Chapter 3

Wednesday went almost exactly like expected while I was able to begin repairing files and sorting receipts. I needed some accounting paper so I went to the office to see what they had in their stock room. They had six, eight, and ten column. I had no idea what I would need, so I took a small ten column pad.

I began listing the item, the date, for what vehicle number, military part number, the suggested retail price in the price book, the actual price, and the date paid. Eight columns would have done the trick. But I might come up with another item to record. Oh yeah, how about the vendor name and number. Now just one column left.

I shoved all the receipts into my US Mail basket and slid my big ten column pad on top. This was going to be homework. I brought four of the main parts catalogs with me so I would have the correct part numbers and the suggested retail price.

Every shelf was dusted, the floor was mopped, all the books, catalogs, and military regs were in their folders on the shelves when I looked around. The place needed painting and I would do that next month. No sense in having a trashy office. This wasn't a tough job and I did have a couple of guys who busted butt every day, or at least looked and acted like it. They asked me questions if they didn't understand something and I was usually able to find the answer, so we were a cohesive group.

I put my completed receipt book on the shelf Thursday morning, but worried over it as I had seen about half the invoices had overcharges or illegal service charges. I would address that, but I wanted to discuss how we would handle the driving school with the Lieutenant. I waited until eight fifteen to make sure he had his coffee and then went to see him. He had a mean frown on his face and was being curt with me. I asked if there was any special way he wanted to handle the driving school. He sat back in chair and said, "Right, you do have the school this weekend. Do you think you can pull it off?"

"I have the ditches dug and some berms to cause rollovers in the light vehicles. We have two of each vehicle ready and tested. It should go well depending on how many men we have."

The man said, "I just found out we have no food. I would usually have outside people here to supply supper tomorrow night, three meals on Saturday, and two on Sunday. The caterer says they have another commitment and forgot to notify us. Shit, shit, shit, I don't know how to handle it."

I pointed at Winter Haven on his map of Florida National Guard units. "Call the Commander there and see if they can come here to feed us. It'll be out of your budget, but probably cheaper than a caterer. I'll send three trucks to bring all their equipment down if they need transportation."

"We only have two mechanics."

"And me, Sir. I still know how to drive."

He laughed, and said, "Let me call, or should I let you call? Oh, and cut the paperwork to issue yourself an Army driver's license. Since you haven't had the courses for the various vehicles, I'll have to sign it to override the requirement."

He called and had a long conversation with the Commander there. They had men to drive their trucks and could be down here by five thirty, setup before seven, and serving by eight. They needed power, water, and sewer. The Lieutenant had repeated each item and looked at me. I told him, "I'll get it done, not to worry."

I somehow figured there had to be a sewer connection near the barracks for temp trailers, and shower and comm vans. I found three of them. I had the mechanics run hoses to them to make sure they didn't backup. There were two-twenty and one-ten outlets on poles and outside the barracks. Water was available from several faucets that stood up from the ground and marked by large orange wooden trees. What was good was the area for cook group was next to the barracks and wouldn't interfere with the driving school. This was going to work.

I went back to the Lieutenant and said we were set. He wanted to see it all, so I took him where the electrical outlets were, showed him the sewer openings that had been tested, and the water faucets. He asked, "How did you know they would be here?"

"This place was built for World War II and upgraded during the Korean War. I'll bet we have a budget for improvements that we're not using. We'll look at it next week. Do you want to run a Jeep over the course, meanwhile?"

The Lieutenant said, "Sure, let me give it a try. The guys even mentioned that you rolled one over doing it the first time."

I made sure he had his seatbelt and helmet on and sent him on his way. He made the first berm fine, but lost it on the next one and did a double rollover before landing on the wheels. The man was laughing hard when he drove back to where the vehicles were lined up, and said, "You may have made the course too hard. That was fun, though."

Before he left, he said, "You should be the Lieutenant out here and not me. You haven't been here a week and you've straightened out years of things."

