Combat Boots and Reunions book 2

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

From Good to Bad

       The RPG’s usually never hit anything. This one did. I came away with bad injuries that took me out of Afghanistan and into an operating room in Germany. The injuries that Shawn received were much worse only because he threw himself on top of me, protecting me from most of the debris and fire. He was evacuated to Germany too, but his surgeries took much longer, as did his recuperation. I was at his bedside every day and night. Shawn wasn’t married at the time, but I’m sure most at the hospital thought I was his wife.

       There are moments when a relationship starts, sometimes from the first ‘hello’ and sometimes from the first date or first kiss. I’ve often believed that ours started when he woke up and saw me there. He asked me to make him a promise, a strange promise that I attributed to his medication. He asked me to give him two days, forty-eight hours, where I belong to him, mind, body, and soul.

       It was a different promise to give, after all I was married, but I gave it to him. I hoped that if he believed I would keep the promise it would be an incentive to heal. I never planned on keeping the promise. I assumed Shawn would forget in time. He never did. It wasn’t until we returned home that I realized how happy I was that he didn’t forget. I discovered that my husband, who is a soldier too, just not very good one, was keeping warm at night with the help of my best friend, She was in my home trying to play mom to my kids. I kicked the sorry-eyed sack of shit out of the house, and filed for divorce. I have never been prouder than to call anyone “Ex.”

       Command Sergeant Major (CSM) Sill continued to work for me. I always loved the fact that, not only didn’t he mind working for a woman, he was proud of it. He never brought up the promise a thoroughly professional soldier who could maintain his military bearing to the point of being extremely annoying. I never forgot about the promise, and it took five years for Shawn to let me know that he never forgot either.

       It was at the Brigade Christmas party. We were up in the mountains with lots and lots of soldiers, ranking from Private to General. With all this attention, Shawn managed to let me know that he wanted to “collect on the promise.” By this time he was Chief Warrant Sill. I still out-ranked him, but now we both get a salute at the gate of Fort Drum.

       I admit I was hesitant to fulfill the promise I made, I was still his commander and my track record with men was less than stellar. I knew in my heart he was worth the risk. The good news was that with his promotion came a transfer out of my command. The bad news was that he transferred into a unit that was deploying. That’s why he was on one side of the world and I was on the other. He was in a war zone and I was worried sick. There’s a lot to be said for world peace.

       “Sasha, are you still with me?” Shawn asked across our Skype connection.

       “Yea, just reminiscing,” I told him. “I have to admit,” he continued. “I’ve never been this spoiled with mail during any deployment. Amber sends two to five emails a day telling me about her life at college. She skips the embarrassing parts. Jeremey emails are once a day, they’re long and he doesn’t leave out the embarrassing parts. I wish I could email back more often.”