Moving to Peace

by burmafrd

VERY AU. NO ALIENS. CC, Adult. ALL DUE HOMAGE TO JASON KATIMS. I am just doing this for fun. Sometimes it is harder to transistion to Peace then it is to go to War.

1. Chapter 1

All hail Jason Katims for his creation, if not how he handled them. This is of course VERY AU. Going to War showed the warrior Liz. Now she has to figure out a way to more or less remain a warrior at peace. Great Kudos to Mary Mary for the Banner!

Liz was very nervous. She was about to be installed as an Honorary Member of the British Empire; and the very first to use the new title, Knightress. The Queen had decided that since there were going to be in the future women that would be warriors, and leaders, that they should have a female variant of Knight in their title. There was precedent for that; Baron vs Baroness. Still Liz would always be the first to have that honorific that separated her from what the title would have been before for a woman, Dame. That would now be used for those such as actresses and the like; leaders and warriors would be a Knightress. Of course Liz could not really use it, since she was not a British Citizen. That was why it was called Honorary. And why they thought it would be ok for her to be the first in that way. Somewhere down the road a British woman would be the first OFFICIAL Knightress. But nothing could take away the honor of being first overall.

Max, Aliya, Nancy, Ted, (with Max holding James) were all there waiting in the small audience for the ceremony to begin. It was a little different than some of the others. Even though it was honorary, the Queen decided that Liz should get the traditional sword part of the ceremony, since Liz had been awarded all this for services to Her Majesties Armed forces and Subjects. Liz had the Mess Dress Class A's today; which was different from the normal class A. There had been a truly ridiculous amount of back and forth from the Royal Family protocol people; and the US DOD. It had been debated and decided that Liz would wear her Mess Dress Long Skirt and Sword. All of which she had to have made especially for her. Then Liz too lessons on what to do with a sword; the Brits even sent an expert to Ft Campbell to instruct her on what she needed to do. This was a very new thing for the Brit Protocol wonks and it apparently threw them all for a loop. Liz had been amused for a while, but then it gradually began to dawn on her just how important this was. She as an American was becoming the first British Knightress. She herself figured that this would be an experiment and if it failed no big deal because she was a Yank.

It had engendered a fair amount of comment from all sides. Both in the US and in England. Making her an honorary member of the British Empire was not a problem to anyone; all agreed it was well deserved. It was the Knightress part that started it off; then when it was let out that the Queen would be giving her the ceremonial part as regards the sword to the Shoulder, it all really hit the fan. It was not, except for some really old fogies, a problem with her not earning that honor. She was a warrior and no one argued with that. Just that she was an American.

One thing had come of all this; something that had been with Liz since she was old enough to understand. Her father had left her mother before she was even born. They had gotten married out of High School and Nancy had gotten pregnant soon after; and he had been terrified of this and had fled before Nancy was 7 months along. Nancy had been very lucky to get the job with the Worland City government just after Liz was born. Nancy had divorced him not long after; he had never contacted her again. Nancy had not even gotten around to changing her name; and so Liz was a Parker from her mother's side. Tom Solange had been his name. Nancy had contacted his parents not long after and had found out that he had not told them anything. Not long after that they had died in a car crash; and they had not had any other children. Nancy's only family had been her mother; her father had died some years earlier from a heart attack. Claudia sadly had died when Liz was 6.

When Liz got her security clearance raised upon acceptance into the 160th, her background check had been updated. And by pure chance in a standard search they had found out Tom Solange's fate. Got drunk and ran his car into a tree when Liz was 9. This had been placed in Liz's file, and when reviewing it she found the information and she had informed her mother, who really had very little to say about him. But at least it was closure.

Liz looking at her background file had been generated by a request from the Brits about her genealogy. She had out of curiosity done a bit of a search and found that she was related to John Parker, the Captain of the Lexington Militia. She gave what she knew to the Brits and they had come up with a family tree that could be traced back to the late 1400's. She was related to the Parker that was Archbishop of Canterbury under Queen Elizabeth I. It was very interesting to her.

Apparently to the Brits as well. Part of the whole MBE part was showing your family tree. Liz figured that she had a pretty good one overall.

The negotiations (which is what Liz called them) between the DOD and the Royal Protocol bunch had decided that this would be how it went. Liz would be the last one honored. She would approach the Queen and salute with her sword; she would then sheath it and kneel; then the Queen would dub her Knightress and defender of the British Crown. Liz would stand, bow, then back away and return to her place in line. She just hoped she would not trip over the long skirt.

And she was very thankful she didn't. Lots of pictures got taken. One difference between Mess Dress and regular Class A is that the Medals are worn; not the ribbons. And Liz had a bunch. She actually rivaled a fair number of the senior officers there. A fact remarked upon by many.

"counting them up we have the Presidential Medal of Freedom; 2 Presidential Unit Citations; the Distinguished Service Cross; the Distinguished Flying cross for the US and for the UK; Legion of Merit; 2 Purple hearts; the Combat Action Badge; the Soldier's Medal."

Nancy was so proud she could pop; Liz looked incredible in the Mess Dress Blue Class A; with her Sword and all the medals and everything.

Liz did one quieter visit while in the UK; she visited the HQ of the Scottish Regiment to receive honorable membership of the Regiment due to her services in Afghanistan. It was very interesting; the old building with the Flags from centuries ago and the mementos there. It was also a full dress occasion and while there she met Corporal Jones and his parents who again and again thanked her for saving their son. It was a little embarrassing for Liz; and while there she got drawn into a TV interview that was visiting the Regiment at the same time.

"Major Parker, or Knightress Parker, which do you prefer?"

"Major Parker. That seems average and ordinary and that way I can usually slip away without anyone noticing."

"When the honor was explained to you, what was your first reaction?"

"Picking my jaw off the floor after it fell off."

"You are by far the most decorated woman soldier in History. How does that feel?"

"Like it is happening to someone else. I just seem to get myself in those situations and by the Grace of God I get out of them in one piece and seem to be able to get everyone else out as well."

"What are your plans at this time?"

"Enjoy my time here and then get back to my battalion."

Liz was able to slip away after that; she had no idea at the very fine picture she made, the Uniform and Sabre and all her medals.

Getting back to the 160th and her responsibilities soon had Liz fully engaged; B company was coming home soon and A company of the 2nd Battalion was soon to replace them. The situation in Afghanistan continued to stabilize; the new president of Afghanistan seemed to be much more able to get things done; and the Army and security forces were steadily improving. The Taliban, finally showing some intelligence, were trying to negotiate. With that news, a meeting was held. Liz, the 160th Commander, and the SOCOM commanding general were in a meeting with intelligence weenies giving their best estimate of the situation. Liz was a little surprised that she was part of this meeting.

The SOCOM commanding general dismissed the intelligence officers and when the door closed looked at the 160th Commander.

"I have gotten the word from SECDEF that we are probably going to go along with the cease fire request that the President of Afghanistan has made. So I need to know what you think you will need there just to hold things rather than be on the offensive."

"Sir, we can cut our forces in half easily; if the Special Operations will be on a strictly defensive and react status. Compared to regular forces, we can be back pretty fast if the cease fire breaks down."

SOCCOM nodded then looked at Liz.

"You probably wonder why you were at this meeting."

"Yes sir."

"There has been a proposal put forth to have a worldwide reaction force that would include Super Apache's, DAP's, Little Birds, and Black Hawks. You will be part of the study group looking at this. They will be meeting at Campbell next month. Since there are few even in the Special Ops world that know what the Super Apache's can do, it will be up to you to show them. I wanted you to hear the intelligence so that you can factor that into the meetings."

Liz was thoughtful. "Sir, correct me if I am wrong, but I get the feeling that what is really wanted is for the Super Apache's to show that they should be the only attack helicopter paired with the Black Hawks for a simplified reaction force."

The 160th Commander smiled very slightly. The SOCOM commander slowly nodded.

"I was told you would probably figure it out early on. That is exactly that, Major. You will be expected to show that you can do anything the Little Birds and DAP's can do and do them better."

After the meeting Liz met with the 160th Commander privately.

"Just how political is this?"

"A fair amount. The price of the Super Apache's has been a sore point. Now their performance in Afghanistan has quieted that down a lot, but some is still there. Personally, I think the day of the DAP is gone for all intents and purposes. You could only carry a small number of personnel due to the extra weight of everything added to it. So having a dedicated attack helicopter and dedicated transport seems to me to be the most efficient way to go about things; most of the other senior commanders feel the same way. Now the situation with the Little Birds is different. They are so small and easily transportable that most feel it is a nice bonus to have around. However the small size of them and their limited range also works against them. You really cannot do much about the range situation. The times we have used them to take troops in it has been very hairy; and truly most of us feel that is stretching things too far. Putting them on benches outside the helicopter is an extreme situation I have never liked."

Liz nodded. "I can understand why it is tried; the Little Bird is so easily deployed. But bringing in forces that way; they are so vulnerable to any kind of ground fire."

"Yes they are. You should know that some have been looking at a pod that can carry four for use with the Super Apache."

Liz almost let her jaw drop open but managed to stop it just in time.

"My god. I had heard nothing about this at all."

"That is because so far it is only being talked about theoretically in the R & D areas."

"That is so stupid. They are still just as vulnerable and the amount of gear they can take is so minimal; I hope that is stamped on hard."

"I agree. Which is one reason you really need to show that you can do more than any other ship; and why a force of Super Apache's and Black Hawks make the most effective and efficient unit."

Liz had a lot to think about. The 2nd Battalion was almost ready for full standup; C Company would be coming home and it was looking more and more like only one company would be kept in Afghanistan as long as the cease fire held. Sam had gotten his promotion and was now the CO of the 2nd Battalion. But Liz was acknowledged as the head honcho of the Super Apache. It was up to her to lead the force.

One thing she had to look at was how to keep the force sharp if the deployments were that far apart. If only one company would be deployed, then that would mean as much as 18 months between deployments. That was a long time to try and keep pilots ready to go. Up to now, they had deployed much more often and that was not a real issue. But now for the Apache drivers it could be. Of course if they phased out the DAP's then there might be more of a need.

The situation with the dog and pony show that she knew was expected was not comfortable. Liz hated this sort of thing with a passion; having to prove the worth of the Super Apache not in combat but in some sort of theatrical production really grated on her. Yet she knew there really was no choice. So she brought in some of her more senior pilots to ask for suggestions.

"So there it is guys. We have to put on an air show that will prove that the Super Apache is the way to go. Now it is a given that the Little Birds and DAP guys will not want to cooperate by letting us show them up side by side. The Little Bird guys could beat us on maneuverability and deploy ability; but we own them on virtually any other basis. The DAP's only advantage over us is that they can carry troops; and they can claim that they can protect themselves about as good as we could protect regular Blackhawks. So really we have to show that overall we are the best bet. I need suggestions."

Slinger, Pug, Hannibal, Fireman were all at this meeting. She had also called in some of the Black Hawk people. They were on her side because they liked having the Super Apache as their escort.

Pug was first. "We need to show that as regards deployment time we can beat or at least match DAP. I think realistically we can show that DAP is not really a player. They only can really show an edge as regards bringing troops with them; but we can show that with Black Hawks we can deploy more faster with better protection. Now for small Special Ops missions, they have an edge. But that is a limited area."

Fireman decided to play the devil's advocate.

"But with the major conflicts winding down, they will make the claim that they will be doing more small missions rather than large assaults. Which is the place they have the edge. So we need to show that the difference would be minor at best."

Liz nodded. "I believe we need to attack their strong points; if we can show little advantage for them in the areas they claim they are strongest, then we will win. Since as regards large operations and heavily contested missions we clearly have the edge. But I think we need to do one of those as well so that the observers are reminded of that point."

So they began to flesh out ideas. They spent most of that day making plans. The whole show was going to be put on in one month.

Meanwhile Liz was still looking at how to keep the force ready to go; and the more she looked at it the more it seemed like an impossible task. Repetitive training after a while became automatic which was good in that it sharpened skills; but at the same time the brain turned off and went automatic too much; and that meant when the unexpected showed up you would be slow to recognize and react; and in modern war you were either quick or you were dead.

So she tabled that and went to some other things. She had requested to make some quick trips to Afghanistan to check on the companies there; C company was just about to come home and it had been decided that B company of the 2nd Battalion would wait until it was time for A to come home and just take over their birds. As had been the original plan when only one company was going to be deployed. It was granted and with C Company almost on the plane Liz flew into Bagram.

The decreased intensity of the situation was already apparent; forces were lowering and the NG brigade was about to leave and be replaced by some stray units, bits and pieces. She was glad to see the NG guys; in the nearly 3 months since she had left they had done a fine job, even if the pressure was much less.

The new officers were a little leery of her, and she could understand that. The Pilots and others of the Brigade that she had commanded had pretty much put her up on a pedestal and everyone else suffered in comparison. So she made sure that she did not step on any toes.

C Company was looking good; after some conversations with them she was satisfied, after reading the mission reports and talking to the units they had supported, that they had done well. The SF commander had been happy.

"Of course the situation was much easier, but they did a fine job."

Liz also checked into the A company people; but she was careful to not step on Sam's toes. He was stuck there for a while, but she was working on freeing him up. With only one company and the much less demanding situation, there really was no need for him to stay. Liz spent 3 days at Bagram and was very satisfied with what she found. As she made clear to the 160th commander.

"Things seem to be running smoothly; and I do recommend that Sam be brought home; no real reason for him to stay. A few days visit every month or so should be sufficient."

After getting back she waded back into the dog and pony show preparations.

It had been decided to make it a 4th of July show. To mask the actual reasons for it. The preparations had been taxing, to say the least. Liz had worked on some of the other units to help out; she wanted to show that they could deploy in C-130's if necessary. She remembered going to see some of the Hercules pilots about that.

They were a more loose type then hers were; so their greeting was not surprising.

"So, Doberman, come to take a bite out of us?"

"Looking for a phone book to sit on?"

"Come to see what real pilots with real aircraft look like?"

Liz grinned at them.

