The Story Begins Read online

  “It’s going to be fun, I’m sure too,” said Jaden, glancing at his watch.

  “I just hope that we get to enjoy being here. With a couple of ongoing wars, we’re both likely to find ourselves either in Afghanistan or Iraq sooner or later,” lamented Dave.

  “Inevitably, yes. But until then I won’t worry about that,” Jaden said.

  “Since I brought up the subject, can you believe that though I just got here I’m already hearing rumors that we might be deploying in the very near future? Supposedly that’s the reason why some other soldiers and I had to report here earlier than initially ordered to.”

  “That’s a hell of a ‘Welcome to Germany,’ dude!” Jaden said, hoping that it really was but a rumor.

  “You’re telling me!”

  “Is this an uncorroborated rumor, or does it have a factual basis?”

  “I can’t say for sure but we do have a 45-day field exercise coming up in a few days and most of the guys believe it’s in preparation for the real thing.”

  “Damn it! Maybe Germany won’t be that much fun after all.”

  “We’ll find out, won’t we?”

  “Yeah, time will tell.”

  “Hey, is your car here yet?” Dave asked, changing the subject.

  “As a matter of fact, it is. I was actually getting off the phone with that office just as your call started coming through. I’ll be picking it up tomorrow.”

  “How long did it take to get here? The only rental I could find was a manual and I don’t handle manuals well.”

  “I don’t think too many Americans do,” observed Jaden. “Anyway, it took around roughly four weeks. And don’t worry about the rental, you’ve handled it okay to this point, you’ll keep doing fine.” Jaden looked at the clock on the wall. It was almost 0930 hours. “Dude, I’ve got to go and get the day started – address the different platoon sections and get the day’s game plan rolling, okay? I’ll call later on, sometime before heading home, all right?”

  “Actually, I’ll call you again once I get my phone. I’m calling from the office right now.”

  “Okay, that’s fine. When do you plan on getting one?”

  “It’s on my get-it-done-today list. There’s a cell phone store adjacent to the Post Exchange. I plan on picking one up during lunch. It may take about a day to get activated.”

  “Okay, we’ll talk when your phone comes on line. Out here!” Jaden said while reaching for the notepad that lay at the front end of his desk.

  “Roger!”

  Jaden hung up then set about fetching his platoon sergeant.

  THE FOLLOWING MORNING: Lieutenant Krappa didn’t live in Army housing, preferring to rent an apartment from a local landlord; the apartment was within earshot of Taylor Barracks. Needing a ride out to Taylor Barracks so that he could pick up his vehicle once he turned in his rental, Jaden thought to ask his fellow lieutenant if he might give him a ride out there once the day had come to an end. Jaden hadn’t had much cause for interaction with Lieutenant Krappa and asked only because the lieutenant lived out that way. Though others would have cheerfully given him the ride, not wishing to be a bother to any for they would have had to go out of their way, he opted to ask Lieutenant Krappa instead.

  Preceding first formation, Jaden stopped by Krappa’s office. “Lieutenant Krappa, do you have anything going on at the end of the day?”

  “Not particularly. Why?”

  “Do you mind following me out to BFV and then dropping me off at Taylor Barracks after I return my rental?”

  “When were you notified of your vehicle’s arrival?” Krappa asked stiffly.

  “Yesterday,” Jaden answered, unsure of what bearing that had upon a simple yes or no question.

  “Is there a reason you didn’t ask yesterday as soon as you found out?” Krappa asked, shaking his head disapprovingly at Jaden’s timing. Jaden wasn’t afforded an opportunity to answer as his fellow lieutenant continued, “Fortunately, I don’t have anything too significantly important to do after work that I couldn’t postpone until later; though it’ll take a bit of reshuffling in my schedule.”

  It was known to all that Lieutenant Krappa was very much a homebody with not much, if any, of a life; and this, the troops had decided, bore direct correlation to ascribed personality traits they had collectively determined were anal retentive. As such, Jaden couldn’t help but wonder if Krappa’s implying that he actually had something to do was factitious. His patience now waned.

