“It’s hot as balls today.” I growl, wiping the sweat from my forehead. I only have three weeks left in this hell hole, and I can’t wait to get the fuck out of here. I love my job, but Christ, this heat is killing me.
“Tell me about it. I’m itching to take a damn shower,” my best friend, Sgt. Bailey Adams, whines. “When will that shit be fixed?” I shrug at her. “Great, we’re about to go out on another mission. That means even longer without bathing,” she says as she wipes herself down with a baby wipe.
I chuckle. Our tent smells like ten skunks all up and died on us, and it’s worse when it’s that time of the month. Our base is small, and the men far outweigh the woman. That means us girls all share one tent. Some of us are from supply, some from Administration, and some from medical, like Bailey and I. We don’t typically have to wait too long to shower but we’ve been having some issues with the showers not working. I shake my head. I try not to bitch about it, especially around the men. It’s hard for them to take us seriously as it is. They get one whiff of a complaint from us and we’re toast. We’ll never live it down.
My team consists of myself, Bailey, McIntyre, Pierce, Callahan, and Blake, the latter four being men. I’ve busted my ass as the senior NCO on this medic team to gain their trust and respect. I won’t ruin it with complaints of showering, or lack thereof.
“Come on, Bailey, it’s time to meet up with the others.” I throw my gear over my shoulder, place my helmet on my head, and grab my M4 on my way out of the tent, Bailey in tow.
When we get outside the sun is blazing hot as it beats down on us. I can feel drops of sweat run down my back. Callahan comes over putting his arm around my neck. “You ready to roll, Sarge?” I give him my signature one eyebrow look and he quickly removes his hand.
Callahan is the camp flirt. I’m pretty sure he’s fucked half the women on this base. He’s been trying to work his magic with me for the past few weeks, but I’ve had enough. I yank him by the ear dragging him away from the rest of our crew. He’s bitching and moaning the entire time. When we’re finally out of earshot I let go. He grabs his now red ear. “What the fuck, Sarge? You know I’m only messing around.” He rubs his ear like a whiny bitch.
“Yeah, well, I’m tired of your immature ass messing around. I outrank you, and I’m your leader. Flirt with me one more time over the next three weeks and I will kick your fucking ass.” He may be taller and stronger, but I’ve learned a lot, and I can hold my own.
“Okay, I’m sorry. It won’t happen again.”
“Good, now get my fucking Humvee. We need to fall in with the rest of the convoy.” He opens his mouth to say something, but smiles and runs off instead.
I meet back up with the rest of my team, who are all looking at me wide eyed. Pierce, one of my male medics, opens his mouth, but I stop him. “If you make one, and I mean one, inappropriate comment about it being that time of the month, so help me God, Pierce.”
He laughs. “I wasn’t, I swear. I was going to ask if you’re okay.”
“I’m fine. I’m tired of his toying ass and I let him know it. That goes for the rest of you. Keep it out of my section, am I clear?”
“Hooah.” They all shout in unison.
“Thank you, now load up.”
Bailey and Callahan run to the front. They’re riding in the beginning of the convoy with Malone and Perry, two people from Supply. This is a simple supply mission and should be no big deal, but no one goes anywhere without medics. Myself, Pierce, and McIntyre ride toward the rear of the convoy in our own vehicle. All the trucks start up and we start on our way. We have two stops to make today and they are a great distance apart. We’ll be lucky to make it back by dinner.
As soon as we’re on the road Pierce looks over at me. “Are you good?”
“I’m fine, why?”
He shrugs. “I think you were a bit hard on Callahan.”
I narrow my eyes at him. Pierce is next in rank below me. He handles the guys and I take care of Bailey and I. “Listen, I have warned him several times now. We’ve had conversations about keeping his flirting out of our section and he doesn't seem to get it. I know he’s fucked his way through half this command, and that’s on him. I have worked too hard to get to where I am for him to screw it up because someone thinks I’m fucking one of my men.” In the Army, women of higher ranks often are thought of as someone who slept their way to the top, but fuck that. I earned every promotion I got. I was the first to volunteer when something needed to be done, and was first in line to head off to school the second a slot was available. I knew what I wanted from my career, and I wasn’t going to miss out on the opportunities to make it happen, but sleeping with another soldier…not gonna happen.
“I get it. I do. I just think you could have pulled him aside differently.”
I chuckle. “Well you can help him heal his wounded ego later. If you dealt with the guys in our section, I may not have had to manhandle his ass.”
He laughs. “You fucking kill me, Morgan.”
“My job is to keep your ass alive, not kill you, and that goes for everyone in our section. That, my friend, is what I plan to do. Only three more weeks and we are out of here. Do you think you can keep him in check that long?”
He shakes his head. “Pierce can’t keep Callahan in check for a day,” McIntyre shouts from the back seat.
“Right!” Pierce shouts. “She has no idea what that job entails. The kid is twenty-one years old. He’s a fucking walking hard on.” Pierce barks out with laughter.
“Try slapping it with a newspaper. Worked for me with my dog,” McIntyre says.
We all start laughing, but in reality it’s not funny, the kid needs to learn to keep his dick in his pants. He’s bright and really knows his job. He could be go really far in this man’s Army, but he has some growing up to do first. I have an amazing team. We work hard to save lives and when the heat is on every one of my team members responds quickly and efficiently. Thanks to their dedication a lot of guys have made it back home. They may have sustained life altering injuries, but we saved their lives and that’s what we do, save lives.
We’ve been driving for what seems like forever, and are now in dangerous territory. The roads aren’t really roads any longer. They’re more like dirt paths. We’re all driving at a safe speed. There’s a little gap between each vehicle, and everyone is following protocol to a T. The convoy slowly comes to a stop, but because we’re in the back I can’t see why. I radio up to the front to try and get some input from Bailey, but before she could answer there’s an explosion. “Bailey, are you good?”
There’s a crackle over the radio. “Yeah, but the front truck is fucking toast. We need help up here.” I can hear she’s shaking and panting.
“Cut the line, get to the front,” I order McIntyre.
He pulls out of the lineup and gets to the front where we find one of our vehicles blown to shit. We hear an incoming round but we have no idea where it’s coming from. We jump from the vehicle to help the others while some of our guys try to take a defensive position around us. “Medic,” I hear called out.
I jump up to run toward the voice, collapsing beside my boy, Hodges. His leg is fucked and I need to focus. I get busy taking care of him while Bailey runs up beside me. “I've called it in. Help is on the way.” She lets out a deep breath, beads of sweat running down her face.
“Good, thanks, Bailey.” I never take my eyes off Hodges, who screams out in pain as I tie his leg off. “Sorry, Hodges, got to stop this bleeding.”
“Fuck!” He screams when I tighten it one last time.
I give him a look that screams, really? “Dude, where’s my tough guy? Don’t go turning pussy on me now.”
He shakes his head. “Fuck you, Morgan.”
I pat him on the shoulder. “You’re going to be fine. Hang in there, okay.” He nods and I take off running with Bailey to the next wounded person. We began taking on fire, and I have guys dropping all around me. This is a damn shit show. How the fuck did this even happen? I shake my head. Suddenly I hear a loud whistle soaring through the air. “Incoming." Grabbing Bailey I’m about to throw her to the ground when we’re both tossed into the air. The ground is shaking, and suddenly all is quiet, but there are people running all around me in slow motion. Callahan and Pierce appear in front of us. He pulls me off Bailey to find out if she’s going to be okay. He’s screaming at me--I can see his mouth moving, but no words are coming out. My eyes get heavy and darkness takes over.