Chapter Eight - part six

   Aadila smiled and watched for a while and then she moved in among the units and began talking to the Doolies she saw who looked the most troubled. She gave them each words of encouragement and words of warning. She made it clear that they could do this, but not alone. She stressed that. They had to remember that they weren't alone. They were never alone. A couple of them had seemed stunned and one had even questioned her about her faith. She had laughed and told them that she believed in God and that no matter what anyone said there was only one God. She also explained that while God was always present, that wasn't why they wouldn't be alone. She told them to put a hand on the shoulder of their teammates, to form a circle. She told them that circle made a wheel. That wheel had far more strength than any one of the spokes and that as long as they held onto each other they wouldn't be alone. They could finish this because together they had all their strength combined.

   The units finally began to start the run. They spaced the unit starts out just as if starting an individual, but the entire unit started as one. There would be one start time and one finish time for the unit. The entire unit finished or none of the unit finished. James spoke with each unit before they stepped up to the line for the official start. He reminded them that there were no individuals now. They were all just separate pieces of one unit, one body that had to move together from start to finish. Just before each unit started James would bow his head and stand quietly behind that unit and in front of the next. There was little doubt that he was saying a silent prayer for each unit just as they were about to start the Ironman. As they started to run, the next unit would move up and James would turn to address the unit coming up behind them to wait their turn. One young Doolie spoke to James before he stepped past him. "Sir, I am an atheist. You don't need to pray for me." James smiled and replied. "I see. Tell me something Jones. Is everyone in your unit an atheist?" The young man looked stunned for a moment and quickly glanced around at the other members in his unit. Then he smiled and shook his head. He said nothing more as he stepped forward. James had turned his attention to the next unit. He spoke the same message to them about being one unit. Then he turned back and bowed his head as they were about to start the young man's unit who had spoken to him. The young man looked back as James bowed his head for them. He smiled before turning back forward. Then Jones bowed his own head until the start was called, as did all the others in his unit.

   Aadila had come up to stand with James and had heard all of that. She smiled and whispered to him before he turned to face the next unit. "He told me he was an atheist too." James had just chuckled and leaned over to whisper softly to Aadila. "I have noticed that most atheists spend more time thinking about and debating about God than most Christians I know do. I always wondered why they thought it so important to deny something that they say doesn't exist. Why bother with it?" He laughed as he turned and once again began talking to the next unit in line. Aadila watched him for a moment longer and then she noticed that Candy was standing only a few feet away, behind some other cadre. Aadila smiled as she moved to join her. She wondered if Candy had any idea of what was really going on or if she only saw the motivation and missed the blessings.

   Candy gave a slight smile and nod as Aadila joined her, but said nothing. They stood there watching as several more units started the run. Finally Candy began to speak very softly, barely more than a whisper. "I didn't actually understand what you meant when you made that little speech at the press conference. Duty and honor, all sounds very military and correct, but I didn't see how you could say what he did was duty and honor. I thought he was a real hero. The kind we dream about, but now, now I see the truth. It was all duty and honor to him. It still is. It always will be." Then Candy turned to look at Aadila as she continued. "He really is just what you see isn't he? There is nothing hidden at all. He is a man of honor or maybe I should say a man of faith. I mean, I almost expect to see a halo pop up over his head sometimes." Aadila laughed and shook her head. Then she spoke. "He has no halo! Sometimes I think he should have horns, he loves to tease those around him that he knows well. But he does have great faith. I have never known another with a faith so strong and certain. I thought my grandfather had great faith, but even he sometimes questioned things. James does not, at least nothing concerning his faith. He questions himself, but he never questions his God."  Candy frowned just a bit, but said nothing.

   Once the last unit was started James stepped over with a smile to where Aadila and Candy still stood. Smiling he spoke to Candy. "Well now that they are all started I have a few minutes. Ask what you will. I will try to answer all of your questions, but we need to be going. I want to be at the finish when they start coming in." With that he pointed in the direction the rest of the cadres responsible for starting the run had headed. Several vehicles were waiting to drive them back. Candy took one side and Aadila the other. Candy asked a few questions as they walked and drove, but far less than James had been expecting. In fact she didn't ask him much of anything that he had expected her to ask. Mostly her questions were about the Doolies and the other cadre. James answered them all as best he could, but he wondered where she was going and how this would turn out in the end.

