Learning to Fly

"Make the call, Captain. I'm thinking there are some folks back at the unit that might like to hear the news." Ed said over the intercom.

"Oh, shit! I almost forgot. As low as we were in that little valley with line of sight transmission they probably don't know."

Her deep blue eyes were moist as she composed herself to make the all important radio call.

"Champion operations, this is Champion two-six."

"This is Champion Five actual, go ahead two-six."

"We are twenty minutes out from the medical pad with four additional souls on board. All are stable and conscious and...standby."

Jessica turned to the Air Force man closest to her. He gave her four fingers and then circled his thumb and forefinger.

"With no life threatening injuries. Champion two six...out."

Over his initial objections, the Major accepted his fate and accompanied his air crew to the hospital for examination---although he did refuse a stretcher. All Jessica could do was grin like a silly little girl as tears filled her eyes.

"Take us home, Ed; I'm all flown out for the night."

"You got it, ma'am. I've got the aircraft."

"You have the aircraft."

The appearance of the very shiny helicopter with two stars painted on the front parked in front of the operations hut quickly brought her back to a level of composure more suitable for a flight rated, combat tested Army Captain.

Exiting the aircraft and donning her cap, she marched toward the Major General, came to attention and reported. He appropriately returned her crisp salute.

"At ease, Captain. First, let me apologize to you and every one in this unit. I have chewed some serious ass in the last half hour---not to mention relieving at least two senior officers for gross stupidity—and I may not be done yet on that count. I was out of country briefing the combatant commander. The order forbidding the Search and Rescue team from doing their job was about as wrong headed as any order ever given. It violates everything we hold sacred.

"It gratifies this old war horse no end to realize that we have junior officers that recognize bullshit when they see and hear it and aren't afraid to put their careers, necks---and lives---on the line and do the right thing in the service of their comrades at arms. Well done, Captain, well done indeed. I'm very proud to shake your hand."

"Thank you, sir."

"Do you remember the day I pinned those Captain's bars on you?"

"Vividly, sir."

"I challenged Major Davis on appointing you as platoon leader. He had some very nice things to say about you. He said you were very special. That you indeed are! You make me proud to wear the same uniform, Captain Wainwright. Candidly, I'm a little old school. I wasn't exactly excited about the idea of women in combat. I was wrong---thank you for proving me so. Carry on, Captain, I have some more ass to go chew."

In the back of her mind she knew that if it had gone wrong in someway she and the two star would have had a very different conversation.

The Major thinks I'm very special!

To her chagrin, she didn't get the chance to see Major Davis the next day. All four crew members were medically evacuated back to the states. The Major had a fractured skull, a concussion and minor spinal compression fractures that needed to be evaluated and treated in a modern, stateside facility. She had later heard through the grapevine that he and the others had recovered completely and returned to full active duty.

Within a month of the new commander taking over, the order came to redeploy back to the U.S. Not long after, Jessica received permanent change of station orders. She would be attending her own officer advanced course. In the interim, she got some medals and got her picture on the cover of several magazines as the new face of the modern Army.

She completely lost track of her former CO although hardly a day went by when she didn't think about him. He had been the best officer and best commander she had ever known. Somewhere deep inside her heart she wondered if he had been even more.The best man she had ever known? He had unquestionably been a significant influence on her life. She chuckled as she thought about the irony.You taught me how to really fly; you taught me how to lead...how to command. And I in turn hauled your skinny butt out of the boonies and brought you home. A fair trade?

Jessica got her own branch command immediately following her advanced course followed by the obligatory staff assignment. She did a stint in a major headquarters and even served as a general's aide. To her shock, she was selected for promotion to Major well ahead of her contemporaries and barely four years after making Captain. A few days prior to actually pinning on the rank of Major, the command list was released with her name on it. She would be the first female Army Aviator to command a line aviation unit.

The Major General who had pinned her Captain's bars on her lapel was now a three star general, a corps commander in her chain of command and he had requested the honor of promoting her to Major. He brought a familiar face with him: Lieutenant Colonel Jim Davis, the Corps Aviation Officer, recently graduated from the War College and slated for a battalion command within the year.

Jim beamed with pride when he saw her; she beamed right back at him. Four years had been a long time. She'd missed him more than she could have imagined but even a quick hug wouldn't have been appropriate in public in uniform.

"General, I guess we better get this show on the road."

"What's your hurry, Jim? It's a beautiful day for a promotion ceremony."

