This is the fifth and
final
story of this series. I hope you all enjoyed them.
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As I stood in line at the Coliseum gym waiting for my turn to do pushups, I looked at my watch. It was 6:15 in the morning; way too early to be awake. A few days earlier, the ISAF HQ Sergeant Major had sent out an email to all U.S. personnel on ISAF offering to conduct a Physical Training test, or PT test, for any personnel who needed to take a record PT test for promotion or just "for fun" to gage their level of fitness. The same day, the email come out, Kristen and I had met up for dinner at the DFAC later that night. We talked about the email and she said she was probably going to take the PT test for fun since she was in good shape from practicing for the U.S. women's soccer team on ISAF. I told her I would probably pass because I hated waking up early, although I had no doubt, I could ace the PT test. She then suggested we make a friendly wager.
"Tell you what, what if we both take the PT test and whoever gets the lower score, has to do something for the other person."
I perked up a bit as I comprehended what she was saying.
"hmmmm,"I replied.
"What if the loser has to give the other person a massage? Or watch a movie the other person chooses?" she suggested.
"I've got a better idea," I said with a grin.
I leaned in and whispered.
"How about the loser has to go down on the other person?"
Kristen sat back in her chair and crossed her arms as she thought about that.
"You really can't let this go, can you?" she said with a laugh; referring to her admission to me weeks ago that she refused to go down on anyone she outranked.
I sensed some annoyance in her tone and was a bit taken back.
"I just figured it would raise the stakes if we each have some skin in the game. Pun fully intended," I said with a laugh trying to lighten the mood.
She wasn't amused and continued to sit there thinking it over for a bit.
"Ok, you're on," she said with a grin.
"Can we shake on that?" I joked.
She reached her hand out and we shook on it. Her grip was firm.
After that we resumed eating our dinner and talked about more casual topics, but I couldn't help but feel there was starting to be a certain power dynamic in our relationship.
For the next couple of days, I had butterflies in my stomach, but I couldn't figure out why. I had conducted raids in Iraq, been shot at, lead dozens of convoys outside the wire in Kabul and here I was getting anxious about getting a higher score than someone else on a PT test.
The night before the PT test, I ate a healthy dinner of pasta and meat sauce with some vegetables on the side. I also hydrated and made sure I got to bed around 10 o'clock.
When my alarm finally woke me at 5:30 the next morning, I felt confident it would be a good day. I got up, put my PT uniform on and headed over to the Coliseum gym, the main gym on ISAF HQ. Approximately 30 other soldiers had showed up to take the PT test as well. I saw Kristen, standing with some of the other officers from the public affairs office who were also taking the PT test. We briefly made eye contact, but didn't talk to each other. After about ten minutes, the ISAF HQ Sergeant Major showed up and began to read the rules of the Army physical fitness test. Everyone there had heard the rules before, but they were required to be read, so people used the time to stretch out and warm up.
After filling out a PT score card, I got on line and prepared to take the push-up portion of the test. Males were in one line and females in another line. I looked over at Kristen. She was gently stretching her arm across her chest and she looked like she was in a trance; eyes focused and determined.
When it was finally my turn, I walked up the grader and got on all fours. The grader, an Army First Sergeant, had a stop watch in his hand. I looked up at him.