Part VI: The Dream Life
"Us fighting together has made the world one big vacation; a living dream life it is. I couldn't believe it when I met these people. Their leader is a reflection of the world we've now created. It's amazing they also have such dedicated yet crazy people amongst their wings. "-Captain Valentin Horan of the Yuktobanian 703rd Fighter Squadron on Osean 82nd TFS member Captain Serena Gagne two weeks after the battle of Sudentor. Horan was Yuktobania's top ace, and the youngest wing commander ever at age 27. He and his squadron fought constantly against the 82nd and 108th TFS culminating in shooting down Wardog ace Alvin C. Davenport in the November City raid.
January 1, 2011- The war is over! It's over! When we returned to base, we were sitting around waiting for orders. I thought PT, or back to Yuktobania. Then suddenly, some guys came running in and turned the TV to a news channel. It was a speech from the President. Where the hell had he been!
It's seems the war was not Yuktobania's doing. Another country was pitting the two countries against each other. They also had a weapon that could wipe all half the large cities in either nation. He then called an end to the war and anyone to help stop this weapon and the aggressors. He mentioned something along the lines, "They are flying to the east" or something. I immediately knew of who they spoke, and to me proved the rumors of them being shot down were not true.
Then the brass called a meeting of all the officers, while he told all us enlisted men to prepare for immediate deployment. It was a quick briefing too. Everyone was helping to scramble for takeoff. "Guns and ammo only!" one officer said. Amazingly, in 6 hours give or take the regiment was ready. We were going to Sudentor. D'Mornay gave us a very terse briefing. The air force was going take that super weapon offline and we had to open the doors. Piece of cake. They called it "Operation Venus".
Everyone was jubilant. I remember Dave yelling out as he got into the plane, "Look out Belka! Here we come!" Sgt. Yoko yelled out in that high pitched voice of hers, "It's a good day to die!" I had no intentions of dying, though. The Belkans had no idea what they'd unleashed.
It was about 2000 hrs when we got to Sudentor, I looked out those small windows to see, to my surprise, Yuke and Osean planes flying along side us! Everyone was dumbfounded. I was standing next to Captain D'Mornay, Sgt. Ramsey, and Lt. Gillory, our new platoon leader. I was second on in the stick. We had about 2 hours to get to the control facility before the planes get ready to plunge into the weapon's control system. Suddenly, shaking and vibrations could be felt. AA artillery was attacking us. Damn Belkans knew we were coming. We got the green light and we're out the door. However, we'd been misdropped into a outlying residential area! Luckily, we were able to get mostly organized. The Belkans may have got the jump on us, but we'd learned from our mistakes in Bastok and moved with incredible speed. Those Belkans think they're so tough. We stream rolled the Belkans as we pushed farther and farther into the city.
Air Assault choppers began to land near our position. Army Rangers had showed up. Other paratroopers landed...Yuke paratroopers! It was unbelievable. Afterwards, I heard loud jet engines roar above me, shaking the very ground which I stood. We'd managed to make it the suburbs near the river. Five minutes later, something like a sledgehammer hit me. An artillery blast threw me through a glass window into a house. The two guys I was with were killed as far as I know. My left arm felt dead, yet it felt like 100 knives had been stabbing it. I can barely see. I'm coughing up dust and shit. My uniform has been torn and scarred. I've got glass shards in me; I'm bleeding like a stuck pig. I'm thinking "Oh snap...this is it." Then I hear 3 sets of voices, one male, one female, and a little girl's voice I think. The woman like holding my hand and telling me things like, "You're gonna be okay. Just hang on..." The guy's picking the glass shards out of me. After that, there was darkness. "Am I dead?" I thought. Then I wake up in some hospital in Sudentor, I think. I've been hearing the celebrations inside and out. There was singing, parting, champagne corks going off all day. My right arm is fine; I write this on a small notebook that was on the little table beside me along with a pen. What a godsend. I lay here, bandaged all to hell. No one's been in to see me yet…
January 3, 2011- I called Jen, and tell her I was okay. It was so good to hear her voice. Judging from how messed up I am, its going to be a long haul. They say I'm going to be out in here for at least another month. I've been just lying here, absorbed in the outward ethereal realm of peace; yet in my mind there's a war still going on. At least this place's food is hell of lot better than those MRE's.
