Boise Moon

By Phil Nussbaum

Rebecca Mason seems to be at the top of her profession. Over the years thousands of helpless adventurers got them selves into extreme situations causing Rebecca to pit her skill and daring against the ravages of mother nature. Such is the life of a mountain rescue pilot. All of this is balanced against the joys of a distant cry called motherhood.

Fly with her as she makes a difference to everyone she meets and tackles motherhood in a manner typical of her US Marine back ground. You will be right there in the cockpit when she pours out her strength and quick thinking, so that others may live. You will be proud of her and prouder yet to have known her and her family and everyone at the helicopter base who are devoted to keeping her safe.

Squeeze the start trigger on her D model Huey and see if you can figure out what she has to do before she does. She is waiting to fly with you.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Jun 30, 2015
• ISBN: 9781329217423

Book preview

Boise Moon

Boise Moon

By Phil Nussbaum

Copyright © 2015 by Phil Nussbaum

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced in any written, electronic, recording, or photocopying without written permission of the publisher or author. The exception would be in the case of brief quotations embodied in the critical articles or reviews and pages where permission is specifically granted by the publisher or author.

ISBN: 978-1-329-21742-3

Acknowledgements

In the course of preparing this book I received technical and morale assistance from the following, without which this book would not have been possible.

Carl Allen, retired US Army aviator.

Pat Rogers, and the entire crew of the Wings and Rotors Aviation Museum.

Ray L'heureux retired US Marine rotor wing aviator  (Marine One).

Commander. Jack (Beetle) Bailey, a man with whom I shared a cockpit on many a dark day.

Rebecca Reeb, my dear friend and administrative person who does all the hard work on all of my books.

CHAPTER ONE     The Governor

After having been promised a night off, Rebecca Mason found her self at the controls of the Boise Rescue service’s venerable Bell Huey helicopter and working her way down the hill from McCall, to the rescue helipad near Boise. The full moon made all the snow on the ground shine brightly. The Governor’s airplane had broken down on the ramp at McCall, and Mason found herself the unwitting hero coming to the rescue, of the Governor’s family no less. Her eyes were sandy from a day of searching over miles of snow-covered hills for lost hikers. Rebecca and her crew had failed to find the hikers. The rest of her crew was safely tucked in for the night. They would be going out at first light on another chopper. She silently cursed the Governor and her luck. Rebecca needed sleep, but she made a deal with her boss who had placed the call. If she took the flight she could have the next three days off. Cheese to a mouse. Time off is what Rebecca lived for these days.

A veteran of over 22 years of helicopter flying, Rebecca Mason had certainly been there and done that, as the saying goes. The military taught her to fly in an era when the military, unofficially, was none too happy to have female aviators and they gave her a tough road to hoe. As stubborn as any of her superiors, she cursed everything that was wrong with the program in general whether it applied to just women, or men as well. She came through the program very scarred and the scars never completely healed. She was awarded several citations during her stint in the military. She refused them all, and no one ever took her to task over it. She had one friend, a certain female Brigadier General who championed the cause of all women in the military.

General Abigail Miller was hell fire and brimstone. The vivacious and bombastic General Miller left a trail of smoke and dead bodies everywhere she went and she protected her female soldiers like a mother grizzly. To give problems to a female Marine of any rank or MOS was to run afoul of the toughest General in the service. All of the female soldiers, from General Miller to the lowest ranks were all bound together under a common prejudice and the women who wore combat arms on their shoulders drew a line in the sand, confident that their General would back them whatever the trouble or challenge.

Rebecca Mason was not tall, 5 feet 3 inches, but she took big strides as she walked across the snow-covered tarmac in Boise. The Governor and his brood were delivered with little fuss although they neglected to thank Rebecca, as they headed home. Typical she thought. She was headed to talk with her crew chief, Harry, who was totally dedicated to her. The story is the same for most crew chiefs.  Whenever she discussed anything about their Huey, it was with hushed tones and the conversation was not meant for outsiders. One hapless visiting idiot came over one day,

What do you want? Rebecca said curtly.

Nothing Ms. Mason, just wanted to know if I could help.

Bugger off. 

Anything regarding their helicopter was privileged communication as far as she was concerned, and nobody ran afoul of that particular gauntlet twice. The two friends finished their conversation.

Is that all we have for squawks, Captain?

It is Boss.

