Amy Lynn, page 28
The yeoman lifted her head. She heard every word and then jumped when she heard the sound of smashing furniture.
Chapter 54
In each of us, the fight or flight response kicks in when we feel threatened or trapped. Amy felt trapped and threatened. The signal to her brain followed the path that progresses from thalamus to amygdala and then to hypothalamus. After that, it was over. Amy’s brain took the information it had and in less than a second it observed, oriented, decided, and acted. Her first kick struck the commander’s weight-bearing leg in the patella, hyperextending the knee. As the commander began to fall forward, Amy drove her palm into the tip of his nose. As the nasal bone snapped with a loud popping noise, his head flew back and bounced off the door. The pain from his knee caused him to let out a scream as he fell forward toward her. Stepping to the side, she grabbed the back of his collar as he was falling and dragged him into the center of the office to the open part of the floor. After dropping him to the floor she kicked him in the back of the head and drove his face into the carpet. He curled up in the fetal position trying to protect himself, but she wasn’t done. She kicked him in the ribs while talking to him. “This” KICK “is” KICK “for” KICK “Nicki” KICK.
By the time the Shore Patrol arrived, Amy was standing over the commander’s broken, sobbing body. She wasn’t saying a word. She just looked at him with that crooked smile. Shore Patrol took her into custody and off to NCIS. She told the story of what happened and of course her version was different from his. They took her to the brig and sat her in a cell by herself. She was charged with assaulting an officer. She was in a lot of trouble.
Senior Chief Birdsong arrived in the ER after she heard what had happened. She could hear Grabowski screaming in pain as the doctor and nurses worked on him. They weren’t exactly gentle. None of them were fans. Birdsong had a smile on her face that she couldn’t wipe off. The ER doctor walked from behind the cutain asked her what the hell happened. Senior Chief looked at him with a little smirk and shook her head. “He fucked with the wrong little hillbilly girl.”
Senior Chief went back to her office and went to work. If she was going to get Braxton out of this mess, she would have to pull out all the stops. Birdsong dialed an overseas line, hung up, and waited. The phone rang. She picked it up. “T, how the fuck are ya’?”
“Good, Kate, how are you?”
“It’s been a holy fuck of a day. I think I got one for ya’. She reminds me of you. Really smart and ah, this girl is one bad mother fucker.”
“Really? Tell me about her.”
Amy sat in her cell, looking at the wall. She knew she was in trouble. They said if she would plead guilty she would do a year and get a bad conduct discharge. She wouldn’t do it. Amy could have called home, but what would she say? She was ashamed. She could have just as easily moved him and escaped, but something inside her snapped. There would be no calls to Sheriff Teddy Bear, her daddy, Carla Jo, or Jack. She was on her own. At least, she thought she was. Amy was exhausted by the adrenalin rush so she stretched out on the little bunk and fell asleep. There was no sleep for Senior Chief Birdsong. She had work to do.
The next morning Senior Chief walked into Captain Martin’s office.
“Good morning, Skipper.”
“What’s so good about it? Braxton won’t plead guilty. I will need you to type some stuff up. She’s unstable, et cetera.”
“Skipper, I have a better idea. Request permission to speak freely.”
“Granted.”
“Here is what we are going to do. We are going to charge Grabowski with attempted rape. We are going to dismiss the charges against Braxton. You are going to sign her meritorious advancement to E-4, and then we are going to ship her ass out of here.”
Captain Martin laughed a nervous laugh. He knew Birdsong was a cagey operator and had established connections over her career.
“Have you lost you mind, Birdsong?”
“Probably. But I have a file with three dozen complaints of everything from sexual harassment to sexual assault, all against Grabowski, all seen and signed by you. Are any of them in his service file?”
Captain Martin stared at her with his mouth open. Birdsong continued, “Oh, and here is the statement from Grabowski’s yeoman stating that Braxton was trying to leave before she defended herself. Last but not least, the dozen or so nurses and corpsmen that were waiting for me at my office this morning to give statements and testify for Braxton.”
Captain Martin stood and yelled, “THIS IS BLACKMAIL.”
