Story Book Romance Chapter 7

  Before he knew it, Andrew was boarding a plane to the Middle East. They'd land in Kuait then catch a Blackhawk to Baghdad. From there, a Stryker would take them to the camp the platoon would be staying at for the duration of their 18 month deployment. He had written an email to his family from the computers in the USO lounge before the flight. Telling them he was leaving on the phone just didn't seem right, not that doing it via email was any better, just easier.

  The look of aprehension was apparent on every soldier's face. They were all scared, not one of them would admit it. As they swapped stories about "getting ass" their faces were pale and white. All of them knew what was expected of them to be strong, to shove worry to the back of their head. Andrew was among them, swapping stories, each of them more demented than the last.

  Twenty hours of travel and three days later, Andrew stood with his platoon outside their home for the next year and a half. Taking a deep breath, he grabbed his bag and followed Rivera to their room. It was plain, the whole building was. Just bare bones. Everything was wood. Two pathetic excuses for beds were pushed up against the wall, and Rivera wasted no time in hanging pictures from Playboy all over the walls. Andrew shook his head and flopped down on his bed hoping to get some sleep before their first mission.

  He was walking in a field of flowers. Daisys he thought. There were maimed bodies laying everywhere. Somewhere, a child was crying. He kept searching. His platoon sergeant was yelling at him to get back to the stryker but he wouldn't. He had to help the child. That was why they were here. Just as he found the little girl, weeping and clutching her stomach, he was pulled away. She stretched her arms out towards him and he tried to grab onto her, to bring her to saftey, but he couldn't. She started to scream and morphed into a full grown Iraqi man. He pulled a daisy out of the ground, now an AK-47. Just as he fired the first round, Andrew woke up, literally sweating bullets. Rivera was shaking him, telling him they had to go, that they were late. He counldn't comprehend the words. Fear still had him gripped, but finally he got out of bed and changed into his ACUs.

  Someone high up on the chain of command gave them a briefing on the mission for today. They would be patrolling a route for a few hours and then the'd spend the next helping to train Iraqi Army soldiers and Iraqi Police. He was more than a little pissed off to learn that they were stationed in a fairly docile area. Not much happened around them. The occasional IED or VDID but nothing exciting. He signed up for the Infantry, not babysitting. It wasn't like he wanted to die, well he did but it wasn't like he was trying to, but at least if things were exciting it would take his mind off some of the shit happening at home. Besides, what was he even going to do with that much time off in a day? Eat, sleep, and watch movies. This was going to be a long fucking deployment.