  “Krappa, it’s a yes or no question. We’re not playing 20 Questions here!”

  “All I’m saying is that you need to plan these things out. You just can’t expect me to drop everything I’ve got going on and take you over to Taylor,” the Lieutenant grumbled. “We are in the army so we should be good planners, planning out our every day while keeping in mind that we may need to adjust fire in case something unexpected comes up, such as your request, for instance. It’s a good thing that I can quickly adapt and rearrange my schedule at the drop of a dime.”

  “That’s totally marvelous, dude!” Jaden said sarcastically. “And because you’re such a meticulous and efficient planner, I take it that you will not have any trouble working my request into your schedule,” he said snappily.

  “No. It shouldn’t be a problem. As an excellent planner with an incredible ability to adapt and adjust fire, I will be able to take you to Taylor,” said Krappa.

  My God! Are you this much of a no-life loser? How rigid and anal retentive can one be? What the hell kind of person talks like that and plans their every day to the point of probably even deciding which bristles will brush over which teeth, marveled Jaden. Besides, did Krappa not just say he didn’t have anything in particular going on in the first place?

  AFTER WORK: “Phase 1 completed,” Jaden said as he got into the car having just dropped off the rental at Benjamin Franklin Village. “Now on to Phase 2. Dude, I really appreciate the ride out to Taylor.”

  “Roger.”

  “What do you have going on tomorrow?” asked Jaden, not particularly caring for the answer but making conversation merely that time might seem to hasten past.

  “A couple of squad leaders and I will be heading out to the firing range to conduct a recon in preparation for weapons’ qualification in the November / December timeframe,” he said, sounding somewhat aloof.

  “You’re firing late, aren’t you? It’ll probably be very cold. We’re talking about possibly in December. Are you ready to brace the cold?”

  “I’m always ready. It’s our mission to be ready at all times,” Krappa said, his tone austere.

  “Mission first, always, huh!” Jaden said light-heartedly, all the while thinking what an uptight, mirthless loser Krappa was. This guy really has no life. No wonder he’s as pathetic as he is, Jaden concluded.

  Preparing to make a turn, Lieutenant Krappa reached his left hand over his right on the steering wheel. Jaden noticed a wedding band. He puzzled over what manner character a woman has that she’d marry such an uptight, pompous, and boring ass. Though he believed that such was beyond his ability to fathom, nonetheless, three possibilities he did entertain: kindred spirits, God was punishing her for some unspeakable, heinous iniquity, or he was just one hell of a charity case she obliged herself to, for reasons known only to her.

  A bell atop the entrance chimed when Jaden pushed opened the door. A few seconds later, a man came out from the rear office to tend to the lieutenant.

  “How may I help you, sir?” However, before Jaden could answer, the man noticed the name on the lieutenant’s uniform. “Ah, Mr. Ramiel, Lieutenant Ramiel, I should say, we were preparing to contact you to inform you that your vehicle is ready for pick up. How fortunate that you happened by today,” the man said.

  “Actually, I received a call from this office yesterday morning informing me of the arrival of my car.”

  “Are you sure, sir?” the man asked, furrowing his brow in confusion. “Your vehicle arrived just today… about an hour a
go or so actually, so no one could have called you yesterday concerning that,” he explained.

  Jaden looked at him, baffled. He tried to remember the name of the woman he had received the call from. “I received the call yesterday from a lady named Diya. That’s why I came in. She told me that the car was here and waiting for me.”

  “Diya, you say. I’m sorry but we do not have anyone here by that name, sir.”

  Jaden was dumbfounded. “I’m sorry! Did you say that you don’t have anyone here by that name?”

  “That is correct, Lieutenant. Not in the 15 years that I’ve been here anyway. But we are just talking about yesterday – definitely not since yesterday.”

  “This is strange!” the Lieutenant mumbled.

  “Excuse me, sir?”

