The year is 2016. Joseph, a survivor of 9/11 follows his father's footsteps and enlisted in the military. Not long after, he along with two of his friends were deployed to Iraq among the ranks of some of the best American fighting men: the US Army...
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08.00 hours
October 20th, 2016
US firebase, Northern Iraq
Sgt. Joseph Mueller – US Army Rangers
After what was possibly the deepest sleep of my life which I had as soon as we arrived at the firebase last night, I woke up from my bed in the barracks. I took a sip of water, checked my phone clock, and first thing I thought was going over to the infirmary. Because my two best buddies are in there. The ones who went out of their way and risked their lives taking one for the team. They sure are lucky to be alive...
I went inside the infirmary and approached CT's bunk...
She was not there.
All her stuff including her uniform were also gone as well, and so is my cross pendant which I left in her hand. That can only mean one thing... or the other. Praying for the best deep down, I checked my phone.
One missed call... from her.
Thank God.
I was about to call her back, but then...
"Joe, get over here."
I turned, and Carl was calling me from the bunk which was two bunks away from here. I went over and... holy crap. He was covered in bandages on his legs, upper arm and torso. Apparently, he's taken more hits than I thought.
"Holy... shit... dude..."
"Worse than we thought. They took out the shrapnel and a few bullets. Don't worry, I'll live. But they're gonna fly me stateside so..."
"Stateside, huh? Fortunate bastard... got your million-dollar wound eh?" I joked as we bumped fists.
"You're in charge for the time being."
"What? No... no way, man."
"Yep... they're all yours to command now... Hahaha just kidding, my replacement comes in next month, you're gonna work with him. Try to keep the base in one piece until then, alright?"
"Roger that, Lieutenant. I'll have an anti-tank and a sniper stationed on all guard towers. And some forward sentries around the perimeter. No terrorists are setting foot within 500 meters of here on my watch."
"Heheh... that's the spirit. And there's one more thing I'd fill you in on."
"Yeah?"
"Listen here. I've got a special assignment for our platoon. Or should I say, your platoon."
"As part of NATO's effort to root out the terrorist presence here, and with intel shared from both the Iraqi army and the local populace, we're rooting out the warlords working for ISIS in the area. It's the same everywhere, I'm pretty sure the Russians are doing the same out there in Syria."
