“Even better, means peace.”A porch flashed in his mind—sunset, steaming coffee, a safe haven, maybe a family—his perfect idea of peace.Tranquility.Funny, he remembered having the same mental image coming out of his surgery.
“My parents did that on purpose,” she explained as they stepped to the coffee counter.Her words, though well-articulated, stood in the not-too-distant shadow of a deep southern drawl.“Older brother’s Frederick, little sister’s Irene.Both names also mean peace.My dad’s parents’ families hated them getting married.Our names were intended to battle a long history.”
They ordered coffee and turkey sandwiches.He paid for it before she had a chance to dig out her wallet.“I said I’d buy you a coffee,” he explained before she could protest.
They found a table away from the after-church crowd.They sat, and he asked.“Mind if I say grace?”
Her countenance brightened, and she smiled in a way that made his heart skip.“That would be great,” she said.
He bowed his head and offered a sincere, short prayer of thanks to God for the food and for the company.
“Where’s your family now?”he asked, peeling the lid off his cup.The rich coffee aroma rose with the released steam.
“Mobile, Alabama.”She blew on her coffee, steam curling up.“Well, just north.Daddy’s a preacher.Mama’s retiring from the school system this year.”
“So, you’re a preacher’s kid,” he observed.
“Yup.PK,” she confirmed.
He sized her up and said, “I enjoyed today’s sermon.”he kept his tone casual.“I like the idea that God has a plan for all of us, even if we can’t see it or don’t understand it.I know, in my life at least, I’ve seen God using me to fulfill His plans.”
Olive sipped her coffee then said, “I’ve never seen you at Liberty Chapel before, and I’ve been there going on three years.”
Jerry nodded.“When I’m not in the field, I attend chapel over by the hangar near Fifth Group.It’s being renovated right now.”
Instead of responding, she just smiled.“When did you get here to Campbell?”
“We moved our guidon about two years back,” he explained.“We’re supposed to be taking on a new JSOC mission, but right now we’re hurrying up and waiting.They can’t decide if we are going to cohort here with Fifth Group, or have our own station on another base, like Breckinridge.”
Jerry could not tell if Olive looked hopeful or doubtful when she said, “So you’re coming up on three years, here.No PCS orders yet?”
Jerry shook his head.“Not so far.This is the longest I’ve ever been assigned to the same place since Robin Sage.”
The United States Army Special Warfare Center at Fort Bragg was a necessary home base for every Army special operator.Green Berets euphemistically called it the “hub of the wheel.”Training to become a Green Beret could take anywhere from a year and a half to three years, from the Special Operations Preparation Course, to the Special Forces Assessment and Selection course, to the comprehensive Special Forces Qualification Course, and culminating in the Robin Sage exercise in the nearby North Carolina forests.
Additionally, Jerry had attended the US Army Sniper School at Fort Benning in Georgia for his Level 1 training in the middle of that, only because the Special Forces Sniper Course or SFSC at Bragg had overallocated available slots.He had returned to the “hub of the wheel” at Fort Bragg to attend his Level 2 sniper training at SFSC, a seven-week program focused on advanced marksmanship, fieldcraft, surveillance, and precision fire in support of special operations.
“So, what’s your mission here, if you can say?”she asked.
He nodded around a bite of turkey sandwich, “Well, apparently, today’s mission was to buy you a cup of coffee.”
She smiled, clearly understanding he could not discuss his mission.“Well, then,” Olive took a slow savoring sip of her brew, then pantomimed a toast, “Mission accomplished.”
“How did you end up in the Army?”He leaned back, sandwich in hand.“Big jump from PK to LT.”
Her cheeks pinked.“Well, way back then, there was a boy.”
He raised an eyebrow when she didn’t elaborate.“I assume that didn’t pan out.”
“Sadly, no.College wasn’t for him—too much temptation, not enough backbone.”A shadow flickered in her eyes, gone as quickly as it came.He wondered about the story there.She shrugged.“Even so, I followed him to an ROTC scholarship to Auburn.I loved it.Best decision I ever made, despite the boy.I made good friends, saw the world, and practiced combat nursing.Who gets to do that?”
“What made you decide to get out?”
She gave a small shrug.“I have no idea.It felt like God wanted me to, but honestly, I don’t know why.I loved my job, and I’m good at it.I’d gotten the promotions.But the longer I ignored God’s voice to get out, the more I knew I was supposed to do something else.”
He stared at her for several moments, then said, “Interesting.That lines up with the sermon today about how we need to trust that God has a plan.”
She raised an eyebrow.“Go on.”
