Chapter 15-Memorial Day

Again I find myself struggling to write something.  This time the problem is more the topic I want to breach.  Memorial Day versus Veteran’s Day.  This is Memorial Day weekend and I have often reposted several items discussing why being thanked for our service to the country makes a veteran uncomfortable on Memorial Day.  The arguments are often articulate, well researched and really don’t help because they don’t really convey just how difficult it is.  I understand everyone wants to show respect, and consider how many over the years have not it is great to get that.  This year it has been especially hard for me as this is thirty years since I lost my brothers in arms and despite what any of the mind doctors say it does not get easier it in some ways has gotten harder.

So I am decided to express my feelings in a form that does sometimes help me.  My writing.  

I wrote the following as a possible chapter in my book that would provide a chance for my characters to take a break and become more real to the audience.  Because of that some of the background items may be lost on this separate posting and I am sorry for that.  I will try to give you enough information to help set the stage.  A special forces team has rescued a group of researchers and are traveling back to the states with them when they are shot down over US airspace.  In the months after that they discover they have been moved into the future and the USA they left no longer exists.  This break comes at a time when they have finished figuring out what happened and deciding what to do about it and the situation they are in.   The operators convince everybody to participate in a memorial day service before they go into action.

The characters in short are:  Major Nancy “Tinkerbelle” Alexander the pilot and now considered to be President of the USA until elections can be held, 1^st Lt. Carrie “October” Gleason the co-pilot, Sargent Major John “Ironside” Hopkins team leader, First Sargent Danny “Mbuzi” Corleone team second, Sargent First Class Jeff “Catgut” Taylor team doctor, Sargent First Class David “Delete” Becker team electronics specialist, Staff Sargent Audrey “Hepburn” Stokes team sniper, Staff Sargent Benny Teague air crew leader, Airman Kurt Olin air crew, Dr. Isabella Balden research team leader, Dr. Kevin Glenmont, research team surgeon, Dr. Stacey Kurosawa research team bioengineer, Dr. Marvin Fuller, research team electronics designer, Rick Jenkins (member of East African American colony and survivor of plane crash-also great grandson of Sargent Major Richard “Thumper” Jenkins former team second to Ironside), Ebrahem another East African American colony member and survivor of plane crash, Calisto-rescued prisoner of the current time frame

The setting is at a rebuilt survivalist home/farm that is the second base of operations for the group and the home of those recently rescued from a prisoner camp often referred to as Camp Mutt because there were a group of dogs that lived there.  As for grammar and flow I did this over three nights so it is a very rough draft.    Hope the story helps to explain and thank you for reading it. 

Ironside finished dressing out the white tail buck that Calisto and Hepburn brought back this afternoon.  Most of it was cut into steaks for grilling later.  Normally he would not risk grilling a bunch of meat, but over the last seven months of recon the closest establishment had been over a week's hike away.  Everyone had been working hard to set up a life here.  After learning about how bad things were, even Dr. Balden and Glenmont had started helping out at least as best they could.  There was more than enough meat for everyone to have two steaks and even the dogs would get one today.  Except the two older dogs, he would need to grind up the meat as best as possible for them.  The puppies were almost 8 months old now and would probably devour a couple steaks each if allowed to.  October still wanted to treat them like little puppies though they were way too big to carry anymore.  A healthy diet had made a huge difference for the entire pack.  Even the weary eyed cautious father of the puppies was showing signs of being happy.  The scars all over his body attesting to the fact he had a right to be weary eyed and cautious.  He understood why the dog was always near him while he was in camp.  They were very much alike.  He threw the dog the liver and watched him carry it over to a location away from everyone.  The pups looked over hopeful but never moved towards him.  Ironside threw each of them a piece of meat he had not cut to steak and would not be any good to make jerky from.

Benny came over to grab the steaks so he could  season them.  He had built the grill in his spare time and from parts of the plane so he earned the right to cook them.  Only problem was the puppies did not show him the same respect they showed Ironside or their father.  They jumped all over poor Benny until October came over to help.

Ironside finished cutting up the rest of the buck and separating everything they would need for various purposes.  Most of the meat would be cut and dried for jerky.  The bones and antlers can be used for tools, weapons or handles, the fat will be rendered to fallow for lubricant or candles. The intestines and various sinewy parts will become string for sewing or binding things.  They will even boil the hide before tanning it out to get the glue stock.

Mbuzi came over to help being followed by the oldest male dog who had become his constant companion.  “Give me that chunk their top, I will cut it up for you.”  Ironside just slide over the part his second wanted.  They worked silently having done so for over 6 years now. 

