Kombat Kids - 12. Kombat Kids and the Crotch

The Unit had decided that they would have the monthly ‘Two Dayer’ on Thanksgiving weekend. James and Matt had decided to make the monthly meeting more of a celebration than a Unit Meeting. While there were a number of members whose families, while not wealthy, were at least able to have a nice Thanksgiving. However, a large number of the boys in the Unit were from poor families, some who could barely feed themselves on a daily basis, let alone be able to enjoy a traditional Thanksgiving meal. So, to kick off the holiday season, the brothers planned a typical Thanksgiving meal for the Saturday afternoon dinner. They had sent word home with the boys that they would feel slighted if the entire family didn’t join them on Saturday.

Saturday morning found most of the Unit’s membership present; the only ones who weren’t were the ones whose families had gone out of town for the long weekend. James and Matt had contacted a friend of theirs who owned a restaurant and provided catering services for parties all over the area. They knew it was short notice, and readily agreed to pay the price he quoted them, their friend gave them a break on the final price when he learned that they wanted food for 250 people. James, Matt and the squad leaders were helping, as well as supervising the set up of tables they had rented from the local Knights of Columbus chapter. Jason Tembler, the caterer, had sent over tablecloths, along with all the dinnerware the day before and they were busy setting up the Cavern for the meal.

James was thinking about Conner Beck and his parents. The Beck’s had arrived at the house at 10:00 AM the next morning and introduced themselves to Matt and James.

The previous evening, Connor had told them that he had come out to his parents after he and Jordan had become lovers. His parents were surprised and worried that he might be hurt because of his sexual orientation, but were very supportive of him and his boyfriend when he told them about Jordan.

The brothers took to Nelson and Elisabeth Beck immediately. Nelson was an average looking man in his late thirties, who had a quiet strength about him the brothers were able to see immediately. It was readily apparent where Connor got his looks from; Elisabeth was truly a beautiful woman, easily the equal of any Hollywood actress.

As soon as the introductions were complete, Connor immediately started in about the Unit, the Bateman brothers, all of the people he had met and the great facilities the Unit had. James and Matt showed Connor’s parents around their home and the forth floor facilities. Nelson was really impressed with the construction of the house and asked; “Masterson Construction?”

“Yes, how did you know?”

“Before I started my company in Yakima, we lived down here and I worked for Tim for five years, in fact he helped me get my start when we moved to Yakima. It’s been awhile since I’ve talked with him, but we’ve been friends for quite awhile.”

James told Nelson how happy he was to find out the Connor was a second degree black belt and that he looked forward to having him around to spar with.

Nelson said; “Oh, you’re into karate too, what’s your rank?”

“Seventh degree, I think with Connor helping me, we can start a club and that’ll give us another thing to get the kids involved with.”

Nelson said; “That’s really great, as long as it’s on the weekends, I’d be glad to help teach, that is if you need the help.”

James laughed; “You kidding, we need all the help we can get with this bunch.”

It was Nelson’s turn to laugh; ”Yeah, I know what you mean.”

They were standing a little way from Matt, Connor’s mother and the two boys when Nelson lowered his voice and said; “I don’t know if Connor told you or not, but he and Jordan are gay. The only reason I brought it up, is, I don’t want to see either of them to get hurt. They’ve been through Hell at school and when they were in the scouts, I just want to make sure that if there’s a problem, we find out now, before anyone gets hurt again.”

“I guess the word didn’t get out up the valley, when we started the Unit we had the local PFLAG chapter put the word out about us. We started the Unit because one my friends asked us to talk to his son, the boy had just come out to him and he felt he couldn’t answer his questions or help him with issues pertaining to his homosexuality. We, Matt and I, were the only two gays he knew so he asked for our help. So, to answer your question, I can promise the boys won’t have any problems in the unit.”

“BOTH of you, I never would of believed it if you hadn’t told me yourself.” “Wow, Christ I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to sound like such a fool just then, but you totally took me by surprise.”

