Chapter Sixty Seven
Mattie and her unit got outfitted for the things they would need to begin the competition. The unit assembled themselves at parade rest in front of their friends, family, and other well wishers.
Mac came up to the microphone set up on the podium with the NJROTC instructors and Greg. "Hello. I am Lt. Colonel Sarah Mackenzie, JAG corp. Many of you know your children's NJROTC instructors, Lt. Commander Netters and Chief Anderson. The man standing to my right is Major Greg Gentry. He is going to tell you what is going to happen here today."
Greg stood up and took the microphone from Mac. "Thank you Colonel. It seems like many of the parents of this fine NJROTC unit was not happy with how the decisions were being made to pick out who was well suited to go on the trip to the USS Patrick Henry. This seemed like the best way to settle this dispute. They will start at the rifle range, then obstacle course, and then we are going to split them apart for a quick dip in the pool to test if your cadets can tread water and the interview process. After all of that the cadets will come together and be placed in random groups to demonstrate how they work together in groups. The final score will be tabulated and the top ten will proceed to go to the USS Patrick Henry. Any questions?"
"Who is judging?"
"Colonel Mackenzie and retired Admiral Chegwidden are judging the shooting portion. The men in my unit are timing the obstacle course, and Commander Sturgis and Admiral Jonas are conducting interviews. Then all of the judges will get together and judge teamwork." The judges came on stage.
"Colonel, how can you ensure impartiality?"
Mac spoke up, "Even though I have a daughter in this competition, I can assure you that the portion I will be judging can only be scored impartially with a numeric values being where the shot goes through, just like darts. Also, I am expert qualified, so, I am one of the best for the job." Mac said smiling, "Also the teamwork portion is being judged by ten people, low and high score being thrown out. Also, since this question will probably be brought up, there are corpsmen on standby and an ambulance waiting in case someone hurts themselves. Anymore questions?"
No one spoke up at the time. Greg spoke up, "I now declare the 1st annual NJROTC competition started. NJROTC cadets fall out of the rifle range, outfit yourself with ear protection."
Mac walked up and gave the cadets instructors. "There are markers showing the yardage, you get five shots at each yardage, if the level is mastered you move on to the next round."
Mac pulled on her ear protection and watched Mattie pull out and fire. Her and AJ then went up and looked at the targets.
"Cadet Poe, Cadet Durham, Cadet Johnson, Cadet Pierce, Cadet Rameirz, Cadet Malkovich, Cadet Jackson, Cadet Nu, Cadet Lucas, Cadet Emmett, step back to next position." The ten cadets took a step back and fired again. They advanced until they couldn't advance anymore. Mac and AJ looked at the targets. They had a three way tie.
"Cadet Johnson, Cadet Durham, and Cadet Pierce, step forward." Mac commanded.
AJ took over, "There has been a three way tie, so now we want to test your skill. There will be targets popping up, when you see it shot." Mattie and Jack stepped off the range.
"Hey Johnson, you don't shot bad for a girl!" One cadet yelled.
"I'm still standing here, dummy!" She jeered back.
Mattie walked out next, it reminded her of playing paintball with the campers all summer long. She walked slowly, crouched low to the ground and paid attention to her surroundings.
"Dear God Mac, what do you guys teach this kid?" Greg said coming up behind her.
"Well, she is a daughter of a Marine, believe it or not, she has only come to the range with me once. Her father trained with the force recons, SEALs, and is a fighter pilot."
She turned to watch Mattie out on the field. Mattie hit six of the seven targets. Mattie came out and smiled at her Mom. "Piece of cake. The summer campers were harder targets when we played paintball and laser tag!" Jack went next not doing as well as Mattie, but satisfied all the same.
They then went and got outfitted with the camos for the obstacle course. Mac and AJ quickly scored the results of the shooting skills. "Seriously Mac, what do you feed her?" Sturgis asked.
"Sturgis, it is no secret, when Mattie worked at the summer camp this summer they taught her archery. Once she knows how to acquire a target, all she had to was change weaponry. After the riding accident, Mattie went to the archery range every day since she couldn't ride." Mac said smiling.
They computed the scores and ranked the kids. Mattie fell first and Max and Jack tied. They met up with the group getting ready to run the obstacle course and took their places on the side of the course to cheer on the kids. First they had to go through the tires, which Mattie did with no problems, swing over a mud pit, army crawl underneath wire, go across monkey bars, climb over the wall, and balance their way across some beams and run a quarter of a mile to the finish line. When they got to the wall, Max boosted Mattie up and she held her arm out to him and helped him over. They quickly finished ahead of the other Cadets. Mac stood at the finish line.
Her NJROTC instructors looked at the both of them, "You aren't supposed to help each other out."
