"Anderson!"
I turned toward the voice, it was soft and yet commanding. Walking towards me was Lieutenant Richard Grimm, his last name rather fitting. His humor was dark and he generally was the bearer of bad news.
"Sir," I said, saluting before shaking his hand. "How are you?"
"Those fucking retards running this shit show wouldn't know their own ass from a hole in the ground. But enough about me, listen, I have a job for you and your men," he said.
Giving him my best Darth Vader impression I said "what is thy bidding, master?"
He laughed, taking it in stride, "I need you guys to run convoy security. Nothing too serious, they just requested a bit of support."
"Not a problem sir, what's the cargo?"
"Medical supplies for the field hospital in ramadi. 3rd battalion, 8th marines are holding the western end of downtown and have set up a casualty collection point, their supplies have run low and we need some security on them.
"Insurgents have been hitting them hard, trying to take back the city. Get the convoy there and resupply with the Army before coming back."
"Will do sir, do you expect any resistance?" I asked.
"As always, you may run into light resistance along the route, don't stop unless absolutely necessary. We don't need these supplies being lost," He said, emphasising not stopping.
"Roger that sir, we'll get it done."
"Good, the convoy leaves here in three hours. I'll see you back here later, good luck."
"Thank you sir," I said, saluting before we parted ways.
--
Rolling down the long, dusty desert highway, we were several hours into our trip. I was in the lead vehicle with Tyler as my driver and several other Marines in the back.
"This place fucking sucks," Tyler said, watching the road intently. "Why do we always get drafted for convoy duty? Don't they have other chucklefucks who can handle this?"
"I'll tell you why Tyler, we are the best chucklefucks this side of the Euphrates," I told him. He laughed at my sentiments, knowing I was right.
Suddenly, a white smoke trail came from behind a boulder in a dense palm grove on the right side of the road, about 300 feet from the highway. I watched the trail from the rocket fly past us and heard the explosion as it hit the truck carrying some of the supplies.
Tyler turned us hard right and nearly drove us into the ditch that ran along the side of the road for drainage. I could hear brakes squealing as the other vehicles avoided what I thought was the smoking ruin of the second truck.
As soon as Tyler turned the wheel, I was in the radio. "RPG! right side, 400 yards up behind the rocks! They're in the palm grove!"
The radio came alive as the down truck called for assistance, the other vehicles set up a perimeter as best they could and moved to help their fellow Marines. Tyler and I, along with the two in the back seat, Jameson and Williams, all got out while our gunner, Jackson manned the .50 cal.
"Tyler, Williams, Jameson, on me! Push forward and take them down. Watch your fields of fire. Jackson, cover us!" I yelled as we ran towards the launch point.
"Aye aye Sergeant!" Was all that was needed.
We saw two armed insurgents running from the boulder away from us, I slowed my run and took aim.
"Sergeant, our rules of engagement says.." Jameson was saying before I cut him off.
"Fuck the ROE, I'll take the heat for it. Burn those two!"
The bark of M-16 fire came sharply and without hesitation, being drowned out by the thumping of the .50 moments later. Both targets went down quickly, falling like ragdolls to the intense fire.
"Clear the area and check 'em!" I called after the shooting had stopped.
-----
I sat up in bed, breathing heavily and cursing the gods for my dreams once again. Becky shifted slightly and I couldn't help but look at her. The lights from the parking lot cast a yellowish glow around the closed curtains, barely illuminating her as she slept. I pulled the covers over her shoulder and smiled, knowing she was falling for me.
I looked at the clock and sighed, ten more minutes until the alarm was going to go off. I slowly got out of bed and went to relieve myself. When I got back, I started packing as quietly as possible. I put my uniform back on the hangers and slid them in my garment bag, then put my hat and shoes in their boxes and packet them in my duffle bag, padding them with clothes.
The alarm clock chimed and Becky slowly sat up, wiping the sleep from her eyes. She clicked on the light and smiled at me.
"Morning sunshine," she said, yawning after she said it.
"Morning beautiful. How did you sleep?"
"Like a baby, you?"
"Not so well."
"Bad dreams again?"
"Not necessarily bad, just unwanted."
She got out of bed, heading for the bathroom. She stopped and kissed me on the cheek, wrapping her arms around my waist and holding me there for a moment.
"We will figure out how to stop these dreams, I promise," she said as she let me go and went to shower.
I finished packing, laid out clothes for her and myself, then went to brush my fangs. I had just finished when she walked out of the bathroom, stark naked.
"God damn, I could look at you all day," I said, gazing longingly at her perfect curves.
"I know, but we have a plane to catch. Hurry up," she said heading for her clothes.