I got a visitor though. It was a woman who I'd guessed was about 39 or in her early 40's. When she spoke, it was that same voice I'd heard several nights ago. As I was looking at her, I'm think, "Where do I know you from?" Then it hit me. I recall back in November when I met Captain David Lovecraft. He, during our conversation, he showed me a picture of his parents and his two younger sisters. I had crashed right in his family's house. I had no idea the guy was from here. He never told me where exactly where they lived. I was staring straight at this guy's own mother.
"They dropped you in wrong place didn't they? I hate it when that happens." she said. I was confused. I was under the assumption she was just a normal person, a housewife or a regular career woman. She then showed a picture 15 years old. It was a picture of several people in the 120th Field Artillery Regiment. It turns out Lovecraft's mom was a forward artillery spotter in our own division during the last war! He never told me she was paratrooper. He just said she was in the military for a bit. So I asked her when she got out. She told me she got out in '96 because of a major injury. Then she proceeds to pluck out a glass eye. My jaw hit the floor. Damn...No wonder he idolized her when he was growing up. So we spend the next hour talking about, well everything.
Before she left, I asked her if her rumors that her son was dead were true. She said he was still alive. When I asked about it, she said with a smirk on her face, "If you knew him like I do...you'd know that my son's impossible to kill."
January 7, 2011- I'm starting to dislike this place. The only upside is that at least there aren't any dying people next to me. In dreams however, it's a different story.
Jen finally managed to make it...but she brought two other people. But I'll get to that later. It was so nice finally to see a familiar face. Of course, I wasn't so familiar. She told me that everyone is getting ready for another operation, this time to put Belka out of commission for good. Now my desire to get out of here has increased. Not necessarily to get back into combat, mainly it's because I'm not getting reassigned to another unit!
The way she softly brushed her hand across my skin was almost like when I got back home. She was constantly feeling the scars I had...I swear she must have found them erotic or something.
Then...I couldn't believe it. It was...David Lovecraft and Kei Nagase. Of all people...they shows up. Jen said she ran into them on the way were. She they helped fix her flat tire, which is why she was delayed in getting here. So we exchange pleasantries for some time. I tell him my story about how I got here and about how I met his mother. Then I told him I was a little disappointed how he didn't mention his mother was an "All Angel". He just said it wasn't relevant; it's just like him. He was somewhat terse; very point-centered person. But then, an amazing thing happened. I see some people at the door that showed up almost immediately after I finished my story. It was his parents with Chloe and Sophie, his two sisters. Nagase tapped him on the shoulder. He turns...and both groups look like they've seen a ghost...
What followed was the most compact family reunion I've ever seen; and I wasn't even a part of the family! So everyone spent the whole day trying to catch-up. Of course, me and Jen felt so out of place it was unbelievable. It was only natural to have felt left out. I don't think it was fate, but rather sheer coincidence.
At one awkward point in the whole thing, David's father asks him, "So where's that girl you're always talking about? You never said her name." Nagase visibly blushed within my line of sight. To everyone's surprise except mine, he replied, "Right here." And I swear he laid quite the kiss on her...It was like something out of a movie. It was so touching...one big happy ending...
So afterwards, they wish me well and they all go off to be a family again. I wish my family was that close; David's family was the perfect example of a close, functional, and loving family. Which is ironic; I was expecting David to have one of these "rags to riches" stories.
January 17, 2011- I was well enough for a transfer back to St. Augustine's hospital ward. I also heard that the jump on Belka was called off. I don't know why...I don't care why. That's because I got some very uplifting news that makes me thankful we're not jumping again any time soon.
Jen told me a few days ago that she's pregnant. I was ecstatic. That moment filled me with new purpose. I'd seen so much death, it reverberates in my dreams, yet I've created new life. So we talked about what were gonna name it since we had nothing else to do. I'm so thankful to have her in my life.