Max looked at them, "Being part of the military means being a team, helping each other out. If you can't trust your friend to watch your back, then you are SOL, sir!"
Mac smiled. "There are no rules about helping each other out on the obstacle course. How did you guys manage to do so well anyway?"
"Everyday after school, Max and I ran the fit trail at Rock Creek Park to get ready."
"They don't have a wall there, that doesn't explain the wall scaling honey."
"We set a makeshift one up using the hay down in the barn." Mattie said sheepishly. "He had problems finishing the wall, and I had problems starting."
"Mattie! You could have been hurt . . ." She started getting ready to go on a tirade.
AJ smiled, "Next time, find something sturdier then stacks of hay Matts."
"Yes Uncle AJ."
The lagers of the group came bursting across the finish line. Many of them had problems over the wall, in fact, only around 10 of them were actually able to scale the wall. After letting them rest for a couple of minutes, they broke them up into the groups for treading water and the interview process. After that was done, they fell into order and waited for instructions for the ropes course.
They fell into 4 groups. There was a platform set up in the wave pool area dividing the pool into two halves. All of the cadets stood on one side with their group, and had to make it safely to the other half using only the one board and rope. The team with the most members on the other side in four minutes won. What the cadets didn't know is that platform was rigged to rumble. No swimming was allowed from the beginning to end, only if they fell into the water.
Mac watched from the stand as Mattie drew a number with Max. They broke up into their groups and the Marines started the wave pool.
"Okay guys, this is what we have to do. We will use the plank and send five to the middle platform, you will then use the plank to get three over, two stay back and secure the plank to the other side. Stay in either groups of two or three, watch each other backs," Mattie whispered to her team. They sent the first five over with Mattie and Max staying behind to cheer on their team. The waves started getting higher in the pool, when they saw three of their members on the other side. The other two secured the plank and three more went over. Mattie's group always stayed in pairs or triples, the other teams worked one by one. Suddenly when Mattie and Max were making their way over, the platform shook.
Max and Mattie were there when their members reached out and grabbed them.
"Got you!" Cadet Morris exclaimed when he pulled them on to the platform. "Welcome, let's win this." Max and Mattie held the plank while the rest of their group made it. The rope they had fell into the water.
Max and Mattie got on the plank and started making their way over when a wave and a simultaneous rumble of the platform knocked Max off and Mattie was able to jump on to the platform that was still rumbling. 3 others of her unit were in the water, but none of their team members were doing anything. Mattie didn't see Max come up, so she dove in after them. The divers were in the water making sure the cadets didn't need assistance, but when Mattie didn't see Max after five long seconds she dove in after him.
Mac stood up, "Mattie!"
AJ put a calming hand on her shoulder. "Mac, she knows what she is doing."
Mac watched knowing that if something wrong were to happen that Mattie and Mac would be out of the water in no time. She saw Mattie come up and put him in a lifeguard hold and saw her team members make a rope using their BDU jackets to haul them in.
Greg and Mac stood off the side. The rest of the judges stood there. The teams assembled. Greg spoke up first. "No team got all 10 members over in the time period allowed. Team 2 got 9, Team 3 got 9, Team 4 got 9, and Team 1 got 8." Mattie's team groaned. "Hit the showers guys." Mattie came up to her Mom and her work team.
Harriet threw Mattie her bag. "We are so proud of you Matts!"
"Why Aunt Harriet I let my team down."
Harriet smiled, "Jump in the showers. We will see you during the award's ceremony."
Mattie grabbed her bag and head off to the showers. Mac turned to Bud, "Did you send the video feed to Harm?"
"Sure did. You should be expecting a call about now." He said. Just as he said that her phone rang.
"Mackenzie."
"You know, one day you will be said Mackenzie-Rabb."
"I know Flyboy. Did you see what your daughter did?"
"You mean jumping into seven foot tall waves in a pool at Quantico to go fish out her team mate? She comes from parents who are a really good team – remember the time you fished me out of the ocean?"
"How could I forget? I was thinking about the time you wouldn't leave me behind with the poachers."
"How about the time you saved my six with ammo can on the landmine?"
"Oh don't remind me of that one, you really had me scared. Anyway the judges are trying to debate who won."
"Ask Captain Ingles and the CAG, they were watching it with me."
"I'll put them on speaker phone."
She walked over to the judges table, "Do you guys want some real outsider input? Captain Ingles and the CAG are on the phone. They watched the exercise with Commander Rabb."
"Your words of wisdom are greatly needed on this matter Captain Ingles." Greg spoke into the phone.
"When you are on a carrier, many things go wrong, and you can't swim out of an ocean without a little help from your friends. Isn't that right Rabb?"
"Don't remind me sir!" Mac heard him say.