The flight home was uneventful, I slept most of the way, waking up as we descended. We got back to my house around 4 in the evening. Carl had started dinner so we ate and talked about California, telling him of the bar and how I made that big fucker piss himself.
Becky left shortly after, having to work the next day. She kissed me goodbye and we parted ways. My dreams were good that night, Becky occupied most of them.
----
A few weeks later, I walked into to control room at work, greeting my board operator and heading for the locker room to get changed. I put on my blue coveralls, my radio harness and clipped my gloves to my pocket. I picked up my yellow hard hat and my pipe wrenches, looked at myself in the mirror quickly before heading outside to the shelter.
I couldn't help but laugh. Our blue coveralls and yellow hard hats made us look like minions from Despicable Me. I walked over to the guy I was relieving, greeting him as warmly as I could at 5:30 AM.
"Morning Bill, anything interesting?" I asked. Bill had been with the company for 12 years, and boy did he show every bit of it. His face was tired and a bit thin, not helping to hide his 41 years of age. His hair was kept short and showed quite a bit of grey in it.
"Nope, no changes," he said. He sounded tired and the bags under his eyes told me I was right.
"Alright man, get outta here and get some sleep."
"See you tonight," he said as he collected his things and went to change.
I decided to take a quick stroll through my plant, just to make sure everything was OK before our morning meeting. I put on my hard hat, stuck my pipe wrenches in my back pocket and headed across the street.
I headed towards the two furnaces that marked the start of my plant. One of them heated incoming feed while the other was a reboiler, reheating the distillation column bottoms to get more lighter stuff to rise up the column.
I walked down pump row, checking oil levels and seals for any leaks before topping off the oil in my large compressor, then headed inside for the morning meeting.
As usual, the night shift had gone quietly, with everyone getting a 'no changes' turnover. I did my rounds and pulled samples to send to the lab for quality control testing before taking a break, checking my phone and finding a message from Becky.
From Becky:
Hey good lookin
To Becky:
Hello my temptress
From Becky:
I need a favor, can I call you?
To Becky:
Sure
My phone rang a minute later.
"Hey," I said, knowing it was Becky.
"Hey."
"So, what's this favor?"
"OK, so my kid sister Courtney is having a ceremony at school to honor the seniors who have decided to join the military. Every branch has solid representation, except the Marines. Only one kid has signed up, and he also happens to be dating Courtney. I was wondering if, as a surprise for him and her, you could get some of your Marines together to show up in your blues and show him he isn't alone."
"When is this thing?"
"Three weeks from Friday."
"Let me make some calls. I can definitely get Tyler and Ryan, but I'll have to work on others."
"Thank you sweetheart, it would mean a lot to me."
"No problem darlin, I gotta go, but I'll make some calls."
"OK, thanks, bye."
I hung up and thought about what she wanted. I guess I'd have to bring out the old drill manual. I called Tyler and Ryan, filled them in and asked them to take two days of leave on Thursday and Friday. I called several other people I knew, but nobody could help me.
I called Tyler back.
"Sup dude," he answered.
"Hey, what's the battery office number?"
"Why?" His tone gave away his nervousness.
"I need you to bring your whole gun section. I'm going to talk to the CO and ask him to get you all leave for the two days."
"OK, I'll text it to you."
We hung up and he sent me the number. I called the CO and explained the situation, asking him to help me out. He granted them all leave on one condition, I had to get him a copy of the video.
I went to talk to the school principal on Monday morning, telling him my plan and making sure be was OK with us being there. These days, you can't just walk onto school property anymore. He gave me his blessings and promised to keep it a secret.
Tyler and his gun crew all flew in on Wednesday night. I picked them up at the airport in a van I rented for the weekend so everyone would fit in one vehicle. We hit the bar and got them put up in a hotel for the weekend.
Then next day was uniforms, all day long. Besides me and Tyler, there was one other noncommissioned officer, a Corporal. The other five men were a mixture of Lance Corporals, PFC's and a Private. We went out to dinner with Becky and Carl after our uniforms were squared away.
Friday morning came and we all got dressed at the hotel, checking each other to make sure we looked our best. We loaded in the van and parked by the gym, milling about and going over the moves one last time. The doors to the gym were open so we could hear the principal speaking.
He talked about the meaning of such commitment as these young people were making and about how proud he was of them. He called their names as he handed them a plaque, which each accepted to a round of applause. As he went through the list, the vice principal gave me a wireless mic that sat on my ear like a Bluetooth. When he got to the final name, he stopped, allowing me to click on the mic.
"Detail, attention!" I said, hearing myself inside. The students when completely silent.
"Right," I looked at the men formed up in a line, "face!"
In one motion, they rotated on their feet and clicked their heels together again. A perfect execution.
"Forward, march!"
