It was the worst ride back to base camp that I had ever been on. Ben
and Quinn just looked there with longing tear-filled eyes. There was
nothing we could do.
Of course it's war. People die. It happens.
But why him? Why there? Why?
Of course by the time we actually arrived at the camp we were cheered. All of the soldiers there said we'd be generals by the end of the war. We didn't want to be generals; we wanted to be home. It was like we sacrificed everything to join the fight that wasn't even aimed at our country. It was Europe's war. Let those bastards handle it. I sat there and thought about it until Ben spoke the first word any of us had said since we first reached the drop. "This was fucking stupid." He solemnly said. "We joined this war to win. We gave up everything we had; our whole lives are here. It's fucked up." We knew he was right, but I just had to say something, they needed to understand. "We knew people were gonna die here." I remarked, "We're all just casualties of war. Just numbers. Don't bitch like this is a big surprise, it was gonna happen. We killed hundreds of Germans. They're gonna be scraping the brains off the wall of that house that you blew their heads with, Quinn. And the Germans that are gonna be buried from your explosives, Ben. And they're gonna be shoveling Nazis by the dozen from how I wasted them with that machine gun. Let's face it: The only way to have stopped this from happening would be if we just walked away from those recruiting stations back home. We didn't. So it's our own damn faults." I paused for a second so that they could let it soak in. I rose again in my dinky little bunk and made one last statement, "Do you know what the worst part is?" I said rhetorically. "Tomorrow we have to wake up, we will be commanding our next batch of raw recruits, and then lead them into the next killing field later." I finished, and they knew what the future would bring.
"It's all true." Quinn whispered, "But you know what I'm gonna do tomorrow? I'm gonna train my ass of, and I'm not gonna cry like a puss anymore, I'm gonna go out there and practice. Then the next battle, we're gonna kick some Nazi ass, and they'll wish they never fucked with the U.S."
We all shook hands and made a solemn vow on that night to win victory after victory against those krauts. Nobody would get in our way. Tomorrow we were gonna train, and we were gonna kill again. Kevin was dead, but we were gonna keep fighting onward until we had all been gutted and stone dead on the ground. The war had just started again for us.
Of course it's war. People die. It happens.
But why him? Why there? Why?
Of course by the time we actually arrived at the camp we were cheered. All of the soldiers there said we'd be generals by the end of the war. We didn't want to be generals; we wanted to be home. It was like we sacrificed everything to join the fight that wasn't even aimed at our country. It was Europe's war. Let those bastards handle it. I sat there and thought about it until Ben spoke the first word any of us had said since we first reached the drop. "This was fucking stupid." He solemnly said. "We joined this war to win. We gave up everything we had; our whole lives are here. It's fucked up." We knew he was right, but I just had to say something, they needed to understand. "We knew people were gonna die here." I remarked, "We're all just casualties of war. Just numbers. Don't bitch like this is a big surprise, it was gonna happen. We killed hundreds of Germans. They're gonna be scraping the brains off the wall of that house that you blew their heads with, Quinn. And the Germans that are gonna be buried from your explosives, Ben. And they're gonna be shoveling Nazis by the dozen from how I wasted them with that machine gun. Let's face it: The only way to have stopped this from happening would be if we just walked away from those recruiting stations back home. We didn't. So it's our own damn faults." I paused for a second so that they could let it soak in. I rose again in my dinky little bunk and made one last statement, "Do you know what the worst part is?" I said rhetorically. "Tomorrow we have to wake up, we will be commanding our next batch of raw recruits, and then lead them into the next killing field later." I finished, and they knew what the future would bring.
"It's all true." Quinn whispered, "But you know what I'm gonna do tomorrow? I'm gonna train my ass of, and I'm not gonna cry like a puss anymore, I'm gonna go out there and practice. Then the next battle, we're gonna kick some Nazi ass, and they'll wish they never fucked with the U.S."
We all shook hands and made a solemn vow on that night to win victory after victory against those krauts. Nobody would get in our way. Tomorrow we were gonna train, and we were gonna kill again. Kevin was dead, but we were gonna keep fighting onward until we had all been gutted and stone dead on the ground. The war had just started again for us.