Sabrina
Copyright© 2026 by The Outsider
Chapter 14: Doúlos
24 June 2016 – Colorado Springs Municipal Airport, Colorado Springs, Colorado
’Holy shit, I’m here!’ Sabrina thought as she took in the sight of the mountain range to the west. She couldn’t keep the smile off her face.
“Pike’s Peak...” her dad said to himself.
“A lot different than Prescott Ridge and Mount Lizzy, huh?”
“Yeah,” he admitted, “but those hills in Enfield will always be home for me. Doesn’t make these any less impressive, though.”
“Yeah.”
“If you two are finished gawking, I believe we should move off the tarmac.”
“Yes, Mom,” Sabrina said with a smile. She hugged her mother. The next few days would be the last time Sabrina saw her parents for months, so she had to load up on the hugs.
“Good luck, Sabrina, and happy birthday!” offered Doug Vrubel, their pilot, as he descended the plane’s stairs. “Give ‘em hell!” The 1994 USAFA graduate reached out to shake hands.
“Thanks, Mr. V! Go, Falcons!”
Sabrina walked into the FBO with her parents. Her father went outside to check their rental car with the agent.
“Ready to go, Princess?” Jeff asked when he came back inside.
“All set, Dad.”
“Let’s get the SUV loaded.”
“I’m bummed I won’t get to visit with Uncle Chris’s family or the Schultheises.”
“I don’t know why. You really want to miss being yelled at for your first few days at the Academy?”
Sabrina gave her father the look all women give when displeased with someone male. She then looked over at her mother, and they rolled their eyes in unison.
“I think I’ll be getting yelled at all year, Dad.”
“Just remember that it’s all a mind game, Sabrina. Yeah, you can handle the coursework and the physical stuff, but what they want to see is how you act under stress.”
“Yeah. You weren’t kidding about the altitude, either...” Sabrina rubbed at her forehead.
“Nope. Take it easy for our first day here, and we’ll try a slow run tomorrow.”
“Sounds good!”
“You’re not gonna wear all of your ‘USAFA Parent’ gear today, Dad? I think you and Mom spent enough at the USAFA store yesterday to offset what the Air Force is gonna spend training me!”
“Given the fact that your mom and I are gonna be at the drop-off area with you, I think it’ll be obvious we’re USAFA parents. And, we have the same amount of U-Chicago and Wake Forest stuff at home. We didn’t want you to feel slighted.” Jeff looked down at Sabrina tying her Air Force combat boots. “You decided to wear them, then?”
“It’ll be easier stuffing my running shoes in my bag than carrying these things around. Now that they’re broken in, these things are like sneakers, anyway.”
Sabrina looked up. Both parents smiled at her like dorks.
“What’s with you two?” she asked.
“We are so proud of you, Sabrina,” her mother said with a sniffle.
“Don’t you two start crying! I’m not gonna make it through the day if you start now!” Sabrina said and blinked her tears away.
’Goddamn, I’m gonna miss them ... Thank God I’m reporting in early... ‘
Even with an early report time, there was plenty of hurry-up-and-wait. Sabrina waited in line for her info packet inside Doolittle Hall, then outside in a large tent waiting for the call to line up. That call finally came.
“Well ... this is it, Princess. We’ll sign up for that Web Association thing. Reach for the stars.”
Her father’s eyes were red and swollen with unshed tears. Hers weren’t much better.
“Thanks for everything, Dad.”
Jeff hugged her tight.
“Remember, Princess,” he whispered, “there’s a certain amount of shit you’ll have to swallow here, but don’t let them take your self-respect from you, no matter what. I love you.”
Sabrina clung to her mother next.
“As I said to your father years ago, Sabrina: kick ass. I love you, my daughter.”
Sabrina wiped tears from her face before walking to the appointees-only line. A sign hanging from the ceiling touched off more butterflies: ‘The journey begins here.’
’Deep breath, Sabrina. Remember, be bold.’
Her group marched out to the waiting bus single-file, eyes front. No talking. The first person went to the back of the bus, took the first seat on the left side by the window, then the left side by the aisle, the right side by the window, and the right side by the aisle, from back to front.