James said; “Don’t worry about it; I knew what you were saying.”

When Connor and Jordan showed Beth and Nelson all of the clothing and equipment they had been given, Nelson immediately offered to reimburse the brothers for both the boy’s stuff. The offer was firmly declined and after telling him why everything was issued to all the boys, Nelson said; “Anything I can do, all either of you will have to do is ask, and I truly mean it.”

Jordan looked kind of embarrassed; “I hate to ask this, but can I keep all my stuff here. If I take it back to my Uncle’s, he’ll find it and end up selling it to buy booze. I’m sorry to be such a pain, but I don’t want to loose any of this cause of my Uncle.”

“I hadn’t thought about that possibility or I would have suggested it myself.” Said James, “Go ahead and put it in your locker and you can use our laundry facilities upstairs.”

James looked at Matt and together they said “Unit Laundry Facility.” And then laughed.

13:00 Arrived and found the Cavern full of squadies, parents, brothers and sisters and in one case, an aunt and uncle. The caterer had hired workers that he had used in the past to serve the meal, so the guests wouldn’t have to stand in line to get their food and then find a place at a table. The meal was the traditional Thanksgiving Dinner with all the trimmings. In at least one family’s case, at least for the younger children, it was the first time they ever had a real Thanksgiving meal. Before the meal started, James called for the diner’s attention: “Before you go home tonight, I’d like to ask you for your help, we originally asked our caterer to provide us food for 250 people to ensure we had enough for everyone. Unfortunately, my old friend Jason Tembler must have misunderstood because he brought enough for 350 people. So if you wouldn’t mind, Matt and I would appreciate it if some of you kind people would take some with you when you leave tonight. That’s all I have to say, so let’s eat.”

Jason who was sitting at James and Matt’s table new the truth, James had called him back and upped the number of meals to the 350 that Jason had provided, and told him to bring along disposable food containers for at lest 120 meals. He realized that some of the people were living from payday to payday and didn’t have extra money for anything but the basics.

After the meal James and Connor were going to put on a demonstration of Tai Kwan Do for anyone interested. At the previous meeting he told the squadies to put out the word to the families to bring along a bathing suit for anyone who wanted to use the Unit swimming pool. The brothers wanted to make this a Thanksgiving that would be memorable, not just for the squadies, but for all their families.

Matt had trained eight of the squadies as lifeguards and got them certified by the American Red Cross. James had trained two more range officers, this made it possible to open the rifle range and allow any of the visitors to pop a few rounds. When he announced that the range would be open he found that about half of the people present wanted to shoot.

The family members didn’t start leaving the Unit until close to 20:00, some stayed as late as 22:00. When everyone had finally left, the cavern straightened up and the firearms cleaned and put back in the arms locker, James and Matt decided to go to the dinning facility to drink a cup of coffee. When they entered the dining facility, they found Bill Martin and one of the guests that had accompanied Phil’s family to the meal that afternoon.

Bill and his guest stood upon seeing Matt and James walking towards them. Bill said; “James, Matt, I’d like you to meet my brother in law, Phil Stanton. He, his wife Martha, and two boys came over from the ‘Wet Side’ (READERS NOTE: That’s right, no mistake, Wet Side, not West Side) for Thanksgiving and I drug them, kicking and screaming to lunch today.”

Phil laughed and shot his brother in law the bird; “Bullshit, there wasn’t any screaming involved.”

Bill laughed along with him then turned to the brother; “Phil here is the Deputy Commander of the U.S. Marines, Eastern Pacific. That means all Marine Corp personnel west of the Rockies belong to him, well him and his boss.”

James and Matt took a closer look at Phil Stanton, he was about 6’, and maybe 6’ 1” tall, about 180 pounds with close cropped black hair shot through with silver and startlingly blue eyes. Even out of uniform, you could tell he was in the military by his posture and bearing.

