We're a Wonderful Wife Ch. 07

"I was thinking the bathhouse geisha and the tired GI."

"Ooo, I like that one!"

~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~

Don and Lanh had remained at Grand Forks for quite a few years, Don had listed himself as a non-volunteer for overseas assignments so they could stay close to friends and family as Tam, Huy, and Bao's children were born and learned to climb all over "Unka Don" and make lefsa with "Anty Lanh." It was not unusual to see Don and Lanh milking the cows on a Saturday evening assisted by their oldest nephew Tam and Jake's son Chip, and their oldest niece Bao and Rosa's daughter Chau. Sleepovers were the order of the day when Uncle Don and Aunt Lanh was at the farm. They didn't want to displace Kim-ly who permanently rented the Bunk House apartment now, but Kim-ly insisted they stay there because Don built it for Lanh.

Don no longer worked directly on the aircraft, as soon as he got a line number for Technical Sergeant he was trained as a maintenance expediter ensuring that the right technician was on the right airplane doing the right job. It could be exhilarating but compared to fighters, bombers move in slow motion, and a job that would take fifteen minutes on a "Lawn Dart" (an F-16) could take hours on "The Bone" (a B-1), due to the complexity of the systems. Don pushed his men and women hard, and in return the squadron got the best maintained aircraft they had ever enjoyed.

Don and Lanh had a couple of years left before they returned home, they had re-enlisted based on a large re-enlistment incentive bonus giving them a nice chunk of change, which they turned over to Bao and Kim-ly who invested it for them. But now it was time to put some stamps in Lanh's passport. Don went to the personnel office and changed his status to volunteer and listed Asia as his preference. Korea, Japan, Okinawa, Hawaii, they're all good. Even Guam would be interesting, they could get tours of Philippines from there, learn to scuba dive, relax on the beach.

Weeks later Don returned home with a large envelope and dropped it on the dining room table. Lanh looked up from her classwork, her glasses at the tip of her tiny nose. "What's wrong honey?"

"FIGMO," he said sadly.

"FIGMO?" with shaking hands she slid the stack of orders out of the envelope and read their new home. "Eighth fighter wing, eightieth fighter squadron, Kunsan Airbase, R.O.K." She looked and reread it again. The words didn't change. "Shit."

"Roger dat," said Don as he crouched behind Lanh and hugged his disbelieving wife from behind. Kunsan was the ONLY base they didn't want, it's an isolated remote assignment which meant that Don was going to go alone and live in the dorm. There were no facilities for what the military calls "dependents." No school for the children, no housing for the spouse, medical facilities are designed for the needs of the programed number of military personnel on base, and not a soul more. It's a rough and tumble base, ready for war, and limited in amenities.

Sure enough, Annie called a few hours later and helped talk Lanh in off the ledge and put the seed of an idea into her head. It's unclear how Annie gets her information sitting on her pool deck sipping her iced drinks, but she does, and she invited Don and Lanh down to Florida for a little vacation before Don ships out to "The Kun."

~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~

Like many airports, the Jacksonville Florida airport has a poorly designed departure area, it's crowded and congested and a nightmare to navigate. To make matters worse, folks looking for a taxi or a bus to the rental cars all get dumped in the same place that folks waiting for a ride, folks looking for a cab, and folks trying to get to the parking lot end up making the crowd trying to get away from the airport a seething mass of confusion.

Lanh thought that having grown up in a city she would be better at fighting her way to the rental lot bus, but her diminutive size prevented her from punching a hole through the crowd. Don on the other hand could get through the crowd but navigating in an airport was not his forte. When you fly on USAF cargo planes exclusively you don't have to fight your way through an airport, they pick you up in a secluded area and drop you off right where you need to be. But acting as a team they were unbeatable and were soon at the Avis desk and ten minutes later they were in a convertible winging their way south toward Beverly Beach Florida.

"This sun is glorious!" cried Lanh, she's never been in a tropical area before, April in Florida is akin to high summer in Minnesota. She looked around and seeing that they had the entire road to themselves she took off her blouse exposing her breasts to both the warm Florida sun and the arctic blast from the car's air conditioning vents. The effect was quite spectacular.

"How am I supposed to drive like this?" complained Don.

Lanh just rolled her eyes and grabbed his hand and placed it on her tit. "Gawd! You're worse than you were in high school!" she insisted as he began squeezing her boob.

