"Oh, well, maybe we should wait on the liquor," said Cynthia perkily. She wasn't dumb enough to want people THAT much off their guard. "Maybe two parties? That way everyone gets a shot but nobody's short-staffed? Or, like, three shifts? I dunno. Huh, y'reckon I could become a soldier too, y'think? I mean, like, there's military personnel who sort out parties and, really, aren't we all going to need to join the Army and Air Force and stuff to survive? I mean, I don't really know if there'll be a civilian / military divide after this shit."
In the operations room- Kathryn could see that the airspace around the landing pad from which the helicopter was taking off was clear, so she gave the authorization. The choppers on combat air patrol and recon were out of its flight path, as they should be. Their pilots must have been instructed to stay away from it.
"Nicely handled," said Colonel Everett, smiling and saluting back. "Now I know I made the right decision. You'd better put your headphones back on for now and continue to talk them through it until they're out of the base's airspace. I'll have my aide draw up the paperwork and get a uniform and lieutenant's bars ready for you. Once the bird is away, I'll bring you back to my office and swear you in. What size do you take?"
"Multiple parties?" said Carmichael to Cynthia. "Yes, that's a good idea, ma'am. One for officers, one for enlisted personnel, and one for civilians, perhaps. Not everyone is cut out to join the military, and not everyone is going to want to do so. We'll always need people to fight off the infected, but we need people for many other things essential to our survival that have nothing to do with that: farming, manufacturing, and so on. Civilians who can do those jobs can free up others to defend us. If you're serious about joining the Air Force, that could be arranged. It won't be easy, but I'm sure you can qualify medically. You've already been examined thoroughly, and you're in great health. You'd have to go through basic training, of course. It's not quite as harsh as Marine boot camp, but it's still grueling. You'd also have to start out as an Airman Basic. Only people with special qualifications get a commission, like your friend Kathryn. She'll have to go through officer's training, which won't be easy either."
"What about me, Lt. Colonel?" asked Amanda Deeds. "I was a combat nurse in Vietnam. I was in the Navy, though. I had the rank of Ensign. It was a long time ago, but I've been in nursing all my life."
"That shouldn't be a problem. That rank equates to second lieutenant, and calling you back to service should be simple enough, especially in light of the emergency. Qualified nurses were in short supply even before this."
"I'm from Vietnam," said Ho Nguyen. "I was born and raised in Saigon. They renamed it Ho Chi Minh City, but it will always be Saigon to me."
"Sure, I'll do it. Best to know how to protect myself." Cynthia looks thoughtful. "Well, those groupings should work if that's where the friendship lines are but, it might be worth while mixing them up. I mean, you don't want people getting all suspicious and paranoid about what the civilians are thinking or whether the officers will sacrifice the underlings. I mean, it'd be worth making sure people know who else is out there, right? I mean, we want buddies to chill out but we want mixing, too. Oh, also, like, no offense, I'm sure you know all about this, but what if all the guardsmen are, like enlisted personnel, right? So if it's during their party, then will the officers and civilians be patrolling their routes? Wouldn't it be, like, better to just figure out how to take a break while still ensuring all shifts are as covered as they can be, given the circumstances?"
In the operations room-
"Lifting off," said the pilot on the radio into Kathryn's headset. She heard him the Huey rise into the air. After a little while, it leveled off and started moving north over the base's airspace.
"Captain," said Colonel Everett into his radio, "I'm going to be bringing Kathryn McCoy up soon and swearing her in as a second lieutenant. Please have the paperwork ready, as well as a uniform and lieutenant's bars."
"I figured the parties would straddle two shifts," said Lt. Colonel Carmichael to Cynthia. "That way nobody will have to miss it, and we'll still have people on duty at all times. Not everyone will be able to stay for the whole thing, but that's okay. I was thinking 1800 hours to 0200 hours. As for mixing enlisted personnel and officers, that's against regulations, though there's nothing to say that civilians can't mix with either of them. We can get you started on basic training later this morning if you like. Maybe some of the others want to enlist too, and everyone can get trained together."