“Oh no, no sir. The blackmail part is where you’re sitting in the cell next to Grabowski. I have all of this information copied and in a manila envelope addressed to the Judge Advocate General. We both know what a fucking bitch she can be.” Birdsong leaned back in her chair with a little grin.
Captain Martin sat back down, turned his chair and looked out the window.
“Sign it, Skipper. Make this shit storm go away. I’m going to get my girl out of the brig.” Birdsong got up and walked out the door.
Amy sat in her cell thinking about everything. Jail gives you that uninterrupted chance for self-examination. Then she heard a voice off in the distance that sounded amazingly like the Senior Chief.
“Jesus fucking Christ, I have the paper work right here. Let her the fuck out.” Amy stood up and looked out of the cell to see Senior Chief Birdsong coming down the hall with two marines.
Senior Chief handed her some civilian clothes. “Come on, Braxton, let’s go.”
“Where are we going?”
“We’re going to go get drunk.”
“Ah, I don’t drink.”
“Well, I do and you’re buying.”
Amy and the Senior Chief sat down at the bar in a Mexican restaurant off base. Amy ordered a Dr. Pepper and the Senior Chief ordered a Jim Beam on the rocks. Senior Chief took a sip. “I talked to Rossi when I picked up your clothes. I apologized to her for not stepping in. She’s a good girl and a good sailor.”
“Thanks, Senior Chief.”
“You call me Kate; you earned it.”
“Now what?”
“There is going to be a trial and it’s gonna suck. I’ll help you get ready for that. You and I also have to do a little career planning. You’re not going back to Balboa.”
“Why not? I love my job. I have to lose my school over this? That’s not right.”
“I know, but some people are going to jail over this. You’re not real popular with the command. We need to get you the fuck out of there. I do have good news, Petty Officer Braxton,” Kate said, referring to her promotion to E-4.
Amy had a sudden realization. “This was all you, wasn’t it? You saved me. Why?”
“Well, there are two things an old bull dyke senior chief knows when she sees it, another lesbian and a good sailor. You’re not a lesbian, but you are a damn good sailor. I’ve sat back too many times and watched things happen to my girls that were questionable at best. Fuck them, I’m never gonna make Master Chief anyway.” She tipped up her drink, chugged down and ordered another.
“Thank you, Kate.”
Kate leaned in close enough so Amy could smell her breath. “Oh, honey, it’s not over. I’m like the Godfather. Someday I’ll come to you and you cannot refuse.”
“I pay my debts.”
“Good to hear. I have an offer for you, Braxton. Seems some split-tail senator has decided that girls are just as good as boys. She opened up some non-traditional billets. How would you like to train to be a Fleet Marine Force Combat corpsman?”
“Really? Train with the marines? Running, shooting, and breaking things? Oh yeah, I would love that.”
“It’s a mother fucker, Braxton. It’s Marine Corps boot camp with an ass-full of emergency medicine thrown in. They will bust your ass, they will call you names, they will make things unfair, and it will be because you are a girl. They will not want you there. You’ll have to be better than them. I’ll give you time to think about it. You have until I finish this drink.”
“I’m in.”
“First, I would like to know one thing. Where the fuck did you learn to fight like that?”
“Oh, my Uncle Jack showed me a few things.”
“Bullshit, Braxton. You took down a big man and stopped just short of killing him. If you owe me anything, you owe me the truth. Now what the fuck.”
“All right, I’ve never told anyone outside of my family.”
Amy told Kate the Hatfield story and how her Uncle Jack brought her back. When she was finished, Kate needed another drink.
“So, your Uncle Jack. Where did he learn his skills?”
“SEAL Team, Vietnam.”
Kate’s eyes went a little wide. “No shit. What’s his last name?”
“Brown.”
“Jack Brown.” Kate mumbled under her breath. “Hatchet Jack Brown?”
“Yep.”
Kate was stunned. She looked at Amy wide-eyed. “What else did he teach you?”
“I don’t talk about that. That’s between me and him.”
