The Wreck Emerged by Joseph Webers

Author:Joseph Webers [Webers, Joseph]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Myrtlewood Press
Published: 2021-08-15T22:00:00+00:00

71

Staff Sergeant Phelps appeared to be a year or two younger than Maggie. He was a little taller than she, muscular, and walked with the confidence of a man highly proficient in his business. He had an easy manner about him, one comfortable talking with other people besides just Marines.

“We didn’t know what would be here,” he said, “so we brought a couple portable toilets. We’ll start there with the tour. We had to put them and the mess tent far enough from the helicopter to keep the rotor wash from blowing them away.”

There were foot trails already crushed into the dried mud. Odors of canvas and motor oil overpowered the salty ocean smell. As they went, they could see the wreckage of their plane off to the left, inside a large circle of yellow caution tape held in place by the potato-looking rocks, which were scattered everywhere.

The mess tent was a camouflage net tied to heavy objects at each of its corners. Underneath were two vehicles which looked like military dune buggies, and another two which looked like Hummers. There were also makeshift tables and a food locker. The portable toilets were on the other side of the mess tent.

Soon the tour started. “We’re about a half mile from the eastern edge of the island,” SSgt Phelps said, “and about two miles from the southern edge. Our engineers and one EOD team put that tape out. On the other side of the yellow tape, there are dud explosive shells from the machine guns all around the plane. Mostly on the other side of the plane.

“In case you didn’t know, EOD is Explosive Ordnance Disposal, the Marines’ bomb squad. They have to dispose of all duds before we can get near the plane. They are going all around the plane, finding the farthest-away dud as they go, and putting the tape there. They are not quite finished. They are also checking the cargo and baggage areas for explosive devices and dud bullets. The baggage is strewn everywhere. One of the EOD teams is making special checks of all those that are outside the cargo hold.”

Matt pointed to a group of Marines standing near a vehicle he didn’t recognize. “What is that over there?”

“That’s an anti-aircraft section. There wasn’t enough room to bring the whole battery with all their equipment, with everything else we brought.”

“Anti-aircraft? The horse is already out of the barn, isn’t it?”

SSgt Phelps laughed. “Soon the whole world will know an island came up under the plane and brought it to the surface. Our mission includes protecting the remains from whoever shot it down, in case the reason they did that was to make the plane disappear forever. We will be able to see and engage them before they get close enough.

“The only other things to show you are the vehicles in the mess tent. The ones that look like dune buggies are called Light Strike Vehicles. The other ones are Joint Light Tactical Vehicles, or JLTVs. It turns out the surface here can support both sets.

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