"With all due respect sir, if you don't hurry up and promote Captain Wainwright to Major, I can't ask her out to dinner---which is something I've thought about doing for the last four years."

"How are you with that idea, Captain?" the general said with a smile.

"I'd like that very much, General...very much indeed."

"Outstanding! Let's get this show on the road!"

The two of them had a few minutes to chat at the brief reception which followed the promotion ceremony.

"That Distinguished Flying Cross looks very good on you, Major."

"As does yours! Funny, I've never seen you in a Class A uniform before. Am I to assume the Purple Heart is a result of..."

"The one medal I never wanted to wear. I tried to fight it since my injuries were the result of the crash, not hostile fire but...as far as the DFC, that's from the last war before the one you and I shared."

"If it hadn't been for hostile fire, you wouldn't have gone down and been injured."

"Something like that...not to mention spending a few weeks in a hospital."

"As you certainly know, the Army sent engineers in to clear the crash site and recovered that bird---sent it back to Fort Rucker for detailed analysis. I read the reports; you were not only cleared of any culpability, the unanimous opinion of the board was that there was no way in hell you got that thing down in one piece."

"It's funny; I probably wouldn't have in a Huey but at the same time when all that automatic stuff gives out that baby is a real bitch to fly---particularly without a tail rotor! Still, the armor plating over critical components, the ability to sustain a vertical impact three times what a Huey could have survived, the advanced crash-worthy fuel system and a lot of luck keeping it between the trees and landing reasonably level kept us alive. The front end definitely needs reinforcement; that damn instrument panel crumpled up like an aluminum can---we came in nose down due to the center of gravity shift from the tail rotor loss. The new ones off the line have made improvements in that area and as the older ones go in for third echelon overhaul they're being modified.

"Not checking those batteries on the emergency radio still pisses me off. I was in a hurry and just a little lazy. I didn't want to walk all the way back to my hut to get my flight gear so I took the co-pilot's vest, radio and helmet. You know what they say about assumption."

"I noticed a new procedure was put into effect Army wide soon after that. Batteries replaced on a set basis and radios live checked with operations each day."

"I might have had something to do with that."

A few minutes later and out of sight of prying eyes and in spite of military protocol concerning signs of affection while in uniform, their hands met and clasped. Jessica stopped, turned and moved in close.

"Kiss me, Lieutenant Colonel Davis."

"With pleasure, Major Wainwright."

That kiss told each of them almost everything they needed to know about the other. Another special kiss a few months later at the front of the post chapel would tell the world---at that instant neither of them had any inkling where things were going or how quickly.

"You mentioned dinner?"

"Absolutely! Let's get dressed up. There is a really neat place down on the river, terribly over priced but quite exceptional. Let's head out early so we can catch up, say...1800?"

"That'll work. Until I take over my command I'm pretty much in a 0730 to 1630 mode."

"Where are you living?"

"I've rented an apartment for six months---it's actually between the main gate and the river. Here's the address. How about you?"

"It looks like I'm here for three years at least so I took the big plunge and bought a house, ah...on the river. It's an antique and needs some work but its got...character."

The two field grade officers exchanged another quick kiss and then departed for their respective responsibilities.

***

As Jessica dressed for her dinner date many hours later she chuckled at how impulsively she had asked him to kiss her. It had just seemed right...it had felt more than right. As she examined her thirty-one year old form in her full length mirror she was not remotely displeased with the image. Her fair complexion and short blond hair perfectly accentuated her only luxury item of apparel, a designer black dress...the quintessential little black dress. A pearl choker with simple earrings to match, a touch of blush, a little color on her lips and she did not resemble anyone's preconceived notion of what a U.S. Army major was supposed to look like. The thin, elegant black pumps were the crowning touch.

She met him at the door exactly at 1800; of course he was punctual...he was an Army Aviator for God's sake. She was ready to go when he arrived. She remembered something he had said years earlier when they had trained as a unit for troop insertions:Army Aviation is never late and never early---they are always right on time---to the second.

He looked good—damn good! She'd never seen him in a civilian suit before---wasn't sure she'd ever seen him in anything civilian. The man wore good clothes well.

"Nice suit, Colonel! I'm doubting that you picked that one up off the rack at the PX."

"Right you are! I spent some time in the Pentagon after we parted working for the director of Army Aviation---a one star---and we wore suits a lot more than we wore uniforms. He got promoted, came down here to take over a division and then the three star snatched me away to be his aviation officer."