I told the man, "It's difficult to lead if you don't have anyone to lead."

He was laughing, and said, "That's it, you might as well find the stripes, because I'm getting you promoted tomorrow." He laughed all the way into the building.

I went in to ask the Sarge about whether I should plan on staying in the barracks tomorrow and Saturday. He said he didn't think it was necessary, but I might want to come in earlier so I could have breakfast with the other troops and meet everyone. I could do that. Dad would do the chores for me Saturday and Sunday.

The question had to be asked since I didn't catch how many the cook group was going to cook for. "How many men will be coming for the weekend?"

The Sergeant said, "Should be thirty two."

"How many will the barracks hold?"

"There are thirty two-man rooms on the top floor, and another fifteen on the first floor. There are fifteen singles for Officers. We don't have but three Officers, so we won't use all the rooms."

When I looked confused, he said, "They keep busting this unit up and they are now scattered everywhere. We'll build this up again, and they'll probably disperse us again. You may have resolved an ongoing problem with food by working with Winter Haven. They won't even have to set up sleeping quarters. I'm sure they'll enjoy a bunk instead of a sleeping bag on a cot. The Maids of Honor will be here at eight tomorrow morning to give the barracks a once over. All the bedding will be stripped with new bedding left on top. Everything will be dusted and the floors all mopped. They do the laundry for the barracks and they're cheap. Our guys pitch in five bucks a head for the service. No one bitches. The unit cuts them a nice check as well. We pay them about what laundry service would be. They might come in Monday to see how bad the place is and to see if they need to work on it ahead of the next camp weekend."

Well, shoot, I was planning on a hell of lot more people than under forty. We should invite some other armories to come use the course as long as it's up. I'll ask tomorrow.

No homework tonight, but I had some homework with my honey. We talked about how we wanted to remodel the upstairs for the baby. We had a bathroom, tub, and shower up there, but it would be nice to have it more open into the other bedroom. I was going to look at how the house was put together so I could decide how to open it up.

I told the family that I would be gone earlier than usual and would need Dad to do morning chores. I would also get home late depending on how settled everyone was. Dad said, "Yeah, but you're here at night to make Jeannie feel good. It also makes your mom and me happy too."

Dad went on, "When are you going to paint that nasty pickup of yours? You should put that down for a weekend coming up. I think it should be red or maybe yellow. White would be good or even a light blue."

I was laughing as I said, "Your pickup was painted ten years ago and could sure use another coat, Dad. You're picking on my dependable old truck that gets me where I need to be. I promise to get it painted so that I don't embarrass you."

My mean old man laughed at me.

I thought Friday was going to be very busy, but it wasn't. The Maids of Honor were on site at eight and gone by eleven. I did a walkthrough and was impressed. The windows were even washed. The Lieutenant paged me to his office over the armory public address system I didn't know we had, about ten. I knew I hadn't done anything wrong, so I wasn't worried. I did the door jamb knock and was waved in. The man stood and said, "Congratulations. You are now a corporal. You'll progress, but you'll need to take the tests now. An E-3 doesn't make much more, but you're serving your country. You'll receive some benefits over the years, and you'll be at least an E-6 or I'll have sent you to Officers Candidate School if we're still together four years from now."

"There will be a pile of rank patches that will come through. Sew them on then as the orders aren't here yet. You know your two men out there are both Staff Sergeants with more than ten years. Push those two to study for their rank tests so they can progress. You're a leader; you know how to do it."

I kept thinking how sad it was for our country to force the young men in the military to fight a terrible enemy for less than a hundred a month. Okay, so they sort of get free clothes, room, and board. But they don't even get a real free funeral. They get buried with a marker and a 'See ya later, Guy'. I wasn't an objector, but it didn't make sense to a farm boy.

I was surprised when a convoy of four deuce and a half trucks rolled in about three. I met them and was asked by their Lieutenant where they were to setup. I guided the trucks to where they were to be bivouacked and watched as an old Sergeant and the Lieutenant walked off distances and had a young troop drive stakes into the ground. The old Sarge came to me and said, "You guys are set up nice for us. This will be great."

