Christmas soldier

A Christmas Feast 1250 words

Dark leadened skies, Icy cold blasts of wind. Grains of sand blasted
into your face. What the hell was I doing here?. One minute I was
relaxing in the north African sun, then the next thing I know I am
being shipped several thousands of miles eastwards. I had the idea that
I might even get to Marsailles for Christmas. Staring through the sandy
haze you could just see the outline of buildings.
"OK guys, you know what the plan is". Seargeant Heinrich Mueller
grunted. Only three years in the legionne Etrangere and already on the
way up. Typical of most legionnaires his hair was shaven and he
presented a most formidable sight. We were operating in Eastern
Afghanistan rooting out Bin Laden's terrorists. A team of four
specially trained men, we knew what we had to do. A sudden flash lit
the surrounding area, we all took cover we didn't want to be seen. Our
job; to footprint the targets with lasers so the B52's could use their
laser guided bombs. Moving in closer the buildings became much
clearer.
"Right listen out, Tousaints and Dubois I want you two to go to the
left and pinpoint your targets. You have twenty minutes before the
payload is due".
The sergeant looked at me. "You come with me, we will take the right
hand side of the area".
I spoke up for a change. "Sergeant, how do we know there are Taliban in
there, wouldn't it be a waste of bombs if we pinpointed empty
targets?".
"Hey legionnaire the Yanks are paying for these bombs not us, we just
paint the targets".
"OK". He shouted. "Lets move out and remember twenty minutes from now,
avante mes braves".
Looking at our watches we moved off, rocks crunching under our boots,
our weapons padded so as not to rattle against our equipment. Another
flash lit up the night sky the northern boys were sure making it hot
for us.
Merde! Came a shout from Tousaints.
A quick three hundred meter dash and we reached our position. We still
had a long wait. "Sergeant, what is tonight, I have lost track of the
date, shouldn't it be Christmas Eve?".
Sergeant Mueller sat back and looked at me. "Yes it is Weinacht, If I
were back home in Berlin with my family we would sit around the tree
and sing, we would drink gluhwein and eat stollen". He smiled as he
mentioned this, I had never seen Mueller smile.
He carried on. "After the family festivities we would go to the church
and say midnight mass, one of the most memorable sights in Berlin is
the candlelight procession along 'Unten den Linden Strasse'".
Looking at me he said. "How do you celebrate your Christmas in
England?".
"I would have been out with my mates doing the local pubs and pulling
the local birds", I replied. "My mum and dad would be at home getting
the turkey ready, dad's job was peeling the spuds and preparing the
veg".
"The tree would be all decked up,
&;#8230;&;#8230;&;#8230;&;#8230; with presents round it.
The younger kids would be in bed dreaming of Santa".
"Legionnaire"&;#8230;&;#8230;&;#8230;&;#8230;&;#8230;&;#8230;&;#8230;
I noticed that Mueller even when talking about personal things still
used rank, never ever first names.
He carried on. &;#8230;&;#8230;&;#8230;.."What made you want
to join the Legionne Etrangere, you could be home doing those things
yet here you are in some godforsaken country bombing rocks and
boulders".
He had never asked this before. "I had finished doing six years with
the British army out of the six years I had spent four of them in
Northern Ireland, &;#8230;&;#8230;&;#8230;.. I wanted a
change&;#8230;&;#8230;&;#8230;.. so I joined the Legionne
Etrangere".
I was still picturing a crowded pub, all my mates singing, laughing and
joking. Most of all I pictured a girl sat apart from her friends.
My thoughts were interupted. "It is a girl you think about, no, one who
is very close to you, but in the Legion there is no room for
sentiments".
I had known that when I signed the papers that I was going to lose my
girlfriend. We had been an item for all my time in the mob. When I told
her I was joining the legion she didn't want to know.
"what about you Sergeant &;#8230;&;#8230;.. don't you have any
romantic entanglements,
&;#8230;&;#8230;&;#8230;&;#8230;&;#8230;. No one back in
Berlin?".
Mueller paused &;#8230;&;#8230;&;#8230;&;#8230;.. "There
was a girl, well more of a woman
&;#8230;&;#8230;&;#8230;&;#8230; I had been going with her
for about six years, we were planning to get married". He paused again
to look at his watch.
"Well we settled on a date and everything &;#8230;&;#8230;.then
she became pregnant&;#8230;&;#8230;. We were both pleased
&;#8230;&;#8230;&;#8230;..and the baby was due on all nights
but Christmas eve". At this point a tear appeared in his eye.
"Everything was going to plan, that was until she contracted a virus,
then she went downhill all the way, the doctors did their best but they
couldn't save her or the baby". He sniffled. "That was when I decided
to join the legionne Etrangere, I needed to escape from the memory of
her struggling to live".
Checking my watch I noticed we still had another ten minutes.
'I am sorry about that Sergeant, it seems like we both drew the rough
end of the stick".
Mueller returned to his usual self. "Don't be sorry Legionnaire it
could cloud your judgement and in these conditions that is no
good"
I reached into my pack to see what I had to eat. Nothing to hold a
party for. There was some left over chocolate bar. And there was water
in my bottle.
I took my water bottle and poured some water into the cap and offered
it to Mueller. "Here Sergeant &;#8230;&;#8230;.. it isnt exactly
a good red Merlot or even a Moselle but if you use your Christmas
imagination it could be anything".
Mueller grinned. "You are right Legionnaire we will drink a toast to
Christmas". He held the waterbottle cap and offered a toast. "Mein
Freund&;#8230;..eine frohes weinacht".
He then tilted the water to his lips. "Mein
gott&;#8230;&;#8230;it is a moselle a fine moselle at that.
I offered my toast. "Here's to a merry Christmas and a Happy New year".
I drank my water which suddenly tasted like a very fine Merlot I let
some run down onto my fingers and noticed it was red.
I then offered Mueller some of my chocolate bar it was like a feast
that went on for ages. Me drinking my Merlot and Mueller drinking his
Moselle.
The sky suddenly became lit up again
&;#8230;&;#8230;&;#8230;.. I watched it
&;#8230;&;#8230;&;#8230;&;#8230; it looked like a star,
suddenly I realised that the flare was not coming down.
"Sergeant, &;#8230;&;#8230;&;#8230;&;#8230; shouldn't that
flare be grounded by now?".
He looked and shrugged. "It is probably some new type of flare that the
Americans are using".
I wasn't convinced, I was still drinking a full bodied Merlot. Suddenly
it was dark again.
"Hey Legionnaire, wake up we have a job to do".
"OK Sergeant lets do it"
We hoisted the laser projectors onto our shoulders and pinpointed the
distant buildings. According to intelligence they housed high ranking
Taliban Officers. From above the sound of B52's and Stealth bombers got
closersure enough dead on midnight the bombs fell
&;#8230;&;#8230;. The whole area becoming a mass of heat and
tangled wreckage. I still didn't understand the logic of bombing rocks
and boulders and for the time being I forgot Christmas.