’My guess is I won’t hear ‘please’ or ‘thank you’ for months ... What were those names he said again? Shit, I’m never going to remember everything! Pay attention, Sabrina! ‘Yes, Sir or Ma’am,’ ‘No, Sir or Ma’am... ‘ I can remember that. And remember to sound off like I’ve got a pair... ‘
The yelling started in earnest when her group filed off the bus. The whistles were a nice touch, as were the berets and mirrored sunglasses. Sabrina stepped onto the blue footprints and went to the position of attention. They released the hounds when everyone had lined up. A blonde cadre member came up to her – well within her personal space – and inspected her.
“Prior service?”
“No, Ma’am!”
“What are your seven basic responses?”
Sabrina repeated them in the correct order. The second-class moved down the line. Easier targets waited elsewhere.
“Pick up your bag with your left hand and turn to your right!” was the command. “Move out and follow this cadre member! Single file! FASTER! NO RUNNING!”
’Which is it?’ she wondered. ’Suck it up, Sabrina. Nothing’s gonna be good enough for them for a long time... ‘
Class cover, canteen, and web belt. Haircuts for the guys, Bun 101 for the ladies, shots for everyone. Initial uniforms: shapeless, formless Airman Battle Uniforms – sage green and slate gray tiger stripes. That’s when it became real. Someone at another desk handed her the name tapes for her ABUs: ‘KNOX 20.’ Her last name and class year.
Classes on everything SMACKs (Soldiers Minus Ability, Coordination, and Knowledge) need to un-learn from civilian life: how to make your bed, how to fold your clothes, how to arrange your closet. Where your books go, your boots, your bookbag.
’I have to run on the marble tiles only? The Terrazzo is huge! How am I gonna cross this place in time for anything?’
“Hey.” A petite brunette said in a whisper to Sabrina once in their assigned room, extending her hand, “I’m Amanda Parnell. Mandy.”
“Sabrina Knox.”
That was all the conversation they dared have, having been repeatedly reminded not to speak unless spoken to. They put the room into some semblance of order. Later, they would have more time to make sure it was up to ‘SAMI,’ or Saturday AM Inspection, standards.
“You two should have been in the hallway ten seconds ago!” their element leader, Cadet Second-Class Juana Miller, barked from the doorway, which made them snap to attention. “Outside!”
Cadre lined the basics up for dinner. Sabrina’s squadron marched – poorly – to Mitchell Hall, the Academy’s dining hall. Once the other classes returned, all four thousand-plus cadets would eat breakfast and lunch here every day, and all at once. Sabrina gave props to the staff here for handling that day after day.
Cadet Second-Class Miller told them how basic cadets were supposed to eat: at attention, making various statements as they passed food, passing it in a certain way. With the number of corrections C2C Miller had to make, Sabrina and her classmates didn’t eat much.
Back at Vandenberg Hall after dinner, their squadron training session was a meet-and-greet to allow the new basic cadets to meet one another and their cadre. Of course, they were expected to memorize the other basic cadets’ names and hometowns by the following day. The cadre’s names and hometowns would be added the next night. Then, there was memorizing Contrails, the student handbook. And so on, and so on.
Finally allowed to sit down and speak freely in her room, Sabrina pulled a pack of index cards from her backpack. She wrote down information on each cadet on separate cards, transcribing it from the list she had written earlier. Soon, she had forty cards filled out. She shuffled them up and started quizzing herself.
“I’m going to have a panic attack already...” she heard Mandy mutter to herself.
“What’s wrong?” Sabrina asked, turning in her chair to face her roommate.
“It’s this list,” Mandy sighed while motioning to the paper on her desk.
“Is that how you memorized stuff back home?”
“No, I’d make up flashcards...” Mandy trailed off as Sabrina held up her pack of cards. “Well, shit...”
“Have you read through your list? You want to quiz me on these, and I’ll do the same for you after?”
Mandy smiled and shook her head.
“You’ve already got this place figured out, don’t you?”
“Oh, hell no, girl! You’ll bail my butt out at some point, I’m sure. Teamwork makes the dream work after all! Come on, turn your chair around.”
Mandy marveled at how much Sabrina already had memorized. She was even more surprised at how much she already remembered. The two new basics were on their fourth or fifth trip through the cards when a voice spoke to them from their doorway.
“What are you two doing?”
Sabrina and Mandy shot to their feet. Although they were not yet clear on military etiquette, both figured it wouldn’t hurt.
