The Envelope

Chapter 3

         At five in the afternoon Lieutenant Polsk stood in front of his men in formation. His platoon Sergeant, Sergeant First Class Jacob Fitz, stood next to him his eyes looking over the men in Third Platoon, Charlie Troop, 2nd Squadron, 194th Cavalry Regiment who were standing at-ease. Every man in the formation had his eyes on John. All thoughts of his family, friends and Mary were gone. They were replaced with nothing but thoughts of the Army, his men and what they were prepared to go and do. As he looked over his men he saw several different looks on the faces of thirty two men. Some men had faces that seemed to be made of stone, the youngest guys had looks of fear and worry, and those that had already been over to wither Iraq or Afghanistan had looks more of annoyance than anything. A few of the younger ones had gotten married in the previous week and were notably worried about their brides. One of the men had just had a baby two days after they got back from training and had to leave his wife and newborn bay daughter. They all were leaving behind them family, friends and their jobs to go to a war zone, yet every man in his platoon showed up to go. They knew the risks when they first enlisted into the Army.
                   “Alright everyone, I want to thank you all. I want to thank you all for showing up, not a single one of us went AWOL today. We have all showed up here at this hotel so that tomorrow we can go to war. This is an unpopular war yes, but we are going over there anyways, to hopefully help finish the job and help the Iraqi people live in freedom. It is an honor for me to go over seas with you and to fight with you. And I promise you this; I will do everything in my power to bring all thirty-two of you home safe and sound. Platoon, ATTENTION! Sergeant Fitz!” With his short speech over he called his platoon sergeant to take charge of the formation and dismiss the men. After the formation was dismissed and the soldiers were allowed to go to their hotel rooms John, Jacob Fitz and the two section Sergeants, Staff Sergeant Matt Hark and Staff Sergeant Chris “Willy” Regent were left in the parking lot of the hotel. John had been working with all three of the men since his days as a Cadet in ROTC and they had helped to guide him for nearly three years. He looked at each of them in the eyes and could honestly say that he couldn’t have asked for better NCO’s than them.
                   “Alright then. Tomorrow we leave for Iraq as you know. Guys are going to want to party one last time tonight and we need to try and keep that under control. Have your TC’s keep an on their guys to make sure they don’t do something stupid, I want to start this deployment off on a good note. Word from the Commander is that drinking is allowed, but only in moderation and stops right at 2230. So take a rest tonight guys, because we got a year before we can do so again.” With that they all said good night, shook hands and went to their rooms. John got to his room and saw his buddy, Lieutenant Kevin Shrack, sitting on his bed with a six pack of Sam Adams ready to go. John grabbed one of the bottles, popped the top and sat on the bed. Holding his bottle up to his friend, John said,
                   “Here’s to a year of kicking the ass of some towel headed terrorist bastards. And if we must, to one day ride the fields of Fiddlers Green with our brothers.” With the toast they clanked bottles and took a deep draught. Kevin took off his boots and lay down on the bed with his head propped up against the head board.
                   “Do you think we’re ready for this? I mean we only became butterbars a year ago and we’re already going to war.”
                   “John, I think we are. We’ve got some good NCO’s and good privates and a decent Commander. I think that even Master Sergeant Byr would say that we are ready to go.” Kevin said as he took another swig and let out a belch. As he lay there he fiddled with the ring that was on his finger.
                   “So how’s Karen taking living by herself?”
                   “She’ll be alright. She says that she can take it for a year, but if I don’t come home in one piece that she’s going to go over to Iraq and kill however got me herself.” Both men let out a good laugh and took another swig of their beers. Kevin had been one of the ones who got married just before they deployed. Fortunately, unlike many of the soldiers who did get married, Kevin and Karen had talked about getting married for a while and the news of getting deployed just gave them an opportunity to do it. The wedding had been short and sweet with a barbeque style reception afterwards.
                   “At least she has a positive attitude about it. I can’t say the same for all of the guys though. I feel sorry for the guys who have to leave behind wives and children.” Kevin said thoughtfully.
                   “I know, and I pray that nothing happens to them while we are gone. Look at the bright side, you have someone that you can write to and receive letters from while we are over there besides your parents.”
                   “I guess that is a plus. I’m guessing you couldn’t convince a girl to write to you?”
                   “I don’t know, probably not. Oh well, that’s the luck of the draw anyways. I’m defiantly no character like Dirk Pitt or Lucas Davenport that’s for sure.”
                   “Dirk who? Lucas what?”
                   “Sorry they’re characters from a couple of book series that I enjoy. They’re supposed to be real ladies men and good guys that fight crime and what not.”
                   “Ah, yes, fiction books…”
                   “Yes, fiction books, not history books. I know it would have made more sense for you if I had mentioned a historical figure.” Kevin let out a laugh, took another swig from his beer which was empty and popped another one. He then sat up and continued the conversation.
                   “Well, what about Alyssa? I know you have the hots for her, or at least you did back in school and that you’ve kept in contact with her since we graduated.”
                   “I’ve only talked to her a couple of times since we graduated, but I don’t know. I didn’t ask whether or not she’s still dating her boyfriend or not and she didn’t bring him up”
                   “Hey, you know no ring on the finger she’s still fair game.”
                   “Maybe for you, but it’s not right for a man to steal a girl from another man. Especially if he is a good man like him. Hell, she even talked about getting married to him our senior year of college, and that she  would even change her last name to his. You know Alyssa, the last thing she ever wanted to do while in college was get married and change her last name.”
                   “Yeah I know that she’s one of those super feminists, but she has many good qualities, and she actually talks to you.”
                   “Women do talk to me. Every once in a while”
                   “When they’re drunk or desperate.”
                   “You are a bitch, you know that right?”
                   “I know, and I enjoy being one.”
                   “Fine, fine. Pass me another beer and let’s talk about how tomorrow is going to run…” John opened his beer and pulled out a small stack of documents and Kevin did the same. Together they confirmed transportation details, plane boarding and planning for any possible detail that could go askew. At midnight they called it quits and went to bed, for the next day would be the first day of the most challenging thing that they had ever done in their lives.

