I hope you guys are enjoying the story, thanks for tuning in. I just finished the medical section of class and now we are starting to learn about trauma. EMT class is definitely a challenge, lots of studying and homework. It will be nice to finish in December, but until then here's more WWIII action.
CHAPTER 14
Two hours later we had both drones in the air over a squad of enemy soldiers moving through a treeline. The wind had picked up and the drones were getting blown around with each gust. Hans was hunting for a way to attack through the trees while I watched from above. Kurgan sat next to me watching on the tablet trying to monitor the movements of each soldier as they appeared and disappeared under the heavy foliage. Each of us was focused on a task.
My hands were sore from running the controller non-stop, my back hurt from sitting on a wooden crate all day. I closed my eyes and then snapped them open trying to rally my energy.
I swear to god,I said, I could actually save the lives of US soldiers if they just let me smoke a little weed out here. Kurgan didn’t look up from the tablet, but he said, amen brother, that would sharpen me right up about now.
Do you guys want some of my vape? Hans offered. Blech! No thanks, I said. Nicotine is not my thing, I need some sweet, sweet THC. Is it really that different? Hans asked. Kurgan, still staring at the tablet said, you’ve never tried weed? not even gummies? No, Hans said, he gave a slight chuckle. I never hung out with those kids, none of my friends were sigmas.
Sigmas? What does that mean? I asked. Hans said, you know, the kids who aren’t going anywhere in life, losers.
Kurgan and I both gasped in mock outrage. You’re calling us losers because we liked to burn a little herb?
Hans tried to correct, no, NO I didn’t mean losers, sigmas aren’t losers.
Oh sure, I said. Loser isn’t the right word, it’s just the first word that comes to mind. Kurgan said, hey it’s ok kid, drugs aren’t for everyone. I said, anyway the correct term is stoners, or potheads. Phhht. Sigmas, I said in disgust.
The wind blew my drone violently to the side, Muther!.. I exclaimed as I fought for control. See here’s why I brought it up. Just a little puff of ganja right now and my hands wouldn’t hurt anymore. I’d be able to focus on flying easier. I wouldn’t be hungry either. No one ever tells you about all the benefits.
When I vape I’m not hungry either. Hans said, and it increases my focus. Yeah, I get that, I said. Hey, how many do you have left anyway?.
Hans said, I still have four pens. Cutting down was kind of easy. How about that guy right there behind those two trees? I said, hang on, I think there might be a dugout over there, keep watching him. So you cut your vape habit in half just because I gave you shit? And you have plenty left until we resupply. See, I didn’t want you to quit, I just wanted you to manage. That’s the key to successfully using any substance, proper management. Hans swing to the right some more, does that look like a dugout to you?
Hans said, it might be, but it’s just a dark spot. So what’s the big deal with weed anyway? Is it really that different from nicotine?
I said, smoking weed changes your day from black and white into color, like when Dorothy goes to Oz. He gave me a blank stare, The movie? I said, The Wizard of Oz?. I don’t know what that is, Hans said. God dammit, I cursed.
Kurgan kept his eyes trained on the tablet, watching for enemy movement. Then he started to speak in a dark melodic tone. Cannabis is the origional hunting drug, millions of years ago ancient humans would smoke some weed. And they would stand outside the rabbit hole holding a rock. The hunter could stand there all day, barely moving, he didn’t get hungry, he didn’t look away from the hole. If it started to rain, he didn’t care. He kept watching the hole. Part of his mind could wander and think about other things, but he still watched the hole. And the minute that rabbit hopped out of that hole…
Hans, there! I interrupted. On the screen a soldier with a machine gun was slowly creeping out of the buried dug out. Hans said, got him. On my screen a small white dart zipped through the air and the soldier disappeared in an explosion of smoke and dirt.
Good story Kurg, I said, timely.
We kept launching drone sorties to help defend Cyclops until the sun went down. Command told us to sit tight and save our drones. Hans made dinner while I prepped more drones for combat. That was a long day huh? I said. Yeah, Hans nodded, he looked exhausted. Do you think any of my footage can be in an edit? He asked, noticeably perking up at the thought of this.
Hmm, we won’t know until we get back the censored video. First, all of it goes through a filter to scrub anything that gives away our secrets. Then all of it sits for at least three days. But, after that we can see if there’s some good shots. Do you make the edits? Hans asked. Not anymore, I used to, but now I’m just way too busy. Plus my buddy Ray is so good at it. He was a snowboarder so he was always filming and making edits before the war. We trained as drone armorers together.
Does he still do that? No, he was rigging a bomb and a primer charge went off in his hand. It took his hand off. So now he edits clips for us. Oh, Hans was quiet for a moment. I like his edits, he always has good music and the best shots. Yeah we’re pretty lucky. The drone edits with the most views are always between us and the Killer Bees. Good edits mean good recognition. Good recognition means more supplies and donations for all the stuff we need. The teams who don’t do Youtube clips get half of the funding we do. Sometimes less.