“Ma’am, may I make a statement?” Mandy sang out to their element leader.
“Go ahead, Basic.”
“Ma’am, Basic Cadet Knox is helping me learn our fellow basics’ names using flashcards she made. She’s got everyone’s info just about memorized. I’m getting there.”
“Ma’am, may I make a statement?” Sabrina asked.
“What?”
“We’re helping each other, Ma’am,” Sabrina pointed out. “A ‘battle buddy’ is a concept my father introduced me to long ago.”
Juana Mueller raised an eyebrow.
“He was in the service then, Knox?”
“Yes, Ma’am.”
“When and what branch?”
“Ma’am, he was an Army paratrooper during Panama and the Gulf War and a Ranger medic in Afghanistan ten years ago.”
C2C Miller stared at them in silence.
“You two are the first roommates I’ve seen helping each other out so far. The squadron’s performance was horrible today, and that performance reflects on me and the rest of the cadre. You will hear it again in the morning, but figure it out like you figured out how to study. As you were.”
“Yes, Ma’am.”
They returned to studying. An hour later, they both felt they’d memorized the info.
“How do you want to finish setting up the room? Should we each set up our areas first and then check each other, or should we set up the room as a team?”
“Why don’t we try it separately first? We can see how doing it as a team works later.”
“Sure.”
“Mandy, where is Ravenwood, Missouri?” Sabrina quietly asked over her shoulder. Getting the sheets right on her rack wasn’t easy.
“About two hours northwest of Kansas City. How about Lancaster, Massachusetts?”
They kept their voices low so they didn’t attract attention.
“North-central part of the state, about an hour west of Boston.”
“You’re probably a damn Patriots fan, too!”
“You’re just jealous that our quarterback is the Greatest of All Time! I’m a Red Sox and Bruins fan, also.”
“Meh,” Mandy shrugged. “I’ve never been a big baseball or hockey fan. How are you doing over there?”
“Just about ready, you?”
“Yeah. Let’s see what you’ve got.” She crossed the room. “Looks sharp! Hey, I’ve got an idea that’ll help us fold our t-shirts for inspections.” Mandy explained.
“That sounds like it should work. We just need some cardboard and one of those paper cutter guillotines to make that guide you described.”
“What are you going to study, Sabrina?” Mandy asked next as they arranged their closets.
“I’ve got my eye on Astronautical Engineering, though a slightly different track than my older brother.”
“Is he here?”
“No, Alex is a sophomore at the University of Chicago this year.”
“Are you two the only kids in your family?”
“No, there’s three of us. Our brother Ryan goes to Wake Forest. He’s Alex’s fraternal twin, so he’s a sophomore this year, too. How about you? Any brothers or sisters?”
“There’s five of us: three boys, two girls. I’m kid number four, and my sister is the baby of the family. The boys and Sarah are all home helping Mom and Dad with the farm.”
“But you wanted something different?”
“Yeah ... I loved growing up on the farm, even though the routine can be tough. When I turned twelve, though, I started wanting more.”
“What are you going to study?”
“Probably physics. I blew through the physics class at my high school and loved it. I took two others at the college a few towns over and did well in those, too. What do your folks do?”
“Mom’s a karate instructor, though she was a high school English teacher until my freshman year. Dad’s in charge of a division of my Uncle Sean’s ambulance service. He’s one of the vice presidents of the company now and has been working there for over twenty years.”
“’Karate?’ Is your mom a black belt?”
“Yeah.”
“Really? That’s cool!”
“Uh huh...” Sabrina responded with a frown. “Until she needed it to correct our attitudes. Then it was, ‘get into your gi and meet me on the mat!’”
Mandy goggled.
“She hit you to improve your attitude? I thought that kinda thing was just a joke? You know: ‘the beatings will continue until morale improves?’”
“Well, it was more to get us to focus, so we could calm down and talk about whatever the problem was. Even though I earned my black belt before I came here, it still worked on me every time.”
“Wait, you’re a black belt, too?”
“Yep, second-dan. Mom’s sixth, Dad’s third, and my brother Alex is first.”
“What about your other brother?”
“Ryan stopped caring about karate when he hit puberty. Mom and Dad used to just send him to his room to calm down. Anyway, did you look up what to expect before you reported in?”
