Not the Same #5 When the Service Comes Calling

To Kirk, it seemed to take forever for the US Air Force to call him in for service…

Cue: “Watching and Waiting” https://youtu.be/JLB-W3gLkyM?si=uoT-9WooF-THcoSN

 

The days ticked by, each seeping past Kirk’s consciousness like drops into a bucket with a healthy leak, never filling. A certain, significant outcome at an indeterminate time kept Kirk on edge.

January had passed, and so in February Kirk hoped he’d finally receive the word he so wanted to hear or would he secretly not want to hear it? He decided that his hanging out, waiting around, not accomplishing much of anything was just another example of the Air Force’s answer for important people issues that being, “hurry up and wait.” Perhaps, Kirk pondered it represented another unofficial test to indoctrinate recruits in the ways of the military.

From what he had heard, the enlistees who signed up for a specific job, actually called an AFSC (Air Force Specialty Code), would receive a definite date in which they would enter active duty. Kirk assumed these guys and girls were the ones who had signed up while still High School seniors. Not him, far removed from school by a few years, he resolved that he couldn’t wait so signing up as an “open candidate” meant he was personally designated in a more colloquial term: “crap shoot.” Kirk had never been able to call himself lucky, not winning anything of significance nor recognized for anything of significance so demonstrating the luck of Kirk in a nutshell.  On the other hand, Kirk couldn’t complain the way his life had unfolded as transcribed in Part One, Never the Same. His life remained up to this point defined in another colloquial term: “forgettable.” Which might lead you to think, so not all that bad after all, huh?

 

Late in February during an evening after dinner, Kirk sat watching a rerun of Star Trek as his father read the newspaper, rustling it occasionally distracting Kirk’s focus even though he knew all the Star Trek episodes by rote. Over the intervening weeks, Kirk’s father hadn’t said much to Kirk about him joining the Air Force except once when he reiterated that no one in his family were ever in the military because they were exempt farmers. On Kirk’s mother’s side, his grandfather had been in the US Navy during the war, but he never said anything about what he had done during his enlistment. Then, there remained his famous great uncle who we spoke about with his useful colorblindness in the Army. Kirk secretly hoped something like that would make him special in the Air Force.

Anyway, Kirk’s father always read the sports section because of his love for the Buffalo Bills. Kirk detested football ever since he tried out as a freshman. It was the one closest instance to playing a ball sport in his life. So, after his father perused the paper, Kirk didn’t really notice until his father purposely rattled the newspaper, turned the paper inside out and folded it over. Kirk glanced over to see his father wearing an expression�"was it a grin or a grimace?  His father nodded down to the paper which lay on the table.

Kirk got up to pick up the newspaper. His stomach sunk to the floor with the headline that caught his eye: “NASCAR Confirms Racing will Continue Next Year at Local Tracks.” Of course, NASCAR stood for the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing the organization Kirk had raced in. The uncertain next season had been a major impetus for Kirk to join the Air Force and get away from the area thinking he’d no longer be able to race his third season. He read on which told him that originally the next season had been in jeopardy because of the economy including the high price of gasoline (60-70 cents) with the likelihood of keeping fan and competitor attendance low. In the meantime, the economy and gas prices had stabilized. Things weren’t great, but they weren’t getting worse. The outcry of fan and competitor alike had been loud and significant enough for NASCAR officials to reexamine the upcoming season with businesses jumping on board to promote and support stock car racing which had historically been a considerable part in Western New Yorkers’ lifestyles. (Kirk’s too in his dismay.)  

Kirk’s father studied him as he read which didn’t go unnoticed by Kirk.  He let out a sigh after reading the article and didn’t give his father the benefit of some outward negative reaction to the news article. He turned back to the continuing adventures of Captain Kirk and the crew of the USS Enterprise.  

 

By early March, Kirk could almost forget about his impending duty calling in the Air Force. He serenely sat in his room, rereading the book, Chariots of the Gods? 

His mother called to him, “Your sergeant friend is on the phone.”

He scrambled downstairs exclaiming, “He’s not my friend!” But in reality, he knew what the call entailed and in reaction his stomach fell to the floor. Kirk hoped Technical Sergeant Shaw didn’t hear what he said.