  “Just very peculiar,” he said. “My car’s here and that’s all that matters, I suppose. Finally, no more out-of-pocket rental expenses out of the pittance I make called a paycheck,” he said, relieved that his vehicle had arrived.

  “That’s right, sir!” the man concurred. “Your car is here and now you no longer have to spend money or depend on others. We here at the office have heard all too often how much of a nuisance that can be.”

  “Tell me about it! Especially with the dumb ass, the redundancy is for emphasis, I had to put up with to get here,” he bemoaned, a slight underlying tone of exasperation in his tone. “So, what do you need from me before I can drive it off the lot?”

  “I’m going to need you to do an inspection of it and make sure that it is in the same condition now as it was when you turned it in for shipping. If everything is in order, I’ll need you to sign a few documents and then you can be on your way.”

  “Sounds easy enough, when do we start?”

  “I’ll be right back with your keys,” said the individual before disappearing into the same back office from which he had come.

  Fifteen minutes later Jaden once again found himself sitting comfortably in his own vehicle on his way back to his quarters. While he drove he thought of Lieutenant Krappa and was flabbergasted as to how one could behave so bizarrely. Krappa, he decided, had to be a curse to his parents. He hypothesized Krappa’s kinfolk had coerced him to attend a military college for naught save hopes of a war arising anywhere posthaste. Deciding that he was being mean-spirited, he desisted from thoughts so cruel.

  16

  A Deployment on the Horizon

  A COUPLE OF DAYS LATER: Sore following yet another excruciating drill with Captain Peterson, Jaden couldn’t have been any happier knowing that the rest of his day was to be spent at his desk tending to matters which required hardly any moving about; he was to be engrossed in creating an equipment status report and an equipment maintenance work plan for the commander, which only necessitated that he use his hands for the keyboard and not falling asleep at his computer.

  Jaden had come to learn that his predecessor, Lieutenant Moore, had not been very keen on his responsibilities, which was part of the reason Moore was assigned to the unit no longer. Now it had fallen upon Jaden to conceive then create a plan that ascertained that all of the unit’s equipment operated optimally. Manifold weapon systems, vehicles, radios, computers, night-vision devices, tents and other equipment had lain in disrepair for a time, and with the inevitability of mobilizing to a war zone at some point, it most assuredly was an imperative that the unit be ready to execute orders within the 72-hour window constructed within its design.

  He was just about to conclude his formulation when his cell phone buzzed. It was Dave. “Dave! What’s up, dude?” he said, his agony evident in his voice.

  “Are you all right? You sound pained… like your whole body’s been pushed beyond its limits, again.”

  “That’s exactly what it is. Another morning from hell it was,” he apprised his friend.

  “Was it just you again or the entire company this time?”

  “No. Once again only I had the dubious honor of working out with Lucifer’s spawn. I swear he’s trying to break me. I’m among the few who have kept up with him so far. I’m not sure if he’s doing this to make me even better or if he feels like maybe his losing his physical dominance over the unit. The longer you work yourself out, the more your body is supposed to gradually adjust to the conditioning, right?”

  “I guess.”

  “Well, that’s not happened for me yet with this demon-inspired regimen.”

  “Sounds rough, dude...but hey, better you than me, right?”

  “Screw you, man.”

  Dave laughed.

  “I hope… no, I pray to all that is holy that this one-on-one PT crap comes to an end. I kid you not, what we did at Fort Benning… the so-called ‘Home of The Infantry’ compared to this here is like child’s play. I swear I’ve never been in so much physical agony. I’ll be spending the entire evening in the tub once I get home – which, unfortunately, is still several hours from now – I’ll be filling it up with warm water and just stay in there for hours before wrapping my entire body in some cold-hot patches before hitting the sack.”

  “I’m curious, is he a body builder, or does he take part in those strongman competitions?” inquired Dave.

  “I don’t know… he’s of average build so I don’t think he’s a body builder. I do know that he used to be a Master Fitness instructor, and to be one of those I’m guessing you have got to be in some serious shape.”

  “That explains it!”

