I waited for her to drop more about this new team shit on me but she seemed to have decided to clam up for the moment. Her face suddenly changed which caused me to consider running for the door. The way my luck was going at the moment she probably had a harpoon in her desk and could haul me back in before I could reach the outer door.

“I’m going to have a set of orders cut. Do you have uniforms for a woman?”

“Unif... No Ma’am.” My weird-o-meter just jammed its pointer around the end stop a couple of times on it’s way to flying off the meter face entirely.

“Damn. Okay. We can work around that for the moment. Tomorrow you will arrive here dressed as you were Saturday evening unless you have something more appropriate for day wear. All of your men will come to this building tomorrow morning at...” she paused, staring at, or possibly through me as she gave it some thought and I again worried about my future ability to procreate. I gave slight thought to the possibility that she was some kind of Frankenstein creation and was actually a machine masquerading as a woman. That quickly went by the wayside since she was just too convincing to be a machine.

She continued as though she hadn’t taken the three or four seconds to make whatever decision she had come up with, “ . . . 1100. That should be late enough that if I need more time to prepare you, I’ll have it. You will arrive here . . . no, scratch that. I’ll pick you up at Oh Eight Hundred tomorrow morning and you will be ready to go out as a female in the event we need to finish what we will begin today. The orders I’m going to have cut will have your full female name on them. Once you’re here and properly attired, there will be photos taken and within another day we will provide you with both civilian and military identification for your female personae. What’s the longest you have ever lived as a woman?”

I was still sitting there trying to digest everything she just said. It finally dawned on me she asked me a question.

“Excuse me, Ma’am? I’m sorry. Everything you just said took me completely by surprise. What was the question?”

“How long have you lived as a woman at one sitting? A few hours, a day, a week? How long?”

I was in shock. “Uh . . . maybe eight, nine, perhaps ten hours.” I was so flustered, I forgot to say, ‘Ma’am.’

“Think you could pull it off continuously for say . . . a month or two at a time?”

“A Mon . . . I don’t know Ma’am. Ma’am, what’s this all about?”

“Well, it’s not quite what I had originally proposed to the Generals but it’s a very viable alternative. Being able to bounce back and forth could have some very positive benefits which we hadn’t previously considered. More so than full conversion.” She nodded her head as if agreeing with herself while she stared at me considering her next statement, “Some very good benefits. Think you could handle bouncing back and forth for say . . . a year or two? No more than three?”

She didn’t bother to wait for my answer so I assumed the questions were rhetorical. I was still trying to figure out what the hell she was talking about, especially that ‘full conversion’ she had mentioned. The thoughts in my head were bouncing off my walls of reason and possibly dribbling out my ears as I continued half listening to her soliloquy while she mused about the possibilities, generally talking out the potentials to herself. It was like I wasn’t even in the room. At this point I would have been just as happy if I hadn’t been.

After a couple of minutes she looked directly at me again, “Stand up, Lynnette. Slowly turn around and let me get a good look at you.”

I reluctantly stood up and slowly turned in place.

She continued talking to herself while X-Raying me again as I turned. It made me think of a roast on a spit and the thought of turning in paperwork for extra pay briefly crossed my mind as I wondered if being here could qualify me for continuing hazardous duty pay.

“Longer hair . . . definitely longer hair. Light brown, not quite blond . . . Yes. Need breast forms. Stop there!”

I quit turning, nearly recoiling, while she continued musing, “Set of uniforms, needs to be a Captain, no that’s not enough . . . a Major. The Generals will need to get involved in that. Small shopping spree, maybe three, four thousand plus the appliances; six at most. They’ll need to be good. I’ll go along to smooth the way. This could work. This could work very well. Slight change to the conceptual plans but this could work out much better in the long run. It could still offer all the advantages we considered for the original missions and add some. She’ll need a few of weeks training down in Virginia as will the initial team. I think they’re right, we could do this.”

She leaned over to her intercom, “Denise could you schedule a joint planning session with our pocket Generals and the Q team? I’d like it to be one of the next two days at the General’s convenience. Let them know this has something to do with our very dark lizard project.”