I told the man, "Your men have rooms in the barracks, so there is no need to set up tents. We have good fans in most of the rooms. The Officers are in singles on the first floor, and there are more rooms than brass so you guys with a lot of stripes can sleep in singles too."

The Sarge was smiling and said, "We made a good deal on food and will plan on even better if you invite us back. We love to go and set up when it is convenient like this. The weekend guys get a chance to show they can produce. Let me get these guys going on getting the cook tent setup."

I had to ask, "How come you're so early?"

"The Lieutenant and I got excited and began calling the troops. You know how guys are. They love a chance to do something different. Sit back, relax, and we'll be cooking in an hour. Watch our dust."

My Lieutenant came out to see how everything was going and had me introduce him to the other Lieutenant. Those two sort of wandered toward the office building where I knew they would be telling stories in seconds.

My guys said, "Our guys better get here soon or all the good bunks will be gone. The bunks upstairs are a lot warmer because the airflow isn't as good."

"Let's go look and see if we can fix it. I know where to get fans in a hurry."

We went up the back stairs and looked at the second floor rooms. What the upstairs needed was a huge attic fan. In lieu of that, they could use a fan at each of the outside doors and a window fan for each of the rooms. Suck in cooler night air in each of the rooms, encourage the men to leave the doors open, and let the hot air be sucked out at both ends of the barracks' second floor. I counted windows and went to my office to call the local guy first.

"This is the National Guard to ask if you want to bid on a bunch of fans again. I want thirty twenty-four inch window fans and two thirty-six inch on stands. I need prices and can you deliver today?"

The guy asked, "What about that other order we talked about. What happened to it?"

"A store in Tampa beat your price by over thirty percent and delivered the same day. Do you want to bid on this?"

"Yes, we want to bid. Let me ask the owner and see what he wants to do."

I didn't want to hand around so I said, "Call me back at this number when you have a price. I have things to do."

I called the big store in Tampa and was able to get the same salesman. I told him what I wanted and he said to wait a second to see if he could get a bigger discount. I told him that I would pay for overtime for his people to deliver them this afternoon.

The price he gave me was lower per each unit than before, but he said, "You're stripping me of inventory. That's a lot of window fans."

"Do you have them and can you deliver them?"

"Oh yeah, I'll have them moving toward you in thirty minutes. Watch for a cloud of dust."

I laughed and said, "Bring 'em on."

The local guy called back with his bid about forty minutes after I had hung up from the Tampa store, and qualified it with the fact he couldn't deliver that quantity for ten days. I told him to sharpen his pencil for next time, if there was a next time. I honestly told him, "I made the purchase at about fifteen percent under your price while waiting for you to answer, and they will be delivered in an hour."

The guy slammed his phone down, but I heard him say, "The government doesn't move that quick. Who are these people?"

The fans arrived, were unboxed, and setup in the rooms. We had the two big fans at the doors working when the old Sergeant asked me, "Do you have more of those fans we could use on the cooking line? That's something we need to get.

I told the man, "I'll give you the tall fans from the motor pool shop and the two upstairs in the doorways if you need them. That ought to move some air around for your men."

My two guys kept one of the tall fans and took the others to the cooking line. The air was being blown through the line cooling the cooks down. Everything was working.

Our guys began coming in, stashed their gear in the rooms, and were back out smelling the food that was being prepared. The men cooking must have thought they were cooking for a lot more than what was going to be there. They opened a big fly tent with no sides but with portable picnic tables for everyone to eat when it was time for them to begin serving.

I stood back and smiled at how easy it was to resolve all these problems. Shoot, there was a budget that wasn't being used, so where was the money going? I knew my group could use more tools and some upgrades to the shop. We were being brought equipment to repair daily, and I only had two men. I needed to look into finding more men.

