Chapter Seven - part four

   Classes were a bit tougher this year, but James was still very comfortable with all of his classes. The weeks passed rapidly. It was parent's weekend almost before he knew it. This year James got a huge surprise. He hadn't expected his family to be around, but much to his shock his parents did show up. They had never said a word about it. Nobody had, not even the Blake's; who had opened up their home to his folks. That was how he found out. The Blake's had insisted that he come out to eat with them the night before the weekend was to begin. They wanted to enjoy a night out with him before the big push hit. It was their way of making him feel like he had family there, according to them. It had all been a complete fraud. His parents had arrived earlier that day and were waiting for him when Mr. Blake took James home that evening. It had been a shock, but it had been wonderful too. The best part was when Sarah had showed up expecting to have a nice dinner with just him and the Blake's. She had been even more stunned than James had been. The evening had been tense at first, but by the time Sarah drove James back to the Hill it was all good again. Sarah, Susan Blake, and his mom had become great friends by the end of the evening. James wasn't sure if that was a great thing for him, but it was still a good thing for them.

   By the end of parent's weekend a lot of unexpected things had happened. In fact his first surprise might have been the smallest thing that had happened. His folks spent most of Friday with James. They talked to some of his teachers and his track coach. They met a lot of the members of his squadron. They even had a chance to talk to Major Wilson. That had turned out to be a total shock to James. Major Wilson and his dad seemed to make the same kind of connection that Sarah had made with his mom. It turned out that Major Wilson's wife was expecting their first baby. James had listened to his dad offering advice on how to raise kids in the world today. James felt his ears turning red more than once while the two men talked. That was still not the biggest thing that happened though. That major item still involved Sarah.

   It had happened just before his parents had left, but James knew nothing about it until they were literally about to board their plane. He might not have even known about it at all if his mother hadn't told Sarah how much she was looking forward to seeing her again... next summer! Even then James might have missed it, if Sarah hadn't suddenly turned a bright red. James said nothing until after his parents were out of sight, but he wasted no time once they were. It seemed that his folks had invited Sarah to come visit them and maybe even more shocking; Sarah had invited them to her graduation. That was enough to floor James. But when Sarah started talking about things it became very clear that she was hoping to meet the entire family and spend part of her leave after graduating with his parents! That was more than James had even dreamed might happen. It marked a big change in their relationship too. They had also agreed to determine just how serious they really were about their relationship after that. As far as James could tell things had become much more serious between them already. He wasn't sure how much more serious they could get and still not be breaking the guidelines at the Academy.

   James had thought most of the major problems and issues in his life as a cadet were behind him. He and Sarah had found a good balance for their lives. He seldom got to see much of her during the week. Between his schedule and hers they simply had little free time for anything. Sarah had made the cut and would be training as a pilot. Only a small percentage of the cadets would make that final cut each year. Most of the rest of those who wanted to be pilots would eventually fly, but most of those would be flying drones from the ground. They would all get basic flight training, but only a select few would ever actually be trained to sit in the cockpit of a combat aircraft. Sarah was already beginning her pilot training in addition to her classes and all of the other duties she had as squadron commander. James had thought his own schedule was ridiculous, but it soon became apparent that Sarah was no better off than he was. In fact a lot of the cadets at the Academy had the same sort of schedules to deal with. Most of them spent Sunday away from the Hill or locked in their rooms asleep. It was the only day that many of them could get a break. There were a few that couldn't even get that day off. They would spend it working desperately to keep up their class work for the next week. Honestly, if the classes hadn't been so well planned out, many of the cadets would have failed. The first day of class you received a lesson plan for the entire class. That allowed cadets to work ahead in order to be able to balance those brutal schedules. Sarah had warned James that it got worse with each year at the Academy. James and Sarah worked very hard to find a way to make time for each other on Sunday. It didn't always work out, but most weeks they managed to spend most of that one day together.

   The days seemed to blur together more and more as the year progressed. James soon found that his commitment to the track team was a bigger problem than he had expected. The training at the Academy he could manage, but it was a real test for him when he had to be gone. Those days he spent away for the competitions had to be made up on the Hill. It wasn't so much the class time, he could deal with that. It was the time he lost with the squadron. As a 3 degree he was supposed to be heavily involved in the training of the Doolies now that BCT was over. James had been surprised to find that he actually looked forward to that training time with the new class. It wasn't just because James was the one doing the yelling this time either. In fact James seldom yelled at individual cadets. He most often did his yelling at the entire unit. When an individual did earn his undivided attention they knew they had screwed up big time. James found that the new class looked up to him and missed him when he was away during their training sessions.

