Not the Same #4 Waiting for the Hammer to Fall

Kirk tried to be the same old young guy, but obviously he was not while he waited...

Cue: “Hammer to Fall” https://youtu.be/LRoBDJPFIjo?si=Ji6CltfvY7VO5NN1

 

At this time, Kirk might have some personal excitement pending in his life, but the country? Not so much. The United States had a new president in Gerald Ford who had just given “Tricky Dick” Richard Nixon a full pardon. Not so lucky were the three of the Watergate Scandal: John Mitchell, H.R. Halderman, and John Ehrlichman who were prosecuted to the full extent of the law.

Good, relatively speaking, news for the Viet Nam War Draft Dodgers in Canada, who Kirk had once pondered about joining, were granted amnesty with a caveat of serving one year of volunteer service to avoid prosecution. Not many guys took up the offer. In addition to Kirk’s fascination with the jets of the US Air Force, the F-16 had been revealed to the public in its iconic red, white and blue paint scheme which piqued Kirk’s keen interest considering his undetermined USAF skill even though the jet hadn’t been produced for the Air Force yet. Another future USAF plane, the currently experimental B-1 Bomber had begun test flights in California.

So, with his military entrance processing out of the way, Kirk had to bide his time waiting for his call to depart for Air Force Basic Training. Of course, he and Sarah Elizabeth didn’t talk about that: the very large, heavy metaphorical hammer hanging over their heads ready to fall.

How will their relationship pan out? Sarah had her doubts only whispered in passing, a suggestion of concern at the very least. Kirk attempted to reassure her that their relationship would continue, persevere, but they both knew about the extended military separation and the fact that he would be in for four years. Kirk knew the military changed people, maybe Sarah knew it as well and didn’t like the perception of what Kirk might become. Not the same old Kirk for sure.

Kirk tried to put an upbeat spin on his impending duty like his sky-high entrance scores, though he never told her exactly what he had scored, or more accurately, how he stood among other exam takers namely higher than he had ever dreamed and much higher than he largely accepted nor believing that they were truly representative of his abilities.

At home in his cold bedroom, he often returned to the Air Force brochure he first attained from the recruiting office and thought about the higher intelligence levels required of the “elite” AFSCs outlined, though he grimly realized he didn’t have the mentality nor the meticulous comportment to be an air traffic controller, cryptology, or of all things, a meteorologist even though through his life he had often gazed into the sky mystified with the appearance and changes in the weather. Don’t like the weather? Wait five minutes it’ll change remained the catch phrase!

Keeping an ear to the TV weather forecast, he wondered how those forecasters knew more snow headed their way with the present clear skies. Since a youngster anxiously waiting for the snow to start remained intriguing for Kirk, for he’d go out the back door, switch on the barn spot light to see if snow had started falling yet. When the big fluffy lake effect flakes fell across the light’s beam, Kirk watched transfixed as they danced and swirled about up and down in pirouettes, twirls and spins. Since late high school, he had ulterior motives to watch for snow. In a word: snowmobiling.

Around the time when Kirk had met Sarah Elizabeth, during one of his snowmobiling excursions with his buddies, they’d take off en masse (three or four of them) without a solitary care in the world. Behind the local schools, Kirk and his buds would run their machines at speed up the ledge and jump off flying through the crisp winter air to touch down hard in the deep snow with an explosive snowy puff. Getting a bit of air was always the big fun.

Going for miles and miles on the old snowmobile going almost anywhere without restriction or precaution, they had a ball. Nowadays, the new snowmobiles require prepared trails. Not back then, riders carelessly glided across farmers’ fields, swamps, and along roads accompanied with clouds of fluffy snow combined with the aroma of two-stroke engine premix fumes and the engine whine, life couldn’t be better!

 One of Kirk’s high school buddies seemed accident prone while snowmobiling once getting yanked off the machine at speed being caught across the neck with a single strand of wire. Luckily, he wore a helmet that caught the wire besides his neck. Another time when snow was slowly abating in the spring, he and another guy on separate machines ran up and down the snow banks along a snow fence. Heading towards each other at speed, one turned right, the other left, then one turned left and the other right. Yep, head-on collision and broken bones. Maybe Kirk lived life a little more carefully or luckier despite some of the ill-advised stunts he undertook.