I followed when I saw my Sergeant and Lieutenant go through the chow line, and filled a metal tray with spaghetti, meatballs, delicious sauce, and was given two very good rolls. This was something quick for them to make and it turned out great. I think everyone had their fill, even though some of the really young guys were up for seconds. The cooks ate with us, and then directed how the men should scrape their trays and then brush them off in the soapy boiling water, followed by another boiling water dunk, followed by another dunk in cooler water. A man was dedicated to inspect the trays to make sure they were clean. All the utensils were put into a big basket that was submerged in boiling soapy water and jostled for several minutes. I was amazed to watch how the unit cleaned their equipment up and got ready to begin breakfast.

It was closing in on eight, so I said goodnight to all and advised I would be here early. I told my two men, "Come in at your regular time, but this is Saturday without overtime pay." We three laughed. Tomorrow was going to be fun. I was home, had a piece of pie and glass of milk, and was in bed by nine-thirty.

I was up before five and at the post by five forty-five. I knew the cooks would be busy and could smell biscuits baking. I walked over to the cooking line and the old Sergeant threw me a biscuit. I took a bite and swooned. "These are some of the best I've had. We are being treated great."

The old guy said, "No, we're being treated like more than a bunch of losers who can only cook. We have good clean quarters with fans everywhere. Look at the smiles on my men's faces. They are doing what they like to do and doing it for people who appreciate them. We'll be back for every camp weekend if you want us."

He looked around, and said, "We made too much food last night. Do you guys have a place for the hungry and homeless to get food? We need to donate that food somewhere it will be used. Find it for me."

I went into my office and looked at the phone book for homeless shelters or food providers to the hungry. The one that stood out was the Salvation Army that had a building downtown that served the homeless daily. I called that number and the call was answered even though it was early. I told the person who answered what the problem was, and they became excited. They asked how much food and how many would it feed. I told the lady to hang on and I'd find out. The old Sergeant came with me and told me they should have enough spaghetti and meatballs for at least sixty to seventy. The woman shrieked and said, "Can you bring it? We have pots to put it in, so bring it and we'll feed it for lunch. We ran out of food yesterday and dipped into today's. Please bring it."

I got the address and directions. I asked my guys for a working four by six and they handed me some keys. I drove the truck and the cooks loaded two giant pots of spaghetti and a huge pot of meatballs in that great sauce. They gave me six trays of rolls to go with it.

The old Sarge came with me and watched for the streets to turn on. We pulled to the back delivery door of the building and went to bang on the door.

A frail looking woman opened the door, and asked, "Are you the fellow who has the food?"

She ran back into the kitchen when I nodded, and reappeared with a stainless steel rolling cart with four big pots and another man to help. We dumped the spaghetti into two pots, the meatballs with sauce into one, and they found a couple of trays for the rolls. The small woman gave the old Sarge a hug and one to me before thanking us again and closing the door.

Our activity was already drawing a crowd of homeless. I'm sure they smelled the food as well.

We drove back to the post and had coffee while a couple of men washed the big pots we brought back. The Sarge said, "I see loudspeakers, let's get reveille going. It's time for the slackers to be up."

I went for the key to the office hung on the nail by the window, and went to the main office. It was just six-thirty, so I'm sure the two guys normally in the office wouldn't be there yet. I found the PA amp with a record player attached. The 45 rpm record that said reveille should be the one. I remembered how loud the page had been yesterday so I cranked the volume up a little more and cued the record. Oh boy, was that loud. I turned it down just a little, but let the record completely play through. If that didn't wake them up, nothing would. I looked through the records to find taps and the National Anthem. I wondered if we were slacking by not putting the flag up and taking it down daily.

I locked the office and went to be first in line for breakfast. The old Sarge said, "You're a good troop to be up and about so early. What's your place here?"

It took a bit to explain that I was brought on to manage the motor pool. I told him that we handled the heavy maintenance for this part of the state and needed more people. I advised him that I was looking for guys who wanted the security of the Guard but didn't want to go overseas. We were the place to be if he found a guy who wanted to learn how to work on all kinds of vehicles."

