Only For You

XIX) Marion- Hold Me Accountable

The following morning was crisp and clear. I had not experienced a crisp and clear morning for the longest time. It appeared that there was nearly no one around. The men that stayed In my barrack had already left. I was supposed to have my own, but that fell through due to the lack of rooms available. I was fine with it and I felt comfortable as long as I got the corner bottom bunk. The men were kind enough to let me do that and I was for sure grateful for it. I went to the small bathroom and changed my clothes into my new uniform that was left on the desk with my name marked on it. It felt wonderful to have fresh clothes, as I have not had fresh clothes within the past two weeks. I looked at my stomach in the mirror and noticed it was healing up real nicely. It still hurt so bad when I would turn in certain directions. Other than that it was pretty good now.

I walked down the hallway and outside. I made my way to the cafeteria and sat on the corner bench. It was fairly cold and I could hear the men talking in German. I like being stationed here in Germanland because it's so nice to meet new aviators. When I finished I got up and walked to the classroom. It was quite a ways from the cafeteria. It took me about six minutes to make it to the end destination. It was quiet, a very eerie quiet. I walked in and saw the sergeant. "Marion! There you are. Are you still good at doing this? Just give them some advice on how to handle war, that's it." He placed some books on the desk. "Yes sir! I am ready to say something about this." I said quickly. He told me thank you, shut the door, and left.

I just chilled in the chair in front of the desk. The paper and pencil in front of me sat there -motionless. I picked up the pencil and began to draw pictures of planes at different angles. I jumped in my chair when I heard the door open. A shorter German soldier walked in. He took the chair in front of my desk. "Guten Morgen." he said in a very raspy voice. I looked up and smiled. "Vielen Dank." I said as another man walked in. He eyed me as he took a seat next to the other pilot. He was staring and I was catching him. This guy was an American pilot and he appeared bold. He was about 5 foot 10. Ten more men walked through the door together. Nick still hasn't come yet and my heart was aching to see him. Five of the men were German and two were American. The other three wore French uniforms. There were men coming from all over the world because they had some of us allies stationed in specific areas. "Hallo. Hello. Bonjour." I rattled off. Most of the men were studying except for the American pilot that sat in front of my desk. His eyes stared at me and I wondered what he was thinking. One more person walked through the door and it was Nick. My heart pounded, but then slowed when I realized he sat in the very back corner. He smiled at me and I smiled back.

I rose up from my seat in a very slow manner. It felt strange and somewhat out of character to be standing at the front of a room full of fellow pilots. I had never experienced something like this. What if they judged me? What if they hated my advice? "Good morning everyone. I am Lieutenant Wright. Everyone can call me Marion because I don't like my last name." I looked over at Nick, who gave me a small little chuckle. "With that being said, we will be discussing the weightier matters of war. Unfortunately we won't be learning anyone's names for the time sake. Any questions?" I asked with confidence. The American pilot raised his hand. "Madame, can I talk to you after class?" He asked very kindly. I said, "sure. Any other questions?" The class was silent.

I drew the basic plane on the whiteboard. "Okay, so war sucks and I know it. Let's talk about three words: tactics, plans, and ideas. Let's first begin with ideas. Ideas are basic thoughts to a solution. For example, ideas can be based on evidence or just purely opinion. Next there are plans. Ideas get formulated into plans. First comes the basic idea which keeps building and building into a plan. From that plan comes tactics. Tactics are final battle ideologies that are finalized and used to take down an opponent. Any questions yet?" I asked, but it remained silent. "Good. Now I want to touch on a few points that are critical. When firing at a target make sure that they are enemies. Unfortunately we had an American pilot shoot down another American pilot. We don't want anything like that anymore. A good pilot always has his aim on the right target. Ground control will always be watching and so will mission control. If you did not check everything then you've already failed. Check the plane and always keep a keen eye on the surroundings. Make sense? Top of the line pilots know their plane. I'm not talking about how they know what a plane is, but I'm talking about how pilots need to really get on that personal level with the plane. Know how it works, how touchy the stick is, and how the instruments work. In war it is absolutely crucial that you keep focused. Some of the best ace pilots to ever exist have a mind sharper than a knife. Stay focused and charged. I have some papers for you to fill out. I will pass out papers and pens. Please follow instructions carefully because failure to do so will result in a dishonorable discharge. Got it?" I said. They all responded with a firm and in unison "yes mam."