Chapter 17: Sniper School Saturday 15 September 2007

Khudabah, Pakistan — Evening of day seventeen

Mustif was moving slowly and looked pretty stiff when he walked in today. I guess the leader gave the son of a bitch a good beating. Now he knows what it feels like. I decided to take the offensive for the first time today; it's time Mustif got some of the same shit that he was giving me. Zarika has given me the perfect tool to fuck with his mind.

I started singing some bogus Indian-sounding mumbo-jumbo as he came closer to me. He stood in front of me and looked at me like I was crazy, and I kept singing for another five minutes. He didn't know what to do.

I finished, looked at him, and said, "Good morning, Mustif. I hope you brought your gun with you today. I've just finished singing my death song, and I'm ready to die. If you don't want to do it, give me a knife, and I will." Then I shouted, "TODAY IS A GOOD DAY TO DIE!"

He stood there for about ten minutes as if his tongue was frozen to his teeth, so I started singing the same bogus crap again as loud as I could. He tried to shush me, but I just kept singing.

Not knowing what else to do, he injected me with a dose of the drug.

He flinched when I said that, and the needle went through my vein and into the muscle beneath. It hurt like hell, but I didn't say anything. I knew it meant that the dose wasn't going to work on me — at least not very fast — so I looked upward and said, "Oh, Unayquah¹ either grant me death or keep this evil mans' drugs from affecting me," and started singing again.

Mustif waited for the drug to work. When it didn't, he was visibly shaken, and he left. I kept singing crap for another ten minutes. I guess all the Westerns that I watched when I was a kid did end up helping me.

The extra guards kept peeking in the room, and every time they did, I would start singing again. They looked freaked out and closed the door. The guard that they left in the room looked like he was going to shit in his "man dress."

After about two hours, the door opened, and in walked the leader and Mustif, who now had two black eyes, and behind both of them was Zarika. I put on a real show this time with my bogus Indian singing and made them stand in front of me for ten minutes before saying anything.

Then I looked up to the ceiling again and said in a loud voice, "Unayquah, I have honored you and sung my death song. Please let death come quickly for me and in an honorable fashion." I looked at the leader and said, "Let me die an honorable death. Give me a knife. I will fight all of you, my knife against your guns. I'm ready to die. TODAY IS A GOOD DAY TO DIE!" I started chanting again.

They tried to talk to me, but I wouldn't stop singing. Finally, Mustif stepped up and punched me in the mouth. This pissed the leader off. He started beating the crap out of Mustif, and I kept singing.

I looked at Zarika and slipped in some Russian words while I was singing, hoping she would understand. She did, and came over to me and started cleaning up my mouth where it was bleeding. I stopped singing.

The leader stopped beating Mustif, and they both looked at Zarika taking care of me. The leader said something to Zarika and she backed away from me and winked. I started singing again, as loud as I could. The leader said something else to Zarika, she came back and started taking care of me again, and I stopped singing.

They brought in a third chair and the leader and Mustif sat across from me, Zarika sat at my feet and put her head against my legs. The leader asked me, "Why do you stop singing when Zarika takes care of you?"

I lied through my teeth. "Her spirit is pure and reminds me of the spirit of my little sister who died. It would be dishonorable to my sister's spirit to sing my death song while Zarika is caring for me."

The leader didn't understand completely. He asked Mustif questions until I could see that he understood.

He continued. "Do you not want to try to escape to get back to America?"

"The Great Spirit has told me that I'll never escape and to prepare myself to live with my ancestors. I've done that, and I am ready to die. Please kill me today." Again, Mustif had to translate part of what I said.

"We know you are a great warrior. We had hoped to be your friend," the leader replied.

"If this is the way you treat friends, then I would rather die than be your friend. I don't even know your name. Kill me now. My ancestors are waiting," I said, with Mustif filling in some of the blanks for the leader.

"Ah, I see. My name is Hussein. What can we do to become friends with you?" the leader asked with Mustif helping.

"Hussein, your men have treated me worse than a pig, with Mustif being the worst offender. Give Mustif to your men like you have done with the little boy, and we can discuss this more," I answered.

It was really satisfying to see the worried look on Mustif's face as he tried to translate this to Hussein. Hussein figured out that Mustif mistranslated and started beating him again. Finally, Mustif translated it right, Hussein stopped beating him, and said, "I do not speak or understand English well and if I kill Mustif, we cannot talk. Is there something else that I can do to become your friend?"