"Ahh! Okay!" She grins broadly. "That makes sense, and less planning for me! Hmm, well, I'll need a pen and some paper and a list of your music supplies. Do you have any instruments?"
In the operations room- Carmichael signalled for a nearby airman to bring a pen and a pad of paper to Cynthia, which he did. "Good thinking," he told her. "Yes, we not only have instruments, we have our own marching band. I can arrange for them to play. I'm too old to know what music is popular with young folks these days. I only know that I don't care for it much, but then again my dad said the same thing about the music I listened to when I was your age. What do you think they should play? I'd go for something uplifting and inspirational, something that would boost morale."
Kathryn monitored the helicopter on the radar scope until it was safely out of the base's airspace. "Good job, Ms. McCoy," said Colonel Everett. "We can go any time you're ready. I'm sure Captain Proust can hold down the fort until you return."
"Sure," said Kathryn. She removed her headset, stood up, and walked over to Cynthia. "See you in a while, Cyn," she said. "I'm going to go becme an officer now."
"Have fun!" said Cynthia, waving perkily. "Umm, well, I don't know what kinda songs marching bands can play. Maybe if I could go chat to 'em? Learn some more?"
The talk about babies made Melinda remember Keith. She sighted. She know him for less than 48 hours, but she felt like if he was the men of her life. Without him, she would be one of the creatures. She smiled. Next time that she would be with him... -So, and what can I help? I don't have any special training, but I have a lot of goodwill.
In the operations room- Kathryn waved back to Cynthia and followed Colonel Everett out of the operations room and into the hallway.
"I can get the bandleader to come here and talk to you," Carmichael told Cynthia. "They're quite good, and they can play all sorts of things, not just marching songs." He spoke into his radio. "This is Lt. Colonel Carmichael. Is Major Jackson available? Good, please send him to Operations." He then addressed Melinda. "You used to work for Cabela's, right, ma'am? Your knowledge of the weapons and supplies that they produce could be useful. How would you like to work in the Quartermaster's office? They could use some help to organize eveything, maintain the base's inventory of equipment, and handle requests."
OOC,[b]Kathryn McCoy[/b] is moving to the thread linked below. Her player, if he ever returns or she gets a new one, should stop reading the current thread at this point. All other players remain in the current thread.
In the operations room-
A few minutes later, a tall, very handsome man in a sharp-looking dress uniform strode into the room. He had gold oak leaf insignia on his collar. He snapped off a salute to Carmichael. "Major Jackson reporting for duty, sir!" he said.
"As you were, Major," replied Carmichael, returning his salute. "I'd like you to meet Ms. Cynthia Louise. She's helping us organize a party tonight, and we'd like for your band to provide the music. She'd like to discuss with you what songs you should play."
"Of course, sir." Jackson smiled at Cynthia. "How can I help you, ma'am?"
Carmichael turned back to Melinda. "Would you like to start in the Quartermaster's office now, ma'am? I can arrange for an escort to take you to the armory."
In the operations room-
"Well, ma'am," said Major Jackson, "my band can play pretty much anything. Classical, jazz, rock, you name it. We specialize in military music, but we're very versatile. If we don't know a particular song, we can learn it and be ready to play it by tonight."
In the operations room-
"Well, ma'am," said Jackson to Cynthia, "rock's pretty popular among the troops, but we get all kinds of interests. Some of them like country/western, some like classical music, some go in for rap, we even have a few metalheads. It's a very diverse bunch."
"You're welcome," said Carmichael. He called over a female airman, of average height and with short blonde hair. "Airman, please take Ms. Christie and Mr. Bennish over to the Quartermaster's office in the armory. I'm going to put them both to work there."
"Yes, sir," she replied before addressing Melinda and Harvey Bennish. "This way, please." She led them to the same door through which Kathryn had left a few minutes ago and out into the corridor beyond.
"Uh, hi," said Harvey, walking alongside Melinda. The bespectacled accountant wrung his hands nervously.