“Bill and I have been talking about the Unit; I’m impressed with your facilities, and really impressed by your boys. I’ve seen units of the armed forces of some of our smaller allies that aren’t as good as what you’ve put together here.”

“Thanks Phil, we’re not trying to build a military force, but James and I thought that if we taught the boys the skills that we learned while we were in the military, it would build up their self esteem and help them cope with life. In case you weren’t aware of it, over 80% of the boys in the Unit are gay, so are James and I.”

The general nodded his head yes; “Bill told me how the Unit got started, I have to thank you for that, I think a great deal of Phil and I’m glad there was somebody to help him over the rough spots. What really impresses me is that you got some kids here that are better than a lot of the troops under my command, and that’s one of the things I wanted to talk to you about.

James and Matt looked at Phil, totally bewildered; “What do you mean, you have a professional fighting force second to none, I can’t understand how the boys can even hope to stack up to that.”

“You’re right James my men are well trained, well equipped and well led. But! A good portion of them, especially the ones in this Area of Operations are kids, not much older than a lot of yours’, with no actual field experience.

“For eight years under the Clinton administration, all of the military were basically gutted, just like when Carter was president. Lack of personnel, lack of money for training, new equipment and operations, operations he saddled us with, then pulled the funding for after whatever political crisis was over with and no longer newsworthy. “They left the deployed units wither on the vine until they could be brought home to await the next crisis he and his “advisors” would come up with to take the heat off the home front.”

“We’re doing good now as far as training and equipment go, but I’m being tasked with sending a lot of newbie’s over to Iraq with little or no hands-on field experience. That’s where I think we; you two and me could help each other. Right now I’m sending as many people as I can to the Yakima Firing Range for desert warfare training, that’s helping the problem a lot, but I’m having a problem finding things to keep my Recon units sharp.”

“OKaaa. How do we fit in?”

“Supposing, just supposing, that I were to send a platoon size unit out here with the express purpose of performing a search and destroy mission on your home. Just supposing, I loan your unit gear that under normal conditions you guys wouldn’t have access to. Just supposing you were to ambush my people? What do you think would happen to the marines I sent against your kids?”

“If you will excuse the observation you’re one mean, low and nasty son of a bitch. I think it would take your recon teams down a peg or two, maybe make them think about what would have happened if it were live ammunition that was being thrown at them instead of say Miles Gear, is that what you’re thinking of?”

“Exactly, besides pissing them off, they’d start thinking about what them rag headed assholes could do to them, make them think a little before going into a situation where they know, not think, but know they’re the baddest motherfuckers in the valley.”

“I like the concept, but there is no way I could have my guys to the level they would have to be at in order to take on a Marine Recon Unit much before next May.”

“Perfect, that’s sooner than I had hoped for. I was planning for an August time frame, so May would be great.”

“You do understand that I need to talk to the members, I refuse to put the boys in a situation where their strengthening self image could be hurt by failure. I still have a lot of kids who’ve been told for most of their life that they’re nothing but garbage and are having a hard time believing anything else.”

Phil looked at the three men and nodded; “I hadn’t thought about that, but I can see it happening and how it would be a problem.”

“So how we going to do this?” Matt said. “You also mentioned something about equipment?”

Phil smiled at him; “Heard that did you? I’ve been thinking about it since I was out at the range this afternoon. You’ve already got the AR 10’s and 15’s, and those Barrett’s are as good as anything the Corps has, so what would you say to some M60’s, M203’s and maybe, just maybe, an old LAV or two that we’re looking to survey?”

Phil continued; “The only thing necessary to make this happen is I’ll have to assign one of my men to act as an observer. He’ll be the one who officially signs the weapons out and will be required to be present when your kids use them. He’ll also provide the necessary training in their use and maintenance. I’ve got just the man in mind, Master Gunnery Sergeant Mcnaughten.”

James asked; “You think the sergeant will be able to handle the boys, not physically I mean, but the fact that they all may be gay?”