Hans stirred the pot of bubbling stew and turned the burner off on the gas stove. He looked like he was searching for the right way to ask something. Shade, he began, why are you here? I mean, you’re really good at this stuff, but why are there so many old guys like you and Kurgan fighting in the war? Ha! great question, I said. The reason guys like us are here is because there aren’t enough guys like you. Forty percent of American males are too obese to fight. Hegseth chased all the gay and trans soldiers away. Then he cut women from combat roles. Every country is short on eighteen to twenty five year olds, the average age of a soldier fighting for the US right now is forty three.
Hans said, but women are in combat roles now. Yeah, starting last year, I explained. He begged everyone to come back. Huxley was a quartermaster for 12 years, all through the gulf wars. Then she got fired just for being trans. She got a bonus to reenlist when they dropped the ban. Best god damn quartermaster this army has. I noticed my neck muscles were tense, it still blew my mind that we had denied able bodied soldiers the right to fight.
If each side didn’t have enough soldiers maybe they shouldn’t have had a war, Hans said as if it was the obvious solution. I smiled, you should write a letter to the boss and explain that. Then I asked, couldn’t you have gone to college and stayed out of this for a while?
He shrugged, maybe if any colleges wanted me, I took my SAT’s and a couple colleges offered to put me on the waitlist. Then I took the ASVAB military test and every branch was begging me to join. I smirked, yeah, funny how that happens.
With his helmet and armor off, Hans looked so young. I was surprised they let him keep his ear gauges in, but he probably couldn’t take them out at this point. With the gauges and mustache he looked like a hipster barista.
Kurgan came down the stairs and brushed aside the chains. He had night vision goggles attached to his helmet and wore his thermal dissipating cloak. You guys gotta see this fire fight out there! Ooh food! He stripped off the cloak and other gear and hung it on wall hooks. Then he poured himself a bowl of stew and sat down.
Hans was just telling me he did really well on his ASVAB’s. Kurgan responded sarcastically, wow, your parents must be so proud. Kurgan found a packet of dry crackers from an MRE and crushed them into his stew, then stirring it once and taking another big mouthful, he studied Hans with more interest than he’d ever shown. So what ethnicity are you? Hans shrugged, I’m American, my parents are from California. Kurgan raised his eyebrows, ok, but Californian isn’t an ethnicity. Where did your grandparents come from? I never met my grandfather, but I sort of remember my grandma. I think they were Armenian.
Huh, Kurgan said with a nod, survivors. Hans asked, what do you mean? Kurgan held up the bowl and took a long slurp. If you’re Armenian, it means somewhere along the line someone, I’m guessing your great grandparents, fought really hard to survive. They ran away faster or made smart decisions to stay alive against difficult odds. Maybe you’ve got some of that survivor blood in you. The bunker felt stuffy as we sat with that thought for a moment.
Then Kurgan stood up fast as he remembered something he wanted to say, Dude, you guys gotta come see this! There’s a huge gunbattle going on at Cyclops. He moved towards the door then he turned and held up his hand just as Hans was standing up. You guys can’t go more than ten feet from the door. I cleared that area, but I know that cluster bomb strike also left a bunch of butterfly mines, so stay close to the door.
Hans nodded. We walked through the chain curtain, the light from the bunker was cut off and we moved carefully up the dirt steps. We emerged into the vast night and immediatly we could hear the sounds of war in the distance. The three of us stood gaping in awe at the amount of tracer fire making the sky glow red in the distance. What the hell is going on over there? It’s gotta be a meat wave assault. It looks fuckin’ gnarly.
Hans asked, who do they put in meat wave assaults? Kurgan said, kids your age, with no training, from the poor parts of the country, and conscripts.The scary thing is how often it’s effective.
We watched for a few more minutes. Then Hans asked, what’s keeping them from coming here? To TT7? I said, not much. We have a big minefield over there that generally discourages trespassers, plus we have motion sensors to alert us if they are coming. And if they get too close we have Kurgan.
I took another long look at the raging gunfight in the distance and said, tuff. The three of us watched in silence for several more minutes as red streaks laced the sky with violence.
CHAPTER 15
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We abandoned the position? Hans asked in disbelief. I said, yeah I guess it was just a bullet sponge. Something to draw forces from another area. The three of us gathered for breakfast the next morning, the smell of coffee and vape smoke hung in the confined space. I said, there’s no communication from the radio crew and no ones pulling triggers over there.
But we fought all day to save it, Hans whined. That’s just how it goes, I said, Cyclops has already changed hands three times, We’ll probably take it back in a month.
They used a couple of those Mark 44 chain guns to cover the extraction, Kurgan said. He always spoke with enthusiasm when talking about new lethal tech. I want to try one of those so bad, you use a basic drone controller to aim and fire it or you can put it in ai mode. Tiki said the ammo feeder is as big as a 55 gallon drum, and it’s a chain gun so it can clear any jams.
So the guns kept firing as the soldiers retreated? Hans said grinning, that’s tuff.
