Wings Over Germany

It was one hell of a hot day in Basrah. 'This sure as hell isn't what I signed up for' I thought to myself as I radioed in that all was calm and there was nothing out of the ordinary happening. Since I'd gotten out of basic and gone to Security Police School in Texas, that's all that seemed to be happening. I looked around and gripped my M4 carbine, felt the plastic of the pistol grip and the forearm handle, it gave me comfort to know that I had earned my expert marksman ribbon in basic, and that if anyone wanted to point his weapon at me, he'd have two in the chest and one in the head before he could even register that I had pointed my weapon at him.

All of a sudden, my partner, Garrett, whom I had only known for a few days, screamed that there were insurgents with RPGs heading our way.

"Son of a bitch," I said, more to myself than to him. "Tango 6 this is A1C Hoyt, Airman Garrett has spotted insurgents headed this way, requesting a lot of back up. Over."

"Roger that, Hoyt. Did he say how many insurgents? Over."

"Negative, Six, he did not, but I'm assuming quite a few, he seemed pretty freaked out. Over."

"Alright, Hoyt. Stay put, and prepare yourself as best you can. We'll send a machine gun and a Humvee to your location. Over."

"Roger that, Six. Solidifying our position. Out."

The next few things happened so fast that I'm surprised that I even remember them. I heard an automatic rifle pop off about 8 shots in quick succession. I also heard Garrett's screams. I heard one final shot. Garrett was silent after that. I knew that I had not much time before they decided that he couldn't be alone. I equipped my red dot scope, and waited for them to come through the door.

The first came through the door, and I dropped him. It continued like that for as long as they continued to come at me like that. Finally, they got smart and chucked a grenade into the room where I was. I took cover behind an overturned table. The worst of the blast was absorbed by the table. A few little pieces of metal hit me in the hand. It twinged, but I was ok. I put my carbine on fully automatic. The next time they tried to enter the room, there were 4 of them. They obviously had no idea how to clear a room, since they all came in in a straight line, and I mowed them down with a 15 round burst. That finished off my clip.

I was in the middle of changing my clip when I heard a sound that can only be described as beautiful. The sound of a .50 cal machine gun come to save my ass. One of the insurgents was in the same boat as me, and as I came out from behind the table, he blasted me at least 3 times.

As I lay on the floor bleeding, Staff Sergeant Jones and A1C Matthews came around the corner and lit up the guy who had lit me up. They started to try to patch me up, and get me back to base.

----------------------------

The next thing I remember after seeing Jones and Matthews standing over me, was waking up in a hospital on the base in Basrah. I looked around as best I could through the morphine, I saw a few other people lying in the ward with me. Two of them were, I assumed, victims of an ambush, maybe they were in a convoy, since both of them had a limb missing. One was missing his leg from the knee down, the other was missing his hand. I looked around some more and noticed that I had a call button. So I pressed it.

As I laid there, a young nurse came into the room and introduced herself as Senior Airman Johnson, and that I was Airman First Class Hoyt, and that she was pleased to see that I was awake.

"How long has it been since I was shot?", I asked, afraid of the answer.

"About thirty-six hours. You'll make a full recovery. You're lucky. The insurgent that shot you was using some old 9mm submachine gun, and was using full metal jacket bullets. Penetrated pretty deep, but stopped before they exited you, so we were able to get all three of them."

"What's gonna happen now, am I being discharged, or just sent to Germany or somewhere for rest?"

"I don't honestly know, Airman. I wish I could tell you. I know that your family will be happy to know that you're okay."

"Oh, Jesus Christ, I didn't even think of them! Do they even know that I was shot!?", I had totally forgotten about my family back in Kansas City. I really did feel guilty about not asking where they were.

"They know, and we'll be telling them today that you'll be okay. I suggest that you get some more rest, the pain must be unbearable." I really hadn't focused on the pain yet, but it was suddenly very evident. I really did need rest, so I nodded and said, "Yeah, I guess so. Good night. If you hear what's going to be done with me, please don't hesitate to wake me."

"Okay. Now you get some rest."

"Yes, ma'am." and I turned over and fell right to sleep.

---------------------------

"Airman? Airman Hoyt, can you hear me? Airman?"

I woke up with a start and realized that it was SrA Johnson shaking me awake. I looked at her in acknowledgement that she was there, and realized that she had news for me.

