Brothers in (her) Arms

I want to thank the many readers who voted to make the first chapter of this story a highly ranked submission. I also want to apologize for taking so long to provide an ending for the readers who asked me to complete it. I've been extremely busy the past year with work, moving and minor health issues so I haven't had the time to devote to writing that I would like to have had.

If you have not read the first chapter I strongly encourage you to do so.

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As soon as Alicia finished talking I moved quickly to put my arms around her.

"What did they say?"

"It was a woman that called. Her name was Doris. She said she was calling on a secured military connection and couldn't talk for long but she wanted me to know about Grant as soon as possible. He's in a military hospital in Kabul. He was shot in the shoulder. She wanted me to know that he was OK. Then she said there is more I would like to tell you but I can't right now. You will be contacted through official channels soon."

"This is most unusual Alicia. How did this woman sound?"

"She talked in a hushed voice and sounded nervous."

"That is not the way the military informs the family of a wounded person. Something isn't kosher here. I'm going to contact someone I know and call in a favor. The phone call you received is cryptic, like she was trying to send you a message."

I got my phone and called an old friend, General Bernard Cunningham. He was my commander for the last few years of my service and was the best officer I had ever met. He relied on me and not just for doing things for the Army but for always finding ways to be of assistance to anybody who needed what I could provide. He had a good reputation and begged me to stay in when I submitted my resignation. He even said he'd make me a Colonel. But I had had enough and decided to retire.

"May I speak to General Cunningham please?"

"May I tell him who is calling?" The official sounding voice asked me.

"This is Major Walter Mason retired."

After a moment's wait I heard, "Walter, to what do I owe the pleasure of this call? How the hell are you my friend?"

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The day began like any other as I made the short drive from my quarters to the JAG offices. As soon as I got to my office a clerk came in.

"Sir, the Colonel wants to see you right away."

"Did he say what it was about?"

No sir, just that he wanted to see you as soon as you arrived."

I put down my coffee cup and grabbed my tablet and proceeded to Colonel Bradley's Office. I saluted and said, "Good morning sir. You wanted to see me?"

"Good morning David. Close the door and have a seat. I have a situation that I want you to take charge of. A Marine PFC has been wounded on a mission just outside of Kabul and I want you to investigate and document what occurred."

"You want me to go to Afghanistan sir?"

"David you've been in the Marines for over two years now and you've made Captain because you are one of the best lawyers I've ever met. You're thorough and fair and you can keep your head in crazy situations. You've never been in a combat zone before have you?"

"No sir I have not."

"Well it's high time you saw what the Marine Corps does from a new perspective. It will give you a better understanding of what the men and women we deal with have to go through before we see them in our setting. The cases we handle are put together by first lieutenants in the field and it's rare when we get one that doesn't have a few mistakes that cause us problems when dealing with them. I want to see what kind of job you can do in the field. This will also enhance your record for when you come up for promotion."

"When will I be leaving?"

"I've made arrangements for you to be on a plane that leaves at three this afternoon. You won't need to take much with you. Anything you require at the base will be provided for you. I've already notified the JAG office there to give you top priority for your investigation. If anything comes up that you need that they can't provide or if somebody is uncooperative, you are to contact me immediately and I'll get things straightened out."

"This all seems rather sudden. No briefing, no warning, no time to prepare for what I'm about to get into there. What makes this so important?"

"David, that's what I want you to find out. I can tell you that the wife of this wounded marine received an unauthorized phone call on a secure military channel from Doris Chapel, a Marine Corps clerk in Kabul. Without the facts, I can't give you any more information about this other than to say that when you get to my level in the military you become part of an unofficial network of officers that reaches across the various branches and this network is extremely important to make sure that situations that appear routine don't get out of control. I received a request from an Army General to look into this situation. I'm relying on you to get to the bottom of this and if it is routine then you've gained some experience. But if it isn't, then you are the man I want to make decisions and keep this from turning into a cluster fuck."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence sir. I'll do everything I've been trained to do in order to comply with the assignment. You will of course be kept informed of everything I discover as the investigation proceeds. I assume we will have secure channels to communicate."

"Thank you David. I was sure I could rely on your discretion and your talents to get this done."

I finished up a few things that I had in progress then left for the airfield where I boarded a C-5 Galaxy transport for the flight to Bagram airfield near Kabul. During the long flight I had time to reflect on my life up to now. I guess going to a place where the probability of being killed is significantly higher than what you are accustomed to makes you think about your life. I had a typical childhood and did well enough in school to get into university where I decided to major in pre-law. I wanted to be an attorney and my parents were happy to help make that happen. I was accepted to law school and was a few months into my second year when my parents were severely injured in an accident.

Neither of them would ever be well enough to take care of themselves again so the insurance money and their savings were depleted in paying for long-term care. This also cut off my funds for law school. I was at a loss for what to do and tried to find funding at the school but all financial assistance had already been allocated for the year. One of my councilors suggested that I go talk to the military recruiters that were an almost permanent fixture on campus. I thought at first it was a ridiculous idea but then the idea began to appeal to me. Changing my life completely sounded like exactly what I needed at this point of my life.

