I started this blog experience as a way of not only promoting/polishing my writing but as a tool to keep up with people about some of the interesting things that I get involved in. That was 6 months ago, where did the time go? To say I’ve been busier than a one armed paper hanger would be be an understatement. Since my trip to Washington I’ve been to McAlester, Oklahoma and the Western Carribean. I’ve written a number of articles for the International Fire Chiefs and worked on a safety audit of a local fire district. I’ve also taught several classes for newly promoted or aspiring Battalion Chiefs. The City council is always busy at this time of year as we worked on completing a budget for the up coming year, totaling $311 million.

Let’s talk about Oklahoma. About 19 of us from Army North and ATEC Consultants spent six days in McAlester OK training the men and women of the 370th and 329th Chemical Battalions from Florida and Texas respectively. The exercise was requested by the Battalion Commander to give his soldiers an opportunity to learn more about chemical detection and mass casualty decontamination. Our job was to give them a realistic experience and offer training suggestions. There are two components to a Chemical Battalion – Decontamination (Decon)  and Reconnaissance (Recon). The Decon group simulated that a chemical plant was damaged by a tornado with several hundred people becoming contaminated. The Recon group worked in the simulated effected plant and needed to find the cause for what was making several people sick. We really challenged the companies and gave them something to think about for the future. After we completed the exercise we had time to visit the OKC Bombing Memorial the afternoon before we left. The buildings are still damaged to remind us what happened that day.

Bookended by two black granite walls, the reflecting pool makes for a nice memorial. One wall represents the time before the blast and the other is after the blast. The chairs are for those killed and the floors that they were on. It was very moving to say the least.

Enough for today, I’ll follow up with a short story about our trip to the Western Carribean.

Every month I attend the West Valley Writers Workshop. It is a great group of people that support one another as they focus on getting published. I have really enjoyed my time there, I’ve met some great people and have learned a lot about writing. Every month we’re given a prompt to write 500 words on. I’ve attached my response to this month’s prompt – “I suddenly saw her in a new light”. I took a prompt from a couple of months ago and built on it, I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I did writing it.

I swung my feet out of the car, stood up, and found myself plunging down a hole. Everything went black – no shadows or stars. I now knew the definition of pitch black. I tried to refocus but the sensation that I was rapidly falling took over all of my senses. My pulse was pounding and I could hear my heartbeat echoing in my head. What happened? I began falling a little slower, as if in slow motion, when I was suddenly brought back to reality. A kick to the gut took the wind right out of me. I focused less on the pain in my head as I tried to catch my breath. I had a hard time trying to get air through the burlap bag over my head.

Burlap has a sent all of its own – a unique musty smell. If it carried potatoes, it smelled dirty, this one had carried a bird of some kind. I was in the back of a van listening to the road as we bounced and weaved through the congested streets of Washington DC. I had done this very snatch and grab a hundred times in my career and now I found myself on the receiving end of one. I got lazy and allowed myself to be distracted by Julia, an incredible woman that I met nine months ago. Her long brown hair and dark, almost grey eyes were mesmerizing. She wore Musk perfume better than any woman I’d ever met. I let my guard down and she played me perfectly.

We drove for about an hour before coming to a stop and I heard a chain-link fence roll open. The van lurched forward and the gate closed as the van parked. My captors grabbed my cuffed arms and dragged me out of the van. I was saving my energy to fight back when the time was right; my training started to surge through my veins, telling my entire body how to respond without a single thought. If I was going to survive, it was all that I had.  They put me in a metal chair and secured my arms and legs with plastic ties to the chair. I heard the familiar sound of high heels walk across the concrete floor; it was Julia! I missed this part of her personality; she was so gentle with me – until now.

Her incredible shape stood before me as the burlap bag was pulled off my head by some hired muscle; I spit a small feather off my lips as I adjusted to the light. Julia stared deeply into my eyes not saying a word as she pulled a knife from the holster strapped to her tight thigh and leaned in close. The sweet smell of Musk interrupted my focus until blood sprayed across the side of my head. She had just slit the throat of the hired muscle standing at my side. I suddenly saw her in a completely new light – who was this woman?