The Warriors of Anbar by Ed Darack

Author:Ed Darack
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Hachette Books
Published: 2019-11-04T16:00:00+00:00

13

GLIMMERS AND DARKNESS

“I’M A FATHER!” TWENTY-ONE-YEAR-OLD MIKE SCHOLL PROUDLY announced just a few days after the deaths of Jeremy Sandvick Monroe and Derek Jones. The moment was a brief highlight amid the depths of anguish. Scholl’s wife, Melissa, had given birth to a healthy daughter, Addison. “I can’t wait to meet her in person!” he said repeatedly to others in the FOB, including Mario Anes, James Steuter, Nic Carson, and Captain Tracy. Everyone in the company celebrated and congratulated Scholl, a tough but soft-spoken member of the battalion who had participated in some of the most grueling operations in the mountains of the Hindu Kush during 2/3’s Afghan deployment.

On a satellite phone, Scholl asked Melissa to hold the speaker up to Addison so that he could hear some of his daughter’s first “words.” His wife then held the phone to Addison’s ear. Scholl spoke so she could hear his voice, a half world distant.

He called whenever time allowed, again and again, even if only to speak to Melissa and hear Addison for just a minute. He counted the months, weeks, and days until he would return to Hawaii and reunite with them. He thought of the future: birthday parties, vacations, Saturdays at the beach, first days at school. Melissa emailed photographs of her and Addison in her hospital bed and then their first days back at home. Scholl showed them off to all in Echo.

Other members of the battalion also looked forward to returning home to new additions. Thirty-four-year-old Gunnery Sergeant Terry Elliott, of Whiskey Company, awaited his firstborn, due in November. Twenty-three-year-old Second Lieutenant Josh Booth, an Echo Company platoon commander on his first combat tour, had recently welcomed a daughter, Gracie, to the world, sister to their firstborn, Tristan, a boy.

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