Kombat Kids - 3. Spreading the Word

Monday morning James gave Sheriff Martin a call and explained the idea that they with his son, Phil had came up with over the weekend. Sheriff Martin liked the plan but was bursting with news of his own; “Listen James, I’ll give you all the support I can. You know I’m not really sure what you guys did or talked about on Saturday, but Phil is happier than I’ve seen him for quite some time.”

“I don’t think it’s so much what we did or talked about, as the fact that Phil finally has someone to talk to, someone who knows what he’s going through and has been in the same position he’s in. Try and remember when you were his age and how you felt about relationships, sex and what every one thought about you and how scared you were that friends would give you a hard time about something, something you had no control over, like sex. With you it was having sex with a girl, a normal urge for a straight guy, and not getting it, you know yourself every boy whose nuts have dropped usually lies about all the sex they get off of their girl friends.” James laughed with the Sheriff.

Sheriff Martin laughed; “Yeah I know what you mean, I thought I was the only 18 year old virgin in the world.”

“Getting back to the Unit Matt and I are forming; I wanted to let you know about it in case old man Prince starts bitching about us and tries to cause trouble. Once we get started, I plan on letting everyone know about the homophobic crap he and some of the scouts are pulling in his troop. Matt and I are drafting a letter to the Scout national headquarters telling them we’re dropping all support for the Scouts, seeing as how we donated 50 grand a year to the program, I think a shit storm is about to rain on Prince’s parade shortly.”

“It’s about fucking time someone took a dump on that asshole; he’s really good at skating along the thin line between legal and illegal. I’ve been trying to nail him for something for the last five or six years, but I haven’t had any luck. Maybe you setting up this Unit will make him do something stupid, I sure would like to throw his fat ass in the slammer and let some moose dick lifer turn him into his bitch.”

James laughed, “Now Bill is that nice? Wait a minute that is nice! I’d like to be a fly on the wall the first time he opened his mouth and old Moose Dick stuffed something in it.”

“Anyway Bill, I was able to get a set of MarCam’s that we’re going to use as our uniform FedEx’ed to me over the weekend. I thought if it’s OK with you, that we’d use Phil as our group icon for advertising the Unit’s establishment.”

Sheriff Martin was greatly in favor of the idea; “I think Phil will just about cream his jeans about doing that.”

James laughed; “Bill is that anyway to talk about your son?”

“No, I don’t guess it is,” laughed the Sheriff, “but it is the God’s truth. Like I said earlier he really wants to be part of your group, not just because he’s gay, but because he thinks it’s the best thing to happen around here in a long, long time.”

“Great, can you get him up here after lunch? Matt and I want to get him fitted out in his uniform and take some picture we’ll put on the ‘Kombat Kids’ web site we’re starting.”

“I’m terribly busy this afternoon, so I’ll tell him to jump on his bike and pedal his skinny butt out to your place. Listen I got to go, keep me informed about what’s going on, OK?”

“No problem Bill, we’ll talk at you later, bye.”

A few minutes before one, the alarm for the front gate sounded, Matt was closest to a monitor so he punched up the gate camera to see who wanted in. “Hey James,” Matt yelled; “Phil’s here, you want to meet him at the front door?’

James opened the front door and waited the five minutes it took Phil to pedal up to the main entrance. “Welcome back Phil, I’m glad you could make it. I think you’re going to like the uniform we’re going to use for the Unit, come on in and we’ll get you fitted out.”

James and Phil walked into the game room to find Matt opening packages like a kid on Christmas morning. “You just couldn’t wait could you asshole?” Matt just gave them both a sheepish grin and continued opening the packages spread around.

James, while Phil looked on, started making piles of various items of clothing and gear. Turning to Phil he asked; “Do you prefer boxers or briefs Phil?” Phil blushed and said; “I wear boxers most of the time, but I also like boxer briefs, boxers will be fine if you only have the two choices.”

James thought for a moment; “I never even considered boxer briefs, we’ll lay in a supply of them too so the new members can have their choice.”

Phil became interested in the clothing scattered about the room and started to ask about some of it. “Why did you guys order so much stuff? I mean my dad would have got me what ever I needed.”

James thought for a minute, “You remember the scout meetings, how some, maybe a lot of the other boys showed up in just bits and pieces of uniforms? I don’t want that to happen in our Unit, I want everyone to look as good as the next guy and frankly some of the boys who join won’t be able to afford the kit we plan on issuing each boy. By the time we’re finished I figure the cost of clothing and equipment will run between $1,500 and $2,000 each.”

