Tanaka's world history class, he thought, would be an interesting challenge. David couldn't remember exactly how he qualified for the job, but the vice principal was certainly impressed. The discussion they had about modern history and the Cold War, apparently, sealed the deal. The fact he was American presented some challenges, but those could be rectified.

Standing at the front of the classroom, Yinko spotted a few familiar faces. Nodding ever so slightly at Sophia, David started scribbling on the board in English the following vocabulary:

-Col. John R. Boyd
-OODA Loop
-Vietnam
-EM Theory
-Lt. General Chuck Horner
-Wild Weasel
-HAVE Doughnut
-HAVE Blue
-Red Eagles
-Tom Clancy

-3rd Generation/Maneuver Warfare
-US CENTCOM
-Jedi Knights
-Operation Desert Storm
-Left Hook
-CAP
-Push CAS
-JSTARs
-M1A1 Abrams
-F-117 Nighthawk
-Smart Bomb
-A-10 Warthog
-A/V-8B Harrier II
-F-15E Strike Eagle
-Beyond Visual Range (BVR)

-Saddam Hussein
-Ba'athist Party
-IRAN Contra Scandal
-Iran/Iraq War
-Israel
-Kuwait
-Ground Control Intercept
-SCUD Missile
-Mirage F1
-MiG-23 Flogger
-MiG-25 Foxbat
-MiG-29 Fulcrum
-Chemical Warfare
-Nuclear program

-Saudi Arabia
-KKMC
-Donald Rumsfeld
-Cyberwar vs Netwar
-4th Generation/COIN
-No-Fly Zone
-UN Inspectors


"Good morning, class," David started. He turned to address the group, nodding. "Professor Tanaka will be out due to an... unforeseen event." He wouldn't bother them with the details. "So, I'll be taking over for the next week." Flipping through the notes in his hands, David raised an eyebrow, smiling. "I see we're covering world history. According to Tanaka's notes, we're supposed to start with the beginning of recorded history, but that takes a while. Rather... history is about retaining the experience of the past, and using that to avoid making the same mistakes in the future. You would think that we would actually remember the events of the past, especially the more recent past, but the lessons I hope to share with you will open your eyes to just how... incompetent modern man has become to historic events that happened even within one's own lifetime."

He watched as the students stared back in stunned silence. How could someone make such an accusation, in a history course, of all places?

"It seems suiting, especially how everything in recent Cold War history hits right around August. One of those events, the lead-up to the Gulf War, is a perfect example of what I'm talking about when I say modern man's short memory. For today and the beginning of next week, we'll immerse you in the world of 1991: how the Cold War shaped and changed military strategy, culture, and how those changes impacted the Gulf. There will be an... interesting... in-class project that should last a couple days, and finally, we will wrap up with how recent events and those short memories have led to recurring problems, some we couldn't have foreseen."

He looked back to Sophia, using her as a gauge of the class' attention span.

Sophia’s head turns to the side as David enters. She waves, but she’s obviously confused about his presence. As he writes on the board, it dawns on her that he’s a substitute. It strikes her as odd though since it seems like he probably would hate teaching high schoolers in a mandatory class.

It’s a long vocabulary list. Was that all for this week? She keeps waiting for the list to end, but it takes a while. There was something weird about the idea that her knight was giving her homework… and possibly a lot of homework. However, it also meant that she really couldn’t get anything less than A in this class as it would be incredibly awkward if she did poorly. Alright, it was time for her to buckle down and focus like never before.

The class was off to an odd start as soon as he started talking. The speech was fairly cynical, but she could understand the importance of remembering the past. She writes a message on slip of paper and holds at her face when David glances at her. It reads: Introduce yourself to the class.

Blinking, Yinko squinted at the note held up in Sophia's hand. "Oh, yes," he started. "My apologies. I never did introduce myself. I am Mr. David Rhodes. Others of you... may have another name for me, already." Turning away from Sophia, his face now towards the board, he circled the first fourth of the vocabulary list.

