Shot Throught the Heart

twenty-one

            "So, before we start I actually wanted to give you something." I said and opened my notebook. Sitting right inside is the picture of Ryan's unit with my dad front and center. When I passed the photo over to him, Ryan's breath hitched and he picked up the photo.

            "Thank you for this, I don't, this is only the second photo we have of your dad and the unit all together. This means the world; I can't wait to show them when I see them later." Ryan said after he found his voice.

            "You're welcome. When I saw it I knew I had to get it to you. I thought you might like to have it." I said and gave him a sad smile. A somber silence settled between us while we gathered our thoughts.

            "So, the reason why we are meeting." Ryan said and opened his own notebook after putting the photo down between us.

            "Yes, I might have been able to secure us another gunner on the ground, or possibly an additional team." I started.

            "Collins?" Ryan asked.

            "Yea, we had a conversation, I pushed her to try and see if we can get another team. If she can't, she said she wants to join us on the ground as an additional member of my team." I said and flipped to a clean page of paper.

            "Sounds like something your dad would do, he's done it before actually." Ryan said with a sad smile.

            "Can you tell me about it?" I asked.

            "Kind of similar to what we were going in to do here, just less expected enemy which only warranted the one team. It was still a big enough number though and your dad spent a few days trying to green light another team. When he kept getting stonewalled, he geared up and joined us. The op was successful, without his extra gun, I don't really like thinking about how our odds would have been." Ryan explained.

            "Well, I'll find out some time tomorrow about either the extra team or just the extra member." I said.

            From there, Ryan went over what his team has been working on since they arrived here. It was mostly a lot of cardio and weapons training. Command has been making a mock up of the building that is believed to be al-Qurayshi home for us to run through. They are hoping to have it done by next week so we could start training in it sooner rather then later. Ryan did say he also pushed to have our team run through the mock up house as the lead team as well. He wants to have a few back up strategies in place in case the mission goes sidewise.

            When I brought up wanting to have my team transition our sleep cycle to be awake all night the week before the op to train, Ryan told me he already told his team they were going to be doing the same. We started to work through a training schedule so our teams will get to work together to see how we each move. It's going to be an adjustment but I have high hopes my team will be able to rise to the occasion.

            With a training plan finally taking shape, I felt a bit better about bringing my team out here. I know with some hard training together as a team, we will be able to go up with the best Army Special Operation teams have to offer. Ryan and I finished up our planning before we left the mess hall for the night. We made plans to meet up for dinner every few days to keep track of our teams trainings and when we should start combining them.

            When I got back to our barracks, I found a few guys sitting around the table eating dinner. They all gave me a nod as I walked past them into the women's bunk room. I quickly pulled my thigh holster off and placed it on my bed before starting to collect my stuff to shower. Each bunk room has it's own full bathroom and it made me happy not to have to share a shower with the guys for a little while. The bathroom was pretty clean and I hoped it would stay that way while we are here.