It took roughly a half hour to finish dressing the buck out completely and laying the strips of meat for drying in the work shack they had converted to a drying room for the meat.  Mbuzi stepped out of the drying shack strapping his rifle into the harness across the front of his body while Ironside carried his as they walked over to the main group that had gathered around the grilling rack Benny was currently heating up.

“I am going take Delete and check the perimeter warnings.  I assume you want to break Hepburn from over watch so he can join the group.”  Mbuzi said.

“Yes I want everyone in with the group tonight.  Everybody needs this break.  If we feel a need for an over watch, I will do it.  Make the check quick don’t want you to miss the steaks.”  Ironside grinned because he knew Mbuzi would never miss a meal especially steaks.

Mbuzi went and grabbed Delete away from Calisto but she asked if she could join them and Mbuzi relented. The three took off heading to the electronic perimeter Delete had set up.   They actually had three perimeters on each site.  Standard homemade booby traps, simple noise traps and then the electronic perimeter sensor set up.  Actually it was good Calisto went with them.  She had good instincts for hunting and great eyes/ears for detecting things that were wrong.  She needed more time understanding how to work with others and compliment their skills with hers.  It also would free the two operators up to finish their checks quicker than if they had to pull their own over watch.

Ironside was scanning the site again to make sure the team had not left any detail overlooked.  He was mainly concerned with security for the night but he could not help but marvel and how great a job Benny, Kurt, October and Marvin had done at plowing the fields.  They had stolen enough seeds from the prison camp to have a nice farm set up.  Having spent a lot of time in Africa, Ironside knew how hard it was to plow land without a tractor.  While they had found and domesticated some chickens and goats they did not yet have any bulls, horses or donkeys so they had to pull the plow themselves.  Mbuzi said they worked sunup to sun down for two weeks to get it done.

He had been gone so much these first couple of months to recon and verify everything they heard from Rick and Ebrahem.  He felt like he had let the home team down by not doing his part here.  And now they were about to start a war with those who currently held the country so he was going to be spending less time here.  At least Tinkerbelle had accepted the fact she was now the President of the USA even if it was just this small camp right now.  He would take the team and she would be in charge of everything here.  She was up to the task and honestly he was glad to be done with it.

Ironside stiffened as he felt something moving behind him but relaxed when he realized only the dog or Tinkerbelle were light enough to move like that.  He smiled when he caught her fragrance.  Even her smell was overly chipper to an old war dog like himself.  “Madam President, are you ready for tonight?”

“I am not sure, is there something specific you wanted me to do in your celebration?  You wanted to do this, I just agreed to let you.”  Tinkerbelle responded while moving up beside Ironside.

“Yes, you did and thank you for that.  Tonight is to prepare everyone for what happens next.  Everyone knows we are about to start planning for a war, but I don’t think the civilians actually understand what that will really mean.  It is like when someone thanks you for serving in the military on Memorial day, they don’t understand the difference.  Tonight is about giving everyone a well-deserved break and then sharing with them our way to celebrate Memorial day and hope that sinks in so they get what is about to happen.”

“How do you plan to do that?”

Ironside attached his rifle to his body harness, “I am going to talk about what it really is about and I am going to let everyone ask questions about it.”

“Interesting, any questions we want to ask about it?”  Tinkerbelle’s smile indicated she may have a different plan for tonight than Ironside. 

“Yes.”  Ironside caught her smile but remained a man of few words when it counted.

“Well, we are ready for everything.   They have the milk chilled from the evaporative cooler Mbuzi and Delete made.  Marvin and Stacey charged up one of the laptops that survived the crash and loaded it with music.  Hepburn is still on over watch.  You just sent out Mbuzi, Delete and Calisto.  Rick, Ebrahem and Kurt have been setting up a place to play some ultimate Frisbee.  Marvin, Stacey, Benny and Catgut have been working on some type of surprise for everyone.  Drs. Baden and Glenmont have actually been helping set up the picnic area and preparing some side dishes.   Everybody is ready to relax after all the work we have been putting in.  I hope you plan to relax some yourself.  You haven’t taken enough time to heal up properly and you are kind of an important piece of what we want to do.”  Tinkerbelle did not look at him for fear of letting him know how afraid she was.

Ironside could feel her fear, he was fearful himself.  If he failed, then she and the rest of the group would be left at risk and unprotected.  They could hold off a small attack but a full scale battle would be more than those left behind could deal with.  He did not want to have to live with that guilt also.  “I will, especially since tomorrow planning starts and that means more of desk job for a week than anything else.  Don’t worry I realize what a risk we are taking I want take any unnecessary risks in addition to it.”