"Yes, I know I am slumming, coming to see you trash haulers."

The senior pilot there grinned at her.

"That is your story and you are sticking to it?"

"Ya. Actually I have just one question. Could you put one of my super Apache's in one of your ships?"

They looked a little surprised at that.

"Wow, not asking much are you? The rotors are too long."

"You take off the ones for the Little Birds so what is the problem?"

"Too high."

"With the rotors off you have 3 inches."

"Too long in the fuselage."

"Not mine; you have 6 inches."

"Too wide."

"You got a whole foot."

They all blinked at her ready answers. Then the senior pilot slowly nodded.

"OK, so far you are right. But I want one of our loadmasters to look at it."

"No problem. Send him on down."

First Sergeant Tom Bennett was there that afternoon looking at her Apache's. He talked to her crew chief and looked all around the bird. Finally he came to talk to Liz.

"We can do it."

With that Liz got her Battalion Sergeant Major Sid Winston to hand pick a crew to work on that. Liz intended to fly an Apache in; have the crew break it down and stuff into a C-130; have it take off and then land and pull it out and get it ready to fly. She knew if they could do this it would be a huge edge to show. She then talked to that crew.

"You know what we want to do; and that we want it done as fast as possible. I also want you to look at doing it with the minimum amount of support. In other words no fancy rotor stands and the like. Everything you use must fit in that C-130."

So they were dismissed from their regular duty and were given the rest of the time to the show to work on this exclusively. She had put the Sergeant Major in charge. And he worked them hard. She remembered when she had picked him.

It had been just after she had gotten A company up and running, not long before her deployment. She had lobbied for a Sergeant Major; telling the 160th commander that having a senior sergeant who would be able to over watch things could come in real handy for a unit that would often be split up. He had agreed and had come up with 3 candidates who were not in special operations. But had shown interest. Up to now they had not had any in Aviation. Sid had been the last one interviewed.

Sid Winston had 21 years in the Army; had started out in Infantry, had done a stint in Armor, then had gone into the 82nd Airborne where he had become a Sergeant Major only a year earlier. Unfortunately there were no slots available for the time being. He had served tours in both Iraq and Afghanistan. He was a pretty big guy, but clearly fit and ready. He had come into her office with as sharp a salute as Liz had seen; even when considering some of the British ceremonial troops she observed on occasion. Liz had stood up and returned it smartly.

"At ease and sit down. Sergeant Major. You know that you are one of three candidates for this position. Tell me why you should be the man."

"Major, I can only surmise why you want a Sergeant Major when no Aviation Battalion has had one before. You want one since you figure it will be quite often split up and that you need a senior sergeant keeping an eye on the parts you cannot. While I have not been in an aviation battalion before, in the 82nd we had lots of experience with helicopters in our operations. What a sergeant major does is not unit specific anyway; we ride herd on the enlisted and junior officers to make sure things are done right. We are the eyes and ears of the Commander to make sure she knows things that might not reach her through official channels or her chain of command. I want this position because I have no doubt it will be the finest Aviation Battalion in the US Army and that is what I want to be part of and be part of the reason it is the best."

His intense manor impressed her like the other two had not; she nodded.

"OK. Well you are it. When can you be here."

She managed to keep from smiling as that caught him off balance; he had not expected a decision this soon; but he recovered quickly; another plus.

"Major, I am surplus at this time so no reason to wait at all. I can be here in one week; my wife was halfway expecting a move and has been prepared. Our kids are grown and in college so that is not a factor."

"Good answer. Take your time; take two weeks and do it right. Longer if you need it. I will not deploy for another month; and that is when I will need you here keeping an eye on things for me."

With the arrival of C company at the beginning of June, the battalion was for once intact. And since they brought their Apache's home with them, they had all their birds as well. Liz's A company birds had been brought back with her due to the unlikelihood of needing them. So they had 24 Super Apache's for 1st Battalion of the 160th SOAR. Liz had been very flattered when the other battalions had been moved back in number for the Super Apache's. C Companies birds would be a week or so from being ready to fly. She had long talks with all the pilots and copilots as they came back, readying to sign off on their evaluations that Sam had sent.

Meanwhile the Sergeant Major had been riding herd on the special crew. And riding them hard. They were using a currently empty hanger for all this and it was kept secured; the men under very strict orders not to discuss this with anyone. So far as he could tell it had not gotten out. They had improvised some ways to support the rotors when being assembled or disassembled without using big clumsy stands or overhead cranes. Same with portable and collapsible ladders so that they could get men up to work on them. It had been a tight fit, but they had put together a frame that marked the exact size of the C-130J Hercules's cargo hold and practiced making sure everything fit. They had brought in one of the Loadmasters on it as well; he was very interested since he knew if this worked it would be happening for real soon enough.

In the air Liz had gotten the entire battalion together to practice their own part of the Dog and Pony show. It was very intricate and took some time to get it right; Liz first showed them a series of drawings of what they would be doing; then they slowly practiced it in the air; gradually speeding it up. It was very complicated and Liz began to get an idea on how to keep her battalion sharp in downtimes.

Finally the day of the show came. Liz had deliberately asked for the Super Apache's to come last and it had been granted.

There were several thousand spectators as well as some very high officials of SOCOM and also a certain Congressman. Liz had made sure to invite him.

She had to admit that the Little Birds put on a show of acrobatics that would have been impossible to match. Of course she could always try another barrel roll but that would not be smart.

The DAP's practiced an assault and shot up some targets; they looked pretty good. She smiled as she headed towards her bird.

The 24 Apache's appeared in a huge V formation; then split after passing the stands into their 3 companies. Then came together in a very tight formation in 6 boxes of 4 that were VERY close and flew at a good speed and then turned as one; then they split into their companies and very quickly spread out. Meanwhile on the ground a large number of targets were quickly set up. Then coming in from 3 directions at once, all spread out, they fired almost as one, in a huge display of firepower, destroying all the targets. Then they quickly formed the V formation and flew over the field, then Liz dropped out and in high speed landing came down not far from the viewing stands. At the same time the picked crew swarmed the bird, with the rotors still spinning but the engines shut down. Liz and Doug jumped out, each grabbing a refueling hose that would refuel the two auxiliary tanks from the fuel carts. Meanwhile the crew under the direction of the Sergeant Major, began to take off the rotors and the Longbow radar mast. Barely waiting until they stopped moving. In 30 minutes, 5 minutes faster than most of their times, they had the rotors off and the bird refueled and re-armed; Liz and Doug doing most of the rearming. As the rotors were just coming off, a C-130J came roaring in and landed and moved towards the Apache. The rear door opened and a crewman with a hook and cable ran to the front of the Apache attaching it to the hook that had been installed there. He signaled the plane and the hook began to draw the Apache towards the ramp that had just been dropped. Meanwhile the crew and Liz and Doug were carrying parts of the Apache and the stands and such into the Hercules. In 15 minutes they had it loaded and 5 minutes later it took off, circled the field and landed in a short space, simulating landing on a short strip. The rear opened and the tail of the Apache began to appear, pulled by ropes from most of the crew. In 5 minutes they had it out and had unloaded all their tools and such. The Hercules took off; and in 25 minutes more the rotors were on and Liz and Doug were doing a preflight; in 5 minutes they started it up and it took off and fired at newly built targets, blowing them all up; then Liz went up to take her place in the huge V formation of Apache's as it went over the field. In just over an hour and a half it had all been done. The crowd were standing and applauding.

The SOCCOM XO looked at the commander of the 160th and the congressman and remarked.

"I think Major Parker made her point."

Two days after the air show, Liz was informed of a high level meeting that would happen in the Pentagon that she would be attending. She got this notice from the 160th Commander, who would be going as well. She asked him if he knew what it was about.

"After the show you put on yesterday, I was expecting this. Just not as soon. I know you were following orders by making sure everyone got it about the Super Apache, but you have heard of the term 'unintended consequences'?"

"Yes sir."

"You just might have gotten yourself and your command on some lists you might have preferred to stay off of."

Liz got to thinking about that over the next few days, and none of the things she came up with gave her happy thoughts. First of course was getting loaned out to the Company; that was #1 with a bullet as far as she was concerned on the bad side of the ledger. Part of some kind of ready reaction force, she could possibly see that. And that might not be so bad as long as only one company was on it. Any more then it began to get ugly. Putting a company on that kind of roster once a month would be about the limit. If she remembered correctly, each time you were on that list, you had to never be more than an hour or so from your base, and you had to be able to get your unit uploaded on transports and moving within 24 hours. Your machines had to be absolutely ready to rock and roll right away.

Liz worked at finding the good things about getting a big rep; you would not get your budget cut. You would not get loaned out for little things; and you could expect to get solid support from above. Your unit knew they were special and could be worked hard to stay that way. Very few would want out, and you probably had a waiting list for getting in.

On the bad side was the pressure; you could never really relax. And if you screwed up the fall was a lot farther.

As was typical with Liz, she did not put too much thought into what this meant for her as regards her career. Or herself getting on certain lists.

She would have been shocked and rather worried had she known that the next week after the air show she was part of the subject of several meetings at high levels.

SOCCOM had his monthly meeting with his major command deputies; he tried to talk to them in person if possible and on teleconference if not. This one he had them all in the same room.

"I take it you have all heard the show that Major Parker put on with her Super Apache's?"

"I am guessing that no one warned her about looking TOO good and the possible if not probable consequences."

"I doubt it. But then from what I understood she was ordered to be impressive."

"She managed that."

"She certainly did. I am willing to bet no one thought you could get an Apache of any kind into a C-130."

"I certainly never thought you could. Which raises some interesting questions. I understand some of the upgrades of the Super Apache, but I am beginning to think that a lot of us were deliberately left in the dark about what they could mean. I did not know that they could take a full combat load and four auxiliary tanks at the same time."

"I think it is safe to say that the 160th might have been a little remiss in informing interested parties in the capabilities of the Super Apache."

"I think that reason was twofold; one to keep them to themselves, which is somewhat understandable. But now that both Afghanistan and Iraq are at the low intensity level, it is time to share the wealth."

"What was the other reason?"

"To make sure no one tried to pilfer Major Parker for their own reasons."

"Her accomplishments as both an aviator and leader have been impressive. Especially the way she seems to be able to take garbage units and transform them quickly."

"That is a rare ability; and she has done it three times in two very different areas."

"It is a gift one either has or does not have; it is not something that can be taught."

At another meeting of conventional officers, including aviators, the subject also came up at a focus meeting that had been called months ago. One of the items on the agenda was a new rapid reaction force that had been floated for some time.

"It is agreed then on the idea of further studying a new RRF. I think that the current force as it is configured is too big and too cumbersome."

"I agree. Takes too much transport and it is pretty much limited to areas that have large long concrete runways. Special Operations can respond with small forces but they are just that."

"Speaking of Special Operations, did all of you hear of the display they put on at Campbell?"

"Major Parker strikes again, I heard."

"Yes. Did anyone here know that you could get an Apache into a C-130?"

All parties shook their heads. One, a senior Air Force general, mused on that.

"I was totally surprised until I got the data on the Super Apache; the shorter tail is what made it possible. Past Apache's were just too long."

"What was also very interesting, as I heard from a few who were there, was that she had been flying it for at least an hour and it was hot; but they still got the rotors and the Longbow radar mast off and the bird inside the C-130 in just over half an hour."

"Of course that was with a picked crew who had been practicing, but that was still impressive."

One general asked a question several had.

"Just how much of an improvement is this super apache over the Longbow version? I have heard rumors but not much else."

"The 160th kept things very quiet on that project; many of us heard they were improving the Apache for special ops, but most of us figured it would be like the Black Hawks that they have turned into the DAP's and things like that. But now I hear that this is for all intents and purposes a new aircraft."

"Titanium frame and supports, and a new type at that; new engines and the capability to use the entire output of those engines; the fenestron tail; and avionics at least as advanced over the Long Bow as it was over the A model. Add to that the ability to have four Auxiliary tanks and a full combat load. Which increases its useful range immensely even without air refueling."

"But they are VERY expensive; I heard twice that of a Longbow."

"True. And with the new budgetary restraints it will be hard to get anymore. Especially with things so much quieter in Iraq and Afghanistan."

"So it is not likely that any more will be forthcoming, except as extras to keep the two current battalions up to strength."

"More than likely. Still I would submit that one battalion is more than enough for the 160th."

"That can probably be swung. But then who gets that extra battalion. You would have knife fights among every single regular aviation brigade in the Army."

"Clearly only the new RRF would have sufficient importance to get it."

"And probably the second battalion at that. SOCCOM and company would scream if anyone tried to steal Major Parker from them."

"But if this RRF is supposed to be the best force for immediate reaction; and requires officers capable of independent thought and flexibility, would that not warrant the best aviators as well?"

"You try that out and you better have someone else start your car every morning. Special ops types tend to be very territorial."

At still another meeting of Naval and Marine officers, another point of view was heard. The Marine General, as usual outnumbered among the Navy Admirals, spoke up.

"Coming from an old fashioned ground pounder, we still need better close fire support then we do have now. Ships no longer have guns worth mentioning, and close air support is still too inaccurate at times. Not to mention the response unless you have a full time CAP is too slow. Artillery is always the last to show up and its limited range is a pain as well."

"You got your AH-1Z's, what more do you want?"

"They are great birds; but they cannot deliver the ordnance the Apache can; and the new Super Apache can deliver more at three times the range and stay around just as long. And the 20MM is just too weak anymore."

"And it costs more than twice as much as well. With the budget situation as it is, you have very little chance of getting any now."

"The 160th does not need two battalions."

"Tell the truth General, do you want the Super Apache's or Major Parker?"

"Both, Admiral. Major Parker should have been a Marine."

Liz had been contemplating how to keep her Battalion and the other one sharp; and the rehearsals for the air show had given her ideas. She began to draw up formations and scenarios that would test them and make them work hard; she pushed for as much live fire practice as she could get. As for the ground crews, she began to hold competitions with leave and other carrots dangled in front of them. The fastest crew to rearm; the crew with the highest operational rate.

