Coming home (book 2)

Chapter 24

No one's Pov

You just landed in the Bagram Air Base located in Parvan Province, Afghanistan. The flight was long, and everyone was tired. You follow Barnes and the rest of the unit to your sleeping quarters, so everyone can get settled. There was only one other girl on the mission with you. Her name is Kara and she was pretty chill.

"Alright lets get unpacked and then head down to the chow hall for lunch, after we eat we will discuss the mission and answer any questions you have." Says Barnes

"Yes Sir!" Everyone yells in unison.

"Dismissed." He says

Everyone heads to their bunks and unpacks.

"Wanna go grab some food in the chow hall with me?"Asks Kara

"Yeah let's go." You say

You and Kara head to the chow hall, they were just serving lunch. You both grab a tray and sit down with the rest of the guys. After a few minutes Barnes walks in.

"Let's head to the meeting room. You can bring your food and drinks." Says Barnes

Everyone gets up and follows Barnes to the meeting room and we all take a seat at the table.

"Alright, first of all thank you for coming on this mission. I know some of you volunteered to be here to help." He says before taking a brief pause.

"Our mission is to assist in the return of one of our other teams and helping them get home. It's deep in enemy territory and to be honest we don't know if there are any survivors. We have received word that there is not much of an enemy presence near the last time the team checked in. I won't say it's a simple mission but the plan is to be in and out as quickly as possible. This mission could take a few days to a few months depending
On what we find out. Eat up and get some rest we leave at 0600 tomorrow. Any questions?" He says

"How long have they been gone?" Asks one of the guys, I think his name was Jackson.

"They were ambushed a week ago. They did report some casualties but last we heard there was 6 survivors." He says

"Why didn't they send a unit that was already here?" Asks another dude

"They did once they received word of the ambush . They had to back off because they were not able to get into enemy territory. I was asked to form a more experienced team. Since it's been a few days, the hope is they pulled back enough for us to get in to assist." He says

"So we're assuming there are still survivors." Asks another guy.

"They are alive until we find out they aren't. No men left behind. Even if we go in to a massacre, everyone deserves to come home to their loved ones." He says

The room falls silent, I guess no one has any more questions.

"Anymore questions?" He asks taking a brief pause looking around at everyone. "Very well, enjoy your lunch and get some rest, I'm sure the jet lag will catch up to you. Be ready to go at 0600." He says

A chorus of yes sirs go around before Barnes sits down to eat his food.

"After we eat you wanna head to the shooting range?" You ask Kara turning to her slightly.

"Yes! I could use some practice, I don't want to be rusty." She says

You and kara both finish your food, and putting your tray where they need to go and head straight to the barracks to grab your guns before heading to the shooting range. You were both pretty rusty but after a bit of time you were hitting all the targets where you needed too.

"I think the jet lag is catching up." Kara says

"Yeah, I'm feeling it now too." You say

You both reload your weapons, so they are ready for tomorrow and head back to the barracks, getting changed into your rest clothes before laying down on your respected beds.

"So how long have you been in the Army?" You ask

6 years. 4 tours total. What about you? She says

"6 years as well, off and on. This is my third tour." You respond.

" Wow, you must have really impressed on your first two tours then to be called to this team." She says

"Yeah, well it's a long story." You say

"I'm sure we will have plenty of time for you to tell it. If you want to that is, if not that's totally fine too." she says

You were glad she wasn't being pushy about it.

"Is your plan to do this long term?" You ask

"At first, I was just going to do it for the bare minimum, to get all the benefits and stuff, but now I think I want too. The plan after this is to start working on ranking higher, maybe I can be like Barnes one day." She says

"Thats badass Kara, I think you would do an amazing job." You say

"Thank you, I'd like to hope I would. What about you? You plan on staying in? She says.

"That's a conversation I would need to have with my fiancé when I get home. I'm sure she will want me to get out as soon as possible. But I know she would support me no matter what I decide." You say

"That's so cute! Congratulations! If you don't mind me asking, how long have you two been together?" She says

"I met her through my sister when I first got home from my first tour. I hadn't seen my family in over a year and decided to surprise my sister at her soccer game. My Fiancé was on her team. I played for a while with them and then deployed to my next tour. Surprisingly she stuck with me throughout it all." You say

"Wait so you, your sister and fiancé played together on the same team? I thought you all had to be on the same age." She says

"My fiance and I are the same age, my sister Christen is a few years older then me. We played for the United States Womens National Team together." You say

"Wow, so representing your country in two different ways, that's awesome." she says

Yeah, I am not as good as my sister and fiancé though. You say with a chuckle.

"Wait, Christen Press is your sister?" She asks

"Yep." You say

"My little sister is obsessed with her. She wants to become a soccer player just like her. She takes it very seriously and is actually really decent." She says

"Thats awesome, how old is she?" You ask

"15" She says

Tell her to keep working on it, my fiancé joined the national team at 17 so its defiantly possible. You say.

"Wow 17 years old sounds so young!" She says

"Right! I thought it was crazy too." You say

There was a comfortable silence, both of you were tired from the flight.

"Alright we'll, I think I'm going to take a nap until dinner is ready." She says with a yawn.

"Sounds good. I'll have the alarm set so we don't miss it." You say before laying down on your back staring up at the ceiling, eventually getting tired and falling asleep.
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So sorry for the delayed update! Will try to get a another chapter out today. Thanks for reading!