Kombat Kids - 5. The First Meeting

The week between the 4th of July and the first Unit Meeting passed quickly, Matt and James soon found that Phil, David and Mark were a huge help in making the preparations for the meeting. The three boys had become good friends quickly and found that they greatly enjoyed each other’s company. On the day of the meeting, James and Matt had all 16 of the current members helping them set up the “Cavern” as it was now called. During the last week, several FedEx and UPS trucks had shown up daily, delivering various size boxes and crates. On the previous Wednesday, a car carrier arrived to deliver four HUMVEE’s, all painted in the same color scheme the U.S. Army used for their vehicles. The boys let out a collective gasp when they saw them for the first time, all of them wanted to know who would be driving them.

James laughed at them; “Any member of the Unit will be able to,” and he dropped the other shoe, “as long as he has a driver’s license.”

You could see the disappointment in every one of the boy’s eyes, except one. Sixteen year old Carson McMillan, a good looking blonde haired boy about 5’ 9” tall and weighing in at around 140 pounds. At 16, he was the oldest boy in the Unit and he was looking forward to being the first ‘Squadie’ to get checked out on the massive vehicle. James let the rest of the boys stew for awhile before saying; “Only those boys with a driver’s license will be allowed to drive them off our property on public roads, but we plan on having everyone in the Unit qualify on their operation and upkeep. And after a Squadie qualifies, they’ll be able to drive them anywhere on our property. Of course if we catch anyone hot-rodding or abusing them, that person will be back to walking.”

Once again, the boys looked like they just found all the presents under the Christmas tree on Christmas morning.

James watched his younger brother direct the Squadie’s in the set up for the meeting that night, chuckling to himself and thinking that Matt was just as much a kid as the boys were, only older, and much bigger. At age 24, Matt still looked like he was 19 or 20, his lack of facial hair and his baby face lead people to believe he was a lot younger than his 24 years. At 6’ 1” and 185 pounds his red hair and light complexion made him look like a teenager, that is until a person got a good look at his eyes.

They had tried to come up with an estimate of the number of people who would show up to night, but they weren’t really sure, so they decided to set up 100 chairs and have refreshments catered for 150, just to be on the safe side. James watched the 12 boys setting up chairs and then looked over to where the other four boys were sorting the uniforms and gear that would be issued to the new members of the Unit were working and smiled. Surprisingly, David and Phil had become a couple, and Mark and Carson seemed almost to be attached at the hip. Both pairs of boys were good looking together; and he hoped it worked out for them.

After the chairs were set up and the clothing and equipment were sorted out, Matt had the five man ‘Color Guard’ work on the ‘Posting of the Colors’ ceremony, Mark, Phil and David were designated as the flag bearers, Carson and the youngest member of the unit, Joshua Allen Peterson, better known as Jap were the ‘riflemen’. While Jap was the youngest at 11years of age, he wasn’t the smallest member of the Unit, but at 5’ 4”, James was still worried that he might have problems handling the M1 Garands. The venerable old rifle that had been developed prior to WWII and up until recently had been the main battle rifle used by many ‘Third World Nations’, and weighed in at just over 11 pounds empty. As he watched the boys go through the drill, he was surprised at how well they were doing. The previous week, Matt had called for volunteers to be in the color guard and the boys now going through their paces were the only ones who came forward. James didn’t think it was because the other boys didn’t want to get involved, he just thought they were nervous and worried they might fuck up during the ceremonies.

The color guard looked really sharp, dressed in their desert MarCam, with highly shined Corcoran jump boots and their STB Hats, they looked as good as any National Guard or for that matter, a lot of the regular Army troops did. The three Flag bearers had yellow ascots at their throats, and the two riflemen wore dark blue ascots, the ascots really made them stand out and you could see that the five boys were proud of their appearance. Both James and Matt tried to get everyone in the Unit involved in most decisions, so the opening ceremonies were hashed out between all 18 guys currently in the Unit. Everyone agreed that the Pledge of Allegiance would be recited after the color guard posted the colors.

By 6:45 PM, the parking lot was filled to capacity, James had requested Bill to ask for volunteers from the Sheriff’s Department to act as traffic control at the main gate, in the parking lot and for security at the garage entrance to cargo elevator they would be using to get Unit members and their families down to Cavern quickly and safely. James agreed to pay the deputies time and a half of their normal pay scale, and got more volunteers than he needed. And told the ones who weren’t fast enough in coming forward to volunteer that they would be first up for the next time they needed help.

James and Matt were dressed just like the Squadie’s, this led to some confusion and a lot of laughter when Matt kept getting confused as being one of the boy’s. He swore the first thing tomorrow that he was going to get a really big name tag that read; “I AM NOT A SQUADIE, I AM A UNIT LEADER.”