Not a retreat, I corrected, a tactical withdrawal.
Then what? They blow the guns up so the enemy doesn’t get them? Yup. Sounds expensive. War always is, but it got those fifty guys out.
Han’s smile fell, so is that really what this is all about? Trading pieces of land back and forth? It seems so pointless.
I said, wow three days in and you’ve realized war is pointless. That’s deep.
Kurgan pressed a finger to his fading black eye, testing how tender it was. Then he sipped his coffee and said, don’t think about the land changing hands, think about the numbers. When this war ends, the world is going to have lots of hungry mouths to feed. Every mook we kill out there is one less mouth to feed. We’re working towards a brighter future by reducing the population.
I pointed at the big man and said to Hans, see! Positivity! That’s the word of the day, let’s stay positive and only good things will hap..BOOM! Boom,boom. Loud explosions rumbled outside.
We hurried outside into the new morning. Far away in the direction of Cyclops a dirty mushroom cloud rose into the air. Han’s eyes bulged, holy shit is that a nuke? He started to turn back into the bunker in terror. Kurgan stopped him with one thick arm. Relax, those were conventional. Really? How can you tell? That totally looks like a mushroom cloud.
Kurgan rolled his eyes, trust me, those were JDAM glide bombs. Not all mushroom clouds are from atomic bombs. Hans pressed, but why is it shaped like that? Kurgan groaned, ugh, that’s just the shape the cloud takes when you throw enough dirt in the air. It’s just physics. Hans pondered the cloud as it slowly drifted in the breeze.
I looked around outside the bunker, I hadn’t seen it in daylight since before the cluster bomb strike. Three meters away I saw a light green plastic butterfly shape on the ground. Kurgan had poked a stick into the ground next to it. See that mine over there Hans? He nodded, yeah I see it, it looks so small.
I said, Kurg, how many have you found so far? That one and three more over by the launch cradle. Do you find them with a metal detector? Hans asked. Nope, Kurgan said, the whole thing is plastic except for a pin and a spring. Hans, you think you can put your armor on and help Kurgan clear some?
Kurgan shot me a stern questioning look behind Han’s back. Then Hans said, ok.
A few minutes later both of them were dressed in full anti shrapnel armor and wore helmets with clear plastic face masks. Kurgan carried a twenty five foot length of chain looped over his shoulder. I watched Kurgan lead them over to the edge of the clearing. I could no longer hear them speaking but I saw Hans pick up the chain and try to swing the last two feet in a circle and then toss the chain out onto the mine. He spun and spun and the chain fell to his feet. He tried a different technique and knocked himself in the helmet with the swinging chain.
After four failed tries I could see the chain hanging limp in his hands as Kurgan spoke to him. Then Kurgan lifted the chain, spun it two times and arced the chain out like a perfect fly fishing cast.
There was a loud pop! And the chain jumped back in the air like a snake as it triggered the small landmine. Kurgan dragged the chain back, looping it into his free hand. I walked back into the bunker and made our morning check-in with command. I heard another pop! when they set off the mine near the entrance. Command told us to remain on standby until further notice. I indulged in the thought of a quiet rest day. Alone in the bunker, I held my arms out to the sides and arced my head back until I heard my spine pop. Then I leaned forward and let my arms hang down to my toes. I started formulating a to-do list as I stretched my palms to my boots and felt my hamstrings pulling tight. I needed to see which of the Mavic batteries wasn’t taking a charge, I needed to build three new sets of wire triggers for the kamikazee drones, I needed to show Hans how to use the pin drop function on our mapping software.
PING, an odd sound chimed from the flight station.
I looked between my legs upside down at the monitors, Then I stood up quickly and got a head rush. PING! It chimed again. I saw a blinking tab on the laptop screen and clicked it open. One of the motion sensors to our right flank had been tripped. I opened a map feature showing it was a sensor on the outer edge of the minefield. It was possible to have a false alarm, a coyote or something maybe. But we hadn’t seen any wildlife in months. I called Kurgan and told him to come back into the bunker.
Hans came bouncing down the steps beaming with pride. Shade! You should have seen it, I tossed the chain right on to this mine, first try! It was like boo-hoom!! . Kurgan wasn’t that a good throw? Kurgan took a patronizing tone, but Hans didn’t notice it. Oh, boy! I don’t think anyone has ever done it as good as you kid.
Ok, good job Hans, Kurgan and I shared a look. Heaping praise on Hans seemed to keep him engaged and driven. We got a motion sensor alert, I need to send a bird up and see what’s out there. Kurgan tapped Hans on the elbow and said, come on, I'll show you how to launch drones. They went to the drone totes, I sat at the station and picked up the radio mic. Shade to Specter, Shade to Specter you copy? Yeah Shade go ahead. Hey do you know of any patrols or operations going on along the South flank of field Echo-November eighty eight. There was a pause. That’s a negative Shade, no friendly ops in that AO today. Ok I said, we got a motion sensor alert and we’re going to check it out. Copy
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