{Troy's POV}
(Saturday, October 23, 2021-5:20 pm)
[Troy & Hayden's Apartment]
I genuinely didn't like how much Hayden was working, but there was nothing I could do. I knew that Hayden being a Second Lieutenant meant he was swamped with work regularly, and whatever was going on to require him to be at Fort Archian this much must be enormous. Unfortunately, Hayden hadn't been told what all this was for. And here all I wanted to know was why he had to work such outrageous hours. In other updates, Hayden ended up staying at Fort Archian after his second-shift meeting on October 2nd. The meeting didn't end until almost 11 pm, and my fiancée was exhausted, so he opted to remain on the base overnight and then return to Berk as soon as he woke up. Thankfully, Donovan gave Hayden the 3rd off to recuperate. Hayden and I spent that time relaxing and getting a few things ready for the move to our new apartment. We went out to get cardboard boxes to pack clothes, electronics, pictures, etc. Hayden and used the rest of that week, after he got home from work to continue packing so we would be ready for Saturday, the 9th, to make the move. Initially, we were going to use my truck to transport things but decided on Thursday that it would be best to rent a bigger truck to hopefully get it all done in one shot.
Hayden did end up accepting his mother's and father's offer to take the cookware, utensils, plates, and cups that used to belong to his grandparents from both sides of the family. Hayden said it might take some adjusting, but he was happy to have something of theirs with him. On the 9th of October at 10 am, the movers came to my parents' place, and I had them park the truck along the right side of the house on the grass near the back porch. It was to make the lifting and carrying a little more of a shorter and straight path from the basement to the rear door of the home. The furniture was loaded onto the truck first, then all the boxes; this only took us an hour and a half to get done with help from the two movers, Hayden, and myself. My parents were home, but we didn't want to make things too crazy by having a ton of people going up and down the stairs. When everything was put away, the movers followed Hayden and I in my truck to the new apartment after I informed my family that they could come by to see the place when we threw the apartment warming party once we got fully settled in. Of course, they understood and didn't mind waiting.
Reaching our new place; we did everything the same way as when we packed it up. All the boxes were removed and set in the rooms where they belonged out of the way. Next, we did furniture. The living room first, then the bedroom set. Hayden and I took a small break for lunch after the movers were paid and left. Once that was done; Hayden and I got right back to work arranging the living and bedroom spaces. Unpacking the boxes didn't take too long. I want to say by 4 pm, we were done. Hayden and I grabbed dinner an hour later, then since we were right near the grocery store, decided to get the shopping taken care of. It wasn't a big trip, but we got the things that were necessary. Sunday was our grab food for the apartment day, then we've spent the last few weeks decorating to our style. Curtains, blinds, couple extra furniture pieces, a dining room table, patio set, and grill. Finally, we'd finished last night. Originally; it was going to be our warming party, but Hayden and I chose to put that off until today since we wanted the first night, entirely moved into the apartment and done, to ourselves. Yes, that meant all we wanted to do was be alone to have mind-blowing sex until we both passed out from exhaustion. Definitely worth it. However, now it was almost 5:30 pm on Saturday the 23rd of October. Everyone was coming over to see the new place and hang out together.
"Babe, lasagna just finished," Hayden called to me after the oven beeped. Yeah, we decided to cook instead of order out for dinner. Hayden and I made lasagna and meatballs with garlic bread. Simple, but effective and could feed a bunch of people with the portion we made.
"Perfect," I smiled as I went into the kitchen to help Hayden out. We pulled the lasagna out of the oven and left it on the stove to cool a bit while I checked on the meatballs. "And these are done too," I added. I pulled Hayden towards me by his hand, then kissed him deeply. "I love you,"
"I love you too. Can you believe that this time next year we'll be married?" Hayden said excitedly.
"I can't wait," I replied. No sooner than the words left my mouth; there was a knock on the door. I guess it was time to begin this celebration.
{Normal POV}
Hayden and Troy walked to the door together to greet everyone. Troy opened the door to see Cole and Rosanna, Evelina was in her car seat still. Behind them was Hailey, Drew, and Fisher, then Dustin and Rachel. Next to come up the walk was Shane, Tyler, Rylee, and Avery. Finally, Spencer and Vivian entered last.
