The phone rang and rang before a very tired voice answered on the other line. I didn’t bother to check the time, nor did I really give a shit. My excitement was through the roof, and the one and only person who I cared to share it with was halfway across the world.
“Hello…”
“Hey, Blondie!” I responded. “Guess what finally fucking happened?”
“What?”
“Your man just pinned on the rocker, baby. I’m a fucking Staff Sergeant now.”
“What?” her voice finally awakened. “Are you serious? You got it?”
“I fucking got it. E-six, baby. E-six.”
“I’m so proud of you, Alex. So damn proud. And it’s good because we’ve got—”
Guys were coming in left and right, yelling that we needed to saddle up and go—now! The commotion had everyone dropping their calls in a frenzy, leaving me no choice but to do the same.
“Blondie, I’m sorry. I have to go. I’ll call back when I can.”
“Alex—”
The line went dead. I looked up to find some huge fucking Gunny holding down the line. “All Marines out, now!”
Whatever was going on was serious, so I knew that this was not the time to start shit. I ran to my tent, dressed in my gear and met up at the motor pool. We stood in formation, heated air pummeling our faces. First Sergeant Keating had the same emotionless face staring back at us, only his voice carried a spark that I hadn’t heard since we’d gotten into our altercation over Avery.
“Marines, there is too much fucking activity happening outside of these walls. These motherfuckers are relentless, if not stupid, but regardless, we need to ramp up the pressure on these assholes. The contractors are a done deal, but we know they are planning more shit, and earlier this afternoon, some of your brothers were ambushed. They came out alive, but the activity hasn’t let up, so we’re sending more of you out to crush this shit.”
“Oorah! Oorah, First Sergeant!” A chorus of yells. “Get some!”
The motivation was through the fucking roof, and I would have been lying if I said the echo of the calls wasn’t resonating with me, sending goose bumps surging up all over my arms, prompting me to yell out with them. I’d seen more than my share of the shit this place could dish out, but the fact that the terrorists were growing bolder, almost as if they were no longer afraid of what we were capable of, infuriated and excited me all at once.
“We’re gonna show these bastards that they’re messing with the baddest motherfuckers to ever walk this earth!” Vega yelled out, clasping my shoulder as we walked out to our assigned vehicle.
“Fucking right!” I responded, bounding into the back of the Humvee.
The vehicle pulled off of the base grounds, dropping us into the heart of the town of Fallujah. There was nothing out of the ordinary; a busy town center with kids playing soccer, shoppers shopping, and patrons sitting curbside as they sipped tea and enjoyed conversation. To the untrained eye, it would almost exude a very American feel, except I had been before, and I had seen what this scene could instantly turn into.
On my first deployment, I had been on patrol in an environment not much different from this one, and in the blink of an eye, a woman had blown herself and about fifty other people up when she detonated the suicide bomb strapped to her body. Because the women were always covered, it was easy for them to mix in with the crowd and go undetected until it was too late. Our training had taught us to watch for suspicious activity and excess movement. Unfortunately, with a crowd in this tight space, it wasn’t always easy to watch out for the wrong doers.
We took off on our patrol route, casing the area for any activity that could be deemed as threatening. The farther away from the town center that we strayed, the less activity that there was to be found.
It was hot—that was a fucking understatement since it was always hot, but today seemed hotter than usual. White had Avery close to him, and thankfully, while he was still scared of every fucking thing that moved, he’d learned to compose himself.
“Man, we should stop for some water,” Vega suggested, pulling out his canteen.
I halted the rest of the platoon who stood in the ready position while Vega hydrated. The winds were picking up, and sand was flying everywhere. I silently prayed that it kept to a minimum. An Iraqi sandstorm was the last thing we needed being out in the middle of Fallujah. Sandstorms put a halt on everything because visibility went down to zero and getting back to a vehicle becomes damn near impossible, leaving us vulnerable to any attack by desperate insurgents. My life had become one of casual paranoia, always aware of the dangers lurking behind the scenes, and desperate to survive in a land where many lives were claimed on a daily basis.
“I’m ready,” Vega announced, sticking his canteen back into the pocket on his Kevlar.
We humped all the way to the edge of the city, weaving in and out of residential streets, but finding nothing of much importance. As we began our descent back to the city center, I struck up conversation with Vega.
“How long have you been with your girl, man?”
“Going on five years now. We’ve been together since high school.”
“What’s kept you from marrying her?”
“She was in college back home and didn’t want to up and move out to Twentynine. I couldn’t blame her. The place is a shithole.”
“Hey…” White chimed in, “I met my wife in Twentynine. She’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”
“You met your wife in Twentynine?” Vega asked, almost as if he were disgusted by this newfound information.
“Yep, met her at the Twentynine Palms car show. She had a kick ass Chevelle in the show, and I fell in love.”
We laughed as his face relived that fateful moment, smiling wide with a dreamy look in his eye.
“Did you fall in love with her or with the damn car?” I asked.
“Both, but I can’t fuck the car, so I guess I fell harder for her.” We all laughed, knowing full well that he was serious. “When I get home, I’m buying and restoring a Shelby.”
“What about your kid on the way?” Vega asked.
“I’ll let him ride in it,” White joked, making us all laugh again. “No kids for you, Staff Sergeant?”
“Nope, no kids.”
“Look at you. Raking in all of this Staff pay and no one to spend it on.”
“Well, I’ve got a girlfriend but no kids. We’re gonna wait a while on that. She’s active, so we need to plan shit out first.”
“Makes sense.”
We strolled back into the edge of the residential portion of the city where the boys who were playing soccer continued to play. We caught their attention, making them abandon their game and sprint over to us.
“Mister…mister! Chocolate, mister?”
We immediately went into defense mode until the kids held up their hands and showed that they were unarmed.
“I have nothing,” Vega responded, shrugging his shoulders.
“Please, Mister.”
“Here you go,” I called out, holding out a handful of jolly ranchers. It wasn’t chocolate, but these fucking kids were begging, and beggars couldn’t be choosy.
They snatched them up in a hurry, scratching the palm of my hand in the process. One boy stood back, disappointment filling his face. He stuck his tongue out at me before turning and running off with the other boys, their mouths full of candy and shouting at one another in a friendly Arabic tone.
“I can’t wait ‘til I’m home, sitting up and drinking a beer,” White said, starting conversation again.
“A beer? Your ass is nineteen, you little shit,” Vega joked.
“Yeah, but my wife is twenty-one.”
I was quickly learning that White, while he was a little hardened from being battle tested, was also a joker. His look may have reminded me of Dalton, but his personality was Riley all the way. Hanging out and patrolling with these guys made me miss my boys back home. I missed the camaraderie, the binge fests…the shit talk. I missed it all.