Chapter Nine - part six

   James and Sarah had decided to wait to tell his parents. They were going out to spend Christmas break with them. That was when they would break the news. Thanksgiving break arrived and James took Sarah out to pick out the rings for their wedding, including a very nice engagement ring. They also spent Thanksgiving with her folks. It was still a little tense around the family table, but things were getting better. James and Robert went deer hunting together while they were there. That had been fun for both of them. Uncle Bill had declined to go with them. He took Sarah with him after they had left. Sarah brought back the biggest buck of the hunt, which seemed to be expected. James had killed a nice buck himself. Robert had been impressed when James had dropped the buck on the run at just over two hundred yards. Sarah's mom had seemed to be more pleased with James when she had seen the wedding rings they had picked out. They weren't fancy rings, but the engagement ring had a beautiful green diamond. Those were not only very rare, but expensive and it made Sarah's eyes seem even brighter, that was according to her mom.

   James family had been stunned on Christmas morning when they finally noticed them wearing their promise rings and Sarah wearing her engagement ring too. They hadn't told anyone that they were engaged and it was well into the opening of presents before anyone said something about the rings. James took a lot of scolding from his sisters, until his mom informed them she had noticed the rings when they walked into the room that morning.  Then she had to listen while the girls whined about her not saying anything. Christmas was wonderful for many reasons this year. It was the first one they had spent together and it was also the end of secrets. Everybody had been told or could be told now. They no longer had to keep secrets. They could openly start planning for their wedding. That was something Sarah had insisted they start while they were there. She wanted the wedding to be in Virginia, so that everyone could attend. Since his family would be attending graduation they wouldn't have time for another trip to Texas for a wedding at her home. The only other option was a wedding at the Chapel after graduation. Neither of them wanted to try that. There were likely to be several weddings going on then. There normally were at least a couple of cadets getting married there after graduation allowed it to happen. Her family was smaller too and they had the resources to be able to afford the trip to Virginia, so Sarah favored that choice. James hadn't expected Sarah to want the wedding at his home and worried that her folks wouldn't like it. Sarah assured him that she could and would handle any objections they had.

   James was happy to agree once he was sure she really wanted to do it that way. They made a trip out the next day to see Pastor David about performing the wedding. That turned into the first major complication of their wedding plans. Pastor David insisted that they do the required pre-marital counseling before he married them. That was almost impossible to get done with them apart. They had finally convinced him to do it over the internet with them. He wasn't happy, but he agreed after they finally agreed to a couple of sessions with him in person before they left and a final one when they came back for the wedding. They couldn't set any definite date yet. They still hadn't been given the exact dates for reporting to training on the F/A-48's. All they could be certain of was that it had to be after Memorial Day, after James graduated. Sarah would likely be a June bride, but setting an exact date was impossible until they both had their orders. They went separate ways when they headed back. James flew back to the Hill and Sarah flew home to spend some time with her folks. She did come back to the Academy for New Years again with James. This time her mom and dad came along. It was a family celebration this time and much more relaxed than their first New Year's celebration together had been.

   They now had five months left to make their preparations before graduation arrived. Most of that time they were apart again, but they did get one break to spend together. Spring break they spent back in Virginia planning out their wedding day. By then they had received their orders and could make final plans. They set the wedding date officially for the tenth day of June.  Sarah's parents had actually liked the idea of her getting married in Virginia. Her Dad had a place in D.C. where he stayed while the Senate was in session, so it was relatively convenient for them. The same was true for Uncle Bill. It would also reduce the chance of a lot of press showing up too. In Texas her wedding would have been big news, but not so much in Virginia. James and Sarah were scheduled to report to training on July 1st. Until then, they both had leave. Sarah's dad and her Uncle Bill had offered to pay for a two week honeymoon in Hawaii. James had been a little unsure about that, but Sarah had wanted to let them. James soon heard enough from his sisters to know he had no real choice, so he agreed. They would have to fly straight back to start training after their honeymoon together was over.

   The remaining two months seemed to fly by. Graduation was the normal controlled chaos that it always seemed to be for the cadets and their families. James had managed to hang on to the top spot and was recognized for that achievement. Once it was over it was time to pack up and move out. James didn't actually have very much to pack. Sarah was amazed at how little he did have. She told him he better not expect her to travel that light, because it wouldn't happen! Once back at his home they spent the few days they had left before they were married making the final preparations. The wedding wasn't a huge affair, but to James it seemed huge. Pastor David had managed to make them consider a lot of things they hadn't thought about during the counseling and get those things resolved before the wedding. They went camping and hiking alone in the mountains immediately after the wedding, until it was time for them to leave on their honeymoon. James had missed spending time out in nature more than he had thought while at the Academy and being totally alone with Sarah made it even better. All combined they had almost three weeks alone together, including the time in Hawaii, before they reported for training. It was to be the last chance they would have for any real time alone for several months.

