A Long way home

Hell On Earth

"Westmen, mail!"

A knock on the door wakes me up from a dream and I lazily get up out of my bed; I pick up letters with address from home, seeing my dad's name, a couple aunts and uncles, some friends and the last I see belle's name and put the rest of them down instantly and open the letter

"Hey Jason ❤️"

I smile and continue to read

"I hope this letter gets to you before you go off on some crazy and dangerous mission, I miss you so much right now and I'm keeping count the days till you get home even though it's been like a day or two . Things here are going okay, my mom lost her job Monday ,my dad is starting to working double shifts to get the money and I'm starting my a job at the diner up the road to help pay on top of school... Come home safe Jason, I don't know what I would do with out you. I love you "

From your angel

Belle

I smile and tear up a bit and grab a sheet of paper and pen from my rucksack.

" Hey beautiful

Everything is going okay for now by the time you get this I'll probably be working but I'll write everyday I can get a break. Hey if you guys need money I can ask my dad, he won't mind at all and I don't want you to work if I can help, school is more important at the moment, well I have to finish this up but I'll write back soon, I love you angel and miss you

Love Jason "

I put the pencil down, folded the letter and put it in a envelope and set in the mail box outside my room and write back to everyone else and my dad about belle's money situation and I slide all those in. I throw a shirt on and head to the mess hall to grab some breakfast. I enter through a side door and jump behind the line, grabbing a tray and grab eggs with steak,some hash browns and fruit and sit down at a table and some team members that I'm other in the squad sit down.

"What's up westmen?"

I look at his tag and it says Steele

"Oh hi guys nothing I just got here yesterday and got a tour by axleson"

"Ahh well welcome to hell westmen"

The one next to Steele, his tag reads off Martus and I look at him a bit confused.

"Dude we are next to front line about 30km east is where the front line and we get occasional artillery fire or random rocket fire so we have sirens go off if the guys up front hear anything"

I nod and the last guy who is sitting next to me, his tag reading off Murphy gives me a smile and sticks his hand out but doesn't say anything and I shake it back

"He doesn't talk much"

Martus says as he stuffs his face with steak and I look at him and then go back to my food. After a couple minutes of chit chat, we finish our breakfast and head out back to our little piece of heaven as they call it and on the way their the siren goes off and we all duck as the defense system shoots down three or four rockets that head to the base.

"How often does that happen?"

"4 or 5 times a day"

I give them a crazy look and they all laugh and tell me you get use to it after the third or fourth time. We walk through the front gate and headed toward the headquarters to walk inside the same crazy frantic running around and phone calls and radio communication working out other missions and we slide into a room with maps,pictures of buildings and towns, and the captain was in there looking down at a tablet and we all sit down around the table and he looks up at us

"Ahhh your here, great well let's get to business"

Captain Payne, same guy when I got here yesterday. We all take notepads out and get ready to write.

"Alright your guys target is going to be artillery convoy, so ambush equipment"

I scribble something down

"There are going to be 5 Russian military rocket trucks in the middle, some light tanks like BMP and infantry fighting vicks. Easy targets like gun trucks and some patrols on the side. You guys will set up in this narrow valley here"

He points and circles a very narrow valley with a steep mountain slope flanking each side and I write down land slide

"You will have AC-130 support and will extract via chinook here"

He circles a cliff side and it looks like a 20 km hike.

"Insertion will be HALO drop from a C-130, that's it any questions?"

No one says anything and he nods leaving us to the maps and charts and I say something to Martus

"How about setting charges here and here"

Pointing out some spots with a lot of big boulders and rocks

"We could blow them in front and behind trapping them in the middle and have charges set at the bottom blowing the convoy in half practically"

He nods but points something out and it's our flanks they are completely exposed till we get near the landing zone where it turns forest and much easier to fight back if we get caught.

~three hours later~

We are getting our gear ready and our making our way to the airfield in the black of night with the roar of the c-130. We get in the back of the plane and sit down in the small seats and feel the plane lurch forward up into the air and we go over last minute check ups and check our chutes and packs. I check my ACR. Twenty minutes later the red light shines near the rear of the plane; we all stand up and the crew chief slaps a button and the ramp of the plane opens and the night sky fills the view and the gushing wind. A couple minute later the light turns green and we walk toward the end and I hesitate the last second and look back and my squad give me a thumbs up and jump and I follow and hold my breath as the roar of the engine slowly fades and the whip of the wind hits my face and the ground gets closer.