The Truest Soldier-Islamic Life Story

Chapter One

Bismillahir Rahmanir Raheem. In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful.

Asima had been a fighter all her life.

To her, the world was just coming at her, ready to knock her down again and again and again. But she had enough of it. She wasn't going to let anything destroy her path to her dream. It was the one thing she had been holding onto for years, to prove to the people bearing down on her that she was a real American; her brown skin, strict lifestyle and head-covering didn't change that. Though she knew her family would not be so supportive of such a decision, Asima refused to give it up.

The notion of joining the army had been something that grew out of her admiration for the military.

It was odd, the way it all started: reading about it brought those dreams to life; no matter how bloody, no matter how cruel they were, she wanted to experience the thrill of it. Writing made it so much more comforting because then she could dare to write herself inside. And even then, it was like being intoxicated by the very idea itself.

As her final year in high school came to a close, all she had left in her life was to finally be one. To become a soldier.

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Zaen loved the way he lived his life. It was carefree, with the occasional restrictions from his religion, but it didn't bother him so much; he was surrounded by people who accepted them.

When the War on Terror had first appeared in his life, Zaen was hit with an ambition to fight for it. The murderers who had killed so many innocent people; they despised the way he was living, and Zaen would not let them succeed. He had to fight for justice, or else what kind of American was he?

His family did not object too much to his request. After all, they were not unfamiliar with nationalism and fighting oppression; many of Zaen's relatives had history of doing the same in their home country. And thought they were worried for him, his parents were glad to see their son was trying to achieve something greater in life: freedom for those who had been unjustly sacrificed already.

Life would only get more difficult for him, but he was willing to take his hardships with him to victory. The rigorous training, he wasn't going to say he wasn't expecting it. If at all, he was waiting for it.

They were his very first steps to living a dream. To become a soldier.