Chapter 19

It was the most boring parade Lanh had ever seen. Except for the stripes on their arms and the hats on their heads, everyone was dressed in exactly the same uniforms, dark blue pants with light blue shirts, but that’s a big part of what made it boring. Good parades have different uniforms, Lanh counted ten different flights, it looked like about forty-five people in each. It would be cool if each flight had a different uniform. The worst part is that they weren’t marching, they were just standing at attention out in an enormous field. More bands would be better too. Right now, they only had one band, and they were kind of good. Every now and then, they’d hit a clinker. She mentioned that to Ralph, who sat next to her on her right.

“You have to give them credit, they have to complete the exact same training that all the other troops had to accomplish, but they also had to come together as a band in only eight weeks. All considered, they’re doing pretty good,” said Ralph.

Lanh had Ralph and Sandy on her right and Kim-ly on her left. They arranged themselves that way so that they could catch Lanh if she tried to jump up and run after Don. “Still got your charm bracelet on?” Kim-ly whispered in her ear.

“Oh yeah,” nodded Lanh with a smile. After a good 18-hour nap and a decent meal, Lanh was feeling much better. Kim-ly moved in with her and they slept together at night. It really helped Lanh to have someone there with her in those lonely hours, and it was fun to make fun of Kim-ly when she tried to help milk the cows.

As for Lanh’s nipple chain, the two had turned it into an actual charm bracelet, they found charms for Bemidji which was near their hometown of Grant Valley, the state of Minnesota, the state of Texas, and Lackland AFB, and added them to the chain. The extra weight of the charms caused a little more pull on her nipples. She mentioned her charm bracelet in her last letter to Don and how she’d like to add charms from everywhere they go but didn’t mention how she wore her “bracelet.”

Right now, she was wearing an extra small dark blue t-shirt that was almost tight enough to show off her hard nipples. It said in big white letters, “Proud to be an Air Force wife” on the front, and “Toughest Job in the Military” on the back. She considered wearing a jacket over it, but the high temperature in San Antonio today was expected to be in the triple digits, so she carried a Sunshine Bunny! backpack and if needed, the shoulder straps could cover her nipples.

Each flight had a short guy (or gal) up front carrying a small flag on a long pole, which Ralph informed her was a guidon, a holdover from olden times. At the start of the ceremony, all the guidon carriers, along with the flight’s senior TI, walked up to the presiding NCOs in the middle of the field and presented their guidons. The announcer said, “The Commanders Excellence Streamer is awarded to the thirty six ninety seventh training flight,” as a high-ranking NCO attached a gold-colored streamer to one of the presented guidons.

“That’s Don’s flight!” squealed Lanh, and as the guidon bearers turned back to their flights, Don’s flight suddenly snapped to attention and all shouted ”Đi đi mau!” in unison, then snapped back to parade rest. Lanh jumped up and shouted, “You tell ‘em baby!” causing laughter in the section of the stands that could hear her.

Eventually, all the flights passed in review, marching in formation around the parade field as the band played marching music. The band broke into a familiar tune, one Lanh had heard from several old movies. She even knew some of the words,

Off we go into the wild blue yonder, Climbing high into the sun; Here they come zooming to meet our thunder, At ‘em now, give ‘em the gun!

It was then that Lanh finally realized that this wasn’t a morning stroll, or a chance to show off their pretty blue uniforms. This was a celebration of the culture of the Air Force, of patriotism, of tradition, of esprit de corps.

Down we dive, spouting our flame from under, Off with one helluva roar! We live in fame or go down in flame. Hey! Nothing’ll stop the US Air Force!