Yes, I am enlisted in the military. I am currently on deployment in Afghanistan.

Questions, comments and concerns are appreciated.


A common question that a veteran receives from civilians is "Why did you join the military?".

There are all kinds of variations of this question. From the simple, 'What made you join?' to, 'Was it because you couldn't get into college?'.

The majority of veterans will tell you they wanted to serve their country and they thought the military would be able to set them on track, give them some discipline, etc. A lot came from military backgrounds and wanted to serve their country just as their fathers and their grandfathers had. Some realized had no other options after they graduated high school. Most veterans will tell you they joined for the education benefits they would receive. Others say they just wanted to wear the cool ass uniforms and be able to pick up chicks. Many will tell you they enlisted after 9/11 and wanted to hunt down the bastards who terrorized their beloved U.S. of A. Some just don't have an answer.

It's a simple question, but in reality, it's really not.


"I think I might join the Army." Frost throws it out casually like he's saying he's going up to the beach this weekend or he decided he was going to start on that paleolithic diet Maura has been going on about for the past week. The cafeteria has always been loud, but everyone hears him.

The chatter at the table dies down. Ian doesn't even bother looking surprised. He just seems almost sadly contemplative while Maura looks shocked, but quickly composes herself. Jane gapes at her best friend across the table and hurriedly swallows the large piece of burger in her mouth. Wiping her mouth with the back of her hand, she leans forward, bracing her arms on the table to reach over and feel Frost's forehead.

Scowling, Frost swats her hand away and goes back to picking at his fries. "I'm not sick. Besides, I just said I was thinking about it."

"Jesus, Barry. What about BCU? You got the acceptance letter a few weeks ago and now all of a sudden you're thinking about joining the Army and becoming Captain America?" Jane plops back down in her seat, but appraises him across the table with critical eyes. "What's going on?"

"Nothing's going on. I've just been thinking, that's all," Frost shrugs. He's avoiding eye contact and he keeps swirling patterns in his ketchup. His body is tense, almost as if he's getting ready for an argument he knows Jane is going to start.

Almost on cue, Jane opens her mouth, but it abruptly shuts close when Jane feels the sharp elbow to the side of her body.

"I think it's wonderful that you're willing to serve your country, Barold," Maura brightly chirps from her seat next to Jane. Maura retracts her elbow from Jane's body and gives her girlfriend a slight glare before continuing. "Are you aware that less than 10% of current Americans have ever served in the military and less than 1% serves today? Also, less than 28% of Americans between the ages of 17-23 are qualified for military service. That's approximately one in every four people."

Barry looks gratefully to Maura and gives her a weak smile of thanks. He could always count on her.

Jane rolls her eyes and deadpans, "Because the Army can only find one in every four people missing their common sense."

"I'm going to go to the computer lab to get some homework done," Frost grits out and abruptly stands up from the table. The movement is so sudden that his chair flies out from underneath him and clatters to the ground. His face is scrunched up with barely concealed frustration. "I'll see you guys later, maybe."

Frost leaves without giving the table another glance, fists balled tightly around the straps of his backpack. Jane, oblivious as always, looks after him for a couple of seconds and believing her work done, leans back and shrugs, returning back to her meal.

"He came to me a couple days ago to talk about it." Ian's voice is quiet, but given the group's proximity, they can all hear him clearly. Ian pauses, reaching over for the discarded chair and righting it.

Ian continues, "He doesn't have the money for BCU. The scholarships won't cover enough of his tuition and he thinks that if he joins, he'll be able to pay for school."

Maura sees Jane's eyes narrow, but she doesn't look up at him. Jane shoves a couple of fries in her mouth, chewing thoughtfully before replying. "He won't be able to go to school if he gets sent off to some godforsaken war zone and gets himself killed."

"Jane, he doesn't think there's another way," Ian tries to explain, because Lord knows Jane is as hard-headed and opinionated as they come. Sometimes he thinks Maura is a godsend because she seems to be the only one that Jane listens to.

