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Trent & Chase – CHAPTER FIVE

Hello there~~

Chapter FIVE be posted!! 😀

I’m not… unreasonably late this time around, right? Just two days past the bi-weekly mark? 😀

So, what to say about this chapter?

Because I wrote my stories backwards – Chase and Trent before Ash and Callie – I had to give some space to the rest of the cast. Here be Callie. She is a sweet girl. Misguided in the grand scheme of the world. Loved by me. And is pure of heart.

Like Trent, she has an ability. It’ll be revealed in the next chapter what it may be… I think. 😛

Definitely a conversation heavy chapter, and I hope this gives you some insight into both Trent and Callie.

❤

So… Why the focus on the US Air Force?

Mostly because I’m married to a USAF prior serviceman, honorably discharged. Also because the Air Force is the one branch that doesn’t really allow media be distributed about itself on a regular basis, which makes perfect sense. The Air Force broke off from the US Army back in the day, and this apparently requires some high ASFAB scores to get into.

Reason behind it is because of the equipment the Air Force works with, and I’m over simplifying this. A lot of complicated stuff on top of what some of the other branches already uses. Sometimes these guys don’t just learn about what the AF uses, but also what the Army, Navy, and Marines also use since specialists do get embedded with the other branches. Possibly even the Coast Guard, or the Air National Guard… but don’t quote me on that.

“In the rear with the gear”… Lord Wynter is rather fond of saying. They do have a lot of gear, but, it can arguably said that if the boys aren’t there capable of doing what needs to be done, even when embedded with special forces, then the United States won’t have the advantage on the battlefield she does today.

However, even with a high ASFAB score, there’s no guarantee that one will have a specialist job, or even capable of making the cut. Whole slew of other things like psych eval, academics, fitness, and a slew of other things I’m not that knowledgeable about makes this… not an easy walk, I would think.

Then again, I know somebody who was in the Air Force and she’s not very bright. Rather stupid, I would say, but I’m being biased perhaps. Or just plain jaded. Probably the latter. Maybe both… BAH!

Either which way, the AF fascinates me to no end because it is, hands down, the one branch with the highest concentration of geeks and nerds. With muscles. Well. Mine came with muscles. 🙂

Mine’s also a specialist (not EOD) and is qualified for a wide array of shooting weapons. Know a bit about things that go boom (Again. Not EOD). He likes to take “thinking outside the box” to a whole new level.

Which the Air Force both loved and hated at the same time. XD

And I have a THING for geeky boys. Seriously. UNF.

Now, I’m not on a mission to regale people with the inner workings of this specific branch of the military. Even if I was authorized to know about any of this stuff, which I’m not because I’m a foreign national, I’m not comfortable with sharing things that seem to be stalked pretty heavily by the enemies of the United States, United Nations, and a few other nations I haven’t had the time to double-check so I’m not listing them.

The Army and Navy guys like to bash on the Air Force, saying they’re just all brain and nothing much else… pussies and the like… and I get very defensive to the point of being down-right-bitch-class-nasty when people do that. My Air Force airman has big brains, has no problems bending most of these scrawny Army and Navy pussies into a pretzel if they won’t quit it with the stupidity, and had been through indoc training that was a variation like what the Air Force Pararescuemen go through, which arguably is the same thing Navy SEALs go through… only our PJs do it for six weeks longer (so I heard).

Hubby spends more time during the indoc in the field whereas the PJs spend more time in the pool. The runs are the same. The calisthenics are also the same. Same time, same number, etc. So the next person that wants to stand there, or sit if you rather, and tell me the AF men aren’t as up-to-grade as the rest of you…

Take that. *huff huff pant pant*… *climbs down off the podium stand*

😀

ANYWAY. Where was I?… Oh, right. Callie. Really have nothing else to say about her at this moment. Will save the rest of that for the story.

🙂

♦   ♦   ♦

Now… for the thing we all hate.

Disclaimer:

1. Beta’d by the tall, brunette, and moon-tanned Bitworks.
2. Proofreading and editing all done by me; therefore, all mistakes are mine.
3. It is copyrighted. I will take every available action known to me if it is stolen and/or submitted to a creative writing workshop class as your own work. Think Athena with Her Father’s Lighting Bolt. And Hera’s wrath.

I hope you enjoy the new chapter. You can find the link to the new chapter RIGHT HERE.

Have an awesome week and weekend. ⭐ AUTUMN IS HERE! ⭐

😀 😀 😀

Happy reading!

❤

Trent & Chase – CHAPTER FOUR

Dear friends,

Greetings and happy new week! 😀

Chapter FOUR be posted!! *does happy jig*

So, what to say about this chapter?

It was fun to write. Very fun. The story of the EOD bomb suit is true, and it happens. Repeatedly. Sometimes with vigor. Eventually the team learns, but tears will usually be involved before the lesson drives itself home.

