Chapter 4

Kyle arrived at Fort Benning the next day, after traveling all day and night on various buses. He was unable to sleep much on the bus, if any, and was glad that he had at least one day to get situated and rest up before the training began. Training to become an Army Ranger is one of the toughest, most grueling training courses that a young man can attempt. It is comprised of three segments: basic physical conditioning, mountain survival, and water activities. The drop out rate is more than half of those that begin the process, and every candidate can be dropped, right up until the moment of course completion. Every minute of every day is important to the training. The pressure on the candidates is extreme, both physical and mental. In a word, it is two months of pure Hell.

Whenever he was allowed to, Kyle wrote to his family and to Stephanie. The return correspondence arrived in packets, four and five letters from each at a time. At first, his letters described the excitement and, to a lesser degree, more specifically the activities that he was involved in on that particular day. His letters to Stephanie included passages about his feelings for her and how much he missed being with her. When she wrote back, she told him about school starting, how the football team was doing, and how tough some of her advanced placement classes were turning out to be. In one, just one, of her letters, she alluded to how much she was missing the excitement that they had shared on their last night together. When Kyle read that passage, he thought about what she had written, and then realized what she meant. The memory of that night in the motel immediately gave him an erection, and he was forced to stop reading her letter, lest any of his army buddies notice his pants tenting.

After the first four weeks, the candidates were allowed a weekend break. They were not allowed to leave the immediate area, so going home was out of the question. It did allow for time to call home, which he did as soon as he found a pay phone. When that call was over, he called Stephanie's cell phone but her sister answered.

"Hi, Sue-Ellen. This is Kyle. May I speak to Stephanie please?"

"Why, hello Kyle. Steph's not here right now. She went out with somebody. Has to be home by midnight. You know the rules."

"Oh ... Who did she go out with? The girls?"

"No. I dunno. Maybe some guy. I didn't see. Won't be that she has been dating, that's for sure."

"How long has she been dating?"

"I don't know, Kyle. Maybe right after school started, I guess." Sue-Ellen was the not terrifically astute when it came to relationships. She just answered the questions as best she could. She had no idea that Kyle knew nothing of Stephanie dating other guys.

"Do I know this guy, Sue-Ellen?"

"I don't know. Probably not. I don't remember ever seeing him here before you left. Boy, she sure did get in trouble last weekend." Sue-Ellen didn't know when to shut up, and the opportunity to tell about her too perfect sister getting in trouble was just too good to pass up.

"Why did she get in trouble?"

"She didn't come home until after two o'clock last Saturday night. Told Mom that they fell asleep somewhere. She got mad at him and told him to go away, and he yellled some really nasty stuff back at her. Then Dad got really mad and wanted to know more about it and Stephanie finally admitted that they had been to somebody's house and had been drinking wine and they fell asleep."

Kyle had nothing else to say, so he just said good bye.

When he returned to the barracks, his buddies were just heading out to the local tavern, and Kyle thought that might just be the right thing to do. After downing several beers, probably a little too quickly for his limited experience, he began to tell his pals about the phone conversation and about his relationship with Stephanie. Clouded by a blend of malt, hops and barley, the combined judgment of the six guys sitting at the table that Kyle had just lost out to a new guy, and that the falling asleep at a party was probably a two people party in the back seat of a car. Kyle, in response, insisted that she would not do that, and that she would remain a virgin until she was married. That comment was met with great skepticism by the others.

"Nope. You're wrong, guys. Believe me, I tried and tried to make love to her, but she would not let me. She made me promise that I would respect her wish to remain a virgin. She didn't want to repeat what her sister had done."

"Kyle, ole' buddy, lemme tellya da facts." One of his bear buddies was about to enlighten him. "Da fact are that you been had. She started dating this guy the week after you left, and right now, she's probably humpin' his ass as we speak."

"If you weren't my best friends, I'd punch you for even thinking that way. She's not doing that, believe me. She's not that kind of girl."

Another guy responded," Listen. You said that the farther she let you go, the wilder her responses became. Once you get some girls going, they need to have it on a regular basis, just like a guy."

They continued drinking and talking, but the former made the latter deteriorate into mindless conversation.

Two days later, they were flown to an isolated post in a remote region of Alaska to begin their mountain survival training. The class was divided into teams of ten to twelve men, each given an objective with required about six days hike across varying terrain, from the flats of the frozen tundra to the peaks of a small mountain range. Along the way, each team would encounter obstacles, night raids by bandits and nomadic thieves played by instructors, and natural challenges that taxed their minds. They had no phones, no mail, and no outside communications. They were isolated from the rest of humanity, and left to achieve their objective on their own. Sadly, no one on his team had considered the possibility of nighttime bandits and thieves, and no guards were posted. Sometime during the third night, much of their food and most of their water supply was stolen. The discovery of the theft changed everything for those men, and they now realized that they had to do everything they could just to survive. Tempers flared and tensions rose as the men's hunger and thirst became bigger issues. By the evening of the fifth day, having had no food for two days, the team had lost its cohesiveness and men were fighting amongst themselves. As one of the youngest, lowest ranking soldiers on the team, Kyle had no military right to assume a leadership role, but the sad state of morale amongst his team members, and the complete collapse of the appointed leaders gave him an opportunity to step forward.

Remembering some of the words and lessons that his baseball coach had said to his team, Kyle encouraged the men to stick together for that last night, and instilled confidence that they could find and meet their objective in the morning. As the sun climbed in the sky the next day, Kyle was able to locate their objective and determine the shortest route to it. With him in the lead, the team arrived, scraped, tired, hungry but alive, and as a unit. It did not go unnoticed by the officers in charge that this young soldier that assumed command of the team and led them to success. After allowing them to shower, eat and sleep for most of a day, each member was debriefed and the story of Kyle's leadership became known. Because of the rules of the training program, no special recognition could occur during the training period. Within days, most everyone had moved on to other issues and concerns, and life went on. Most everyone, that is, except the commanders of the training program who saw in Kyle a natural born leader. Through the ranks came the directive to pay special attention to this student.