The Good Marine

Throwbacks.

He looked out to the about 25 kids in the room, looking at him. "Well... Uh, I've got three stories. Someone just say a random number and I'll start with that one." He sunk into the cushions of the maroon office chair. He wondered if it would be okay to put his feet up on the desk but he quickly decided against it. He sighed and stood up, taking off his jacket. He sighed and looked at them, their eyes on him. "2." A shorter girl said shyly. She had brown hair and beautiful brown eyes. "Alright. I can do that one." He smiled and pulled the chair into the middle of the floor in front of the room.
"Well, I remember we were in Iraq this day, supporting the Army Mechanized Infantry as they rolled through Ramadi to Baghdad. I was in the lead humvee, passenger seat. I was upfront with this Sergeant who was a complete jackas-" He stopped himself and coughed. "Sorry. He was a fool." Ms. Turner laughed. "Don't censor yourself dear. I'm sure most of these people here are young adults. I would hope." She eyed a few students in the room. He smiled. "Well, he was a jackass. We were rolling with the 2nd Mech. Infantry through Ramadi and I was riding shotgun. Well, this Sergeant, last name was something like Wolcott. I don't know. But anyways, we take fire maybe ten miles in and we dismount and take up firing positions. Well this guy, says 'I gotta pee' and just whips out his dick in the middle of exchanging rounds with the Taliban. Well, I didn't expect this to happen so of course I looked over to him and told him to pull his pants up or I was gonna end up having to drag his ass back to cover in the next twenty seconds. Well, I wasn't wrong... I went up to him as he pulled up his pants and basically tried to pull him into cover but as I did he took a round to his head and... Well, I had pieces of him in my hair for a little while." He sat back as three people looked at him with a disgusted look, the others seemed genuinely interested in his stories. "First Confirmed kill?" It was the same girl, looking at him with a smile. He didn't even realize she was wearing a USMC hoodie. He smiled and looked at her. "Sure. It was a hot day, I remember that. I rolled with the 3rd Marines that day as we swept through Ramadi. I had an M40, an M4 and I think I had a Beretta. Maybe a Colt. I don't know but we went into this one building and I set up in a hide and took off my gear. My vest and everything but I had to keep on my pants and boots of course." He got several scattered laughs as he realized she was recording him, so naturally he smiled at the camera. Then continued, "Well I sat there overlooking this one roof while some Rangers moved along the street to clear a weapons cache. I loaded my rifle with maybe three rounds, not even a full mag. But I was feeling confident so..." He smiled softly. "I sighted in my rifle for 300 yards but I knew that wasn't right. It was humid so I had to take that into account plus the Coriolis Effect and everything. Yeah. Lot of stuff into pulling a trigger right?" He smiled. " Well they were walking and I noticed a silhouette on the roof above them so I moved my crosshair to the center of the object. I honestly had NO idea that it was a person but I squeezed the trigger. Watched the round fly through the air with the vapor trial and strike the object, sending a pink mist out behind it and it tumbled to the ground and landed next to a Ranger. Well, he freaked and shot the body and he radioed into CENTCOM. He said 'What the hell was that?' and another Ranger said 'That was our overwatch.' So I immediately started laughing and then I realized that was my FIRST kill. I was shocked that I actually did it but by that point, from training, it was impulse to engage." He smiled and waited for her to ask another question. But it wasn't her. "What about the first time you got shot?" It was a kid with black shaved hair, wearing black combat boots and a Coast Guard hoodie. He looked at him with a killer look. "You really wanna hear this one kid?" He bit into his lip softly. The kid nodded, "Yeah I am. JARHEAD." He stared at the kid, who was staring back at him with a deadly look. "Alright."
He smiled softly. "You wanna hear it? Here it is. We went out to Kandahar. We were rolling through heading for Baghdad. A helo went down so my team and I touched down. I drug seven men UNDER FIRE from the helo. I got shot twice. Leg and stomach." "Show me." It was the girl, he smiled and looked at ms. Turner. She nodded in approval. He slowly slid off the blouse and dropped it to the ground. He untucked his shirt and lifted it up, the scar shining a little from the lights in the room. He laughed softly at some reactions. He tucked it back in and looked at her. "Satisfied?" She nodded, blushing. He smiled and continued, "Well, I remember that I was the last left. I told my team to pull out and they did. I was the only one left at crash site. I held em off, but I got hit. I kept running until I passed out." He looked at the several people looking. "Any more?" he looked around. "... First friendly casualty." It was the girl, again. "Alright... If I cry, don't judge me. It was my old squad leader. Marcus. We were in the red zone. Qatar I think. But we had been engaged in a fire fight for a good four hours now. I had just gotten my rifle, new M40A3. I set up in a combat firing hide and I waited, rounds pinging off the concrete wall in front of me. I saw him go down, I didn't fire my rifle. I just hopped the wall, falling maybe six feet and I got up, running to him with my Colt. I fired a good 8 rounds and reloaded. I grabbed him and hauled him back to cover. I pulled him as quick as I could. I got him behind cover and he was pale, bleeding out. I crouched and held his hand tightly. By this point we were both crying and his blood poured over my legs. I looked at him. He bled to death in my arms right there. After I realized he had died I took his dogtags and helmet and I ran to the staging area. Sneaking sometimes to avoid enemy patrols and as soon as I got there, I looked at my platoon sergeant and I tossed the helmet and tags on the ground and I walked off."
Tears were running down his cheeks, most people were crying as well. He sighed and wiped his face as the bell rang. He looked at the girl and she was writing. She looked at him, smiled and walked up to him. She slipped him a piece of paper and walked off. He didn't look at it but he looked at ms. Turner and she was crying. He walked to her and put his arm around her. "You okay Angie?" She nodded but he knew she was lying. He sighed and walked back to the front of the room, gathering his things and he stepped into the hallway.