Out there in a bleak arctic tundra-like panorama on the snowmobile he remained slightly cognizant of the possible risks of breakdowns of many kinds including fouled spark plugs which could strand a rider in the middle of nowhere in sometimes completely unknown wintry whereabouts. Keeping a spare or two spark plugs on the machine would be the only option for self-rescue and only somewhat reassuring when the thought of long walks home crossed his mind.  

Kirk often thought he had an excellent directional sense being rather adept at orienting himself toward his destination while driving. He had on occasion put this ability to good use while snowmobiling to capably head home despite the lack of the moon, stars, or any familiar landmarks. He assured himself that if he did have to walk after a stranded break down, he would indeed find his way home.  Besides, Kirk had a love for winter so he wasn’t worried about walking a distance across the frozen tundra. Kirk loved, the white blanket of snow covering all the brown grass of autumn, the freezing cold tingling bite of frost on his cheeks, and of course, the frozen, numb fingers and toes that made him scream when they warmed up!

As the mid-winter snow built up, Kirk decided to harass his mother somewhat with his hyper-Snow Chief snowmobile. The machine had a transplanted engine twice as large than it was built for. After roaring past the house at wide-open throttle, his mother always told him it sounded like a low-flying 747 jet passing the house. Kirk loved the overpowered machine for localized high-speed runs, but it was totally impractical for riding cross-country in which he would turn to the old, slow reliable machine ironically named SnoJet that his buddies nicknamed Slojet.

Anyway, during the next evening, Kirk and Sarah decided to go out on a date of sorts riding the snowmobile. Both of them were each dressed in one-piece thick, puffy snow suits. They both looked like some kinds of overstuffed plush toys or outer spacemen with their shiny helmets, full-face shields and scarves around their necks to keep their faces from frostbite. Heading out without the rivalry of his buddies around, he wouldn’t show off with Sarah riding in back. They ventured out making the cross-country tour miles away from home with a stopover in a nice grove of birch trees. There they shared a bottle of Boones Farm apple wine as they took in the stars, moon, and the frosty wintertime scene. Ah, they tried really hard to forget about the impending hammer to fall.

Of course, they made it home just fine welcomed by Kirk’s mom making hot chocolate with sides of cookies. Afterwards, taking Sarah home in the trusty van, they’d finish off the night cuddling under a blanket watching late night movies. Ah, those were easy days and nights for the couple despite what hung over them, out of sight but not out of mind…

With Sarah back in school and Kirk with no job, no school and no real commitments except the big one, Kirk had time to think. Yeah, he had those periods when he thought he had made a huge, terrible mistake, one that he had no option than to follow through with. At those particular times, the obligation proved to be enough to make himself sick.

Then, on the other hand when favorably looking forward to a new and completely different life, he decided to get a matching US Air Force model jet to go along with his F-15 model. That happened to be the F-16 the newest addition to the Air Force inventory. He decided to paint it in the official livery paint scheme, of course, being red, white and blue. The project proved to be good enough for a week’s fine handiwork while all the time he wondered if he’d have a job that put him up close and personal with these new, shiny-bright, and powerful aircraft. Only time would tell. In the boring meantime, he’d often lay back in the cool living room, donning his headphones and immerse himself in his precious Progressive Rock with the bands like Yes, ELP, and the Moody Blues.

Kirk and Sarah would occasionally do normal things like real young couples. No, they didn’t go to another concert, but they went to the movies a couple times, once seeing Young Frankenstein which they both enjoyed and laughed at. The other was Freebie and the Bean which neither of them really enjoyed nor laughed at, so they saw a hit and a miss. Kirk wanted to see the latest rock opera of sorts Phantom of The Paradise, but Sarah said it looked creepy, and he thought, well, it appeared weird, no doubt. Kirk decided to pacify her in that case. Such was life in his short civilian time that remained. Kirk could escape concentrating on his impending fate for brief periods, but reality would undoubtedly hit him hard aside the head.

Reality being the United States Air Force and we know Kirk would not be the same once they came calling.