.m. when I reached the motel in Tyler. I had a small suitcase packed for that one night. I was so tired that I just took off my clothes, hung them up, washed my face, brushed my teeth, and jumped into the bed. I was asleep before my head hit the pillow.
   I hadn’t left a wake-up call so I slept until past 8 a.m. There was breakfast at the motel, but I saw they had some breakfasts bagged up for those who were in a hurry. That was me. I went back to my room, grabbed my suitcase, put a tip on the nightstand, and went back down to check out. I took a bag breakfast, carried it and my suitcase to the car, went back in for two cups of robust coffee, and I was on the road. I drove all day, most of the time 70 mph, stopping only for lunch, gasoline, and rest area toilets.
    I arrived in Pecos at 9:30 p.m. I hadn’t stopped for supper so I drove through a McDonald’s and bought a chicken sandwich, a salad, and ice tea. I took it with me to the motel. It was 10 p.m. by the time I checked into the motel, carried two days luggage to my room, carried the McDonald’s meal to my room, washed up and sat down to eat.
   The next morning I slept in. It was 9:15 a.m. when I woke up. I hurriedly showered and dressed so that I could get down to breakfast before it closed at 10 a.m. There were two waffle makers, but the batter was all gone. The hash browns and omelets looked tired and unappealing. There was still plenty of oatmeal in a crock pot. I took some of that, put some milk and brown sugar on it, got a bowl of fruit salad, and put an English muffin in the toaster. Together with robust coffee it was a satisfying breakfast. I put my clothes in drawers or on hangers and set my shoes and slippers by the easy chair. Then I left a tip on the nightstand and went out for the day.
   The first thing on my list was to find a Walmart. I got a few items that I had forgotten to pack. I bought a carton of water and a cheap foam cooler. I went to the electronics department, bought a “throw away” phone and asked the clerk to activate it for me. He objected. I showed him the sign “Free Activation”.
   “But that means for smart phones when you buy a two year contract.”
   “It doesn’t say all that. It just says, ‘Free Activation’. Call your manager.”
   “Oh, all right. He angrily took the phone from me.” He asked for my name and address.
   “Montana? You sure are a long way from home.”
   “I am. Now you know why I want my cell phone activated – so I can call home.”
   After I left Walmart, I called Joy.
   “Mrs. Muldoon? This is Reverend Sterner. I am in Pecos for a couple days and I wondered when it would be convenient for me to meet you. It is getting close to lunch time. Could we meet some place for lunch?”
   “Reverend Sterner, you come here to my house. I’ll fix some lunch and you and I can have a long talk together.”
   Joy gave me directions and I started for her house. When I arrived, Joy came out to meet me.
Joy sat me down while she fixed our lunch. I looked around. The furnishings were plain and inexpensive. Her clothes were clean but plain. The house was very clean. When I went into the bathroom, I noticed how clean it was – surprising when two children lived here.
   Lunch was tomato soup, a chicken salad sandwich, and jello with fruit in it. We had black currant tea.
   “Joy, have you heard from Nathaniel?”
   “He called a couple Fridays ago and said that he probably wouldn’t be able to call or write for the next two and a half weeks or more. That’s the life of a soldier.”
   “Nathaniel sure thinks a lot of you. I’ve never known him to be interested in a woman. He called me up not long after he met you. I’m sorry that my Laura isn’t alive. She would have been so happy. Your name is what Laura wanted for Nathaniel and all of our boys – Joy.”
   “You and your wife had four sons?”
   “Yes, Nathaniel is the youngest. The oldest is Philip. He’s a doctor in Montana. The next is Thomas. He’s a lawyer in Atlanta, Georgia. The third is Matthew. He’s a certified public accountant in Charlotte, North Carolina. Philip has a boy and a girl, Thomas has three girls, and Matthew has two boys.”
   “I was an only child. I have a boy and a girl. Their father was killed in Afghanistan.
   “You said Nathaniel thinks a lot of me. After my husband was killed, I decided that I was just going to concentrate on being a good mother to my children and try to make up for their not having a father. I didn’t go out with men. I turned down dates. Nathaniel and I met when my car broke down on a state road that didn’t seem to have any traffic. Nathaniel came along in his truck. He was so helpful and thoughtful. My kids just took to him from the time we met. He has been so good to me. My kids look forward to his visits. Just little things. He asked Sean to help him wash my car. He fixed a doll bed of Eibhlin’s that was broken. He gets down on the floor and plays with them and watches their dumb DVDs with them. Reverend Sterner, I love him. If he doesn’t ask me to marry him soon, I’m going to get down on my knees and ask him.”
   She giggled and I smiled for the first time in a long time.
   “Joy, when he does ask you, or you ask him, I would be honored and grateful if you would wear this as your engagement ring. It was Laura’s engagement ring. I gave it to her when I was in the Air Force.”
   We both had tears in our eyes when I left. In the car I called Joe Sheetz to see if there had been any calls for me
   "How are you doing Joshua? I’ve been keeping you in my prayers. You had two nibbles on your data form. The executive presbyters of Tres Rios and Wyoming Presbyteries both called and asked me about you. I gave you a strong recommendation. Both of them asked for you to call them.”
   “Thank you, Joe. I guess that I am doing all right. I’ve heard the term “burn out” bandied about. I don’t know if that is what I have. I’m hoping this vacation will set me upright and on the track again. I met the young lady my youngest son is interested in. She is a fine young lady.”
   “Hang in there. I am praying that you get upright and on the track soon. The world needs more ministers like you, not one less.”
   I decided to wait until morning to call the two presbytery execs. Back at the motel I extended my reservation until Monday morning. I would spend a few days relaxing and reading. Maybe Nathaniel would come back this weekend. I called Joy to let her know my plans in case Nathaniel did come back this weekend. The rest of the evening I spent reading The Hobbit.
   The next morning, after breakfast, I called the two presbytery execs. The executive at Tres Rios talked to me for a good while on the phone.
   “Tell me, Reverend Sterner, how well do you speak Spanish?”
   “I don’t speak Spanish at all.”
   “We have a lot of people in this area who only speak Spanish or whose English is very poor. I personally try to dissuade prospective ministers who are not able to communicate in Spanish.”
   “So you require ministers in your presbytery to be fluent in the Spanish language?”
   “The Presbytery doesn’t require it, but I personally try to persuade all the parties concerned of the wisdom of calling a minister who can speak the language of a large segment of the population.”
   “Thank you for your candor.”
   I can scratch Tres Rios off my list.


No comments:

Post a Comment