Chapter 4

Kyle returned to Fort Benning on Sunday courtesy of the General's jet. All three of the Meyers women were at the airport to see him off, as well as his own parents. Once again, the requirement to close the airport to all other air traffic created quite a stir, but his departure went well, and things in Stillwater quickly returned to normal. There was a note from Lt. Colonel Mason in his room directing him to report at 0730 to a special training conference room on Monday.

The meeting was actually a training session to develop a strategy for the insertion of Ranger troops into a specific combat zone. The planning phase included contributions from several company grade officers as well as the more senior field grade officers. Many times, the exchanges between the junior officers became quite lively as they debated the relative merits of the capabilities and strengths of the troops that they commanded. Kyle was quietly amused at this bantering but as the only enlisted person in the room, he did not take an active role. He was there to observe and learn. It became quite clear throughout the week that some of the company commanders were much better prepared than others. Those with weaker plans were admonished to be better prepared and their units were relegated to the weakest, least sensitive roles. Later, Kyle met with the General and expressed his conclusions. The importance of adequate planning and preparation by the officer corps created a stronger fighting force, a lesson that was not lost on Kyle.

Later, Kyle brought up the subject of the two women in his life. He explained, as best he could, how strong his feelings had been for Stephanie for those years and how absolutely devastated he had been to find out she had given herself to someone else. He gave credit to the Army and to the General for giving him the strength to endure that massive disappointment he had experienced.

"So, tell me about this other girl."

"Amy Wagner is her name. She is from Oklahoma, outside Tulsa somewhere. Her parents own some oil wells, but beyond that, I don't know much about them. We have been dating since last Christmas. She's very bright and she challenges me in some of my classes. She is a history major and wants to eventually teach at the college level."

"Is she pretty?"

"Yes, very? She looks a lot like Stephanie, actually."

"Hmm, I'm not surprised. Have you slept with her?"

"Yes, General, I have."

"You said she challenges you in your studies. I assume, then that you share some classes with her."

"Yes, sir. Three, last term."

"Did she get straight As as well?"

"No, she got two As and a B, which really upset her. She said that she thought the instructor was overly harsh because one of her papers questioned the legitimacy of the Viet Nam War."

"Did you read her paper? Was she right?"

"Yes, sir, I read it."

"And???"

"No, she didn't support her position well at all. She had some facts confused, and relied upon some unfounded allegations that she discovered in an old magazine as the basis for some of her arguments."

"What did you think about that?"

"What do you mean, General?"

"Well, when she wrote that, was it just a paper or was it her thoughts as well? If she holds those same beliefs, how does that mesh with your career aspirations?"

"I hadn't thought about that."

"Kyle, if you keep on track the way you are going, one of these days you are going to be a high ranking successful officer in the United States Army. Sadly, you won't get there if you have a wife running around the country, protesting naked and holding anti war signs. That may not be fair, but it is the truth. To make matters worse, I can't see how two people would have a very compatible and happy marriage with drastically opposing views."

"I guess I need to get to know her a lot better than I do."

"She could be a perfectly wonderful girl, Kyle. I don't know her at all. If she only wrote that paper from her research, that's one thing. But if she wrote it because she believes it as well, then I think you might have trouble in a long term relationship. If you want my recommendation, I would suggest that you do not limit yourself to just one girl until you get to know each of them much better. When do you go back to school?"

"The next term starts at the end of next week, General."

Kyle returned to the campus to begin his third year of study. With the addition of his engineering courses, the burden of his schedule precluded much of a social life. He tried to explain that to Amy, that the extra classes and projects were taking every free minute of his week. He even showed her his lab space and the blanket and pillow he kept there for those nights when he slept on the only sofa in the design lab. He promised that he would save at least one night a month to spend with her, and she accepted that with a fair amount of grumbling.

Stephanie was more accepting of his workload. From time to time, he would call her and ask what was for dinner, and he would make a quick run over to her apartment, taking advantage of the culinary skills of whichever girl had cooking duties for the week. He always left a twenty dollar bill on the dinner table to contribute to the food costs. Occasionally he would give her a little advance notice and when that happened, he found the girls had prepared larger portions and sometimes a desert as well. After dinner, he would end up spending time, and usually the night with Stephanie.

It was late spring when Amy discovered that Stephanie had reappeared in Kyle's life. It was quite by accident, really. She and a girl friend had been driving around the campus, enjoying the gorgeous weather. By luck, good or bad, they happened to turn onto the street leading to Stephanie's apartment. After a few blocks, Amy saw Kyle and Stephanie walking slowly down the sidewalk, in the same direction as she was traveling. Afraid to turn around and stare, she quickly looked in her mirror to confirm her suspicions.

"Isn't that your favorite soldier boy walking with that girl?" her roommate asked.

"Yes, I'm afraid it is."

"Who's the girl?"

"It's his old girl friend from his hometown."

"Is that going to be a problem?"

"I didn't think so. I met her once, about a year ago, but haven't seen her since. I actually had forgotten all about her."

They continued driving for a few blocks, then turned and drove back to about where they had seen them before. Making a loop, they quickly turned onto her street again and repeated their route, but neither Kyle nor Stephanie were anywhere to be seen.

Thankfully, for the sake of their relationship, it was almost three weeks before Kyle was able to visit Amy. By that time, her jealousy based anger had softened and she had actually thought out what she would say to him. Of course, it didn't turn out just as she had planned.

"How long have you been seeing her?"

"What?"

"Don't get cute. How long have you been seeing her?"

"That's a great way to start off our evening together. Not 'Hi, how are you?' or 'Boy, have I ever missed you'. Just go right into attack mode, why don't you?"

"Kyle, you can't deny it. I saw you walking down the street with her."

"I am not denying anything. I have nothing to cover up. What are you so upset about?"

It was the one aspect of a relationship with women in which Kyle had absolutely no experience. He had never encountered jealousy, either of himself with other girls, or of them. He was smart enough, however, to realize that he had just stumbled into a field of battle for which he was hopelessly unprepared. He remembered one of the lectures from last summer's war games training: When you find yourself in a battle in which you are greatly outnumbered and outgunned, it is best to extricate yourself and your men as quickly as possible.