"I was a virgin in high school and there hadn't been a breast in my life of any caliber since third grade." Don rolled her rock-hard nipple between his fingers. Third grade is when his mother died leaving Don and his father alone with no women of any age in their lives until Don's freshman year in high school when he started stalking Lanh and his dad and Sandy Robertson began to admit they had feelings toward each other.

Lanh fumbled around in her carryon bag and found what she was looking for, a bikini. This one is a bit more modest than her tiny bikini she wears when fishing on Lost Long Lake. She eased off her knee length skirt to reveal the secret that Don discovered not long after taking off from Denver, she wore no panties under her skirt. They cuddled and necked like teenagers all the way to Jacksonville asking only for a blanket to cuddle under and Don masturbated her to several hushed orgasms, in return she swallowed one load of his cum.

Lanh got herself dressed in time for them to catch up to traffic on US A1A south. As they made their way south toward Beverly Beach, they stopped for each public beach entrance they saw and got out to play in the surf like children. Eventually they reached Royce and Annie's house, a beautiful little three-bedroom house with an inground pool taking up a large portion of the back yard. Royce had turned the rest of the yard into a garden full of flowers of multiple colors.

While Annie and Lanh hugged then went to sit by the pool and catch up and chat in Vietnamese, the retired chief and Don sat down in their Florida room to talk Air Force. "Son, I have good news and bad news for you," he said as he handed Don a small glass containing whiskey.

Don sighed, "What's the bad news Chief?"

"To start with, I'm going to kick your ass if you don't stop calling me Chief," said Royce as he glared at Don.

"Sorry Chief, force of habit." He had said Chief on purpose that time and he grinned at Royce when he said it.

"Fuck you sergeant," muttered Royce who was also smiling. He looked exactly like he did years ago on active duty, tightly cropped hair, clean shaven, and a bushy mustache which conformed to USAF requirements but still looked larger than it should. The only difference between now and then is the Hawaiian shirt, the cargo pants shorts, and the neon green flip-flops. "Son, I hate to tell you this, but you've been shanghaied."

"Shanghaied?"

"Shanghaied, poached, stolen. You were programmed for Osan, but someone in PACAF saw what you did for the three two one up in El Forko Grande and snagged you for the eightieth at Kunsan."

Don frowned, Osan was Lanh's dream. Osan is where Royce and Annie met and in Lanh's imagination it became the Land of Romance. Don's tenure as expediter at the 321st Bombardment Wing (Heavy) was highly successful, maintenance was never better. When Don arrived from Germany the squadron had been almost a joke because of lackadaisical maintenance, but when Don became tech sergeant, he ensured that the technicians working on HIS bombers did the job right the first time, every time. The improvement of the quality of maintenance was noticed throughout the Air Combat Command, and apparently the Pacific Air Forces (PACAF) subscribed to the same news source. Don was depressed that he was denied the chance to go to Osan with Lanh. "What's the good news dad?"

"Dad?" Royce glared at him.

"Well, you call me son," shrugged Don.

"I was abbreviating!" Don got it, he was abbreviating the term Son of a Bitch. The chief pressed on. "The good news is that someone in PACAF saw what you did for the three two one and snagged you for the eightieth at Kunsan."

"How is that good?" Don never liked whiskey, but his drink was suddenly exactly what he needed.

"It means that you're doing an incredible job and people are watching you. Do not be surprised if your BOP gets turned down and you end somewhere shitty that needs someone with their head pulled out of their ass, like Cannon."

Don scoffed, he wanted to go nowhere near Cannon AFB. Cannon was a dry, dusty left-over World War II Army Air Corps base stuck in the ass end of nowhere whose only claim to fame was that it was a dry, dusty left-over World War II Army Air Corps base stuck in the ass end of nowhere. Cannon was located on the Texas border, exactly one hundred miles from Lubbock to the southeast, one hundred miles from Amarillo to the northeast, and two hundred miles from Albuquerque to the west. That was a place you threaten to send an airman who was fucking up, "Airman, I am going to send you to Cannon if you don't pull your head out of your ass..."

