For the first time in history, America is losing. The Israelis have surrendered to the, once again, powerful German Army led by Rufus A. Hitler. We have almost no hope of winning this war. I didn’t sign up for this. I just want it all to be over, I really don’t want anything to do with this war.
As I heard the Hummer drive me to a safe place, I thought, Hmm. I thought I was going back in. Supposedly, they said I was too injured and had to see a doctor immediately.
“How far is the base?” I asked the medic who was constantly on watch of my heart monitor.
“About two more hours. Don’t worry, you’ll make it as long as this bandage stays tight,” replied the medic. I decided I would just take a nap until we got there, which was okay because they had all the supplies needed to keep me alive. I closed my eyes and fell asleep within two minutes.
I was awakened by a thunderous BANG, and I was immediately aware that we were being attacked. I looked out the window, which, to my good fortune, was bulletproof, to see on the horizon a German Spider, a tank the size of a semi-truck. My medics were unconscious from the blow, and the driver hit the gas, hoping he could make it behind a nearby hill. His hopes weren’t as good as they sounded. The heavily armored side of the Hummer was hit again, causing the truck to flip completely over. Once the truck hit the ground, I saw the driver get knocked unconscious. The truck stopped, and I tried to start walking over to the medics, who I found out weren’t just unconscious. The driver wasn’t either. Leaving me the only one alive, I knew that the Spider would roll over here and finish the truck off, so I improvised.
Just so that I would have some time to get away, I got out of the truck, which is when I realized that I was in an extreme amount of pain, and tossed a grenade into the truck. I hobbled over behind a nearby rock when the truck burst into flames. The sound had me deaf for about ten seconds, and then I saw the tank on top of the hill.
They bought the bluff, and rolled back behind the edge of the hill. But then, I heard the jibber-jabber of Germans in the distance. They were coming down to check for survivors. “Take no prisoners” was their motto basically, so they handled everything with guns.
I knew that I had little time to spare. My sidearm was busted, and my rifle was still on the Hummer when it exploded, leaving me with nothing to defend myself with. I hobbled out of sight behind a thick bush, and saw the Germans walking up to the remains of the truck, guns ready. They kept talking in German, so I couldn’t quite understand them. I think, from their expressions, they were surprised to see all the damage that “they’ve” done.
They bought it all, I thought. These Germans are falling for it! But just after that thought, I saw them immediately jump out from the truck and walk this way with their guns up and in full alert. Then I heard the faint noise of my emergency radio, which must’ve fallen off of my uniform. I thought for sure I was done for.
I searched my backpack, hoping to find something, anything that could possibly help me. Then I found one of my leftover Claymore land mines from our last attack. I was so thrilled I could’ve laughed, but they were slowly making progress. I set the mine, crawled back another ten yards or so, and threw a rock just behind the Claymore. The Germans fell for the bluff, again, and sprinted towards the land mine. I covered my ears and looked away, and I felt a vibration and some dirt shower over me. When I checked to see if the coast was clear, the Germans were lying still on the ground. I immediately started hobbling as fast as I could out of there, because I knew that they would send a search team looking for those two soldiers.
It was just the desert and I. Terrific, I thought. Just terrific. My wound was getting worse by the minute, and I’d been walking around the desert for just over thirty minutes. I was thirsty, tired, and starting to hallucinate from the loss of blood. My emergency radio was back at the truck, and that area was probably swarming with Germans. I couldn’t risk getting killed by the enemy. I just had to keep walking.
After another four hours of walking, my body just couldn’t go any further. I fell to the ground, too weak to cry for help. This time, I thought, I’m going all the way up. As I closed my eyes, I saw the silhouettes of people standing over me, and then just blackness.
I woke up to see a roof made of straw. I tried to sit up, but I was obviously under anesthesia before I woke up, so I was having trouble even moving. I eventually found the strength to sit up, and found that I was in a small hut. I looked around to see that nobody was there but me. The place seemed tribal, but there was a heart monitor and a TV in the hut. I was extremely confused.