Taking the phone, “Hello?” He anxiously said.

“Mister Biscuit, Tech Sergeant Shaw here.”

“Oh. Hello, sergeant, ah sir?”

“You’ve been expecting this call for some time now, so come on by the office, I have your plane tickets.”

“Ah, huh.” Kirk, lost in his thoughts, stood there with a sour stomach and befuddled thoughts. “Can you tell me the date?”

“Your insertion date is March fourteenth which is the date of your tickets.”

“Oh. Okay.”

“Can you come down soon and pick them up?”

“Yeah, sure. I’ll be there tomorrow.”

“Super! I’ll fill in the details when you come in.” Shaw said. “You have a few days. In the meantime, I need to remind you to get all your affairs in order for your absence.”

“Yes. Yes. I understand. Good bye for now.”

 “Have a good evening, Mister Biscuit.”

Kirk put the phone down slowly and carefully. For a few long moments, he stood there looking at the black dial phone completely under an adrenaline rush. His heart thumped hard in his chest and ears, his head ached, his vision narrowed as he wondered how he got to this point while at the same moment knowing he’d been anxiously waiting for the word for months now.

He finally turned to see his mother standing there with a penetrating inquisitory aspect, silently, grimly, expecting an answer from her son to the lingering, hanging unspoken question. He licked his lips as he gazed her direction.

“I leave on the fourteenth.”

“Oh no,” his mother said, seemingly crestfallen.

But he walked slowly away, knowing she knew his departure was coming just like he knew it was coming, they just didn’t know when it might transpire. Now, it was imminent. That night, Kirk called Sarah Elizabeth to give her the “bad” news that they had expected all along as well.

“Hey, Sarah! How’s everything over there?”

“Good. I just came in from feeding Boggie and Lightning, so pretty much the usual day at school and at home.”

“Well…I finally got the call…”

“Oh.”

“Yeah, I have to go get my tickets tomorrow.”

“What! Tomorrow?!”

“Wait! No, I’m not leaving tomorrow, I leave on the fourteenth.”

“That’s in only a couple days. Are you ready? Are you scared?”

“Yeah…you might say that again,” he said, taking in a deep breath. “But we know the time was coming and it had been a long while waiting, ya’ know.”

“I know. Maybe I wished the day wouldn’t ever come.”

“Don’t start that, I know it’s tough, but it’ll all work out�"I guess.”

“Yeh, I guess so, but still…”

“I’ll come over tomorrow night seeing I have to go in that general direction to the recruiting office.”

“Okay,” she said. “Ah, would like to come over for dinner? I’ll make spaghetti.”

“Yeah, sure. Sounds good, really good. I’ll see you then.”  

“All right, we can talk about it then.”

“Yep, g’night.”

 

The next day, the tenth of March, Kirk made the short jaunt to the recruiting office. By now, Technical Sergeant knew Kirk by sight as he opened and walked through the glass door. He stood up from behind his gray, steel military-issued desk.

“Mister Biscuit! Good to see you. You finally got your insertion date after these few weeks.”

“Yep, been waiting for quite a while now. Ahh, insertion date?”

“Sorry, just a fancy term for the day you go into basic training.”

“I see. So on the day I travel, will be the day I begin basic training.”

“Yes, that’s right,” Shaw said, pulling out an envelope. “You fly out of Buffalo and right into San Antonio where you hop an Air Force bus to Lackland Air Force Base. “Here is your ticket. With it is this card, with some info you should need there at the airport.” Shaw pulled it out. “You see that there is a military liaison desk at the airport. You need to get there early enough to check in because there are three other recruits flying with you and you need to stick together. I’m quite sure you’ll be seated close to one another.”

“Huh! I didn’t know anyone else was going in from this area the same time.”

“Sure, they try to consolidate recruits for insertion into an Air Force flight. Oh! Not to be confused with your flying there. An Air Force Flight is your basic unit of about twenty-five to thirty recruits, all male of course.”

“Okay, I see,” Kirk said, but he really was still a bit confused despite the disclaimer.

So. Remember. Report to the desk because you’ll join up with your fellow recruits there.”

“Got it.”

“Congratulations, Mister Biscuit,” Shaw said, sticking out his hand that Kirk gripped. “You’ll soon be Airman Biscuit.”