Her Sergeant Major was also busy; he was constantly prowling the hangers and operations buildings looking for mistakes and laziness and anything that was not right. As Liz held a gripe session for the officers every month, he held one for the enlisted men. And Liz made it clear to everyone that she took what he told her as the gospel. This had the effect of letting everyone know that they could talk to him and it would get right to her off the record.

In August came the word that with the Taliban cease fire still holding, that A company would not be replaced. So the entire first and second battalions would be together at Campbell, in September. Liz also got the word that her promotion to Lt Colonel would come by the end of the year. She had very mixed feelings about that; she knew that there would be more and more pressure to take her out of the cockpit of her Apache. And she did not know if she could remain in the military if that happened. At the same time her appointed career advisor had a meeting with her. He was a full colonel and a former aviator as well.

Colonel Williams was not sure how to talk to Major (soon to be Lt Colonel) Parker. Her career was unique in the military. For all intents and purposes the first female true warrior. More high decorations than any officer since Vietnam. A truly superb officer that had not had one single evaluation less than outstanding. And yet the pressure was still there to have her start taking college courses and working towards a degree; completely idiotic. No promotion board would dare pass over her; their own careers would suffer from the backlash. Yet some dumb gomers insisted that no matter what their career, they had to be taking college courses and going for a degree, then a masters. It did not matter what it was in either. Despite claims made to the contrary; you only had to look at all the business administration degrees and such to know they made very little difference in how an officer did his job. It was all about ticket punching; something Colonel Williams hated with a passion. Elizabeth Parker did not have to worry about that making any difference for a while; He had no doubt that in two years at most, she would have her birds. But after that it would make a difference, even with the new extra promotion board. He consoled himself with the thought that by that time he would be retired. He also hoped he was right in his estimation that getting promoted meant very little to her.

"Major Parker, I am frankly honored to by your career advisor."

"Thank you, Colonel Williams. I am guessing that one of the things you want to talk to me about is taking college courses towards a degree."

"The pressure is still on that area, Major, even if it is not as intense as it was a few years ago. The Alternative Promotion board has made some waves. And the backlash is growing against forcing officers to take years out of their careers for useless college degrees."

Liz raised her eyebrow at that. "You are a very rare officer, sir, to be willing to speak what many might think but are afraid to utter."

"I am retiring in less than two years no matter what. So I can afford to say what was previously forbidden. I do want you to consider applying for Command Staff college at some time. That is of course if you are interested in that route."

Liz sat back for a minute and considered. Then deciding that since he had been honest with her she would be honest with him.

"Desk command does not interest me. And above the rank of Lt Colonel that will almost certainly be my fate. I am a pilot; a command pilot. I say that with pride and the humility that I have also been very lucky. But I honestly do not see myself lasting much longer once they pry me out of my Apache. A year or two at most and then I will be gone. So at this time I have now 12 years in the military; I truly do not see how I could last to 20. I know I have at most another year or so flying; and then at most a year or two after that. At best I am looking at 16 and then gone. I do not have to worry about a second career; I know that with my reputation I will be able to find a flying job outside the military. And it is much more important to me that I feel challenged and productive than get useless promotions. I do not see how I feel that way behind a desk. And that is where inevitably my career leads."

He sat for a moment contemplating his response; then decided to just put it out there.

"That is pretty much it for me; I was pried out of my Black Hawk 6 years ago. I chose to stay in to get my 20. But I cannot honestly say that I have not done much since then that was really useful or productive to my way of thinking. I have had good postings; have commanded a Battalion and then XO of a brigade. Then I was moved to this position. The Battalion command was the last one I really felt productive; XO was a paper pushing position that I almost drowned in. That is pretty much what this is in too many ways. Way too many of the officers that I advise I would like to tell them to get out and do not let the doorknob hit your ass on the way out. Cookie cutter staff and desk weenies. Then an officer like you comes along; I can honestly say that none of my other charges have anywhere near your accomplishments or potential. And I say potential advisedly."

Liz looked at him calmly. "You are talking command positions and staying in and going for my stars."

"Yes. Major, you are the first woman that I can see going all the way up the command positions. You have been tremendously successful at Company and Battalion command; and your exploits resuscitating bad units is remarkable. It takes a real touch to do what you have done 3 times. Brigade command is not far off; you were an extremely successful XO of a brigade and it is well known that for all intents and purposes you did command that NG brigade. After that and some courses at Command School, I have absolutely no doubt you will have a star on your shoulder before you are 35. Stay with it and I can see the day when you just might be the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in 20 years. Maybe less. I see that in your future. And further you are the kind of commander this Army desperately needs."

Liz sat back, somewhat dazed and incredulous. She could tell he was serious.

"Wow. Pretty heady stuff for someone that joined right out of high school just to make some money to go to college someday. Things just seemed to fall into place. My guardian angel works overtime for sure. Part of what you said scares me a little – I might actually buy into it and start playing the promotion game. And frankly my thoughts on making it to high command are not pleasant. You say I could make a difference; but I really wonder. I question what difference one officer can make. I have studied some military history over the years; my personal favorites are the Civil War and WW2. Back then one officer could make a big difference; imagine the Union Army without Grant; our army in WW2 without Marshal. Or Sherman and Patton and so on. But now I seriously question what one officer or a few can do anymore in this military. Now outside of bad differences like Westmoreland made, what difference can even a few superior officers make? I look at Desert Storm; we had a great combination there in Powel at Chief of the Joint Staff and Swartzkopf at CENTCOM. In many ways the best we had since Marshal and Eisenhower. But what did they accomplish in the end? Iraq festered; the great military we had in 1991 dwindled and became the Stepford military of today as regards the senior levels."

"I think I can counter with Petraeus."

Liz nodded. "I can give you that. But did he really make all that much difference? The Surge in Iraq had already been suggested; his tactics were really nothing new. Afghanistan, it was more the case of us wearing down the Taliban and the steady building of the Afghan government. Both tactics that had been tacitly acknowledged. As someone who was there while it was happening, I did not see much that showed the higher command were doing anything that really mattered."

He sat back and sighed. It was really hard trying to counter the same thoughts he had had over the last few years as regards their current wars. He had seen very little sign of any brilliance in leadership. A steady wearing down of the enemy; a war of attrition. That was what had gotten it done. And was that more the case of the political leadership being stubborn enough that it finally got results? Rather than any real leadership from anyone in the military?

Liz saw that he was truly conflicted; trying to do what he thought was right vs what he really thought the Army needed. She was very flattered that he thought she had the potential to go that high; but as she contemplated the price she would pay for trying, she had her doubts it would be worth it. If she kept at her current pace, she would be out of the military in 5 years at most. She and Max could easily have more children; have a big family if she wanted. She knew she could write her autobiography and make enough money so that they could do as they wished. Max had a huge wad in the bank; and she had a pretty good pile as well. Between that and the book they would probably be financially set for life. Allowing them so much freedom to raise Aliya and James and other children exactly as they wished. Freedom that very few people had. But she would have to make a decision in the next year or two as to which way to go. She looked at the Colonel.

"Thank you for your honesty and confidence in me. You have given me a lot to think about."

"Thank You Major for making this day one that I will cherish. Good luck to you and anything you need let me know. I would consider it an honor to help you."

When she had left he sat thinking for a long time before telling his secretary he was gone for the day. One of the perks of this position. He had made certain that there would be no further appointments that day. He went home and sat thinking for some time before his wife came in; she was a volunteer at the local military daycare.

She knew right away something was up; she had known him for a couple years before they married; and 20 years of marriage had helped her understand him. He had been in ROTC at college when they had met and married. They had had their kids before he started his active duty. He had had a very good career; and she had no regrets. But today she could see he had some.

"Well come on, spit it out. Today made you do some thinking and a fair amount of it was not good. So tell me."

He smiled at her; she really did know him so well.

"I told you that one of the officers I had been assigned to career council was Major Elizabeth Parker. Today I met her; and I was just as impressed in person as her file and everything you have seen and read had led me to believe I would be. We had a very frank talk. And I tried to convince her to at least play the game enough for her to get to Command rank. I did it because I feel the Army badly needs officers like her. I told her, and I really believe it, that she could someday become the first female Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. She told me why she really did not want to; and it echoed so many of my own thoughts. About the cookie cutter military we now have; and the dearth of real leadership. Which she has in spades. This is the first time I was in the room with an officer that you could just feel it; she is an extra ordinary officer that the Army so badly needs. Yet the price she might have to pay to reach the level where she could really change things is so high; and her point that what could one or even a few officers really accomplish was dead on. I cannot honestly say that she is wrong. And yet here I was trying to get her to play the game; one she has totally ignored for all intents and purposes. I left my office and I felt dirty."

She sighed and cuddled closer to him.

"You make a point of doing what you think best most of the time. And right now your current position has you trying to do justice to the position while not selling out your soul. If you really believe that the army needs her then you did the right thing. You gave her the options and the reasons. It is up to her. She will make the decision. I know you; you gave her both sides and your own feelings; that is as good as you can do."

Liz took a day's leave to attend a retirement party at Ft Carson. Sergeant Axton was pulling the pin. When informed of this in an email- they still corresponded- she told him she would be coming to his retirement ceremony as well. She met him the night before at his party and talked for a while.

"Well you sure did hold to your schedule; just like you told me at Stewart 6 years ago."

"Saw no reason to change it; especially now with major combat over. And look at you; steadily heading up the ladder and kicking ass all the time. I saw the potential you had that first day; and I am glad to have seen it start to come true. 20 years from now I am going to be able to sit at the local VFW or whatever and tell the guys I was the one that was her first sergeant when she was just a private."

Liz nodded and then decided to confide in him; he had given her very good advice once upon a time.

"Saw my career advisor today; a colonel who was in aviation and I bet a very good one. He was blunt and honest; said if I played the game a little I could one day be the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. And he was serious. I have not planned to stay in more than a year or so after they pry me out of my cockpit. But what he said; and what he meant was that the army needed me; has made me think about it. You gave me good advice once so I would like to hear some more."

He sat and thought for a couple of minutes. He was incredibly proud of what she had accomplished and become; and the fact that he had had a hand in it was one of the highlights of his military career. She trusted him to tell the truth; and he was going to do just that.

"Play the game as much as you can do without feeling like you are selling out. Draw a line and if you have to cross it to advance walk away. He is absolutely right that the Army badly needs leaders like you. And I know you well enough to figure that you would have feelings like you had quit if you did not try."

She slowly nodded. "My objection was that I did not really think I could make that much of a difference staying in and playing the game. That I would sell out and in the end not accomplish anything worth that."

"That is why I say draw a line. You do that and you can walk away before selling out. I have confidence in you; you will not do that; you will not fall in love with the power and the perks and everything else. You will walk away if it is the right thing to do for you. And I think that one person can make a difference; you already have. And I believe you will again."

That next day she stood with his family and others as he officially retired. She noticed but ignored some of the looks she got as she was recognized. His wife talked to her a bit.

"He talked about you that first day -9/11. Said he thought you might have a real future if you could stand the BS. He is so proud he was the first Sergeant you had. I am glad to have met you. And good luck to you, the Army does need you."

Liz was very thoughtful on her flight back to Campbell. Later that evening after James and Aliya were in bed, she felt it was time to talk to Max.

"Max, my career counselor basically said I could end up as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff one day if I was willing to play the game some. Sergeant Axton pretty much said the same. I am really thinking about it; despite what I have been saying and planning. Despite what we had pretty much agreed on."

Max held her closer. "Liz, not only do I love you, I admire you. Both as a person and as an officer. You are a real hero in anyone's book. And as long as it is a decision you feel you need to make, I will support you. I will be there right beside you. Because you are the finest person I have ever met; and the best officer as well. And I love you."

Then they made love and Liz slept very peacefully. She knew the decision she had to make.

Liz had taken a week's leave besides going to Sergeant Axton's retirement ceremony. She knew she had some thinking to do. So she spent time at home, with Max (who also took leave) and Aliya and James. Just being there and with them. She and the rest of her family went to the Saturday get together with the Posse and the Crew.

With the pressure of deployments in the past, they were much more relaxed now. The Crew were starting on their families; all three were pregnant if at various stages. Jesse was at 7 months, Vicki was at 5, and Ellen was at 3. They appeared much happier than she had ever seen them. The Posse was also very relaxed.

As usual it was Susan who brought it up.

"So, Liz, why do I have the feeling you got something on your mind?"

"Am I that obvious?"

"You sent Max off to draw the men out of hearing; and got Aliya to pull the girls away as well. It was not totally obvious except to someone that knew you."

Liz sighed. "I went to my career counselor a few days ago. A Colonel Williams; he was in aviation. A Black Hawk driver. I liked him and I think he was not peddling anything. He only has a year or so to retirement anyway. So I doubt he had a reason to polish the apple. He flat out told me that I would make general; and that he would be surprised if I did NOT one day reach the level of Chief of Staff or even Chairman. He pointed out that I had already commanded Companies and Battalions in combat; and was XO of a brigade but was for all intents and purposes running it. I will be a Lt Colonel by the end of the year. With my record, he said that a man with it at my age would be on the fast track to stars. If I was willing to attend the Command School in a year or two that would seal it. Even without a college degree. The new Alternative Promotion Board was right up my alley if the regular one balked due to no degree. I have already punched my joint service ticket in Afghanistan working with foreign military. Basically I would be the poster girl for women in the Military and the Powers that Be would want me to make it. Sergeant Axton told me the same thing. Others have as well. My plans were to fly as long as I could then find a flying job outside the military. But him talking this way; and others I respect saying the same thing, make me wonder if I have the responsibility to myself to go as far as I can. So there it is guys."

The 6 women looked at each other then at Liz. Ellen seemed to speak for them all.

"Go for It Liz; god knows the military needs more officers like you."

Max brought the others back and sat next to Liz. "I told them as well."

Liz looked at them. "What do you guys think?"

Richard looked at her. "I would transfer in to any unit you commanded no matter what it was or where it was going. We all feel the same. And do you know how many officers I have met I would say the same? None."