"Welcome, come right in!" Hayden smiled invitingly.
"I'll take coats," Troy offered. As everyone was removing their jackets and saying hello; they were also admiring the apartment they had stepped into. From the front door, everyone saw a large closet. To the left was the living room, then on the right was the dining room and forward more showed the kitchen. Troy hung the coats up as Hayden led everyone in the right direction so they could have a seat at the table for dinner. It was now they were able to see that from the kitchen, there was a door to lead outside onto the deck that wrapped around the back of the apartment and into the backyard too; that was on the right wall before the refrigerator. However, looking left, there was another hallway. Peeking down it; the group could see the bathroom and a closed door, which assumingly was the bedroom.
"This place is beautiful, son," Rachel informed.
"We thought so too. Not bad for $780, right?" Troy chuckled. "Now, everyone sit down for supper. We can admire more on a full tour later," Unable to argue; they all took a seat as Hayden and Troy worked together to start serving plates with lasagna, three meatballs, and two pieces of garlic bread; everyone was also given their choice in beverage from the fridge. Troy and Hayden shared a brief kiss before grabbing their own plates, taking a seat, and beginning to eat. Tonight was going to be a blast with friends and family there to celebrate the new apartment.
. . .
(Friday, October 29, 2021-5 am)
[Mainland; Fort Archian]
The Alpha Company all rounded up for the end of October drill weekend. It was 0500 hours, everyone was for the most part awake.
"Ugh, I need a coffee," Troy mumbled.
"Meh, I'm used to it," Hayden shrugged since he was up at 3:30 pretty much every day to make the trip and arrive at the base for work.
"Alpha Company Warriors, Attention!" Donovan commanded as everyone fell silent, standing together in their proper formation. "Platoon leaders, step forward!" he said. Just like that; Hayden, Jason Tarelto, Steven Ritka, and Daryl Lennox, Cody Kongur, and Oliver Raske walked up together and took their places on either side of Donovan, making sure to stay in front of their respected platoon. There had been a lot of changes since returning home from Syria. For one, the platoons all had the same number of warriors now, which is twenty-four. And this number did not include the leader of such. Overall, the Alpha Company without Commander Bludvist was precisely one hundred and fifty people. The six platoons were Inferno, Cloud, Thunder, Lightning, Zapper, and Blaster. "You six come with me; the rest; return to your barracks until further instruction,"
Confused, but unable to argue with a direct order; the platoons broke off to get to their barracks and just relax until they were told to do something else. The platoon leaders followed Donovan to the Alpha Company office to find out what it was their commander wanted with them.
. . .
(6:45 am)
[Inferno Platoon Barrack; A1]
As there was nothing else to do, the males and females of Inferno decided to relax together in the one barrack to wait for their next set of orders. Typically, at this time for a Friday during Drill Weekend; they would be doing two hours of Physical Training, or PT, then having breakfast at 7:15 am before going about the rest of the day with some kind of exercise that would keep them ready for deployment.
"I wonder what all this is about. Do you know anything Troy?" Amber questioned curiously.
"What makes you think I know?" Troy arched a brow while sitting on his cot.
"Well, I mean, you're engaged to our platoon leader. I'm sure he tells you what's going on," Seymour reminded.
"I don't know anymore more than you do," Troy stated. "I know Hayden's been pulling a lot of hours since September 13th; meetings, work, long shifts, etc.," he added.
"Them being engaged doesn't ensure that Lieutenant Haddock can reveal military-related information without permission. Officer ranks differ from Enlistee ones," Ryan reminded. Yes, Troy had almost forgotten that Vincent and Ryan became members of the same platoon they trained in 2019. Talk about ironic situations. Before anyone could say anything else, the door opened as Hayden walked in with a heavy sigh, head down while pulling off his hat.
Troy sat up quickly, then getting to his feet to approach Hayden. "What's going on?" he asked, hoping for an answer this time.
