Coming soon!!!

[Spanky]

Coming soon from Black Knight Productions.......

A FIST FULL OF NOMEX!!!

Join the staff of Aviation Challenge as the face the day to day grind of training the future of the US Military.

[Sandrat]

A definition:

A Fist Full of Nomex has been many things. Over the years it's been a movie screenplay, a collection of snippets and tales from AC, and a fictional work of short stories and one novel-length story about a squadron made up of characters derived from former AC counselors.

For this incarnation, we resume an original direction - a collection of short stories all tied to a similar theme.

Hope you enjoy.

By the way, all of the characters, storylines, plot devices, and descriptions you will read are copyrighted (C) 1997-2006. Any use or re-posting of these collections to other websites is strictly prohibited unless you receive permission from Spanky or myself. I hate to be a downer, but these do legally belong to us... and there is hope that one day of publishing the novel (novels) under construction. Please understand.

[SpaceCanada]

If any of your stories are ever published and distributed, I'd be one of the first to collect them all.

[Sandrat]

Sunrise over the lake at Aviation Challenge is a special time. The bright orange eastern skyline reflects poetically off the lake and illuminates the landscape with a quiet peaceful light. That quiet peaceful light hardly ever lasted beyond Top Kick's arrival. The grizzled Special Forces veteran of more than 30 years, and who was widely rumored to have killed more enemy in combat than smallpox, seldom set foot on the compound in the morning without entering a screaming hissy fit within the first thirty seconds of interaction with a counselor.

This morning would be no exception. Wednesday evenings, for a short time, hosted a unique Mach II event which, for reasons still unknown, had no rules, no policies or procedures, and really no point. Granted, working with the middle school aged trainees of the program often revolved around their sugar-initiated energy fits and spells of complete boredom, but the program manager for Mach II often lived life too much like his trainees. As a result, Thursday mornings tended, for that short lived Program Manager's tenure, to be interesting.

Top Kick walked into the B-52 railroad car that was the Program Office and found his eyes wandering over a long note from the night manager and the Mach III lead counselor. Something had happened in the woods last evening with the Mach IIs. In the darkness and by flashlight, they'd not been able to ascertain the damage inflicted on the land survival area by the Mach II program.

As can be imagined, Top Kick's legendary temper began to boil. Slamming the steel door of the trailer, he tromped down the hill past the F-14A Tomcat and into the land survival area. Thankfully, the carefully built shelters seemed none the worse for wear.

By the time that he reached the firebuilding area, his brief feeling of calm erupted into a profanity laced tirade that is still somewhere in orbit around Monte Sano park in Huntsville. Now at more than sixty years of age, it's still easy to see the veteran of five Ironman Triathlons breaking into a sprint out of the land survival area and up the hill into the compound, straight down the hallway and literally into the counselor room in Wright Brothers Bay looking for the Mach II lead counselor.....

[Space Nerd]

Oh man... I hate cliffhangers...

[Sandrat]

Thirty minutes later...

The first Gamma Goat run of trainees delivers a group of Mach III trainees to the main Space Camp gate near Habitats 1 &2. The counselors seem a little grumpier than normal, but they are in high spirits. The morning lead counselor meets them at the gate.

"So, is everybody waiting for the next Goat run."

Coon Dog replies with a grin, "Well, not so much. Have you been down to the lake this morning?"

The lead shakes her head, "No, I haven't. I told Top Kick I'd meet the teams here for breakfast."

"Well, you'll be waiting awhile on the Mach IIs." Coon Dog laughes. "You might want to alert the cafeteria staff, too." Coon Dog gathers his trainees and walks away toward the Space Camp cafeteria.

The lead, now wondering what is going on, decides to join the Gamma Goat driver this morning and head down to AC. As the retired Army vehicle rounds the corner near Rocket Launch, there are trainees with garbage bags emerging from the woods to the south. A lot of trainees.

And, in the midst of them and walking with his head hung low in shame is the Mach II Lead Counselor. Stocker tromps along putting garbage into his bag along with several other Mach II night counselors. In the woodline, Top Kick can clearly be seen and its obviously that's he yelling and screaming non-stop.

Making a second run of Mach III trainees to the cafeteria, the morning lead counselor goes to the wonderful ladies on the cafeteria staff and tells them that the Mach IIs are running late, and why they are running late.

When the Mach IIs arrive, the cafeteria ladies get in on the act and insist upon the trainees cleaning their own tables and clearing out all of their trash and trays. The Mach II counselors sit in shock while the cafeteria ladies hand them buckets and rags to wipe down their tables.

One Mach II counselor rebels. "No way, I'm not cleaning these tables."

About that time Top Kick walks out of the serving area with his cup of coffee and smiles, "You better pick up that rag and do what your told because your @$$ is grass and I am the (expletive) lawnmower!"

Amazingly enough, the Mach IIs continued to clean their tables throughout the rest of the week, for every meal. And in my years at Aviation Challenge, I never heard a quieter group for Thursday night Escape and Evasion.

Then again, it wasn't often when Top Kick announced he'd be a hunter on the Mach II course either....

[Boomerang]

LOL will have to remember that one when i'm working our museums day camps again next year.