Chapter 1
War is hell! There simply is no other way to truly describe the brutality of war. Young men drafted into the military and sent halfway around the world to another land in the name of democracy. War is a racket! For those who send those young men are the few who profit from the war.
The young U.S. Corporal lay on his belly next to the Sergeant. He lifted his head and squinted is brown eyes as he scanned the rocky hills before him.
The older sergeant peered through a pair of binoculars. He asked, "You see anything, Casey?" He had not shaven in two days and had brown stubble on his dirty face. His blue eyes continued to scan the area.
Corporal Oscar Casey reported, "I see a red line up the center." The young man's eyes scanned over the area before him. Sweat beaded up on his brow just below his dark brown hair.
The Sergeant knew from past experience that when his Corporal saw red lines it meant the area was either booby trapped or in the line of enemy fire. He wasn't sure how his Corporal could see the lines. He heard chatter amongst the men about a childhood injury but didn't press for details. He just knew his Corporal had a gift from God and he found that gift to be in his favor on the battlefield.
"Up the center, huh?" the Sergeant then turned his head to focus on the edge of the hills. He then began to spot the signs of a sniper's nest up high in the rocks. He lowered his binoculars. His crisp blue eyes scanned the area further, "There is a sniper at 2 o'clock." he reported. He glanced behind him at two men who were laying low behind a ridge of rocks. It would be an uphill battle to go straight up the middle to take out the sniper and the scout team consisted of only four men.
Corporal Casey reported, "I can see a green line going east, Serge."
Sergeant Jack Morgan glanced back at Casey. He motioned, "Lead the way."
The Corporal slid back on his belly, keeping his head low and returned to the rocky ridge below as Jack followed him. On Casey's sleeve was a red cross indicating he was the medic.
The radio operator was the closest and waited for the report. The young man hoped that Casey's eyes could lead them through a safe path once more. His name badge read "Mathews" and he also sported a rank of corporal. "Sir?" he looked to the Sergeant for the next order.
"Follow Casey," he told the men.
Corporal Casey led the men down a trail keeping the men out of sight of the sniper. As they got around the danger Jack found he had a clear sight of view to the sniper. He decided to take out the sniper's nest before the enemy could open fire on any troops. Jack took his rifle and rested the muzzle against a rock to steady it. He mentally judge the distance and wind speed and made the adjustments to the rear sight in clicks. His thick finger rested on the trigger as he took a deep breath and then exhaled half way. He held his breath and pulled the trigger hitting his target.
Jack was the best shot in the group. Prior to the draft he was a rancher in Utah and one of the few men who could ride a horse and shoot at the same time. He wasn't sure what Casey was before the war. He was such a mild mannered young man. He knew he didn't join up but was drafted like many others. He needed to make sure the enemy sniper was dead. He needed proof and that meant sending Corporal Casey with the team's only Private up to inspect the nest. He looked back at his friend, "Casey! Hammond!" he motioned towards the pair. "Check it!"
Corporal Casey and a young red headed Private of just eighteen years old made their way up to the nest. As they got to the edge of the nest Private Hammond readied his rifle to shoot the sniper. He popped up into the square opening of the rocky nest and spied movement and a pistol pointing at him with a dying man on the ground. He went to fire first but he was too slow and the sniper got off one more shot.
Casey grabbed his friend and pulled him out of range of the dying sniper. He found the Private was bleeding heavily from a neck wound. He knew Hammond would die in a manner of minutes without interventions.
Hammond's hand grasped his shoulder as if pleading for help. He couldn't speak due to the wound in his neck. Tears swelled up in his hazel eyes as he figured this was the end for him.
"I got you, Ben. Just stay with me." the Corporal soothed him. As Hammond grabbed Casey's arm the Corporal found his vision of the man before him change. Instead of seeing a terrified young man who was seemed helpless Casey could see the inside of the wound in the neck. For Casey it was as if the tissue just peeled away and everything was exposed inside the wound much like a dissection. He reached into his medical kit as Jack and the radio operator rushed the nest.
Jack had tossed a hand grenade into the nest to ensure the sniper was dead. He then looked over to Casey and Hammond as his medic started to treat the wounded man.
Casey took the instruments from his medical bag and with the accuracy of a surgeon he opened the wound from the side of the neck, clamped off the bleeding artery. He then packed the wound with gauze.
