Kandahar – Chapter 26
(I do not own Glee or any of the characters. Names appear only by coincidence.)
Rachel spent the weekend after Finn left on Friday almost inconsolable. Burt and Carole were so worried about her they spent the weekend in New York instead of heading back to DC.
Finn had called on Sunday afternoon to tell everyone that he and Puck had arrived in Kandahar safely, but he didn't have time to talk. Rachel had put on a brave face while she was on the phone with Finn, but lost it again once the call ended.
On Monday morning she was up early getting ready for her classes. She was so bright and cheerful that it took Heidi off-guard.
"I've decided that I can't spend the next eleven months in a pit of doom. Finn wouldn't want that. I'm going to throw myself into my classes. Bury myself in the work and the time will fly by faster," she told Heidi as she hurried out the door.
Burt and Carole were relieved, but asked Kurt keep an eye on her just the same.
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In Afghanistan, Finn really hadn't had time to think. He felt like he had already spent half of his deployment on the plane. When they landed his butt was numb, and he wasn't sure he would ever be able to straighten his legs again. They had landed late in the day, and reception and processing had taken forever. All Finn wanted to do was find his assigned barracks, take a shower, and sleep for like 24 hours. The jet lag was overwhelming.
He had slept for most of the plane trip, but was jolted awake on the approach to Kandahar International Air Base.
Looking out the window, their transport plane was being escorted in by two F-18s.
"Look, they must be glad to see us," Puck perked up. "They're giving us an honorary welcome."
The shaved head in the seat in front of them that they had been looking for the last 24 hours turned around to speak to Puck.
"Dude, this is my third deployment, and I can tell you that isn't an honorary escort. They're there to make sure some fool on the ground with a RPG launcher doesn't blow us out of the sky before we even land. There must have been some activity in the area."
"Welcome to Kandahar International Air Base," the pilot announced from the cock pit. "This is the largest air base in the world. You will notice that the air strip is also used by commercial fights. The base was built by the US in the 1960's during the Cold War in case we ever went to war with the Soviet Union. Since then it has been occupied by the Russians and was once the Taliban's Headquarters." Looking down Puck and Finn had to believe it was the largest air base in the world. This place went on forever.
Departing the monstrous C-5A took longer than they expected, but the reception battalion on the ground was working feverishly trying to get the soldiers sorted and on their way to their new home away from home.
Puck and Finn passed the massive motor pool on their way to their new barracks. Their barracks wasn't a tent like Fort Irwin, but a huge Quonset hut in a long row of Quonset huts instead. At least there was air-conditioning, but Puck and Finn were a long way from it. By the time the cool air reached them it was warm. But warm was better than the hot outside. It was only April and the dry desert heat was already noticeable.
Their first week was spent getting acquainted with the base, regulations, and where they would be working. The motor pool was bigger than anything they had ever seen, and the line of vehicles needing work seemed endless.
The base appeared safe enough even though it was a beehive of activity with every kind of vehicle and solider coming and going. The air field was also a NATO base, and was home to soldiers from every branch of the US military and soldiers from all allied countries.
Ten miles to the southeast was a different story. The citizens of Kandahar City were terrorized by the Taliban on almost a daily basis. Convoys to and from the city were a favorite target.
Puck and Finn were assigned to work in the motor pool under Commander Joseph P. Sullivan on their second Monday in Kandahar.
"At ease," Commander Sullivan barked as Finn and Puck stood in front of his desk waiting for their assignments.
"I've called you men in because I see that you are from the same town, and you've been together since your first day in basic training. That is rather odd that they haven't split you up before now. Can you explain that?" Commander Sullivan asked.
"Sir, Puck and I, I mean PFC Puckerman and I have known each other since grade school. Sergeant Sherman at Fort Jackson recommended that we stay together. We've been together so long; we can almost read each other's mind when it comes to fixing an engine."
"Is that so? Well, we'll see how well you work together. I'm assigning you to Sergeant Jed Ryker. You're to report directly to him. If you don't have any questions, you're dismissed."