"The way I like to work is simple," he continued. "For those of you who need a passing grade in this class, I'm about to tell you how to succeed without even trying. The vocabulary lists up here are terms you may or may not be familiar with already. Some of you have ideas of what these words mean in reference to our course. Others do not. To make note-taking simple, set a sheet of paper aside, and write down these terms. As you take notes, when you come across the meaning of these words, write it down on the offset paper. That way, you have a quick study guide without having to dig through your notes. The exams I'll be issuing are less about specific dates, times, and people, as they are more about concepts. If you can argue any point, like a wooden stick could let the Mujahiddeen win a decisive victory against Coalition Bradleys and Abrams forming our armored cav, or why a lack of incandescent lightbulbs could be responsible for a social uprising, well, if you can do that intelligently... you can ace this course."

Starting to subdivide the vocabulary list, Yinko turned back to the class.

"Who can tell me the most significant technological development during World War II, and how it relates to our modern era? Bonus points if you can even tell me the significance of August 29th."

In one of the rear seats Kaguya sees David walk in and then sees him writing on the board. She was seeing a lot of terms and it was over head in several levels. A few names here and there but most of it was just a mess to her. Her face went a few shades of grey, as Kaguya was not the sharpest tool in the shed but not the really dull one either. She was in a new school and she wanted to do well, but this was more of a collage level thing then high school. Plus a very high jump from slight ancient history to modern times. She looked around quickly to see if who else was hoodwinked by these turn of events. Several were taken by surprise as this was not something to be expected.

Out of the corner she sees Sophia flashing David a note of some sort and it was something she was not able to see. None the less he adds on to his introduction and the outline on how to pass this week. Kaguya then just keeps herself calm and he opens to the class a question to everyone. She sighs and gets a notebook and a pencil to write with. The pink haired girl in general was not happy with this nor could she get into it since it was just a pure military part of that time. None the less Kaguya was going to take a guess on the question and raises her hand. "I will take a guess that it would be the atomic bomb" she said hoping that it would the right answer.

"Very good, Miss Hoshigane," David answered, nodding. "Out of all the countries that tried to develop a nuclear weapons program, Japan included, America was the first to get their first generation gun-type device, "Little Boy", and their second generation implosion device, "Fat Man", into operation." Oh, he could have gone on for hours about all the ridiculous failures in design, internal security, espionage on the KGB's part, but that didn't fit into the time alotted for the class.

"The point is, the development of the atomic bomb changed everything," David continued. "As soon as the Russians fired off their first successful test on August 29th, 1949, politics, culture, intelligence, everything that a nation state had to do to defend itself and ensure its survival changed. But for all of those changes, until physicists learned how to boost nuclear and thermonuclear weapons with tritium and hydrogen, nuclear bombing was not the massive-scale type of destruction depicted in the media. In fact, Hiroshima and Nagasaki both suffered less damage and casualties than the intense conventional bombing of Tokyo."

He let the thoughts sink in as he worked towards the true subject material.

"The point is, while the atomic bomb changed the way the world thought and fought wars, nuclear weapons as a means of mutually assured destruction or a decisive counter-offensive victory were flawed, because the British and German concept of civilian bombing to win a total war was flawed. Nations, simply speaking, do not surrender or lose when civilians die. In reality, they lose only when their adversary strips away their military might, making negotiation and surrender the only options left on the table. Because of this, and because how the two superpowers of the Cold War armed themselves, a long-existing form of warfare resurfaced to keep even developing countries or non-nation state actors on the same playing field.

"The Gulf War, it's lead up, and the events which occurred afterwards, are truly an example of a shift in trends in warfare, culture, and an end to the industrial nation's believed superiority. As a result, we are studying this war first, and our major project over the course of the next few weeks will be to explore all of the parties involved, their options, and put you in the driver seat. Since you are the future leaders of your nation, you should have an understanding of why things work."

Sophia’s head hits her desk with a thud. Damn, where was the tact?! An American comes in to teach a Japanese classroom, and the first thing he goes over is the atomic bomb. She looks up at David with a slightly embarrassed expression, wondering if he understands the meaning of cultural sensitivity.