At 7:00, James and Matt marched to the front of the audience and James said; “Please rise for the posting of the colors.” The only sound in the Cavern was the measured steps of the color guard as it marched to the front of the Cavern. When the boys reached the front of the cavern, Jap and Mark moved to the left with the state Flag, Phil went straight ahead with the National Ensign and David and Carson went right with the Unit flag. The five boys all stopped at the same time, paused for five seconds and did an about face. After another five second pause, the flag bearers placed their flag poles in the stands and took one pace backwards where they stood at attention.

Matt standing to the left side softly spoke; “Pree-sent Arms.” At this time the flag bearers performed a hand salute and the riflemen went to present arms with their M1’s. James once again spoke to the audience; “Please join us in the Pledge of Allegiance”

The Cavern filled with voices of over a hundred people as the Pledge was recited.

“I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America,
And to the republic for witch it stands, one nation under God,
Indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”

Matt spoke again; “Ready, two. Color Guard, about face, forward harch.” As the color guard marched back down the isle the entire audience started clapping. All five of the boys looked straight ahead, but you could tell that they were ready to bust with pride. After the color guard retired, James and Matt introduced themselves to the audience and explained what the Unit was all about, what was expected from the boys who joined, and what could be expected from themselves.

One of the first questions asked was; “What’s the affiliation of the Unit and PFLAG?”

“The local PFLAG Organization has been instrumental in getting the word out to the community about there now being an alternative to the Scouting program currently being run in this area. Originally we got involved because a close personal friend asked us to talk with his son about subjects he felt inadequate to address.” James looked the woman in the eye and said; “Both Matt and I are gay, we’ve never denied it and we’ve never tried to hide it. Both of us made it through high school sane and in one piece because we had each other to lean on, to provide mutual support. The mutual support, plus the support provided by our parents made that part of our lives survivable, unfortunately we saw some of our friends and acquaintances who weren’t so lucky.”

“You all probably heard of the tragic suicide of a 15 year old boy last spring, until recently we considered it a tragedy. We’ve learned recently that the boy was driven to the point, where he felt the only thing left for him, the only way out, was death. As far as my brother Matt and I are concerned, it was murder, pure and simple. We know, and you do too if you think about it, nothing will ever be done to punish the people who pushed the boy to the point of suicide. THAT is why we started the Unit, to give a boy, no matter what his orientation is, an alternate to the bigotry and hate that exists in the schools and Scouting program as they now exist, and that is why we are working so closely with PFLAG.”

The questions kept coming and Matt and James answered them to the best of their ability, truthfully straight answers, no matter what the questions were. The questioning went on for over an hour when James called a halt; “Why don’t we take a break, I’m feeling kinda parched after talking so much.”

James went to the refreshment table and got a Coke for himself, and drank half of the can in one gulp. As he turned around, he almost ran into three people who had come up behind him, before he could speak, the man said; “Mr. Bateman, I’m George Townsend, this is my wife Susan and my son JJ. We’d like to thank you and your brother for what you said and for starting this group. Fred had come out to us about a week before, ah, before his death. I guess we were in shock and weren’t much help to him in his time of need, that still bothers Susan and me a lot. I just want to let you know that any help that I can provide, well, all you have to do is ask.”

James looked at the family standing before him before speaking; “Sir, Ma’am, JJ, you have my deepest condolences, and my sincere apology.”

George got a funny look on his face and asked; “Apology, why in the world do you feel the need to apologize?”

“Both Matt and I feel that if we had spent more time getting involved in the community earlier, maybe we would have found out what was happening in the Scouts and the school. Maybe…maybe we could have done something to help your son, or at least try to clean up the system. I am truly sorry for that and I, I mean we, Matt and I, will try our damndest to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

George nodded, “I understand, it’s the same way Susan and I feel. That’s why we pulled JJ out of school and are home schooling him, and that’s why we came tonight. We got the latest newsletter from PFLAG last Friday and your whole program looked very interesting, when we showed it to JJ, he insisted that we all show up tonight.

JJ spoke for the first time; “Mr. Bateman, if you’d have me, I sure would like to join. I guess you’ll find out sooner or later, about two months after Fred’s death, I came out to mom and dad, I mean I’ve never done anything with anyone, but I know I like guys.”

“That’s your decision JJ, and you can join if you want, but one of the two Unit rules we have is, you never have to do anything you don’t want to. The other is no, means no, and no one has the right to force you to do anything you don’t want to.”

