Control Your Launch Codes

I came back into the US Army as an officer, after a nine year enlisted stint. Between the two, I went to a large University, completed my degree in Chemistry, met my future wife in a SCUBA class that I was teaching, got my commission as an Infantry Lieutenant, got married to what I thought was a nice French girl (who turned out to figuratively breathe fire), went through the Infantry Officer Basic Course, Ranger School, and then I reported in to my unit in then West Germany. I was the newest Lieutenant in my Battalion for four months.

A few months later, Tom and his wife, Vicky, reported in. We were 2LTs, 1LTs, CPTs together and were later promoted to Major at the same time. Vicky was a charming woman. Pretty, not beautiful or stunning, She had a nice body. Her sense of humor was low key but delightful. Tom was very low key, he seemed to plod along, but he always did a great job at work.

Three times per year, our battalion went training at Gräfenwoehr or Hohenfels Training Areas, for two weeks of very intense firing drills or tactical maneuvering. Once each year we participated in a huge exercise called Return of Forces to Germant or REFORGER. Additionally, we deployed individual platoons or Companies to the field to practice maneuvering, etc. Twice each year the officers would spend a week near the East/West German border, at our go to war positions. Once each year the officers went on a Professional Development trip, where we would study and tour an important battlefield and walk the actual terrain. Normandy and the Battle of the Bulge were my favorites. I also discovered the forward headquarters for Operation Barbarosa, the Nazi invasion of Russia, was close our home. My wife and I were the only Americans to explore it in 50 years.

In retrospect, the officers and the soldiers were gone, a LOT. To keep the wives busy, they organized trips when we were gone. They went to Holland on a Tulip Tour, to Prague in Czechoslovakia, to Vienna, Austria, to Berlin, all over. I never heard of any problems with our wives.

That's not to say everything was smooth sailing. While we were in the field, we learned that a bunch of wives from a Tanker Battalion were busted for running a prostitution ring. It took us almost two weeks to learn the details.

In the meantime, my wife and I stayed on the road most weekends. She had family in Paris, we visited twice a year. We managed to see almost all of Paris. We drove all over the rest of Europe. I taught a SCUBA class in Pisa, Italy at Camp Darby. We took tour buses to Holland and to Costa del Mar, in Spain. We drove to Vienna, Austria for my wife to act in a play.

Life was busy and our three years in West Germany went flying by quickly. I was selected for Captain, but I was being switched over, called transitioned, to Military Intelligence. Tom and Vicky followed a few months later.

We reported in to the Army's Intelligence Center and School at Ft. Huachuca near Sierra Vista, AZ. I attended the 'Transition Course', followed by an almost duplicate Military Intelligence Officer Advanced Course. I was having problems with my wife acting like a bitch almost constantly, so I volunteered to do an unaccompanied tour in South Korea for one year. I told my wife I was being sent there under orders. Technically that was true, I just never told her "the rest of the story".

Tom and Vicky reported to Ft. Bragg, NC.

I spent the next year as the American DMZ Intelligence Officer, also in charge of intelligence in the Western Corridor, and for one of the 2nd Infantry Division brigades. I also had responsibility for security monitoring in the ville outside the gate of my camp. I also was in charge of all the house boys at our camp.

I have a preference for really tight abs and bigger boobs, so I was seldom tempted while in South Kora. Actually, that's not true. That just never seemed to have nice boobs. My wife came to visit at the six month mark, we toured South Korea and made love. A lot! After one year, I kissed my yobo goodby (a later story) and returned to the States, after a delay for Desert Storm and Shield. Inside scoop. Since I spent many days each week on the DMZ, I saw cLear signs that North Korea was massing to attack south. Anyway, they didn't, so I swung through Arizona to pick up my wife and we drove to Ft. Bragg, NC together. My marriage had survived. It would fail six years later.

We hung around with Tom and Vicky often, we rotated where we partied. I srarted noticing a change in Vicky. She was more aloof and distant. Literotica hadn't been born, yet, so I didn't know the signs to watch for.

I was assigned to the 82nd Airborne Division, in G2 Operations, I was the Jump TOC Chief, I fed the Commanding General breaking intelligence as soon as we hit the ground. I later worked for him when he was the Corps Commander, then when he was Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Tom was in the 82nd, also, but in the MI Battalion. Funny, I never got to work with him.

One evening, I swung through the Officer's Club on the way home. I had to decompress, so I sipped on a coke. I looked on the far side of the room and saw Vicky, cozy with a man that was not Tom. They looked very comfortable together. They were deep in conversation. I stayed for perhaps 20 minutes, then left. The last thing I saw was them kissing. Deeply. This was before cell phones, so I had no camera.

I arrived home, called Tom and said, "Tom, we need to talk". We agreed to meet the next day at one of the snack bars. Then I swore my wife to silence and told her. She started to cry.

I told Tom what I had seen the next day. He was visibly crushed. Vicky was Tom's rock. I had never seen one without the other except at work.

He had seen warning signs all over. Later hours. A gradual withdrawal. Less affection. Reduced lovemaking.

We had no evidence of an actual affair, but he was angry enough to fire a full broadside. He thanked me and stormed off.

When Tom and I spoke the next day, he was inconsolable. He had already scheduled to meet with a family law attorney the next day. He had gone to the bank and withdrawn half his checking and savings, closed their joint credit cards and applied for his own. He opened up their safety deposit box and taken half their CDs. He had already scheduled to visit off-post apartments. All in one morning, he had gone full nuclear.

Because of a kiss.

That night, I spoke with my wife, I was worried. We both were. We thought he might be overreacting, was launching too early, he hadn't confronted her or spoken with her, nothing. He didn't know the ground truth and was acting with incomplete information. I attributed this to his lack of maturity, his lack of confidence, a lack of a good role model, a lack of good parenting, and/or a lack of size in his trouser snake.

The next week Vicky was served. My wife got the call and Vicky came over. They drank wine, they wailed, they cried, they were venting. I wanted to play mood music, like "Feelings" by Morris Albert, but they would have started bawling.

Vicky was crushed. It turned out Tom was not an affectionate person and hadn't been for some time, so she confided in her small group of friends. My wife told me that one guy really listened, he gave good ear. The group dwindled until it was finally just that one guy. The kiss I had observed was their first and only, but I didn't tell Vicky I was the observer.

I felt bad, so very bad for my old friends.

She was forced to move out and get an apartment. The good news was they had no kids.

Vicky quickly got a great job, she had a management degree from Indiana.

Tom went full nuclear but he had no evidence of an affair. It didn't matter. He pressed on. He was boneheaded, stubborn, immature and stupid. Their separation agreement was settled easily, a 50/50 split. They had been married just shy of ten years, so he wouldn't have to give up any of his retirement under the Uniformed Services Former Spouse Protection Act. She was awarded alimony and he had to pay for her housing. I didn't know any specifics but I learned how extraordinarily painful a divorce can be.

Vicky prospered. She was free to go back to school, got her Master's and she was promoted. Then she learned to dance. While enrolled in the dance class, she met a man. He was handsome, much taller, and a great dancer. The two of them stopped by, weekly. Vicky absolutely glowed.

Lesson learned: don't launch too early, talk with your spouse and find out what is actually happening.

Tom, however, was broken financially, after the divorce. He retired after 20 years, but he never met another woman that floated his boat. We talk from time to time. He's more broken hearted than anything because he wouldn't listen to reason. He kicked her to the curb for one kiss.

Don't be like Tom. Control your launch codes.