Taking Chance Page #2

Hey, Henry.

How you doin'?

Colonel...

whenever you're ready.

- Will you do me a favor?

- Sure.

- Let the family know

we're thinking of them.

- Will do.

You're a good man, Rich.

- Thanks.

- Be safe.

All right. See ya.

Attention, passengers.

Increased security measures...

Welcome to Northwest Airlines.

ID, please.

I have a voucher.

He's the military escort.

I'll check him in.

I've booked you through to Billings,

but you can get your bags off

in Minneapolis tonight.

I upgraded you to first class

all the way to Billings.

Thanks.

Appreciate that.

Thank you for your service.

Thanks again.

Belt, shoes,

laptop in a separate bin.

All metal out of your pockets.

Sir, your bag needs to go through.

Yeah, you can wand this bag, but

it can't go through the x-ray machine.

Please don't tell me

how to do my job.

The bag can't go through.

Well, it's your call.

It's gonna take you longer.

Bag check, male.

Sir, I need you to remove your jacket

and place it in the bin.

I can't remove the jacket.

You can hand-check me.

- Is there a supervisor around?

- Not right here.

Remove your jacket.

It needs to go through the machine.

I will not remove this jacket

and denigrate this uniform.

You have a lot of metal on your jacket.

It needs to go through the machine.

Take me to a private room

and wand me there.

Turn around, please.

- Excuse me, sir. Are you the escort?

- Yes.

- How you doing?

- All right.

- I need to get down

to the tarmac to watch loading.

- Sure.

- So where you from?

- Colorado originally.

It's a long time

since I've been there.

- You?

- All over.

My old man was career air force,

so we moved around a lot.

- How was that?

- It was all right.

I actually kind of miss it

now that I'm settled here.

We're gonna wait right here.

He's coming around.

Yeah, the moving around is kind of cool

when you're single, and then...

you get married, have kids,

it's a other deal.

You do this escort stuff, mostly?

Me? No, I...

I work in a cubicle.

- I volunteered for this one.

- It must be hard.

- I need to verify.

- Yeah, go ahead.

- You can stand right here if you want.

- Thanks.

- 2A?

- It's right down on your right, sir.

Excuse me. Thank you.

Can I get you something to drink?

Jack daniels rocks, please.

- And for you, sir?

- Water, thank you.

What's the matter?

You on duty or something?

Yes, I am.

Excuse me, sir?

I want you to have this.

It'll be a couple of minutes.

Sorry about the delay.

We're waiting on a conveyor.

But we're gonna get

all the luggage off first,

then we'll remove the remains.

I'd like to keep him separate

from the baggage, if that's possible.

That's the plan. We're not gonna

move him with the rest of the luggage.

All right.

Sounds good.

You know, there's another escort

here from dover.

- I've seen a lot of you guys lately.

- Excuse me.

Evening.

Evening, sir. I wasn't expecting

to see you here.

I got a connecting flight.

How's your trip going so far?

It's been fine.

It's weird though, sir.

They all know,

like, without me telling anyone.

Both at Philadelphia

and so far here in Minneapolis.

I guess they figured it out

by the uniforms.

Yeah, you know,

I've had the same thing,

which is...

okay, because I'm not

really interested in explaining it.

It looks like yours

is coming out now.

Present... Arms!

Order... Arms!

When you're ready, we'll go over to the

cargo warehouse and get everything set.

Yeah, okay. Just give me a minute.

I still need to verify.

So what's your

destination, sergeant?

I'm headed to rochester.

It's about 90 miles from here.

My family is meeting us there.

Are you related to

the deceased, son?

Yes, sir.

He's my brother.

Present... Arms!

Order... Arms!

Well, you... Take care of

yourself, son.

Thank you, sir.

You too.

So he can just, stay here all night?

- Yeah.

- There's no need to move him?

Don't worry.

No one's going near him.

When you're ready, we have a taxi

waiting to take you to your hotel.

Actually, I tell you, if I could

just get a chair, i'm all set.

I really don't want

to leave him here alone.

You want to sleep in here?

I need to check with my supervisor.

I'm not sure we're allowed to do that.

Could you?

I know it's late,

but I'd really appreciate it.

I had this in my jeep.

It should be a little

more comfortable than that chair.

Thanks.

- Thanks, I appreciate that.

- Take care.

Good night.

I heard we were

carrying remains today.

- You must be the escort.

- Mike Strobl.

- Tom garrett.

- How you doing, Tom?

Where'd you get that

combat action ribbon?

Desert Storm.

I was flying an A-10

in Desert Storm.

Man, we tore it up over there.

You guys were good.

I was a lieutenant, artillery battalion,

first marine division.

You've been...

back this time around?

No, I'm a numbers cruncher now.

I analyze manpower at Quantico.

Well, I guess you saw

enough action in Kuwait?

No, not so much.

I tell you,

I really miss it some days.

Excuse me.

Thank you.

Thank you.

- Annie.

- Mike.

I guess we're travel mates

for the next few hours.

I have tons of magazines.

I'm happy to share.

Thank you.

HOT SOLDIER SITTING

NEXT TO ME ON PLANE

It's marine, actually.

How embarrassing.

It's okay.

Trust me,

you're a breath of fresh air.

I can't believe how fast you get

with your thumbs on those things.

I have a lot to say.

Welcome to Billings, folks.

I'm going to ask that you

remain seated for a moment.

During this flight,

I've had the honor of carrying

the remains of a fallen marine.

I'm going to inconvenience you

for a few moments

while the escort

disembarks the plane.

- I didn't know. I'm so sorry.

- As you go about your day,

- keep the family in your thoughts.

- It's okay.

Thanks for the company.

Well, I'm off to Cheyenne.

- Thanks for the smooth flying.

- You bet.

What was his name, your marine?

PFC Chance Phelps.

Chance Phelps.

I know the name of every KIA

I've ever carried.

You take care of yourself.

Thanks. You too.

I'm Gary

- from Rafferty's funeral home.

- Gary, Mike Strobl.

It's a real honor to meet you, sir.

I've got a hearse.

It's ready to go.

We should get started as soon as we can.

We've got a long drive ahead of us.

Took me over five hours

to get up here this morning.

I didn't know Chance real well.

I've known his dad for years.

I'm glad he's finally home.

- You must be Major Thompson.

- Yes, sir. Mike Thompson

from I&I 223 down in Salt Lake City.

- Good to meet you, Major.

- Sir.

- I guess you've had a hell of a week?

- Yes, sir.

Sergeant Burton and I drove

all night to get up here on Saturday.

We notified the mother

at zero-two on saturday morning.

I tell you, sir,

I hope to never go through that again.

- So how's the family doing?

- Well, sir, it's kind of hard to say.

Sometimes I think

they're doing OK, but then...

You know. It's hard to say.

- How are you doing?

- I'm okay.

It's just been a long week, sir.

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