They all nodded at her. Liz sighed.

Liz took the last couple days of her leave to visit Maria and her old friends.

Maria already had two children and was 'working' on a third. Tess and Isabelle had each had two and seemed to think that was enough. Maria was aiming at five or six. Liz sat with her oldest and closest friends and just relaxed. The Crew and the Posse were also good friends, and had been a lot more with Liz over the last 6 years, but these three would always be her oldest best buds. So she wanted to talk to them as well on this.

"So there it is. Colonel Williams might have been exaggerating, but I do think he was being totally honest at his evaluation. You all knew Sergeant Axton; he just retired and I made it to his retirement party and ceremony. I talked to him and he completely agreed with the colonel. So I need you guys input as well."

The three women looked at each other then Tess and Isabelle looked at Maria, who sighed.

Liz looked at them in puzzlement. "What?"

Maria sighed.

"We were kind of talking about this a few months ago. Right after you got your 'Knightress' title. We were musing on just how high you could go. Tess thought you could probably make general. Isabelle agreed and said that at least. I was kind of joking and said Chairman."

Liz sat back and thought about that.

"And you really were not joking were you?" looking at Maria.

Maria was looking down then she looked up and at Liz right in the eye.

"No, chica. I think you can make it there. What worries me is the price you might have to pay to get there."

"That really is the whole crux of the matter. What price am I willing to pay and will trying to get there turn me into what I really despise?"

Tess and Isabelle shook their heads vigorously. Tess spoke first.

"No, Liz, you will not change. You will not become an empty suit."

Isabelle agreed. "Not going to happen."

Maria smiled if slightly. "That is not what we are worried about, Liz. What we are worried about is how much you will have to put up with to get there; how much shit you might have to shovel. What that might do to you over the years. Making you hard and distant. Taking away the Liz we know and love."

Liz slowly nodded. "That is what I am worried about as well. I don't want to become a part time mom, so wrapped up in my career that I neglect my family. And I can see how that could happen over the years. Sergeant Axton suggested I draw a line in the sand that I will not cross and if I have to I pull the pin. I can do that in my professional life. But how do I do that in my personal life?"

With that she got a group hug and they all just held her. There really was no clear answer to that.

Still it was a wonderful trip to see her old friends. The last stage was to Columbus to see her mother. Nancy and Ted had settled down and appeared quite happy. Liz loved seeing her mother happy. They just visited and talked.

Finally that evening Nancy gazed at her daughter. Liz was in jeans and a T Shirt; she looked like she was in her early twenties instead of 30. She had her shoes off and was curled up on the sofa next to Nancy; Ted was in the easy chair.

"OK, honey, it is time you told me why you are here. I love to see you; but since you told me you just spent a couple of days with Maria and the others before you came here, I have a hunch there is something up."

Liz nodded. "I have been talking to all my friends, my good friends, looking for input and advice. The Crew, the Posse, Maria, Tess, Isabelle."

Nancy blinked. "Honey, just say it. I know it has to be big."

"Last week I had a meeting with my career counselor at the Pentagon. They are designated for officers that reach field rank, Major and above. He told me that in a month or two my promotion to Lt Colonel will be coming down. Which was not unexpected. What he told me next was. He flat out informed me that since I had commanded Companies and a Battalion in combat; and had been XO of A brigade in combat but that it was well known I was in operational control, that I was sure to make general. And If I went to the Command Staff College for a year or so, I had a very good chance to one day end up as Chief of Staff or even Chairman. I am now one of the favored few."

Nancy took a deep breath then slowly let it out.

"You told me that you wanted to stay in until they put you behind a desk then you were going to get out and find a flying job in the civilian world."

"That has been my plan. But now I wonder if I have a responsibility to myself and to the military to go as far as I can."

"Honey, your responsibility is to yourself and your family. Not to the Army or anything else."

Ted had been silent then he spoke.

"I never served; I was lucky enough to be born late enough to miss the draft. So I went to college and eventually ended up working for the state at their DOT. It has been a good job but that is all. My first marriage blew up; but now I am very happy to be with Nancy. I am proud to be your step father. But more than that I am proud to know you. Take this from someone who has not been in; but knows quite a few that have. They have all said over the years how few really good officers are. You are a great officer from all accounts everywhere. But in the end it is more important how you feel about it than anyone else. What do you want to do?"

"I am not certain; but honestly I am starting to move towards at least trying to stay in and play the game a little."

"Play the game?"

"The military is HUGE on having a degree. Does not matter what it is in; Art Appreciation, whatever, as long as it is a degree. Now that is stupid but it is the system; at least until recently. Then the Army came up with the Alternate Promotion Board that specifically looks at officers passed over. Now the other services are being pushed to do the same. They do not care if you had a degree or not or did not have a checkmark on the list the regular promotion board uses. They only care if you are a good officer. That has started to spread, so I will no longer need a Masters in Shakespeare' Plays or the like to reach General. If I go to the Command Staff College for a year or so that will be enough. I have to decide whether or not to start down that road."

He nodded. "Some of the dumbest people I have ever met had college degrees. No common sense at all but they had that diploma. I guess it is not surprising that the Military thinks the same way as most of the business world and elsewhere."

Liz got home and found that Max and Aliya and James were all out for a time in the park; so she had some time on her own. She sat in the living room and lay back and thought about it.

The more she thought about it the more she realized that she did not want to quit the military if she could still get things done. It was not about flying as much as it had been for years. She decided. Play the game for a while until it got too much then she would leave. That was how to go about it. She would not sell her soul for general's stars.

Liz finally relaxed as the decision was made.

Liz went back to the base the next day and hit the ground running. She had both battalions up and flying and shooting. She had Sam start working his battalion just as hard as she was; and challenged him to show his battalion was just as good. Thus became the competition. It steadily grew over the period of weeks. 2nd Battalions B company was coming back early as there frankly was just not a need. The US overall presence in Afghanistan was steadily shrinking, and the Iraq presence was down to two brigades. She went to a meeting with the SOCOM commander and the 160th Commander about this.

SOCOM was blunt in that the presence of SF would be reduced significantly as well. However he pointed out that worldwide they would still be looking and hunting for Al Queeda. It had been confirmed that Osama Ben Laden had finally succumbed to his kidney disease, and Al Queeda had pretty much disintegrated into component parts that only had concerns with their own country and nothing else. But the mission of hunting terrorists would go on. The remaking of the ISI which had been greatly helped by the deaths of two of its veteran leaders, had stripped the Taliban of much of its support. Iran was now considered the chief troublemaker, but since they were usually very careful to go with third parties, there was not much they could do about it at this time.

Liz and the 160th Commander had a long talk.

"I just got the word that your promotion will be effective as of 1 September. And with that I am going to appoint you the 160th XO when Colonel James leaves in November. Now frankly I want you to stay in your Apache because you are just flat out that good. So what is also in the wings is that there will be a new regiment; the 161st. Each regiment will have one battalion of Super Apache's and Attack Little Birds; One composite battalion of Black Hawks and Little Birds; and then one battalion of Black Hawks and Chinooks. The Battalion makes ups will be as such: Apache Battalion plus one Company of Attack Little Birds; One battalion of One company of Black Hawks and two companies of Chinooks; and then One battalion of One company of Little Birds plus one company of Black Hawks plus one company of Chinooks. We are adding one company of Attack Little Birds, One Company of Little Birds. We are leaving Hunter and putting all our forces here and in Washington. This will happen late next year. Frankly the plan is to give you command of the 161st."

Liz blinked and nodded. "So this means moving to Washington."

"Yes."

Liz sat back and thought about that. So many friends here at Campbell; and Maria and the others not far away. That would all change. She sighed.

"I have grown so comfortable here. It will be hard to leave."

"Well this is still in the planning stages so something might change. But it is a given that we will expand and split into two units. The eastern 160th will have Europe and the Middle East and Africa. The 161st will have South America, Oceania, and the East, which means Asia. Frankly there has been talk of Stationing the 160th at Ramstein. It would make it a lot easier to stage from there to the Middle East and Africa. But that is up in the air. Does make sense but I would doubt it. Won't matter to me since with my next promotion I move up to SOCOM Aviation commander."

"Congratulations, Sir."

"I guess. More paperwork and no flying at all. Here At least I can do a little."

Liz went home that night and talked to Max.

"They are expanding the SOAR into two regiments. They will be standing up a new one, the 161st. I will be XO of the 160th until it stands up and then I get command of it. It will be stationed in Washington, split between McCord and Lewis. So that means we move out west to the Coast. Cooler and wetter. And a long way from most of our friends as well."

Max nodded.

"That will be hard on you."

"Yeah. But I have been spoiled. Benning to Stewart to Rucker to Campbell. Not much of a move really."

"Not counting your deployments of course."

"Of course. But I have been so lucky that I have remained close to my friends through it all."

Liz shook it off and went back to making sure her battalions were staying sharp. Sam had risen to the challenge and was putting together drills and scenarios that would push his battalion to match Liz's.

Some good news arrived in that spare Super Apache's were being built; some for test and some for replacements for the inevitable losses. Liz asked about the tests and was told that they were trying some of the things that had been done with Little Birds. Which meant trying to find a way to carry passengers. Liz did not think much of this; Little Birds did this but for short distances; which was good since the troopers were exposed to everything and just strapped to a bench installed on the small stub wings of the Little Bird. If they were trying this with super apache's then they were thinking of trying longer distances. This just did not sound like a good idea. But there was nothing she could do about it so she tried to put it from her mind.

On 1 September she officially got her promotion to Lt Colonel and was made the XO of the 160th SOAR as Colonel James was able to escape early for his own aviation brigade with the 1st ID. One good thing was they had added enough staff weenies to do most of the paperwork so Liz determinedly held onto her Super Apache; even when she officially gave up A company to Slinger. One of the spare Apache's was staked out as her personal bird. She took on spare Copilots to give them some flight time. What she did then was then force each company in turn to try and follow the leader as she led them on chases and runs. Then she would order them into attacks and throw last minute wrinkles at them to try and shake them up. She got very creative and since she was flying too she was right on top of them.

The SOCOM deputy came by during one of those training flights and watched from a black hawk a little distance away. After observing this for a while, he asked the 160th commander.

"She really does have a nasty streak. I think these guys might look forward to a combat deployment just to get away from her."

"She challenges them constantly. Always thinking up something different. Never gives them a chance to get complacent. She is by far the toughest training officer I have had."

One thing that puzzled Liz some was that there seemed to be no applicants from any women that wanted to become Super Apache drivers. After double checking to make sure there were none, she went and talked to the Crew. Jesse had started her maternity leave and Vicki would not be far behind, and they were all desk bound so she was able to find them easily. One not so good thing about her promotion to Lt Colonel and her reputation was that it was virtually impossible for her to slip in anywhere without someone noticing and calling all present to attention. But on this occasion she was able to do it and made it to the office that had several cubicles that the Crew inhabited. Vicki saw her first as she slipped into the room.

"Liz! How did you sneak in here?"

"I have my ways. It is getting harder and harder though."

"Well of course it is. Not only a colonel now but a famous one. Scares the crap out of most people."

Ellen nodded. "Everyone is always on the lookout for Brass and now you qualify."

"That sucks but I guess that is the way it is. Listen guys I have a question: what do you know about why no women have applied to become Super Apache drivers?"

Vicki and Ellen looked at each other and burst out laughing. Liz crossed her arms and pouted.

"Guys. Need to hear the joke."

Vicki grinned. "Liz, sometimes you are so oblivious. Think about it: ONE-just how many women try and become Apache drivers? Very few. The ones that do are having all they can to just fly the regular ones. Then when they get some time there, most of them get promoted fairly quickly. So they are not flying much longer. TWO- girl, we love you but sometimes you are dense. It is very much the last bastion of the male Neanderthal, probably just like it was in the Air Force and with fighter pilots. So it is not very friendly. You just proceeded to bull your way in and ran them over. Not someone that comes along very often. You loved the Apache because of how it flew and what you could do with it. Once again the number of women like that are also very few. THREE- there are only two battalions in the whole world. The competition to get there is intense and only the more senior Apache drivers have a shot; FOUR- you have to go to the 160th SOAR which few MALE pilots want to do, and so far you are STILL the only one in the entire regiment, right? And lastly – it would take a real egomaniac to want to come to the place that you have staked out and try and compete with the image and record you have put up. The 160th has a real tight process for weeding out that kind of flyer. So there you are."

Liz blinked and looked at Ellen, who nodded.

"All in all, Liz, it would be a surprise to us if you got many applications from female pilots at all, let alone for the Super Apache."

Liz went and talked to her female friends in the 160th who told her basically the same. She then went to the commander.

"Sir, from what I have gathered very few women apply for the 160th, and many that do are turned down. So far I am still the only female pilot. Or even copilot. I think that needs to change at least some."

He nodded. "I have gotten some prodding from upstairs on that. You are so well known that many have not twigged on the fact that no one else is here flying anything. I think some recruiting is necessary. And guess who gets to do it?"

"Aw, nuts."

But orders were orders so Liz went and talked to the crew and asked if anyone they knew was interested and to get out the word. Then she went and poked at SOCOM to have all the female helicopter pilots in the army sent a message from her. That took a while to get authorized for some reason, but it finally did at the beginning of October.

She was a little shocked that the number was as small as it was. There were less than 100 female pilots and copilots in the Army helicopter program. She was sad to note that only 6 others were Apache pilots. Most were Black Hawks, but some were Chinooks and a couple were Kiowa's. The copilots were pretty much the same, but only two were Apache copilots. Liz made a video with help from the intelligence guys and sent it to every one of them.

Liz had debated how to do this and then decided to make it a challenge.

"Are you good enough? Only the best fly with us. Can you make it?"

Then it showed them what they would have to go through to make it. The much tougher SERE, and all the rest. Then some footage of the 160th in action. Then it ended up with Liz standing next to her Super Apache.

"Are you tough enough and good enough?"

Some of the staff weenies thought she over did it. But the commander just smiled.

