The months that went by found
the two couples regaining the closeness of the past. As fall approached Mitch
called Aaron and asked him what he and Iukekini had planned for Thanksgiving.
Not having made plans, it was decided that the four of them would spend it
together. Aaron, while bitterly disappointed that the Air Force had invoked
some long-forgotten regulation and had his enlistment involuntarily extended
for two more years because of a sudden critical shortage of experienced
Firefighters, which caused him to lose his job with the HFD, suddenly reminded
him of the times when, as a junior enlisted man, he had to spend Thanksgiving
and Christmas eating alone in the chow hall. An idea came to him for which he
requested to see the First Sergeant.
“I had an idea I’d like to run
by you and see what you think.” No sooner had he finished outlining his idea
then the First Shirt picked up his phone and dialed an extension. “This is
Turanski. I have Sergeant Suarez in here and he’s come up with a fantastic
idea. I’d like to have him explain it to you. Yes sir.” A few moments later
both men snapped to attention as the squadron Commander entered the office.
“Sit. Sit. Sit. Sit. What is
this idea of yours Aaron?” The Commander had always made it a point to learn
and use the first names of those under his command. If he ever used their last
name either outside their buildings or during formal ceremonies, they knew they
were in trouble.
“Well, sir, as I explained to
the First Sergeant, I remember what it was like to spend the holidays eating
alone in the chow halls. My idea is that we make a list of families that would
be willing to host one or two people for Thanksgiving and match them up with
people who would be spending the holiday alone. We could also ask for volunteer
families to bring food to those who are on duty. We could call the program
Share-A-Turkey, or something like that. We could do the same thing for
Christmas only call it Share-A-Tree.” He concluded, then sat back waiting for
the Commander’s reaction, which was almost immediate.
“That’s a fantastic idea.” The
Commander emphatically replied.
“I wish I’d thought of it. It
would be a great morale booster.” The First Shirt commented.
“How would you implement such a
program?”
“If it were up to me, Commander,
I would first send copies of two different questionnaires to each shop, one for
people who were willing to be hosts, and one for those who would like to be
hosted. I would create a computer database to keep track of the responses then
match people up. It would be cool if people from different shops could be
matched together. More people in the squadron would get to know each other.”
The Commander looked at Aaron
for a minute then made a call. Shortly the NCOIC[1] of the
orderly room came into the office. “Yes sir?” Sergeant Ellis inquired.
“Mary, Aaron here is assigned to
a special project. I want him to use the spare office. Do we have a spare
computer with a database program on it anywhere?”
“There’s already one in the
office.”
“Great. Please give him keys to
the office, orderly room and building, and whatever supplies he needs.”
“Of course, sir. May I ask what
this project is?”
For a third time that morning
Aaron found himself explaining his idea. “What a marvelous idea. I wish I
thought if it.” She responding, not knowing that she was echoing the First
Shirt’s response. “I get everything set up immediately, if you will excuse me,
sir.”
“Begging the Commander’s pardon,
but why me, sir? What about my regular duties.”
“It’s your idea, Aaron. There’s
no way I’d let anyone steal your thunder. As for your regular duties, well…” He
picked up the phone and dialed. “This is the Commander. I need to speak with
Chief Turner, please.” There was a slight pause.
“Turner speaking. How can I help
you, sir?”
“Leo, I am relieving Sergeant
Suarez of all duties effective immediately. I’m assigning him to be the
squadron morale NCO.”
“Of course, Colonel. If I may
ask, has he done something wrong? He’s always been an outstanding NCO.”
“Not at all. As a matter of
fact, he’s done something extremely right He came up with an incredible idea
which I firmly believe will have a positive impact on our personnel over the
holidays.”
There was an audible sigh of
relief. The Chief, while gruff in his demeanor, really cared about his
Firefighters. “May I ask one favor? Can I have him for a couple more days to
bring someone up to speed on our training program?”
“Yes, of course. Will the rest
of the week suffice? I really want him to get started on this project.”
“I don’t think it would take any
longer than that. That would give him four days. I’ll relieve him and Sergeant
Baker from everything except actual firefighting.”
“Excellent. Thank you, Leo.
Sorry to deprive you of one of your best men, but I think this is really,
really important, especially with the holidays coming up. I’ve never held with
the Air Force’s philosophy that the mission comes first. If you don’t take care
of your people first, then there won’t be anyone to complete the mission.”
“I agree with that one-hundred
percent. I’ve always been a people-first type of person.”
“Then we’re on the same page.
I’ll let you go.”
“One real quick thing; I know
it’s his day off, but could you send Suarez over when you’re finished with
him?”
“Yes certainly. Goodbye, Leo.”
“Thank you sir, have a good
day.”
After telling Aaron to report to
the firehouse, the Commander sat back in his chair. “You know, Ryan, this idea
of Aaron’s is absolutely inspired, but I don’t think we should do it at this
level. I think it would be great it implement it wing-wide or even base-wide.
Morale is always hard to maintain during the holiday season. I think I’ll bring
it up to the wing[2]
Commander.”
