Kyle froze for a second—unsure of what to do. Was he to lead the Flight in the NCO's stead? There was no other choice. No one else was prepared for this.
"My…" the Flight murmured.
Kyle marched right up to the front of the Flight and resumed the "At-Ease" position at the front of the Flight. A sea of Airman each with NCO leads, and he was the only one leading a Flight donning less than four stripes. He had to do this—perfectly.
It was an unfortunate turn of events, but Kyle had prepared for this moment, and he was the best. The Change-of-Command had to continue.
The Generals changed command, and it was time to march. The Flights marched around the field performing any command called. Another "Present Arms" was called, and Kyle performed it perfectly.
"Eyes!" an echo for the command followed.
"Right!" and the echo.
At once the Flight marched onward and turned their heads slightly to the right-hand side to face the crowd. The crowd was astonished! They hooted, and hollered and cheered.
"Ready!" and the echo.
"Front!" echoed the command.
The Flights looked straight ahead, once again. The rest of the ceremony went on without incident. The Flights went back to their barracks, and sure enough, the talk of Flight was how Kyle was the only non-NCO leading a Flight. Kyle was concerned about the Sergeant the medics had taken away, though. He approached Sergeant Long's office and knocked.
"What is it?"
"Sir, Airman My reports as ordered."
"At-ease."
"Thank you, sir."
"What's on your mind, My?"
"Sir, I was wondering what happened to the NCO that was leading our Flight."
"He stabbed cleanly through his foot—the guide-on—that is. He'll be on leave for a while."
"I see."
"In any event, you did a helluva job, son."
"Thank you, sir."
"He'll be fine. You guys ship out tomorrow to your next duty station. Take the time to prepare for that."
"Yes, sir."
"My, you did good. Dismissed."
Kyle performed a facing movement and left Sergeant Long's office for the last time. He had to pack up. After the ceremony, they were given permission to explore San Antonio a bit. He bought more than he thought he would, but not enough to make a difference in how much he needed to pack.
On the way back to his bunk, he noticed Joe at his bunk. Kyle approached Joe.
"You still headed to Shepard?" asked Kyle.
"Yeah…" muttered Joe.
"What's up?"
"Cyn …"
"Oh, yeah. How'd that go?"
"We spent some time together… she keeps telling me how sorry she is, and I just have zero feelings left. You know… she said she had sex with the guy while he was driving?"
"What?! She must have really wanted it…"
"That's what I said."
"…so, what are you gonna do?"
"I don't know, but I don't really want to see her."
"I get it. You want some space."
"Yeah, the thing is, she's following us."
"What do you mean following…?"
"She drove. She brought all our stuff, and she plans to follow our bus tomorrow. To Shepard."
"That's… dedication…"
"Yeah, but it doesn't matter. I've all but made up my mind." Joe shifted a bit. "How about you, man? How's your lady?"
"I don't know. I hadn't gotten a chance to call Jeni since the last time. I plan to call her when I get my phone back, and I get a chance at Shepard."
"I hope yours goes better than mine."
"Thanks…"
Kyle went back to his bunk and left Joe at his. That was some serious news, but they were a night away from leaving Basic Military Training behind and starting their new life as Airman of the United States Air Force. This was it. They were no longer trainees. They were officially part of armed forces.
The next morning, the buses were loaded with those going to their next, local duty station—a subsequent training base before going to their permanent duty station. Kyle spotted Joe, but it was so early in the morning, he wasn't in the mood to talk. The sun hadn't even risen yet.
Once loaded in, they were headed out. Most of the other Airman settled in and closed their eyes to try to get some rest, and in the blink of an eye, they arrived at Shepard Air Force Base. The Airman were immediately brought into a room. All that were present were part of the same Air Force Specialty Code (AFSC). They all had the same job, and the only difference was their specialization.
The Airman were called up one-by-one by last name and provided a folder with their assignment. Kyle wondered which airframe he would be assigned to. He wondered if he and Joe would end up at the same duty station after their training at Shepard.
"Airman My."
Kyle got up immediately and made his way to the front of the room. He was handed his folder and made his way back to his seat. Kyle flipped the folder open and saw he had been assigned an airframe he had never heard of. He wanted F-16 or F-15—respectable, known airframes. He was assigned: U-2.
"What's a U-2?"
"Oh, shoot!" an airman with a thick Southern accent said. "You got them spy planes! That's cool!"
Kyle flipped through the folder trying to find out where his airframe was located in the states. He was hoping he would be able to return to somewhere relatively local to Jeni. That way, he would be able to visit whenever he wanted. What Kyle saw, though, must have been a mistake. It must have.
The last Airman received their folder. There was muttering and murmuring as they discussed who would be with whom during their training and their first duty. Kyle spotted a couple other Airman that were also assigned U-2s.
"Any questions, Airman?" asked one of the Sergeants in the front.
"Yes, sir."
"Go ahead, Airman."
"Airman My reports," responded Kyle. "Sir, what if your airframe is only at one base?"