"You're being taken to Ramstein in Germany. Your plane leaves tomorrow at 0500. You ought to be able to walk, but you'll have to be in a bed on the plane. Doctor Sims' orders."

I nodded that I had heard her and smiled. Germany. I was finally getting out of the fucking sandbox, I had been there for 5 months. No where in my U.S. Air Force contract had it said that I would be sent here and get shot, but hey, what the hell. I thanked her, and asked for something to eat.

"All we have is MREs and water. Is that okay?"

"Hell yes, ma'am. I'll take just about anything right now I'm so hungry."

"Okay, I'll be right back."

I waited for a few minutes, and she came back with a turkey and mashed potatoes meal. I thanked her and settled back in for the high protein and not much else meal. It wasn't bad, MREs are not as bad as many people say they are. Anyway, after I was done, I got rid of the container in the trash can near the bed and drank a quart of water. I then called SrA Johnson and asked her to wake me about an hour before I was going to be moved. She told me not even to bother going to sleep, since I was going to be moved out with the two convoy victims to Baghdad Airport, which was going to be by helicopter in about two hours.

"Damn. Okay, well, I guess I'll just chill out for a couple of hours then." It was then that I noticed how attractive Ms. Johnson was. Even in the non-flattering clothes that the military issues to women, she was still fine as hell. She had a nice full ass, and I think she caught me checking it out a couple of times. But whenever she did, she just kind of smiled, a bit awkwardly, and played it off. She also had a good rack. I'd say at least 34C. I don't know where the military found her, or what the hell she was doing there when she could have easily been modeling for some clothing line. I would say for a lingerie company, which she'd do well at, but she wasn't skinny enough. I thought she had the perfect body, but some high paid asshole of a CEO probably wouldn't.

Ayway, she had a hell of a body. And when the people came to take me away to Baghdad, I found myself not wanting to leave.

"Dammit, I don't wanna leave here. I like the wildlife too much," the guys who were helping me out smiled and agreed with me, "why the hell can't I just get her email address?"

"Go ahead, fly boy. It's not like we people in the Army don't have anything better to do than cart your wounded Air Force ass around."

"Fine, grunt. I'll go get it," so I walked over and got it. I returned with a big old smile and a lip print on my cheek, "yeah, green suits, suck on that."

They just laughed and helped me out to the chopper.

---------------

I found myself wanting even more to be back in Basrah with SrA Johnson as soon as I was on the C-5 Galaxy bound for the headquarters of USAFE (United States Air Forces in Europe) at Ramstein Air Base, Germany.

For one, the flight nurse was a complete bitch. She was an older woman, and looked a bit over aged to only be a captain.

After a few hours, we touched down, and the pilot, a major, shut down the engines and we were unloaded by the Air Force personnel that were waiting. We were taken into separate wards. The dismembered army guys into one and me into another. Ironically, I was wishing more and more that I was back in the sandbox with Airman Johnson's round ass and nice tits.

A lieutenant came in and took some of my personal information. He told me that apparently the bullets had missed all of the vital organs, so I would have a couple more days in the hospital, just to make sure I didn't have any hemorrhaging, and then I would be free to wander around the base, and maybe, if I promised to be careful, out into the surrounding town. But he'd have to talk to his boss, a lieutenant colonel before he could promise anything.

"Will I be allowed to have a smoke in here if I want?" I hadn't had one since the day I got lit up, so I was dying for one.

"Most likely not. But we can take you outside if you want one. It shouldn't affect your recovery any."

"Good, I'd like to have one right now; that is if you're done with me, sir."

"Yeah I'm done for now, but I'll be back later to check up on you. It'll be either me or Lieutenant Seams. I'll call Krankenschwester Muller to come and take you outside for a smoke."

The use of German in his speech made me think to myself, 'wow, I really am out of the sandbox now'.

A few minutes later, Nurse Muller came in and I instantly forgot about Johnson back in Basrah. Krankenschwester Muller was the most beautiful thing on two legs that I had ever seen.

Light red hair, ice blue eyes, perfect nose, fairly full lips, a cute little nurse's uniform obscured most of her body, but I could see her smooth, shaved legs. I'm actually surprised that I didn't pop one right as she came in the door.

