Now formally over, Nam no longer raged.
Yet fifty young men sat in front of a stage.
No draft to force them and no call to flee.
They chatted and laughed without anxiety.
Sometime, in the future, someone would stand|and deliver the oath to a sea of right hands.

Suddenly, stage left, some women arrived,
were herded down steps, and stood to the side.
Chris turned to his left and told his friend, Ed,
“That girl there, in brown. That girl I will wed.”
“Uh, no, I don’t think so, you can’t, don’t you see?
You’re betrothed to the Army — ‘twould be bigamy.”

Basic was over, tech training was now.
Chris saw her again, near the mess hall for chow.
He lined up behind her. To speak was his plan.
Her eyes gazed upon him; he turned tail and ran.
“I warned you, this Army protects all her troops.
That’s the sole reason we are always in groups.”

Ed was correct since they hung out in teams.
Split up by gender, well, that’s what it seems.
Outside class, Rose was never far from her herd
but within Chris displayed speech of more than one word.
“Your hearts will be broken if you don’t stop,” Ed said.
“I’ve told you, forget her, it’s the Army you’ve wed.”

Nearby Rose sat with her chin in her hand
and heard her pal, May, make the selfsame demand.
“Rose, you should stay focused on why you are here.
Liberty, good friends, and an awesome career.”
“It’s true that I fled from a subordinate life,
for a freer existence, not that of a wife.”

But, training was hard yet two like minds emerged
wildly successful despite what their friends urged.
They shared more than circuits, waveforms, and schematics.
They shared parts of their pasts, both calm and traumatic.
As the days passed, Chris was tongue-tied no more
and Rose found an ally and peace to her core.

It’s a thing about armies. Their rumor mills thrive.
The air beats with rumors like bees’ wings in a hive.
Plus some things are secret but are told without thought
by folks who know better and don’t hush when they ought.
It was no shock to any the school had a mole|and, she reported, this class was headed to Seoul.

“I won’t be there with you, my contract is clear.
I’ll be checking out Europe, the brats, and the beer.”
Chris’s announcement took the whole class by storm
but Rose overreacted and fled to her dorm.
“I’ve just learned to trust you,” she said with a moan.
“And that’s when you tell me I’m going alone?”

“We’ve talked about so much, these last several weeks.
Mostly electronics, like a couple of geeks.
While, yes, I may love you and you might love me.
We need time to know whether we can be We
and whether that ‘we’ meets the goals of our boss,
a critical player in the global ethos.”

And so they decided to give ‘them’ a shot
and see what decisions the class and life brought.
They spent time together both in school and out,
to strengthen each truth and debate every doubt.
They had time on their side and soon they would see.
Whether each would stay ‘me’ or could they become ‘we.’