         John sat at the end of a couch that was nestled as a side to square shape formation of couches and chairs. Sitting together at the bar were a bunch of his friends from ROTC. It was the end of summer and they all had returned from the Leadership Assessment and Development Course, the event that would determine whether or not they would be allowed to become officers in the Army. Each and every single one of them had gone through the course with success and was out celebrating. Alyssa Johnson sat next to him, with some kind of mixed drink that he had no idea what it was, talking to him and exchanging stories about their respective trips to Fort Lewis. John had a Sam Adams in hand and was enjoying her company.
                   “I swear that the two fire team leaders I had for my lane were two of the dumbest possible cadets that I could get.” Alyssa was saying as she shook her head over her drink and took another sip.
                   “It couldn’t have been that bad. What kind of mission did you have anyways?”
                   “Just a simple squad attack. We were supposed to attack a three man OP that was about two clicks away from our patrol base, so we had to hustle over to it. When we got there my team leaders said they knew what they were doing, but it just came apart.”
                   “What happened? Did one of them lead their team in the wrong direction or something?” John looked at his friend, trying to guess what might have happened but couldn’t put his finger on what possibly could have happened.
                   “No, not that. As I was leading the assault element around the right flank, we all of a sudden hear a yell from behind us. I figured that the OPFOR got around behind us or something like that, but no. The freakin’ team leader of the support team was charging the enemy position with his team like he was Rambo or something.” John looked at her with a blank stare for a moment until he could comprehend what had happened. When he did he laughed hard enough to start coughing. When he had managed to settle down enough to talk again, he had to ask the inevitable question.
                   “Why in the world would he do something like that?”
                   “When our lane evaluator asked him, he just shrugged and said ‘Because I thought it was a good idea at the time’.”
                   “Wow, that was some special cadet. What did you end getting on your lane be the way?”
                   “An S. It could have been an E, but my freakin’ team leader screwed me. I was so freakin’ pissed at him that when we got back to the barracks I yelled at him for about ten minutes.”
                   “Ouch. I feel sorry for him.”
                   “I know he felt sorry for himself. I may not be physically intimidating, but I know how to scare people. What did you get on your lane?”
                   “An E. It was just a recon mission. We went out, found the bad guys and went back. Easy.”
                   “That’s it. I’m not talking to you anymore!”
                   “I’ll drink to that!” Laughing they both clinked their glasses and took a drink. At the end of the night John and Alyssa left, leaving only a couple of the heavy drinkers back at the bar. They parted with a hug and a goodbye. John sat in his car as he made sure Alyssa got to hers safely and drive away. He then started his car and headed back to his apartment.