Decision Point

Chapter 1 – Checkpoint

October 1, 2008

Roadside checkpoint

The impending dot loomed on the horizon and Mike sighed as he got closer. Another security checkpoint, he thought.

The heater in his van had been working overtime with the weather and the checkpoint they’d already passed and while checkpoints were always a bit different they would always be the same: something to block the road, a line of vehicles off to one side or the other, a contact soldier to examine the vehicle’s passengers and another soldier to check its' contents.

It could get nasty when there were others. Sometimes they were Military Police and sometimes they weren’t. This time they were. Mike pulled up slowly until the contact person signaled him to stop. It was a woman.

           She approached the driver’s side window and motioned for Mike to roll it down. “Put it in park and turn off your engine. All adults out of the vehicle, please, and form a line on this side of the vehicle and have your dogs remain in the vehicle please,” she said.

They did so and Mike shook his head at the thought of the heater having to work so hard. He didn’t know how much longer it would last and there weren’t many places left where he could get it repaired when it broke down, which he knew would happen eventually.

She stood in front of him and said, "Identification and travel documents, please." Mike handed her a small pile of identifications.

“Do you have a problem with security checkpoints, mister?” she asked. “No, I have a concern about how long my heater will last with the entire van being cooled off at every checkpoint,” he said.

“At least you have a heater, sir,” she replied and he noticed her red, runny nose and a light frost on her eyebrows.

Holding up the stack of ID’s she asked, “Which of these is yours?” “The one on top. We figured that it would make it easier on all of us as well as the contact person to simply put them in the correct order and line up in the same way.

That’s why the Army put a woman in charge of contact, isn’t it? To make things run smoother?”

“And how do you think that makes things run smoother?” she asked. “You check my ID and hand it back to me. When you get to the end of the line we pass them back up to me. It makes it simple and orderly,” he said.

She handed the pile back to him and said, “Pass them back. I want them handed to me individually.” Mike shrugged and did so and he fully understood why she wanted it that way. Holding a small pile of documents was a distraction that he wouldn’t have tolerated, either.

She looked hard into his eyes before asking him, "Where are you going?" and Mike responded, "To a family reunion."

"And what about them?" she asked. "Them, too," replied Mike. "It's a big family."

She looked him over, checking him against his identification, while Mike's thoughts were taking him back to what a family is and how they belonged in his family. It was a story that started quite some time ago…