She's spent a few days with me, and by the end of the week she looked disheveled. Well, to me, she still was the same woman that came here 5 days ago. Of course when I told her she still looked nice, she got somewhat "playfully upset". She's like "You! I'm a mess!" To which I replied, "You're a mess? I got peppered by a artillery shell and glass shards in 50 places all over my body. I've got so many bandages on me, I'm gonna suffocate. Trust me, you still look relatively wonderful."
When I told Dave the news later, he said jokingly, "I guess you hit a home run didn't ya?" The only thing I could do was laugh it off. Thank goodness for humorous sexually-related baseball euphemisms. It's the simple things I no longer take for granted. The mere thought of a future child makes my day. Now if I can just get out of this damn hospital!
February 29, 2011- Last week, I was finally able to walk again. They gave me light-duty papers and I've been taking it easy.
Lately, its just been the same routine day in day out. Well, not if you count the war crimes trials, deactivation of the 119th regiment, and the presentation of several campaign medals. Several Osean and Yuktobanian officers high and low have been brought up on charges of conspiracy, treason, etc. They're not telling the public anything as usual. The proceedings have been going on for several weeks. The 119th was deactivated; its rosters reinforced our own. It's not like they were brand new, they'd seen plenty of combat before. Although they were lucky, they had the least casualty count of any of the regiments in our division.
Also, our division, as well as the whole army is receiving the campaign medal; however, this did not make a whole lot of sense to me since we didn't even to be there! However, I accept it as a tribute to our fallen comrades. Several people of our Division including myself were presented with the Red Crest, a Yuke medal for valor from Brigadier General General Mizzirym. I felt good about it, then again I felt that I didn't need any extra hardware.
However, the war has taken its toll. Jen and I were walking down the street one day when I saw a guy with metal attachments where his arms would be. I recognized that guy, Cpl. Tanas from A company. I also ran into Pvt. Branch who'd been a POW since November 10 or so. He sounded fine, but something told me he wasn't quite alright. He seemed jittery, nervous. That does not surprise me, though.
Up until now, I haven't heard anything
from those two Air Force lovebirds. Yesterday, however I received a
letter from them. Apparently, they call themselves "Charlie and
Penny Mallory". I mean, I see the need to keep a low profile,
but why would they change their names? It's a little excessive.
March
23, 2011- As far as our unborn child is concerned, it's doing
fine...I don't know about myself though. I don't know what's been
happening to me. Well, I have a fair idea, but...
At the beginning of the month, I had the worst nightmare. It was something straight out of Hell itself. I don't even remember what it was about. Jen was shaking me violently trying to wake me up. I jolted up. My skin was tad colder than usual; my skin was a little pale. I was sweating and shaking. I don't know what happened. They've been happening more often.
I went to Dave and Renee's wedding as the best man, last week. During the reception, I went to pick up the knife was using...and suddenly...I don't know. I went back to Myzem, in that building with all those Yukes. I remember I stabbed one guy, and I looked over and saw this girl hiding in a closet with a look of horror on her face. Then another guy runs in...I stick him...and stabbed him over, and over, and over. I think I did it twelve times. Then I saw her face, she couldn't have been more than 14. Her was filled with repulsion...straining not to be sick. I just ran out of there and saw Roxy standing over another body, in the process of stabbing another guy in the face...then Dave comes, telling me "Yo..yo, you alright? Hey!"
I just zoned out. I put the knife down...and sort of stumbled outside. Everyone's getting concerned about me. Now I got a appointment with an Army psychologist tomorrow. What's happening to me...?
April 17, 2011- These sessions have been helpful. I was told I had post-traumatic stress disorder, which wasn't an uncommon thing. It was basically the sudden shock of being immediately thrown into combat then immediately having to readjust to normality. I wasn't the only one who had it. A lot of guys were just "out of it". They, like me, tried so hard to block those horrible images out of their minds that it built up until we just...snapped. Two people had killed themselves...and that's when I knew why everyone was so worried. Jen's brother Rafe, of a very obnoxious sort, said this after a conversation discussing my therapy one day: "Oh stop complaining! You were only over there two months!" To which I said, "Why don't you try going for a whole day getting shot at from every which way possible with every weapon imaginable. Now do that every day for about two months and I dare you to say that to my face again!" What a prick. How can anyone have the balls to say that to someone who has no choice but to kill the enemy when our superiors tell us too! I just ripped on the guy. I had never been so offended in my life.