“You know if you bring it up to
Colonel Kennedy we will most likely lose him.”
The Commander smiled. “Not
without a fight. He can’t steal Aaron if he doesn’t know whose idea it was.”
“Good luck keeping it from him.
You know how stubborn he can be.”
“Well, I guess then that the
irresistible force is about to meet the unmovable object.”
The First Shirt laughed. “That’s
something I’d love to see. Well, if you will excuse me sir, I have some Article
32[3]
paperwork to prepare.”
“Don’t tell me, let me guess,
possession of marijuana?”
“Yes sir. I’ll have them for you
by the end of the day.” He returned to his office to do what he had to do.
Aaron knocked on the doorframe
of the Chief’s office. “You wanted to see me, Chief?
“Yes. Close the door and sit
down, Suarez.”
Uh-oh. I’m in trouble. He thought as he complied.
“I’m a little upset with you.
What’s going on?”
Aaron explained yet again the
Share-A-Turkey and Share-A-Tree programs.
“I see; excellent ideas. Why did
you go straight to the First Shirt instead of coming to me first?
“Chief, to be honest I really
didn’t see the need to come to you with this because we’ve always taken care of
our own over the holidays. I wasn’t thinking about us, but about the rest of
the squadron.”
“I understand. Well, I’m sorry
to lose you. You’re one hell of a Firefighter. Bring Baker up to speed as best
you can. I only have you until the end of the week.”
“Yes Chief. Is there anything
else?”
“No.” At that moment the alarm
went off, creating a flurry of activity. Hearing that it was a structure fire,
Aaron ran out of the office, jumped into his turnout gear and found an empty
seat on one of the trucks, which was a typical display of Aaron’s dedication to
his chosen career, spending his day off fighting a fire.
A month later the First Shirt
entered the squadron Commander’s office. “Sir, I need to discuss something
somewhat disturbing. These pictures were mailed to me.” He handed a stack of
pictures to the Commander whose shock and surprise became increasingly evident with
each picture he looked at.
“Was there a return address?”
“No. It was postmarked from
Barber’s Point N.A.S. two days ago.”
The Commander set back in his
seat with a heavy sigh as he threw the pictures down onto the desk. “What
options do we have?”
“Regulations require us to
discharge him.
“There are no other options?”
“Well, given Suarez’s service
record and given the fact that these pictures are from an anonymous source,
they could be made to disappear….”
“Get Suarez and Ellis in here
and have her bring me his personnel file.”
“Yes sir.”
A few minutes later Aaron and
Sergeant Ellis reported to the Commander and she gave him Aaron’s file. “Sit
down please. The First Sergeant received a package today with some disturbing
photos in them that require an explanation.” He handed the envelope to a
nervous Aaron. “Can you tell me who the people are in these pictures?”
Aaron removed the pictures from
the envelope and as he scanned them he felt the world drop out from underneath
him. “Yes sir, that’s me and one of the local HFD Firefighters that I met
through my candle making classes. He’s the one who actually got me the job with
them originally.”
“So you admit that it is you in
these pictures.”
“I’m not going to lie to you
Commander. That is me and my boyfriend. The pictures of us walking along the
beach were taken at the North Shore, and the pictures of us kissing were taken
outside Nighttown Waikiki and Candle Crafts.”
“So you admit you are a
homosexual?”
“Yes sir.”
The Commander and the First
Shirt exchanged looks. “Okay. Regulations require me to discharge you from the
Air Force. Given all that you have done for this unit, and your outstanding
service record, I am loath to do so. You’ve left me in a difficult position.
What do you think I should do?”
“First let me apologize,
Commander. I just got to the point where I couldn’t live the double-life
anymore. I was hurting too many people. I need to be true to who I am, so I
guess your only choice would be to kick me out. I’m on an involuntary extension
anyway.”
“I could order you to stay away
from him.”
“With all due respect to you,
Sir, the First Sergeant and Sergeant Ellis, that is an order I would not obey.”
“I kind of figured you’d say
something along those lines.” The Commander said as he opened up the personnel
file and scanned through it. Lifting the prongs, he removed a set of papers,
put them aside and removed a large stack of papers which he held in his hand.
“See these?”
“Yes Sir” Aaron replied.
“Do you know what these are?”
“No Sir.”
“This is your personnel file.
These are all of the letters of commendation and appreciation we have received
on you. This speaks volumes about your courage, dedication and bravery. I’d be
a fool to let you go.” He put Aaron’s personnel file back together, closed it
and picked up the pictures. “So, I’ve made my decision.” He ripped the pictures
to shreds. “We never saw these and this meeting never took place. Dismissed.”
Everyone stood at attention, saluted and left.
Sergeant Ellis followed Aaron
into his office. She turned to Aaron. “I’m very disappointed in you, Aaron. I
do not appreciate being called into the Commander’s office for shit like this.”
“I’m very sorry to have involved
you in this Mary, but I just couldn’t lie anymore. Too many people have been
hurt by it.”
“Like who,” she inquired.
“My girlfriend and her cousin”
He replied, using air quotes.