  “Yeah, it does. Anyways, so what’s up, dude? What’s going on in Baumholder?”

  “Not much of anything! All it is around here is work, home, work, home, work… well, you get the picture.”

  “All too clearly! That boring, huh?” Jaden asked as he recalled when his peers at Fort Benning had been very intrigued by his duty station. His good fortune was not lost upon him; he was profoundly appreciative that he was not at a remote and secluded assignment. “So, any word yet on your car?” Jaden asked.

  “I got off the phone with that office about half an hour ago. They couldn’t give an exact date regarding when it will be available for pick up but said that it’s on the inbound shipment, which should be here in a little over a week, two at the most,” Dave shared. “But you know what?” Dave asked, sounding dispirited all of a sudden.

  That definitely did not sound good, Jaden thought. “I’m afraid to ask,” he answered anxiously.

  “Nothing official yet but I may not get to enjoy riding around for some time yet. It’s sounding more and more like my unit will be heading out to the desert in the very near future. I’ve heard maybe in as little as a month,” Dave said.

  “I was afraid you’d say something like that,” Jaden said. Now he too was feeling disheartened. “What’s the hold up on the official word?” he asked. “It’s got to suck being in suspense all the time.”

  “I really couldn’t say for sure but based on the word circulating, sounds like there’s some kind of a conflict in the rotation schedule affecting my brigade and one other. Word has it that once that’s been de-conflicted, both brigades will then be notified as to which will be moving out first. I sure hope we’ll be the one to relieve them rather than being the unit ordered out first!” Dave wished. “Ah, what the hell, man!” he then said, ceding his lot to fate. “If it happens, it happens. What can one do? That being said let’s talk about something else; no sense in getting down over what you have no control over, right!”

  “Couldn’t have put it better myself,” Jaden agreed.

  “Doing anything over the weekend?” asked Dave.

  “I’m not sure yet. I was thinking of taking one of those weekend tours the USO coordinates. I was thinking about maybe going out to the Black Forest,” Jaden shared.

  “Oh yeah! I was actually thinking the same thing, not the Black Forest but one of the other ones, just not sure which. There are so many tours and I have no idea where I’d like to visit first.”

  “Even if you do deploy, you’ll still be back with enough time left in your tour to se
e it all. Just get a bunch of different flyers then pick one out randomly. That’s how I’d do them if I wasn’t sure where to go first,” Jaden simplified.

  “Simple but effective,” Dave agreed.

  Jaden’s desk phone rang. “Dave, hold on. Good morning, this is Lieutenant Ramiel, how may I help you?”

  It was Captain Peterson. “Jaden, how far along are you with the document? I’ve got Poop-maker breathing down my neck, wanting to know our equipment plan,” the Captain said.

  “I’m just about done, sir. I can have it up to you in 15 mikes,” replied Jaden.

  “Roger that. In addition to an email attachment, please get me a hard copy as well; my printer is out of commission. By the way, tell your supply sergeant that I will personally kick his ass in every direction of the universe if he doesn’t get me a new printer soon, despite the fact that he’s unaware that it is broken,” the Captain joked.

  Jaden laughed. “Wilco, sir,” acknowledged Jaden before hanging up. He returned to his conversation with Dave. “Dude, I’ve got to go. I’ll call you back later. I’ve got to finish this write-up for the CO.”

  “Yeah, I heard – what write-up is that?”

  “Basically, it’s the operational rate of our equipment and what my plan and timeline are to get the non-mission-capable equipment functional again,” explained Jaden.

  “Okay, sounds good.”

  “Out here!” Jaden said then hung up.

  17

  A Curious Encounter

  Jaden had been in Germany for a little over three months and realized that unless he did something different, his being in Germany would really be no different than if he had opted for a stateside assignment. The scene was unchanging; it was always Americans all around, day in and day out; at work, his neighbors, at the Post Exchange, just about everywhere because his dealings were entirely on American installations. Why limit myself to what I already know when there’s an entire culture to get to explore and people to meet? he thought.