When I looked under my shirt to check my wound, I saw that it was stitched up and disinfected. I stood up when I was ready to walk around, and walked outside. I was in an Iraqi village in the middle of nowhere. I had my doubts about staying here, due to the fact that the Iraq War ended with a peace treaty after total domination of their army just five years ago. I walked around and was startled by two Iraqi soldiers running towards me. I was ready for anything, except what they were about to do.
“Come with us, Mr. Nacrelli. Our president would like to speak with you,” the soldier on the left said. Apparently, this was Baghdad, the capital of Iraq.
“How did you know my name?” I said in return.
“We found an identity card in your bag.” The soldier took my ID out of his pocket and gave it back to me.
“Okay then. Can you take me to the president?” I was a bit shaky, but I knew that they were serious.
“Of course.”
After about two miles of walking through the village, we reached the president’s office. The president wasn’t bilingual, so he had a professional translator.
The president muttered some words in Arabian, and the translator said, ”Welcome to Iraq Mr. Nacrelli. We the people of Iraq welcome you with open arms.”
In reply, I said, ”Why do you do so? I am in dept to you if anything for saving my life out on that desert.”
The translator muttered some Arabian into the president’s ear, and the president did the same, telling the translator to say, “Well, there is a dept to be paid, and that is why we welcome you. The Germans are on their way here. They might be planning an invasion to take over the city. We need you to contact American soil and send us some help.” The translator cleared his throat.
I replied, “I can, but I will need an active radio. Do you have one close by?”
“Yes, we do. It is in that next room,” the translator said, as he pointed in the direction of the room.
I was dismissed to the radio room, and found a large, high quality radio with many dials and a large antenna. I found the instructions to set the dials to the correct transmission, and I said, “Private Nacrelli to U.S. Army, do you read, over?”
“Yes, this is the U.S Army base.” I was so relieved to hear Sergeant Conley’s voice. He recognized mine as well. “What are you doing with an Iraqi radio transmission, over?”
“They have shown me hospitality since I was wounded, sir. But that’s not the point. The Germans are on their way here to Baghdad, sir. We need all the help we can get.”
“Roger that. Sending available troops to Baghdad, over and out.” I heard the click of the microphone being hung back up as the transmission faded. Once the American soldiers were here, lucky for us that the Germans didn’t get here first, the Iraqi president called up a town evacuation. The citizens got out of the city quickly and without a single question why.
The president muttered started speaking Arabian, and the translator said, “It is good that all of you are here on such short notice. The Germans are probably taking their sweet time getting here, because they think that we want them to sign a treaty for peace and alliance. My snipers will take the top floors of buildings, and you Americans will hide in the darkest alleyways. Hitler will be here to negotiate, under much protection of course.” To those words, my men were excited and obviously ready to end the war once and for all. “I will need large explosives, missiles, or anything that can possibly flip any large armored truck they have. Good luck everyone. From my radar readings, it looks like they’ll be here in about, say, twenty minutes.” With that, all of the soldiers left and started preparing.
When Hitler's escort got here, we were more than ready. The snipers and the soldiers did their jobs correctly, and nailed the predicament down to one target-the man in the truck, Gen. Rufus Hitler. The truck he was riding in had been flipped over by our attack. Hitler was all ours.
We got all the men we could to flip the truck over, and as soon as we did, we saw Hitler sitting in his seat, shell-shocked and bleeding. We took him out of the truck, cuffed his hands and feet, and brought him to a small, wooden shack. We tied his feet to a chair, drenched the shack in gasoline, and lit it on fire. It was all over.
When I got home, my child was waiting for me, with arms open and ready for a hug, yelling “daddy daddy daddy!” My wife came to me, teary-eyed and also ready for a warm “welcome home” embrace. I couldn’t wait to just get home and eat a real dinner with my family and sleep in a real bed with my wife. I also hadn’t seen my kid since he was just starting to walk. He was starting second grade the week after I returned.
I got home to a surprise party that was waiting for me. Many of my old friends from the neighborhood and even high school were there. After about two hours of eating cake, which tasted delicious, and dancing around with the guests, everyone went back home. I took my kid to bed, tucked him in, and read him a story, which put him right to sleep. I slipped under the covers of my regular, non-top bunk bed with my wife, and fell right to sleep. Being home was great. But I’ll be having nightmares, something I’ve never had, for the rest of my life.
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