"You're getting a command too, an aviation battalion as I recall?"

"The other division not yours---not that I wouldn't enjoy having you as one of my company commanders, but then..."

"We couldn't go to dinner together?"

"You read my mind!"

The car was her next surprise.

"Jim, somehow I always pictured you as a pickup man. This is positively...elegant?"

"When we first met I did own a pickup truck. With all the work the new house needs I may end up getting one again. My boss in DC hated staff cars and hated driving. After he ragged on me one time too many about the damn truck, I traded it for something more...civilized. If I forgot to mention it in view of my limited dating experience over the last few years, you look positively stunning."

"Thank you."

Dinner was relaxed and elegant. They took their time, caught up on their respective military careers and related their life experiences prior to the Army. They were in fact from opposite ends of the continent and had grown up in very different environments although it quickly became evident that they had both enjoyed nurturing families and possessed similar value systems and religious backgrounds.

Their world views were similar. As she thought back to that conversation she had had years earlier with Sharon, the unit XO, during which she had wondered if it was possible if Jessica Wainwright and Jim Davis had enough in common to have a meaningful relationship, the absurdly simple answer hit her like a ton of bricks. Her startled expression elicited a response.

"What?"

"Years ago when I was relegated to admiring you from a respectful distance and really only knew you professionally, I suppose I never envisioned this moment...getting to know each other as...as a man and a woman. I wondered back then if we really would find anything in common out of uniform---not that any alarm bells are going off---you?"

"Not remotely."

"Good! Because it just hit me that all of this is less important than I thought it would be back then."

"You finally figured it out?"

"I just figured it out! Jesus! It doesn't get much simpler. We have things in common that 99.99% of the people in the world will never have---the Army, flying...serving together in combat...understanding the rigors of command...trusting each other with our lives..."

"So you see some future here?"

" I hope so! I'm not into the dating scene, Jim...not interested in...a casual..."

"Me neither."

"Thank goodness. How far is your new home from here?"

"Ten minutes."

"Let's pass on dessert."

"You read my mind."

I told you at the beginning that this wasn't a stroke story. Suffice to say that their first coupling was suitably amazing, the earth moved and everything was as it should be. The final piece of the puzzle was snapped into place. In the early morning hours, wrapped in each other's arms they chatted about the future...their future...together.

"After my command, I wouldn't mind..."

"Getting pregnant?"

"Yeah...a couple of times, maybe?"

"That works."

"Attitudes and policies within the Army are changing...for the most part we should be able to serve on the same installations."

"So I'm told."

"What are your plans...career wise?"

"Jess, all I ever wanted to do was make Major and command an aviation company. I could have been happy retiring after that---hell I could retire tomorrow. But now I've got the chance to command a friggin' aviation battalion! That's pretty hard to walk away from. Assuming I don't screw up, full bull is almost a lock. How about you?"

"I'll juggle it as long as I can but not if it interferes with being a wife and a mommy. I love the Army; I love flying. If it gets to be more than I can handle, I'll resign and check out the reserves. Are you okay with that?"

"As long as you're happy and we're together."

"What took you so long...to come back and find me?"

"Well, I could ask you the same question! Jess, I was attracted to you way back then but I couldn't show it. With age comes wisdom. I realized that after four years during which you were the only woman I ever thought about---and the neatest woman I'd ever known--- it was high time to test the waters. I didn't know if you saw me as..."

"Someone I could fall in love with?"

"Well...yes."

"Your timing was perfect! Oh, hell, I respected you, liked you, admired you---even worshipped you! It took a few years to realize that there wasn't a chance in hell I was ever going to meet a better man than you...and that I...loved you."

***

They were married a little over a month later with the corps commander serving as best man. Jessica left active duty almost exactly three years later. She had a baby to raise and they were working tirelessly to have a second one.

Jim made full colonel and ultimately returned to Fort Rucker, Alabama, to take over as President of the Aviation Test Board, a position he held for four years before electing to retire rather than accept a promotion and relocation to another post. Both he and Jessica became civilian contractors and flew for many years as test pilots for the Army.

Both of their children, a boy and a girl, ultimately followed in their parents' footsteps and wore the wings of a U.S. Army Aviator. Jim and Jessica are retired and living on a few acres just outside of Enterprise growing peanuts and watermelons. They are a deliriously happy couple. Look them up next time you're in southeastern Alabama; they're in the book. Don't forget to thank them for their service.

Edited by Techsan