   The new training was mostly intensive classroom work to start with. Then it started to be a mix of class work and simulators. The class work was very intense and demanding. Nothing less than perfection was acceptable. The new F/A-48 cost more than twice what the last new planes had cost to build. The numbers were going to be very limited because of that high cost.  They had no intention of losing one because of pilot error due to not enough training. Sarah and James spent day after day working to memorize every detail of what they were being taught. This training was very different than anything done before for pilots. The Air Force and the Navy were training together for one thing. The first training was being done on a secure research and development site. It wasn't even being done at an actual base. The Air Force was sending ten newly graduated 2nd Lt.'s and twenty trained pilots to be trained. The Navy was sending basically the same mix of its own. That meant there would be sixty pilots competing for forty slots. It was expected that some would wash out, but they also wanted extra pilots trained and ready for new planes as they arrived.

   The reason they had selected both previously trained and untrained pilots was that during the initial testing of the F/A-48 the pilots with less experience with the most current avionics systems did better. It had been decided that due to that it might prove more effective to train younger, untrained pilots, for the F/A-48. The military hadn't been willing to give up the flight experience of older pilots completely, so a trial was established for the first group of trainees. They expected to have a ten to twenty percent wash out rate, so they added extra pilots. The Air Force and Navy wanted these new jets deployed on active duty within 18 to 24 months. The current plan was to assign a green pilot with a seasoned veteran, much as it was already done. Since they were all new pilots on these jets this wasn't the certain help it had once been for the green pilots. The hope was that those seasoned pilots could still help complete the training of the newer pilots in time for them both to be ready to take on a new wingman from the next class of trainees. It was a very unusual approach in many ways. This would be one of the first times that Air Force pilots would be required to be certified for carrier landings before they completed training too and were assigned to a squadron. That was why they would be doing the actual flight training in two separate locations. The first would be an Air Force training base and the final would be the Navy training base.

   The first couple of weeks of training were too stressful and intense for anyone to notice anything beyond the actual class room. It was made clear from day one that any mistake could be your last. They pushed everyone for perfection. That alone was enough to get James and Sarah past any notice by their fellow students for a couple of weeks. They might have gone even longer if not for their names. Sarah had wanted to take Cooper as her last name. She had dropped both Baker and Davis. She was now officially 1st Lt. Sarah Marie Cooper. Even that might have gotten them by if it hadn't been for a new instructor arriving. When Lt. Colonel 'Sam' Wilson walked into the classroom it all went public. He immediately went over and congratulated them. A few of the older pilots had thought they might be brother and sister since they arrived together and shared the same last name. They hadn't thought about them being married though. That hadn't seemed possible. The military frowned on married couples serving together. There was just no way it would let them train to fly together. It just wasn't done, but things were changing.

   It wasn't long before the rest of the class did their research and realized just who Sarah was. They soon made the connection between James and the Ironman too. Other than the former Air Force cadets who had graduated with James nobody had even looked at them. Those cadets had kept quiet, out of respect for both of them and uncertainty about the situation too. They weren't sure how much James and Sarah had wanted to share. That was over now. The other former cadets were asked almost as many questions as James and Sarah were asked. At first it had been plain curiosity, but as time passed that was replaced by a real interest in them as a couple. James and Sarah were both fully committed to the training and prepared to spend years separated if it was required for them each to fly an F/A-48. That was something that was hard to explain and harder to accept after they did explain it. Eventually the rest of the trainees had no choice except to accept them as a happily married couple though.  A couple who were willing to make major sacrifices for each other.

    Once they were fully accepted as a happily married couple they had thought it would ease up for them. Instead everyone seemed to be watching them even closer. There were several pilots who had a partner at home, but none of them had one who was active duty now. A couple had met on duty, but one of them had left active duty to make it easier for the couple to be together. There were only two who were married and one of those was Lt. Colonel Wilson. His wife didn't work at all. The thought of a married couple with both serving and both as pilots seemed to be a very big deal for all of them. Less than a third of all active duty personnel listed themselves as being in a permanent relationship and barely half of that number were legally married. The rest were living together and raising a family, but unmarried. James hadn't realized how much things had changed. There were people around his home who lived together and raised kids without ever being married, but they weren't the norm. Most people still got married around his rural hometown. Many ended up divorced, some did both many times, but most people he had known while growing up had been married. Many didn't remain married, but they had been married once. That wasn't the way it worked in the military and apparently in most of the major cities now. Marriage was viewed as more of a problem than it was worth for most people outside rural areas. Couples seemed to accept living together in cities more easily than being married in them now.