   At first it had been because James was the 'Ironman'. He was famous over the entire Academy for that, but with the newest class he was looked at more like a hero. This guy had not only done the impossible, he had survived and excelled. James was still at the top of his class in academics and he had all of the pins and recognitions that he could earn in spite of being a thorn in the side of lots of the people in power. But even that wasn't what had actually made the new class look up to him. It was his whole attitude. James treated every cadet with respect. There wasn't a Doolie in Mach One or the rest of the squadrons in A-flight for that matter who didn't know that James cared about them. James tried to help the Doolies learn what was expected and excel just as he had excelled. He also made time for them, even when he clearly didn't have the time. The respect and admiration of the new class was a double edged sword though. While it had earned him more respect and recognition with that new class and even a lot of his own class, most of the first class cadets weren't pleased. To them James was still very much a thorn in their side. A painful reminder of the heat a lot of them had taken over that whole Ironman mess.

   As time passed James managed to work even that out. It wasn't perfect, but the other cadets knew how hard he was working to make time in his schedule to train them. That alone would have earned him more respect, but the effort he put into making them enjoy some very difficult training sealed the deal. A lot of the cadets honestly wondered if they would have made it without James to encourage them when they were down or jump on them when they screwed up. They weren't the only ones that noticed though. Sarah of course noticed what he did, but even she wasn't alone. Major Wilson made it his personal mission to highlight what a fine leader James was to everyone he could. A lot of the other officers in an AOC position began to see James differently because of that. James wasn't even really aware of all of this. He knew how the Doolies in A-flight saw him, but the rest of it he was almost unaware of. James focus was on being the best officer and the best Christian he could be. The result was that he was being seen and recognized as both a Christian and someone who could be a great officer. Even some of the cadets at the top of the cadet wing staff could no longer deny that James could be both at the same time.

   While all of that was good, there were still days when James wondered why he ever thought he could change things. Peter Kemp was only a small issue this year for James. The big issue for James this year was in dealing with two different department heads. One wasn't too big a concern, because it wasn't in an area his major would require many classes in. It was still a very combative and hostile environment for James when he was in one of those classes. The department head was a declared atheist and James seemed to be a red flag in front of the bull as far as he was concerned. He made it a point to monitor and try to dispute James at any available opportunity. It made that class a constant battle ground about faith for James. It was very hard to maintain his stand for God and his grades at the same time. He wasn't ever going to be at the top of that class, but he did more than well enough to keep his overall academic standing secure.

   The biggest issue was that he faced much the same type of conflict with many of the instructors in his chosen field of major study. The only thing that saved that from becoming a disaster was the department head. He was a retired colonel and although he wasn't particularly religious he didn't like anyone trying to force their own beliefs on others. James had been very concerned at first, because some of the instructors were clearly looking for any opportunity to slam him simply because he was openly Christian. In fact he was beginning to wonder if he would have to select a new major because of that. Then Colonel Roberts had brought it to the attention of the department head. At first nothing had really changed. But then one day James was summoned to a meeting with the department head and everything changed in a major way.

   James wasn't the only one who was there. All of his instructors were in that room. In fact every instructor in that department was there. James was the one who shouldn't have been there. It was a departmental meeting. It was on the schedule for all of the instructors who weren't teaching at that time, but even they were there this time. James was called up to stand in front of the meeting while the department head went over numerous items that had come up concerning James and his faith. When it was over there was little doubt that the only real problem was James being a Christian. James was asked to wait outside while they discussed that specific problem. It was almost an hour before the meeting was over and James knew something major had just happened. He never knew exactly what was said or done, but he no longer faced any problems because of his faith. The instructors who had been such a big problem simply tried to ignore him completely for the most part. James was grateful to see things get easier, but he wondered what the price might be for him later on.

  Things seemed to level out more for James as the year progressed. He slipped out of the top spot in academics, but only by a fraction of a point. That was mostly due to the issues with the head of the Political Science department. James was still in a tie for the second place spot with three other cadets in his class. That was more than he had ever dreamed of when he enrolled. As the holidays came and went James and Sarah began to talk about the future. It wouldn't be long before she would be leaving. James would still have two full years left to spend at the Academy. That alone was enough to make their relationship questionable.  The fact that Sarah would be training as a fighter pilot after graduation didn't improve the chances of them staying together either. In fact Major Wilson had started pushing James to apply for a slot as a pilot. He had taken James up for a flight with him and had been impressed when James handled it without any issues. In fact Major Wilson had managed to get James a ride in one of the trainer jets like Sarah was flying. James had even impressed the Lt. Colonel who had flown with him and allowed James to take control and fly the trainer for a while. James was very interested in the idea of actually flying jets, but that would just add to the problems of any relationship with Sarah.

   The days continued to pass and Sarah got her orders for after graduation. She would be on stand down for 6 months after graduation. It wasn't uncommon for many of the graduating cadets to be on stand down for several months before they reported to their first duty. She was on for a little longer because she would be going directly into pilot training. That training normally took over two years to complete. Sarah would be trying to work into the schedule for many of the required officer training classes that all cadets had to take after graduation while she waited for her spot to open in the pilot training program. It also allowed James to work out his own schedule for the summer. Sarah was still committed to her plans to visit his home this summer. Once they both had schedules worked out James was stunned to find out that Sarah was planning on spending two weeks with him at his home. Once she had graduated there were no longer any restrictions against them being together, other than the one that didn't allow James to be married while still a cadet.