Phil didn’t hesitate; “Yes I do, his eighteen year old son was murdered by a bunch of skinheads in Seattle last year because they found out that he was gay. Tim was attending his freshman year at U Dub and was in a bar just off campus, he had a few drinks and came on to a kid he thought was gay also. When he left the bar three of the guy’s buddies jumped him and beat him to death. The police caught the guys as they were leaving the alley where they had left him and they were arrested. All four of them are in Walla Walla awaiting execution.”

“I attended the funeral and afterwards we went and had a few drinks, I’ve known Stan for twenty some years and I owe my life to him, literally, he saved my life during an operation we were on. Anyway, he explained to me that Tim told him he was gay when he was sixteen, he said it was hard to take but he was able to get past it. So yeah, I think he’ll work just fine.”

The men talked on into the night, making plans for the Unit and talking about the Unit and the Corps. When they finally broke up, Phil asked; “My twins, Ted and Justin, I was wondering if maybe you’d let them join the Unit? They had a ball all day long and told me they wished they had something like this over on the coast, and to be truthful, they both have been exhibiting indications that they may be gay. I don’t know if they are, but when I told them that most of the boys in the Unit were gay, all they said was; ‘So, who cares?’”

Matt said; “That wouldn’t be a problem, except for you living on the coast.”

“That wouldn’t be a problem, as soon as you guys agree; I plan on sending the Gunny over with the weapons and then each weekend on TAD (MilSpeak; Temporary Additional Duty) to start working with your boys. I figure the Twins can ride over and back with him.”

James asked; “One question, when can we get the weapons?”

Phil laughed; “Would Tuesday be too soon?”

With that, the men called it a night, Matt told the General to bring the boys back over the next day and they’d get them signed in and issue their gear.

“No problem, will you take a check for their gear?”

James told him; that under no circumstances would they accept his check, then he was told about the clothing and gear issue for the Unit members and how they didn’t charge anyone, rich or poor for the material.

Later that morning, around 10:00, General Stanton and his two boys drove up to the front of the house and got out of the dark green Ford Expedition. James, Matt, Phil Martin and David White were waiting for them. Phil introduced his two sons to the group waiting for them and followed James and Matt down to the kitchen for coffee. David and Phil took the twins down below and started the process of making them members of the Unit.

David studied the twins while they filled out the forms in the Unit office. The boys looked like a smaller version of their father, slim, black hair, blue eyes and very god posture. For being only thirteen years old the boys were tall at 5’ 6” inches, and they looked like they were going to grow to be quite a bit taller before they were finished.

After the paperwork was finished, David and Phil took them into the cafeteria and got cokes for everyone then sat them down at one of the tables.

David took the lead; “Before we go any further, we want to ask you guys some questions. First off, we want to ask, and you don’t have to answer this one if you don’t want to, are you gay?”

Justin, the older of the two boys, by about three minutes, said; “Wow, you don’t pull any punches do you?” Ted chipped in with; “I guess we were expecting someone to ask us sooner or later, but not so soon. Yeah we both are, but you guys are the first ones we’ve admitted it to.”

Phil asked; “Does that mean you haven’t told Uncle Phil and Aunt Martha?” he asked his cousins.

“No, but we think maybe dad suspects some.” Said Justin

"Ok, how do you want to handle it, I mean being in the Unit, sooner or later someone is going to let it slip when Uncle Phil is around, and I’d hate to have it come as a big surprise to him.”

“You’re right, Phil’” Ted agreed, “Would you mind being there with us when we tell him, you know, just in case he takes it hard?”

“No problem, my boyfriend Davey and I will back you up, we can talk to him after we get you settled in and all your stuff issued.”

The offhand comment about David being his boyfriend took the twins by surprise; “Holy fuck, they said in unison, then Ted continued; “You mean the two, you mean both of you guys are gay too?”

“As a Clinton three dollar bill.”

