Author's Note: I tried to limit the military jargon but some was inevitable to help the flow of the story. Also, this is a work of fiction!
*****
The man across from me barely raised an eyebrow at my anger. I'd served with Capt. Lohman long enough to know when he would and when he wouldn't change his mind. This situation quickly looked like it fell into the latter category.
"Gunz, I know you're ready, that's not the damn point! You've been wounded three times out here and I don't need you pushing your luck anymore!"
"Are you kidding me? I know I've been hurt but there are some guys who've been hurt a lot worse than me."
Captain Lohman stared at me through tired bloodshot eyes. He'd gotten little sleep for three days while we'd been out on a mission and while he thought highly of me most of the time, I could tell I was getting on his last nerve. This was confirmed a second later when he used my full name, you know it's never good when a senior uses your full name and rank.
"Gunnery Sergeant Jason Hunter, why are you so determined to go outside the wire anyway? Haven't you seen enough action? You starting to get a death wish on me? I don't need you becoming a liability."
"I don't have a death wish, but I'm out here, what the hells the point of my being here if I can't leave base?"
Frustrated, I put my hand on the M-4 slung muzzle down over my shoulder, the cool metal stock and faint smell of gunpowder calmed and reassured me. Anger would do me no good here, clearing my throat I said.
"Look sir, I don't have a death wish or am I a combat junkie, but I'm here, this is what I signed up to do and I'll be damned if I'm going to turn tail just because I got hurt. There must be something I can do. If you won't let me leave the wire on missions, let me protect convoys or something. I just don't want to come to the opposite side of the world and get benched halfway through the game."
Running his fingers through his short-cropped hair, "You're bound and determined to make my life hell aren't you?" he asked dryly as he slumped his head.
Sensing victory, "Well it's not a particular goal, but I admit it does have entertainment value!" I replied.
"Fine, I'll give you your wish, you can do guard duty for EOD, those crazy bastards are always leaving base and having to go detonate IED's. They need someone experienced to keep them safe while they do their jobs."
"Guard duty for EOD," I replied hesitantly.
Lohman could tell I was dubious, "Gunny, I respect that you want to go right back out, but this is coming from higher. Now I can sidestep a little and have you do guard duty, but I can't let you back out with the company. At least not right now, maybe in a month or so we'll look at the situation again, ok?"
"Good enough sir, who am I protecting?"
Shuffling through the paperwork on his desk, "It looks like we just got a transfer from Camp Leatherneck, a Sergeant Erik Mendes. You'll be running him around and making sure he doesn't get shot. We have him staying at the H7 barracks, so link up and become his new best friend."
"All right sir, consider it done."
*****
Base Delaram II in Afghanistan was having an unusually nice day for March, with light cloud cover and a slight breeze the temperature was perfect. I huffed a little as I double timed it down to the barracks. I was slightly annoyed at how fast I was breathing, three weeks ago I had been too close to an RPG that exploded during a firefight and had been sent flying to smash through the brick wall of a nearby hut. I'd taken some shrapnel in the leg and had been laid up since. Without any chance to exercise I could practically feel my muscles weakening, I needed to get back into the gym and workout before I would be back in my customary shape.
Our base was big but due to drawdowns, it only housed a few hundred. I reached the barracks quickly. The barracks were wooden rooms built in rows, they were back to back, and were 15x8 feet large. Each had a skylight and a front shuttered window. I found the H7 room and knocked, nothing, after a minute I knocked again. Frustrated at no answer I tried the door, locked. Just then another Marine walked by.
"Hey, you seen Sgt. Mendes?"
"At the gym PTing gunny."
"Thanks," I replied and took off toward the gym.
Walking across the compound I felt hope, maybe this wouldn't be a bad assignment. If Mendes liked the gym we could work out together on downtime. I opened the door and felt a blast of cold air as I entered the building. The smell of sweat, chalk and gym assailed me. I saw an M4 lying on the weapons rack next to the front counter. It always made me smile, the difference between military and civilian lives. We both went to the gym, but in the Marine Corps you have to take your weapon everywhere you go. I loved being deployed!
The gym was slow for this time of day, most people were out enjoying the good weather and playing basketball or running. I saw a few Navy Medics that I knew in the corner lifting free weights. The only other person I saw was a female in small black spandex shorts and a pink Underarmour tank top doing squats in front of a mirror. I stopped to admire her "form" for a few seconds, her chest was straining her top and every time she bent down I had an excellent view of her very tight butt, she had muscular thighs and was toned. Her dark black hair was tied in a thick ponytail that went hallway down her back, she looked Hispanic.
After watching her complete a set I scanned the gym more thoroughly, not seeing Sgt. Mendes I walked over to the female.
"Hey, you seen a Sgt. Mendes here by any chance? I need to find him."
Catching her breath, she turned to face me, her dark brown eyes were intense as she replied. "You got to find HIM huh?"
Frowning, I scanned the room again, failing to miss the subtle influence on the word "him." I replied offhandedly, "Yeah, I'm his new babysitter, I need to make sure when he goes off base he doesn't do anything unsat like get himself killed." Turning back to her I smiled, trying to impress her. With my dark eyes and athletic body, I knew women found me attractive and I figured a little flirting would be fun.
She'd stopped sipping her water, her eyes narrowed "Yeah, what makes you think you can stop that from happening?"
"As long as he's not an idiot I can help him, and if he is an idiot, then I just need to make sure that he doesn't... uhm, get somebody... ahh, else killed too." My voice trailed off as I saw her posture change, her arms crossed, her foot began to tap and her smile disappeared.
"Oh shit." I said as I realized my mistake. "Erik?"
"It's Erika! They made a mistake on my paperwork! So glad you'll be around to keep me safe, I hope I'm not too stupid to keep from getting me or you killed."
"Uh... o damn... look... uhmmm...." I tried to talk as she marched away.
"I'm gonna go take a shower now," she said. I followed her out of the gym and back to her room, she opened her door, grabbed some shower gear and began to march toward the showers.
"Look," she said as we walked. "I get that you don't want this duty, why don't I go ask for someone else to take care of me, I wouldn't want my stupidity to be a burden." She reached the showers opened the door and turned to face me. "Ok?" She turned her back to me and slammed the door.
Damn! Sighing inwardly, I thought about how bad I fucked up. I really didn't want my CO to give me grief over this, he'd given me a chance to do something other than work in the main office doing useless paperwork. I needed to make this work, I decided to wait around and see if I could repair this relationship.
Twenty minutes later Mendes opened up the door and found me standing there. Pausing she arched an eyebrow at me.
"Uhmm ok, that was a huge mistake on my part," I rushed to speak so she wouldn't interrupt me.
"I was trying to impress a pretty girl with how tough and badass I am and I sounded like an ass. I can't even talk about other people's stupidity, I've been wounded three times in the past six months and now they won't let me leave the wire on missions with my platoon. I don't want to be in Afghanistan and feel useless, so I'm really freaking out about not being able to work with you. I'm really sorry for implying you were stupid."