Phil almost swallowed his teeth when he heard the cost for each boy; “Where is all this money coming from, I mean who’s footing the bill for all this?”

Matt looked up from a pile of clothing he had just assembled and said; “James and I are, we both have more money than we could spend in three lifetimes and we want to do something for people like us who haven’t been as fortunate.”

It took ten or fifteen minutes for the two brothers to separate things in to several piles, once they were done James said; “This going to be pretty much what we are going to issue each member of the Unit, we don’t want to burden any of the boy’s families with the cost, but we want every guy to have what’s needed.”

Phil listened while James listed the different items; “Each new member will be given five pairs of skivey shorts, and T-Shirts, they don’t make underclothing in MarCam yet so olive drab will have to do. Five pairs of heavy wool and five pairs of heavy cotton socks, nothing fucks up your feet worse than damp or wet socks. Two sets of Corcoran Jump boots, some of the training we’re going to give requires good foot wear. Four sets, trousers and blouses, of MarCam, two in forest and two in the desert pattern, two booney hats and a Timex wrist watch with lens covering in MarCam and two canvas belts with black belt buckles.”

“Wow!! Why so much stuff guys? I know a lot of kids who don’t have this much regular clothing.”

“We just want everyone to look the same and not have to worry about having to buy it; it should cut down on a lot of problems later on.”

“Let’s see where was I, oh yeah; Timex, I ordered three different sized STB Hats for now, but later when we bring new kids in we’ll take measurements to get the right hat size for each boy.”

Phil, looking confused asked; “What’s an STB Hat?

Matt laughed; “You’re really going to hate yourself when I tell you, STB stands for Smokey The Bear. The same type of hat worn by Army, Air Force and Marine boot camp instructors, we’ll wear them unless we go in the field for camp outs and such, then we’ll wear the booney hats. Later on we plan on having enough Kevlar helmets and class three body armor for every member. ”

James continued with the inventory; “That about covers it for the clothing issue, now let’s see what we have here for equipment. First a Load Bearing Equipment harness, a web belt, two one quart canteens, a Kaybar Tanto knife and sharpening stone, a mini mag flashlight and an entrenching tool (a small fold up shovel).”

When James ran out of air, Matt took over, “These next items took some thought; James and I went through several catalogs and decided to get a variable temperature mummy bag, one with a removable liner, and a Gortex outer cover so the bag can be used down to temperatures as low as a -10 degrees Fahrenheit and in the snow and rain. Remove the liner and the bag can be used in any temperatures from 38 degrees up. Let see here, oh yes, a ground mat, a small mess kit with utensils and an internal frame back pack to carry whatever we take to the field.”

Matt brought out a fairly large black duffle bag and said; “We’ll also issue each member one of these, it’s made of ballistic nylon and is big enough to put in all the clothing and personal gear necessary for a week long trip to other locations around the country. We plan on making several trips a year to places like Colorado, Florida and Georgia for hikes and exercises.”

The brothers looked at Phil and asked; “Do you have any questions about any of this stuff? No? Good, how about shucking out of those clothes and we’ll start getting some pictures. You can change here or use the restroom across the hall, whatever you want.” Matt grinned.

Phil thought for a moment, “I guess it doesn’t matter, if you promise not to laugh at my body I’ll change here.” Saying that, Phil sat down on the sofa and removed his shoes and socks, stood up and took off his T-Shirt, then hesitated briefly before un-buttoning his shorts and letting them drop to the floor. Then standing there in just his boxers his whole body started turning red.

Matt and James laughed, James quickly explained, “Phil we’re not laughing at your body, just the nice shade of red it’s turning.” If anything Phil’s blush depended.

“Listen buddy,” Matt picked up a camera, “we aren’t trying to embarrass you, but we need you to put on the skivey shorts and shirt, we plan on having a how to manual made up and part of it will be proper dress.”

Once again Phil’s blush seemed to deepen, but he hooked his thumbs in the waistband of his boxers and pushed them down then stepped out of them.

The two brothers were impressed that the fifteen year old had a dick that looked to be about three to four inches soft. James noticed that Phil was uncut, but that his foreskin had naturally retracted behind the glans of his dick.

Phil hurriedly reached over and grabbed a pair of the olive drab boxers and pulled them on, and once again having boxers on, his blush started to fade. He was even more comfortable after he reached over and picked up a t-shirt and drew it on over his head. Once he had the shirt in place, he began to pose with a puffed out chest and sucked in gut, “How’s this?”

