Life of War

Dude you can forget about me going out on a blind date with someone. After what happened to me the last time I went out, I said. I just can’t do it because Ashley was the only girl I can be with and I have a feeling that she will be coming back to me. The one thing you can do is get me a drink. Hey why don’t you call some friends and we can play some pool, I said. That sounds good, says Jimmy. Jimmy is my best friend in the world. He and I did three tours in Afghanistan before we both decided to leave the army and live a normal life and have a family.
He and I were the best of the best from the point of view from the other soldiers in our battalion. I met him when we were cadets in training and we just helped each other out with everything. We came back to our home town of Miami, Florida. Once we got home the people that knew us from there were ecstatic once we walked into the door, I said.
Those were the good old days, but I have to live with the fact that those times are over. The past year has had its up and it’s down. I think that if I even stayed in the war I could have been killed. Even though I was the best in my battalion, I was still afraid of death.
My ranking in the army was a corporal. My best shot was with the sniper rifle. Especially the Barret .50 Caliber Rifle. I was the top sniper of the army. I have to forget these days, and I keep telling myself this to. I can think of many ways I can get rid of these memories, but these memories have taught me a lesson in life. No matter how hard the challenge is, you can always rise above it.
If I could go back to those days I would, but they are long gone.
(Ring, Ring, Ring) Hello, I said. Hello Theodore how have you been. Can I ask who this is? This is someone very familiar with your life, or I mean your military life kiddo. General is that you? Yeah kiddo I need to talk to you and Jimmy if you got time on your hands, he said. Yeah sure General Jimmy and I are here if you need us. That is the thing though I need you and him back in action over here. Sir I and he are over with the military, I said. This is just a onetime thing, Said the General.
If I could help I would sir and I will. Are you sure because I got a whole list of people here that could do the job as well as you guys can do it. No, I think it would be a great thing for us to go and help our country with our brothers in arms. If you are sure about this then I will send you a car to pick you guys up. Get ready to serve your country. So the General, he is one of my old friends from the army. He used to come to us and invite us to his barracks to have a drink, and show us the details of many of our battle plans. We tried to get him to leave the army with us.
Hey Jimmy, I said. “What dude I’m about to call for a pizza”. Don’t worry about that because we are going on a trip. Wait what are we talking about. I’m talking about to get an opportunity to get these nightmares out of our heads. Dude, I don’t have any nightmares about the war that we were in together. Well I have them and I need to get rid of them, or I could lose my mind. So whether or not you will go with me, I am going. I said. So we are on our way to war, again. The flight was the most relief I had. If I would have stayed back at the United States, I would have definitely been a crazy person. Okay I have gone over the battle plan, I said. It was about three hours later when I realized that we had just landed. It felt like days when we were on that plane. I could not wait to get off that plane to get these memories out of my head. I think if I do this right I will lose all of them, and I will be able to live the rest of my life in peace. So we took a big ride to the base and we heard some catastrophic news.
The news we heard was so bad that me and my friend fell to the ground, because our friend the general that was one of our long lasting friend that we cared for was killed in a helicopter crash. We were so upset for hours, and then it was time to figure out what happened when the helicopter crashed in the desert. These reports were indicating that the crash that killed him was not just an accident it was an assassination. By what I mean by the reports are that investigators from the army said that there was not that much evidence to conclude anything else. So that is what they went for. All of the reports led to it so I think I knew what happened here. When they were flying across the border they went into enemy territory and they were spotted. When they realized it, it was just too late. They were shot down. I can’t prove it without actual evidence, like a burn marking around the entry point where the rocket or bullets hit.
It looks like there are no photos of the impact point in where it hit, said Jimmy. It is as clear as day on what happened when the helicopter crash. Hey Jimmy do we have any photos of the helicopter before they took off. Actually I think that there is one, he said. By the time we got the photo and examined it. It was about four long hours. The generals body was now being shipped back home. The funeral was a week away from tomorrow. I hope I can make it back home before hand so I can be there for the family whom I am close to. With the evidence of the photo Jimmy and I can now live the rest of our lives in peace because what we found out about the mission we were supposed to go on was a hoax.
The mission was a party to celebrate the closing of the war. So I now believe that this was not an act of war, but just a malfunction in the helicopters propellers. The photo we examined show that the crew must not have looked at the helicopters propellers before they took off, because if you looked closely at the photo there was a split end in two of the propellers. Now I know that it was an accident his death and that I can now be assured that his death is a natural death that I guess was meant to happen in some way, but his legacy will go and live forever. The next was not as bad as Jimmy and I hoped it would be, because I didn’t wake screaming. No nightmares were found. Just good old memories of our buddy the general.
Hey Theo, said Jimmy. It is time to go dude the plane is ready to go back home to the good old United States dude. By the way before I forget the general’s wife called, and she wants us to go there to Texas before we go home. She wants to get to see us again, he said. Okay I will make arrangement to get us a ride there, I said. No worry I already got us a ride there, he said. I got us a jet to go there, because none of the other planes are going to Texas, but around Texas okay. So I made some calls and got us a jet from Colorado to Texas. This is why you are my best friend, I said. Hey Jimmy, I said. You know if you can call up that date you were setting me up with once we get back home to Miami.
Dud how long was I asleep for, I said. You were asleep for about five hours. So where are we? We are about eight hours away from Texas. If you could only understand how great a feeling to be able to sleep that long, because for the past year I have only been able to sleep at least 3 hours and maybe less. It is a relief I am betting, Jimmy said. Yes it is a relief. Here we are, Texas. The biggest state in the United States and home to one of the greatest friend, who has passed. If I did not believe it I would say that I am a hero for saying that the death was an accident and not an assassination, because his wife was so upset thinking it was one. Now she is at least not as sad as she was the other day.
I can’t believe that it has been a week since we were back in Afghanistan and no nightmares and a lot of people thinking we are heroes again. I don’t think it was because of the fact that I was in the war. I think it was because the fact that I was able to say that the war was completely done with because of me clearing the Afghanis’ name because of a malfunction. If this was let out to the public before I found that out it would have been disastrous. It would have caused the war to go on. Now I know that I will live a smooth life from now on throughout my life.

The End