Not really knowing where they were going, it took awhile for them to find Sergeant Ryker. He was up to his elbows in grease and was chewing out a corporal.
"It's about time you two daisies showed up! Commander Sullivan told me that I was getting two new mechanics. If you two are through sight-seeing, I have a shot-up M-ATV that needs a lot of work. Follow me and I'll give you the work order."
Walking down the line, Puck and Finn eventually identified the M-ATV that they had been assigned to work on. Finn jumped up to move it into the service bay that they had been assigned to when he stopped cold in his tracks.
Inside there was dried blood everywhere. The passenger side window had been blown out and it looked a grenade had gone off inside of it. In the back was a large pool of drying blood that engorged flies were feasting on.
"Finn come on, we don't have all day," Puck scolded Finn. "Start it up and get it into the bay."
"You've got to see this," Finn said almost under his breath to Puck as he stepped back down. He was as white as a ghost.
Puck jumped up instead to drive the M-ATV after Finn got down and was just as speechless when he saw what was inside.
"It looks like someone slaughtered a pig in here. I thought these things were supposed to protect you from attacks."
"Apparently not," Finn gagged as he felt his breakfast coming back up.
Finn puked into a trash can while Puck closed the door. The smell was over-powering.
When Finn's stomach had settled, he was sitting on the ground still dazed at the sight inside the M-ATV. "Do you think they saved that one for the new guys?" Finn asked Puck quietly.
"I don't know, but I'm going to go and find a pressure washer and wash out the inside before we get started. I just can't stand that smell," Puck gagged covering his mouth.
An hour later Puck had the inside bearable. The engine and transmission needed work. The body work would be done by someone else.
Finn didn't say much for the rest of the day, but worked seamlessly with Puck repairing the engine. That night they were lying in their bunks and Finn was still quiet.
"Are you okay Buddy?" Puck asked.
"I don't know. When we left Fort Irwin, I thought I was ready for this. But after seeing the inside of that M-ATV today, I don't know. I've been wondering about all of that blood. Who did it belong to? Did they survive? How did an M-ATV get that much damage on the inside?"
"You saw the window. It was blown out. Those things are attack resistant, not attack proof. We'll probably see more like that before out tour here is up."
"I just hope we can get that one fixed and out of here tomorrow. The whole thing just gave me the creeps."
Finn never told Rachel about the bloody M-ATV, but he never forgot about it either.
Kandahar Air Base was also used by commercial flights so many civilians were on the base too. Finn would look at them and wonder to himself, "Friend or Foe." He remember how he had been fooled back Fort Irwin his first day in "The Box."
The gate was guarded by Marines, but with so much coming and going at the gate, could an insurgent slip past? Finn got his answer one day when a huge blast shook the ground. Running out of his service bay, thick, black smoke was pouring into the sky from the direction of the main gate.
A suicide bomber had pulled his car up to the gate and blew himself up. Along with him he took two Marines and five civilians including one child. The base went on immediate lock-down.
"Rachel will probably see this on the news tonight; I better call her and tell her that we're okay."
Everyone else on the base had the same idea. When Finn finally reached her he woke her up. It was the middle of the night in New York.
"Rachel, it's me Finn. You haven't seen the news yet, but there was an attack at the gate here today. Puck and I are okay. Please call my mom and have her call Puck's mom."
"What? Rachel shouted trying to wake herself up. Are you okay?"
"Yes, Babe, I'm okay. Puck's okay. Just please call Mom and let them know that we're fine."
"Was anyone hurt?"
"Two Marines and five civilians we're killed. It was a car bomb at the main gate."
"Oh God, I feel so sorry for their families. When is all of this killing going to stop? I just want you home so badly."
"I know, I want to be home with you too. We're one day closer to that day. You go back to sleep, but call Mom
before you go to class okay?"
"I promise I will, but I'm wide awake. Do you have time to talk?"
"For a few minutes, it's so good to hear your voice. How are your classes?"
"My classes are fine, how are you?"
"It's getting hotter here everyday. Puck and I are doing okay except for a few busted knuckles from stuck lug nuts. We're both homesick, but we're doing okay. I've got to go. They just sounded all clear so I have to get back to work. Babe, I love you. Coming home to you is what's getting me through every day here."