"Oh, hoho…" chuckled the Sergeant. "You got the U-2s?"
"Yes, sir."
"How many of you got U-2s?"
Six other hands were raised.
"Goddamn... We don't normally get this many assigned to the U-2s," stated the Sergeant. "Well, son. Looks like your military career is set. You know exactly what bases you can go to both here and overseas! HAHAHA."
The rest of the room laughed with the Sergeant.
"Beale. Ossan. Beale. Ossan. Did you join the Air Force to the see the world?" bellowed the Sergeant along with another hearty laugh.
Kyle had not. He only wanted to be able to provide for himself without relying on his father, and if things went well between the two of them, with Jeni. Now, it looks like he was landlocked to places hundreds of miles away from her. He was disappointed.
Kyle decided to go back to his dorm room after lunch. After the morning he had, he only wanted to talk to Jeni. This was the first time he'd gotten the chance since getting to Shepard. He took out his flip phone and decided to give her a call. It rang and eventually went to voicemail.
"Leave a message after the tone!" *BEEP*
"Hey, it's me. I had a free moment after lunch so I thought I'd call. I miss you. Call me."
So much for cheering up with the sound of her voice. There were only a couple more hours left in the day before Kyle was off-duty. He wanted to try back in the afternoon/early evening.
The rest of the day was an orientation type of day. Kyle got a chance to meet some of the other U-2 assignees. Burr was a fellow from the South with light blond hair and flaring nostrils reminiscent of a bull. Hilson, also from the South, oddly looked like Rachel Leigh Cook. Stein was a blond from the Midwest that cracked a lot of jokes along with Avery, a short, dark-haired man also from the Midwest, and was one of Kyle's roommates in the dorm. August was a short Filipino man with glasses who kept to himself. Last was Fern another blond from the Midwest. He seemed a little more vanilla than Stein. They seemed like good guys. At least, they got through BMT.
"My, you were Guide-On in basic, right?" asked Hilson.
"How'd you know?"
"Dude," said Burr. "We all know. You were the only Airman leading a Flight!"
"Oh, yeah…"
"What happened?" asked August.
"Basically, the Sergeant stabbed the guide-on straight through his foot. Not much else to it than that."
"I don't even know how the hell you'd even do that," said Stein.
"Beats me, but it was bad enough he fell out, and I had to finish."
"You're semi-famous, brother," said Stein. "Good to see you a part of our maintainer group."
Kyle thought it laughable that he was "famous" for someone else getting injured. He thought he would try his best to lay low. Now, his fellow maintainers knew exactly who he was and for reasons beyond his control.
The room split into airframe specific classes so Kyle found himself with Burr, Hilson, Stein, Avery, August and Fern.
"You are to line up in pairs of two or three and march wherever you go unless you are in civis."
Civis were a shortened term for civilian clothes.
"Tomorrow morning, make your way to the flightline classroom. You are to start your training. You will not begin airframe specific training until you get to your first duty station. This is just the basics of maintenance. Understood?"
"Yes, sir!" the room affirmed.
"You can head back to your dorms. Dismissed!"
The room got into pairs or threes and marched back to their respective dorms. Kyle and his fellow U-2 maintainers were in the dorms right next to each other. When they arrived at the dorm, they gathered together.
"Ya'll gonna eat?" asked Burr.
"We fixin' to get some grub," said Hilson.
"I'll come," said Avery.
"Yeah, cool," said Stein.
Avery and Fern agreed as well.
"I gotta make a call," said Kyle. "I've been waiting all day. I'll catch up."
"Suit yourself," said Hilson.
The crew went to the Chow Hall as Kyle made his way back to his dorm room. He quickly changed into civis and pulled out his phone. He dialed Jeni's number.
"…hello," murmured Jeni.
"Hey, you. Sleeping?"
"Napping."
"Same difference."
"What's up?"
Kyle paused a moment.
"…what's up?" asked Kyle.
"Yeah… what's up?"
"Ok, what is it?"
"Nothing…"
"I knew something was up even when I was in basic."
"I didn't want you to be upset especially when you're away."
"What would make me upset? Did you draw horns on my picture?"
"…I."
Something really was up. It was such a long, dreadful silence. Almost deafening.
"I… don't… feel… the same."
"…what?"
"I don't know… it just faded so fast. You were gone and… it left, too."
"It's only been seven weeks."
"I know… and, no, there's no one else in case you're wondering."
"I wasn't, but now I am."
"Don't do that…"
"Do what? You brought it up."
"I can't do this, Kyle. I'm sorry."
"…"
"Please don't hate me. I didn't think this would happen."
"It is what it is," said Kyle
"…"
"I'm gonna go…"
"Kyle,—"
"Take care of yourself, Jeni."
"Kyle,—"
Kyle hung up. It really didn't matter what she had to say. If it was only a matter of weeks for her to lose any feelings for him then the relationship wasn't going to last. He had that feeling even when he was in basic that something was amiss, but to actually hear her say it, it really broke his heart.