“Yeah, I bet. I would like to meet him sometime.”
“Not a problem. Just let me know when.”
“Okay, Braxton. Let’s go back to the base, say your good-byes, pack your shit, and get you the fuck out of there.”
“Wait a minute. ‘Petty Officer Braxton’?” The change in her title had just sunk in.
Grabowski cut a plea deal so Amy did not have to testify. They gave Amy a week’s liberty before school started so Kate put her on a plane back to Alabama. Then Kate made another overseas call.
“T, she bit. She’s on her way to FMSS and infantry school. She practically begged me for it.”
“Thanks, Kate. I opened a file on her. We’ll watch her and see how she does with the marines. If she can hold her own, we’ll go from there.”
“One more thing, T. You’ll never fucking believe who’s been training her.”
Chapter 55
Amy walked through the terminal and as she passed security, she saw Carla Jo and Kelly waiting for her. She hugged them both. There were some tears. She missed her family and her friend.
They drove home and everyone was curious about what happened. Jack noticed the brand new crow (the eagle above the stripe signifying petty officer rank) sewn on her uniform and that made him even more curious. Carol cooked a feast and her family sat on the porch at the end of the evening. Amy told the truth: exactly what happened, how it happened, and where she was going next. The only one that understood the gravity of her next assignment was Jack. He got real quiet and waited until they could be alone to talk.
“So you’re going to train to be a doc?”
“A doc?”
“Yep, that’s what they will be screamin’ when they are layin’ on the ground, shot, in the middle of a fire fight. You will be expected to run out into a hail of bullets to go get ‘em and patch ‘em up. That’s the job.”
“Yeah, I read a little about it. I’m going to the school, but they made it clear that I would not go into combat. I’ll end up at some evac hospital.”
“Are you sure about that?”
“Yeah, I’m sure. I won’t be deployed in an infantry battalion, just training with one.”
“Okay, well, I feel a little better. You know, the marines are a slightly different animal than what you are used to.”
“I worked with them at Balboa, I get the esprit de corps. I understand what I’m walking into.”
“It’s a tough school, really tough. They will push you.”
Amy smiled at him. “Yeah, well, I’m a tough girl.”
Jack smiled back. “That you are, honey, that you are.”
The week flew by. The only person Amy didn’t visit with was Andy. It bothered her that he had never written her a letter. She wasn’t about to go see him. After all, he broke up with her. Still, his memory nagged at her. She was hoping she would meet someone else. Trust issues, and the fact that every man that had shown interest in her seemed to only want one thing, made that improbable. On the outside she was confident and just by her physical presence she could seem larger than life. At night, though, when the lights went out and she lay in bed alone, there was an infinite sadness. She was a woman like every other, longing to be held and touched. She was blatantly offered opportunities to establish relationships with other women and more than once she gave that serious consideration. Amy, however, was not one to accept temporary solutions for long-term problems. As powerful as those feelings were, she would wait. The next person that lay with her would be the one, period.
Amy packed her things and said her good-byes. Each time she said good-bye, it got a little easier. She sat down next to the window in the plane, rested her head on a small pillow, and began to nod off. In six hours she would be in Camp Pendleton and her new adventure would begin.
Colonel Harland Knox sifted through the paperwork on his desk. He knew that being the commanding officer of Fleet Marine Force training was a very important job, but he missed the field. Knox was a hardened warrior, an old school marine. He’d never married. He felt that if the corps wanted him to have a wife, he would have been issued one. The phone rang on his desk and he picked it up.
“Please hold for Senator Dahl.”
Shit, shit, shit, shit; now what the fuck did I do?
Senator Martha Dahl was the chairman of the Armed Services Committee. She seemed to take perverse joy in belittling military officers. She was a liberal that took every opportunity to turn the military into something that more resembled a Girl Scout troop. Her constant pressure to push for gays and women in non-traditional roles was especially troubling to Colonel Knox.
“Colonel Knox, how are you?” The senator immediately launched into a prattling, predictable bullshit line about how proud she was and what a great job they were doing, blah, blah, blah. Colonel Knox thought to himself, oh yeah? Well how about some more money for training, you stupid bitch?
