Chapter Nine - part five

    In fact there were days when he wondered if he would survive his last year at the Academy. It seemed like he had no free time left, none at all. James could only hope it would get better once the class schedule started. Until then he was too busy to even think about his future. It wasn't all bad though. Now that he was a firstee there were no longer any uppers to cause him problems. He still had a few people in his class who didn't like him at all, but they no longer pressed things. They were too close to graduating and most of them actually had less rank than he did. He was the number two cadet on the Honor committee this year. That alone was enough to discourage anyone from messing with him without a major reason. He was also still hanging in at the top of the class. It was going to take a major screw up on his part to take him out of the top spot. His grades were all but perfect and with his other achievements he was almost a lock for top graduate.

   The Ironman run was covered by the media once again, but it was mostly local and nothing like what it had been last year. James and Aadila had been there at the start and the finish of the Ironman again.  James was going to try to get some of those involved with getting the last Doolie across last year to take that spot next year as 2 degrees. Maybe if they did that, it would help to continue the return of unity and honor to the Academy. There did seem to be a real effort to continue teaching the new Doolies that tolerance and accepting differences was a major part of being a cadet. There was definitely more emphasis put on the honor expected and required from a cadet now than had been the case when James had first arrived. While James knew he had been a part of that change, he also knew that it couldn't have happened without a lot more people being involved. The entire Academy was changing, though it was still very hard to feel comfortable being a Christian among a majority of non-Christians. At least it wasn't worse than it would have been in other colleges anymore. In fact it was probably much easier on the Hill now; mostly due to the new focus on unity between cadets and honor among cadets. It might not last, but James prayed that it would. At least there was a chance things would continue to improve. Although Lt. General McBride would be leaving the Air Force after this year, he had made it clear to the current cadet staff that the Air Force approved of the changes seen at the Academy. Many of the older commanders in the Air Force felt there would be better officers graduating because of the changes that were slowly taking place among the cadets.

   James and Sarah managed to get off on the Labor Day holiday in spite of it being the last parent's weekend at the Academy for James. They went to see her parents and informed them of their engagement. They were actually very surprised at how well her parents took the news. The only real issue had been the promise rings. Sarah had tried to explain, but her mom hadn't been impressed at all. Her dad had been more amused than upset. In fact he had finally been the one who stepped in and made peace between mother and daughter over the rings. James had a chance to talk to him alone before they had to leave. That hadn't been what he had expected at all. Robert Davis had taken James out for a drive around their ranch. Once they were alone he had spent a good deal of time talking to James about the future. He didn't just talk about the future for Sarah and James either. Senator Robert Davis was deeply concerned about the future of the nation. He wasn't happy that his daughter had been selected to train on the new F/A-48 aircraft. He was on the committee that had approved those planes and knew a great deal about them. The Air Force and Navy would both be getting some of them. All of the planes would be identical, so they would be capable of flying for either service.

   He warned James that many things were changing far more rapidly in the world than the general public knew. In fact very few leaders or even military commanders were fully aware of the entire situation. America was still the strongest single military power in the world, but they no longer dominated or even fully controlled things. China had a navy capability that was increasingly concerning to those who should know when to be concerned. Russia had focused more on controlling air space than the seas, but their planes were still not as good as America had. Both of them had huge ground armies that far exceeded what America had, even if they weren't as well armed. They were still very capable forces. But the real issue was the sudden explosion of small nations with a very capable Air Force. That had happened for two reasons. The first was access to drones that were cheap and very effective. The drones were small and cheap, but they were deadly in large enough numbers to both ground forces and aircraft as well. The second reason was the real purpose for the new F/A-48's. That was all of the new cyber-technology that could blind or even destroy many current planes. The balance of power was changing. America simply couldn't field enough forces to maintain any real control of world situations now. Once the Air Force and Navy had been enough to deter most issues without a major Army commitment, but that was no longer true. Now the Air Force and Navy were no longer able to deter the drones of other smaller nations enough to make America's smaller ground forces sufficient.

  That wasn't Senator Davis's only concern though. His biggest concern was that American productivity and self reliance was crumbling. Once America had been a world leader in most areas of advancement, but that was no longer true. In fact America had fallen behind and was now simply being buried by worldwide competition and demand. The government couldn't continue to support a nation when the production within it was slowly grinding to a halt. Even the farms which had once fed the world were slowly being forced out of production. The picture for the future that Senator Davis painted was far darker than even James had imagined it to be. They had spent several hours driving around the ranch talking about those things. It soon had become clear that Senator Davis was working to change the future of the nation. It also became clear that he expected it to become much worse before it started to get any better. He also told James that he fully expected that James and Sarah would have to make some very difficult decisions about the future soon.

  That talk had been the one that had troubled James the most. Sarah was more concerned with the one she and her mother had while James was out with her father. That one had been about planning a wedding and planning a family. Mary Jane 'Baker' Davis had made it very clear to her daughter that she expected a nice wedding for her daughter. That would be her price for accepting those 'promise' rings for the time being. More importantly she made it very, very clear that while she was too young to be a grandmother she still wanted to be one... and soon! Sarah had been ready to scream before they left. Her mom had made the same speech about expecting a grandchild to James too. James hadn't minded that at all. He told her that he and Sarah wanted and would have children, but they wouldn't rush into it. Robert Davis had just laughed and warned James that someday children would make him wonder why he ever got married. All in all, it hadn't gone too bad at all. They would have to work out wedding arrangements and children would remain an issue until they did have them, but if those were the biggest problems they faced it would be better than James was afraid it might have been.

   It was back to life as usual on the Hill for James and back to training for Sarah. They tried to call every day, but sometimes that just didn't happen. She was spending a lot of time in the air now, actually training in jets. She wasn't doing the same training as many of those she had started with though. They were learning the current aircraft that was being actively deployed around the world. Sarah got a chance to fly those only rarely. She was spending a large portion of her time training in what many would have considered outdated aircraft. They didn't have all the latest avionics and control systems. In fact some of them had very outdated systems that were prone to failure now. She flew those as part of the efforts to get her ready for the new F/A-48 she would soon begin training in. They were still completing the testing and proofing of it before final acceptance for deployment. The Air Force and Navy had a total of ten of the planes at the moment. The plan was to have at least forty more ready and on hand by July of next year. Then another forty would be delivered over each of the next four years and if they lived up to expectations an additional ten a year would be added for several more years. James was still trying to keep up with all of his classes, duties, and his last year on the track team. He still rarely found any free time available during his week and seldom on weekends.