This was inspired by the song "Coming Home, Part II" by Skylar Grey. Ranger is on his way home from the mission that he left for at the end of Miles Away.
Ranger's POV
Four weeks. Four incredibly long weeks. Before, that time frame meant nothing to me. Four weeks or four months, it didn't really make a difference. But this time, four days would have seemed like an eternity, let alone four weeks. Then again, four days, weeks, months or years, it didn't really matter anymore. I was headed home.
Four weeks ago, I left Steph and headed down to Norfolk, VA, for a mission briefing. Bobby and Lester tried to strike up a conversation on the flight, but after a bit they realized that I was not in the mood to talk. Being true friends, and brothers-in-arms, they just patted me on my shoulder and settled back in their seats to continue the flight in silence.
Two days ago, a special forces team on a routine reconnaissance patrol, ran into a problem and was now trapped by forces loyal to the Taliban and al-qeada. Even though I did not renew my contract with the government, they needed my, and my team's, special skills to help rescue the team. I didn't want to leave Stephanie, but she knows me so well and knew that I couldn't leave the team out there if I could help them.
NAVSOC, the Navy's Special Operations Command, decided that as long as the team was doing okay, we could afford to take some time and get a good plan in place to extract. Planning took a week, with the understanding that if things got too hot and heavy, we were headed in immediately. Fortunately, we got our week of planning in and then we were in the air.
The first leg of our flight was going to be on a C-5 Galaxy, one of the largest military aircraft in the world. The C-5 Galaxy is a huge monster, with a cargo area capable of holding 6 Greyhound buses. We were lucky to find enough space for our gear, and ourselves, on a flight carrying supplies out to Afghanistan.
We had a brief layover at Incirlik Air Base, in southeast Turkey, to refuel. Lester and I took that opportunity to go down to the cargo area and check on our gear. Bobby took the time to head to the hospital on base and pick up some more supplies, even though I thought we had everything we needed and more. Bobby just likes to be prepared. That's a combat medic for you.
Once back up in the air, we settled in and tried to get some sleep on our last leg to Kandahar Airfield. When we touched down, we were going to be on the clock. Our week of planning was good, but by now, the team on the ground would be starting to feel the strain of limited resources and ammunition. We needed to get to them, fast.
Once we arrived, we set our plan in motion. The loadmasters took care of unloading our gear and equipment and moving it across the airfield to the SpecOps hanger, where a C-130 Hercules was waiting for us, along with the rest of our team. They knew our mission and wanted to be sure we got on our way with the least amount of hassle or delay.
We were picking up three additional members, active duty SEALs; two snipers and communications specialist fluent in Pashto and Dari, as well as passable in several dialects. His skills would allow us to monitor any communications, as well as communicate with any villagers, if needed. One of the snipers was also a trained medic. This would allow us to split into two teams and come at the terrorists pinning down our team from two sides.
We quickly greeted the rest of our team and helped the loadmasters with our gear, getting it ready for the drop from the aircraft when we arrived over the drop zone while the flight crew got the aircraft ready for take-off.
Our destination was about 120 kilometers east of Herat, in the foothills of central Afghanistan. Flight time was going to be roughly an hour, so again we used that time to rest and mentally gear ourselves for what lay ahead.
We were going to perform a HALO jump from 25,000 feet. I love HALOs, free-falling for thousands of feet before opening your chute at the last possible minute. We were going land far enough away from where we believed the insurgent forces where, that we could risk the low altitude opening. We checked each other's gear and equipment and walked out the open ramp at the rear of the aircraft. One advantage to a HALO jump is that it is fast. Before long, we were pulling our cords and deploying our parachutes.
We quickly took care of our chutes and prepared to head out. We figured about, roughly, a two-hour hike to where we would split into two teams. We quickly reached our waypoint and prepared to split up after a final comms check. I took Bobby and the non-medic trained sniper, while Lester took the other sniper and the comms specialist. We each had approximately 30 minutes to get into position before we started our attack. We were going to hit them fast and hard in the pre-dawn hours.
The team we were going in to extract was aware of our plan and our schedule and was waiting for us. Once my team was in position, I got in touch with Lester to see if he was ready. The next phase went smoothly. We quickly took out the insurgents, taking them by surprise. After a quick patrol to make sure we got them all, we signaled the other team.
Now, this should have been the easy part. Hike to a safe area and call in the helo for the extraction, but instead this is where it all went to hell. Finding a safe area, it turned out, wasn't going to be that easy.
We needed to be sure that our extraction point was in an area a CH-47D helo could land and not be seen by the locals. We didn't want another Operation Red Wings or Extortion 17 on our hands, two separate operations that went FUBAR and we lost two helos full of special forces operators. We wound up moving around for two weeks, trying to find a suitable spot.
We couldn't risk getting too close to the villagers in the area, not knowing whether they were pro-Taliban supporters. We moved primarily at night and rested during the day. Finally, we found a good extraction spot and called in the helo.
Fortunately, the extraction went well and we returned to Kandahar without incident. Then came the debriefings. They took a couple of days, which we also used to recover from the two-week stay in the foothills of Afghanistan. Bobby was like a mother hen, making sure we all drank and ate enough to replenish our bodies.
Now, just about four weeks later, we're on a flight back home. Our gear is being shipped back for us, with the next group of returning soldiers, so we were able to get on a commercial flight back home. We were going to be landing in Newark in about 10 hours.
Ten hours to think about all that I've done. Ten hours to think about it, rationalize it and then put it away. I didn't want to bring anything back with me to Steph, although I have a feeling she would understand and not judge me.
I am returning to her with blood on my hands once again. I know people consider me a mercenary, and I guess I am, but I take no pleasure from it. Every kill, even though they are enemies of my country, weighs down on me, causes me pain. I just never let anyone see it.
That is, until Steph. She accepts me as I am. She forgives all the decisions I've had to make. She washes away the pain and comforts me. She is all the absolution I need. So even if is dark now, being with her is like the sun rising on a new day.
We are preparing to land. It's early Christmas morning and I'm going to get the best gift ever – a life with Stephanie.
My kingdom, my everything awaits. I'm coming home.