The guy laughed and said, "You should make a commercial. I'll look for a gear head who wants to stay here. Can you house someone and do you have some place for a single to eat?"

I told him, "I'm sure we do, and yes, we have great barracks that is even scheduled to have a TV in the dayroom."

We ate a good breakfast and the men from the barracks were coming out dressed for activity. We were going to have some fun.

I had everyone stay seated with breakfast finished, and I began telling them the theory of what we wanted to accomplish this weekend. Each person needed to be proficient in each vehicle. I told them they would make mistakes, but that was expected. They were learning and would be more proficient if they were called up. I told them about the course and how it might give some a tumble if they made a mistake in the smaller vehicles. All had to have their pots on with eye protection, driving gloves, and wearing a seatbelt wasn't just required, it was an order.

Look at me, a single stripe telling these other men with a hell of lot more stripes than me that this was an order.

I told all, "We will use a small vehicle over the obstacle course and a large vehicle over the proficiency course. One of the maneuvers they needed to do with the large vehicle is to back it to a loading dock and to not damage the dock or truck." We had two docks built that were just four by fours with a four by four to back up to. That was as good as I could do without damaging a vehicle.

Volunteers went first. The old Jeep that was being phased out, the M38-A-1, was the easiest, but it also lulled people into some unworthy self-confidence.

The people doing the bigger trucks began with the four by six or three quarter ton. We had all the canvas off the trucks for better visibility.

The party had started. The guy driving the older Jeep got it up on two wheels on the berm and was probably going to pee his pants but it came down and finished his run.

The next guy tightened his helmet and made sure his seatbelt was secure. He didn't need it because he paid attention and didn't try to take too steep an angle on the berm.

Each man drove a truck and Jeep one at a time. We were about a third of the way through by eleven o'clock or lunch time. Everyone enjoyed having a decent lunch of sandwiches on homemade bread. There were cold cuts, cheese, peanut butter, and jelly. Just like home. There were two types of soup for those who enjoyed a hot meal. There was hardly any soup left when we finished.

I went back over what our objective was and what we would be doing before we began again.

I noticed I was getting most of the men from the cook squadron queued up to drive the courses while the afternoon wore on. They mostly wanted to drive the heavy vehicles, but that's what they drove. My two men were constantly resurrecting the four by fours for the shipping dock.

I called a halt at four and told the men to refuel the trucks, check the oil, and park them for tomorrow. I went over who had driven the trucks and which ones. We had a couple of rollovers in the new Jeep, but no injuries or damage. I told all that I would have a list of what trucks each man still had to drive by morning.

My Lieutenant and Sergeant finally showed their faces for the first time since lunch. I was a little miffed as my two guys were my big help today, while those two office heroes didn't do shit all day. I guess they could get away with it because they were regulars and outranked me, and I was a green regular just learning.

This was going to be a long four years.

The relationships we were building with some other posts made it possible for us to host weekends for them. They would join us with what we were doing, but we had the cook squad as a constant to get us fed. Everyone profited because we were able to help them with their camp weekends and they helped with mine.

I had to hold my tongue by early November, and not laugh at Jeannie as she waddled around. We had everything arranged to where we would go for the birth and the car seat we would use to get home. The nice Ford had seatbelts to hold the new style infant and car seat.

Jeanie said she felt really strange and thought we might want to head toward the hospital on the morning of November fifteen. Mom called Bev who instantly showed up with Clint dancing around. I sanely drove to Melbourne trying to avoid all the bumps in the road I knew so well. I checked Jeannie in and gave them all my service information. The first doctor who examined Jeannie said she was going to have the baby, but it would be a while. I told all that I was going to run to the post and advise everyone I would be out a couple of days. It shouldn't be a problem because we were just past a camp weekend and a few weeks from the next.