“Yes, Ma’am. I’ll get on it right away.”

The Colonel’s attention moved away from the intercom and back to me as I could see her eyes refocus then she turned to her intercom again, “Denise? Would you also call Houdini and ask him to come see me sometime in the next twenty? When you hang up with his office then please come in here and bring a steno pad.”

Less than three minutes later, the lady who had been in the outer office entered without knocking, closed the door, then walked over and seated herself in the other chair where she began to write as the Colonel was speaking. There was a pause for a moment as the Colonel asked me another question.

“What’s the name of that Female Major again? The whole thing? Lynnette something.”

It only took me a moment to figure out she wanted my female name again, “Uh . . . Lynnette Joi Stevens, Ma’am.”

“Denise . . . Lynnette Joi . . . ”

“Stevens. Yes, Ma’am. Is Joi with an ‘i’ or a ‘y’?” She scribbled some more on her pad as I answered her before she consulted her pad then asked the Colonel, “What time should I arrange with Idents for the photos, fingerprinting and so on?”

“Best make that for around thirteen hundred. Special stores at elevent hundred for the whole group when they arrive. fifteen hundred today for uniform stores for Lynnette if they can handle short notice otherwise no later than sixteen hundred. I’ll need them to provide at least one properly sized and medaled uniform at that time with the rest to this office before ten hundred tomorrow. The Sergeant here, can provide the sizing information. Append the normal list of medals for SouthEast Asia, VietNam campaign, throw in the E list as well and maybe add the support list for the latest Korea. I want the China, S mission stuff issued but not on the uniforms, obviously.”

The secretary continued scribbling on her pad during all that.

“Could you get a conference call together with our two Generals before you start in on cutting those orders? I need to speak with them before we spend a lot of time preparing the paper. They might want to make a few changes.”

“Of course. If there’s nothing else I’ll go place those calls right now then begin the parts of the paperwork which are unlikely to change.”

“That should do it, Denise. Sergeant, would you wait out in the outer office while I finish a few things here? Don’t wander away.”

“Yes, Ma’am.”

I followed the secretary out, opening the door for her then closing it behind us before sitting in one of the chairs across from her desk while taking in the room. Over in a corner near yet another door I spotted a small table which held a coffee pot, cups and the makings. I asked, “Is anyone allowed to take a cup of coffee from that pot?”

I was motioning toward the pot just about the time the other door opened and a Staff Sergeant walked out to speak with the Secretary for a moment. He glanced at me as he exited the room he had been in. While he was waiting to talk with the secretary who was setting up that conference call the Colonel wanted, he looked at me for a bit longer taking perhaps as much as a minute to make some sort of decision before she finished and gathered his attention. He finally turned, walking back into his office immediately after grabbing a cup of coffee from the pot I had asked about only a minute or so before. The door closed behind him once he was back in his office.

“Sure. Help yourself. Use a cup from this end. The others are personal cups belonging to staff.”

“Huh? Oh . . . Thanks.” I got up and went over, taking one of the cups, scattering one spoonful of sugar into it just before pouring the coffee. It smelled pretty good. They really live the life of Riley here.

“Ma’am, the General’s aides are holding on four.”

I was carrying the cup back to my chair before I happened to notice my cup was shaking. Not a lot mind you but enough to make me nervous.

I continued to sip at my cup of coffee, which tasted pretty good by the way, as my mind continued to worrying at all of this. The thoughts that this might seem weird to the guys passed through my head followed shortly afterward by the thought that I felt it was pretty weird, myself. I wondered how the guys would handle it. It wasn’t too long before I was wondering exactly what it really happened to be and why it was happening to me. The first words I remembered coming from Gunny’s mouth came back to haunt me in full force as I sat there, ‘ since he looks like a freaking girl!, he’s gonna have a hard time.’

I was beginning to think ‘a hard time’ didn’t even come close to doing this situation justice. Just as I began my second cup that spook Zoomie came in, walked across to the Colonel’s door and went on in without so much as a ‘how do you do’. While the door was open I could hear the Colonel talking to someone so I guess she was still on her conference call. That was one long call.
Now that I had the time to stop and think while I was sitting there, I began to consider everything we had been discussing and the concept that this enigmatic “them” were about to provide me with female ID. Not just ID but both Civilian and Military ID. I still wondered what that was all about.

