by Cliff Ball
Chapter 16
The place was dusty. It was prone to massive dust storms, and was outright inhospitable to normal human beings as the American soldiers once again cleaned their guns, overhauled the engines for the Hummers and personnel carriers, and tried to keep all the dust from getting into their food and toiletries.
“Once again I ask, why does anyone want to live in this armpit of a country and why do we have to fight here?” complained Aaron, who was cleaning all the gunk out of his gun for what seemed like the thousandth time.
“We’re fighting here probably because our government thought the Taliban would fold like cheap suits, and they wanted a quick victory,” replied Nick, one of Aaron’s fellow unit members.
“Care to explain why anyone in this godforsaken land wants to live here? We should’ve just turned Afghanistan into glass. I don’t think anyone would miss it much,”
“I don’t know why anyone would want to live here, but they have for thousands of years. Something about this place caused both Alexander the Great and the Soviet Union to tuck their tail between their legs and run away,”
“These towel-headed Afghani’s also tend to be two-faced. One minute they’ll greet you with a smile, then the next, they’ve got a bomb strapped to their chests, and want to blow you to smithereens as they become suicide bombers. What’s up with that?” asked Eric, another member of their Army unit, whose racism towards the Afghani’s in general usually got him into a lot of trouble.
“Maybe you should ask Army Intelligence for the answer, Eric,” replied Nick.
“Army Intelligence? Ha!”
“You know, I’ll be glad to get away from here for a while. I’ve got three more months before I go home the second time for some R&R, and then I can go back to visit with my wife and two kids. Of course, I’ll be rotated back here, but I guess I can’t have everything,” Aaron shrugged.
Before anyone could say anything, Sergeant Derek Tyler came into the barracks, and ordered, “Ok ladies, time to get moving. We have another day of house clearing and hunting for more Taliban. Let’s get to it. Move it! Move it! Move it!”
The unit climbed into the armored personnel carrier, while five of the men of the unit got into the Hummer at the front of the convoy and five others into another one at the back of the convoy. They drove for two hours before they arrived at a small village, where they were greeted by the children and the women, while the men took a little longer to come out. From the Army’s past experience, the Afghan men were hiding their weapons since they were either Taliban themselves or helping the Taliban to escape.
Sergeant Tyler jumped out of the first Hummer, walked over to the head man of the village, and said to him in his own language, “We’re here to look for Taliban. Have you seen any?”
“Taliban? No, they’ve been gone for many months. There’s no need for you to look, you can go now,” replied the head man, who seemed very nervous.
“Right. We’re going to conduct a sweep anyway. If you could get your villagers to stay out of the way, that’ll be real helpful to us.” then to his unit, “Guys, I suspect that these villagers are hiding something. Fan out and conduct a thorough search, but make sure you continue to be aware of your surroundings. I don’t need any more deaths under my watch. Get to it.”
The men spread out across the village and began sweeping every house for Taliban insurgents. The villagers stayed in the background, loudly complaining about the soldiers going through their houses, but none attempted to do anything but stand there and complain. Ten minutes into the sweep, three of the soldiers stumbled upon a nest of six Taliban that had been attempting to hide in a cellar, and then a firefight broke out. The three managed to get out of the way and fall back, but one of them was hit by bullets in non-vital areas.
The other soldiers rushed towards the house, making sure they weren’t ambushed along the way. A full-on battle broke out, with the Americans stuck behind stone fences shooting at the Taliban, who were ensconced in the house and shooting back.
The villagers scattered when the Americans turned their attention to the insurgent Taliban, which worried Sergeant Tyler, who said after he finally noticed the villagers were not where he left them, “If we’re not careful, we’ll be surrounded by angry villagers with weapons themselves. I really wish we had some bazookas and heavy weapons right about now, because then we’d be able to take out that house without some major help. Maybe it’s time to call in an airstrike.”
He called over Corporal Greer, who handled the communications equipment, “Corporal, I need some Apache helicopters out here. Pronto! Tell them we’ll light up the target when they arrive. Got it?”
“Yes, sir, calling them now, sir,”
Tyler kept shooting, but tried to listen to the communications Greer was having with the handlers of the Apache helicopters. In what felt like hours later, Tyler finally said, “They’re sending in three and they’ll be here in ten minutes, Sergeant.”
“Good.” Tyler replied over the sounds of his gun firing.
Meanwhile, Aaron had been hit in the right shoulder and right leg by the bullets from the Taliban, and while not bleeding profusely, was injured enough to prevent him from firing back since he was right-handed, but he was sheltered from being hit again by anything else. For him, the pain was intense, so as he struggled with it, he prayed, “Heavenly Father, please help me get through this battle so I can see my wife and children again. Please help me with this pain so I can be of assistance to my fellow soldiers. Please help my leaders do the right thing in this war, and, if possible, please help Christians lead many Afghans and Iraqis to Christ during this time. Thank you, and your will be done, amen.”
