Please note, all the names are fake because I didn't want to put anybody in a bad position, and this, this is a story of that ageless concept.
*
It was a beautiful drop. We were no Golden Knights, so as rank amateurs we felt pretty proud at having managed to put together a six-man star. Actually, five men and one woman, but that woman might just as well have been another man. I looked up as the UH-I we'd managed to secure for the day, flew overhead with another load of jumpers. It was a good thing that we were military because as civilians we'd never have been able to afford this kind of ride. Anyway, back to our star -- we'd closed it in under forty seconds, leaving us a whole ten seconds to fly it, break apart and dump parachutes to land safely. We were by no means National Competition quality, I mean, we still had to cut it down by twenty seconds to even be considered as a competitive team, but -- Damn, it felt good!
On the walk back to the assembly area, I collected Joyce and Spiller and we gabbed about how we'd come in and what we each thought we should be doing to close faster, and cut our times down. Closer to the assembly area, I spotted a few new parachutes, the popular model was the Para-Commander. Squares, the ram-airs were just beginning to gain a recognition and I noticed that one of the new parachutes was a Square. I dropped my Para-Commander, my "PC," in a clear spot, stripped off my jumpsuit and walked over to have a look at, and maybe, try to borrow it for a quick drop. I'd never jumped with one and I really wanted to try it out.
My eyes were too full of parachute to notice the good-looking chubby brunette seated on the parachute harness. The equipment, as it turned out, belonged to a good friend of mine named William Jackson. Jackson had more money than brains, I used to say. His parents back home in Biloxi owned a real estate business and whatever he wanted they got for him. He and I talked parachutes, characteristics and performance of the ram-air compared to the Para-Commander. Because he was a friend, I mentioned that I'd like to try and fly it, one of these days. He hinted that he might let me use it next weekend since he was having some surgery on his knee the Friday before. I told him that I'd certainly love the opportunity. I finally noticed the pretty lady sitting on his parachute harness maintaining back pressure for him to properly pack the parachute.
The brunette was very good-looking and my type of woman. She had a nice-sized rack, somewhere in the larger 40's and probably double-D's, beautifully rounded side and wide-hipped and black, probably Jackson's girlfriend, I thought. I smiled at her and said hi, she smiled and said hi back. Jackson looked around and told her to tighten it back a little more. She pushed her heels into the ground and pushed back, adding pressure to the lines. He looked at me and back at her and said for me to keep my hands to myself whenever I was around his sister. I chuckled and stood, I had "the Duty" that night and had to report in by 1700 which was about an hour away.
"Hello, Jackson's sister," I smiled at her again, "my name is Martìn Garcìa, but I'll let you call me Marti."
"Gina," she smiled as Jackson shook his head, "short for Regina Jackson."
"Well, Miss Gina," I smiled, "are you staying with your brother?" I shoved my arms into the sleeves of the shirt I'd been carrying, "breaking starch" as I talked and adjusted the SDNCO brassard on my sleeve.
"Yes," she smiled up at me, "yes I am," she kept smiling and looking up at me sideways, "are you always so "on" with people?" she suddenly asked.
"Okay, Gina," Jackson spoke up, "I'm done here, get off so I can stow the lines."
"Yes, SIR," she laughed at him, "yes, I am," she answered me.
I reached down and helped her up onto her feet. She was very pretty, she was short and, like I said my style of woman, short and adorably plumpish, not fat, far from it, just small and nicely rounded. "Good," I grinned holding my ground and standing less than a hand's width from her heavy tits.
"Answer her, Garcìa," Jackson called without turning, "are you always so "on," huh?" he threw the bagged parachute into the back-pack.
"I'll answer for him," Jackson grinned cruelly, hoping to destroy my chances with his sister, "in one word, yes. When it comes to women, he's always "on," so watch him carefully."
"May I call you?" I ignored Jackson, "I've got the "dirty duty" tonight, but I'm off after my night's duty and I'd like to call and see if we can't go have lunch or something."
"Hmm," she teased, "what do you say William, should I talk to this man?" she continued to smile, so I knew what the answer was going to be regardless of what "William" said. I smiled right back at her as I pulled my beret on my head.
"No!" he called vehemently, "not just no, but HELL NO!" he quickly slipped the locking pins home and stowed the pilot chute that was the rip-cord, something that was beginning to gain favor with skydivers, "that goddamn sneaky pete'll have your drawers hanging from his belt before you even realize he's trying to get what's in 'em!"
"Okay," she smiled, "call me around ten-ish, I like shrimp, okay?"
"I don't know why I even bother," Jackson muttered turning away.
I gave her the three-fingered boy scout salute.
"Are you really a Green Beret?"
"Special Forces," I responded automatically, "Green Berets are head-gear, and yes, I'm a certified, card-carrying Special Forces trooper, and I can even show you my Special Forces coin."
"Okay, Mr. Card--Carrying Special Forces trooper," Jackson stood up, towering over me, "enough's enough, don't you have to leave about now?"
"Tomorrow," Gina laughed, "okay?"
"Absolutely," I grinned and checked my watch. I had fifteen minutes to make my fifteen minute briefing before assuming the responsibility for the battalion.
Jackson stood there glowering fiercely. I thumped him in the belly and turned to walk to my car, smiling at Gina as I did.
"Yowp!" Jackson grunted, bending a little.
I could hear Gina, "aw, William, I'm old enough to take care of myself," and she giggled.
The duty was pretty routine, I issued travel orders to several soldiers departing on leaves, supervised the clean -up crew, fellow soldiers performing penance under Article 15's, made my entries in the log, and was chewing out a pissed-off junior NCO who didn't believe that he had to physically handle a mop on the cleanup crew because he "was an NCO." I was informing him, in rather crude terms, the error in his line of thinking, that he was on punishment cleanup duty which meant that he had no rank in this situation. I was in the middle of my tirade and just hitting my stride when Jackson's voice sounded behind me.
"At ease, Sergeant," he bawled out in his deep bass voice, "we have a lady on the post."
"To your duty," I interrupted myself. The buck sergeant gave me a dirty look, but he was a professional and took his mop.