October 2013

Kurt stepped out of the C-130. He could feel the heat radiating from the tarmac and burning his face. According to the flight crew it was almost 100a02; Fahrenheit outside and it was already October. Kurt sighed as he grabbed his bags – if this was October he could imagine what it would be like in the summer months. It felt like he had been on that airplane for days and he had not been able to sleep. The web seating and the noise inside the plane made it impossible to sleep even with his earplugs in. His arms were also killing him.

He had waited until the last minute to get his immunizations taken care of and he was now paying the price for procrastinating. After all the medical procedures he had undergone in the past year Kurt didn’t want to be around doctors or shots. The smallpox, typhoid and the numerous assortments of inoculations he needed left his arms and his ass sore. Lugging around all of his bags and equipment wasn’t helping the situation. He was tired - the last time he remembered sleeping and feeling halfway human was at Ramstein Air Base in Germany when they stopped to refuel. There had been a mechanical problem with the plane so they were forced to spend the night at the base lodging. Kurt thought of the hot shower and the comfortable bed longingly.

He had taken the opportunity to call his family to let them know he was about halfway to his destination. He also managed to hook into the military Wi-Fi so he could SKYPE with Blaine. He reached Blaine early in the morning due to the time difference but they were able to chat about an hour before Blaine had to get ready for work. He worried about Blaine. Even though Kurt was more than capable of taking care of himself he knew that Blaine always thought it was his job to take care of Kurt. At first Kurt worried that Blaine saw him as the “girl” in their relationship but he soon realized that a big part of Blaine’s personality was being a “caretaker” and there was nothing Kurt could do to change this quirk.

Blaine was really taking his deployment hard and he remembered some of the guys in his shop talking about their upcoming deployment and how it was always harder for the spouses left behind. They were the ones that had to deal with running the house, taking care of the kids, and basically doing everything they normally did plus everything their spouses normally did without any help or without complaining. While Blaine was not his dependent, and there were no children involved he was the one left behind worrying every minute that Kurt was in Iraq.

They had talked about how this deployment would affect them and their relationship and they decided that other than the distance nothing else would change. Kurt made the mistake of asking Blaine if he wanted out of their relationship. He knew things were not ideal and he wondered if Blaine wanted a chance to meet someone else that he could hold every night instead of being in a long distance relationship. Needless to say, Blaine did not react well to Kurt’s question. They actually had a massive fight that night and neither one spoke to each other until the next morning once they had had a chance to cool down.

The had decided that they were both just as committed to each other as ever and that they loved each other enough to survive this deployment. Blaine knew Kurt was the one for him and was firm in his resolve to wait for him. Just because things were tough didn’t mean he was going to ditch his boyfriend and find another one – hell no - it had taken him months to get Kurt and he wasn’t about to give him up quite so easily. They had spent every moment that Blaine wasn’t at work wrapped up in their own little world.

Reality bitch slapped him as he looked around and all he could see was a barren, desolate land. He tossed his bags into the 2 ton truck that would carry them and their equipment to the compound that would be his home for the next 15 months. He settled in towards the back of the truck and noticed that there were soldiers with their M-16’s at the ready. Kurt had been issued an M-16 and it was currently sitting by his side. He wondered if he should have it in position. He looked around and noticed that only the soldiers guarding the sides had their guns ready so he decided to leave it where it was – by his side. He closed his eyes as he leaned his head back and felt the heat settle on him heavily. After being in Florida for the summer he had become used to the intense heat and humidity and it didn’t feel any different here than it did in Florida. It looked different but that was something else he would have to deal with later.

They were all ushered into a trailer to start their in-processing. Camp Victory had at one time housed over 70,000 American troops at the height of the war against terrorism right after 9-11. It had been turned over to the Iraqi government in 2011 once the Americans started drawing down their forces in the Middle East. However, in the last month or so the base was slowly starting to fill back up with an American presence. The military had to start from scratch in Iraq. The millions of dollars’ worth of supplies and equipment that were abandoned due to the insane cost of returning them to the U.S. when President Obama started bringing the troops back home had either disappeared or were in ruins.

Kurt was assigned a cot in a FEMA-like trailer with 7 other guys. He had a cot, a thin mattress, a blanket and his foot locker. That was it. There were porta potties all throughout the base since the plumbing inside the building was not up to par. The showers were made of wood and rigged with a plastic poncho serving as the curtain. Primitive camping was the d�cor. If someone had told Kurt prior to May 2012 that he would be living in a trailer park with outdoor facilities in the middle of Iraq without his designer clothes and his expensive lotions he would have thought they were on crazy pills. Now he looked and lived like a soldier and he loved it well everything except the primitive living conditions and being apart from the love of his life. He might not like his surroundings but he would survive. He finished settling in and fell asleep as soon as he could. He had to report by 7:00am and he was exhausted. His body wasn’t sure what time zone it was currently living in and the jet lag was killing him.

