Dancing-with-Baptists-Createspace-Final--A4

DANCING WITH BAPTISTS
“Was that part of your training?” Greg asked naively.
After looking at Greg like he was crazy J.L. continued, “Now, I’m the only Black guy
in the troop. Guess who they make do all the really dangerous stuff? My comrades in arms
gave me these Claymores. I’d never been up close to one of those before. They take my M-16
and tell me to go out there and plant them in the hard ground. They figured ‘what’s one more
dead nigger’ planting something.
So all the while I’m burying these mines by myself and positioning ’m just so, I’m
dreaming of putting one under the Captain’s bunk. I can just see him tumbling out of bed,
putting his funky white feet in his shower shoes, and KaBoom!
But that’s not stockade time, that’s tree lynching time. So I watched my back and by
the grace of God I made it out of there in one piece. The minute my time was up I got out
and joined the Air Force.”
“Praise God. Has the Air Force been any better?” Chap asked.
“Actually, it has. Eleven more months and I retire. But really, even being here with
you and most of your Spam-eatin’ posse has been a blessing to me. I do kind of hate to go
back home to all that fighting. The fight is almost out of me.”
“Really?” Greg asked.
“I said almost. You do not want to test me.” Franklin smiled for the second time.
CHAPTER 4
Shepherd Air Force Base
Wichita Falls, Texas
July 1966
Greg and Chap met for the first time at Shepherd AFB. Greg had been assigned there
after basic for medic training. After graduating, many of the other medics were sent on to
duty stations including Vietnam. Because Greg had shown a certain aptitude he was kept at
Shepherd for additional training to become a surgical tech and work in the operating room.
None of this meant much to Greg because he thought he would soon be behind a
camera covering the victims of war, not caring for them.
Saturdays during this second phase of training, airman were allowed to go into town.
Town held a lot for young men away from home and girlfriends for the last six months. Greg
was sure the people of Wichita Falls were decent people but they did not act like it during his
time there.
That summer it was close to or over 100 degrees every day. Being from Houston,
Greg preferred the heat to the bone chilling winters he heard about from others stationed
there year round. He also heard of airmen on Saturday leave who had gotten “off base” and
spent their Saturday nights in the Wichita County jail. Parents with daughters were rightly
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