“Yes, ma’am, it’s a pleasure to speak to you. What can I do for you?”
“You have a trainee on the way, Petty Officer Third Class Braxton. Amy Lynn Braxton. She will be placed in combat corpsman’s school. She is very special and is being watched by some very important people.”
Colonel Knox shook his head and thought he knew what was coming next. He was wrong.
“I know what you are thinking. ‘Be sure she doesn’t fail’ or something like that, right?”
“I don’t think, ma’am. I wait for orders.”
“Bullshit, Colonel. I know I’m not real popular with the brass. I know you may not trust me.”
She’s a master of the understatement.
“Your orders are this: I want her to go through everything everyone else goes through. She will be participating in FMSS and infantry training. If she fails, she fails on her own. All I’m asking you to do is keep it fair.”
Dahl was well aware that the entire military saw her as having blood on her hands after she pushed through a female F-14 pilot that crashed and died during a carrier landing. The senator had pushed her through training even after being warned that she was not talented enough to succeed. The senator meant what she said, although Knox could never be sure when trying to decipher the politician’s code.
“Yes, ma’am. I give you my word that she will endure no less and no more than any other trainee.”
“Thank you, Colonel. If you need anything, do not hesitate to call.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
He hung up and put his head in his hands with his elbows on his desk. “Oh fuck, why me?” he mumbled to himself. Colonel Knox picked up the phone. “Sergeant, I need to put together an all-hands staff meeting, ASAP.”
Chapter 56
Much to the relief of Colonel Knox, Petty Officer Braxton was a non-issue. As soon as Amy checked in and went through orientation, she started to smile and didn’t stop for seven weeks. The first thing they did was swap her navy uniform for Marine Corps camouflage. She loved camo. Her instructors were marines and they reminded her of Uncle Jack when they trained together. Training in the marine way of operating and thinking felt comfortable to her. It was like a little taste of home. They got up every morning at 4 a.m., exercised, and went on a six mile forced march. Then came intense compressed classes in emergency medicine, combat tactics, firearms training, and something that Coach Traicoff had mentioned to her: they studied the religion and culture of the Middle East. They took exams at the end of every week and Amy did very well, acing most of them.
Gunny Sergeant Makowski, or Gunny Mak as the students called him, was the leading non-commissioned officer of Amy’s class. He was a former Recon Ranger and a Gulf War veteran. Colonel Knox called him into his office for a scheduled update on the current class. After a perfunctory report, Knox asked Makowski how Braxton was doing. Gunny Mak shook his head. “Yes, sir, I wanted to talk to you about that.”
Knox sat up in his chair and asked, “Is there a problem?”
Gunny Mak leaned back in his chair and said, “No, not really. I am curious, though. Where the hell did she come from?”
Knox leaned back in his chair and laced his fingers behind his head. “Alright, but what I’m telling you is confidential. A commander at Balboa tried to rape her and she sent him to the emergency room. Someone very high up decided she would be a better fit here. After this she is going to infantry training. They won’t deploy her, but they do want to see how she does. So spill it, Gunny, what do you see?”
Gunny leaned forward in his chair. “Well, sir, let’s start with academics. She has aced most of her tests. She has had previous medical training and I’m talking about before she enlisted. During our simulated casualty training, she’s unshakable. She is very familiar with the M4 and the M9, to the point that she was teaching the other two women in her class. She acts like she has fieldstripped and cleaned those weapons a thousand times. On the range, she is just as good as or better than her instructors. During free fire with the M9 she put a smiley face on the target at ten meters. When we were teaching hand-to-hand combat she just played with people. She did just well enough to keep it at a draw. One sailor got frustrated, took a cheap shot at her and she dropped him like a sack of shit. The biggest giveaway was when we were in the field teaching combat tactics. We teach rudimentary tactics and she has her unit doing Spec Ops shit. I have never seen anyone like her. She’s as strong as a bull, runs like a deer and moves like a cat. I would take her into combat with me right now, anytime, anyplace.”