The next morning he reported to duty and he quickly fell into a routine. He was on 12 hour shifts and he was unfortunately on the day shift. He was able to work with most of the guys from his unit and they had quite a few Iraqi nationals working alongside the American troops.

The Iraqis had nicknames for everyone and Kurt quickly became known as “the marked one” due to his scar. They were fascinated with his scar and he was still very self-conscience about how ugly it looked. He always did his best to stay out of direct sunlight but being in Florida and now being out in the desert made this almost impossible. The scar was not a clean one. It was puckered and jagged and had lost some of its pinkness. The Iraqis wanted to know how he got the scar but Kurt didn’t like to speak about the bombing especially with how he still sometimes jumped whenever he heard bombing near the airport.

When he first got to Iraq he had trouble adjusting to the fact that he would sporadically hear gunfire and explosive going off in the distance. The first few weeks in Iraq saw the return of the nightmares that had been prevalent right after the LAX bombing. He dreaded going to sleep because of his nightmares and he was running on little or no sleep. After about the second month there he seemed to have adapted to the noise and the nightmares lessened and he finally started getting some sleep. While he never confided in the Iraqis he did manage to learn a few simple Arabic phrases from them and as languages had always come easily to Kurt, after a few months he could carry on simple conversations in Arabic with the local nationals.

The sand and the heat started taking a toll on everyone and before here realized it, Kurt had been there 6 months and the days seemed endless. Fortunately the weather had started to cool down and sometimes it got downright cold. He did manage to become a skilled marksman with his M-16 even though he wasn’t on the front lines. He was trained to drive the heavy trucks and whenever they weren’t busy working on the jets they were busy filling sandbags or trying to keep the boredom at bay. Whenever the supply troops went out to other camps to deliver or pickup supplies they would ask for volunteers to go help them guard their supplies and everyone took turns tagging along. These outings were short and relatively safe. Kurt managed to go on quite a few and he started to look forward to them since they did provide a welcome change from the day to day boredom.

He tried to email Blaine and his family as much as he could but the internet was not always reliable. SKYPE was not really available so he took to writing long letters to everyone especially to Blaine. Kurt quickly became a favorite at the camp. Between his grandparents, parents and Blaine he would get care packages constantly and he was always nice enough to share with everyone. He had just stopped by the mail tent to pick up another package when he ran into one of the motor pool guys.

“Hey Hummel, another box of goodies?” Steven Smith, was an Army Corporal. He was 6 feet 4 inches tall and black. He was from Philadelphia and was as tough looking as any kid raised on the streets getting by with the strength of his fists. Kurt knew Smith was secretly a big softy. Smith worked in the transportation department and they were always busy going out into the villages. Kurt had seen Smith handing out treats to the Iraqi children they would encounter near the local villages and he would organize impromptu football or soccer games during their downtime. Kurt always made sure he saved a couple of candy bags from his care packages specifically for Smith. They had quickly become good friends.

“Yeah, it looks like it. This one is from my grandmother.”

“I love those the best. That woman can make the best cookies and always sends enough to feed the whole camp!”

Kurt laughed, “She does make a mean chocolate chip cookie. Why don’t you come by the shop later? I’ll make sure to save you some.”

“I’m actually getting ready to go on a salvage mission. One of the jets had some problems and they had to do an emergency landing this morning. The pilot got out safely but the jet is pretty much totaled. They want us to go out there and take as much of it as we can use and bring it back as soon as possible. Downed aircraft tend to garner unpleasant visits from the locals. I was actually headed over to your area to talk to the Captain. He was supposed to have a couple of you guys come out with us since we aren’t sure what is still serviceable. Are you up to a field trip? I could ask your Captain for you specifically if you want a change of pace.”

“ Huh - That sounds good. I think the Captain had mentioned something about cleaning out some of the latrines and changing out the sand bags so I definitely want to go on a leisurely Sunday drive with you guys instead of cleaning the latrines. Let me know if he approves it. Let me run to my trailer to grab my equipment and I’ll meet you at the shop.”

“Hurry and bring them damn cookies with you.”

Kurt rushed to his trailer and after taking out some of the cookies he put his package under his cot. He grabbed a few granola bars and a couple of extra magazines for his M-16, some sunscreen and headed back to the shop. He really hoped the Captain would let him go. He did not want to clean out the latrines and he certainly didn’t want to be on sandbag duty for hours although he did have to admit filling and lifting sandbags had given him some serious muscles. He had always been thin and lithe but his body was now hard and ripped. Kurt’s unit managed to exercise at least 2 or 3 hours a day. It helped alleviate boredom and being fit was imperative in a war zone. He couldn’t wait for Blaine to get a look at the change in his body!

