Owen (part III)

I always remember it seemed like a stupid waste of money and I wondered if the guy had nothing better to spend that money on than a stupid ass horse, the old nag probably never would have made it past the starting gate with an owner like that. Now I looked at the guy, he had stopped yelling and lay there still, his eyes were still open but he wasn't there. He had blood all over and his mouth was open a little, like he was still trying to yell.
Close by another guy was on fire, he couldn't get up and run, his leg was bent up at an unnatural angle and the other leg was cut pretty bad. I crawled as fast as I could, still dizzy, dazed and bleeding all over the ground. I whipped off what was left of my pant leg and started hitting the flames with it and tossing sand all up on him.
My body was starting to get weak and I saw after I put out the flames that I was bleeding out of my stomach, the guy I helped was passed out but alive, and even with the feeling of weakness and the look of all my blood around me I knew that I had helped this man, my brother, to stay alive.
Now I knew I was dying, I tried to stay calm but, a medic knows. I knew. I layed on my side as my organs started to shut down and it got harder to get air in my lungs. Now all I could hear was my own labored breathe and a faint sound of peoples voices all around me. And that was the last that I saw of my life. A hot, dirty, stinky road of sand with bombs on it. It sucks it had to be this way, but it's a choice I made when I enlisted I guess, I knew it could happen, I just didn't believe that it ever would. But it is what it is, I hope the guy I helped makes it out alright then this shithole will have one less life to claim because of me.

Owen (part II)

I didn't talk to anybody else after that, most of the other guys were quiet too. We had run out of things to say and think. I just sat there picking the sand out from under my nails thinking about how my mom used to bitch at me to keep my nails clean because women hate seeing a man with nasty nails. That's when everything went red and then black.
The truck I was on blew apart and threw most of us all over the road, some guys were all together, but some went in parts. Any other time I would have probably thrown up seeing shit like this but I couldn't do anything now but lay on the ground all dazed and out of it. There was a real loud high pitched metallic type of buzzing sound in my ears and I was dizzy as hell. Maybe I passed out, maybe I didn't, I really can't say, but when I finally got a sense of what had happened I guess I just knew in my head that I had to put my game face on. There was a feeling in my leg and all over in my stomach that felt like I had stepped on a mound of fire ants and the bastards were all over attacking me. Used to happen a lot as a kid, i'd be out in the backyard exploring and next thing my mom knew I come flying in the garage stripping down and she'd get out the ol' garden hose and have to start spraying me down.
I really wish I could have gotten to spend another Christmas with her, and really tell her goodbye.
So I look down to these fire ant pains and see some blood on my pants but it didn't hurt that bad. I heard guys start screaming and the ground had twisted pieces of metal, blood and people. Shit was on fire all around us and smoke was blowing. I guess in my heart I knew I still had a job to do, I kept hearing people screaming so I got up and tried to walk but my legs wouldn't hold me. So I start crawling up to a guy close to me that had been yelling. I think it was the guy from my unit that was always telling us that he and his wife were going to buy a racehorse someday, he used to talk about that all the time.

End Of Days: Owen (part I)

I woke up with sand in my mouth again this morning for the last time. If I had known that I might have chewed that shit up a little bit before I spit it out. But I didn't have a clue. Not a fucking clue that this was going to be my last day as a 68W in the United States Army. Uncle Sam lost a damn fine combat medic today.
My unit was out on a mission, deep out in the devil's nut sack, pardon my language. I remember looking around at the guys in my unit, thinking what a clusterfuck we were forced into and how I couldn't wait to get home to Oklahoma. Peterson was next to me shooting the shit with Dickey, Gibson and some scout from another outfit. Peterson was talking about one of the Sergeants, Coulter, and how she kept teasing him and brushing up against him with her nice rack. Gibson told him he was full of shit and blew cigarette smoke in his face. I kinda laughed to myself thinking about it. Looking back now any action Sgt. Coulter threw my way would have made my last day here just a little bit nicer, as dirty, sweaty and short-tempered as that woman is. Would have made for a nice going away present.
We got into our trucks and humvees about an hour and a half after that and started on our way through the hot, sandy, dirty, shitty streets in a small convoy. Kogelinski, a puny little private from somewhere up north started bitching about how he was tired of being here and his wife was crying on the phone every timne he talked to her. Blah, blah, blah, we heard all this before. Last time we all rode together. Somebody farted, a few of the guys laughed. I looked outside and told everybody that the whole fucking country smelled like asshole. Dirty asshole. Pardon my language again. The guys sure liked that one, they all knew it was true I guess.
Now, truth be told convoys always made me a little on edge, everybody knows about IED's, road side bombs and shit like suicide bombers and ambushes and all that kinda thing. Guess I had a weird look because my buddy next to me punched my chest and smiled. "Only 128 more days man, we can do this shit." I didn't feel like talking much so I nodded and readjusted my family jewels then my sunglasses.

Camping

I just got back from camping in Cheboygan with my Boo. We drove up to the Mackinac Bridge, had lunch in St. Ignace and set up tent in a state park in Cheboygan. We sat around the campfire (fueled in part by napalm) and cooked hot dogs, made smores...we also made sizzlers and eat until we were super full. Another night we made sandwiches and took them over to the beach to eat, we had it all to ourselves and walked along the beach and played in Lake Huron. It was pretty much perfect, like something I dreamed of since I was a little kid. We sat at our picnic table in the evening and played Racko and did some crossword puzzles, and had some adult beverages and popcorn. We had camping sex one night lol, that was a lot of fun because I felt like the neighbors were right there and we were kinda out in the open...exciting lol.
We were gone for 4 days, one day we went to Mackinac Island and walked around for hours and hours and I had no sunscreen lol. I ended up with 4 blisters and sunburn, the ferry ride was awesome, when we got back from the island we went around and shopped in the city. On the drive back down home we drove along the coast and Boo suggested we look at lots of lighthouses . It was pretty much the coolest vacation ever.

Yeehaw

Got my computer back yesterday, yay! Now I can write and talk and communicate with people again lol...no more miss rockabilly hermit!