"Don't laugh," warned Royce, "You can make your career at a place like Cannon, same as Kunsan. The Kun is actually a great assignment, it's the last bastion of the Real Air Force." The term "Real Air Force" is an unofficial term that applies to any base or unit that concentrates on the mission of conducting arial warfare over the mission of polishing boots and saluting pretty, guessing someone's pronoun du jour, and fiercely obeying every stupid fucking idea that flows out of DC. Also known as "sucking political dick." Kunsan is still in a state of war, there is no armistice between north and south Korea, there's simply an uneasy cease fire. Kunsan contains two American F-16 squadrons and one Korean fighter squadron, plus a US Army air defense artillery battery. All units on Kunsan were on war time footing, this was not like Osan air base on the outskirts of Seoul where Americans brought their families and life was easy. People in Osan go shopping, people in Kunsan go to war.

"Hawnee?" called Lanh from the pool. The Vietnamese lilt to her voice comes forward on certain words, and honey is one of them. She was laying on a lounge at pool side, she turned and looked at Don. "Annie says that there's a bus from Kunsan to Osan so you can go shopping for me any time you want!"

Don gave Lanh a thumbs up and quietly said "Lucky me." Lanh seemed resolved to get this year apart over with as soon as possible and almost looked cheerful at the opportunity, Don was nauseous over the whole thing.

Royce handed Don another whiskey. "What's really bothering you?"

Don didn't want to say it, but it came out anyhow. "When I was eight, we lost my mom, we knew for almost a year cancer would take her, and somehow I feel the same way now as I did then."

Royce leaned back in his chair and puffed his cigar then said, "Awww, you don't have to worry about that little girl, she'll be with you till the day you die."

KUNSAN AB, ROK

The Wolfpack

Propagation tonight sucked, Don found himself having to "lip read" the radio at times, the whistles and hissing of static and occasional voices from far away interfered with the MARS morale calls normally, but tonight it was exceptionally bad. It was a couple of weeks before Christmas ten years ago that a terrified Don Campbell asked a petrified Lanh Nguyen to dance. "Ok Kunsan, we have your number three, go ahead Lanh," called Eric, the MARS operator at station AFC6RI the MARS station in San Diego at the Rockwell International Plant.

"Good evening hawnee! Happy anniversary! Over."

Don grinned and picked up the microphone, he was there in the MARS shack at Kunsan Air Base. He needed something to do on the weekends, something other than going downtown and drinking himself blind, so he biked over to the MARS shack and volunteered to help with the phone calls. Long distance was insanely expensive, and the internet was still dial-up, so the five-minute MARS calls were a godsend to the lonely, isolated airmen at Kunsan. Don found out that the five-minute limit was very flexible, if the call was going bad, where it sounded like more embarrassed silence than conversation, the calls were short. If the call was good, a marriage proposal, or the sound of a newborn cooing or crying, the calls went longer. "Good morning chi yêu, how is the weather there? Over."

"Cold and lonely, both of our dads went to a legion convention in Fargo, so Sandy, Mom, Kim-ly and I have been making sure that the wine doesn't spoil. Over."

Don could picture the four of them together by the Christmas tree, Kim-ly topping off glasses, Lanh sloshed to the gills, Sandy not far behind, Mai asleep in Ralph's recliner, and Kim-ly drinking straight from the bottle. "Save some for New Year's Eve. Over"

"Did you decide what to do on leave? Over."

Don had a few days of "use or lose" leave so he applied to take the time off. He plans to use it to catch up on sleep, they've been flying like crazy over here. "Negative, I'll probably just study and go see a movie at the base theater. Over."

"Good, you have a special package coming and it needs to be opened right away, copy? Over."

"Copy, open the lefsa ASAP. Over."

"Listen em yêu, I have to cut this short, Kim-ly needs my help, we have to go swing by Tam's house. I love you, talk to you next week. I hope you don't mind, that I put down in words. Over."

"How wonderful life is, 'cause you're in the world. I love you, over." Don quoted their song and fought to keep the tears of loneliness from overwhelming him. With luck he'll be back in his room before it hits.

"You can tell everybody. Love you forever, over," said Lanh, adding to the song lyrics

"She remembered!" said a surprised Senior Master Sergeant Jim Jorgenson, the station master of AGA8KU, the Kunsan MARS station. He handed Don a crisp ten-dollar bill.

"Of course she remembered," said Don as he smugly put his winnings in his wallet. "We go ice skating every year on this night and skate to the song we danced to as sophomores."

"Even in Germany?"

"Even in Germany, there was a hockey rink in Bitburg that we went skating at, they had a lot of public skating."

Jim grinned. Being a "Yooper," a native of Michigan's upper peninsula, ice skating is part of their holiday tradition too. "Looks like I'll have to volunteer for Spangdahlem."

