The Sergeant's True Love

Chapter 1

It is here in the Middle East that Army base Ft. Knox is located. It is in the middle of no-where the nearest village is thirty miles away. The weather here in the Middle East is unpredictable at best. One second it can be nice and sunny outside and in another, it can be a raging sandstorm. And let me tell you from experience, you do not want to be caught in the middle of one of those.

There are 300 Army men and women stationed here at Ft. Knox. I, Sergeant Brennon James, am stationed here. While this place has treated me nice. I cannot wait to leave. I miss my family. Most of all, I miss my children. My children are the very reason I do what I do. I cannot wait to get back to them.

I only have one more day and then I get to go home. Today the Captain told us that our main mission is to do a couple of patrols around the base and make sure that the enemy is not planning an attack. It sounds interesting, but it really shouldn't be if things go as planned.

While out on the last round of patrol, there wasn't much action, meaning there wasn't much enemy fire, which is not something uncommon for this area. Where this fort is located tends not to see as much action as some others, and if you ask me, that is just fine.

The patrol ended, and I couldn't get to my barracks fast enough. It signified that my time here in this god-forsaken country was done. It meant that I had only one more night without my children.

The next morning, I wake up and go to the mess hall to eat breakfast. While I am eating my food, I see one of my teammates, Jimmy. Jimmy is an IT specialist. He is one of the smartest people in the unit, and it just so happens that he is one of my best friends. Jimmy and I have gone through my last two deployments together.

"Are you excited to finally go home?" asks Jimmy.

"Yes, I am. I cannot wait to get back to my children." I say.

I go the rest of the time thinking about my children and wondering how much they have changed. I bet the little Jack that I left three months ago is now so tall and strong. I bet the little Mira that I left is now a little jabber box.

Before long, it is time for me to pack up all of my belongings into a crate so that it can be shipped home. Home. That sounds so nice. That sounds like a place free of war, enemy fire, and hardship. I cannot wait to be home. The thought of home puts a huge smile on my face.

"James, are you ready to go home?" asks Captain Drew.

"Yes, Sir, I am," I say as I pack my last T-shirt into the crate.

"Good to hear that. James, you are a good soldier. It was a pleasure to be your commander."

"The pleasure was all mine, sir." and the two of us shook hands.

After the Captain left my room, I picked up my crate and carried it all the way to the airstrip. There was so much going on. The airstrip is the busiest that I have ever seen it. One of the planes must have just landed because there are two men guiding the pilot to where it needs to be parked. There is another airplane on the strip. This is the airplane that is going to take me and my crate home. There was so much going on around this plane. There are men loading crates that look just like mine into the lower portion of the plane. There are also men loading the plane to go home. In just a few short minutes I will be joining those men on their journey back to America.

I walk over to the plane that is about ready to depart and give one of the men who is packing crates away mine. I then walk along the side of the plane until I reach the back.

The back of the plane has a ramp to walk up. This ramp carries me to the interior of the plane where there are seats for us to sit in. There are 10 seats on each side of the plane. In each seat, there are read harnesses. Those harnesses are what we have to put on during take-off and landing to protect ourselves.

Almost all of the seats on this plane are filled. All but my seat.

I sit down in the seat and buckle myself in. I am fully expecting take off to be soon. Why? because this plane is full. And pretty soon, I heard the start of the plane's propellers. Those propellers are not like the ones on a normal airplane, they are louder, bigger, and stronger. They are so loud that I wonder if there isn't a pair of noise-canceling headphones on the plane. I look, and I look. I finally found a pair under my seat and from the looks of it, they are under every seat.

I put my headphones on and cannot hear a thing. Thank goodness, otherwise, I think I might have gone deaf listening to those loud propellers for the 20-hour flight.

The flight home was pretty uneventful. I slept most of the way. There is not much one can do when they are traveling 13,000 feet above the Earth's surface for miles on end. The flight was a long one.

I just woke up from a nap. We are beginning to descend now. There are no windows in this plane, otherwise, I would have looked out the window and saw the Statue of Liberty. The beauty that she is. We are inching closer and closer to being home.

As the plane continues to descend and land, all I can think about is my children and how excited I am to see them. The plane has fully landed now. We are at Ft. Hamilton in New York. Thank goodness.

We wait until the pilot says that we can unbuckle our harnesses and grab our bags. Once we all have our bags and are unbuckled, we stand in the middle of the plane, waiting. We are waiting for the pilot to lower the back of the plane so that we can see our families. We stand, and we wait. 

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Thank you so much for reading my first story!

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Let me know what you thought!

Thanks,

Emily