1990

When she paused long enough for Rick to register the fact that she had finished, he asked, "I understand the position, but why me?"

Logsdon held up a hand to stop the Colonel from responding to the question and proceeded to answer it himself, "You are undoubtedly aware of the current tensions in the Middle East. Under normal circumstances, we could rely upon having someone with your skills and level of training assigned to the Academy from one of the Army's Special Forces units, but it is expected to be an 'all hands on deck' scenario if the President decides to commit U.S. forces to the fray. The Pentagon feels that outsourcing select responsibilities to retired military personnel is a viable option. This is one of those responsibilities."

"But, why me?" Rick asked again.

"If I may," Colonel Harris implored while looking at Logsdon. When he simply nodded, she explained, "I submitted a very detailed personnel profile to the MPRC, and with Secretary Logsdon's influence behind it, my request was given high priority there. I started by searching for ex-Special Forces people with experience in clandestine operations in hostile territories."

When she saw Rick raise an eyebrow, she smiled, and said, "I have the necessary clearance to view the classified details, as do General Frasier and of course, Secretary Logsdon."

Rick simply nodded, so she continued, "Knowing that each of the profiles I had would include only people who had previously been trained in Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape, I filtered them to include only those who were certified S.E.R.E. instructors. That narrowed the candidates down to five individuals. Even if three of the candidates weren't currently employed by a private military company and on assignment out of the country, you would have still been my top choice."

"Why?" Rick asked for the third time.

"There are several reasons. Foremost of these is the fact that you live near the Academy. While we would gladly pay to relocate the right candidate, selecting you would make that unnecessary. Second, your record indicates that your knowledge of unarmed, close-quarters self-defense techniques is derived from real-world experience. Our SERE specialists have proven experience with the techniques, but they have no practical real-world exposure to applying the techniques. That's where you would come in. You would teach the SERE specialists how to instruct the cadets to really survive. They say that those who can, do, and those that can't, teach. Well with you, we would have someone who can do, actually teaching it..."

Logsdon cut in, "That speaks to your physical abilities and being able to impart some of those onto the SERE specialists so they could help our cadets to augment their resistance training. What we learned from our analysis of your covert field assignments convinced us that you were also the perfect candidate to teach the cadets how to think, act, and respond to situations in hostile environments that would greatly increase their ability to evade and escape. We also want to increase the current code of conduct training for cadets from Level A to Level C and you are qualified to instruct at that level."

Rick pondered their comments for several seconds. He had altered his military records just for such an opportunity as this, but did he want to be separated from Kris too much at this stage of her development. He asked, "Would there be any travel required, or would all instruction be here?"

"Self-defense and survival training are held at the training facilities at Jacks Valley," Colonel Harris assured him. "You would be home every night."

Rick apologized, "I'm sorry. I doubt that a review of my military records shed much light onto my personal life and its current situation..."

Colonel Harris opened the file folder again and quickly scanned through the several pages it contained. She said, "We see that your marital status was changed just prior to you receiving a hardship discharge. Is there something there that would disqualify you from accepting the position?"

"Other than childcare issues, no," Rick answered. "I have a fourteen-month-old daughter and I had intended to keep her under my care until she was at least two."

"I assume the mother is no longer in the picture?" General Frasier asked.

"My wife was murdered during a robbery at her place of employment last February. It happened while I was being processed for discharge at Fort Bragg. My commanders rushed through the hardship dispatch and I have been taking care of my daughter since that time."

"I'm sorry for your loss," Frasier said. His condolences with echoed by Harris and Logsdon.

"I hired an au pair to help me for a few months while I settled my wife's estate, but I am reluctant to keep introducing new women into my daughter's life until she is old enough to understand who her mother was and why she isn't with us. I guess daycare would work since there wouldn't be a single female caregiver for my daughter to bond with."

"Well," Colonel Harris said, "as a contract employee at the Academy, you would be entitled to use of the Family Childcare Center here. You could drop your daughter off every morning, let her receive the best childcare available while spending time with children her age, and then take her home with you each evening. How does that sound?"