All four laughed at this last comment, the boys finished their cokes and went to the supply room. After getting their clothing and gear, they moved on to the locker room and got a locker for each of the twins.

The twins put their gear in their lockers and were changing into their new MarCams while their cousin Phil and David watched. The twins were both slim, clear skinned with a lightly defined body, no pubic hair yet to speak of except in the armpits and around their cocks. Both of the boys were circumcised and had nice a sized set of balls beneath a three inch long soft cock. The watching squadies figured the twins still had some growing to do there, and that they would really have something to see in a couple a three years.

David told the boys that they could have a room with no others in it but them, but in the future, depending on how many people joined, they would eventually have roommates. The boys said that they wouldn’t have a problem bunking with other boys, so they assigned them to room with Jordan and Carson.

Phil said; “Boy are you lucky, I saw them in the shower just after they joined and I bet they both have seven inchers. Connor is the blond headed kid who put on the karate demonstration with James yesterday.”

Not having talked with anyone besides each other about sex, boys and dicks, the casual mention of the possibility of someone having a seven inch dick by their cousin, caused the twins to blush furiously,

Both David and Phil saw the twins bush; “Hey guys, I’m sorry about that, I didn’t mean to embarrass you. But, you better get use to it, cause it’s a favorite topic in all of our bullshit secessions.

David and Phil started laughing and the twins quickly joined in.

The twins, decked out in their MarCams, jump boots and booney hats, and dragging their duffles behind them followed Phil and David up to the kitchen.

When they entered the kitchen, the twin’s father did a double take when he first saw his sons; “Jesus, Joseph and Mary, if I didn’t know it was you, I’d a thought it was two of my Recon troops coming through the doors.”

Justin said; “Dad, can we talk to you?”

As James and Matt started to stand up and leave Ted said: “No please stay.”

James just nodded and remained seated. He gestured to the other chairs and told David to get cokes for the all of the boys and for Phil to fill up the men’s coffee cups.

When everyone was seated Justin said; “Dad, me and Ted decided, well we think….

Their father took pity on them, knowing what was coming and said; “You’re gay.”

All four of the boys just looked at Phil Stanton, none of them knew what to say or do, not knowing whether to cry, to laugh, to shit or go blind.

Phil continued; “I had my suspicions, your mother and I have talked about it and decided to let you come to us. Thank you, the both of you.”

“Thank you? Why are you thanking us? It should be us thanking you for not ripping our heads off and shitting down our necks.”

This last statement caused everyone in the kitchen, except the twins to laugh. Their father, a veteran of 27 years in the crotch and several wars and armed conflicts, started to mist up. “Jesus boys, I thought you knew me better than that, I mean a thing as little as whether you like boys’ or girls. Shit man, you’re my sons, I’ve always loved you and I always will. Don’t you ever fucking forget that, you hear me?”

“Dad! Listen dad, we know you love us, it’s just all the things we hear at school and around the base, everyone hates queers. We never heard you talk about gays one way or the other, we just didn’t know how you would take it, I mean both your son’s being faggots and all.”

“YOU WILL NEVER USE THE WORD FAGGOT IN MY PRESENCE AGAIN, DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME, AND I MEAN THE BOTH OF YOU?” Phil was no longer their father, he was their General, their leader, the one who brooked no shit off any man and the person they loved the most in this world.

The twins were out of their chairs and around the table in an instant, both of them crying, both of them hugging their father, both of them happier than ever before.

After everyone calmed down. Phil said; “When we get home I’ll talk to your mother, don’t worry about it, there won’t be any problems. Starting next weekend you two will be riding down with Gunny Mcnaughten Friday night, I trust you two are smart enough not to give him any shit, right?”

The twins answered in unison, “Yes sir.”

“One more thing, for the time being you will call the Gunny Stan, not Gunny or Gunnery Sergeant, or anything else to make anyone think he is in the military, understand? Until I get everything on track over on the coast, I want to keep his presence over here quiet.