“Just a second JJ,” James turned around and looked until he found Phil; “Hey Phil, come on over here for a second.” James introduced JJ to Phil and asked Phil to show him the gear he would be using when he joined the Unit.

JJ waved to his parents as he quickly followed Phil over to the tables loaded down with clothing and gear.

George was a relatively short man, about 5’ 8” tall and about 150 pounds; he had thinning hair and wore gold filled wire rim glasses. He looked like he was your typical, every day small town accountant. After he talked with the Townsend’s for another 10 minutes, he excused himself and strode to the front of the Cavern and called everyone back to their seats.

“I’m going to close this meeting for now, but before I do, I’d like to ask if we have any former ‘Special Ops’ or ‘Special Forces’ people here tonight?” Three men raised there hands, one of them, George Townsend, really surprised him. “After the meeting is adjourned, everyone feel free to stick around as long as you want, Matt and I will be available to answer any more personal questions you may have, or talk to the Squadies who already joined. After we retire the colors, I would like to talk to the men who raised their hands earlier.”

With that, James said; “Please rise while the colors are retired.”

Matt stepped forward; “Color guard Ten-hut! Forward harch!”

The five man detail marched forward; the two riflemen had their M1’s at right shoulder arms as they marched down the isle. Each boy went to the same spot they had been when the colors had been posted at the start of the meeting. The riflemen ordered arms and the flag bearers stood at attention.

Matt spoke again; “Pree-sent arms!” the flag bearers saluted and the riflemen went to present arms with their M1’s, order arms, the flag bearers dropped their salute and the rifleman went to order arms.

“Retire the colors” The flag bearers took one pace forward, removed the flags from their stands and did an about face. The riflemen did an about face, now facing the audience. “Right shoulder arms!” “Forward… harch!” and with the last command the color guard stepped off together and marched to the rear of the Cavern where the flag bearers cased the flags and the riflemen placed their M1’s in the gun racks along the wall.

“Thank you ladies and gentlemen for coming here tonight, feel free to stay and talk to us and the Squadies.”

A short time later, the three ex-special ops types came up to James and Matt. James looked at George Townsend and chuckled; “A ringer huh?”

“No, not really, you didn’t ask, so I thought I’d keep quiet and try not to cramp your style. By the way, the boys really did a great job with the color guard.” George assured him.

“I have to agree,” said one of the other men, the third chimed in with; “I’ve seen better, but only at Quantico. And those guys practiced every day, all day.”

“Thanks guys, the reason I wanted to talk to you is Matt and I are going to need some help with the Unit, especially if it catches on like I think it will. My brother Matt just got out of the Navy; he was a SEAL in SEAL Team 3 out of Dam Neck, Virginia and was the Training Officer for his division. I did two years in Army airborne, but that was over seven years ago and I’m not in the shape I once was.”

“What I’m asking I guess, is would you men be interested in helping with the Unit? I’m not trying to build a special operations team or anything, but I want to give the boys a chance to see that they are just as good, if not better than the assholes who have been giving them a hard time.”

“Before any of you guys ask, I don’t care if any of the boys are gay, straight or bi-sexual. I’ve already told the boys that the quickest way to get kicked out of the Unit was to hassle someone about their sexual preferences. That goes for the gay kids giving the straight guys any shit too. I won’t put up with it, period”.

“Thanks James,” said the other man standing next to George. “I was in the Special Forces for 18 years before I retired from the Army two years ago, by the way I’m Martin Howell, my son Seth, is the tall skinny 15 year old taking to one of the riflemen from the color guard. Yeah, I’d like to help, my son and Fred were friends, Seth said Fred came out to him about four months before Fred died, it really broke him up when Fred committed suicide. I don’t understand the gay lifestyle, but I’ve known too many gays, both in the military and in civilian life that were, and are great people, people I’d like to have at my back when the shit hits the fan.”

George looked at Martin for a second before saying; “Thanks Marty, I appreciate what you just said and I know Fred would appreciate it if he were still alive,”

James turned to the third man and said; “Let me guess, you were in the crotch, huh?”

The middle aged red head stuck out his hand and said; “Yeah, I’m Steve Peterson, the redhead over there talking with Phil Martin is my kid, Jap’s a good kid,” he let out a little sigh before continuing, “he came out to me just after you announced the organization of your Unit. He said he was tired of hiding and that he would understand if I hated him. What could I do? I started crying and hugged him and told him I didn’t care.”

“If I didn’t care than why was I crying Jap asked?” “I told him I was crying not because he was gay, but for all the bullshit he would have to go through for the rest of his life. So yeah, count me in, and God help the dumb motherfuckers who mess with my boy or his friends.”