Rick considered this and asked, "How long would the contract be for?"

General Frasier answered, "Your initial contract would be for just this class year. Since it isn't yet a budgeted position, we will be tapping into discretionary funds within the athletic department's budget for this year. The position will be budgeted next year and for the foreseeable future, if I'm not mistaken."

Frasier slid his file folder with a copy of the contract across to Rick. He glanced at Secretary Logsdon who nodded his agreement. Rick checked the time and saw that the hour was just about up. "Will you allow me to give your proposal some consideration overnight?"

Before either Air Force officer could respond, Secretary Logsdon said, "I can give you until Friday at twelve-hundred Eastern time, which would be 10 am here. That's the best I can do to keep the program launch on track. Will that be adequate?"

"That should be more than adequate," Rick assured him. He then addressed Colonel Harris and asked, "Would it be possible for me to get a tour of the daycare center today while I am here?"

Colonel Harris smiled broadly, "I can assure you that it will be no problem. Could you meet me there in fifteen minutes?"

Rick returned her smile and said, "With directions that aren't too complicated for a ground-pounder to follow, I should be able to make that."

Rick remained non-committal but knew that if the daycare center met his expectations, he would likely give Colonel Harris his acceptance of the position before heading home. The description of the role at the Academy fit perfectly into his skills ad knowledge wheelhouse. It would provide him with a stable and fulfilling occupation that would allow him to raise Kris on his own.

As Secretary Logsdon stood, followed by General Frasier, Colonel Harris slid a printed map of the Academy across the table to Rick, saying, "The Family Childcare Center is Community Center Drive. I circled the location for you. I'll see you out and then meet you there in fifteen minutes."

Rick waited for the Colonel to stand before he rose to his feet. After shaking hands with the Secretary and then General Frasier, Rick followed Colonel Harris out of her office and towards the lobby entrance. Upon reaching the lobby, she handed him one of her business cards.

"My office phone forwards to my home phone after hours, so don't hesitate to call me at any time with further questions, or hopefully with your acceptance of the position."

Rick couldn't miss the gentle caress from the Colonel's thumb as she took his hand with hers. She held it for a few seconds before finally shaking it. "I'll see you shortly."

Rick merely nodded and headed out to the parking lot. He sensed the Colonel's eyes watching him walk away, but didn't turn to verify his suspicions. He did check the time on his watch and saw that he was returning to the minivan with five minutes to spare in Wendy's deadline.

He heard the click of the doors unlocking as he approached the driver's side door. He quickly climbed behind the wheel and turn to look back at Wendy and Kris. His daughter was napping peacefully as Wendy closed the textbook that she had been reading.

Rick quietly asked, "Was she okay for you?"

"God, she was perfect," Wendy assured him. "She fell asleep within five minutes of you leaving. I'm glad that I brought something to study or I would have been bored silly. So, did you find out what they wanted to meet with you about?"

Nodding, Rick said, "They are offering me a job teaching the S.E.R.E. specialists self-defense in survival situations."

"Are you going to take it?" Wendy asked as she finished zipping her backpack.

Rick shrugged and said, "I'm leaning in that direction. I am supposed to meet the Director of Staff at the base daycare center in a few minutes for a tour. If the facility looks like a good fit for Kris, then I probably will accept the position."

Rick saw Wendy trying to slide the side door of the minivan open as quietly as possible to avoid waking Kris. He said, "Don't worry about waking her. In fact, you should probably wake her so that she can say goodbye to you or I'll be in her doghouse for the rest of the day."

Wendy laughed and then gently tapped Kris a few times on her shoulder, "Hey, Little Angel, I need to go now. Can I get a hug?"

Kris opened her eyes, and in a groggy voice, said, "Bye, Winny..."