“Yes, about that. I’m confused
about that whole situation.”
“It’s very simple. When I did
the Firefighter training sessions over at Barber’s Point, my ex-best friend was
there and he threatened to out me. I got drunk that night and ended up waking
up on a friend’s couch. Her and her fiancé cooked up the whole charade with her
being my girlfriend; her fiancé being her cousin and my boyfriend was her
fiancé’s boyfriend.”
“I thought everyone here knew
they could come to me about anything. Did you think I wouldn’t understand?”
“I couldn’t risk coming to you
about this. You’d be required to report me and a discharge for homosexuality
would eliminate any chances of getting back into the HFD.”
“None of that would have
happened, Aaron. Believe me when I say that I already knew you were gay, and it
made no difference to me. I don’t care who you sleep with. All I care about is
your well-being and your duty performance, which has been exemplary. You are
not a ‘do-as-I-say-not-as-I-do’ type of leader. You lead by example. The Chief
had told me about what happened last month while you were here on your day off
telling us about your holiday program ideas. When the alarm came through for
the structure fire at the old supply warehouse you would have been well within
your rights to ignore the alarm and go home. No one would have faulted you for
it. But you jumped into your turnout gear and helped put out the fire. You are
extremely dedicated and that’s why I chose to ignore your sexuality. It never
interfered with the performance of your duties.”
“How did you know I was gay? I
did everything I could to hide it.”
“I have a younger cousin who is
gay. I have a pretty good gaydar.” Mary smirked.
“Okay, so what do we do now?”
“I’m going back to my desk and
you’re going to come up with more great ideas to help keep morale up. As I
understand it, the Share-A-Turkey and Share-A-Tree programs are going to be
implemented base-wide next year, only instead of each individual unit running
their own program, the Morale, Welfare and Recreation division is going to
handle it.”
“Wow. That’s great news. Hey, I
just thought of something. You have a roster of everyone showing their
enlistment dates, don’t you?”
“Yes I do. Why?”
“Why not have some kind of
ceremony or celebration each month for those whose enlistment anniversary falls
within that month.”
“Another great idea. I’ll run it
by the Commander, but I know he’ll be in favor of it.”
“Maybe even throw in a three-day
pass as well?”
“Can’t hurt to ask. In fact I’ll
go do it right now.” She left and came back in a few minutes later with a
computer printout. “Here you go. Everyone’s name and enlistment date. Get to
work. The Commander wants you to write everything up for him to sign off on and
distribute as soon as possible. Also he wants you to design some kind of
certificate of acknowledgement. Damn if you aren’t going to get yet another
letter of commendation” Which I have to
write up for presentation to him at the first ceremony.
“Thanks, Mary. I’ll see what I
can come up with” Another letter of
commendation. I wish it was for firefighting and not for sitting on my ass.
Aaron thought wistfully.
Meanwhile, in Honolulu…
Aaron’s going to shit his pants over this. Iukekini thought as he
knocked on the door to the club.
“Can I help you?” A man asked,
opening the door.
“I’m sorry to bother you, but I
was wondering if it would be possible to get tickets to the Kyle Matthews
concert? They’re a surprise for my boyfriend’s birthday, which is why I’m here
now instead of coming when you’re open.”
“Of course, come on in. I’m
Billy. I’m the bar manager here.” Billy replied, extending his hand.
“Iukekini” He said as he shook
Billy’s hand.
“You picked a good time to come
as the concert is almost sold out. How many tickets would you like?” Billy
asked as he led Iukekini to the office.
“If possible, could I get four
of them, please?”
“Sure, no problem” Billy counted
out and handed Iukekini four tickets.
“Thank you. How much to I owe
you?”
“That will be six-thousand
pennies, please. The concert itself is free. The cost covers two drinks and an
all-you-can-eat buffet.”
Iukekini looked at Billy with a
confused look on his face, “Six-thousand pennies?”
“Sixty dollars; I like to say it
that way just to see the reaction on people’s faces.”
Iukekini laughed and handed over
the sixty dollars. “What time should we get here to get a good seat? I’m a big
fan of Kyle’s.”
“The doors open at seven and the
concert starts at eight, so I’d be here around two. It’s going to be a packed
house and I’m sure the line to get in is going to start early.”
“Okay, thanks. See you
tomorrow.” He left trying to figure out the best way to pull off the surprise.
Inspiration wasn’t long in striking. A quick phone call to Mitch had all the
pieces in place. Now he had to make another phone call to put his plan in
motion.
“Aaron, Iukekini is on line two
for you.” One of the airmen in the orderly room told him.
“Thanks, Ken. Hey, baby, what’s
up?”
“I thought you might be
interested in hearing about a call I just went on with the ambulance. You
wouldn’t believe who they just found in an alley, beaten all to hell.”
“Who?”
[1]
NCOIC – Non-Commissioned Officer In Charge
[2]
In the Air Force hierarchy, a wing is made up of several squadrons.
[3]
Uniform Code of Military Justice Article 32 – non-judicial punishment for minor
offenses
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