   When they arrived at the finish line James stayed around to answer questions from the press for a while. He was glad to see that it was mostly local crews, but he knew that local news could easily go national. As the time approached for the first squadron units to probably start arriving James excused himself and moved towards the line. In fact both he and Aadila went. After a short time they moved down the course towards the bottom of the hill. The first squadron unit had made very good time considering the fact that many of them weren't the best of runners. Although it wasn't readily apparent James could tell that some of the packs were lighter while some were heavier. James smiled and encouraged each member of the unit on. It was easy to see the shock and the delight in the eyes of the runners as they were greeted, not only by James but by their entire class. That alone was a huge difference in the results of the Ironman, but that wasn't the entire result.

   One by one the units finished the run, until only one was left. They should have been in long before the last unit had arrived, but they were still miles out. James wanted to go help, but he couldn't. He knew this was their Ironman. They had to do this. If he or anyone else tried to help; it would be worse than failing in many ways. He watched and waited. That was when something totally unexpected happened. All of the units who had already finished had been watching and waiting too. They had all been standing together to greet the next unit to finish. Now they were there waiting for that last unit with everyone else. They had been talking for a while before a group of them started out. There were a lot of people in that group, one from each squadron. They headed back down the course. At first several of the cadre tried to stop them, but they quickly stepped back and let them go. They were going to get the other unit. They said that until the last unit crossed that line none of them had. It was nearly dark when they crossed the line. They had helped carry one of the people in the last unit. He had taken a hard fall and severely twisted his ankle. He was a big guy and it had been a real struggle for the others to carry him. He had tried to drop out, but the rest of the unit had refused to let him. His ankle was wrapped and he could finish without further danger, they just had to carry him the last twenty miles.  The last unit crossed the line to thunderous cheers and lots of tears. This Ironman had united the units, the squadrons, the new class, and when it was all said and done the entire cadet wing.

   James had been thrilled to see what had happened. He wasn't alone. The wing staff and the Academy command structure were all thrilled to see this kind of unity.  It had been a long time since the Academy cadets had been united about anything outside of Academy sports. Even all of the added press coverage was great. It even got more national attention, but this time the Academy was thrilled to get that attention. James was still worried though. He had seen a lot of good things happen, but he had seen or heard nothing from Candy Ackerman. She wasn't the type to let something this big get past her. His concern proved true when he received an article she had written about the Ironman. There was also a short note and an addressed envelope for the article. The note simply said, "If you approve of it, mail it."

   James read the article. He didn't love it, but he wasn't totally against it. He talked to Major Fouts about it and at her suggestion he took it to Lt. General McBride. McBride had read it in silence. Then he had just smiled and told James the choice was his to make. He had said it would be good for the Academy, but he would understand if James didn't want it put out. Candy had focused the story on the Doolies and the story of the units who ran the Ironman. She had described the units that had finished forming up another unit to send back, because in their opinion until everyone finished the Ironman nobody had finished it. However, she had also described in detail the way James had been involved and the effect he seemed to have on the entire new class. She had mentioned Aadila and her efforts to motivate the Doolies about to start the Ironman run too. James did a lot of thinking and a lot of praying before he made his final decision. He mailed the story.

   The next cover of Time magazine showed a picture of the last man in the last unit crossing the line of the Ironman. It showed a lot of very proud young men, and women, cheering as one of them was helped across that finish line while leaning heavily on the shoulders of his teammates. The title across the front read simply, Duty and Honor. The subtitle was, 'Ironman restores duty and honor on the Hill'. Duty and Honor, as James read that title he wondered if most people even knew the real meaning of those words anymore. He had done his duty. The Doolies had done their duty. They had all done it with honor. It was an honor to be a part of all of it, but duty and honor shouldn't be front page news. Duty and honor should be a part of the daily life of every person. Duty and honor should be the expected behavior of everyone not an unexpected event that made the news. James prayed that night. He prayed that this would be a first step back towards making duty and honor the expected normal again at the Academy, inside America, and in the world.