Chapter 26: UNASA Academy

We landed and were met by a 'follow me' truck. We were guided to the place we would be parking the Cessnas. There was a large bus waiting there to take us to our quarters. We made short work transferring the baggage. We closed up the planes. We were off to see the Academy.

The Home and Food Corps had done an amazing job. The rundown building of three weeks ago looked spiffy and 1940 new.

Since we were all couples we went to the couple's quarters. Our accommodations officers had a package for each of us when we got off the bus. The envelope of that package had our room assignment under our name.

We all went to our rooms. The rooms were Spartan at best. At least there was a double bed, two chiffarobes, and two desks in each room. Two sets of linens were on the bed.

We barely got our stuff stored before our accommodations officer contacted us on net and instructed us to meet at the front door in five minutes.

I looked at Cynthia. She looked back. We went outside.

We met an officer of the academy. He had us form up in two lines. He introduced himself as Lt. Fritz Maytag. He would be our drill instructor for the next four months. He was aware that we had not had an evening meal. He shared with us that, except for transportation to and from the flight line, our primary mode of transport would be by foot. We would jog everywhere we went. This was a part of our physical conditioning. He started us off on a tour of the academy grounds.

We jogged past the administration building. We jogged past our classrooms, the auditorium, the gym, the physical endurance building, the pool and the hospital. We finally jogged to the Cafeteria. We met the Feline Squadron and the Solvang squadron there. We each had a DI. We were given thirty minutes to eat dinner.

The academy cooks were not as good as Maria. We had a hamburger, tossed salad, some unrecognizable vegetable, a peach and ice cream. At least it was not a MRE! The vegetable turned out to be broccoli. Hey it was food. I looked at Tiger's table.

He agreed with me. At least it was not a MRE!

At exactly twenty eight minutes we were ordered to bus our plates and meet outside.

We got to jog to the gym. We went inside for our evening Tai Chi. Fritz was a Tai Chi master and led the exercise.

After Tai Chi, we jogged to our barracks. We were encouraged to take a shower. There was one large communal shower with 12 shower heads. We were told we would have ten minutes before the water turned cold. At least each squadron had its own barracks. As we left the shower area, the DI had a stack of institutional white towels. We got one each. As we dried off our DI shared the next day's schedule. It started at 0500 with a jog to the gym for Tai Chi. Jog to the cafeteria for breakfast, jog to the auditorium for a meeting with the Academy staff. We would get our morning and afternoon assignments in the auditorium. Fritz suggested we get to bed and sleep. It was 2100

We all did! Cynthia and I didn't even think of sex. We slept.

Monday July 7, 2008

We both woke at 0445. Thank heaven for the chronometers.

We and ten other squadron members dashed for the restroom. There were six toilets. ARG!

We were lined up and ready at 0500. We were ready for Fritz.

We had a little ten mile surprise. The Tai Chi was a blessing.

Breakfast was a ham and egg scramble with home fries, milk, and fresh fruit. I think the eggs were powdered. We had our usual thirty minutes to eat and bus our plates.

We jogged to the auditorium. As we filed in, I looked up. On the stage was Rachael and six other people. I saw Tiger and Sofia and wished them good morning on net.

We had a video on NASA and the new UNASA. Then we were introduced to the staff of the Academy by Rachael Farquar. Fred had made it official. We had the six on stage and ten others that were setting up for us.