This whole group had to be spooks so there had to be some kind of spook reason behind it. Wait a minute, didn’t she say something about longer hair? And lighter in colour? How the hell am I going to do that? I can’t stay with the unit and bounce back and forth from male to female to civilian and back. What did she say? Something more than just “Do the guys know about me” dressing like that? Wait a minute here. This was moving a little too fast to be comfortable. They want me to do this in public for long periods of time? Well, I mean more public, or something. Aww hell.

It was never my intention to become a female. I was quite content the way I was, thanks; even if my body did have a bit of a female shape to it. I did this more as a joke. Well — maybe a joke is a bad way to describe it. More of a release-the-tension sort of thing. I didn’t need to hold everything inside me all the time if I could be a girl once in a while. It was a lot different — I’m not sure just how to describe it. When I was me, that is the male me, I was pretty much in charge. I made the decisions and bore the brunt of any crap which might come down on us. When I was a girl I could relax a bit and let the guys handle the stiff stuff. I felt, I don’t know . . . comfortable, relaxed, at ease?

I didn’t need to be constantly thinking about how to keep the flack away from the guys, nor the insane antics Trank always was getting into. They were doing it for me since I was the girl. For one or two days out of a year it was kind of nice. A little like going on a short vacation without needing to actually go away somewhere. I could still control any situations which occurred but it was done completely differently. It was all more . . . relaxing, more . . . natural.

My introspection lasted until that Zoomie exited the Colonel’s office striding across the waiting room while giving me a hasty once over then he exited through the outer door. I had that feeling that you get when someone holds up a camera and says, “say cheese.” He was another one who wasn’t much of a talker. Maybe all spooks were like that.

I dropped back into my thoughts wondering if I could handle doing the female thing for more than a few hours at a time. How the hell could they clear it with SOG, anyway? First time I dressed I’d first be laughed out of the unit, then drummed out, if I survived the laughing and all that would likely go with it. The whole thing would go over like a lead balloon with command as well. How could I be a macho machoman when the ‘little lady’ would pop out every so often? What was the question she asked? How many hours or days? Did I answer her? If I did, I don’t remember what I said.

Hell, what was the longest I ever did it? There was that one weekend I hid myself away in the house and was dressed from Friday night to Sunday night. Does that count? I suppose she was only interested in the times I did it in public, and more importantly, once I was over eighteen. Most of those were evenings or nights accompanied by someone who could protect me a bit which would give me the chance to protect myself as well. But . . . did I ever do it during the day?

Yeah, now that I think about it. I went to that shopping center and bought some clothes that one time. That was daytime. The longest I ever did it at one sitting . . . Damn, that’s a hard one . . . maybe that time Linda and I and our Moms went out together all day one Saturday during the summer or that one evening when they asked me to protect Linda when her Mom didn’t trust the boy she was going to date, and with just cause it turned out. That was a bit weird. I was mentally prepared to go with her as myself when she and her Mom came over and they and my Mom explained that it just wouldn’t work if I was a boy going along to protect her. It was a bit of a shock but I went out as a girl on a double date that once. It was . . . interesting, but not something I had thought I would want to repeat, nor did I think it would ever be repeated. Boy was I wrong.

If we only counted the times when I was out in public then there couldn’t have been very many opportunities. Probably six or eight hours max. Umm, I don’t know . . . Oh, yeah, there was that one holiday weekend when I went out three evenings in a row but during the day I was a male again and I made certain the wig I wore was quite a bit different than my own hair colour. I guess that’s it. Maybe eight hours.

". . .gent? . . . HEY SOLDIER, LISTEN UP.”

Huh? I looked around quickly only to see the secretary looking at me.

“You awake now? The Colonel wants you in her office again.”

“Oh, sorry. Thanks.”

“Would you take these in to her? She wants to check them over before she signs them and we make the duplicates for you.”

“Sure.”