“I did,” she admitted. “I debated whether or not I wanted to, because it’s not like reading a bunch of text on a screen can really prepare us for what’s coming.”
“True. We get three weeks here learning marching, military courtesy, and things like that before they take us out to Jacks Valley, right?”
“Right, so we need to get as much sleep as we can here.”
“I doubt it’ll be hard to fall asleep now that we’re here, but I wonder how long they’ll let us sleep.”
“Not long enough, I’m sure.” Mandy looked over at a strange metal device on the wall by their sink. “I can’t figure out what that thing is, can you?”
“I’m sure they’ll tell us.”
“We’ll start quizzing each other again when we wake up,” Sabrina said as she returned her desk to inspection readiness.
“Good idea.” Mandy frowned while looking at her bed. “We spend how long getting our bunks ready, and then we have to sleep in them? How long’s it going to take in the morning to get them back to how they are?”
“It shouldn’t be bad tomorrow, but I’m not sure how often our sheets get washed. If it’s too long between washings, they’ll get stretched out, and we won’t be able to smooth them out like that.” Sabrina thought for a moment.
“You know, I remember reading something on that service Academy discussion board site about how lots of four-degrees sleep on top of their made-up bunks using just a blanket. Some even sleep on the floor, but I’m not sure I’m willing to go that far.”
“Yeah, me neither, especially not after a really busy day here. Did that site have any suggestions?”
“Mainly whatever works for the individual, but I’m thinking about a poncho liner. No fuzz to worry about and super warm.” She shrugged. “We’ll have to see.”
The two chatted until Lights Out, talking about their families and randomly asking for information about their fellow basics. Sabrina crawled into her bunk and reviewed the hectic day in her mind. As excited as she was to finally be at the Academy, the thought of being miles from her family kept her from falling asleep right away.
Sabrina suspected nights here at the Academy would be too short all year. The anticipation of reveille or whatever was to come the first few mornings would probably leave many in her flight exhausted from a restless sleep – herself included.
Doolie Day Out: the one day between First and Second Beast when basics are allowed off-campus after meeting their sponsors. Instead of ABUs, the basics wear their blue uniforms for the first time also. Even with the thousand-plus cadets of the Class of 2020 milling around the small parking lot of the field house, the place still looked huge. To make pick-up more efficient, they separated the basics alphabetically by last name, not flight.
“Basic Cadet Knox, come with me for a moment,” Juana Mueller quietly ordered Sabrina.
“Ma’am, I don’t understand.”
“You’ll understand soon. Your sponsor family’s situation is unique, so the AOC wants to explain the situation first.”
Sabrina’s Air Officer Commanding –AOC – was the commissioned Air Force officer overseeing Alpha Squadron this summer and First Squadron during the academic year.
“Yes, Ma’am.”
Cadet Second-Class Mueller led Sabrina to Major Avondale. There, they fired off salutes.
“Cadet Mueller, thank you. I’ll make sure Basic Cadet Knox gets to where she needs to be.”
“Yes, Ma’am,” Mueller replied, saluted again, and spun about before marching away.
“At ease, Knox. Basic, your sponsoring family is rejoining the sponsor program after three years. I am not privy to all the details, but their first experience sponsoring a USAFA cadet was not a good one. I have heard rumors – unsubstantiated, mind you – the cadet in question was rude and damn close to inappropriate, and they pulled themselves from the program. Even with how well I know them, they have never spoken about it. That cadet is no longer a cadet. In fact, he was dismissed from the Academy before Recognition.
“I’ve seen your admissions file. The sponsor selection committee believes you are the right cadet to pair with this family and give them a positive experience being sponsors. Having read your letters of recommendation, I agree. If you step out of line, however, it will be open season on harassing you until you quit or are dismissed. Do I have your attention?”
“YES, MA’AM!”
Susan Avondale smiled.
“Good. Basic Cadet Knox, despite what I just said, I doubt you will have any issues with the Gallardos. Both Joe and Helen were active-duty Air Force officers. Joe was a Security Forces officer and a captain, and Helen made major before she got out. Helen was my first commanding officer and is herself a USAFA grad. They are two of the nicest people you will ever meet, and their two little girls are precious. Follow me, and I’ll introduce you.”