My sweetie Luke...

I just realized that I promised to tell you about my sweetie Luke in my next post, and then I didn't. I do not like to be a liar, so I will tell you about him now. First thing you need to know is that Luke is absolutely adorable. I could just eat him up he is so sweet. And if I was fifteen years younger I would be all over him, but I am not. See my little Lukey is only twenty years old. I met Luke last summer when we were sitting in a buddy's yard having a few beers enjoying the stars. The beer supplies were running low, and it was almost bar close. (The stores stop selling about ten minutes before the bars close, so we had to hurry if we wanted more.) Only problem was we were all drinking. And then appears Luke. He had just got home from work and saw us all sitting there and walked over to see if he could join us. So, being the only sober one he got nominated to run me to the store for more beer. Now it only takes about five minutes to get to the store, and in that short time, Luke told me a huge secret he had been carrying on his shoulders for awhile. (I do not know what it is about me that makes people confess their most intimate secrets to me, they just do.) See, he told me that he had left the Army. I do not mean got out of the Army, I mean left, as in went AWOL. Now, you all know how I feel about our military and it's personnel, so you can guess my first reaction. I can say I sobered up quite quickly. We got the beer and headed home in silence. When we got back, we handed off the beer and Luke and I went on a walk. I asked him why he went AWOL, and he really didn't have an answer. He started telling me about it, and the answers became clear. He was only in boot camp to start with. (Who the hell AWOLs from boot camp? You might be surprised at the numbers.) Second, he had met a girl. Now, I am one of those people who believe women can do anything that a man can do, and most things we can do better, but the military is not one of them. (Though I do have a theory that the most vicious fighting force ever would be mothers whose children are being held captive. Because I know that I would gladly enter a battle with nothing but a sharp stick against the most well armed military force if they had my kids.) Anyway, I digress. So, now I know that he is a nineteen year old kid, who met a girl also nineteen, in boot camp. He tells me about how his fiance dumped him the day he left for boot. And that he was lonely. Now I know that none of this seems like a good reason to most of you. And it did not to me either, but at least it explains where he was emotionally at the time. He also told me a bit about his childhood, and I will say it was not a pleasant one. He had just gotten out of a group home. I asked him why he joined up in the first place, and his answer was, that he had no where else to go. He had no family to take him in. No job. No money. No place to live. And the recruiters visited the group home almost daily. He said he felt he had no other choice. The girl he met had been recruited the same way from a home for girls. Again, not a good reason to abandon the military, but they really never wanted to be there in the first place. Really, if I was in, I would not want someone like that responsible for watching my back. They didn't join because that is what they wanted to do with their lives, not because of civic pride, or even because they felt it was their duty to serve. They joined because they had no where else to go. And I find that rather sad. (And poor recruiting effort, if you really want to know.) So he meets this girl, and well, we all know what happens when two young people are very lonely, and are attracted to each other, and are very close most of the day. So, he gets caught in her room, and she gets in trouble for fraternization. (No, he did not. Someone explain that logic to me please.) So the two of them just walk out one night, and do not go back. They manage to make it here to Iowa, and she finds her mother. (Someone she has not had contact with for years.) They settle in and he gets a job. But he carries the weight of his AWOL status like a brick around his neck until the night he met me. So, I of course, convince him that he has to turn himself in. What the hell else was I supposed to do? First thing the next morning, I call my local recruiting station to find out what he needs to do. You would think it would be simple. Turn yourself in to any military personnel, or even the local police, right? Wrong. First, it took two days for the Army to find any record of them. Then, when they finally did, we had three different people tell us three different things to do. I finally decided enough was enough, and just drove them over to Offutt Air Force base. We called ahead, and talked to someone who said they would take them, and make sure they got where they needed to go. Sounds good to me, as long as someone takes them before they change their minds. The scene at Offutt was kind of sad. We knew they would be handcuffed, but it broke my heart to see it. The MP's (or what ever the Air Force calls their police), were very kind, and very gentle. They allowed Luke to hug and kiss me goodbye when he asked to do so. They thanked me for convincing the kids to do the right thing, and had me fill out a three page form explaining how I came to be the one in whom they confided. And so concludes the tale of Luke. Ha, not even close. I got a call at seven o'clock the next morning. It was a man of some high rank that I do not now remember asking me to come and pick the kids up. It seems the Army had once again lost track of any knowledge of their existence. The kids were to go home, and they were put under "house arrest" until further notice. I had to sign a form agreeing to be responsible for their eventual return. For the next two weeks, I had to have them at Offiut every morning at eight in the morning, and pick them up each night at eight. I had to make calls to ten different Army bases, and received calls from even more. I spoke with people of High rank, and those with almost no rank at all. And finally, they came up with an idea. The kids would fly down to Fort Sill, they would be met at the Airport and whatever happened next would happen. Luke was fully prepared to serve some time in jail for what he had done. He knew it was a possibility. Except that is not what happened. A week worth of accepting collect calls (DO NOT ACCEPT COLLECT CALLS, SEVENTEEN MINUTES COST ME $186.00), from two scared kids, and then I received a call from someone asking me if i could come to Fort Sill, and pick them up. So off I went on a road trip to Oklahoma. A few (okay more than a few) hours and a couple of wrong turns, and I found myself sitting at an old run down building that calls it's self a bus depot. I had been driving all night, and was very tired. So Tennessee and I (Tennessee is the guy who rode down with me.)crawled into the bed of the truck to sleep awhile. The sun got higher, and we got hotter, and finally went over to a mall that was only a block away, to get out of the heat. Finally it was time for them to get there, so we went back to meet them. A military truck pulled up outside the bus station gates, and out climbed about forty young kids. That was just that weeks worth of deserters. But seeing as the only thing that happens to them for deserting is that they get an "other than honorable" discharge, I can see why so many do it. They just spend a week or so getting out-processed, and then are turned loose to live their lives. Six months later, if they have not been in any trouble with the law, they can apply to have their discharge disposition changed. I do not agree with this policy, but I do not get to make those decisions. So, now four of us are riding home in a little pickup truck, with only jump seats for two of us. It was hot, and uncomfortable for two of them. I am special to Luke, so being that it was his truck, he drove, and I got the passenger seat the entire time. (Yes, he made his girl sit in the cramped back. HA HA HA I love being special.) Luke had lost his job, so I got him hired on with my brother-in-law. He moved in with him as well, since I did not have any room to put him up at my place. He dumped the girl, and is doing well now. He got his own place, and still drops by and calls me regularly. He is my sweetie, and I know I can count on him being there if I ever need him. And he is always good for a nice long hug when I need one. I am glad I met Luke. I am not proud of what he did, and thanks to me, he is not proud of it either. Maybe someday, he will find a way to make it right. I do not know how, that will be up to him to figure out. But for now, I am just glad that my baby Luke is safe with me, where he belongs. That's all, Bye.