James talked to the men for a good hour and a half; and before they were finished they were surrounded by the men’s families who listened to what was planned and how the men would be integrated into the command structure. It was agreed on that the men would accompany their boys to the all day meetings on Saturday.

By 08:00 Saturday morning there were 37 boys and 22 parents in the Cavern for the Unit meeting. After the color guard posted the colors and withdrew, Matt came forward to the center of the group; “First of all I’d like to welcome both you boys and your parents to the meeting, we’re going to try to get everyone out of here by 18:00 today. To the people who don't understand military time, that’s 6:00 PM, and to any Marines present, Mickey’s big hand… “Matt was unable to finish because of the laughter. He noticed several of the dad’s in the group shaking their fists at him, but they were laughing too.

Matt continued; “OK then, first things first, the members of the unit who have already been processed and been issued their uniforms and gear will hand out some forms that we need to have filled out. The nice part about it is that they don’t have to be filled out in triplicate, one form is strictly personal information, the second one needs to be filled out by a medical doctor after the boy has been given a complete physical. The last document needs to be read and signed by a parent or guardian so that in case of an emergency medical problem, we can authorize medical treatment should that parent or guardian not be readily available, so if you’ll please go ahead and complete the forms. Any boy, whose parents aren’t present, can take the parental consent form home with them and get their parents to sign them and bring them back and turn them in at the next meeting.”

By 09:00, all the paper work that could be completed was finished. Then the real fun started. Matt had placed Squadies who had already been issued their clothing and gear at various points in the Cavern, some issuing clothing, some equipment and three in the new locker room to assign lockers to the newbie’s.

When the brothers decided to start the unit, they both agreed that a locker room would be required. Not knowing the number of kids that would join, James talked to Tim Masterson about the problem back in early June.

“Ya know James, if it was me I’d expand the Cavern to the south west, you could dig in to the basalt rock from Battle Mountain and have a nice cozy facility that you wouldn’t have to heat or cool. Plus, you wouldn’t have to worry about it burning down during one of the brush fires we get here every 10 or 15 years.”

James and Matt talked about it and the next day, they got together and discussed it with Tim, after they told him that they wanted facilities for 150 people, Tim consulted with his in house architect. Two hours later, Tim found Matt and James in the computer room; “I got good news, and I got bad news, which you want first?”

James looked at Matt who just shrugged, James said; “I guess you may as well give us the good news first.”

“OK fine, either way you do it, it’s going to cost you about $300,000.00.”

“Jesus H. Christ on a fucking go-cart, if that’s the good news, I’m afraid to hear the bad news.” James complained but was grinning

“I’m just joshing you James, that was the bad news, the good news is that for $300.000.00 we can have which ever one you want done in 30 days. Give me the go-ahead and you’ll have one fine locker and changing facility by the 15th of July, I guarantee it.

James laughed, “OK Tim, but on one condition, you ever do that to me again and I’ll shoot your ass.”

Tim just laughed at him and nodded his head; “So which one do you want the structure outside or do you want to put it in the Cavern?”

Matt answered, “We talked about it, and we decided if there wasn’t too big a difference price wise, that we’d go with the Cavern.”

Tim was as good as his word, better actually. The facility was completed and ready for use by the 10th of July and came in under budget

So on Saturday morning the 12th of July, Matt had assigned Phil, David and Mark in the locker room to assign lockers and show the new boys and their dads the new facility. One of the perks for doing this job was to be present when the new Squadies changed into their uniforms for the first time and to lend a hand as needed.

The first new Squadie to enter the locker room was skinny, redheaded kid. He was dragging the black duffle bag with all his clothing issue and looking around with wide, nervous eyes. He looked at Phil and said; “Hi, I’m Martin Bartholomew, everyone calls me Bart, Mr. Bateman told me to come in here and get a locker for my gear, you’re Phil, right?”

“That’s right Bart,” he looked at the list he had on a clipboard. ”Follow me and we’ll get you squared away.” Phil then started walking down the first row of lockers.

“Here you go Bart, locker number seventeen.” Phil handed Bart a small envelope; “This has the combination to your locker, all you got to do is punch it into the touch pad on the front and it’ll open for you. Make sure you memorize it so we don’t have to reset it for you.”

Bart opened the envelope and took a slip of paper from it, after studying it for a couple of seconds he punched it into the touch pad and the locker door opened a couple of inches. Bart opened the duffle bag and started hanging his gear in the locker.

Phil said; “Don’t put all of your uniforms in there; you need to take them home and wash everything. You can wear one of them today and either wear them home or change back into your civvies before you leave.”