“Nice try but I have known you a while Ironside, you lead by being the one to take all the unnecessary risks. “

Ironside was about to respond when his radio clicked.  He hit the microphone button, “Got your signal come on in Mbuzi.”  Then he hit the send button four times and waited as Hepburn responded he was clear to talk, “Break down over watch and come on in Hepburn.”  He turned to Tinkerbelle and bowed in flourish fashion, “Madam President if you will excuse your humble servant I need to get one more thing before we start, would you please gather everyone.”

Tinkerbelle finally allowed herself to laugh, “You better watch it or I might bring that back during my reign.  At your age I am surprised you can still do that.”

Ironside smiled kindly before turning about face and heading off to the cabin to grab his only bottle of Crown Royal Whiskey.  He kept it in the box and bag as he headed back to join everyone gathering about the picnic area.

Everyone turned expectantly towards him being used to his being in charge of survival operations since they first crash landed.  They were still getting used to Tinkerbelle taking back the control she had given him while they tried to survive.  Ironside instead turned to her and waited allowing everyone else to catch up and turn to her as well to expect some major announcement.

While Tinkerbelle was never ashamed of her height, she did realize sometimes she need to be a little higher so she climbed up on the picnic table.  “Today is a special day.  Not only is this the demarcation line between our survival to our actively participating in this new day for what remains of the US it is also the day we normally would recognize those who have fallen in service of our country, those who paid the ultimate price for our freedom.  One means we will be looking for everyone to take on new roles in our society, the other is recognition that the freedom most of us have experienced in our lifetime came with harsh realities that many of us only have a basic understanding of.  So today we rest, we recharge our batteries for the new challenge but we are also going to be learning about the cost of this new challenge so that we do not go forward unaware of this cost.  I think we will focus on the relaxing part first.  Everyone who wants to play a game of ultimate Frisbee before we start cooking join me on the field.  After dinner I think we have some special entertainment then the Sargent Major has agreed to lead us in a traditional Memorial day ceremony to honor the fallen and to answer questions about what that means.”  She hopped off the table and the best way to describe her gait to the Frisbee field was skipping, but that was Tinkerbelle regardless of her being the new President she was still the most cheerful person you could ever come across.

They spent over an hour playing ultimate Frisbee.  Teams were changed up several times.  There was more trash talk than scoring.  It was of course key to separate the members of the special forces team as they found no need to actually talk to communicate.  Despite the fact the game was supposed to be a non-contact sport it seemed there were some suspicious accidental encounters.  Apparently October and Stacey both knew how to distract several of the male players with embarrassing frequency.  Of all the funnier moments the best was when Kurt in all of his Norse God perfect physique ran with a full head of steam into Ironside and did not even move him.  It was like someone throwing a rock as hard as they could against a..., well the old Ironside ship he was nicknamed after.   Even Dr. Baden played which shocked everyone. 

After the game everyone pitched in with cooking, giving a final clean up, and setting up the limited drink collection.  They had chilled the goat’s milk and the always present water.  There were instant mashed potatoes, the last of the rations on the plane.  They had taken some other food from the prison camp and the scavenger group had gotten some carrots, wild onions, mushrooms and first of the season berries.

The original group from the plane shed the worry and fear from the first 7 months after the plane crashed.  The new members still trying to find their place in the group shed the horrors of the prison camp they had been kept at.  Even the dogs sensed a change in the group.  They were playing and enjoying their feast of raw deer meat.  Even the puppies' father seemed to engage the puppies when he was not beside Ironside.  The dogs all had their favorites.  The oldest male kept close to Mbuzi, the oldest female rarely left Tinkerbelle and the mother of the puppies tended to stay near Stacey while the puppies would play with everyone but always went back to October and Bennie.

Ironside smiled as he looked around at the group enjoying themselves.  He noticed how people seemed to be pairing off.  Hepburn and Marvin everyone knew about, but then there was Stacey and Mbuzi which had him baffled just like Bennie and October.  Calisto seemed instantly to hover around Delete.  Even he had to admit his feelings toward Tinkerbelle went deeper than they should considering she was an officer and he was a non-com.  Well now that she was technically the President what could they really do to him.

Yes, everyone was happy in this moment of time.  Their smiles were genuine.  Even those who had not wanted to be “part of the group” at first now seemed at home with their situation.  Ironside hated that he was going to have to shatter that moment for them.  He had no way to gauge how people would react later but it had to be done.