She handed me close to two dozen sheets of typed paper before she motioned me toward the Colonel’s door.
I was just about to knock when she said, “Just go in, place the papers on her desk and sit down quietly until she has a chance to check them.”

I followed the instructions I was given.

After she finished with whatever she was working on, Colonel Jackson spent ten to fifteen minutes looking over the papers I brought into her office before affixing her signature to most of them. She sorted them into three little stacks which she then piled crossed back and forth in one larger stack before she got up and began stuffing everything but those papers into her safe as I stood in front of the chair before her desk, having risen when she did. She went from the safe to the coat rack in the corner where she retrieved her jacket, cover and purse then returned to shuffle the order of the stacks of papers. Holding them in her left hand, she put her purse over her left shoulder using her right hand, and said, “Come with me.” Not much of a talker, this one, like I mentioned before.

We went back out to her secretary where Jackson said, “twelve copies to go please, Denise. Make five more for Joint records, make an extra copy of the top set and forward it to his old command. Return the others to me. The originals of the bottom two stacks will go to General Burkhart since I’m doing all this under his authority. As soon as I have the remaining copies I’ll be out of here for the day. I should be back tomorrow about ten or eleven hundred. If I must be reached then contact my driver through the pool radio. Oh! You might let them know I’ll be keeping this driver the rest of today until somewhere around twenty or twenty-one hundred. I’ll see he gets supper. The sergeant here will be with me during that time.

When Captain Carter calls to ask about dismissing the other men for the day, tell him to instruct them to return to the quarters at which they are billeted and they are to remain there until Sergeant Stevens joins them later. They can go out for supper but they must return to their quarters promptly as the Sergeant and I may have need of contacting them, and we might show up at any time.”

“Yes, Ma’am. I’ll have the copies in just a few minutes. Is there anything else you need done now?”

I watched this exchange wondering exactly what the hell was going on. One of the sets of orders was going to SOG? What was that all about? Colonel Jackson began talking again so I suddenly switched my attention entirely to her hoping she would let some bread crumbs drop which would fill me in a bit.

“No, thank you Denise. Now that I think about it though, make ten extra sets for us to take with us, and one extra of the bottom stack.”

She directed her attention to me as she continued, “It’s getting to be pretty late in the day so we need to do everything quickly. We’ll go to your hotel or motel first. You can tell the driver which one and provide directions, if he needs them, once we get in the car. Do you still have your things from Sunday?”

“Yes, Ma’am. They’re washed out and are probably dry by now.” I looked at her with some suspicion, “Why? . . . Ma’am.”

“You’ll need to change quickly then we have some shopping to do. I also need to get you to the hairdresser and have your hair coloured. No arguments, no questions. For now just do it. Everything will be reversible if need be.”

I was beginning to get a bad feeling about this, “Yes. Ma’am.” Once again the instructions our Colonel gave us began to cross my mind.

“As soon as your hair looks better then we will go purchase some more civilian clothing for you. Tomorrow morning we will go to stores and you’ll be issued some officer’s uniforms. I wanted to do that today but there isn’t time. Did you provide Denise with the sizing information?”

“Yes, Ma’am.”

“Good. Then we might have one uniform here by morning. We’ll need civilian clothing as well as the uniforms when we take your photos and begin to run ID for you which will also occur tomorrow. Your men can come in shortly before eleven hundred. I hope we’ll be finished and back before then. That’s when we will run you all through special stores. Exactly what that is will be explained to you at the time. Effective tomorrow at oh eight hundred you will all be transferred to this unit’s command. Orders to that effect will be handed to each of you when you gather here tomorrow. The rest will be explained tomorrow. Your orders, Sergeant, are a part of this pile of paper you are about to receive, certain of which you will sign and return to me.”

She turned back to her secretary who had just arrived with the copies as I considered her near order telling me I would sign some of the papers. “Thank you, Denise. May I have a pen please?”

She turned back to me, “Don’t just stand there Sergeant, come over here and sign these as I give them to you.”