“Neat!” Bart giggled as he took the uniform he had already put in the locker back out and laid it on the bench. He then took his T-shirt off and hung it on the hook on one side of the locker. He looked at Phil and asked; “Do we have to wear these green boxers and T-shirts with the cammies?”

Phil looked up from studying Bart’s hairless upper body and took a second before answering; “Yeah ya do, James and Matt want everyone to look the same, they say it will cut down on the problems later on if everyone dresses the same. That’s why we get all our stuff issued to us instead of having to go out and have our family buy it, I don’t know if you realize it, but the stuff you’re getting today and during the next couple weeks would cost ya about $2,500.00 if you had ta pay for it.”

Bart looked stricken; “Jesus, I had no idea they were giving us this stuff, I thought we were going to have to pay for it.”

“Nope, the Bateman brothers are richer than God. They decided that anyone who joined was going to get their clothing and equipment issued to them. Were you ever in the Scouts?”

“Only the cubs,” Bart answered.

“You remember how there was always a few who showed up with just the uniform shirts or sometimes just regular clothing?”

“Yeah I do, I always thought they didn’t care. My dad got me the full Cub Scout uniform when I joined and I always wore it to the meetings.”

“More than likely, their family’s couldn’t afford the cost. Like with the MarCams, the Blouse and the trousers run about $80.00. Look at those boots, one pair costs around $165.00, and you got issued two pair.”

Bart thought about the cost of all the things he just got issued, not noticing Phil watching him very carefully as he stripped out of his civvies.

Phil was really enjoying the show that, unbeknownst to Bart, he was getting. When Bart was removing his boxer briefs, Phil got a look at his developing cock and was surprised to see that it was a fairly big three inches long soft. Phil also took note that his dick was cut and had a really nice clean circumcision scar, while Bart didn’t have much pubic hair yet, his nuts were pretty good size for someone his age and they looked like they were dropping down.

Bart looked up at Phil and noticed him staring at his crotch; “Like what you see?” he asked bluntly.

Phil blushed and said; “Yeah but I betcha before too long you’ll need a much bigger jock strap.”

Now it was Bart’s turn to blush; “Thanks, I guess.” Quickly putting on his new olive drab boxers and T-shirt, he quickly changed the subject; “Can you show me how to adjust these things on the waistband of the trousers?”

Phil quickly showed Bart how to adjust the waistband and then how to blouse the pants legs over the top of his jump boots.

Once Bart was dressed, Phil told him to store the rest of his stuff in the locker and to head on out to the Cavern. Before Bart could leave Phil asked; “Where’s your wrist watch?”

Bart looked at him blankly and said that he didn’t own a wristwatch.

Phil just laughed and said; “Yeah ya do, open your locker back up. Phil pulled the duffle out and rooted around on the inside for a minute or two and then pulled out a small box. “See I told ya, it’s not the most expensive watch in the world, but it is accurate and dependable.”

Bart opened the box and found a really nice Timex wristwatch, and immediately strapped it to his right wrist. He saw the confusion on Phil’s face; “I’m left handed, so whenever I do have a watch, I always wear them on my right side cause it feels more comfortable to me.” Bart thanked Phil for his help and went back out into the Cavern.

For the next three or four hours the three squadie’s were kept busy assigning lockers, helping the newbie’s settle in and seeing a lot of new cock. Mark, David and Phil felt like their hardon’s never went soft; all three of the boys wanted the day to end so they could go home and whack off in privacy.

About 13:00, James called a halt to the issue and check in activities for lunch. He sent Phil and six of the new squadies up to the front entrance to get the pizza that were about to be delivered. While they went topside, he had several tables set up near the freight elevator door and had Mark and David carry over the three large coolers with the drinks.

When the seven squadies returned, each of them were carrying four large pizza boxes each. Mark said; “Wow 28 pizzas, think that will be enough?”

Matt thought for a minute; “You might be right, listen up Phil, you and Mark go back up topside and grab a bunch of lunch meats, cheeses and whatever for sandwiches. Bring it all back down here in case anyone’s hungry after the pizza is gone.”

After lunch, James and Matt explained what the Unit was going to be doing for the rest of the summer and asked the members to think about what they would like the Unit activities to include. Four hours later, the meeting ended and most of the squadies and their parents headed home.

As Phil, David and Mark were leaving, James asked Phil what he had planned for the following day. “Me and David are going fishing on the Yakima, and I think Mark and Carson plan on going hiking. Why?”

“Nothing really, I was going to see if you were available to help out with a little computer work. No problem, you guys go fishing and if you feel up to it on Monday come on over and we’ll put you to work.”

“You got a deal, Boss.”