XD

Until then, some will laugh. Others will cry. Just depends on what your last name is and how the instructor wanted to torture you for the day. 😉

So… US Air Force EOD – Explosive Ordnance Disposal.

The most elite of the US military is always a volunteer gig. It doesn’t matter if it is the Special Forces:

• Army Berets – motto is “De Oppresso Liber”
• Army Rangers – motto is “Sua Sponte (Of Their Own Accord) – 75^th Ranger Regiment and “Rangers Lead The Way” – Army Ranger-qualified soldiers.
• Marine Force Recon – motto is “Celer, Silens, Mortalis” (“Swift, Silent, Deadly.”)
• Navy SEALs – motto is “Ready to Lead, Ready to Follow, Never Quit.”
• Air Force Combat Control – motto is “First There.”
• Air Force Pararescue – motto is “That Others May Live.”

Or Specialists. And…

Explosive Ordnance Disposal Technicians are specialists.

EOD-Techs are usually embedded with Special Forces – not always. The exception, from what I was told, is the Green Berets. The person who answered my random question wasn’t a Green Beret, so I’m not entirely sure. I will have to ask around some more.

Supposedly, Green Berets have had some EOD training. Not the whole training, but enough. They know how to make things go BOOM. Not by accidentally setting something off.

Now.

EOD, as a specialist career path, has one of the highest washout rates in the military. For the Air Force, one in four to six graduate at the very end. It all depends on the makeup of the class. There are plenty of strong people. They are plenty of smart people.

But EOD requires the candidates to be both strong and smart. Civilian EOD-techs can typically perform their jobs in a controlled environment. Military EOD-techs do not have this luxury.

Sometimes the area they’re working in is clear of hostiles. That is rarely the case, but the Air Force (as does all other branches, I’m sure) tries to protect their specialists. It’s difficult enough finding candidates able to survive the testing and the training. It is ridiculously simple to lose them.

Because hostiles have learned who it is they need to target. And they will. One less EOD on the ground means the better chances of hostile IEDs – Improvised Explosive Devices – succeeding. Just like our military has no qualms about neutralizing their hostile force, they have no qualms about sending our military men and women home in body bags.

That is, if we were lucky enough to find pieces of our men and women left to be sent home in body bags.

And these specialists?

They begin their training anywhere from the ages of eighteen to… the cut-off point is thirty-two. It comes down to physical endurance on some things, and the people responsible for putting the candidates through hell will make sure every person has what it takes – both as an individual and as a team – to do what they were trained to do while in hostile environments.

It’s one thing, for me as a person, to know that the people going overseas to fight were my superiors in age. In my thirties now, realizing that the people who continue to fight are at least ten years my junior makes me want to cry every time I hear another IED (Improvised Explosive Device) had taken another son or daughter.

Or a whole team of them.

Nobody in the civilian world will ever understand, try as one might, what these people go through and see. They all carry scars not obvious to us, and unlike most people who likes throwing “PTSD” (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) as one reason or another for why they can’t function in society because of traumatic experiences…

These men and women suffer in silence. In part because there are no words to adequately describe what it is they have seen and experienced – or lost in some cases. The biggest part is because these details are classified, and unlike civilian law…

The UCMJ – Uniform Code of Military Justice – applies to everyone who served and is serving. It doesn’t stop applying just because one moved from active service to (in)active reserves. They take all sensitive information they know to the grave.

UCMJ first, Civilian Law second.

And in knowing that, take a moment to remember the men and women and their spouses – and in most cases, their children – who live a very different lifestyle. This is a family structure where silence is the standard and verbal communication is the exception.

That’s why a lot of military brats will often comment about how quiet or distant one or both of their parents could be. Or the way they handle discipline or have expectations that are vastly different from civilians. It’s simply what they know.

And.

They’ve taken an oath for life. This applies not to just the Special Forces but also the Specialists and all the other service men and women (and their families) who play a part in fighting against (our definition of) oppression.

On a final disclaimer note, for security purposes, any and all information you might gleam from a story dates to before 2001 – cut off point being the 9/11/2001 attack on the World Trade Center in New York.

Now… for the thing we all hate.

Disclaimer:

1. Beta’d by the tall, brunette, and moon-tanned Bitworks.
2. Proofreading and editing all done by me; therefore, all mistakes are mine.
3. It is copyrighted. I will take every available action known to me if it is stolen and/or submitted to a creative writing workshop class as your own work. Think Athena with Her Father’s Lighting Bolt. And Hera’s wrath.

I hope you enjoy the new chapter. You can find the link to the new chapter RIGHT HERE.

Have an awesome week and weekend. Our leaves are slowly turning already. I’m looking forward to the cold. I have missed it in these few short months.

😀 😀 😀

Much Love drizzled with syrup.

❤