After everyone ate their fill and several of the team members and Kurt went back for a second steak. Mbuzi even helped himself to a third.   October lead in an impromptu talent show; though she, Bennie, Marvin and Catgut did have a rehearsed comedy skit which involved the guys playing the parts of females and October playing the male lead.  Ironside was not sure if the purpose of that whole skit was so she and Bennie could kiss on stage or not.  Bennie sang as did Dr. Glenmont which shocked everyone when they got together for an opera style song.  Tinkerbelle fashioned some tap shoes from her slippers and some pieces of metal and danced to a couple of songs on the computer.  Hepburn recited roles from his nickname sake surprising everyone with how many of her roles that he knew.  Stacey was able to juggle, Kurt gave a dramatic recital of The Iliad, Mbuzi did impersonations of famous people and Ironside, Delete did magic tricks. Then Rick and Ebrahem sang a Swahili song from East Africa.  Only Calisto who grew up in the prison camp did not know of some talent she could share. 

That left the stage for Ironside who took his computer which he had also charged up, along with the bottle of whiskey still in the box and bag and set them on a small table Mbuzi carried to the stage to help him out.  He turned and grabbed his chair and set it on the stage as well while his dog joined him on stage almost on cue.

After he got everything set up on stage he sat down and looked at his computer.  “I am going to start by reading John 15:13: ‘Greater love has no one than this, that someone lays down his life for his friends.’  Today we are celebrating Memorial Day.  This is typically celebrated by most as a long weekend and a chance to cook out or go to the lake.  There is nothing wrong with those methods of celebration.  Just like it was right for us to have the fun we had today.  Now I want to talk about the part of the day that gets overlooked or confused with Veteran’s day.  Today we honor those who died for our freedom not the ones who are still alive.  I am going to answer any questions you come up with as I take you through some of the ways team members honor fallen brothers.”

Dr. Baden raised her hand from the middle of the group.  Ironside motioned for her to ask her question.  She started in a much quieter, more solemn voice than normal, “I don’t know that I know the importance of the difference between celebrating those alive and those dead other than the obvious?”

Ironside smiled gently, “Thank you Doctor, right to the heart of the matter and something that most people don’t understand.  It is nice to be appreciated for our service in the military.  Especially since I was alive when that was not always the case.  But I am guessing the lack of understanding for most people about the difference goes to that part you said about the obvious.  The reason we make such a strong distinction between Memorial Day and Veteran’s Day goes way past that obvious reason of one is alive and one is not.  Since I have been serving I have lost more friends because they were killed in combat than those I have that are alive.  When someone you serve with is killed in combat two questions will come to mind and actually they will haunt you.  The first is Why did they die and I survived?   In a world of things that don’t seem fair this one seems the most unfair.  I have had friends killed who had families that needed them and yet I lived despite the fact all my family is gone and I never married.'

"The second question is What did I do wrong that got them killed?  It is like a scenario where a crash involves a drunk driver it always seems the drunk driver survives and the person who did not cause the crash dies.  Everybody on a military team of any type has a job to do.  Especially on the teams it is critical I do my job to perfection.  If we were attacked right now, each member of the team would know instinctively what their role is.  We train relentlessly for that.  Unlike the movies I will not bark orders unless I want to make a change to our normal reaction.  That is because I have barked those orders at them for months on end in training.  They know how to form up, what the firing order will be, when and what direction to move.  The way they react allow for each member to cover the other members.  I know my exposed sides are protected by a member of my team.  Just as they rely on me to protect their exposed sides.  If I fail to do my job, or I make a mistake, or even if I am a little too slow getting to my spot I could leave one or more of them exposed.  So in combat the one who makes the mistake is not the one to pay for it a lot of the time.  So I wonder for every fallen brother, did I make a mistake that got them killed.  Did I make a mistake that left their son or daughter without a father?’

“So to us being thanked for our service when we want to honor our fallen feels bitter because of those two questions.  It is something terrible personal to us.  We appreciate the respect but on this day of all days we fell the weight and the tragedy and the loss of our fallen brothers.’

“That is why I want to share with you our way of honoring our fallen.”  As if the dog understood what he was saying he came over and rested his head on Ironside’s lap.  Something he had never done.

October was next with a question, “What do you do for most of the day?”

Ironside took to scratching the dog’s head before he answered.  “We often do some the things everyone else does.  Cook out, play games enjoy the company of those we still have.  Some go visit family if they have some close enough.  I like to eat junk food like a chili cheese burger with onion rings and watch old war movies.”