"I might be able to be your friend; you are a man with honor. But I will die before I become Mustifs' friend; he has no honor. I can see for right now we need Mustif, but I do not like him. He's a pig," I used the worst insult to a Muslim I could think of. "Tell him to stop beating and drugging me, treat me like a friend, and let Zarika visit me whenever she wants; her spirit calms me. Consider what I have said and we can talk tomorrow," I said.

They both looked puzzled and tried to ask me some more questions. I looked up at the ceiling and started acting like I was praying to the Great Spirit, chanting a bunch of mumbo-jumbo. They realized that I wasn't going to talk to them anymore and left, leaving Zarika with me.

When the room was empty other than the guards, Zarika asked me if I was serious. I told her it was all an act, and she laughed softly.

She told me that they didn't know what to do, but they couldn't let me die because Hussein still wanted to trade me for his brother. She asked me if I was hungry. I was, so she left to get me some food. When she left I again pretended to sing my "death song" until she came back, just because it freaked the guards out.

Zarika and I ate some good stew together. she said that she could get good food for both of us whenever we wanted. The way she said it told me that she was holding something back. When I insisted that she tell me the rest, she admitted that all the food she had been feeding me at night was hers and that she was going hungry. That really pissed me off.

She misinterpreted my body language. Her eyes filled with tears and she started apologizing, but she calmed down when I explained that I was angry that I was the cause of her going hungry, and I thanked her.

Reassured, she mentioned that while she was getting the food she overheard Hussein and Mustif talking and trying to figure out what to do. They had decided they would bring in an Imam to talk to me and try to convert me to Muslim.

I told her that would happen when pigs fly, but she didn't understand the joke and asked me with wide eyes if we had flying pigs in America. I did my best to explain what the saying meant, but I don't think I did very well.

She cleaned me up, took care of the old and new bruises on my face, and changed the bandages on my feet and ankles. They were looking much better. Then she got the guards to untie my left hand, and we played chess and talked the rest of the afternoon as the guards watched.

I asked her if it would be a problem if they knew we both spoke Russian. She said they already knew, and it wasn't a problem. They thought they could use her to get information out of me, but she had been telling them the same bullshit that I had been telling them. When it got closer to evening, she left and came back with some more food, including some bread, and we ate together.

Now Hussein and Mustif have come in again. Damn. Mustif is even more beat up than when he left, I guess Hussein was still really pissed. Serves Mustif right. Hussein asks me how my day was, and I tell him it was better. He explains that they can't trust me not to try to escape, so they still need to tie me up at night, but they're going to move me to a room that has a bed and no rats, and I'll be tied to the bed.

Zarika will spend the night with Hussein, and, he makes sure to tell me, if I try to escape, he will give her to his men. I nod to tell him I understand,. and tell him that I could never be friends with someone who beats a woman. He nods, and I know he understands.

They move me to the new room, tie me to the bed, and leave an armed guard in the room. Zarika kisses me on the cheek and smiles at me, and the three of them leave me and the guard alone for the night.

As soon as they're gone, I softly sing my "death song" again just to freak out the guard.

I almost put myself into a trance with the chanting as I lose myself in memories.

Kaneohe Bay Hawaii — Saturday Day Fourteen

Jens and I woke up that morning at the same time. I still couldn't believe how wonderful it felt waking up next to her and looking into those violet eyes and seeing her love and adoration.

Jens gave me a kiss and said, "I feel that today is going to be a life-changing day for us. After we walk out of the training area today, our lives will never be the same."

I returned her kiss. "I feel the same way. Are you nervous or worried about this?"

"I'm a little nervous, a little worried, and a whole lot sad. From what daddy told us, it will be hard for us to ever find time to be alone again. But this is something that's more important than you or me, and we need to do it." She sighed.

"Are you forgetting that once it's rebuilt, we'll have the cabin? It's hard to find, and we can always shoot any trespassers. You did know you're moving in with me, didn't you?"

That was the right thing to say. Jens rolled over on top of me. The cot collapsed, but it didn't bother us. She smothered me with kisses and crushed me with hugs.

"I really wanted to move in with you, but I was afraid to ask you. Thank you, my love. You won't be sorry; I'm going to take such good care of you. You're going to be so spoiled."