“Hummel, is that you?” yelled his Captain trying to be heard over the detonating explosives going off in the background.

“Yeah, Captain.”

“Get your stuff ready. Smith came by and asked for you specifically. You’re going out on a salvage mission so make sure you take enough water and grab a tool kit. Go by the armory and grab some extra magazines. Evaluate all the mechanical components and make sure you grab everything we can re-use.” Kurt knew that supplies sometimes took forever to get to them so anything and everything was re-used if possible. Sometimes this meant the difference is lives being saved.

“Yes, sir!” Kurt saluted and ran out of the shop. He needed to go by the armory and then over to motor pool before they left without him. It was a beautiful day. The weather was nice and cold and no sandstorm in sight. He was tired of finding sand in every crevice of his body. He managed to fill up his pockets with extra ammo as a precaution. Things had been calm lately but it was always best to be prepared for any contingency. Kurt was always aware that he was in a war zone. He planned on getting home alive and in one piece.

He hurried to meet up with Smith and the convoy and got there as they were getting ready to roll out. He clambered up onto the back of the truck and settled in between two other soldiers. There was a tank at the front of the convoy and another one bringing up the rear and three 2 � ton trucks. Kurt was hoping they would have enough room to carry all the electronic and mechanical components safely back to camp.

Everyone had their M-16s ready in case they were needed. There had been no attacks in this particular area so while they were vigilant because no one knew what type of attention a downed jet would garner from the local population. They made it to the site where the jet landed and were able to salvage most of the components that were still usable. Everyone was doing their best to be quick about getting everything loaded onto the trucks. Kurt was tired by the time they were ready to leave. He had been responsible for testing all of the mechanical parts and quickly devised a method for testing and marking the items that needed to be moved to the trucks.

They were all in a watchful mood when they started back to camp. No one liked to be outside the camp’s perimeter once it got dark and they were pushing the envelope. They still needed about 2 hours to go and they sun was already starting to set. Kurt didn’t know how it happened but he heard a sharp report and then all hell broke loose. There were men surrounding the convoy shooting at them and yelling obscenities. Everyone started firing at once. The adrenaline kicked in and all of a sudden Kurt felt the soldier next to him shudder and before he knew it he the truck had taken a direct hit from some type of explosive and Kurt staggered back under the weight of the body that slammed into him protecting him from the shrapnel.

Kurt struggled back onto his feet and swung his weapon to the crowd of men trying to climb the side of the truck. He heard men yelling out commands and he tried to figure out who was still alive. All of a sudden he felt an explosive pain on the back of his head and he knew no more.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Blaine was in his dorm room eating his lunch when his phone rang. He picked up without even checking the caller ID. He figured it was one of the guys wanting to go down to Fort Collins for the weekend. “Hello.”

“Blaine, it’s Burt. Son, I need you to listen to me and not interrupt until I am done. Can you do that?”

Blaine’s heart started stopped, “Is Kurt alright? BURT TELL ME KURT IS OK!” He hadn’t realized his voice had escalated until Burt interrupted his rant.

“BLAINE, calm down and listen to me. Kurt was out on a mission when his convoy was attacked. Most of the men were killed and some are missing. Kurt is among the missing. They will be announcing this on the news in a few hours and I didn’t want to break it to you over the phone but I didn’t want you to hear it on the news either.”

“Missing? Where? Who has him? Is he okay?” Blaine could feel the tears and could barely keep his sobs at bay.

“We don’t have any other information. His First Sargent called me a few minutes ago. He said he would keep us informed. Jonathan is already making some calls trying to find out information from his friends. As soon as we hear anything I will let you know. Just remember that he isn’t dead. Kurt is tough. He will hang in there until we get him back. Blaine, I’m sorry son. I promise I will call you as soon as I know something.” Burt could hear Blaine falling apart and there was nothing he could do. He was struggling to stay strong for Blaine but was close to curling up into a fetal position and crying for his son.

Blaine hung up the phone without another word as his world collapsed around him. He cried until there were no more tears. His head hurt at the thought of Kurt injured and at the hands of the enemy while he was sitting on his bed - safe.

He turned on the television to CNN and waited until they ran the story. It was a recap of everything Burt had told him. The only difference was that they were showing video footage of the area. The footage was shot from a helicopter so the image was grainy but he could see what looked like the remains of a few trucks and a tank still burning as well as bodies strewn all around the wreckage. The camera was far enough away that it was difficult to tell if the bodies were American or local nationals since many of them were in pieces. Blaine barely made it to the bathroom before he started throwing up. He couldn’t stop until there was nothing left in him. He laid on the bathroom floor until his neighbor found him and helped him to his bed. He fell into a restless sleep dreaming of Kurt’s smiling face.