"Everyone…Take a seat," Hayden advised as the twenty-four found places to sit together and remain close to hear whatever it was Hayden had to tell them because by the looks of things; it wouldn't be good. "There's no easy way to put this, so I'm just going to say it," he paused as everyone listened intently, the nerves beginning to rise. "We're deploying overseas in January 2022,"
Silence.
Then, the one saying Hayden knew would come was heard. "AGAIN?!"
"We haven't even been out of the war for ONE year, and they're sending us back?!"
"That's not fair!"
Hayden closed his eyes and began to rub his head. Troy stood up and gave a loud whistle with his middle and thumb fingers at the corners of his mouth. The platoon went quiet. "It doesn't need to be fair, boys and girls. We're Marines for the Archipelago, and we defend our home when called to do so. Stop complaining about the job you all chose and signed a contract to do. Now, shut the hell up and let Lieutenant Haddock talk," Not another word was said as Troy looked at Hayden. "Go ahead, babe,"
"We leave Sunday, January 9, 2022, at 0800 hours from here, Fort Archian. Same drill as last time; pack your ACU's in the long bag, and then laptops, tablets, phones, chargers, small album, whatever you want with you as long as it fits in your backpack. You need to be here at 0600 to be checked in and beginning to board the aircraft. You will receive your battle gear upon arrival at the tour location," Hayden continued.
Ryan put his hand up as Hayden motioned for him to speak. "How long is the tour, Lieutenant?"
"One year," Hayden replied. Now, Eira raised her hand as Hayden looked at her to talk.
"Where…Are we going?" Eira inquired.
"Afghanistan, Kandahar Province. We'll be flying into Kandahar International Airport, then headed to Barbarki Base; it's run by Archipelago Army and Marines. As far as I understand, every company for both branches is paired up. As an example, Alpha Company Marines will pair with Alpha Company Army. I guess we're working together with them. I'm not sure how they'll label us to avoid confusion when a group is called. Taking a guess; we would be AM Company for Alpha Marines, and they'd be AA or Alpha Army. No idea; it wasn't discussed in the meeting, but we'll know by the time we arrive," Hayden shrugged.
"Do we know the flight itinerary yet?" Nicole wondered.
"I do. Depart from Fort Archian at 0800 hours, then layovers in Denmark, Hungary, and Turkey before arriving in Afghanistan at 11:40 pm, likely closer to midnight after deboarding and reaching our section in the base," Hayden informed.
"Woah, that's like, hours of flying…" Theodore blinked.
"It's actually not that bad. The longest of the flight will be from Turkey to Afghanistan; that's four hours," Hayden stated.
"Not seeing how you got midnight," Madison quirked a brow. Hayden sighed.
"Because you didn't factor in layover time and time changes," Troy remarked.
"That's correct," Hayden nodded. "We depart here at 8 am, then fly two hours to Denmark where there will be a forty-five-minute layover, meaning we'll leave there at 10:50 am. There is an hour and thirty-minute flight to Hungary; making it 11:20 am. Two-hour layover puts departure for Turkey at 1:20, then another hour and fifty-minute flight to Turkey. We'll land there at 2:10, and spend an hour to relax before the four-hour flight to Afghanistan," Hayden explained. Someone went to say something until Hayden stopped them. "I realize that time would put you at arrival to Kandahar at 7:10 pm, but you didn't add the four hours and thirty minutes that Afghanistan is ahead of Archipelago time, so that actually makes it 11:40, just as I said,"
"Oh," they all said, nodding in understanding after Hayden broke it down.
"The bottom line, boys, and girls; is that we're deploying to Afghanistan for one year on January 9, 2022, at 8 am. Everything from this weekend until that point will be spent sharpening our skills and preparing for the tour," Hayden enlightened.
"Sir, yes sir!" the platoon replied affirmatively. Hayden looked at Troy, who was clearly concerned about everything because their wedding was for October 2022, and now they would be deployed. Hayden offered a soft smile, one that gave the message; we'll talk about it later, don't worry. Troy nodded as everyone was taking in the information and settling with it. In three months, they were heading back into war.