The CAG laughed, "I remember that one. We put a swimmer in the water to pull you out. The exercise was to demonstrate teamwork abilities, and I know who I would vote for, the team that showed teamwork. The girl who pulled her friend out of the water, they were also the same team to formulate a plan before executing it. It was also a proficient plan. If you can get your hands on some footage of it, you see the other teams are sending one over at a time, whereas the team 1 always sent them over in twos or threes. That is exactly what we do here on ship."
The judges nodded their heads in unison. "Thank you for your input."
"No problem, we look forward to seeing the next generation Navy in a couple of weeks. Colonel, do all of the cadets have a security check?"
"They sure did sir." Mac answered him. It was procedure now since they would be boarding a Navy vessel, and it was learned all to well that terrorist came in all shapes and sizes. "The only blemish that showed up during the check was Mattie's sir, and that is because she is a foster child."
"Rabb?"
"Sir?"
"Is your kid a terrorist in the making?"
"Other than terrorizing my credit card, nope. I think she is a fine Naval Officer in the making."
"Or Marine."
"Over my dead body Mac."
"That can be arranged Flyboy."
Admiral Jonas cleared his throat, "Why don't we just let Mattie decide you two?"
"Aye aye sir." Rabb said over the phone. "Mac, Honey, I have to go. There are skies to explore."
"Good luck Harm."
"I love you Marine."
"I love you too Flyboy."
The girls in the unit came out first and found their parents. Mattie didn't exactly find her Mom, she found the JAG crew. Brennen saw her coming up and ran towards her.
"Mattie! I saw you go swimmin. You swim good."
"Thanks Bren." She said sweeping him up in a hold. She heard Mackenzie start babbling.
"Hi Mackenzie." She said tickling her toes. Max came up behind her.
"Hey Mattie."
"Hey Max."
"I never thanked you for jumping in after me."
"You could have handled it on your own."
"Actually Mattie, I couldn't. You'll understand in a minute." They looked out on to the podium and saw the judges getting ready to start. Mattie handed Mackenzie and Brennen to the crew and went over to her unit where they fell into attention and the leader called them to parade rest.
Greg walked up to the podium. "We wanted to announce the standings for the team competition. The team member got ten points for each person that made it to the other side of the pool. Teams 2, 3, and 4 members each got 90 points added to their final scores. Team 1 members got 200 points for completing the exercise and winning."
A parent in the audience yelled out. "But they only got 8 members over, how did they win?"
"Well, the point of the exercise was team work. Each of the groups had someone fall into the water, but only one person dove in to retrieve their fallen team member. We had pulled the strongest swimmers aside from each group and told them all to fall off and see if their members would devise a plan to rescue them. Only Cadet Johnson dove into the pool, and then the team members made a makeshift rope to pull them out. Hence, they won the exercise."
Mac smiled at her daughter. "It takes teamwork to pull off many missions. I know when I am working with my partner, there are so many times we have only had each other to rely on. That is what we were trying to accomplish through the exercise."
AJ Chegwidden came up, "The top ten people who will be going to Italy starting from number 10: Antonia Peterson, Liliana Moritory, Sam Michaels, Brandon Cooper, Connor O'Leary, Tobey Anderson, Jonathan Rosen, Jackson Pierce, Maxwell Durham, and Mathilda Johnson. Will the parents of these children please stay after for an informational meeting that will last maybe ten minutes. Thank you. Cadets, dismissed."
Mattie stood there is shock. She thought she would place in the top ten, but didn't think she would be the top winner. She felt Max shake her. "Mattie, you did it."
Mattie saw her Mom coming up and launched herself towards her. "Hey Kiddo. You're going to give me a run for my money." Sergei came up with Trish and Frank who both gave Mattie their congratulations.
"Sergei, can you get the family ready to go to Tokyo's we will meet you guys there after the meeting."
"No problem Mac." He replied.
While Mattie was talking to her grandmother, Frank quietly pulled Mac aside.
"Sarah, I know that you are looking to fly the kids out to see Harm at the end of this month."
"Yes I am Frank."
"Well, if you wouldn't mind, Trish and I have a villa in Naples we haven't been to in quite awhile, we could help babysit the children for you and Harm for the two weeks, and you wouldn't have to pay for airfare if you want to fly in the new jet."
"Frank, are you sure?"
"Sarah, airfare is ranging anywhere in between 1000 and 1500 for one person. Let me help you do this. Mackenzie will fly easier in the jet. Besides, what is the point behind having all this money. I can't take it with me."
"Thanks Frank, I appreciate that a lot. Admiral Chegwidden was going to fly out to see his daughter, can he hitch a ride with us?"
"Sure. We can trade Harm stories," he said with his eyes twinkling.