"She challenged all of them. Then showed how tough it would be. That is fair and honest. If someone squawks let them."

Liz got some enquires about it; and she did end up with 7 looking to get to fly with them. And some others showing interest for later on. She was somewhat satisfied. As it turned out 5 of the 7 put in their applications, and eventually 3 of them made it as pilots of Black Hawks. But still no more Apache pilots. There were a few Chinook pilots that looked interested. She was a little surprised that no copilots took a shot. After a couple of months she went to the commander.

"I guess maybe you need to get someone else; does not look like I did very well."

"On the contrary, you did better than I thought. We will get some now and more in the future. Just have to be patient."

The crew was very amused by her video; pointing out that her 'Doberman' logo on her bird was very vicious looking.

"Gee, Liz, you are going to scare them off."

Liz kept working her battalions hard; and then started to pull the rest of the 160th in on it; pushing them to fly with the Super Apache's. She made some of the scenario's very hard; and threw last minute wrinkles into them. The Little Bird pilots, she noticed, seemed to be able to respond better. So she talked to some of them and found that they had done so much weird stuff in Special Ops that they were naturally more flexible. But they admitted she had come up with some doozies. And were looking forward to more.

Some of the other pilots were not so happy; even going so far as to complain to their Battalion commanders; who felt they needed to voice this to the 160th Commander. His reply was short.

"Tell them to suck it up. As tough as she has been, no one has been shooting at them. I am willing to bet these complaints came from those who have not been in a combat situation?"

When the admission came back that he was correct, he waved off the complaints by telling them to inform the pilots if it was too hard for them they could ask for a transfer that would be immediately approved.

The SOCOM aviation commander had heard some rumblings and had talked to him as well.

"I hear some are complaining about Colonel Parker's tough training regimen."

"That is correct sir and I told their commanders to inform them that any transfer requests would be signed immediately. That seemed to shut them up."

Another incident was to come up before the holidays. The Battalion from Mccord-Lewis came for an exercise against the units at Ft Campbell. Liz designed a fairly hairy scenario that really pushed the Battalion to the max; then put them up against 3rd Battalion in a fly off. They did not do well at either and the Battalion commander filed a formal complaint against Liz for being unfair.

Liz was informed of this by the 160th Commander and told to not talk to anyone and go home. Liz did so but was fuming and growling so Max told her that she needed to calm down or the kids would get scared. She managed to cool down enough that evening but was still pissed off.

The 160th Commander had been able to get Liz to go home; but he was very quietly furious with the Battalion commander for this. 160th settled things internally; they did not go outside. He called in the SOCOM Aviation commander to come down and settle it.

He did not waste time. He pulled the battalion commander in and sat him down.

"Major, what you are saying in this complaint is that Colonel Parker unfairly treated your battalion. Now how did she do that? The Scenario she gave your battalion was easier than the ones she has been training the others on. And in the flyoff your Battalion just did not get it done. I have looked over your training records and your battalion has done considerably less over the last 3 months than normal. I am going to be brutally honest, Major. Your complaint will be rejected and you will be relieved of command for not keeping your people properly trained. So you now have a choice: ask for a transfer or be relieved of command."

Needless to say the transfer request was placed and immediately signed. The Battalion was kept at Campbell for an extra month for remedial training.

Liz found herself putting that battalion through the grinder, using the other battalions at Campbell as the Drill Sergeants. But in 30 days they responded to her scenario well and tied the same battalion that had beaten them badly in a flyoff.

SOCOM spoke after that to his Aviation Commander.

"How did that battalion get that soft?"

"Sir, for one reason or another they had not had many missions for a while; and the Battalion commander went light on their training. The 160th Commander admits he should have been keeping better track of them but it is hard when the unit is that far away."

"The Battalion in Georgia had no trouble with Colonel Parkers training."

"They had come up for a 30 day portion of her training; they did not do all that well the first few times but built up and were fine at the end. But then again it was also easy to get them to Campbell. Or for Colonel Parker to fly her Apache there and work them over. But it is another story for a Battalion on the West coast. And the battalion in Georgia had asked to be included. The one out west did not."

"That needs to change."

"It already has. The 160th Commander has made it a regimental order that all the battalions face off at least twice a year from now on."

"Good. But this situation underscores the problem with having that battalion hanging out by itself."

"Yes sir. But if the reorganization goes as planned that will not be the case anymore."

SOCOM just nodded. He did not tell the Aviation Commander that there were some rumblings going on that might change what was supposedly all established as regards the formation of the 161st.

Those rumblings started to materialize in a meeting early in February.

The Chief of Army Aviation, the Chief of Staff of the Army, SOCOM and their deputies had a meeting that was supposedly to make final decisions but instead showed that there had been some input from some unexpected sources.

SECDEF and the Chairman and USAEUR had had their own meeting just before and their meeting definitely shook things up. That came after a meeting with the President.

The Chief of Staff spoke to the others.

"This came from above. Now this was supposedly an Army matter but it is not any longer. You are all aware of the problems in Europe; the prolonged economic problems and the debt mess from Spain and Italy and Ireland and the rest. The EURO almost collapsing; and the increasing problem of radical muslims in Europe; not to mention the way Russia keeps stirring the pot. The CIA and NSA have forwarded a SNIE that is not pleasant reading. Things have still not really settled down in the Middle East. The bottom line is that we need more Special Ops forces in Europe. So the proposal on the table is that when the 161st is stood up it be based in either England or Ramstein. And be tasked with the responsibility for Europe and the Middle East and Africa. The 160th in Campbell then be assigned everything else; the Western Hemisphere, the Pacific and Asia. Now the question becomes who gets Afghanistan. Practically speaking I think that should also belong to the 161st."

SOCOM frowned. "That would mean that basically all the hot spots except for the Phillipines Indonesia area and parts of South America are all on the 161st. That makes things kind of lop sided."

SOCOM Aviation shook his head. "That is true but the 160th would be covering such a huge area; that alone is a monster challenge."

The Army Aviation Chief was cautious. "The basing part will also be something to think about. Ramstein would be closer to the trouble areas but training there will be tough; the air space is congested."

SOCOM Aviation agreed. "There is no way we can train as well at Ramstein as we can at Campbell. That is a big problem. What about England?"

"Lakenheath is pretty busy. Same with Mildenhall. Maybe that one in Scotland- it is out at the end of a peninsula so it would be easy to secure."

"What was the name of that place?"

"It is in the file here; the MOD wanted to sell it but contamination questions shot that down. It is listed as basically in limbo. RAF Machrihanish"

"Let's talk to them. The MOD needs money badly right now; their budget problems are worse than ours."

And they did, and they made a deal.

"I do think we got the better of the Yanks on this deal."

"They needed a place to put an Aviation Brigade and yet have room to train. On the coast there they have it. Not many other places they could go to Europe without problems. Germany is too small and congested; you go farther east and you have Ivan making noise about it. One of the proposals was for Poland; you can imagine how they would have growled at that. Over all it was the best choice; and that money will come in very handy over the next few years."

"That was kind of expensive."

"We needed the place, and it has several advantages over other possibilities. We made a deal with the Pols and the Austrians to train several times a year. So that will give our people experience at mountain terrain training and lowland training. Forests and the like. And at the main base they will be training over water. The best thing is that they can ferry to each training site; and back. Overall it is a good deal all things considered; even having to build facilities there."

"What is the time line looking like?"

"Well the nice thing about being in the world of Special Operations, you do not have to follow all the stupid acquisition rules and garbage that causes all those cost over runs and waste and mistakes. We know what we want; it has been built elsewhere before, so we use the same designs. Do not have to pay for new ones and all that crap. Just have to check the UK building laws and such for compliance and make any needed changes. I think we can begin construction in May and have it done by October, which works out well as that is when we want to stand up the 161st."

It was in March that Liz was called to a meeting at the Pentagon. She went with the 160th Commander. He was not sure but thought that there were some changes with the plan to put the 161st at Lewis-McCord. They were to be surprised at how well the secret had been kept.

Liz looked around the room and was surprised at the Brass. SECDEF, the Chairman, USAUER, FORSCOM, CENTCOM, Chief of Staff and their deputies. She and the 160th were easily the lowest ranks in the room, with her the lowest.

SECDEF started it off, of course.

"You are all aware of the plan to stand up the 161st SOAR at Lewis-McCord later this year. That has been changed. We have recently finalized agreements with the UK, Poland and Austria. The 161st will be based at RAF Machrihanish in Scotland. (showed a map on the viewer) Facilities will be constructed there starting in early May for the Brigade. They will be done by October when the 161st becomes operational. Until the facilities are ready they will train at Campbell. The responsibilities for the two units will be as follows: The 160th will have the Western Hemisphere and Oceania and Asia up to the border with Pakistan. The 161st will have all the rest; Europe, Middle East, Africa and Afghanistan and Pakistan."

He paused as there was some murmuring around the room.

"I know what most of you are thinking; that the 161st basically got all the hot areas. To a certain extent that is true. The hot areas NOW. But looking towards the future I believe that as long as China continues to build her military and shows interest in flexing it, that is very likely where the next big one will be. And there are current problems throughout the Philippines, Indonesia area. Not to mention Korea. So it is not as one sided as one might think."

That was the real meat of the briefing; the rest was the filling in of details. Liz left feeling a little limp. She had gotten used to looking at moving west; now east- a lot farther. She sighed as she got off the jet and headed home. While across the continent, she would have been able to see her friends a lot more than being across the ocean. She got home right after 6, finding Aliya and Max and James just starting to get dinner ready. She hugged her daughter and her son and then kissed Max soundly; then helped get dinner ready and they ate.

Later that night after the children were in bed Max and Liz cuddled on the sofa. This was the best of times for Liz; just cuddling and being with her guy.

Max knew that Liz had come back from an important meeting at the Pentagon; supposedly to finalize plans for the 161st going to Washington. But he knew Liz well by now and clearly she had been very surprised at what she had found out.

"OK, Liz, spill."

"Not Washington. Scotland."

"whaaaaaaaa…"

One of the first things Liz did the next day was to research that Scottish base and area. The climate was first; and Liz was a little depressed as she found out how cool it was on average. 70 would be a heatwave in midsummer. But the good news was that it did not get that cold. Stayed above freezing most of the time during winter. It was about as wet as Campbell. Still the sea breezes would be better in some respects; less pollution. It would not be too bad for her; considering where she had grown up. Same with Aliya to a certain extent; it would not get as cold. Max would not like it that much; and James was just reaching the age of noticing.

She had already let the 160th Commander know that she wanted to visit to look it over and he agreed, telling her to let him know when and he would arrange the transport. She looked at the information available and found that there would be commercial use of the main runway, but it was very limited. The Facilities would be built quite near the runway. Hangers and such. The living quarters would be going up at the same time. Luckily there was room and the idea was to build a fair number of flats-condo's. Plus separate houses for the senior officers. She would need to check on that. Not to mention schools. Luckily Aliya was already preparing to leave her friends and school so that was not a change. James was just beginning so no big problem there. Moving now would be easiest for him of all of them.

A phone call to the planning group at SOCOM gave Liz a lot more information; they promised to email her everything they had and what the plans were. She was hoping that if anything looked bad there was still time to make changes. Even though this was clearly a high priority and an immediate building situation.

The data that they sent her looked good; they were building sufficient housing for all personnel. No one would need to live on the economy. Her Regiment, being Aviation and special operations, was smaller than the others. So there would only be about 1200 total. Some of the services would be contracted out to local companies. The data showed that a K-12 school was in the works as well. They would have around 700 students if her figures were correct. Special Operations personnel tended to have smaller families.

One thing that Liz was just beginning to get was that she would be in command of not only the troops but their families as well. She would be the Base commander, under the RAF or RNAS (that was still to be decided). And that meant a whole other set of problems she would be dealing with. Deciding to do another Scarlet O'Hara, she put that off. And called the Commander to arrange her flight.

The MOD announcement came not long after the formal agreement was signed. It caused some stir, but not much. After all it was in Scotland in a fairly empty area. More interest came when it was disclosed who would be in command for the American Unit.

"Interest in the MOD announcement of the new base for the American 161st Special Operations Aviation Regiment, at RAF Machrihanish, increased when it was disclosed that Colonel Elizabeth Parker, Knightress Parker, OBE,DFC, would be the unit and base commander. Colonel Parker, well known to the UK public for her exploits in Afghanistan in support of Her Majesties Armed Forces, is certainly a very good choice."

The SAS commander looked at his deputy.

"We need to make sure our previous close relationship with Colonel Parker is maintained. Having a friend there could be very useful."

The Royal Commando commander was not the only one to have this thought, though he was quicker to start looking into it. He glanced at his deputy when he said it.

"The budget constraints will last some time. Training has been cut back too much but there you are. Now the Yanks special operations mob probably still have as much money as anyone does, they seem to do better in the cuts than anyone else does. So we need to make contact early with Colonel Parker about arranging joint training."

As a courtesy of course, the DOD had informed the MOD that Colonel Parker would be coming to look the area over. The rep making the contact did not really realize what he was committing her to when the DOD official rather CASUALLY mentioned that some units she had worked with wished to greet her. And the affirmative given was not given with full disclosure on the other side.

So when Liz landed at Campbeltown Airport, which would be again renamed as it had been RAF Machrihanish, she found a rather interesting welcome party.

The Mayor and local officials of course. Even a casual visit required this. But she was very startled to find the SAS, Royal Marines, Royal Commandos, the RAF and several British Army Regimental commanders there as well. She began to get the feeling that she was about to get milked like a fat cow.

She made nice for the reporters and cameramen, she was glad she had come in BDU's and not her class A's. Though they were clearly disappointed in that. She had a quick meeting with the mayor and the others first.