"You know he looks up to you, Jane. And all he wants is for you to listen and support him in whatever he's deciding. You're his best friend."

"I'm not going to sit back and let my best friend throw his life away just because he doesn't want to ask his friends for help," Jane growls, her meal forgotten. Ian shakes his head and sighs, knowing he won't get through to her like this.

Maura places her hand on Jane's forearm and strokes it methodically, quietly murmuring, "Jane, I think you should go talk to him. It would be beneficial for you both to address these issues between yourselves."

Stilling Maura's hand with her own, Jane searches her face with appraising eyes. "How are you so calm about this? He's your friend, too. He could go to war, for god's sake."

"I could analyze it for many days, no doubt, going over his past behavior and coming to a conclusion on my own. But he is your friend after all, Jane. You two have always been headstrong and I have always found it best to go with the stream," Maura explains, her mouth quirking up in a little smile.

"It's 'go with the flow'," Jane grins crookedly. It's adorable when Maura tries to use idioms. She doesn't even try to resist the urge to lean over and kiss the corner of Maura's mouth. Maura smiles and responds by turning into the kiss.

With a huge, dramatic sigh, Jane breaks the kiss and stands up, shoving her hands into the pockets of her pants. She looks back and forth between Ian and Maura and releases a hand to hook a thumb towards the general direction of Frost's exit.

Jane scrunches up her nose. "I'll see you guys later. Gotta have a heart-to-heart."


The Islamic Republic of Afghanistan is approximately the size of Texas. According to the UN, in 2012, the population was 33.4 million people. The capital and largest city is Kabul. The major languages used consist of Dari and Pashto. Main exports are wool, fruit, nuts, carpets, and opium. Afghanistan time is 4 hours and 30 minutes ahead of Coordinated Universal Time. The country is landlocked and bordered by Iran, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and China. Their monetary unit is called Afghani.

These are facts that Jane finds on the internet when she looks up "Afghanistan" on Google search.

What Google doesn't tell her about Afghanistan, Jane had to find out the hard way.

Google didn't tell her that civilians and soldiers on their first deployment tend to call people from Afghanistan, "Afghanis", like they took a page from Operation Iraqi Freedom and pasted it in Afghanistan. People from Afghanistan are called Afghans. Calling them Afghanis is calling Americans, "dollars". Afghani is their form of currency, not their nationality.

Google didn't tell her that all Afghans should be her friends, but at the same time, Jane should never trust them. Just two weeks, a civilian contractor was shot and killed by an ANP (Afghan National Police), because of, according to authorities, "cultural differences between Afghan and Western troops".

There isn't a website that explains how deteriorated Afghanistan is. Jane sees the huge craters in the roads and the broken down clay homes built into the face of the mountains and she sees women with children in the middle of the street begging for change to buy bread. She's flabbergasted when she sees a bright green Chevy Camaro driving down the road one day and her expression turns grim when she realizes that the owner most likely sells opium or weapons.

No one tells her about the skinny Afghan children running through the streets with the old, worn out makeshift soccer balls held together with tape. And the kids are always two extremes; they either waved excitedly and gave them thumbs up and run beside the truck, trying to get a look at the cool American soldiers or they threw rocks, shit, whatever they could get their hands on and screamed obscenities as her convoy drives by.

Jane frowns and exits out of the internet browser before clicking on Skype to bring up her contact list. She stretches her arms and cracks her neck. She shifts; trying to get circulation back in her foot, and checks her watch. 2127. Boston being 8 hours and 30 minutes ahead, it should be Maura's lunch break soon.

Almost on cue, a little window pops up on the laptop screen with the words, "Maura Isles calling". Jane doesn't hesitate and immediately clicks accept.

The laptop is old and the fan kind of gives a loud screeching noise as it attempts to keep up, but it doesn't matter as soon as Jane sees the perfectly coiffed hair and dimpled face of her always impeccably dressed girlfriend.