"I love you too. Our spring semester recitals are coming up the last of May. I still remember how you and Puck surprised us at our fall recitals. I want to look up at the balcony and see you there so bad."
"I'll be thinking of you the whole time. I know that you're going to be amazing. I love you. Bye."
Rachel heard her phone go dead as she pulled her covers back over her. She was wide awake now. She was grateful that Finn and Puck were okay, but imagined the families of the two Marines getting the news.
Finn's days at the motor pool began to melt one into the next. The line of MRAPs and M-ATV's vehicles needing repair never seemed to let up. All of sand reeked havoc on the engines, transmissions, fuel lines.
The base was huge, but he soon began to feel like a mouse in a cage. It was relatively safe inside the base, but just outside the gate there were people that he never met who were ready to die in order to kill him.
The convoys in and out of the base went in every direction. A convoy to Camp Nathan Smith in Kandahar City left almost daily with supplies.
The temperature in May was already reaching 101. One unbearable afternoon Sergeant Riker told Finn and Puck that he had a different assignment for them. He wanted them to grab a flat bed truck and go with the latest convoy to Camp Nathan Smith.
They had a truck there that needed work, and if they couldn't fix it on site to load it up and bring it back to base.
Finn was a little anxious, but Puck was ready to go. He wanted to get off of the base for a little while.
Before they left, they suited up in flack-jackets, helmets, M-16s and ammunition. Puck drove and Finn rode shot-gun.
The trip to Camp Nathan Smith in Kandahar City proved to be an uneventful one. Puck was singing some Lynyrd Skynyrd song as Finn kept a close watch on the terrain around them. They were following a MRAP with a manned turret gun on top.
"I don't think I'll ever need to go to the moon." Finn said between Puck's song selections.
"Why is that?' Puck asked as they bounced along.
"Just look around, this place looks like the surface of the moon. Craters and all."
"Those are bomb craters," Puck laughed before he started in on the chorus of Sweet Home Alabama.
The convoy slowed as they reached Camp Nathan Smith. Villagers came out of their homes and waved to them. A small boy in a ragged Raider's shirt caught Puck's eye.
"Look at that kid. I had a shirt just like that when I was in middle school." Puck pointed out to Finn.
"Keep your eyes on the road. You're forgetting where we're at," Finn cautioned.
At Camp Nathan Smith they were greeted by a corporal who directed them in the direction of the ailing truck. The damage to the engine proved to be more than they could fix with the tools they had. With help the broken-down truck was winched onto the back of their truck and tied down.
"We'll be spending the night here," their convoy leader told them. "It's dark and no one travels after dark. Make yourself comfortable in your truck. We'll head back to base tomorrow morning at eight hundred hours."
At dawn Puck and Finn lined their flat bed truck up between two armed MRAPs.
The trip out of Kandahar City was moving slowly as they made their way out. It was hot, but still villagers ventured out of their homes to wave at the passing Army convoy.
The slow moving convoy suddenly came to a stop. "What's going on?" Finn complained loudly. "I just want to get out of this place and back to the base."
As their truck idled, waiting for the convoy to move again. Puck saw a woman carrying a small girl walking in their direction.
"Look Finn, that little girl has got to be the same age as Beth. Did you bring any candy with you?"
"No!" Finn screamed as Puck rolled down the window to hand the little girl a piece of peppermint.
Suddenly an object bounced on the floor of the truck around Puck's feet along with the candy. The woman turned and ran immediately into the nearest building.
Finn realized that it was a grenade. Throwing open the passenger door he grabbed Puck around the shoulders and was pulling him out of the passenger door when everything went white, the red, then black.
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Until the next chapter, thank you for the reviews and to the people who are following this story. Sincerely, Whistler Nights.
The song Sweet Home Alabama was written by Bill Monroe and made famous by the Lynyrd Skynyrd Band
A very special THANK YOU to all the men and women who serve in the military and to the families and friends that are at home waiting for you! May you all return safely!