"I am very pleased at the welcome I have received. I need to tell one and all that I found out about this about one week ago. Up until then the plans were to stand the 161st up at Lewis-McCord Joint Base in Washington. Which is one reason I felt I needed to get over here and take a look. In less than 8 months 1200 military personnel and almost 1800 dependents will be descending on this area. Construction will begin as soon as possible on the facilities. We are building a town in this area that will not be all that much smaller, population wise, than Campbeltown is right now. It will be in some ways completely self contained with its own school and support facilities; but a lot of things will still need to be bought locally. Some services will be contracted out as well; but that is up to the RAF or whoever is going to oversee it. We intend to be good neighbors. I can personally promise that I will see to it that we are good neighbors. But there will be problems; that is part of the way the world is. I just ask that people think before they speak when problems do happen. I am looking forward to living here; Scotland has always had a romantic connotation to me. Now I want to make one thing very clear: Helicopters are fairly noisy. We will do as much training as we can over water; but some will have to happen over land. I will do all I can to make it as little an annoyance as possible but it will happen. The daily commercial flights will continue; there are not that many and we can plan around them."

Liz left it at that; when asked to answer questions from the press Liz realized that she could not avoid it entirely but said she could only spare a few minutes as her day was full and she was leaving that evening.

"Colonel Parker, the MOD statement did not mention what the 161st SOAR would be doing. Could you clear that up some?"

"The 161st SOAR will have responsibility for supporting special operations that concern Europe, the Middle east, Africa, Afghanistan and Pakistan. The 160th out of Ft Campbell, Kentucky gets the rest of the world. And they can have it since I got plenty."

"Colonel Parker, will the 161st be supporting NATO?"

"Of course. But I will fall under two commands, that of SOCOM and USAEUR; and will also be supporting CENTCOM. So I will be wearing many hats."

"Colonel Parker, will you be doubling as the Base Commander?"

"Yes. And that will be a totally new experience for me. Everything that happens on the base or concerning anyone from the base will be my responsibility."

The MOD official on hand then signaled that that was the end; much to Liz's relief.

She did not realize that she came off very well; engaging and attractive anyway, her manner was very good for what she would be doing.

Escaping the local officials was one thing; the waiting military hoard another.

There was a conference room in the terminal and that had been commandeered for this meeting. Liz came in and sat down and looked around.

"I guess it is nice to be popular. But I have a hunch there is something else going on here."

The MOD official sighed. He had not been clued in either until just that morning about what was going on.

"Colonel Parker, while this may appear to be an ambush it only looks that way. These are all commanders of units that would like to train with yours."

Liz nodded, she thought she had an idea of what was going on.

"We are going to be doing a fair amount of training for the coming year to be certain; there are a number of green pilots in my command that need seasoning. There are plans to have training exercises in Poland and Austria. This command needs to get used to operating in other terrains than this one. I am also looking at getting some desert training in sometime as well, more than likely in the middle east but I am open to other suggestions. The Air Force will be working with us to transport and practice transport. Frankly, I want to work with the UK military as much as possible since odds are if something is going on we will be working with you anyway. I have been told that at least for this year and next year, my training budget will be pretty liberal. After that it probably will be cut back some but as long as we are with SOCOM that will not be all that bad. So I would welcome suggestions and offers for joint training."

The RAF Group Captain in attendance nodded thoughtfully when Liz looked at him.

"I believe that we can arrange training time and basing in Cyprus. That would not be a problem, more than likely."

"That would be good. I am pretty sure I can arrange transportation for all involved. And fueling at least."

Liz looked at the rest of them.

"As regards the Austrian and Polish training, no details are available. Probably not until the spring at the earliest. That has to be thrashed out. Now as regards here, I think fuelling and the like and the use of transports should be no problem. We do have this nice long runway here. I would be willing to bet that the Air Force guys would be willing to do just about anything if they get paid. As long as my training budget is not in danger, I will push for all I can."

Liz realized that she might be writing checks she could not cash, but her directives were very clear about getting the 161st up and running. So they were going to have to pay for it. She then had another thought and looked at the MOD official.

"I would like to talk to a Royal Navy rep; I am looking at having some boats available to be around when we are training over the water; you never know when your engine might give out. But more than that I want to ask if there is anything big enough we can get that in an emergency we can land a Apache or Black Hawk or Little Bird on instead of it going into the water with its crew in it."

The MOD spokesman looked bewildered at that; but the Royal Marine commander spoke up.

"I do believe the navy has a couple of reasonably small boats that you could land a small helicopter on; not a Chinook but the size of a Black Hawk."

Liz smiled at him. "That would be great; and we would pay for them to be here of course; the savings if we can keep one single chopper out of the water would pay for their use for years. Not to mention the danger to the crew."

Everyone at that meeting blinked at the foresight of the young colonel.

After that Liz wanted to see the area and they all piled into vehicles supplied by the MOD and they looked around which was not much. Most of the land south of the Air Field was a golf course; the MOD informed Liz that some of the land directly to the west and north of it was part of the course but would be taken back if needed. But he had a caveat to that.

"Just south of the airport area is a very famous golf course. They are the only ones not happy about this."

Liz nodded. "That is bad in one way; I might end up hosting generals and admirals looking to play golf."

She was shown where the new hangers would be built; and the other structures for their support. Mostly pastureland now. Then she was shown where the housing and school and other facilities would be built. She had the initial concept drawing and it did not look bad. It would all be rather compact, but nice. The Commissary and PX and Health Clinic would be all in walking distance as would be the school and day care. She was skeptical that it would all be done by 1 October.

"Well, that is probable, but it would not take that much longer. The drawings and designs are being updated now; construction will begin in late April if not sooner; the land will be cleared and floorings and footings poured at any rate."

"We are already looking at contingencies if necessary; we will move later or delay the movement of dependents."

Flying back that night, Liz was glad they had let her use one of the executive type jets and she was able to relax and think about things. She had a feeling she was going to be busier than a one legged man in an ass kicking competition. It was slowly dawning on her that she was going to have an awful lot on her plate.

One thing that was clear to her was that she was going to need an experienced XO. She took that up with the 160th Commander when she got back.

"I am going to need someone experienced at a lot of things for my XO. Where can I find one?"

He looked at her and nodded. "I knew that would occur to you before long; I have been keeping an eye out but no one has appeared. I can safely say we certainly do not have one on board now. I think you need to look at getting a non aviator type, an admin guy."

Liz slowly nodded. That made sense. The Admin part of her job was going to be pretty massive. She thought about that some over the next couple of days then made a phone call.

"Colonel Williams. Thank you. Yeah I guess I am fortunate but I am as busy as hell right now. What I called you about is I need a Light colonel that is really good at admin stuff. More to the point running a base. I admit I am weak there. So I need a good backup. Could you look around some? Thank you."

Colonel Williams contemplated Colonel Parker's request. He could see her point and he agreed that she did need a good admin XO. He thought about that for a while and had his secretary bring in a batch of once passed over Lt Colonels. They were more likely to have experience in admin areas; and they would be older as well. She did not need a young up and comer looking for his next promotion; he would not have either the knowledge or the inclination to really help her. His secretary brought in the files of 30 once passed over Lt Colonels. He started to look them over. The carrot he would use would be that if he did a job for Colonel Parker, her recommendation would probably be good enough to get them promotion to full colonel.

After most of the day went by, he had settled on 5 candidates. He then looked over each one carefully and whittled them down to 3. He then put in a call to each one the next morning.

Liz was wading through more paperwork for her upcoming command when her phone rang just after noon.

"Colonel Williams? Wow that is fast. So you think you got 3 good ones to choose from. Sounds great. Could you email some details on each? Great. Thanks a bunch."

Liz carefully checked over the three he had picked. Each one was somewhat older than most Lt Colonels and had been passed over once. They were all heavy at admin which was one reason they had been passed over. The surprise was that one of them was a woman. Naturally curious, she read the data on her first. It would be nice to have an older woman to help out; they could talk to each other easier than she could talk to a man. However, something about her just did not ring right. She just did not have a good feeling. Liz had learned to trust that feeling and moved on. The next one looked good; but Liz somehow just did not feel anything. The last one –Liz read it twice and was not sure but she thought he might be the one.

Lt Colonel Jason Harkness was a ROTC who had graduated from Michigan in 1995. He had gone into the infantry and stayed three years; then had gone into support and pretty much stayed there. No remarkable postings; he had gotten his masters in BA. He had performed well but not outstanding. And he had slowly but steadily moved up the ladder; always in admin areas. But a fair number of them all over the country and in Germany. So he had experience. Liz decided to talk to him; he was currently Deputy Base commander at Ft Riley.

Jason Williams was making plans for when he was out of the Army. Having been passed over once, he had not much hope of making it the second time. But he had his 20 in so he was somewhat sanguine about it all. He knew he was not a top officer; he was more plodding then brilliant. But he took pride in doing his job as best he could. Tara, his wife, thought he under rated himself but he knew he was just somewhat above average as an officer. He was glad that both his kids were out of college, his daughter just that year. His son had married and was about to present him with his first grandchild. His daughter was engaged to a young man he liked and that looked promising. He had met Tara as a freshman and had married her their second year; she was a real estate agent. Having their kids just before going on active duty had been a little tough but in the end had worked out for the best. He did not really have the connections to get a juicy job in the Defense Industry and really he did not want one; it felt like payola to him. But there were good possibilities that he was looking into and felt reasonable optimism that his second career would be decent if not great.

His phone buzzed and he picked it up. "Yes, Clare?" He was lucky in that at Riley like most older posts even the Deputy Base Commander had a secretary. That really helped.

"Sir, there is a Colonel Elizabeth Parker on the phone, wishing to talk to you?"

He blinked. He could think of only one Colonel Elizabeth Parker in the army and why would that rising star want to talk to him? As far as he knew Colonel Nelson, the base commander, was in. And this was not the way to contact the Aviation Brigade. "Put her on."

"Colonel Parker, what can I do for you?"

"Colonel Harkness, how is your schedule in the next couple of days?"

"Nothing Important, Colonel Parker." A deputy Base commander rarely had anything important anyway.

"Good. I will be visiting tomorrow and I would like to talk to you."

"Colonel, I was not aware that you were visiting."

"Of course not. Right now only you and I know this. 1000 Tomorrow a good time for you?"

"I can clear several hours if necessary."

"We should not need that long. See you tomorrow, Colonel."

He hung up and tried to figure out what was going on. Parker was one of the true rising stars- the 161st was due to stand up in October in Scotland. Rumor had it she would have her birds by then. She clearly was going to make general and above easily. Why in the world did she want to talk to him? Well, he better tell Colonel Nelson.

"Clare, get me Colonel Nelson."

"Jim, what's up?"

"Just got a call from Colonel Elizabeth Parker. She is coming here tomorrow to talk to me. And I cannot figure out why and she did not say."

"Parker? THAT Parker?"

"I don't know of any others that is a woman."

"True. This is interesting. Something is up and if she is involved it is something big. She does not waste her time on anything small, from what I hear."

"That is what I figure as well but I cannot see what it is. Does not appear to have anything to do with the Aviation Brigade; she called here and not division."

"I guess we will find out tomorrow. I will ask around some and see if anyone knows anything. She will be coming into Marshall probably on a C-12 or the like. But since she wants to talk to you talk to her. She tends to run right over anyone that gets in her way, from what I have heard."

"Yeah. And leaves bodies behind. So I will be there and see what is up. Going for BDU since I doubt she is in anything else."

"That is her rep. Play it cool, Jim and let me know when it is over."

"Yes sir."

Liz arranged for a C-12 to pick her up and bring her back same day. Her box raised an eyebrow when she told him what she was up to.

"Good idea. You will need someone you can trust and get along with there."

Liz got there at 0930. Colonel Harkness was waiting for her. Figuring from her reputation she liked it low key he met her by himself. He had noticed a few others watching. Rumors had been flying but nothing made any sense. Colonel Nelson had gotten nothing; no one knew a thing about her; but all agreed it was something important.

"Colonel Harkness. Glad to meet you. Gotta conference room or office we can borrow; or go to yours?"

"Colonel Parker, my office is not far off so we will go there."

"Works for me."

Meanwhile word spread that one of the Armies brightest young stars was on base; and the Aviation Brigade Commander heard about it and called around.

"So no one knows a thing. Maybe not a surprise. She has been known to move real fast on occasion." He looked at his XO. "Crank up our Apache's. Let's give the Premier Army Apache commander a show."

Liz was a little amused at things; everyone was treating her as if she was about to drop a bomb. Maybe a little one, she thought. She followed Colonel Harkness into his office and he closed the door. She sat at the chair in front of his desk and he sat behind it. She was smiling.

What is this about? Well, her rep is she liked it straight so here goes.

"OK, Colonel Parker, what is the deal. No one knows of if they do they are not talking. Colonel Nelson called around and got a big 0."

Liz kept smiling. She liked him. Maybe this was a snap decision but her hunches were almost always on the money. "I am here to offer you a job. XO of the 161st Aviation Brigade." She did enjoy his shock.

"Colonel, why in the world are you offering that position to me? There must be a bunch of hot young officers looking for that posting."

"There might be. Have not heard. Does not matter. I did some checking and looked over some candidates and you are the man."

"That still does not tell me why?"

Liz stopped smiling, leaned forward and got serious. The change was quick and startling. Now instead of the pleasant young woman in front of him he could see the warrior she had proven herself to be.

"I need a XO that has a lot of experience at base ops and admin support and who is no hot rocket looking for his next promotion over doing his job right. You are very solid and very experienced. That is who I need to help me run the base and hold the fort when I am off shooting places up."

The shock was wearing off and he began to think about it. He could see her point and it made sense. This posting would be a shot in the arm for his career; if Elizabeth Parker gave him high props his promotion to full Bird would be actually possible if not probable. This would be a three year posting; and in Scotland which was a place he had visited once and wanted to see more of. Her duty post was going to be very important; if he did well there that could very well mean more good posting in the future. And it would not be boring for certain; setting up a new base was a very rare thing anymore. Especially one that would probably be permanent and high profile. He would be very busy and have to work hard; not something that turned him off of it. There really was only one answer.

"Colonel, I would be a damn fool to pass this up and I am not a damn fool."