Wendy reached over and gave Kris the best hug she could give a toddler buckled into a car seat, and then stepped out of the minivan and closed the door. She quickly walked around to the driver's side window and waited for Rick to lower it.

"Thanks for letting me spend some time with her," Wendy said as she turned to leave. She took two steps and turned back, "Are we still on for Thanksgiving?"

"You bet. We'll be here to pick you up just as we agreed. Thanks again for making time for us."

"Hey, you, I would do anything for you guys," Wendy said. Walking away she thought, "If you would only give me the chance."

Tuesday, December 11, 1990

Rick was growing to like the chat feature on Prodigy, especially when he wanted to converse with someone while Kris was sleeping. He was currently staring at the screen displaying his chat with Akeem Peters. Akeem had to step away to take a phone call but hadn't ended their chat session on his end, so Rick patiently waited for his return. He glanced through the door into her room and saw Kris sleeping quietly in her crib.

Kris had taken to spending her days at the Family Daycare center much better than Rick had anticipated. His concerns over her lack of exposure to a lot of other people, especially other children had been for naught. Rick was greeted every afternoon by one of the teachers or aides at the center anxious to tell him about Kris' advanced language and motor skills, and her overall maturity when compared to children her own age. He didn't know how many times he had been told that Kris's interactions with other children was elevating the other children's developmental rate in most areas.

His screen flashed and Rick saw a new chat message from Akeem: "Go to analog. I do you."

Rick saw the chat session immediately terminate on Akeem's end, so he quickly ended his own session and disconnected the modem from the phone line. He understood Akeem's message to mean that he wanted to chat on the phone instead of online and that he would be calling Rick shortly.

Rick rushed over to close the door to Kris' room and returned to the desk just as the home phone rang. He answered before the first ring had ended, "Hey, Buddy, what's up?"

"So, we're buddies now?" the sultry female voice asked.

"Colonel Harris! I'm sorry, I was expecting a call from someone else," Rick stammered.

"Not another female admirer, I hope," Harris said. "I trust that it's not too late to call you?"

Glancing at the clock, he saw that it was almost 8:30 pm. "No, it's not too late." He ignored the Colonel's other comment and asked, "To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"Shit," Rick thought. "I need to be more careful with my word selections."

Colonel Harris hadn't done anything inappropriate, but Rick had learned how to read the signs of female attraction from an early age, and these were thinly veiled by the Colonel. She had always acted professionally, but the flirtatious tone of voice that Rick heard only when she spoke to him, combined with her body language and any excuse possible for them to meet about the most mundane topics all made her intentions obvious. He had to be careful not to say or do anything to instill the slightest semblance of hope for any kind of non-work relationship between them.

Based upon her rank of Lieutenant Colonel and her year of graduation from the Academy, Rick has calculated that Harris was probably fifteen years older than himself, but she looked at least a decade younger. As strikingly beautiful as she was in her Air Force uniform, on the few occasions when Rick had seen her in civilian clothing had confirmed to him that Virginia Harris had few equals among the female species where her beauty was concerned.

Rick had been dealing with women like Colonel Harris since high school. Teachers, mothers of his male friends, and typically any older woman who believed that she had something of value to offer in exchange for the attention of an attractive teenage boy would try to tempt him into their bed. They weren't seeking anything other than a brief carnal relationship and had no regard for those who suffered as a result of their selfish desires. He had more than one of his coaches warn him about these "Cougars" and he had diligently avoided them his entire life.

Now, it appeared that he would have to walk a tightrope where Colonel Harris was concerned. From the moment that she had begun their tour of the Family Daycare Center, she had been stressing to Rick that the center provided twenty-four-hour childcare due to the varying hours that base personnel worked. This, she assured him, meant that he had a resource to tend to his daughter for those times when he wanted to get out for a little "adult time" as she called it.

While she hadn't directly asked him out on a date, Colonel Harris had made several comments to him about opportunities for him to meet other single adults at various events and locations around Colorado Springs, and Rick had no doubt that the places that she mentioned were exactly where he would find her if he ever followed any of her suggestions.