"Maur – can you hear me?" It's been weeks since Jane had some personal time to actually be able to get to her laptop. After each consecutive mission outside of the wire, Jane only had the time to occasionally shower and dive right into bed, completely exhausted.

"Jane? Jane— hello?" Jane hears her voice, but Maura's figure is frozen on the screen, the laptop lagging behind. It didn't help that the Afghan wifi was shit and beyond expensive. But Jane was thankful that it at least existed.

"Hey, I can hear you, can you hear me?"

"Yes, I can!" The image of Maura starts moving, slowly, but Jane can see the broad smile on Maura's face.

Jane feels her own smile growing. "Twenty-seven more day, babe. I miss you."

"I miss you as well, Jane," Maura replies, her smile soft. She leans forward instinctively, almost as if she believed she could reach out and touch Jane if she'd tried. "It's always odd seeing you with your hair up like that."

Jane chuckles and reaches up to feel the bun on the back of her head. Most days she'll just sleep with her hair in the bun just in case the squad gets called on in the middle of the night for a mission. It was uncomfortable, but it was quicker. "Well, if there's one thing you can count on in Afghanistan, it's Sergeant Major running around and yelling at us to 'uphold them there goddamn groomin' standards' in a middle of a war."

Laughing, Maura shakes her head and admonishes Jane for her language. Jane just good-naturedly rolls her eyes and listens to Maura go on about how profanity increases electrical conductance across the skin or something or the other. It doesn't really matter what Maura is saying because all Jane needs to hear is the sound of her voice to let the stress of the day wash away. On the days that Jane has to go and sit down behind the latrines when her emotions get out of control and her hands won't stop shaking long enough for her to tie her boot laces, she closes her eyes and tries to imagine Maura's voice in her ear, whispering everything's going to be okay, she's right there.

"Jane? Are you okay? Jane, come back to me."

Even through the pixelated video on the screen, Jane can clearly see the worry on Maura's face. Guilt flushes through Jane's body. That feeling always seems to find her whenever she sees how anxious and afraid Maura becomes when Jane has one of her episodes.

Jane forces a smile on her face, which comes out more of a grimace, and Maura sees that. "I'm fine, Maur, I just – I'm just tired, that's all."

Maura opens her mouth, as if to call Jane out on her lie, but seems to decide that it was a battle for another day. 'Battle' being the key word.

Running her hand over her face, Jane tries to divert the conversation by asking about Maura's day but before she can start, the couple is interrupted by Grant barging into Jane's quarters.

"Jesus, can't I get any privacy around here?" Jane glowers at NCO front of her, willing him to go away just long enough until Maura's lunch break ends. But in reality, she knew that Grant only came looking for her when the situation was important and needed all the team leaders.

Everyone knows that Sergeant Rizzoli talks to her girlfriend at the same exact time every night whenever she didn't have mission. Some soldiers joke that they could set the time by her. Grant actually seems remorseful as he explains the situation.

"Some Czechoslovakian soldiers ran over an Afghan girl on their way to ISAF headquarters. They're freaking the fuck out and command wants us to roll out and deal with it. There are a shit ton of angry Afghans."

Jane swears loudly and turns to her laptop to give Maura an apologetic look. On the screen, Maura sighs audibly and nods. "I love you, Jane. Be safe, please. We need to talk about you-know-what next time."

"I'll try. I love you, too." Jane hopes Maura doesn't notice that she didn't mention talking about Frost, but she knows that Maura has always been the more perceptive one.

Jane waits until Maura exits the video chat before she turns to Grant, who is already halfway out the door shouting for the rest of the squad to get their lazy asses up and ready to go in 15. This mission is probably going to last through the night until God knows when. Jane had planned on catching some shuteye for a couple hours, but she knows that those couple hours would have been racked with night terrors so vivid she'd wake up hoarse in the morning.

She gives Grant a weak smile when he turns back to her. The next easiest thing to do was to keep busy.

"Alright, let's mount up."


"Ponder and deliberate before you make a move."
Sun Tzu,"The Art of War"