She goes back to writing notes on what he says, but keeps the somewhat pained expression. However, she stops as the turn of the conversation turns more ideological. She always knew the two of them held vastly different beliefs on war. Her expression turns a little more upset as the implications of what he says sinks in, and they don’t sit well with her.

Finally, he wraps the up with where he was going. And she’s a little happy to think about class again. Gulf War. Ok. She’s fairly interested in the mysterious project when he mentions it. However, she doesn’t do anything to interfere with his lecturing.

Amarissa was just as surprised as the others to see David in their classroom. She quickly got over that however as he started explaining the situation and what work he wanted done. Amarissa began immediately copying the list down from the board and then started taking notes on his lecture, which she found a bit odd. Off to the side, she made a note to study for his upcoming exams and what he expected. Unlike some of the others, she didn't try and make any small talk or answer questions. The moon senshi did give him a rather nasty look at the mention of the atomic bomb, being a native Japanese she considered it insensitive.

Shaking her head, Amarissa started on a new page and made a rough syllabus of sorts based on what David said his goals were over the next few weeks. That would help her know what to study or focus on and when.

He could see the message wasn't clicking with a number of the students. In particular, Amarissa, Sophia, and Kaguya, people who knew him, who were used to him supporting their pacifist approach to the war, were having a hard time stomaching what he was saying. Perhaps it wasn't the brightest idea to mention nuclear weapons, but if Japan didn't have the stomach for it, they wouldn't have tried to rally the Hiroshima and Nagasaki survivors immediately, and they wouldn't have cheered while dying of fallout when the government lied, claiming they dropped nukes on San Francisco, and Los Angeles.

Nevermind, he thought, that wasn't part of the lesson, and he could always argue the ethics of the native countrymen later.

"The Gulf itself is an interesting story, which we can trace back at least two hundred years, to the very beginning of American involvement in the Middle East. Unlike most nations such as the European powers, who capitulated with the Barbary pirates of North Africa, the Porte of the Ottoman Empire, and used the existing tribal conflicts to help them lay siege and annex territories as their colonies, Americans took a more humanitarian approach. Free citizens volunteering as missionaries to establish schools, provide medical aid, tourism, and promotion of free trade with the intent of educating the Arab populations in the new concepts of nationalism resulted in a mixed bag of results. With the fall of the Ottoman Empire, and the European powers losing their colonial control over the 20th Century, all the checks and balances that kept inter-tribal warfare and long-held conflicts at bay fell apart. Our attempts to promote nationalism and freedom, you could say, were not compatible with these cultures, causing various revolutions and a destabilized Egypt, the Ba'athist party coming to power and crushing the Kurdish resistance in brutal genocides in Iraq, or the overthrow of the Shah and installment of Khomeini's regime in Iran. These in turn led to America's response and partnership with Saudi Arabia to stabilize the Gulf."

Turning towards a flat screen monitor on an A/V cart wheeled in from the supply room, David searched along the buttons of the DVD player. The disc was a hard episode to find, but it was one of the better documentaries on the war. Sliping the disc in, David fiddled with the fluorescent overhead lighting until he found an adequate balance of light and dark as the screen flickered to life. Peter Jennings' face appeared, as did Tom Brokaw, and a number of commentators. It was only as the screen changed to a night vision horizon shot of Israel, the anti-aircraft fire sweeping in long arcs, that he noticed the students refocusing their attention.

"Please take as many notes as you can. The subtitles may be hard to read, so those who can fluently translate from English, I encourage you to help your fellow students."

Part of the troubles of having a class in English was there were going to be a few people who didn’t understand. She wonders a little whether David can speak Japanese or is just sort of so-so at it. And she’s also a little curious where he ended up finding this DVD though. Occasionally, it was hard to even get more popular things from the US, so a documentary like this would probably require greater searching. Later, she’d find out what his sources were for movies and such.

As soon as David suggests a translator though, Sophia starts. She simultaneously provides a Japanese translation with very little pauses like a professional interpreter. However, she always had a natural ear for language. Oddly enough, she can even multitask while doing, writing down notes occasionally. In truth, she finds being an interpreter as helpful for remembering what is covered.