"Airman Hoyt? I am here to take you out for a tsigarette." She had the most amazing accent, it made me think of something out of an old WWII movie, the beautiful German Fraulein falling for the rough-around-the-edges American. Wow, that would be nice.

As we made our way down the hall to the elevator, I made my first move. Since I was fluent in German, I spoke the native language: "Wie heissen Sie?"

She obviously was taken off guard by this, and stammered for a moment before replying, in English: "My name is Nina."

"Woher kommen Sie?"

"I'm from Munich. I lived there as a girl and decided to become a nurse. Where are you from?"

"Kansas City, Missouri. I wanted a change of lifestyle, so I joined the military, but I never imagined it would give me a chance to talk to such a beautiful Deutshe nurse."

She blushed heavily as I said this.

"You Ami's are all the same. I wish sometimes that your countrymen would stop trying to get into my pants and just at least pretend to care about who I am, you know, what my hopes and dreams are. I wish I could meet someone, even an American, who can make me happy, and make me feel loved."

I said the first thing that came to mind.

"Darf ich dieser Ami sein?"

"We will see if you can be that American. You are quite handsome, and I do like speaking to a handsome young man anytime, especially one who can speak my own language. But you are here to get better, not to get into trouble with the locals. So, at least try to be good, and then we shall see."

I figured that was better than nothing. So I went outside and smoked my cigarette, a Camel Turkish Silver, I still had plenty left over from Iraq, since I had opened that pack only three hours before I was shot. I asked Krankenschwester Muller if she wanted to join me.

"Oh, why not? We will all die someday anyway."

I got her a smoke and took out my Zippo lighter. I lit her cigarette, and as soon as she had pulled it away from her mouth after the first drag, I leaned in and kissed her. It was my boldest move to date, and I was 20 years old.

She looked a bit surprised at first, but when I broke away, she said: "You are quite good at that, but you are also being very naughty. I may have to punish you later."

This was the first example of open flirting I had seen from her. I liked it. I liked the way she tasted, even with the smoke on her breath. I kissed her again. This time probing her mouth with my tongue a bit. She responded by doing the same to me. I was really enjoying this. I wished it would never end. I'm sure it looked like one hell of a strange thing, a patient standing in a wife-beater, boxers and a hospital robe, lugging an IV tree around with him, snogging on a professional German nurse. I didn't especially care, except if any officer higher than a second lieutenant walked by. Then I might get in some trouble.

When I finally broke away again, she looked as if she was trembling a bit. I asked if there was something wrong.

"No, that was so nice, I wish I could have had that about a month ago from that asshole ex-boyfriend of mine, but he would not even touch me for more than a few minutes."

"Wow, what the hell kind of guys are there here in Germany? I mean if a man is like that in America, people wonder about him."

"Well, this is not America, Airman. There are quite a few cultural differences between us. We can discuss them in more detail after you're better. This is my address and phone number. Please call before you come to my house. It makes me feel better knowing that someone is coming over, rather than have them just show up."

"Danke sehr, meine Fraulein. Wie alt sind sie?"

"Oh, it's ok, you can say 'du' to me. I'm 23. What about you?"

"Twenty," I said, wondering what she'd think of a younger man, especially a foreigner, wanting to be with her, if not exactly trying to get into her pants. That could wait a little while.

"Twenty, and so much has happened to you already."

"What, the gunshots? Big deal. I know guys who've had worse," which wasn't exactly true. Those guys were all either no longer with the living, or no longer in the Air Force.

"Well, let's get you better before we go any further. I wouldn't want to make you worse," she said that with a bit of a sly grin, "or make your wounds break open, from too much motion maybe."

Wow, I thought to myself, she's really pretty forward. I like this girl.

"Well, I should probably get back upstairs. Don't want you getting in trouble."

"Yes, definitely not," she smiled.

I leaned in and kissed her one last time before we went back into the building. When we got back to my room, a representative from the Air Force was standing in my room. I looked at him in plain surprise. Why, I asked myself, is this guy here? It's too soon for me to be awarded a Purple Heart, or anything like that. My next thought was that I had been reassigned, or worse, was being moved back to the States. My heart raced and I could feel the three holes in my torso, twinging a bit.

"Airman First Class Hoyt?" He spoke with a weird accent that I couldn't quite place, maybe eastern, or Appalachian, in any case, I responded with what I should have said.

"Yes, sir."

