Fall, 1979

[Rat]

Memories fade with time. Some thankfully so. Othertimes, they become painfully clear when you alone with the brandy and everything is quiet.


Rat bounces in the back of the Buffalo armored personnel carrier as it goes down the narrow dirt track. He sways back and forth with the rest of his stick (squad) in the back of the carrier. Its hot and sticky. The sweat rolls off Rat and darkens his fatigues. Overhead, Puma attack helicopters fly towards the enemy. In the distance, Rat can hear gunfire and explosions in the distance. The Rhodesians had gone across the border after a Frelimo guerrilla base camp in Mozambique. Rat is very green, and excited. This is his first operation with his stick.



The Buffalo follows the rest of the convoy, blasting into the guerrilla base camp. The battle has come and gone here. The personnel carrier slews to a stop, and all the members of the stick jump from the vehicle. The corporal commanding Rats stick orders them to begin pulling bodies from the bunkers and emplacements around the camp. Rat and his stick begin to pull the bodies out and line them up. The line of bodies begins to lengthen in the afternoon sun. Soon several officers come over and begin to go thru the bodies, pulling papers from pockets, looking at faces, occasionally taking pictures of one that is of particular interest. The coppery smell of blood hangs in the air.

Rat is all eyes, looking at the dead guerrillas, examining weapons, looking at the weapons emplacements. His Corporal calls him over and tells him to stand watch over the bodies. Rat is less than pleased. Rat watches the intelligence officers at the end of the line of bodes. Something catches Rats attention at the corner of his eye. He looks over at the line of bodies next to him. He’s not sure what’s wrong. Rat moves over and looks closer at the bodes.

One of the dead G’s has his eyes wide open. Rat looks closer, and sees the dirt on the eyes. Suddenly, the dead guerrilla blinks. Rat jumps back, and grabs his FN, and calls for his Corporal. The Corporal runs up, wondering what all the racket is all about. Rat explains what he has seen and points to the guerilla. Corporal is less than pleased with Rat. He has complicated the Corporals life. Fuming and cursing, the corporal goes over, looks at the G, then walks over to the officers and has a discussion. The officers come over, look the G over, discuss things, then walks off.

Rat yells at the Corporal, asking what’s going on, and when the medics were coming to look at the G. The Corporal tells Rat that they’ll be no medic. Rat begins to argue with the Corporal. The Corporal becomes infuriated with Rat, telling him to mind his own business, as he could end up like the G. Spinning around, the Corporal pulls his Sterling submachine gun around, racks back the bolt, and empties three rounds into the body of the wounded G. Dust flies from the body, then all is quiet. Rats jaw drops in amazement. The Corporal turns back around and say “ That’s the way all Gs end up ” and walks away.

Rat watches the back of the Corporal as he walks away. Rat silently stands guard over a long line of dead men in the hot african sun.

The young marine in the Iraqi mosque was not the first man to shoot a wounded guerrilla, nor will he be the last.


Rat is for peace

[Voodoo]

<<<< confused. Iraqi in Africa?

[Rat]

hehe, No Voo... I'm not an iraqi....

South Africa, Middle East, Sout America, Far East.

I've "worked" around a bit.

[Voodoo]

wow, you have seen the world!

[Voodoo]

and i didn;t think you were iraqui.. I thought you were saying there ws an iraqui mosque in africa... thats where i got confused

[Rat]

Well, you would be surprised that you do run into a few muslims there. And christians... and animists, the original religion there, if you would.

and loads of communists. It used to be fashionable to shoot em. I guess we're all just friends now....

[Twistdenigma]

Deep stuff Rat. Thanks for sharing.

[Rat]

Its just a bit of therapy.

I find I sleep better afterwards for a while.

[Onerepmaximum]

You always have a captive audience, my friend.

[Rat]

Theres more. Some may be ugly. I'll warn you in advance. You may not have such a nice opinion of me.