They had been at the K-G pass for nearly six months with nothing to show for it. A lot of IEDs and one small ambush that was over so fast Emily almost didn’t have to fire her gun. Everyone in Emily’s platoon was talking about the rumors that they were going to be pulled out soon. They had only six months left on their deployment with eleven months under their belt.
Emily was sick and tired of walking up and down the mountainside. She was sick of the snow. She was tired of sleeping out in the open all the time. She was slower and slower getting to patrol muster. She would hide out in the showers or just sit on her unused bunk. Her fellow soldiers covered for her but she knew she was pushing it.
Today she was about thirty minutes late to patrol muster but getting clean clothes and taking a shower was worth it. Someone in her bunker was doing her laundry which she owed that someone a great deal. She had no idea who was doing it and every time she asked no one knew who was doing it. She had just decided to get everyone in the bunker something nice when she came across the Captain who was waiting for her with the patrol.
“So glad you can make it to your patrol on-time private.” The Captain said acidly.
“Yes, sir. Sorry, sir.” Emily said saluting him.
“What's the matter with you. You don’t salute in the field. You want to tell everyone from here to Timbuktu that I am an officer?” The Captain.
“No, just the snipers.” Emily thought, trying her best to keep the smile off her face. “No, sir. Sorry, sir.”
“You know what. I’ve had it. You're going on report for insubordination. I have tried over and over to overlook your tardiness and your comments but enough is enough. When we leave here you're will go in front of the Colonel. Let's see if your attitude survives the old man.”
“Well, there goes any chance I will make corporal for the foreseeable future.” Emily thought to herself. She smiled and saluted the Captain back as he stomped away.
“Never!” Yelled First Sergeant.
Cursing Emily froze and quickly dropped her salute.
“Get your ass over here! Now!” The First sergeant bellowed.
Emily ran over to where the First sergeant stood and came to attention.
“I can and have been covering for you for the past month and a half but I will not cover for you if you deliberately antagonize the Captain. I am sorry I didn’t cover for you earlier but you were functioning so well you fooled all of us. I feel bad about that. What I won’t do is cover for you if you go out of your way to piss the Captain off. You are a Ranger and Rangers lead the way. Start acting like a Ranger or so help me there will be a reckoning. Am I clear!” The First sergeant said in a loud angry whisper.
“Yes First Sergeant,” Emily said embarrassed.
“Now why were you late?” he asked her.
“I was changing into a clean uniform First sergeant. I’ve been wearing that same uniform for the past four days and really needed to change.” Emily said.
“And it took you thirty minutes to change uniforms?” The First Sergeant asked.
“No First sergeant. I also took a shower and grabbed some more food. I ran out of my last MRE yesterday. I also needed to get more ammo from the armory but it was locked up. I have to go find someone with the keys.” Emily explained.
“Ok, Never that’s enough. Look this is almost over. I need you to stay out of trouble until we leave. Can you do that.” First sergeant. said earnestly
“Yes, First Sergeant I will do my best,” Emily told him meaning it.
“Thank you. Now get going before the Captain realizes that you’re still here. Stay out of trouble Never, I mean it.”
Taking a deep breath Emily nodded to her First sergeant. She turned to the patrol and took point yet again leading the way.
The winter was starting to give way to spring and while there was some snow on the ground it was only just a dusting. Emily was trying to get some sleep. The patrol was high in the mountains watching a traffic jam. They were out past the fifteen-mile mark outside there patrol area because a passing helicopter spotted something suspicious on the road. Their patrol had been dispatched to the area to check it out.
The suspicious activity was down below them. Two trucks on the one-lane road going opposite directions. They were currently stopped and arguing about who had the right of way. Emily could hear them arguing but not what they were saying. “Way to go guys with the suspicious traffic jam.” Emily thought to herself as she tried to get comfortable on the hard ground.
She was drifting off when she realized that the people she was hearing talk were not the same as the drivers below. Sitting up she closed her eyes trying to get which direction the voices were coming from. Strangely enough, it sounded like it was coming from directly below them. As she was listening she heard a voice clear as day say “Get clear of the bomb, I am bringing them down.”
“Move!” Emily shouted opened her eyes and standing up. “Bomb under us.”
The patrol members didn’t even hesitate to follow Emily away from the voices under them. The bomb went off while they were still in the blast area but instead of getting blown upwards the ground collapsed under them. Emily and her fellow Rangers fell into a hole.
Emily landed hard on her back on a large rock and fell off it. “Move. Move.” She told herself mentally while rolling onto her feet. The only light was coming from the hole above her. A quick glance showed her a cave of unknown size. She could see the sides of the cave near her but everything in front of her was pitch black. She landed on her feet and aiming into the darkness. Standing in the daylight that shined from above she fired full auto into the darkness.
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The sound was incredible and Emily felt a sharp pain in her ears like someone was stabbing her eardrums with a knife then her hearing had become muffled and the pain went away. She kept firing until she ran out of ammo. There was a pause when the enemy realized that she was out of ammo before there was an answering fire from the darkness in front of her. Emily ignored the cloud of bullets and the strings that went along with it to stand in the light reloading deliberately making herself a target.
Once she reloaded she stepped into the darkness and pulled the trigger again. “Shoot the roof. The roof!” Someone yelled out in heavily accented Urdu.
Emily turned away from the darkness and raced towards the light. “Out. Get out.” She yelled to her fellow Rangers. There was a hiss then a loud explosion and the roof fell.