Liz grinned brightly and it lit up the room. She put out her hand and he shook it; this was a deal and nothing else was needed. She got up as he did.

"Good. Well that is all I came here for; my plane is waiting. Getting in and out fast will give people less time to try and find out what I was doing."

She got out her phone and punched in a test message. Then she grinned at him.

"I will have your orders cut for 1 May. Is that a problem?"

"Not at all."

"Let's go then."

They got to the airfield to find a whole battalion of Apache's hovering. She had to give them full marks for getting them up that fast. The Brigade Commander was waiting for her next to her plane. She marched up to him and saluted. He returned it. She smiled.

"I give you full marks for having them up and hovering in under an hour. That is about as good as it gets. Good work, Colonel."

She then saluted him and headed up the stairs to her plane. The Apaches went into escort formation as she lifted off; the plane came around at 2000 feet and waggled its wings as it left.

Liz made sure she sent an official message to the Aviation Brigade remarking on the speed they got off the ground into formation.

Meanwhile Colonel Harkness went into the Base Commander's office and shut the door. He looked at him.

"OK, let's have it."

"She offered me the position of her XO with the 161st."

He sat back and blinked then thought about it. Slowly he began to nod.

"She is sharp. Setting up a brand new base she wanted someone with experience in base ops. You are a very solid officer, Jim. Sorry to lose you but it will be great for your career. She is going to hit the heights and I imagine she will make sure that those that were with her get pulled along."

Liz called Colonel Williams and let him know; he agreed with her choice and started to punch it into the system.

Two days later Colonel Harkness got official notification of his next posting – to report to Ft Campbell NLT 1 May as the XO for the 161st with intention to deploy overseas.

Liz was VERY busy trying to get a new unit ready while still running her battalion and while still XO of the 160th. She was glad she would get Colonel Harkness as she needed him.

Liz steadily ground through things as April went along. The only time she felt free was when she was able to steal away and fly her Apache. Take the battalions up and ring them out. The new Little Birds had arrived; but their pilots were still going through the Special Operations prep school, as she liked to call it. Once they got out for all intents and purposes the 161st would be ready to stand up. They already had the forces to make up the Black Hawk and Chinook units. Her three Aviation battalions plus the Maintenance battalion would be just about done. Some of the extra equipment for the maintenance units had not arrived; nor had some of the personnel finished their Special Ops training; but it would not be long. Ft Campbell would lose about one third of what it had before; but since the unit from Georgia was being relocated to Campbell that would even out.

The decision had been made upstairs to make two Regiments out of one while adding a couple of extra companies. The four original battalions of the 160th had been unevenly built; and now by adding one company of Little Birds and one of Attack Little Birds, there were going to be two equivalent Regiments. The only difference would be that the training would still take place at Campbell and the training cadre would stay there. Each would have 3 fighting battalions and one support battalion. Each would have an Apache Battalion, then one battalion of Little Birds and Black Hawks; and then one battalion of Black Hawks and Chinooks. The 160th would have two extra companies of Chinooks over the 161st, but there were two more companies on order and they would go to the 161st so that in the end each would be equal. When they got them, the 2nd and 3rd Battalions would get one more Chinook company.

Overall Liz was quite satisfied with how things were going; they were ahead of schedule and that was of the good. She was still light on officers in her Apache Battalion, but that would come with time. The others were ready to rock.

She was also grateful that at the moment the world situation was unusually peaceful. Iraq and Afghanistan had settled down to the point where the US did not have to deploy any real force in either; and even SF operations had dropped to a new low. However she knew that this especially peaceful time would not last. Things would heat up somewhere again. She just hoped for enough time to get up and running in Scotland.

Colonel Harkness showed up the week before he was due and Liz put him right to work. He had a good eye for things that Liz was not yet very aware of and was a help right away.

Liz still tried to make the every other weekly pot luck picnics at the park; she knew that before long they would be just fond memories. The week of the announcement of where the 161st was going to she was at the picnic. She told them quietly that day.

They had all accepted she was going to Washington; but Scotland was another matter. They were very quiet about it. Saddened but understanding. Susan had sighed but pointed out that the Posse would soon be out of the military; all three husbands were getting out; going to college as a matter of fact. The irony of that definitely struck Liz. But then had it all planned out so that was good. The Crew were also looking at getting out; as were their husbands. Liz had had an idea that this was coming but it appeared that within the next year they would all be out. So her leaving was not so bad now.

Liz had managed a long weekend with Maria and her best buds soon after the announcement. They had been saddened as well; but did promise to take vacations sometime and visit Scotland.

Liz was coming to the realization that everything was changing; her; her career; her location. She had been very lucky, she knew, to stay in the same place with so many good friends around. Now just about everything would be adrift. She realized that she would need her family more than ever and they would need her.

Liz snuck over for a visit in Mid-May to see how things were going. Ground had indeed been broken in April and things were looking at the time to be slightly ahead of schedule. But Liz knew it was too early to make any bets. She had been able to arrange a meeting with a Royal Navy rep and talk to him about her idea of having one or two medium sized boats that could in an emergency take a Black Hawk, Little Bird or an Apache.

"What we have found are two Cloverly Fleet tenders that are in good condition; the Denco people can operate them for a reasonable price; a platform can be built forward to allow a helicopter to land. I have the details right here."

Liz looked them over and nodded.

"These look good. I will head back and see if I can get them funded. Should know in a few weeks. How long would it be before they are ready?"

"They told me that they could be ready and on station in 90 days."

"So I would need an answer by the beginning of July. Well I should know well before then."

Liz wasted no time in going up the ladder for funding; her point that if they saved just one helicopter it would pay for them for many years was telling; and her point of what would happen to the CREW if a helicopter hit the sea was even more so. She pushed the fact that they would have to do a fair amount of training over the water due to their location. So you had to compensate for those extra risks. It took a few weeks but it was authorized.

"Just got word from Colonel Parker; the funds for the two cloverley's have been approved in full."

"Very good. Inform the Denco chaps. The Helicopter types have been considering Colonel Parker's idea and it appeals to them. She did specify that only one would be needed at any time?"

"Yes Sir."

"Well then once the conversions are done we might see about having the other one on call for our people if they are doing any training out of sight of land."

"Yes sir."

As May turned into June Colonel Harkness found himself as busy as he had ever been in his career. The details that establishing a new unit piled up was immense; add to that the situation of preparing a full permanent deployment of a unit; and that the base was even at that point being built, meant a great deal of work. Base housing would be needed until they were sure that the facilities were ready. Then arranging the transportation of so much equipment and then of course the helicopters themselves. However Colonel Parker had gotten an idea there and had been able to sell it to the Brass.

The normal procedure was to have the aircraft all packed up and shipped by sea or by air. Liz had proposed a training flight that would deliver all the Brigades Helicopters in one go- combat loaded. She had found that the overall cost was comparable; and the ability to get it all done would save money in other ways. The Air Force was quite happy to do it if they got paid for it so in the end it worked out. Everyone would get a 72 hour warning and then would load and get to Scotland in 72 hours after beginning. Liz found more and more getting interested as not since the early time of Desert Shield had this been tried. So it was not only a training idea overdue it would give some hard figures on how it could be done.

By the middle of June the last of the personnel and helicopters had been delivered and it was getting a little crowded at the helicopter area at Campbell. Liz began to immediately push the training of the new people hard and the rest of the battalions as well. She intended to keep it up until August; when she would over the next two months see to it that all her people got at least a couple of weeks leave to help start making the final plans for everything; seeing family before they left; and so on.

Liz was trying to make quick visits to the new base every 4-6 weeks to make sure of progress and to tie up other loose ends. She told Colonel Harkness that he would be going on some of these trips to see for himself.

From 16 June to 30 June Liz had her whole new regiment working hard against the remaining parts of the 160th in some very intensive training scenarios. They not only tested the pilots and copilots, but pushed the ground crews hard as well and the maintenance people; she was giving them a taste of sustained combat like operations. AND she kept reminding the crews that this was much easier than it would be in real combat. As the odds were they would not have the same support facilities at hand; and they did not have to fix battle damage.

After a week off to let them rest and enjoy the 4th of July, Liz had them at it again for almost the remainder of the month. By the 25th of July, she felt comfortable with their readiness and declared hard training over.

She was notified that her promotion to full Colonel would come on 1 September. That got her to thinking. Back to where it all started; just over 13 years ago. Benning and Basic Training. Meeting Maria and Tess and Isabelle. Then Stewart, arriving on 9/11. Iraq. OCS. Flight Training. Campbell. Afghanistan the first time. Meeting the Crew; Max and Aliya. Meeting the Posse. Second Afghanistan. The second ASP mess; then James. The 160th and the Super Apache. Third time Afghanistan. And now the 161st and going to Scotland. She had to admit she had been pretty busy. From Private to full Colonel. Found the love of her life and a daughter and had a son.

Liz had backed off of training to let people rest up and start taking leave prior to heading to Scotland. But for her and Harkness and the other staff personnel the endless avalanche of paperwork never ended. She now had an exact count of every person going to Scotland, whether soldier, pilot, whatever; and their dependents. 1235 personnel in uniform; and a total of 745 children and 711 wives and husbands. Mostly wives, needless to say. She was happy that there were now 4 other female pilots; 2 Black Hawk, 1 Chinook and 1 Attack Little Bird. But no Apache pilots yet; and no copilots at all. But she vowed to work on that.

The number of uniformed personnel would go up; some of the base operations personnel would not be actually part of the Regiment. Security, MP, and so on; including the medical people for the clinic. And of course a chaplain and MWR people to run the PX and Commissary and such. Frankly she was looking at appointing Harkness as the Base commander. But in the end she realized that it would be a cop out. Even though Harkness had volunteered for it. She decided to start out wearing all the hats and then maybe dropping that one on Harkness.

Liz had decided to take some days off around Labor Day, when most of the Regiment would be off anyway. She would do one more round of visits with Maria and the others; then her mom; then try and make one more picnic with the Crew and Posse as a good bye.

She had sent Harkness out to do one of the trips to Scotland and he had come back with a list of things they needed to sort out; and then he found out that the bearer of bad news always regrets it when she smiled sweetly at him and then told him the list was his to take care of.

She did one more on her own; found the buildings almost done; they were almost certain to have everything done before 1 October. She looked over the two boats for Helicopter support and thought they would do well. Then headed back and decided that on 21 September she would call for the exercise to get all the helicopters to Scotland in one go. And all the crews and pilots and copilots would go with them. The rest would come on airliners afterwards; and the dependents a week or so later.

The visit with her friends in Savanna was bitter sweet, despite their claims they would visit Scotland some time. They all knew that it would be some time before they saw each other again. They had one more slumber party at Maria's house; she had just told everyone that she was pregnant for the fourth time. They laid around reminiscing about the way things were.

"Remember that first day; Liz was the only one in the section that knew which way was up."

"Yeah that formation was a riot. She was the only one that got it mostly right. The rest of us were disasters."

"And the first time Maria had to fire her M16. Missing the target with every shot."

"I remember most about 9/11 thinking that no one had any idea what was going to happen next."

"By far the scariest time was waiting for Liz to make it back from that cluster fuck of a Field ASP and how endless that night seemed."

"Our weddings with Liz as the Matron of Honor for all three of us."

"Getting off that plane home and knowing I never wanted to leave again."

Liz lay there remembering. Memories that would last a lifetime. She was very content at that moment.

Her mom was very happy with Ted; she was very happy that her mom was very happy. She liked Ted a lot. This visit was quite good. When she left for Scotland, Max and Aliya and James would stay with Nancy until they left for Scotland as well, so Nancy would have some more time with her grandchildren. Nancy made it quite plain that she would be coming over to visit now and then.

Liz sat in the office of the 160th Commander for what was probably the last time, and they reminisced as well. He would be moving on to SOCOM Aviation chief with a promotion to Brigadier. Liz had not yet met his successor; they were bringing in an Aviation Brigade XO that had been with the 160th a few years earlier, before Liz had got there. HIS XO had not been chosen yet. He looked at Liz.

"Frankly I knew as soon as I met you that you were going to shake things up. And that it was a good thing. So none of it really surprised me. Honestly, in three years I expect you to succeed me as SOCOM Aviation Chief."

Liz slowly nodded. It did make sense in a way.

On the morning of September 21, at 0700 Liz made a phone call and set off the exercise, Called Get out of Town, and things started rolling. She deliberately had made sure all the aircraft were ready to fly. So the crews had to run around taking things off, defueling them to a level compatible with air transport; remove rotors and the like. Pack up parts and supplies; and their own personal gear. The Air Force responded with C5B's and C-17's. The Chinooks would be going in the C5B's and everything else in the C-17's. Only one Chinook could fit in; but they found they could squeeze in a Little Bird as well. 3 Companies of Chinooks meant 24 C5B flights; only 12 were available to each would make two flights. But that meant all the Chinooks and Little Boys would go with them. That left the 24 Super Apache's and 24 Black Hawks. C-17's could take two of each. So that would mean 24 C-17 flights. And that was only the Aircraft. Liz had her personal Apache and two others as spares. They had 16 C-17's handy and thus one flight took care of most of them and the second flight would be able to bring all the other equipment and spare birds as well. The Pilot, Co Pilot and crew would go with their birds on the Transports. They had vehicles that would be going and they got crammed full of everything imaginable.

The first transports arrived 7 hours after the call; and were gone 3 hours later. Liz would go with the first wave; Harkness would come with the last. The final assigned transport did not arrive until 12 hours after the first; mechanical delays.

The MOD of course had been told of the exercise, and had arranged for the commercial flights for the next few days to be canceled so that the airfield was totally at the 161st's disposal. Outside of that no one was told. So when Liz arrived on the first C-17, there was no one there. Which suited her fine. She was able to stand off to the side and take notes. The first one landing had two Apache's on it. They had arranged for the area to be sealed off by MOD police and that was all. Apache's would be the first ones to land as they would then theoretically be able to protect the site. The only thing missing from all of this was armaments; none were brought. There was a supply waiting in newly finished storage bunkers. But each chopper was made ready to fly ASAP.