Day to day life has just been the usual though. Everything's just been relaxed even though the war's been over for three months.
I still have residual bad trips down memory lane, however it's good to know I have plenty of support. Jen's gregarious attitude about the pregnancy is nothing short of amazing. It's like the anticipation's eating away at her. To be honest, it's affected me as well. We still haven't decided on a name yet, but we made a deal. Since neither of us want to know the child's gender before it's born, we have a gamble going. Strangely enough, I'm guessing it's a girl, she's guessing it's a boy. Who ever guesses it correctly gets to name him or her. It sound silly, but it's just a small amount of fun between the two of us; a reward for our dedication and sheer will.
Over the last few weeks, I've been getting numerous letters from David and K...er..."Charlie" and "Penny". They've been doing well, living in a nice, quiet undisclosed area. That doesn't surprise me though. They probably just wanted to get away from it all. So they get peace and obscurity as a reward for all those crazy things in the air. They're planning an early June/late May wedding on a date, time, and place to be specified. It's gonna be quite a small wedding. I can only hope that the reception goes smoother than at our wedding. I don't think Nagase's mother is gonna get drunk at the reception and start a fight with her own family. Though I will admit it was pretty funny.
January 15, 2013- The world is still at peace. So I write this as my last entry hoping that another war will not rear its ugly head. My daughter Appolonia, named after my late mother, or "Apple" as I call her breathes a fresh air into me every time I see her. She looks just like Jennifer with that rosy skin hue they both have. She has my eyes though. She's a wonderful kid, full of life and joy. I've been made a 1st Sergeant since last year and taken command of the platoon. I received my Seraphim Cross 4 months ago presented by President Harling himself. I was quite a memorable moment.
Most of my friends have all suffered as a result of this war. Haley botched a suicide attempt…twice. She was discharged from the company for psychological reasons. She didn't want to leave the people she fought and nearly died with, but she couldn't shake the memories of what she'd experienced. She'd been through enough, as everyone else has. Sadly, she finally ended her life in late 2011 with a bullet in the head. Dave's wife Renee had a miscarriage. He hasn't been the same since, but he still keeps in good sprits. He still remains uninjured; about the baby he said, "We'll try again, but nothing will replace him". Roxy went into a vegetative state after a brutal car accident. She's recovered though, and she has not driven a car since. Jon and Serena, who they were calling the most successful female pilot in history, had a child as well. Unfortunately, 3 months ago, Serena was in a horrible plane accident that ripped off her left arm and destroyed her left eye. She survived, but she's never gonna be able to fly again. Charlie also suffered a destroyed eye in a training accident and was discharged. He decided to get in contact with some girl he met in Yuktobania. They're married now. Charlie is now teaching at the Telemark Airborne Combat School. Jen and I visited them last June. Telemark's even more beautiful in summer time. Miranda came back several weeks after the war ended. About 2 months ago, she told me and Dave about this guy she was seeing. What was his name...Grimm or something? Van Obierk has learned how to play a violin...somewhat. He still seems to have no concept of tone or pitch.
Charlie and Penny write me every month, still refusing to tell me where they live. They have twins, little Catherine and Charlie Jr. They've visited us every now and then.
Charlie is an airplane mechanic now, which doesn't surprise me. Penny is writes for a small city newspaper column. Charlie's sister Chloe has joined the paratroops and is in my platoon. Sgt. Johannson runs the squad now. They've been very friendly. After all they were born in the same city and lived three blocks from each other.
One question fills my mind. Do I tell little "Apple" about my experiences? I probably will. It is my fondest wish that her generation won't be starting any more pointless wars.
The memories of war, while not as traumatic as they were before, still reside in my mind. There is not a day that goes by I don't think of the people that weren't so lucky. Every year on December 22, my family and I pay a visit to that memorial in town, where the names of every single paratrooper in the 79th who died in Rydling and every other theatre of war are listed. We give up our day so they won't be alone…and will know their sacrifice meant something.
The End.