Rick had tried to explain to her that he was still mourning the loss of his wife, but as with all the other "Cougars" that he had encountered in his life, she cared nothing about anyone's feelings but her own. Rick could practically read her mind when he explained his unwillingness to entertain dating at this time in his life. He envisioned her thinking, "Fuck dating. If I get you into my bed, I'll make you forget your dead wife and every other woman that you've ever known."

Rick glanced at the top of the bookcase where the urn containing Suzy's ashes stood as he heard Colonel Harris say, "I am calling about your inquiry from yesterday concerning who developed the curriculum you are tasked with supervising. Is there a problem with the curriculum?"

"No," Rick said. "I was more interested in how carved in stone the curriculum is. Is there any room to expand upon it?"

There was silence for a few seconds before Harris asked, "What are you proposing?"

"How about non-lethal combat tactics and strategies? Do these have a place in your proposed training? It seems heavily focused on teaching hand-to-hand combat as the 'resistance' component when evasion isn't possible."

Colonel Harris considered the questions and said, "Maybe you could explain what you are referring to."

"Cadets should be taught the basics of non-lethal combat tactics," Rick explained. "When confronting an adversary, they need to recognize that if a man can't see, he can't fight; if a man can't stand, he can't fight; if a man can't breathe, he can't fight. There are several proven approaches to disabling an opponent's ability to fight without killing them. Since Air Force personnel on the ground in hostile territories would typically be outgunned if it came to the use of weaponry, they need to be taught how to rely upon other tactics, and sometimes, their imagination."

"Aikido and a few other oriental martial arts work well for people who can't use brute force to beat someone much larger," Rick said. "For example, Aikido teaches you to use your body weight against your opponent. When that body weight is applied to a joint it breaks pretty easily. The same principle holds true with the various pressure points on a person's body."

"The goal should be to introduce the cadets to self-defense techniques that would incapacitate their attacker and allow them to escape. These techniques aren't exclusively tied to hand-to-hand combat. Think of things such as mace or pepper spray and how those are used to incapacitate a person. There are several chemical, biological, and technological avenues that we could explore to open up far more options to the cadets to increase their ability to survive in a hostile environment. The Israelis are experimenting with intense light and sound generating devices that could be used to stun an opponent by targeting their senses."

Colonel Harris seemed to be thinking out loud when she said, "With more and more women joining the active-duty forces in combat areas, I could see the benefit of training them in defensive tactics that didn't rely solely upon size or strength."

Rick knew that she would gravitate toward that particular benefit, which is why he hadn't brought the physical disparity between male and female cadets into his explanation. He waited for Colonel Harris to finish her thoughts.

"How much experience do you have with the techniques that you have mentioned?" she finally asked.

"I have practical, field experience with a few of the chemical agents, but only theoretical knowledge of the developing technologies mentioned," Rick explained. "I believe that exposure to the various technologies, even from a theoretical perspective would be beneficial to the cadets during their training because it would expand the scope of what they might be capable of relative to self-defense at some point in their careers. As options come online in the future, we can expand upon the level of exposure that the cadets receive during their training."

"So," the Colonel said, "You are advocating for the inclusion of technologies currently available and essentially inserting 'bookmarks' into the curriculum for later inclusion of others when the time is right. Is that what I am hearing?"

"Yes, Ma'am."

"Do you know how to format a curriculum modification proposal?" she asked.

"I'm sure I could figure it out..." Rick began.

Harris interrupted, "Figuring it out won't be good enough. It's all about word selection, selling the benefits, filling specific needs, and selling the idea to the respective department heads. Tell you what, I'm slammed at the office right now with end-of-semester meetings and getting ready for the winter break. How about if I come over to your place and walk you through the proposal process? I have an unopened bottle of Hennessy XO that someone gave me as an early Christmas present. We could crack it open and work on your proposal together. I could be there in fifteen minutes. What do you say?"