War Veteran

My name's Alex and I am a war veteran. The most memorable moments of my days at war in Mindanao. Few days earlier before our deployment I came into the church to guide us for our upcoming expedition.

We were tasked as special forces to land behind enemy lines wherein our tasks were to take out as many rebels as we could and gain much information regarding their upcoming plans and strategies.

I have my usual squad with me especially Joseph my comrades and buddy since the academy days. We trained like hell because this is our first time to be deployed behind enemy lines. We only have one experienced member in our squad making us all dependent to his decision making skills.

Two nights before our deployment, Joseph and I talked to each other. He asked me to give his pendant to his family for he thinks that it will be our last mission together.

I declined his favor because I couldn't see my comrade at arms fall down before me. I just told him that all of us will leave this war as victors and alive.

That night we had our toast for the war we'll partake.

The last day of preparation became our last day of comfort. We were all filled with mixed emotions as if we can feel their death within our reach.

Finally, the day of the deployment has come at our door steps.

We immediately packed all the necessary equipment for our expedition and got deployed right on time.

It took us around hours of travel until we're able to reach the landing zone. We were expecting some scouts to assist us during the landing but somehow the surrounding is filled with dead silence. We all had that bad feeling in our guts that's why our commander decided to pull back a little. But the moment our chopper tried to pull back, we heard the sound of a missle coming towards us. We all thought death has come to us.

The chopper's tail was destroyed and we're spinning down to our death. We tried to hold ourselves together and focus on our prayers.

The chopper and all of our squad crashed near the landing zone. As I could remember, all I can see was blood between my eyes. As I was able to crawl out of the crash site, I heard the screams of my comrades.

The moment I was able to stand up I saw Joseph running towards me with blood all over his body. We tried to look for the others but all we saw were amputated bodies and some are just crying to death. We gave our comrades mercy by killing them to relieve them from the pain. We took their tags and we went away from the crash site.

Both of us are weak now, we lost some equipment and we're bleeding to death.

When we were able to run away far from the crash site we stopped and took a rest so that we could also try to apply first aid to our wounds.

I can sense Joseph's losing his faith of surviving. The screams and blood of our comrades is a total nightmare. We all thought it's a hit and run mission. I guess we were the ones who got hit and we run away.

While I was tying Joseph's wounds we heard footsteps, branches being broken. We armed ourselves and tried to look at the surroundings. The sound suddenly became so close we quickly look behind us and Joseph almost fired the gun while I pushed his aim away.

We found a rebel, a young rebel that was trying to kill us. Joseph told me we should take him out but I told him he's just a child. The kid was scared and he thinks that death is coming to him. I tapped his head and told him to go. The kid ran away and Joseph was somehow furious about it.

They started walking until they came into a village. Joseph and I entered the house wherein we found some rebels. They started to scream for help and Joseph started to shoot them. One by one falling to the ground, he keeps shooting to those who screamed for help and I tried to stop him yet he pushed me away.

He keeps shooting until the armed rebels came and started shooting at us. We were pinned down wherein even if tried to run they will catch up to us.

Joseph suddenly became serious and talked to me. He asked me to fulfill his favors for him. To give his pendant to his family. He suddenly stoop up and started shooting at the armed rebels. It was my chance to escape, without doubts I took his pendant and ran. It was the most cowardice action I ever made in my life, abandoning my comrade.

As I ran away from the village I heard the shooting stopped. I got tired of running and I ended up in another village. As I was walking past the rebels, I have let my guard down and an armed rebel hit me in the head and made me unconscious.

The armed rebels took me in a house, the house where they torture. I was there for 2 days, they were torturing me.

I almost lost hope until a kid came inside. My sights were blurry but I knew who the kid was. He tapped me in the head and took all of my restraints out.

He lead me outside and slowly, my sights restored a little.

The armed rebels saw me trying to escape so they keep on firing towards me. The kid took my hand and lead the way out.

He was able to lead me into an escape route until the kid stopped. He told me to run away and live. I still remember his words to me, "Thank you, for giving me life. I---do not want war---They make people kill. Thank you soldier"

The kid suddenly saluted to me, as I was about to runaway an armed rebel came behind the kid. As I looked back to the kid, I saw the armed rebel pointing its gun to kid's head... *bang*

The kid fell down smiling with tears in his face.

It was a war that I never won. It was the war where the child was the victor.