I grunt as I hit the blue mat on the floor. I push the attendant off roughly, frustrated at my weakness, sweat soaking through my shirt. I slowly work my way back up to standing between the parallel bars, my body hurts all over, my right arm almost useless in helping me learn to walk again. The physical therapist is saying something she thinks is encouraging but it falls on deaf ears, all that I can think of are my little girls. I will walk again, I will be able to walk them to the park and play with them like any other mom out there. I grip the bars, my left side taking more of my weight than my right, and slowly, painfully, force my body to move. I make it two steps before a blinding flash of pain shoots up through my body. I cry out and collapse to the floor again. My ears are filled the loud whooshing of my blood moving through my body then my eyes cloud over with those familiar black spots that I have learned to hate.
I open my eyes, the hot sun and sandy hills greet me, I am back on patrol. We walk in the loose formation IEDs and snipers force us to use. It is a normal day for us, we are all alert but joking with each other and talking about the latest news and gossip going around the base. My friends Joe and Sandy (names changed to protect privacy) walk closest to me, we swap stories and offer our two cents on issues. After a while we come to the opposite side of the village near our base, we're close to "home" which means another successful, safe, patrol. Suddenly the world explodes in a shower of dirt and smoke, the sky and ground wheel past until my view settles on the deep blue sky. Gun fire erupts all around me, but it seems quieter than usual, there is a odd ringing and whooshing covering it all up. I sit up and try to stand, I'm the medic, someone must have gotten hurt in the blast. Joe rushes over and pauses, looking me up and down. He is saying something but it's too muffled, I reach up and try to scratch my ears, my right hand comes into sight and I see it covered in blood, peppered with bits of metal. Suddenly my ears give a loud pop and everything can be heard clearly.
"Elise, can you hear me?" Joe asks, kneeling next to me, I never realized I was back on the ground.
I look up at him, "Hey, yeah, who's hurt, help me up, I gotta get to work."
"Elise, you need to stay still, you got hit." He says as he pulls out gauze and quick clot from my pack. He starts putting some on my arm and the pain is unimaginable. I yell and look down, trying to help him fix me up so I can get back on the line. All I see is blood covering most of my lower torso.
"Elise, I have to put a tourniquet on your leg, it's going to hurt." Joe says as he pulls out the stuff he needs.
"Do it." I grunt, the sound of Humvees speeding towards us fills my ears, we're getting help soon!
Sandy runs up and knees next to us, "Hey Elise, I found this on the ground, didn't want you to forget it."
She hands me a wallet sized picture, I try to smile, it's the picture of my little girls my dad sent last week. Suddenly Joe pulls the tourniquet tight, I scream and the black takes over, my last thought is hoping I'll see my girls again.
