441’s Final Sortie

It was another hot day for ground unit 441. The blazing sun and the miles of sand of Afghanistan never disappointed in its consistency. Sergeant Landro allowed his unit to cool off in their humvee while they awaited further orders. 2nd Lieutenant Steven Nielsen looked out his window at the endless desert before him. “One day”, he thought, “One more day in this wasteland and I can return home”. It had been eight months since he had last seen his family. Heard his wife’s loving voice and his daughter’s ever-inviting gaze.

Private Monte, sitting beside him, turned to face his comrade. “I bet the sarge ‘ill have us in another firefight on the way back, huh?” Steven turned to Monte, “Seeing how well he got us out of that last screw up, I wouldn’t be surprised” said Steven. Sergeant Landro seemed to always have the worst of luck in working the GPS. One screw up lead them 300 miles away from being of any help to the other ground units, and another brought the team directly into an ambush. How they all managed to get by was nothing short of a miracle, only showing how great Landro worked under pressure.

The radio suddenly buzzed a loud static noise. Landro rushed himself into their humvee and tweaked the dials on the dashboard. As the static subsided, a voice became audible “441, come in 441”. Landro flicked a knob and began to respond “441 reporting, is that you Overlord?”, “Overlord here, we have clearance to send you and your unit home”. Hearing those words uttered from their superior, brought a wide smile to Steven’s face. Monte returned the smile and nodded to Landro, who in turn nodded back. “We’ll have a plane for you ready at airbase Alpha, have a safe trip, over and out” the radio then returned to constant static before being shut off. Landro secured himself into the driver’s seat and started the engine. It was only a matter of time, and they’d all be on a one way trip back to America.

Airbase Alpha, much like the others, was nothing more than a large tent next to a long runway. Occasionally, a plane or two would sit nearby for later use. Landro parked their humvee right outside the large tent and began to step out of the vehicle, Steven and Monte followed suit. “You two got 5 minutes to gather your stuff from the old’ jeep and put it in your designated trunks” Landro stated. Monte opened the back of the humvee and began to unload bags of personal belongings. He passed one to Steven who immediately began to rummage through its contents. Inside were family photos, parting gifts, and most importantly, letters from his daughter. Every week or two, he’d receive a letter from little Caroline, stating how she’s been, describing many new things she’s learned from her favorite cartoon, and of course, how much she missed him. He quickly unloaded the bag and packed its contents into his supply trunk. When all their stuff was packed, they all boarded the specified aircraft and began to fasten their supplies.

They soon took off and were on their way home. Steven couldn’t help but reminisce about the letters from Caroline. It seemed just after he left for the Middle East that she became fascinated with a cartoon called My Little Pony. Many of her letters described the characters and adventures they went through, as well as the morals that came after every episode. She had asked him why America and Afghanistan can’t just be friends like the ponies. Steven thought to himself “Why couldn’t they just be friends?” He knew there was a reason but he never cared to learn it, no point in knowing it seemed. Monte was sitting next to him, likely thinking of his girlfriend and how great it will be to see her again. Perhaps over half a year of combat will have given him the courage to finally propose to her.

A warning light began to flash and the plane started to shake. Steven and Monte looked exchanged worried glances as they waited for Landro to tell them what’s going on. “Looks like we got a storm coming up” Landro exclaimed on the intercom, “strap yourselves in tight boys, its gunna get a little bumpy”. And it did, the shaking of the plane soon became violent and Steven and Monte were struggling just to stay seated. A loud snap was suddenly heard and Steven turned his head up to see what it was. One of the straps holding his supply trunk had snapped and the trunk began to fall right on him. Monte gave out a yell of warning but it was too late, despite Steven’s best efforts to avoid it, the trunk fell right onto his head. With a loud THUMP, Steven blacked out, the last thing he could make out was Monte unfasining his seatbelt to try and help him, before losing consciousness.