Image by Quang Nguyen vinh from Pixabay
“When you get up at reveille, you do not have civilian problems. When you get up before reveille, you do not have military problems either.”
Capt. R.E. Ludlow smiled as he noticed his equally early-rising neighbor Sgt. Trent already out on the porch putting on coffee in his robe – the sergeant's eldest son was allergic to coffee, so the sergeant graciously brought his coffee maker outside where the morning wind blew around his home and thus away from it.
It had taken Capt. Ludlow a long time to realize it, but Sgt. Trent reminded Capt. Ludlow of his first captain, big, calm Capt. B.R. Smith, who had taught his lieutenants to get up even before it was required because of the extra solution time that gave them.
Like Capt. Smith, Sgt. Trent seemed not to have any problems in life – he had put a failed marriage back together like that was just what you do in the springtime, and even was achieving the unattainable for most men: having another grown man living in the house with him. Melvin Trent, that same eldest son, was 21, and NYU was closed for the pandemic, so Sgt. Trent had brought him to the Veteran's Lodge with him.
The two men related with deep respect, the son honoring the father, the father honoring the adult son, and both concerned with their own affairs but deeply supportive of each other and their family, running two completely separate businesses out of one rented home and each contributing to the rent.
This had caught the attention of Capt. Ludlow's eldest grandson, ten-year-old Andrew, who had once shocked his grandfather by coming out of their home with Bible in hand, staring at the two adult Trent men.
“I get it!” he said with a look of wonder on his face. “This is how God the Father and God the Son get along and get stuff done, and share the same Godhead – it's like Sgt. Trent and young Mr. Melvin!”
Capt. Ludlow had jumped a country mile in the air – to his own estimation, at least – because he was still getting used to seeing the image of God in men of darker hue. But Andrew, being ten and not raised as a racist, had no such problems, and even “caught” his grandfather on the way down, wrapping his arms around him.
“When I get to be a young man, I pray we can be like that, because I'd like us to know how that is, Papa!”
This had rocked the captain's world in terms of the opportunities of his old age with four grandsons, while his neighbors went right on about their business like they had neither seen nor heard anything next door... but God Himself observed all that He did not address immediately, and in like manner, so did the Trent father and son.
In retrospect, Capt. Ludlow recognized the confidence that Sgt. Trent expressed constantly as a man … calm faith in God and calm confidence that whatever came, he was or would be equipped to find a solution for it. Sgt. Trent got up earlier than any problems in his life … and so did Capt. B.R. Smith, who his lieutenants, once trained to waking at the time he wanted, would often hear praying as they came from their sleep.
What this also meant as a practical matter for Capt. Ludlow, on the day in which he would take one of most important drives into Big Loft of his life, was that he never drove in traffic, ever. Rush hour was always behind him, because …
“When you get up at reveille, you do not have civilian problems. When you get up before reveille, you do not have military problems either.”
“And with my temperament being what it is,” the captain mused as he poured his own coffee, “lives civilian and military are saved by every minute I'm not in gridlock, including my own! Hell to Pay Ludlow in daily traffic – neither he nor the world are prepared!”
Sgt. Trent found an extra bag of the Ludlow Roast on his front porch that day with a thank-you note for being the most inspiring father Capt. Ludlow had ever met, and old Capt. B.R. Smith, 84 years old, hale, and hearty, soon received a signed photograph of Ludlow Unit 2.0: the captain, his second wife, and his grandchildren, along with a heartfelt letter of thanks.
Capt. Smith's wife found her husband laughing uproariously.
“I always knew Ludlow would get it together!” he cried. “My commanders told me, 'Smith, you are going to live a long, long time' – well, here I am, and I was right!”