Chapter Five - part one

      Chapter Five

   Turning Points

  James arrived at his new base wondering what his actual duty assignment would be. It wasn't common for the Air Force to leave an officer in the dark for this long. Sometimes you wouldn't know all the details, but normally you at least had some idea of what you would be doing. All James knew was that he was to report to the wing commander for his next duty assignment. That was another unknown for James. The wing commander was an old acquaintance, Brigadier General Susan Holt. She had been the squadron commander of Mighty Mach One at the Academy his Doolie year. She had moved up rapidly too. They had never been friends, but they did know each other. She had been there more than once during a beat down session and James had often been the focus of her attention during those sessions. Still she had never showed any indication that James was any different than any other Doolie to her. He wasn't sure what he should expect from her now.

   He had done some research on her to try and get an idea of what to expect. She had spent a lot of her career as a fighter pilot, flying an F-35 for most of it. She had been trained on the F/A-48 as well, but she hadn't seen any deployments in those. She was a top pilot though and highly decorated, but most of her major achievements were in the other areas. She had spent a lot of time working to stabilize relations with nations that needed American military support, but didn't want to be seen as a puppet on a string for America. She was very good at making things work out the best possible way for both America and the other government. While Susan was a top pilot her real talent seemed to be handling administration and diplomatic duties at the same time.  She had been involved in both expanding and shutting down bases while negotiating new agreements with the nations they were in at the same time. She had done most of that work while still a Colonel and pilot. She had moved up as expected until she reached the rank of Major. She had been jumped a rank to full Colonel after that due to her actions in a very touchy situation. She had managed to stop a revolution and stabilize a small nation in Southeast Asia in spite of Chinese interference while avoiding major casualties. That was when she had truly begun to excel on the diplomatic front as well as in administration. She had recently been rewarded again for her exceptional service when she received her first star and command of the 56th Wing. Nothing he could find out had given James any real clue about why he was going to Luke AFB or what he might be assigned to do there.

   James arrived at the base and went directly to headquarters to report in. The exec had greeted James and sent him to get settled in after informing him that Brigadier General Holt wouldn't be able to see him until the next morning. That had been something of a shock to James. He wasn't used to being put off when he tried to report in for duty. James did get one pleasant surprise though. Jeremy had arrived weeks earlier and was waiting for James when he arrived at his base housing. Jeremy had asked the exec to let him know when James arrived, so he could meet up with James. James had made all of the arrangements to ship his truck out ahead of time along with his personal things. Those had already arrived and were waiting for James to take final delivery. Jeremy and his wife were happy to help James with getting settled in. James had never met Janet before. She was a very pretty woman who was younger than Jeremy by several years and slightly taller than he was too.

   James soon learned that Janet had been a track star in college and was currently a volunteer trainer at ASU. In fact that was how she had first met Jeremy, at a track meet. She had moved back to her home in Atlanta while Jeremy was deployed. Since they had lived on base while he was training F/A-48 pilots, she had to give up base housing when Jeremy had been transferred. This time she had insisted they get a place off base, so she could stay in Phoenix if Jeremy was transferred again. She was hoping to get a paid spot coaching at ASU soon, but for now she just helped out. They had both decided this would be their permanent home from now on. She and Jeremy were clearly a perfect match and very happy together. Once James had all of his things unloaded Janet said her goodbyes; leaving Jeremy and James to talk things over while they unpacked stuff.

   Jeremy was quick to ask if James had any clue about why they were stationed here yet. James was floored to find out that Jeremy had been told to wait until James arrived. Now they both knew that something was definitely up for them. They discussed all the possibilities, but neither one of them felt very confident about anything they could think of. There was simply no reason for all this delay in telling them any details about their assignments. The 56th wing was primarily a training unit for fighter pilots. They did both the initial and advanced training in flying and tactics here. It was only on the rarest of occasions that the 56th wing deviated from that basic purpose. James could see no reason why being assigned to a training unit should need to be kept so secret. Jeremy had summed things up well with his last words before he left. He had looked at James and grinned as he spoke. "You know I still like you a lot and I wouldn't change meeting you or flying with you if I could. But sometimes I worry that being close to you may end up being more of a curse than a blessing. Pray for blessings James... I think we may be in need of all the prayers we can both manage before morning." Jeremy had shut the truck door and walked towards his house laughing as James slowly headed back to his own place on base in his truck.

   First thing the next morning James and Jeremy reported directly to Brigadier General Holt. She was waiting when they arrived. She hadn't changed much from the days at the Academy, other than a touch of grey in her hair and a few wrinkles around her eyes. She still had the same strict business mannerisms and cold smile. Once the formal greeting was done she wasted no time with pleasantry of any kind. She had them take a seat and did the same. Then she had actually smiled at them before she started talking. "I have been looking forward to this and dreading it at the same time. I have followed your career closely Colonel Cooper and I must say it has been a most impressive one." Turning her eyes towards Jeremy she continued. "I haven't followed your career that closely, but I was impressed with what I saw in your record. You may not have been in the spotlight as much, but you certainly have been a shining example of what an officer should be." She leaned back and still smiling continued talking, only to both of them now.

    "I know that you must be wondering what deep, dark, plot we have in store for the two of you, since we have kept you in the dark for so long. I am afraid you will be disappointed to find out that it isn't anything like that. The simple truth is that I wanted to talk with both of you together before I signed off on your new duty assignments. Before you start wondering why, I will tell you that it is simply because I want to make sure it is something that you both are comfortable with. I have no doubt as to your abilities. My concern is with your desire and motivation. Colonel Cooper you are to assume command of the 21st fighter squadron and Lt. Colonel Adams will be your second in command. I can see from the looks on your faces that you are both familiar with the current task of the squadron. They train pilots for the Republic of China, more commonly known as Taiwan. Perhaps you can see why I wanted to speak with you in person before making your assignments final. I know you will both have plenty of questions. The 21st doesn't fly F/A-48's, it deals with training foreign pilots rather than our own, and neither of you have any training yourselves in combat while flying the jets you will be using for training. However that was all considered before you were selected for this. My superiors selected you both for this, but I get the final word and I wanted to hear from both of you first. Now if you have questions I will try to give you some answers before you commit to or decline this duty."

   Jeremy looked over at James and shaking his head spoke to him. "Well, it looks like this mess has your name all over it again. I will let you ask the questions, though I think we already know what our answer will be." James let out a long sigh and looked back at Brigadier General Holt. She was just sitting there with no expression on her face, waiting for either of them to ask the questions she knew they must have. After a moment James leaned forward and spoke while watching her for any change in expression. "Ma'am, you summed up things pretty well. Jeremy has some experience in other jets, but I have never flown anything except an F/A-48. Perhaps I could see my minor in Chinese at the Academy as a reason for looking at me, but that makes little real sense. The pilots we train will all speak English as well or better than I do. Neither of us have any actual training or real skill for this assignment. So my first question is why were we picked for this?"