The Lieutenant was acting all military and said that I had to suck it up and be at my post. I asked, "How about a week's leave. I have at least that much available."

The asshole said, "I don't have to grant that you know."

"Did I forget to say please, Sir? My wife is having a baby. I was here before the bell rang just like always but I'm asking for a little time to be with my wife while she's going through this. Please reconsider and let me have leave."

The Sergeant recruiter was standing at the door with a puzzled look. He even butted in, "What's the problem. The motor pool, which is the only thing you command, is operating so efficiently that you're being commended on it. Come on, Lieutenant, lighten up. The man has never been late, works seven days a week when we have a camp weekend and has put driving schools on twice."

The Lieutenant grunted and threw something at his waste can before saying, "Get out of here. You have a pass until a week from today."

I gave a quick 'Thank you' and got the hell out of there. The recruiting Sergeant was ahead of me and followed me out the door. He said, "I think he's having wife trouble. You know he doesn't make that much and I think his wife thinks he should be making more. He was passed over for Captain, but then he doesn't have a lot of trophies to show. You've done more for him than he's done for himself. Get out of here and I hope it's a boy."

Mom and Bev were in the waiting room when I went back to the hospital. Mom said the doctor told her a few minutes ago that it would be soon. It's too bad I couldn't be with her when the baby came. This was exciting.

A gown covered nurse stuck her head out and said, "It's a girl. You'll be able to see both in a few minutes."

I said to the two women, "Our little Janet is here. I think we both wanted a little girl so that we could name her Janet."

Both women gave me kisses and hugs. We settled down for a while until mom suggested, "Go use the pay phone and see if your dad answers. He'll go tell Clint."

I went to the pay phone and was prepared with a pocket full of quarters. I made the call and my friend Shirley was now on day shifts. I told her, "It's a girl" and I now have to tell the grandpas. Connect me to the farm.

Shirley rang the phone twice before my dad answered with a, "Is it here?"

"It's a girl, Dad. I haven't seen her yet, but she'll be beautiful just like her mother. Tell Clint, okay?"

"He's right here. We've been waiting for your call. I think we need to drive in to see this new baby."

"I'll watch for you two. Come on so you can see them together."

A nurse was about to lead mom and Bev out when I came back to the waiting room. I followed, although not invited. Jeannie was lying in the bed, sort of sitting up. She had the most serene smile on her face. She smiled at me and held her arms up to me. I gently hugged and kissed her, softly saying, "You brought us all a little Janet."

She told the two women that the doctor couldn't get over how red the baby's hair was and that it was too early for them, but she had thousands of freckles everywhere. I told the doctor that's what hooked my husband."

A nurse wheeled the baby in and said we would have to leave because Jeannie was going to try to feed her. Jeannie said, "Oh, come on. We're farmers and we're not bashful about nursing. It's natural and necessary. Little Janet will be happy her daddy was with us when she finds out he was here for her first meal."

The nurse obviously wasn't used to people being so open, but it was true. We were just a lot more natural about some things.

The nurse was going to take the rolling bassinet to the nursery when the feeding was complete, and Janet was burped. Jeannie asked, "Can we keep her for a while? We'll call you if she acts like she's in trouble in any way."

The nurse shrugged her shoulders and left the room. I suggested that either Mom or Bev go down to guide Dad and Clint up to the room. I checked on Jeannie and pulled her gown back together. She was happily dozing. Little Janet was sound asleep, not minding the bustling around everyone was doing.

A nurse came in and expressed some milk from Jeannie onto a microscope slide and left. I pulled her gown back together again.

The two men we called 'Dad' came in with Mom. Both of them stared at Jeannie, and then went to stand over Janet. It was an emotional moment for the two men, as another generation had begun. June still wasn't pregnant and Shelly was a few months away.

I thought about how this all started on Valentine's Day those four years ago in bed alone at home that night. I needed to go talk to Janet, but I'm sure she's watching and listening, and knows that we have a little Janet. God works in mysterious ways.