Our Lad

CHAPTER SIX

We got back into camp, we had ten minutes free time, so as discussed on the ride back to camp, I went and took my long-awaited shower, and Georgie went to get her arm and leg looked at which didn't actually turn out and bad as we thought it would be. Me and Dave thought she would be sent home like I was, however thankfully, her leg wasn't deeply cut as she could still put all her bodyweight on the leg, and she had just been assigned light duties from Sergeant Lane. I had my shower and met back up with Dave and Georgie to have a cigarette before we got debriefed.

"How's the wounded soldier?" I asked Georgie.

"Practically good as new, mate" she replied as she lit her cigarette.

"Oh so I'm just your mate now?" I asked in a jokingly manor.

"What if you were?" She asked, matching my brilliant sense of humour.

"Then I wouldn't have to put up with that scary attitude when you're pissed off" I replied.. whilst I got a dog in the shoulder from Georgie.

"Now I might be slightly injured, but I can still kick your arse any day, boy" She replied.

We laughed it off and finished our cigarettes whilst getting a few 'after war selfies' to post on Instagram and Facebook when we had a decent WIFI connection. I still couldn't help but think about that Afghan soldier that I seen in the Taliban base, so I decided to speak to Dave and Georgie about it whilst we were walking to the briefing room for our debrief.

"Here, guys. When we were up on the vantage point looking down into the Taliban base, I seen that Afghan soldier there next to Abdullah. As if he was guarding him, remember, Dave? I said to Heeley over the radio that I saw him, but he hasn't come up to me and said anything about it?"

"Who you on about? that bloke with the shaved head and the scar on his face and he's always staring at us as if we've done something wrong?" asked Georgie.

"Aye, him." I replied.

"I don't know mate; I mean I've always thought there's something dodgy about him, but I think Heeley or even Hanley would of spoke to you about him by now." replied Dave.

"That's exactly what I was thinking, mate." I said.

"Maybe it's worth speaking to the pair of them about it, Mark. You don't bring this up then there's still that chance that he might be feeding our information back to the Taliban." said Georgie.

"Yeah, maybe you're right, I think If they don't bring it up before or after the briefing, I might mention it to them tomorrow morning." I replied.

We walked into the briefing room where Hanley and Heeley were already waiting for everybody.

"Okay, everybody, I know we are cutting into your free time so I'm going to make this as quick as possible. What we saw out there today was fucking brilliant. Everybody done exactly what they were supposed to do and even though we didn't get Karim to safety tonight, we did manage to keep her safe, thanks to Davies taking out Abdullah." said Commander Hanley. And at that moment, after the words left his mouth, everybody started cheering for me.

"Yes, Private Davies done what every soldier is expected to do, and that's go above and beyond the call of duty when we needed him to, and thanks to him, we have been able to temporarily stop the Taliban from opposing any immediate threat, but we'll save that for another day. For now it's just the case of normal service being resumed. So until this tour is over, we go on our regular patrols, and we take trips into the villages in and around Kabul and just keep a general eye on Afghanistan. Any questions? No? Good, done, enjoy your free time." added Sergeant Heeley.