I stopped and talked to the first recruiter I came to and it happened to be for the Marine Corps. I was surprised to learn that the Marines needed lawyers and had recently started a program that would pay for the remainder of my law school if I agreed to spend three years in service. I was able to do basic training while I was still in school and went immediately to officers training upon graduation. Once that was finished, I was a second lieutenant in the Marines and was assigned to a JAG office to begin learning how the law was practiced in the Marines. There had been very little discussion of military law in my school courses but I was a fast learner and was promoted to first lieutenant before the end of my first year in the Corp, I made captain by the middle of my second year.

I had hoped that I would get to travel some during my time in the service but I didn't get to visit many places so this was my first real experience with going to some place far away. I had no idea what to expect.

When the plane landed, I walked down the stairway and was greeted by an attractive young woman. She saluted me sharply and said, "Captain David Goldberg?"

I returned her salute and told her I was indeed Captain Goldberg.

"I'm 2ndLt Erica Hughes and I've been appointed to be your adjutant. That means I will be your assistant, your gopher, your guide and your constant companion. I've been instructed to provide you with anything you need while you are here, beginning with this." She handed me a cell phone that was unlike anything I had ever seen before. "That's a state of the art device that is ultra secure and untraceable. I suggest you call your CO and tell him you've arrived. I believe he has been issued a similar phone and his number is in your phone's contacts so you can be assured your conversations will remain private."

"Thank you lieutenant, I hadn't expected to arrive in the middle of the night so I guess you should show me where my quarters are so I can stow my gear. I also want to start on a plan. How much do you know about why I'm here?"

"I was told that you were conducting the inquiry into the ambush that occurred two days ago."

"Yes, that is correct. My primary concern is with PFC Grant Carpenter. Do you have any information on his current status?"

"PFC Carpenter is in the hospital on this base and is in serious but stable condition."

"When can we see him and talk to the doctors that worked on him?"

"It's zero three thirty now. The hospital opens at zero six thirty."

"OK, that will give me time to grab a little sleep. I also need you to give me a list of every person who was in the ambush and their current condition. Additionally I want you to schedule interviews with all of these people starting with the person in command of the mission.

"Yes sir."

Erica took me to my quarters and showed me to the room I would be staying in. It was nicer than I expected, more like a nice hotel than a barracks. When we got to my room she opened the door and turned on the light.

"Is that one bag all you brought with you?"

"Yes, I was told the base could supply anything else I might need."

"Do you have fatigues?"

"No."

"Well you're going to need to get some. Your uniform is OK for the base but when we go to the sight of the ambush it's not a good idea to walk around in an officer's dress uniform. It makes you too good of a target."

"Yes, I hadn't thought of that."

"How much sleep did you get on the plane?"

"About four hours. Why"

"You're going to be on a very hectic schedule the next few days and jet lag can really screw with your energy levels. You need to go take a hot shower then I'll give you a massage so you can sleep until zero six hundred when I come back and pick you up to go to the hospital."

"I know I'm a newbie to a combat base but I'm pretty sure massaging a fellow officer is not in the regulations lieutenant."

"I've taken that flight several times and I've found getting a hot shower and a massage to be the most effective way to deal with jet lag. Don't worry; I'm not suggesting anything sexual. I just want you to be at your best tomorrow because I know you're going to want to do as much as you can as quickly as you can. Trust me on this Captain, I've seen naked men before."

I hadn't had a massage in months so I wasn't going to argue with her. I took a hot shower and laid face down on the bed that she had turned down for me. I left a towel draped around my butt and put my head on the pillow. Now that I thought about it, I was tired. I don't know where she got it but she poured some creamy body lotion on my back and began rubbing my shoulders. By the time she got to my butt I was out like a light. The next thing I heard was the alarm going off at zero six hundred.

After a quick wake up shower I got dressed and as I was tying my shoe I heard a knock on the door. I opened it and was greeted by Erica saluting me and saying, "Lieutenant Hughes reporting for duty sir."

"Your punctuality is noted lieutenant. Good morning."

"Good morning Captain. How do you feel this morning?"

"Thanks to your unorthodox therapy, I feel very good. I'll have to remember your recommendation if I ever travel across time zones again."

"Glad to have been of service Captain. I assume you want to head to the hospital right away to talk to the medical staff. After that we can stop off at the quartermaster and get you some more suitable clothing."

The sergeant at the main desk at the hospital was expecting us and told us to go to a conference room where two members of the medical staff were already sitting at a table. Erica got us both a cup of coffee. The two men at the table were the doctors that performed surgery on the four members of the team that had been injured in the ambush. I asked if they had made any records of the medical procedures they performed on the injured men.

Dr. Thomas Hill was the surgeon and said that it is standard procedure to produce videos of every operation they perform. This would include comments made by the surgical team including all details about medications, blood transfusions and extent of injuries. I asked him for copies of all the videos and he said they had already been made and slid a large manila envelope over to Erica.