Needless to say the site of one C-17 after another landing; parking and scrambling going on to pull Super Apache's out and start putting their rotors back on caught some attention. People started to gather beyond the perimeter even if it was almost midnight. At one time there were seven C-17's on the field at once, though they were taking off and landing replacing each other. It took half an hour to get the birds off of each C-17. Sometimes a little more. The process continued all night; and by dawn the next day all of the Apache's were there and in flying condition. Though none were flown off; but they were started up and then took off and moved a short distance to where they were parked. The first Chinooks arrived at 0300. It took a fair amount longer to load them and the Little Bird then get them off. Each transport had a replacement crew so that none of them flew too much; and so far outside of the initial delay none of the transports had had any real mechanical problems. The first Chinook started up; hovered then moved a little bit before setting down at 0500. 2 hours was considered quite good for that large helicopter. Liz caught some sleep curled up on a sleeping bag beside her Apache and woke up again at 0900. The procession continued on.

At the 24 hour mark just over half the Regiment was in Scotland, if rather less was in flying condition. The second wave started arriving at 1600 that day. The last one of the second wave arrived at 0200 on the following morning. And did not leave until 0400, 23 September. The last Helicopter was flying at 0600. It took only 43 hours. Liz had estimated the best they could expect was 48. Some people had gotten a fair amount of sleep but not all that much. So Liz gathered everyone and told them to just grab a bag and get some sleep. They had a local catering service bring in food and drinks. Luckily the weather was dry, if not particularly warm. All the helicopters had been moved into their hangers. And then everyone just got a quick bite to eat and sacked out.

This made a fair bit of news in the UK; at a distance the networks soon set up camera's and Liz was told that they kept up coverage continuously until it was over. She refused requests to appear or talk to them; the MOD just said that it was an exercise to see how fast they could move the Regiment. Liz woke up at 1100, and stretched and then headed over to see what was going on. Most everyone was still sacked out. She went over to the new operations building and noted that some of her staff was sacked out there. She went to her office and sat behind her desk; her boxes of stuff were sitting beside it. She saw that the phones were up and running and called Max and her family and told them that they had arrived just fine; Max told her that the news had shown this in updates.

Liz then called the Base Ops section; it had come over as well and was starting to get up and running. The Lt on duty informed her that her quarters were ready for her to move in. She found that she was only a little over a third of a mile away and walked there. It was a brisk late September day, clear but some clouds and a temperature of about 52. It would probably warm up to about 55 or so. And a never ending breeze. Her personal gear had been brought and left inside the door; a key was waiting for her. She rooted around and found some clean clothes and then a towel and soap and shampoo and tried out her shower; it felt great. Feeling much better, she noted that the quarters had standard furniture; and the sheets and such that she had ordered were there. It would really not take that much for her to move right in. Since the base was so small, scooters and bikes would be used and her scooter with a big pair of wings on the front was waiting outside her door and she tried it and found it fun to scoot to HQ. When she got there, it was just after noon. And most everyone was up. She told them all to see if their quarters were ready and if so to head over.

The rest of the day people started to settle in; Liz stopped by her quarters and unpacked her personal gear. The Mess Hall was up and running; it was contracted out. So far the food was good. The PX and Commissary was stocked; they were being run by family members of the Regiment or the support personnel; they had been the only ones sent over first. The MWR people as well. Liz scooted around the base and saw that most of it was up and running; some were still not but it would come soon. She stopped by and found Harkness in his office snoozing behind his desk; she smiled and moved on. Everyone was tired; she had made it plain that the rest of the day would be for them to recover and rest up. 24 September would be the first real day that the Regiment would be on the job.

Liz felt really tired and after eating a quick dinner just hit the sack at 1900; the remaining jet lag had caught up. She was up and going by 0530; hit the mess hall by 0600 and was in her office by 0630. Final arrangements for the official standup that would happen on the 27th had to be made. There was going to be a fairly big ceremony with all sorts of brass and such present. Which reminded her; she checked that the VIP quarters were ready to go. She did not know at that point just who was going to show up but they needed to be ready.

She first went to the hangers and looked around; she wanted to talk to some of the maintenance people about whether they should have bubbles here or not. Dust and such were not a problem; but the humidity was. That might be good enough reason; she would see. She found her Battalion Maintenance chief looking things over.

Major Jack Dawson had worked his way up from LT in the Maintenance Battalion and had spent more time in the 160th then just about anyone else. He had seen them come and go; some good, some not so good, none really bad. But Colonel Parker was absolutely one of a kind. And that was leaving out how tiny and cute she was. He had never seen anyone that could go from cheerful and nice to 100% mega bitch as fast as she did. But he had to admit she only did it when someone really screwed up; and then not if it was an honest mistake. But God help you if you were careless or lazy and screwed up; He better because no one else would. He was not surprised at all that she was here in the hangers early; no office dweller she.

"Major Dawson; how are things?" She liked him; she had really worked on him to come to the 161st; he had been in the SOAR for a long time and knew everyone and the choppers like the back of his hand.

"So far so good, Colonel. I have not found anything bad yet."

"We have all our needed equipment and spare parts?"

"Have not done a full inventory yet but it looks like it."

"Good. I have a question for you? Would it be worthwhile having bubbles here like we used in Afghanistan? For the humidity?"

He considered that. "I don't think so at this time. But we will have to see. Humidity is a concern. But the more likely reason for having bubbles would be to heat them up. No matter how good the heating system, once you open the doors this building and the others will get cold fast. And that makes it so much tougher using tools and especially doing anything with the electronics."

"OK. Wanted to know. And the point about heating is well taken; I think that will be our biggest problem here; considering it never really gets warm."

"Let alone hot. I was talking to a local, yesterday, and asked him when was the last time it got over 25(78 F) Celsius. He had to think about it. Finally said it was a couple of years ago."

"Yeah. Oh well. So as far as you can see, if we got a mission today we have no problem?"

"From our side of the house, yes."

"Just needed to verify. The ceremony for the official Stand Up will be on the 28th. Depending on the weather it might have to be in one of the hangers. Check on that and make plans."

"OK, Colonel."

Liz then headed for the offices.

She tweaked Harkness about finding him sleeping at his desk and moved to her office. They had recruited secretary's and clerks from among the dependents and had been able to find enough. But they would not be there for a few more days. Liz intended for the dependents to start arriving the next day; arrangements had been made to charter some 747's. They would all be there on the 26th and 27th. Her family would be in on the 26th. She checked the incoming messages to see if there was anything important and then checked her computer and her official email. She was glad to see that all the teachers they needed for the school were now in hand. It would begin classes on the 15th of October. She had been lucky in that they had been able to get some of the DOD teachers from bases closing elsewhere in Germany to come here. Ramstein AFB would be the last US Base in Germany; Miesau and the other depots and posts were closed or about to close. This was long overdue in her mind.

The need for US Ground troops in Germany died with the cold war. It took almost 20 years after the first ones pulled out for the last ones to start to go. As far as Liz was concerned the only place that the US needed ground troops overseas was Korea; that mess would not end anytime soon. While Russia had to be a concern, they would have plenty of time to get troops to Europe if anything big started to brew. With the Ukraine clearly not allowing Russia to intimidate them, Russia would have to take care of them first before moving west. Which would, in cold practical terms, give the US plenty of time to move troops back to Europe. And in this new economic times, that was an important consideration. Liz knew she was very lucky to be in the one part of the DOD that had not been all that affected by the defense cuts. The Navy was not in too bad a shape; what with Russia starting to rebuild hers, if slowly; and China still trying to build theirs. Their first carrier that they had home built had had to go back for modifications and they had had other troubles. It amused Liz that the Chinese had spent so much time and effort stealing the US's defense secrets; then refused to copy the parts that worked well. Instead trying to improve on them for prides sake and PR; and finding out that unless you really understood the system trying to improve it almost certainly meant mistakes. But the future threat was clearly there. The Air Force had been forced to close some bases and retire older planes; but the Army had taken the biggest cut. They had managed to keep three of the heavy divisions but the 25th was stood down as well as the two independent brigades and two of the independent cavalry brigades. Two Airborne brigades had also been disbanded. Which was a help in other ways since their equipment would fill the gaps in other units that had come from combat or accidents or just plain being worn out.

Which was another reason the 161st had been stood up. Special Ops was seen as the best force multiplier short of putting heavy brigades on the ground. Liz knew that in some ways the Special Operations command was expected to take up the slack from the reduced regular forces. Of course everyone was trying to predict where the next conflict would be. Liz thought it was stupid to even try; the so called experts had been wrong much more often then they had been right for the last 70 years since WW2. They had not predicted Korea or Vietnam; no one thought Iraq would go to war with Iran then take Kuwait; and so on.

That there were trouble areas was not in contention; Korea; Pakistan/India; smoldering problems in Iraq and Afghanistan; Iran. In Europe there were tensions between Russia and just about everyone; the mess that was the former Yugoslovia was still percolating. Tensions in parts of the Philippines and Indonesia; China still rumbling about this or that. In South America things were still tense with Venezuela as Chavez had somehow survived; if cut down to size by internal problems. Cuba post Castro still had not figured out what it wanted to do.

Then there was the Middle East; things were still not good in Egypt or Libya or Syria. Morocco had settled down. Then farther into Africa the Somalia mess; though the pirate problem had settled down once merchant ships started arming themselves. A lot of pirates had been killed Liz knew due to some Special Operations. All in all that entire problem had gotten much smaller. The rest of the continent was not in good shape at all. But the likelihood of the US being involved outside of the Middle East was very slim. So Liz just did not try and figure out what was next; just to have contingency plans for moving wherever.

Liz then got a call, while she was working at whittling down the paperwork, that the first planes with dependents on them would be arriving around 1000. As far as she knew her family was on one of the first planes. Liz had also been able to get a fair amount of everyone's HHG air shipped on some available transports and they were in a warehouse right on base. The rest plus the vehicles people were bringing would not be there for at least a month or more. She had made it plain to her brigade that a car would not be a necessity on base. They would have busses to take people to Campbeltown. And if you wanted to drive around the rest of the continent there were rental cars. She had made the point that as small as Europe was compared to the US, using their rail services was a more sensible way to go.

Liz knew that expecting real work out of people waiting for their families to arrive was just plain dumb so she didn't. She had released all that were expecting people that day from duty; and the same for the next day. The 28th would be taken up with the ceremony; so the first real active day for the Brigade would be the 29th. Which was a Friday.

Before she headed out to greet the first planes, Liz looked at the messages from the various units wanting to train with the 161st. SOCOM had scheduled meetings for her with Polish and Austrian reps to start to work on planning exercises. They would be starting on the 5th. Another big change coming was that USAEUR was going away. The current one would be the last. Liz was surprised it had taken this long for that one to go away. EUCOM now was a more realistic command. NATO had quietly allowed some of its HQs to wither away. SACEUR had gone away as well. NATO was really no longer centralized. Liz would answer to CENTCOM, EUCOM or AFRICOM. And of course SOCOM. And if somehow they got involved in an India Pakistan dustup, PACOM. Only SOUTHCOM and NORTHCOM would not be her problem no matter what.

One other thing that Liz had been working on was making sure relations with the 352nd SOG at Mildenhall were good. They had the only MC-130 tankers around. The Air Force had their transports at Ramstein, and Liz worked on good relations with them as well.

The planes did start to land around 1000. Max, Aliya and James were on the first plane. For the moment Liz dropped the commander persona and became wife and mother. She had arranged for some golf cart types of small vehicles and they were busy ferrying the people and the baggage/luggage to the terminal where the MOD had made sure some Customs officials were there to take care of the paperwork. This was not the usual way dependents got to the UK but since they were coming en masse she had been able to pull a few strings. Liz waited for all the paperwork and stamping of passports to get done and then took her family to their new home. The rest of the day was spent unpacking and settling in.

Liz found that she needed that day with her family to really get grounded and ready for her position. The great thing about this base is that her home is just a short walk, really, away from her office. With her scooter, she can be to either one or the other in just a couple of minutes.

The next day saw the rest of the dependents arrive and more settling in; and making preparations for the 28th.

At 1000 on the 28th the entire Regiment is in formation (the weather was decent if not great) in front of the main hanger. Every one of the unit's helicopters is spread out behind them. SOCOM is the one to make it official; her congressman was there as well. EUCOM and the DEFENSE SECRETARY are the VIP's. Liz noticed that virtually every regiment in the British Army, as well as the Royal Marines, SAS and Royal Commandos has either their commander or their XO there. As well as a senior RAF general and Royal Navy Admiral. After SOCOM activates them, Liz turns to the Regiment.

"161st, STAND UP."

With that SOCOM with the Honor Guard marches to the Temporary Viewing Stand while the whole Regiment moves to their Choppers. Every single one starts up and then Liz in her command Apache takes off first followed by the Apache's by company and then the Little Birds by company, then the Black Hawks and last the Chinooks. They go out and then into the formation that Liz had been drilling them on. In a huge V with Liz at the Apex, the Apaches move over the field at 2000 feet; right below them at 1500 are the Little Birds with the Attack versions in the middle in the same formation; then behind them in tight boxes the Black Hawks followed by the Chinooks. The entire formation does a complete circle of the airfield then the Chinooks fall out and land and their crews line up; then the Black Hawks do the same; then the Little Birds then the Apaches. When Liz as the last one goes to attention; the ground crews and rest of the Regiment march in formation past them. They turn and stand at attention. Then Liz calls out.

"161st, FALL OUT."

From that point on it is an open house. Inside the main hanger a huge banquet has been laid out. For the VIP's there is a somewhat more refined luncheon in the main conference room of the HQ building. Liz mingles and works the crowd; this is tiring and keeping a pleasant smile is a must but Liz knows that this is part of the price she pays for being here.

Everyone compliments her on their flight and formation. Liz had calculated it to be that way and was glad to see that it worked. This had been covered by the media and was shown in the UK and in the US. Finally that afternoon everyone is gone and she tells her senior officers "Well done; now go be with your families."