Chapter 1

The last thing the engineers expected to find in the rubble of the destroyed forward outpost was a survivor. The huge explosion of the hidden bomb had taken the unit completely by surprise. The observation team was obliterated in a fireball of impressive size and the sound of the blast scared living creatures several clicks away.

The dirty diggers were not happy about their assignment because there was always a chance a secondary charge was planted and not yet exploded. Captain Ryan was impatient to return to the rear area officer's club so he could turn on the charm for the new girl just arrived from the States to entertain the men in the field. He knew it was important that he impress the sweet young thing before that fancy-talking Major Holliday got the pretty Miss Stanley from Tupelo, Mississippi cornered in one of the dark corners and started a campaign of seduction.

The sex-deprived Captain was brought back to reality by the shout of Sergeant Willis who had just seen movement in the jumble of wood, brick and bodies. Two graves registration privates rushed up to dig out the last living member of the unit who looked more like Frankenstein's monster than an actual soldier. The open eyes were the only thing that was not dirty and grey.

"It sure took a long time for you slowpokes to get to me. Those two gents you got stacked there are Corporal Jones and the one without the legs is what's left of Lieutenant Green. He was a good officer so treat him with respect. I am Tech Sergeant Mike Malloy RA00773398 and I don't remember much after that blast covered me up with most of the roof and everything else."

Captain Ryan was happy they had rescued a survivor mainly because he knew it would look good in his jacket on an after-action report. However, he was truly depressed because he knew the need to get this sergeant sorted out would probably mean he would lose the luscious body of Miss Stanley to the fly-boy Major. Once Holliday got his hooks and other appendages into the young girl, as he was certain to do in his absence, the poor girl would be sloppy seconds for him in a best case scenario.

"Can you tell us how many of you there were in the attic before the blast, sergeant?"

The sergeant stood up and seemed not to have any lasting injuries or broken bones. The Captain was sure the soldier probably was either concussed or had some type of brain injury just from the pressure of the explosion.

"There were nine of us, but only five inside the building, the other four were outside to set up a warning line of defense in case we were discovered. I suspect you will find them under that mess of brick that used to be the front of the building directly behind you."

That solved the mystery of the missing men. It meant that all the members of the forward observation team were accounted for and as a bonus they even had a real live survivor. That was an unusual state of affairs in the graves registration business.

Mike was unceremoniously dumped into the back of the big truck with the black driver who seemed anxious to get back to the safety of the Regimental Headquarters. His weapon was fifth echelon and a total piece of scrap but he carried it anyway from force of habit and good training.

Even though Sergeant Mike appeared to be no worse for wear from the huge explosion, he was sent to the rear area medical station just to be on the safe side. His problem with hearing and double vision caused him to be shunted over to the shrinks since head injuries required mental evaluation. The resident shrink was a nice guy, but terrible doctor, from Waterloo, Iowa who judged the Sergeant's shakes on the left side were due to nervous disorder and that he had been "overstressed" by the force of the blast. His recommendation was a medical discharge and that is exactly what they did to Sergeant Mike as soon as the Commanding Officer returned from his three day pass to Paris. In fact, he signed the papers without reading them because he was too engrossed in describing the joys of his conquests to a couple of disinterested staff officers. When Mike got the copy of the orders, he protested but not too strenuously because the entire "War" had been nothing less than a chaotic mess with little logic or common sense and filled with situation after situation of bloody carnage and lost friends.

His ship came into San Diego harbor in the middle of the night and they sent the returning soldiers to a "transient" barracks far enough away from the troops in training that their sight wouldn't discourage them before they even got started. Mike was lucky because as a "medical discharge" he only had to collect his back-pay and get his return ticket home. In his case, home was the place where he had enlisted even though it was nowhere near his actual home on the other side of the country. It was probably not a good idea to go back there because there were still some irate former associates with a score to settle.