Jack came to the side, "Will he be alright?" he asked.
"I need a chopper to the nearest MASH unit." he stated.
"Mathews! Radio in that we need a chopper." he ordered.
"Yes sir," he replied.
MASH 4077th
Dr. B.J. Hunnicut peeled back the dressing packed in the wounded man's neck. He looked on rather surprised, "Who operated on him before he got to us?" he asked looking at Klinger.
Sporting a nurses' dress and face mask the hairy man replied, "He came right from the chopper off the battlefield. The medic must have done it."
B.J. disagreed, "This is too precise to be a medic. This is the work of a surgeon." He started to work on the wound with Nurse Kelley. "Whoever did this saved this boy's life."
Hawkeye Pierce was working the nearest table. He leaned back and gazed at the wound over BJ's shoulder. He had to agree, "No medic did that! He would have bled to death without clamping it. Whoever did that knew how to dissect." He went back his own patient.
"Whoever did it saved his life!" B.J. declared. He looked to the nurse, "Suture."
"Yes doctor." she handed him the needle and thread.
Meanwhile
Jack's four man special operations team was down to three men. They moved their way over the landscape to a safe place to sleep for the night. They couldn't make a fire due to being so close to the enemy on the frontline. The three sat behind rocks for cover and dug out their rations. Jack dug out his knife and began to work at the wax seal around the box. He glanced up and noticed Corporals Matthews and Casey were both doing the same.
Matthews miffed, "Supper B." He sighed for he wanted some hot food. Any hot food would taste good in the middle of no-man's land. What he would have given for a hot meal from a field kitchen at that moment.
Jack replied, "Better than nothing." He looked at Casey and asked, "How did you do that with Hammond? It's like you knew right where to go and what to do."
He explained, "I could just see it. I just knew." He gave a shrug and opened his ration. "Canned cheese," he winced. "This stuff is not cheese!" he declared.
Matthews added, "I heard you were injured as kid and that's how you can see lines and stuff."
"I was hit in the back of the head by a baseball when I was eight years old. It nearly killed me. I went into a coma. The doctors said I wouldn't wake up. When I did wake up, I didn't notice anything different at first. Then I was in the barn on my parent's dairy farm and an oil lamp fell and broke. It lit the hay on fire. I thought I was trapped but I saw this green line that led me to a window. That's how I got out. My brother fell out of a tree later that same summer and when I touched him to help him back up I could see the break in his arm. It's like the skin just disappears and I can see everything inside."
Jack wondered, "Can you do anything else?"
"If I sleep on a book when I wake up I know what was in the book." he mentioned.
Matthews chuckled, "Boy! What I would have given to have that ability in school."
Jack gave a nod and a chuckle as he asked, "What did you do before the draft, Casey?"
"I delivered milk and ice for my father's dairy farm." he informed. "I'm a milkman." He asked his friend, "What about you, Matthews?"
The radio operator replied, "I was a fireman in NY City. I helped install the new radios and well…I'm still in radio I guess." He looked at Jack, "How about you, Serge?"
"My family owns a cattle ranch in Utah." he reported. "My job is cattle drives, keeping up the ranch, taking care of vermin. You know…cowboy stuff."
Casey admitted, "I always wanted to be a cowboy! Ride a horse on a cattle drive and wear a six shooter and get the girl…" he romanticized about the role.
"It's dirty work." Jack rebutted. "Trust me…Milkman is way cleaner. What ya gonna do when you get out? Can you go back to delivery?"
"I was thinking of buying a truck with a freezer and delivering ice cream." he confessed.
Jack asked, "What will you do when it's cold?"
"Deliver hot chocolate?" he shrugged with a guess. He dug at his food, "I'm good at taking pictures? Maybe get a job as a photographer."
Jack asked, "Why not go to school and become a doctor? I saw what you did for Hammond. You could be a real good doctor."
"I'm not that smart." he countered.
Jack gasped, "You just told me that if you sleep on a book you know what is in it."
"I do," he admitted "but I'm not smart enough to be a doctor. You have to be really smart to be a doctor."
Jack sighed, "I think you got the smarts, Casey. Matthews, you take guard duty till midnight. Then wake me." He finished eating his rations and began to unroll his bed.
"Yes sir," he replied.
"Casey, get some rest. I need your eyes to lead us out of here tomorrow." he instructed.
"Yes sir," Casey agreed.