Matt nodded; “Great, how about putting on a pair of the cotton socks?”

After Phil complied, James told him to stand in front of the wall and started taking pictures with a Kodak digital camera. James moved about and captured Phil from several different angles. Matt stopped James briefly, “Hang on a second James, I want to pose him.” With that he went over to Phil and placed a hand in the small of his back and one on his chest, straightening his posture. He then lifted his chin and told Phil that he wanted him to look about six feet up the wall across room. Matt explained further, “Look at my feet and move yours so they match mine.” Phil looked down and saw that Matt’s were at about 45 degrees angle to each other and that his heels were not quite touching and moved his feet to the requested position. “One more thing, don’t lock your knees, it looks nice but after a short while you’ll find yourself passed out on the floor. OK, now look at the wall again.”

James started taking pictures again and after about ten shots; he said that he had enough. "OK Phil, lets get you decked out in the forest pattern MarCam. Start with the trousers.”

Matt showed Phil how to adjust the tabs on waistband to get the best possible fit, and when he had them adjusted properly he returned to the pose Matt had him in earlier James took another ten pictures. Piece by piece, Phil got completely dressed in the MarCam, and could not believe how comfortable the outfit was, especially the jump boots.

When he commented on the boots, James agreed, “They fucking well should, besides the STB Hat, at $168.00 a pair, they’re the most expensive part of the clothing issue.”

“Speaking of the hat;” Matt said, “after we get some pictures of you wearing the booney hat, I’ll show you how to wear the STB properly.” When James was finished shooting his pictures, Matt grabbed one of the STB’s and positioned it on Phil’s head, then said to himself; “Nope, you need the next size bigger. He picked up another one and tried it on him. “That’s got it” he adjusted the chin strap so that it was on the back of Phil’s neck and then tipped the hat forward so that the front of the hat brim was even with Phil’s eyebrows.

James started shooting pictures of Phil immediately after Matt got out of the way. When he got all the shots he wanted, he told Phil to take off the MarCam and start the same procedure over again with the desert pattern. When James determined he had enough pictures, the three of them went into the computer room and James removed the flash card from the camera and inserted it into a slot of a small box connected the computer.

Phil watched the large flat screen plasma monitor as thumb nail pictures of him stated appearing on the screen. Together the three of them picked out the best pictures of each group. “I’ll go ahead and Photo Shop these and put them into a Power Point presentation, if you stop over tomorrow afternoon, I should have it done and you can make comments or we can change it if you don’t like something.” James told Phil. He could see that the boy was pleased to be included in the decision making process.

“Great,” Phil announced, “Now where do you want me to put all of the clothing I put on today?”

Matt and James looked at each other and burst out laughing; “What part of the phrase ‘your issue’ didn’t you understand? Like we said, every member of the Unit will be issued the same clothing and equipment you have right now. Seeing as how you’re the first member and this stuff all fits you, I suggest you put in your bedroom someplace.”

“Out fucking standing!” Phil yelled. “It’s like Christmas in July, jeez guys,’ thank you, thank you, thank you! All I can say is thank you!”

“Phil, as THE charter member, James and I are going to be depending an awful lot on you to help us run the Unit, anytime you have a problem or a suggestion, we expect you to let us know as soon as possible. We may not be able to implement all your suggestions, but we will give them a fair hearing. As for any problems you may have, if we can’t help, we may know someone who can.”

Phil looked at the brothers and threw his arms around James neck first and gave him a hug, and then he did the same thing to Matt.

Matt groaned, “I’ll give you two hours to stop that’

Phil just laughed and then kissed Matt on the cheek. Phil could not believe he just did that and started to turn bright red as he backed away from Matt.

Phil backed up straight into James, “I can’t fuck believe you did that to Matt, Phil.”

Phil turned to look at James and started to stammer; “I, I, I, he.”

“Especially since you hugged me first and I didn’t get a kiss.” James burst out laughing.

Phil’s fear dropped away and he grabbed James in another hug and kissed him on the lips, forcing his tongue into James’ mouth. This time it was James turn to blush, “How old did you say you were?”

James and Phil looked down at each other’s crotch, “Nice pup tent Phil, you got a tent pole in there or are you just glad to see me?”

Phil immediately went into ‘Blush Condition One’ and couldn’t do anything but stand there and say; “You, me a, a, oh shit, fuck, piss, damn.”

Matt looked at James, “If this is indicative of how the members are going to react, maybe we should throw in a bar of Dial soap so we can wash their mouths out when it happens, huh, what do ya think Bro?”