As Aaron waited for the battle to die down so the others could pull him away from where he was, he heard the sounds of helicopters approaching. The black painted Apache helicopters were a welcome sight for the wounded warrior, as he watched them take their positions around the house the Taliban were in, and then began firing their Hellfire missiles into the building. The building erupted into a fireball, killing the Taliban, who barely knew what hit them.
One of the pilots in one of the Apache’s waved towards Sergeant Tyler and then took off, flying back the direction they came from. Now that the battle was over with, Aaron called for the medic, who arrived a few seconds later and attended to Aaron’s wounds.
As Aaron was helped back to the personnel carrier after the medic had fixed up Aaron the best he could, Sergeant Tyler said to him, “Congrats, Corporal, looks like you might get to go home permanently with those wounds and you’ll receive a Purple Heart too,”
“I really don’t want to go home because I’m injured, Sergeant,”
“Oh, don’t worry about it. We’ll be out of Afghanistan in a year or so, and you did your duty for your country, so you should be proud,”
“I am proud, I just wish I didn’t have to leave this way. When I’m back in the States, I’ll pray for all of you.”
“Thanks, I think that would help.” then to everyone else. “The rest of you, mop up things, and then we’ll get back to camp. Come on, get moving ladies!”
A day later, Aaron was sent to Ramstein in Germany to get his shoulder fixed from the bullet that went through his shoulder and to remove the one that also went into his leg. He called his wife to tell her that he was fine and that she should expect him a couple of weeks. Two weeks later, he was on a plane back to the States, and at the airport in Omaha, his whole family greeted him, along with many others who had gathered to welcome the troops home. For the first time, Aaron noticed the checkpoints in the airport run by the TSA, and the realization that the United States was slowly turning into a police state made him sad for his country.
Aaron also finally met the newest member of their family, Brian, who had been born three months earlier. At home, Aaron’s family and friends throw him a welcome home party. A few weeks later, after he had healed enough to work, he went to work with his father at their farm equipment store.
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Three years later, Elizabeth Delaney received news from Paul that he was coming home. Now, they had four children, since every time he came home, she ended up pregnant. Their oldest was Heather, followed by Paul Jr., Lynda, and the youngest, Mike, who was born less than a year earlier. Even though Elizabeth lived on the Delaney family farm and was surrounded by family, she missed her husband terribly. The cell phone connection was horrible, but she hardly noticed, it made her so happy to hear her husband’s voice - for the first time in over six months. The United States was slowly pulling out of Iraq, so Paul and his outfit would be leaving in the next two weeks. Now, Elizabeth, with the help of Mary Anne and other friends, were setting up the house for a “Welcome Home” party.
Two days later, Elizabeth and Mary Anne were visiting with each other, when Elizabeth heard a car door close outside. She got up to open the front door and saw that the car was an official United States Army sedan, and two men, dressed in their Army dress uniforms, were approaching the door. Before they even said anything, she knew right away that something bad had happened, began to cry, as a Lieutenant introduced himself, and said, “Mrs. Delaney, I and the United States government regret to inform you that Sergeant Paul Delaney died yesterday when an RPG was launched at the Blackhawk helicopter your husband was on. The Blackhawk also took some small arms fire while it was on fire. The helicopter crashed soon after and all were lost. I’m sorry for your loss,”
“Oh God no!” Elizabeth collapsed into a heap, crying her eyes out, as Mary Anne rushed over to try to comfort her.
Mary Anne looked at the Lieutenant and asked, “Does she need to do anything now?”
“No, ma’am. The Sergeant’s remains and all of his personal affects will be flown to Omaha. From there, Mrs. Delaney has the option of giving her husband a military funeral wherever she so desires. Here are the details,” he handed Mary Anne a manila folder with the official Army logo on the front. “Again, I’m sorry for Mrs. Delaney’s loss and if she needs anything, she can call the Veteran’s Administration. Good day, ma’am.” the two Army men returned to their car and left.
“What am I going to do without him? He was my soul-mate, the love of my life, and we had four children together that he so wanted to watch grow-up. What am I going to do, Mary Anne?” asked Elizabeth, as she continued to cry.
“You have family and friends who love you, Elizabeth, we will help you in any way we can. Remember too that you have a loving God, who sent His Son to die on the cross for you, so that you and Paul will have eternal life when you die. You’ll see Paul again, since both of you accepted Jesus as your Savior,”
“I know, I know. Thank you for being such a good friend, Mary Anne, you don’t know how much it means to me right now.”
The two hugged and Mary Anne replied, “Anytime you need a shoulder to cry on, I’m here for you. You also have a whole support system of family, friends, and a wonderful group of ladies at church who are always willing to help.”
A week later, Paul Delaney was given a military funeral at home in Delaney. Elizabeth grieved for a long time, but was supported by family and friends, who helped her with her children. After a year, Elizabeth came out of her grief, but never re-married.
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