After I signed my life away without even the time to read the stuff to figure out what I was getting myself and the other guys into, she took one of the sheets and carefully put it into an envelope placing a delivery address on the front as we waited for the secretary to make one set of copies of the rest. The copies were given to me and the originals dropped into a folder which the secretary produced and to which she appended a small sheet of paper describing the contents before she promised it would go into the safe.

“Let’s go Sergeant, we’re burning daylight.”

I was beginning to understand what the Colonel at my unit was talking about. Colonel Jackson was a very no nonsense, let’s get things done now, in your face type of lady. How she could be like that and still exude peaches and cream as she did it was quite an achievement. I was glad I wasn’t on her bad side list. As I began to consider all that was happening my mind turned out it’s next little bit of insecurity ... maybe I was on that list, and that’s why all this was happening.

While we were riding she began to go into a little detail about what they had in mind for us. She said she would have preferred to have a couple of dozen more like me but sixteen wasn’t bad. I reminded her, hesitantly, that the rest of the guys in my unit didn’t do this sort of thing.

She laughed, “I hope not. I don’t believe there is anything we could do to make them believable. Don’t worry about that Sergeant. The others you’ll be working with aren’t from your previous unit. How many more are there back at SOG which are a part of your main team or teams?”

“I’ve got close to two dozen regulars and about fifteen others I frequently tap.”

“I want the names of all the regulars. We will transfer them to this unit at the same time this part of your team goes back. In fact, give me the names of the six or so of the best from your additional personnel, we’ll want thirty total. We’ll draw them out too. Worst case, we’ll send some back. Do they all know about your dressing?”

“No ma’am. These guys are the only ones in on that. Do you want those names now?”

“No. Tomorrow will be soon enough. Write them up tonight while you’re back at your hotel and give them to me when I come to pick you up tomorrow morning. We’ll need to arrange for replacements for the ones we will be ‘borrowing’.”

I was beginning to realise her term ‘borrowing’ was more of a ‘we’re going to take them, and likely never give them back during your lifetime’ kind of thing. Eventually we arrived at the motel and she looked around briefly asking, “This is where you’ve been staying?” She asked like the place was something disgusting she would want to shake from her shoe.

“Yes, Ma’am. It’s kinda nice and it grows on you.”

The Colonel sorta sniffed her nose, “Grows on me . . . Just so long as it isn’t carnivorous. All right . . . We’ll move you all tomorrow. Before I pick you up at oh eight hundred make certain your guys will be ready to depart with everything they and you brought with you from SEA. Transport to the base and the secure quarters we have there will occur around oh eight thirty. They’re to check out of here as soon as the van arrives to move them. Got that?”

“Yes, Ma’am.”

“Okay, Sergeant. Hop to it. Get in there and change, then move your fanny back out here. We’ve got a lot to do. You’ve got thirty minutes while I get some more work done here at the car.”

I got. Colonel Jackson stayed at the car so she could do her planning and possibly walk over to the phone booth if she needed to place a call. Thirty minutes, huh? Glad she wasn’t putting me under any pressure here.

I skipped some of the formalities such as a shower and hoped that my cheap perfume would hide the scent of the little buildup of sweat which anxiety had brought on. Funny I never noticed that while in Nam. Glad this was a nice day but I was still going to be overdressed since I wasn’t going out on a supper date. She said we might go to twenty-one hundred. I might not look so out of place once the sun began to set.

Standing at the sink and the counter which was supposed to double as a vanity accompanied by poor lighting but which did have a full sized mirror above it, I kept moving. A knock occurred at the door and I was thinking this was a hell of a time for that since I was dressed like a woman but didn’t have my wig in place nor any makeup on.

“Sergeant. It’s Colonel Jackson. If you’re dressed, open the door.”

Terrific. I went to the door but hid behind it as I opened it so no one could see me. She came in as I closed the door and first thing she did was throw the curtains wide open. I was closing the door when she did that so of course I yelped before beating a hasty retreat toward the bathroom grabbing my wig as I went.

“Sergeant. Stop right there.”

I stopped but quickly threw on the wig. She just as quickly came over and pulled it right back off.

“Stand still . . . No, not enough light. Come over here by the window.”

That would not even have been close to my first choice. Nor my second, nor third for that matter.

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