James just laughed and started folding up Phil’s new gear. “Come on Phil; get out of those clothes so I can pack them in the duffle bag. When you get home wash them in accordance with the label in each piece of clothing.”

As Phil stripped down, Matt and James couldn’t help but watch. Phil had a really nice body for a fifteen year old, it wasn’t that of a body builder or trained athlete, but it had really good definition. They could see the start of a six pack and well developed chest, arm and leg muscles, with the exception of his groin area and armpits; Phil was just about completely free of body hair.

After all of the clothing was folded and packed in the duffle, James said; “Come on Matt let’s give Phil a ride home, he’ll never be able to get all that stuff home on his bike, not safely anyhow”

“Good idea lets use the Jimmy.”

It only took the three of them a couple of minutes to load up the crew cab GMC pickup, Matt had placed Phil’s bike in the bed earlier. As they were driving out the gate James asked Matt; “Did you remember the entry code we set up for Phil?”

“Yes, yes I did.” Matt said; “Here Phil, this is a code we set up specifically for you so you can open the gate anytime you come over. Please memorize it and destroy the paper, this is your code, only your code. We plan on giving each member of the Unit their own access code, but this one is yours so safeguard it, OK?”

Phil hardly said two words on the fifteen-minute ride to his home, thoughts swirled through his head, he still couldn’t believe all that had happened since he came out to his father. When they pulled up in front of Phil’s house they got out of the truck and helped him take all the gear inside, Phil followed them back outside and waved as they drove off.

The brothers decided to go to ‘Sportsman’s Paradise,’ the largest sporting goods store on the eastern side of the state and see if they could find anything they forgot to put in the initial issue of gear. Naturally, they came across many items that they just had to get, not necessarily for the Unit. They did however come across two items they hadn’t considered earlier, binoculars and compasses. While the prices of the items were competitive with those of the catalogs, James got hold of the store manager talked him into a 12% discount of the purchase of 25 sets of compasses and binoculars. Even with the discount, the final cost of their purchases was close to $2,000.

After leaving the sporting goods store, they stopped at the local grocery store and loaded up on foodstuffs and other non-perishable goods. After arriving at the house and unloading their purchases, James went to the computer room and started work on the Unit presentation. Getting caught up in the project, he didn’t notice the time until Matt yelled for him to come and get something to eat.

Over supper, they discussed the presentation James was working on; “Phil is really a great looking kid you know? I had a hard on just looking at some of those pictures I took today, if I’m not careful I’ll have to get me a cast iron jock strap just so it won’t show every time he comes around.”

“Yeah, he is nice to look at. I hope all the kids who join up look as good at him.” Matt said.

“I contacted Ned Thompson, he’s the PFLAG Chairman for this area and we talked about what we’re doing with the Unit and how we’d like him to spread the word about it. From what I gather from our talk, we aren’t the only ones who have a problem with the local Scout organization. The main problem has been there wasn’t anyone who could, or would organize an alternate program until we got involved. He promised all the backing that the local and national PFLAG organization could give us and wanted me to let him attend the first Unit meeting we hold, I told him I looked forward to him joining us for it.”

“Great,” Matt said, “when do you think we can have the first meeting and where are we going to hold it?”

“I been thinking about that, I want to contact Masterson Construction tomorrow and have them come out and put in a parking lot for about 50 cars at the front of the house. Then have them extend the perimeter fence from the north to the south side of our property about 100 yards from the back of the house. That will give us just about 1,500 acres around us and exclude the rest of the property from casual guests when we’re having meetings and exercises with the kids.”

“That’s really a great idea James, as long as you’re doing that have them build us a 100 yard, ten station shooting rage in the arroyo just west of here. Have them roof over the stations and put in a two-story building for a lounge area and an observation/control room. We’re going to need it when we do live fire training anyway, and besides, that public shooting range sucks.

“How long is the presentation going to take you to get finished?”

“The presentation is almost done, all I have left to do is make up two or three different posters, I figure we can place them all over town and in several of the stores in the Mall. That should give us pretty good coverage for the whole area, what do you think?”

“That’ll do it, when you get the masters done; I’ll run them down to PIP’s and order 100 copies of the presentation and 15 copies of each poster. What do you think 16” by 20”, or should we make them bigger?”

“That should be good, let’s get the kitchen cleaned up and I’ll get back to work.”

“Naw, don’t worry about this stuff, I’ll take care of it, you go on and finish what you were working on.” said Matt.

“Thanks Bro.”