Kirk seemed to stand a bit straighter, taller with the thought.

“Ah, mmm, a question,” Kirk said, with hesitation. “Any advice for Basic Training, cuz I don’t know what to expect.”

“Well. No recruit has a thorough understanding of what to expect except maybe those with relatives or friends that have been through it. Anyway, it’s better to go into it without any preconceived notions or ideas about how basic training operates. Everything is explained as you go, just listen up to your TI Technical Instructor.”

“No real ahh, hints then?”

Shaw paused with a smile. “Okay, simply. Listen up, pay attention to everything, do as you’re told and keep your head down.”

“My head down?” Kirk asked, imagining bullets flying like in the army films.

“Be one within the flight, one of the recruits. Don’t draw attention to yourself by being opinionated or wanting to be specially noticed. Most of all, and you’ll be told this early on, strive not to get set back.”

“Sent back?”

“Set back, recycled back a week into a flight behind yours. You’ll be with a bunch of different recruits and have to spend another additional week in basic. So, pay attention, learn what they teach, and stay focused. You’ll be fine with it all over and done in a short time.”

“Okay, thanks Technical Sergeant Shaw.” Kirk shook his hand.

“So. this’ll be the last time I see you unless you drop in after basic, which I would welcome. Mister Biscuit, you will do well, I’m sure. You’re a bit older and more experienced than the rest of the recruits so you know how to act, how to learn. Nice meeting you.”

“And you as well,” Kirk said, eyeing his envelope. “I’ll try and stop by whenever I’m on leave.”
          “Sounds good! Study hard, become a good airman.”

Kirk spun on his heel and headed out the door thinking, this is really happening, so soon now! A shock coursed through him. What have I done?”

Heading out from the strip mall where the recruiting office was, Kirk poised before pulling out into the traffic on the main street in the village. He scanned both ways, one obviously being the fastest, he decided to go the other. He decided to just drive the long way to Sarah’s house to give himself time to think. And think; he thought. My big Tada, my giant undertaking, my grand decision that’ll change the course of my life completely. I guess. Will I fit into the Air Force? Millions of men and women have gone in from all walks of life, so why not me? At least I wasn’t forced in because of a war, and some, at least some, voice that a war like Viet Nam cannot happen again. I hope at least for the four years I’ll be in. He pondered it all as he drove on, eventually realizing he might be late for Sarah’s invite for dinner.

 

Heading into her parents’ driveway he noticed her parents weren’t home. Kirk knew they both worked, but hours? He didn’t have a clue. Knocking on the back door, he was first greeted by the dog barking before the door opened revealing a decked-out Sarah.

“Wow! You look great,” Kirk said with a smile. “What’s the occasion?”

She moved in close and they embraced with a short kiss.

“You were coming over, not to mention the news you have. So you have your ticket?” She gestured him into the kitchen. Kirk noticed the two pots bubbling steam into the air over the stove.

“Yeah, for the fourteenth. Not too early, either. I’m glad.”

“How are you getting to the airport?”

“Well, I was going to ask you, if you’re willing.”

She paused. “Yeah, sure. Of course.”

So,” Kirk glanced around. “Your parents aren’t home?”

“Not yet, but they expect me to have something ready when they walk in the door.”

“Ah.”

“Want anything to drink?”

“Sure. Got coffee hot?”

“Will in a minute. Sit down, take a load off,” she grinned.

Halfway through his coffee, Kirk heard gravel crunch out in the driveway.

“My mother,” Sarah said, with an edge.

Kirk had met Sarah’s mother before on several occasions, but not after working. She worked at a high-end jewelry store in the mall (where Kirk liked to do donuts in the parking lot) and appeared dressed to a tee.  This appearance countered her personality of being a rather spastic, a chatterbox, which he supposed worked in a sales-type environment.

With the door opening. her mother said, right off, “Hello Kirk. Been here very long?”  Kirk immediately picked up her tone of innuendo that she worried he had been there a long time and perhaps getting into “trouble.”

“Hello,” he said. “Not long, just long enough to drink half a cup of coffee.” He held up the mug. “Sarah invited me over for dinner after I had an er, errand to run this afternoon.” Sarah had given him an infinitesimal shake of her pretty blond head in the negative so he didn’t say what or why.

