Chapter 12: Dumb Dead

Alarm Black–MOPP Level 4. Normally the men and women of Kunsan Air Base hate alarm black and MOPP level 4. You’re stuck in a shelter wearing your chem gear, full outer covering and gas mask, it’s toasty warm, which was nice in the winter but horrible in a hot, muggy Korean summer. When the alarm went off, Wedge saw Roxie’s truck diving into an empty aircraft shelter, and he followed her in. They closed the blast doors, and it became pitch black in the shelter.

Roxie waved an orange glow stick at Wedge and he grabbed his clipboard and radio and followed her. They ended up in the rear corner of the shelter and sat down. “You should have been there,” said Wedge. “The first shirt led the lieutenant into my room and Colonel Walker was outside in the hallway.” As he talked, someone shined a flashlight at them. The flashlight’s beam didn’t have a colored filter as required, so it was bright white.

“What are you doing sergeant?” It was Lieutenant Kenosha.

“I can’t understand what you’re saying,” said Wedge. “It’s all muffled.” The lieutenant asked again, this time louder. Wedge again said, “I can’t understand, can you understand him Sergeant Dawson?”

“Not a word,” she said.

There was a loud boom that rang the aircraft shelter like a bell. It sounded like somebody set off a simulator outside of the shelter. A bit of light at the front of the shelter showed that someone came in through the personnel access door.

At the same time the frustrated lieutenant was waving around his flashlight trying to talk to Wedge who kept saying, “I’m sorry, that mask of yours makes everything sound garbled, can you wait for the all clear?” The angry lieutenant pulled off his gas mask and said, “I need to have a word with you, sergeant.”

“Oh, why didn’t you say that?”

“STAND UP WHEN YOU SPEAK TO ME SERGEANT DONOVAN!”

As he said that, an NCO stepped up to the lieutenant and hung a “Dumb Dead” badge on the lieutenant’s collar. “Report to the rec center,” said the evaluator, a Senior Master Sergeant who was not wearing chem gear, mask or helmet, and was not taking any crap. He was wearing just his BDUs and a hat that said EET (Exercise Evaluation Team).

“Sergeant, I am a lieutenant, and I need to...

“You need to tell me your name, rank, and the last four of your social security number. Now.” That was the last time the lieutenant was seen for a while.

The exercise went on for nearly a full week. The sound of sirens and explosions rang through the Korean countryside. A series of Patriot Missile batteries were set up on base and occasionally, in the dead of night, they would move to a different point on base and set up in their new position. During the exercise, Roxie and Wedge would work their asses off all day long, launching, recovering, repairing, reloading and relaunching airplanes. Occasionally, the EET would set out fake craters to simulate bomb damage and they had to route the planes around the craters while the runway repair team repaired a fake runway somewhere else.

On day six of the exercise, there was a full push. Normally during the exercise, there’s an attack and everyone goes to shelter and gets a nap for a few hours. The last day was solid flying, recovering, and more flying. Everything that could get off the ground flew. When they got back to their dorm, they were too tired to eat. They set their MRE’s on the table in Roxie’s room and said, “That’s it.” Roxie came out of the bathroom in a t-shirt and skimpy shorts. Wedge had already showered and changed.

“I can’t keep my eyes open,” said Roxie, and she climbed into bed.

Wedge tucked her in and gave her a kiss on the cheek. “Nighty nite.”

“Tell me a story,” she said with a smile, then lifted the covers.

Wedge lay down next to her, and they snuggled together. Their body warmth warmed them up for the first time that cold, blustery day. “Once upon a time there was a beautiful princess and an evil bomb loader.”

“Oh no!” she whispered.

“And one day that evil bomb loader said, ‘Beautiful princess, I am going to eat you,’ and the beautiful princess said ‘Promises, promises.”

“Promises, promises,” Roxie said as she drifted off to sleep.

Unconsciously, she snuggled against Wedge, and he fell asleep too. They woke with Roxie’s head on Wedge’s shoulder; she was feeling so warm and secure until her alarm clock woke them. She reached up and shut off the alarm and they lay together in the darkness, trying to wake.