When the rumbling stopped Emily found herself lying face down with Something heavy was sitting on her back. Annoyed Emily started to stand up. “No, wait! Never!” Someone called out but it was too late she already stood up. Rocks started to fall off Emily causing a lot of dust to kick up in the air. Once she was fully standing she shook herself and a huge cloud of duck exploded around her.
“Ok, that was seriously awesome.” Someone else said once Emily finished standing up. Wiping the dust from off her face Emily peeked to see who had spoken.
“You ok Never?” The patrol leader asked.
“Yea. Why?” Emily asked patting her arms getting rid of the huge pile of dirt on them.
“Well, you well covered in a couple tons of rocks a couple seconds ago.” Elizabeth, a rifle person in the patrol, said.
“That would explain all the dirt,” Emily said patting her other arm. “Everyone else ok?”
“A few bumps and bruises but were all ok. Thought you might have taken a dirt nap though.” Elizabeth said smiling.
“Not going to live this one down am I?” Emily said.
“Enough.” The patrol leader said waving his hand at Emily. “Someone is going to have to climb out of here with a rope so the rest of us and get out of here. We are being jammed so no coms. We need to get out of here fast before the mole people come back.”
“That is an awesome one sarge,” Elizabeth said with a big smile.
“So does anyone have a rope?” Emily asked then frowned. She patted her chest then cursed. She spun around looking at the floor.
“Something wrong Never?” The patrol leader asked.
“My rifle. Anyone see my rifle?” Emily asked in near panic. “The Armory Sergeant is going to kill me.”
“I’ll talk to him when we get back but for now I need you to climb up top and get us out.” The patrol Leader said handing Emily the rope.
“Dammit, I was doing so good. I haven’t lost a rifle in six months.” Emily grumbled to herself.
“Tie the rope off and cover us. I am pretty sure the two truck drivers are in on this so be careful.” The patrol leader said handing her his rifle. Emily nodded and started to climb up the side of the cave.
Reaching the top of the cave Emily peeked out. Both trucks were gone and the mountain looked deserted. She climbed out and tied off the rope before dropping the other end into the cave. She backed up a few feet and scanned the area with the patrol leaders rifle. One by one the rest of the patrol climbed out of the cave. Emily handed the patrol leaders rifle back and took one of the snipers secondary rifles to use.
“Command, Baker One-six coms check.” The patrol called on the radio. When he got no reply he motion for the patrol to move forward. Every few feet he tried again.
“Read you loud and clear Baker One-six.” Command finally responded.
“Command we encountered the enemy at last reported location. They came from beneath us and detonated a ground charge the dropped us into a cave where we faced a staged ambush that might have been to capture but not kill. Coms were disabled at that time with what we believe is a Faraday device. When faced with heavy opposition the combatants used an RPG to bring the roof down and retreated. Be advised we believe that trucks were a diversion. Request someone to go ask them some pointed questions.” The patrol leader said.
“Copy all. Request being sent up the chain at this time Baker One-six. Baker Zero-one requests you stay on station to mark the location.”
“Dick,” Elizabeth muttered just loud enough for Emily to hear. Emily smiled.
“Be advised we retreated outside the jamming area. New coordinates are as followed.” The Patrol leader paused to check his map before giving their new location to command. They were told to stay where they were and await new orders.
Twenty minutes later an attack helicopter buzzed them heading down the road. A few seconds later the radio came to life again. “Baker One-six, Command.”
“Go ahead command.” The patrol leader responded.
“Return to base Baker One-six.” Command order.
The Captain was waiting on them when they arrived back at the fort. “Good job everyone we now have… Private Emerson, what happened to your uniform?” The Captain asked looking shocked.
Emily looked down and notice that her uniform had a lot of bullet holes in it and was completely covered in dirt. Emily frowned when she noticed just how many holes she had in her uniform. She looked back up at the Captain and said: “Took some gunfire sir then they collapsed a roof on me.”
“Right. Ok. Why don't you head inside and get yourself cleaned up.”
“Very good sir,” Emily said nodded and started to walk off when she noticed the First Sergeant shaking his head at her. Emily shrugged her shoulders not understanding what she did. He shook his head at her telling her to get moving. She nodded back and headed to the showers. When she got out of the shower and changed into a new clean uniform she was informed that all patrols were canceled. That night and for the first time in six months Emily slept in a bed.
“Ah Private Emerson why don’t you have a seat.” The Captain said pointing to the chair on the other side of his desk. The First sergeant was standing behind the Captain. Emily wondered what she did this time.
The platoon was getting ready to be relieved. A couple of Army Engineers had already arrived. They were busy checking out maps and making plans to find what they believe is a cave system that runs parallel to the road. There were a lot of rumors that a large operation was about to happen to clear the caves in the past.
“Private Emerson I called you in today to tell you I am going to go ahead with my decision to recommend a Nonjudicial punishment. (NJP) to the Colonel. While I think you are a good soldier and you have done some great work so far I think there are still some rough edges that need to be polished off. I believe this will make you a better soldier in this man’s army. Don’t worry I am also going to recommend that you be given some leniency because of you doing a good job before my command. Let's hope this is just a hiccup in your career.” The Captain said folding his hands on his desk smiling.
Behind him, the First sergeant was mouthing yes sir over and over again. Emily looked back at the Captain and said: “Yes sir.”
“It might not seem like it now but this is for your own good.” The Captain said smiling and holding out his hand for Emily to shake. Mentally shrugging Emily shook his hand. “That will be all Private.”