Chapter Three
The Phone Call
I slung my bag over my shoulder, this time without any pain. Retracing my steps back to Charlie Company’s courtyard, I arrived to find it empty. The rest of the platoons were still upstairs. I could hear a lot of yelling, the building shaking occasionally. I could tell they were doing some type of exercise, but it just sounded like hundreds of thuds.
I crossed over to the desk outside of the captain’s office and sat down. My eyes were on the tree line, but my thoughts were of home. It seemed distant to me and not just because physically I was hundreds of miles away from it. Part of me wanted to be back there and part of me felt like it was what had pushed me into this mess.
But I knew I couldn’t really blame my town, or my parents, the way I wanted to. I thought back on a lot of what my life was like, wishing I had grown up somewhere else, somewhere less patriotic.
My hometown was full of simple people who felt wars were justified if a President told them there was a good enough reason to fight for their country. All of the residents took great pride in the local Veterans of Foreign Wars and American Legion groups. They also constructed and maintained multiple war memorials—their effort to let all of the town’s veterans know they were supported. Where I grew up, it wasn’t a place for traitors, communists, draft-dodgers, and pacifists. I also started wondering what was going to happen to me. I assumed that the yelling was far from over, but I was prepared for it. I also thought about getting a court martial. I knew I wouldn’t have a case, because I had volunteered for the army, but I still thought it was a possibility. I was determined not to train now, willing to face whatever punishment they gave me in the wake of my decision—even if it meant jail time.
For the first time in a long time, I was proud of myself. I had never made such a monumental decision on my own before. Or at least, I had never stood up for myself the way I did with Sanchez in my face. Up to this point in my life, I’d been told I was a leader, yet I’d never had to make any crucial decisions. Simple choices, sure, but mostly the wrong ones. I almost couldn’t believe I’d done what I just d