"Thank you for your cooperation doctor. I will review these ASAP and let you know if I need anything further. It will be necessary to obtain depositions from every person who was in the room during any and all of these procedures. This may seem a bit unusual but it is important to make sure that everybody in attendance give testimony that what they did and saw and heard is consistent and in compliance with regulations. Lieutenant Hughes will schedule these depositions soon while the details are fresh in mind. I'm sure the staff here is very busy and unfortunately must perform a lot of these operations so I don't want to wait on this."

"I will provide lieutenant Hughes with a list of all staff members who were present for these procedures.

"One other question Dr. Hill. Were any of the men shot?"

"Yes, two of them received bullet wounds. One was rather superficial and was in the hand. The other was more serious and was in the shoulder. The wound was not in itself life threatening but the bullet hit the edge of the vest he was wearing which changed the trajectory and slowed the speed some. This caused the bullet to strike his collarbone and then travel almost straight down into the chest cavity nicking an artery and causing internal bleeding. Unfortunately some time elapsed before he got to us and there is a probability that his brain may have suffered oxygen deprivation for some time. The good news is that the corpsman who got to him in the field recognized the symptoms of internal bleeding and began administering blood to him in the ambulance. Otherwise he would have probably died before we could do anything."

"What was the name of this marine?"

"PFC Grant Carpenter".

"Did you recover the bullet that struck him."

"Yes we did. And in rather good shape due to the vest slowing the speed so that it didn't just go through his shoulder or hit another bone that could have shattered it."

"Please tell me that you still have this bullet."

"We do. We keep all bullets, shrapnel or any other foreign objects found in an injured combatant."

"I will need to confiscate that bullet."

"I'll have it brought to you before you leave."

"Have any tests been run on it such as ballistics to determine the weapon that fired it?"

"Not yet."

We spoke for a few minutes more about other aspects of the ambush including the wounds inflicted by the RPG that hit the wall of a building inches away from the lead vehicle in the convoy.

"Thank you Dr. Hill for your valuable time and your cooperation in this matter. One of us will contact you if we require further information and to inform you of the time of the depositions. May we see PFC Carpenter now."

"We have sedated PFC Carpenter in order to provide time for his wounds to heal and for us to determine if there has been any effects on his brain due to oxygen deprivation. I can't tell you when he will be capable of being interviewed."

Just before we left, a nurse came in with a small box containing the bullet that struck PFC Carpenter. When we got back to our vehicle I instructed Erica to take the bullet to be tested to determine what kind of weapon fired it and to make it a priority. She dropped me off to get a more appropriate uniform and when she returned I looked like I belonged in my khaki camo outfit.

"Captain I've made arrangements to interview the Sergeant who was in command of the mission. Do you want me to tell him to have the entire group of marines that were part of the mission present as well?"

"No, I want to talk to him alone first. What's his name?"

"Gunnery Sergeant William Pettit."

We drove to the barracks where the men were housed and walked inside. There was a small office on one side of the entrance hall and Sergeant Pettit was standing by the door.

"Sergeant Pettit this is Captain Goldberg from the JAG office. He would like to talk to you about the mission of two days ago where some of the men were wounded."

"Nice to meet you Captain. We can talk in the office."

He led the way into the office and we sat down around a small table. Erica got a recorder out of her satchel and put it on the table before turning it on and speaking into it so the date and time and the purpose of the meeting would be on record. She then spoke the names and ranks of each of us.

"Sergeant would you please describe the details of your mission and what transpired from the time you left until your unit withdrew and returned to the base?"

His narrative portrayed a typical mission to check out a house that had been identified by an informant as containing enemy combatants as well as equipment and possibly a computer that might contain information that would lead to other cells. The house was about ten miles away. The unit was split between two vehicles. Each vehicle contained six men and had a fifty-caliber machine gun mounted on top.

There were two men in the front seats, one in the middle manning the fifty and three in the rear. When they arrived at the village there were a number of small houses on either side of the road before coming to some taller attached houses of two and three stories. There was a walkway linking the second floor of one three-story house to the second floor of another across the narrow street.

The convoy slowed to make sure they could get through the opening between the walls and the bottom of the walkway. The lead vehicle proceeded cautiously. When the front of the vehicle was approximately a yard through the opening, the person in the passenger seat yelled out 'RPG'. The driver slammed on the brakes and the grenade struck the wall on the right side of the vehicle causing some damage and debris to fall on the vehicle. The driver opened his door and exited the vehicle. The right side door was blocked and couldn't be opened. The marine on the fifty opened fire at the place he thought the RPG came from and the men in back opened the tailgate door and exited the vehicle.

The second vehicle had managed to stop without hitting the other one and the men in that vehicle began to exit and find cover behind the second vehicle. Sergeant Pettit was in the passenger seat of the second vehicle. All of the men huddled behind the second vehicle to provide cover. PFC Carpenter was still in the lead vehicle manning the fifty to provide covering fire while we assessed the situation.

When rifle fire began from positions in front of the lead vehicle Sergeant Pettit directed the men to spread out in the houses on either side of the vehicles to be sure nobody was in them and to have a better field of fire at the houses where gunshots were originating. All of the men were quickly in positions to return fire. At that point he yelled to PFC Carpenter to get out through the back and crawl back to the second vehicle. When the other members of the team began shooting, PFC Carpenter called out that the person in the passenger seat had been hurt in the crash.