Sisters In Arms (Part One)

“Barbie Boot Camp” is the term that most flight attendants use for the training that precedes becoming an official employee of the airline. It lasts anywhere from four to nine weeks and the type of curriculum covered during the training depends on the type aircraft, services and flying the airline performs.

DiAnne was a California girl. Blonde, beautiful, outgoing with a sultry smile and stride, she made everything look so easy. I met her the first night of orientation. Her flip flops, jeans and tousled hair were in stark comparison to what I was wearing, dress shirt and pants with heels. There were only a few of us in the conference room of the hotel and she struck up a conversation with me right away. Instantaneously I made a judgment, “I have nothing in common with you!” As the weeks progressed I realized how wrong I was . . . If not for DiAnne, I would have never gotten through so many things in my life, including the dreaded “Barbie Boot Camp.” The first day of classes was overwhelming. On the outside I was calm, cool and collected but on the inside I was full of trepidation. I watched DiAnne and her easy, breezy exterior was so magnetic. I decided to “hook my wagon” to this interesting, seemingly successful woman. DiAnne also attracted another follower, Terri, and then there were three. We clung together through this vigorous, mentally and physically draining, training experience and formed a makeshift study group. The bonds deepened with every passing grade and training exercise. We used humor and prayer to make it through each day.

Fast forward several weeks, stress, fatigue, and fear dominate your existence in this place. Emergency drills, oral and written exams based on memorization and endless classroom hours and homework take their toll. All exams must be passed with a 90% or higher. Each emergency drill must be performed with no errors. The drop out and failure rate is around 40%. One night I decided I couldn’t make it. I packed up my stuff, handed my study materials to Terri and said I was leaving. I walked to the lobby. DiAnne discovered I was leaving. She found me. She asked why. I was done, defeated and didn’t believe I could make it. “Oh. . .” floated out of her with such compassion, care and concern, yet at the same time it felt like “It’s O.K. . . We are going to make it together.” She said, “This is going to be easy. Put your stuff away and meet me. I got this next test. I have a formula!” I believed her. She was so convincing. I didn’t find out until after graduation that she made it all up. She didn’t have a “formula”. She just could not let me quit! She loved me and saw greatness in me. She was not willing to let me go out in defeat.

Years later, we still laugh uncontrollably at the way she tricked me into staying with the program. In fact, when we are together, in person or on the phone, we mostly just laugh, at the horrific, the absurd, the pain, the good fortune, whatever. She is one person whose voice can cause me to break into the giggles of a little girl. She stills travels all over the world as a flight attendant and when she picks up the phone and we talk, her adventures become mine. My problems and cares become hers. Her romance and trials become mine. My decisions and defects are met with her depth of experience and character. Her friendship is priceless and enduring and I consider her a “Sister In Arms”. My life would have a certain void without her.

That is what a “Sister In Arms” does for you. She fights for you and along side of you. She lays down her life for you, and helps you laugh at the battles you are in and have overcome. This is just the first part of my series on this subject. “Brothers In Arms” is not just a song by Dire Straits about the famous 101st Airborne and their experience on D-Day on the beaches of Normandy, but it is a metaphor for how life ought to be lived. Battles should never be fought alone. Victories should never be celebrated in isolation. We, men and women were designed and destined to find definition in community with each other.

Dire Straits
Brothers In Arms

These mist covered mountains
Are a home now for me
But my home is the lowlands
And always will be
Some day you'll return to
Your valleys and your farms
And you'll no longer burn
To be brothers in arm

Through these fields of destruction
Baptism of fire
I've watched all your suffering
As the battles raged higher
And though they did hurt me so bad
In the fear and alarm
You did not desert me
My brothers in arms

There's so many different worlds
So many different suns
And we have just one world
But we live in different ones

Now the sun's gone to hell
And the moon's riding high
Let me bid you farewell
Every man has to die
But it's written in the starlight
And every line on your palm
We're fools to make war
On our brothers in arms