Go on home, I will handle things from here. Enjoy your time off.

Thanks Boss, I will.

They always called each other Captain. and Boss. Terms of respectful affection earned through long and dangerous hours of flying missions together and hours of make or break maintenance schedules

The name Huey was the slang applied to the original moniker for the airplane which was designated by the Army as HU 1  (helicopter, utility, 1 or first design in the series. In typical fashion the GI’s shortened it to Huey and the name stuck even after the designation was changed to UH 1. In Rebecca’s D model helicopter, the left set of rudder pedals on her aircraft had the factory name, Bell embossed on them and the pilot’s set had Huey embossed on them. The official name of the helicopter was UH 1 Iroquois but no one ever referred to it as that, ever.

Hello my Dear, I am on my way home.

What a nice surprise. I will have everything ready for you. 

She hung up the phone and smiled for the first time all night. A shot of VO and a deep massage would be her reward for the day. Lee would get everything ready. Her husband of 15 years knew her like a book. He was not a milk toast, but he was not in her league either. He was kind and gentle.  She loved him for his kindness which he gave to everyone he knew. Another five minutes on the road and she would be home and dry. Another five minutes and she would be in her space with her best friend and feeling cared for. The front door looked very good tonight.

Three days off, eh?

Fucking eh.

What would you like to do?

Sleep.

I hear that.

Sleep with you.

Who will cook?

Domino’s can cook.

My shoulders are really hurting. AHH, right there.

In less time than it took to say it was snowing again, the weary chopper pilot was gone with the sandman. Lee kept massaging until he was sure she was fast asleep. He got up and ordered a three days supply of pizza, and let the dog out to do her business. In five minutes the golden was barking at the door. Lee let her in and she went straight for Rebecca and nuzzled her way under the covers. Lee looked at the scene and was once again reminded that sleeping with his wife meant also sleeping his wife’s favorite companion in the whole world. The pizzas arrived and he put them away for safe keeping in the fridge.

Lee put all the lights out save the bathroom light. Rebecca did not like a completely dark house. Lee put his sweats on and found a place to call his own next to Rebecca. She was snoring slightly, Roxy, the two year old golden, was snoring too. Once again everything was right in Lee’s world.

CHAPTER TWO     Down Time

Late the next morning, the routine had begun. Roxy began to stir and pounced on Lee. She knew better than to pounce on Rebecca. Eggs, cheddar cheese, onions, scallions and a little sausage went into the morning fare. He brought it straight into Rebecca, who greeted it with a bright smile she only reserved for times like these.

Thank you, Dear.

Eat up, Sweetie. You can’t sleep on an empty stomach.

What are you going to have?

I will finish whatever you don’t eat.

Lee nodded off. Rebecca woke him after a few minutes.

Here. Sorry I was real hungry.

I guess you were.

I think I will run down to the diner and then fill up the cars with fuel.

What about sleeping together?

You have Roxy, I will be back in less than an hour.

Promise. She showed him the that she was now topless,

I promise.

Lee pulled up to the local diner whose windows were always frosted over. He stepped inside and said hello to the local gentry.

How is our rescue pilot? 

She is tired and I think she should slow down to which she says, fuck off. 

Do you think she still loves you? 

Absolutely. Otherwise when I ask her to slow down she would shoot me. Twice.

Everyone got a good laugh and speculated that it was probably true.  Almost everyone in the diner that morning had been on the end of Rebecca’s rescue line at one time or another so there was always a modicum of respect present whenever they spoke of her. Lee would take pride in her accomplishments. Lee, a local history teacher, never had the desire to fly and was prone to motion sickness.  Rebecca made the headlines and Lee kept the home fires burning, and our pilot in shape to fly. However, it was getting tougher to keep her in the kind of shape that she needed to be in, to stay at the controls of a noisy vibrating machine for hours at a time. Lee worried about her constantly.

Guys, I will see you later, I enjoyed breakfast with you. Have to go do the dry gas thing and fill up the vehicles.

Give our best to our favorite pilot. 

Will do Guys, will do.

In the winter, car fuel tanks accumulated a lot of water and the only practical way to handle it was to add dry gas, which made the water miscible in the fuel. It turned the water into water methanol and it went through the engine with no ill effects, most of the time anyway.

Lee got though servicing one vehicle and headed home for the other vehicle. To his surprise the other vehicle was no longer in the driveway. His worst