She kept this up for about ten minutes — when she gets excited she can sure talk.

Jens's phone started vibrating and I said, "Cheating on me with B.O.B.?"

"Huh?" Jens said as tried to get the phone out of her pocket.

"You know," I replied, "B.O.B. — your Battery Operated Boyfriend."

She started laughing and blushing and answered the phone. It was both General and Mrs. Donaldson this time; they shared the phone between them. The General wanted to make sure we were getting ready. Jens told him not to worry we would be on time. He also asked if we had read the instructions, and Jens said that we hadn't yet but that we would. Then her mom had the phone and Jens asked her if she knew B.O.B.; apparently, she did, because they were both laughing about something.

I had worked my way out from under Jens, had found the instructions and started reading them. They didn't make total sense to me, but they were orders and we obey orders.

When Jens hung up, she came over to me and gave me a big hug. "That's from Daddy and Mom. They said they'll see us in a few hours." Then she gave me a bigger hug and kiss and said, "That's from me. I don't need B.O.B. I have all the boyfriend I need right here."

I showed her the orders. She said, "Shit, we need to get moving. I'd better take my bath first so I can get my hair dried."

We broke open the supplies they gave us. They had provided everything — razors for my face and Jens's legs, shampoo, conditioner, deodorant; shit, they even had battery-operated hair clippers so I could cut my hair. It needed it; after all those days, I looked pretty wooly.

Jens took her bath first. I couldn't resist sneaking some peeks at her fine body; man, is she hot. While she was doing that, I cut my hair and shaved my face. I didn't have much to shave because the Indian in me keeps me from growing much facial hair. Then I took a bath. I caught Jens peeking and couldn't resist teasing her about it, but she gave as good as she got.

By the time I came out of the water and was drying off, Jens already had her new MCCUUs on, and they were just the right amount of tight in all the right places.

I whistled. "Damn, woman. You look really hot in those; they fit you just right."

"My love," Jens answered, "These have been tailored to fit me. I'm glad I don't have to wear these for real; they're so tight that I couldn't fight."

After I dried off, I put mine on, and they fit me the same way Jens's fit her. Jens had a mirror and was working on her hair. I walked past her acting like I was a supermodel on a cat walk. She started laughing so hard she fell off her cot.

"Wow, do you ever look sexy in those. I'm going to need a gun just to keep all the women away from you."

I answered, "Hey I wonder if Elizabeth Morgan will be there; I hear she's pretty hot," and laughed.

"Yeah, probably from pissing in her pants," Jens laughed with me.

I put Jens's face paint on her — a green base with black tiger strips. She looked in the mirror and matched mine to hers

"Now we even look like twins," she laughed.

"You must mean Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny Devito", I answered, referring to the movie they did together.

"So, now you're calling me short and fat," Jens acted upset.

"You're going to look so cute when you're all fat with our babies," I answered, earning another kiss.

A patrol came and told us it was time to go. We gave them our old gear. They would take it out the other entrance and back to the base. Jens told them to be very careful with her laptop or they would be reassigned to Thule Greenland, and let them know she wasn't kidding.

We put on our new Alice packs; they were already pre-packed with the approved gear we were supposed to carry. We put on the old-style ghillie suits, and I took the time to do some work on them so they would blend into the forest. Then we each slung an M4 Whisper over one shoulder and a Barrett 98 Bravo over the other shoulder, picked up the M107 Barretts and started slowly walking to the entrance; we weren't supposed to work up a sweat.

Before we got close to the entrance, we could hear the crowd and the full Marine Corps band playing Sousa tunes. I looked at Jens. "I really don't want to do this."

"Neither do I," she answered, "But this will really help make the Corps stronger and will make the world safer for everyone, especially our future children."

We got as close as we dared to the entrance and then went into stealth mode, sneaking unseen to just 50m from the entrance. At 0900, the RSO announced that the training mission was over, and fake troops started leaving the training area. The crowd was clapping for them as they left. At 0915, all the troops were gone. You could hear people getting antsy wondering where we were.

At 0930 and the show was on — we both slowly stood up, seemingly from nowhere. I threw my M107 onto my left shoulder, muzzle facing forwards but pointing towards the ground. Jens shouldered hers the same way on her right shoulder, and we met in the middle of the trail and held hands, to walk towards the entrance. The crowd went wild, cheering and clapping so loudly that we couldn't even hear the band.