As they signed off and closed down the shack, the four volunteers made plans for Christmas. They were going to spend the day at the MARS shack eating Yaki Mandu (stuffed and fried Korean dumplings) and playing on the HAM bands now that they all have their HAM licenses. Don looked at his little handheld ham radio, his stateside call sign KB0LVZ would not be used until he gets home, here in Korea he has to use a Korean call sign, so for now he's HL9LVT.

Don and his friends left the shack, made sure it was locked up, then hopped on their bikes and headed for the rec center for a burger, it was the only place left open this late at night. Meanwhile, the sun was rising in Minnesota. "Thank you, Eric, it wasn't all that bad of a call," said Lanh as they ended their side of the MARS call, "I could hear him quite well."

"I'm glad you could hear him, and you've been married ten years now?" the MARS operator asked.

"It will be eight years when he gets back, we met ten years ago at a high school dance, and this is the longest we've been apart."

"Stories like that make this all worth our while," said Eric.

"I have to go, I'm working on a Christmas surprise for Don," said Lanh as she zipped up her jacket. Kim-ly was looking at her impatiently from the French doors to the main dining room.

"Ok, Lanh, and thanks for the cookies, and the tortillas."

"They're lefsa, they're made from potatoes. Try them with butter and a dash of sugar or salt. Talk to you next week!" Finished with her goodbyes, Lanh turned to an impatient Kim-ly. "Ok, let's go."

"It's about time," said Kim-ly as she picked up Lanh's small duffle bag and they headed for the door. Lanh has a lot of flying to do.

~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~ ~~

Technical Sergeant Alice Griffin, a short, athletic, black woman strolled down the hallway of her dorm, building 936 was the newest dorm on Kunsan Air base and it was for tech sergeants only. She navigated by memory mostly as she was reading a letter from her mom describing all the hijinks her kids were up to while their mom was in Korea. Sylvie, Jamal, and her husband "Griff" were staying with her mom until this tour in Korea is over and they are trying Grandma's patience daily. Alice almost tripped over a small Asian girl sitting in the hallway, she was sitting on a small duffel bag leaning up against the door of the room next to hers, Don Campbell's room.

Thinking that the Asian girl was part of the cleaning crew, Alice said "Taking a break?"

"Waiting for my husband," came the response in perfect, only slightly accented English.

Alice looked at the girl again, she knew her. "Lanh?"

Lanh looked up with a surprised look on her face. "You know me?"

"Lanh Campbell? I should say so! Your husband's room is like a museum of everything Lanh! What are you doing here?"

"It's our tenth anniversary," said Lanh as she eased herself to her feet and showed Alice her ID card. "Do you know when he gets off?"

"It's only ten AM, he won't be home till after sixteen hundred hours. I'm playing hooky myself, but he'll be along, it's Mongolian Barbeque night at the club, he won't miss that."

"No, he won't," said Lanh as she sagged down to sit on her duffel bag again. "We like Mongolian Monday."

"Get yo ass up girl! You're not sleeping in my hallway, this ain't no flophouse," Alice scolded. Then in a softer tone of voice "You need a shower and a nap before you meet your man." She led Lanh into her own room, there was a small room with a counter and a sink against one wall, beyond that was a larger room with the bed, a desk, lockers, and two comfortable looking chairs. Alice opened a door which showed a room with a shower and a toilet, "You go take a shower to freshen up, then go out the other door and take a nap ok?"

"K," said a sleepy Lanh. She went into the shower room with a towel loaned to her by Alice, dragging her duffel bag. Before she started the shower she peeked through the other door and found herself in Don's room.

The dorm rooms were set up as suites with a shared shower and toilet. She wandered around in Don's room a bit, the furnishings were set up differently than how Alice set up her room, the bed was next to the wall and the lockers were alongside the bed with their backs to the bed making a little alcove for the bed. She smiled seeing one of the pillows covered with a pillowcase that showed a stick figure boy blowing kisses. Lanh pulled her own long distance love pillowcase out of her bag and recovered the second pillow.

After a quick shower Lanh crawled in the bed and smelled her man on the sheets and rubbed her naked body on the insanely soft "mink" blanket on top of the bed. She turned on the reading lamp and found that the back of the lockers were covered with pictures of her. Pulling the mink blanket over her naked body she was soon asleep.