Stacey who was stroking the puppies’ mother’s head the same way Ironside was stroking the father’s head was next, “War movies, doesn’t that remind you of your own combat?”

Most of the team chuckled as Ironside looked up to answer, “No, Hollywood has made few movies that make us think of our combat.  Normally it is stupid things they do like right before a combat mission, the officer will remind everyone to square away their life insurance or something idiotic.  They rarely have teams move like teams because they need them all bunched for the film to capture their stars.  So the old war movies like the Longest Day, Sands of Iwo Jima, Glory, Green Berets and the like are enjoyable to watch because they tend to highlight the men who go to war than the war action itself.  Even some of the newer ones that tried to get the action, tend not to get us ramped up.  Things like We Were Soldiers and Band of Brothers.”

Kurt was next, “Are there any you stay away from because they got it too real?”

Almost as one every member of the team answered, “Tears of the Sun.”  Mbuzi followed up, “They got the movement of the team members more correct than any of the others.”

Tinkerbelle had her impish evil smile back on as she asked, “Doesn’t the fallen in the movies make you sad about your fallen brothers?”

Now Ironside understood what she was wanting to know earlier and decided to be honest and open, “Yes and it helps me to let out those emotions.  Even I need a good cry on Memorial Day.”

She was not done with him yet, “Any other TV shows you guys like to binge watch on days like this?”

She was not prepared how quickly all of them answered, “Buffy the Vampire Slayer.”  Everyone laughed trying to think of this group of men sitting around watching a teenage girl slay demons and vampires.  But it was Catgut that explained, “hey a fun show is a fun show”

That seemed to quiet the questions for the moment so Ironside called the team up to the stage and they started their ceremony. Ironside reached for the bottle of whiskey and took it out of the box.  “In old tradition as a team would return from a mission each member would have a small bottle of whiskey on their bunk.  You would take a sip for yourself having survived and then take a sip for every member of the team that did not return.  On Memorial day we recite the names of those who fell on our watch and take a drink to honor them.  The newest member to the teams starts and any name mentioned by a previous member is not mentioned again.”

Hepburn took the bottle from Ironside as the newest member, “My brothers Hunter and Simmons.”  After saying the last names for his fallen brothers he took a drink.

Delete was next and he took the bottle from Hepburn, “My brothers Billows, Frankes and Shaw.”  Then he took a drink from the bottle.

Catgut took the bottle next, “My brothers Gillis, Battle, Johnson, and Armstrong” then he took a drink.

Mbuzi held the bottle low, “My brothers, Counts, Cereta, Evers, Parrot, Turner, Andrews, Gray, Tadder, Nelson, Jeffers and Jackson.”  He took a long swig from the bottle.

As Ironside took the bottle, he looked out at the group to see if it was starting to dawn on them that what they were about to do would add to these names and the somber silence made him think they were getting it.  “This year marks thirty years I have been doing this.  Thirty years of remembering my fallen brothers and sisters.  My brothers I have lost are Shaw, Cantis, Burls, Hillman, Hills, Garret, Knowles, Lennard, Miles, Cloyd, Calvin, Stevens, Hawthorne, Miller, Jenkins, Jones, Jeremy, Bridges, Daniels, Grant, Milo, Marvin, Eckharts, Adams, Clemens, Markus, Lee, Wang, Picante, Gutierrez, Ramos, Hilder, and now Jenkins.”  With the last name he held the bottle up towards Rick as a salute to his great grandfather who had been one of Ironside’s closest friends.  “I have also lost one who would normally be called a sister in arms but since she was also my fiancé I don’t really like that term, Garretson.”

Ironside took a drink and then passed the bottle to Tinkerbelle who took a drink before passing it on.  The final person to drink was Calisto and being her first taste of alcohol she coughed most of it back up and looked around embarrassed. 

Ironside came forward to give her a smile and pat on the back before taking the bottle and returning to the makeshift stage.  “We finish up by singing the following from Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young song called Find the Cost of Freedom.”

He hit the play button on the computer and a solo acoustic guitar played a haunting melody for about a minute then all five team members joined the singers as they sang four lines:

Find the cost of Freedom

Buried in the ground

Mother earth will swallow you

Lay your body down

Then the guitar dropped out and they sang the four lines again acapella

Find the cost of Freedom

Buried in the ground

Mother earth will swallow you

Lay your body down

Everything was quiet, everyone understood just what they were asking for when voting to have these men to take back the freedom the USA once had.  More people will die to get back what was lost.

End of Story but if you want to listen to the song here is a YouTube link.