Sarah’s father arrived shortly after driving his Pinto. Her father was a compact, mellow guy who didn’t say a whole lot. He looked the part of the quintessential elementary school teacher wearing a gabardine with a tweed vest over a plain shirt and tie with plain tan pants finishing the look. He and Kirk exchanged simple greeting pleasantries as Sarah dumped the pasta into the boiling pot.

Her father glanced over the stove and groaned, “not another dinner with tomato sauce?”

Kirk couldn’t say what he thought or what opinion he had of Sarah’s parents considering the few limited interactions he had with them because of the way Sarah described as a child being lonely and neglected by her parents that paralleled his own upbringing. She said after dinner, every evening, her father would disappear into the basement to work on his Remote-Control (RC) model airplanes. He had showed off some of them to Kirk along with his piles of controllers, servos and other various parts that go into a plane. Kirk had to say that he definitely had skill in perfectly finishing off those airplanes.

So, the four of them sat down for the spaghetti dinner with toast. Kirk complimented Sarah that brought up a smile while her father made a nonverbal comment.

After dinner, Sarah said, “Kirk has some big news.”

“Oh really? What’s that?” Her mother questioned facing him.

“Go ahead, tell them,” Sarah said, with gesture.

“Well, I went to get my plane tickets this afternoon for basic training.”

“When are you leaving?”

“The fourteenth.”
          “This month?”

“Yep.” He shrugged. “I’ve been waiting for some time now, you know.”

“Not really. Sarah hasn’t told us much other than you signed up. So what are you going to do in the Air Force? Be a pilot? You’re a smart guy.”

“Oh no,” he smiled. “You have to be an officer to do that, but hopefully I’ll get a good, interesting job.”

“You mean something other than being a mechanic?”

“Mm, mmm. Maybe a mechanic on the jets. Now that would be completely different for me.”

“It sure would.”

Her father had been quietly taking in the conversation. He piped up. “You’d better hone those potato peeling skills for when you get picked for KP (Kitchen Patrol) duty.”

Kirk had heard his rare mentions of being in the Army during the Korean War which made Kirk sick considering he headed into the military now. Undoubtedly, the war experience for Sarah’s father remained a horrible ordeal for him, but it seemed to him that KP duty had been a normal, often occurring duty they had to deal with in the ground pounding Army. Kirk didn’t have a problem peeling potatoes, so he didn’t say a word or worry about it.

After dinner, they sat around sipping coffee and taking in the news on TV.  Every day that there was no mention on the news about a conflict or war in the world meant a good outcome for him while in the military. He hoped anyway because it remained difficult for anyone to see those things coming too far ahead of time. 

Early in the evening, Kirk readied for departure and pulling on his coat, hat and gloves, Sarah moved in close and embraced him which he returned. He felt like she didn’t want him to leave, that night or soon thereafter, for four years. Yeah, he might have choked a bit thinking about leaving her after all.

Well, the few days passed by in a blur for both him and her. On the afternoon before leaving while he was home, his mother sat down with him at the table for an afternoon cup. She wore a gloomy expression.

“Honey, what can I make you special for dinner?”

“Nothing, mom. Sarah’s fixing a special meal for me tonight.”

“Oh, that’s really nice of her,” she said downhearted. “You know, your sisters inquired about you coming over to say good bye to them.”

Kirk’s backbone instantly went stiff. He had seen on television where people, friends and relatives, give going away servicemen parties before they go, but for Kirk, nothing. Events like that had diminished in the US during the few decades since World War 2. Perhaps it was because the recent stigma developed from the bad press and protests over the Viet Nam War forming a bias against service men. People just didn’t want to interact with servicemen and be...reminded…

Anyway, in consideration, Kirk assumed his old high school buddies, who he hadn’t really kept in contact with didn’t even know he was leaving. Kirk figured that even if they DID know they wouldn’t have done anything for him, anyway. Then, the fact that even his sisters couldn’t expend just a little bit of energy to come to him and say goodbye just torqued him off completely.

Maybe, perhaps, Kirk carried a bit of bitterness towards those around him though you might have come to that conclusion yourself while reading.