"I'm Lieutenant Colonel Kordash. How are you feeling?"

"Just fine, sir. If I may ask, sir, what's this all about?"

"I'm the vice-wing commander for your unit. I don't think I've ever seen you around the base back in Texas. I'm here to take an action report from you. This is really the first casualty our unit has ever had. So I decided to put my XO in charge for a few days, and come to get the story personally. Colonel Krebbs wanted to come, but he's stuck in San Antonio with meetings. So Airman Hoyt, can you recount your story to me? Include all the details, please." Colonel Krebbs was the wing commmander

"Yes, sir," and I lapsed into the memory up until I woke up in the hospital in Basrah.

"Quite a tale. That right there is Silver Star material. I'll see what I can do, but I can't promise anything. I hope you feel better soon, Airman." He stood to leave.

"Thank you, sir. I think that with the help of Nurse Muller, and the doctors here, I'll be fine in no time. Oh, Colonel, I was wondering if I would be permitted to explore the town after I heal," and get some of that fine German pussy of Nina Muller's, I didn't add.

"Definitely. I'll speak to Major Timms, and tell him that as soon as you're able to go about without that IV tree, you can go into town."

"Thank you very much, sir," I stood, and shook his hand, and saluted him.

"Get rid of that salute. I should be the one saluting you. It's not many who can take 3 bullets and be raring to go again in a few days. Focus on getting well, Airman," and with that he left the room.

I pushed the call button, and a nurse who I didn't know came in.

"Darf ich Krankenschwester Muller sehen?" I said in flawless German.

"Ja. Ich werde sie bringen. Moment."

"Danke schoen, meine gute Frau."

"Bitte, schwielige Ami."

That caught me off guard. 'You are welcome, horny American'. Yeah, that pretty much summed it up.

"Jon! So, are you going to be able to see me?"

I turned my head as she entered the room. I could fell myself begin to stiffen, even just from the quick kiss she gave me as she entered. I loved the taste of her lips. I began to wonder ever so slightly to myself what other parts of her tasted like....

"Jawohl. My commander came this morning, and said as soon as I'm better, I can go. Which should be fairly soon. Maybe as early as tomorrow."

"Oh, das ist gut! I have been thinking, and I really want to see you again, out of the hospital bed, but maybe in another bed, and definitely without the IV tree."

"Oh, you don't like my IV tree?"

"Nein, I like it just fine. But I have to get back to work. Please remember to call me before you come," and with that, she kissed me again, and left the room. I snuck a peek at her ass as she walked out, it was nice, actually, about as nice as Airman Johnson's had been.

----------------------------------

"Muller."

"Nina? Hier ist Jon."

"Jon! When are you coming to see me?"

"I'm on my way out of the hospital right now. I'll be there in a few minutes."

"Okay, I'll see you then. Tschuss!"

"Ja. See you then Tschuss."

And I was on my way. I was really enjoying my time in Europe. I had to enjoy it even more now that I had received official word about when I would be returning to America. It was in a week. Although, this was the military, so nothing was ever certain. I knew that I was going to have fun breaking that news to Nina. Maybe I'd talk to Captain Miller about being reassigned to USAFE. As I approached the gate to Nina's house, I looked around. It was a nice house, on a corner, so it had a larger lot than many around it. It had a low wall around it, and a gate that let a car onto the driveway, and her Opel was parked there. The house itself was crème colored, with a brown tile roof, and it had some interesting designs on the front of it, like glass aligned vertically in many columns. I opened the gate to the front walk, and approached the front door. I rang the bell, and heard a dog bark, from the sound of it, a small dog. I hate small dogs. After I wondered to myself if I was going to be attacked by some rat as I came in the door, the door opened, and there in all her glory stood Nina Muller, RN.

"Jon! It's so good to see you again!" she sprang upon me, and engulfed me in a tight embrace, and kissed me like she hadn't seen me in months. Deep kisses. I could feel her tongue trying to get inside my mouth, so I obliged, and massaged her tongue with mine. I was really enjoying this, and I could tell she was too.

I broke away for a moment and said, "We should go inside before we scare the neighbors."

"Oh, yes, you are right."

Inside her house, it smelled wonderful. I couldn't quite place it, but it smelled as if she had about ninety of the same candle burning. It was a warm, almost Christmasy smell. I loved it instantly.