“Who Will Dry My Mother’s Tears?” (A Short Story)

(Dedicated to those fallen)

Before my death…I used to be an 18 year old from the ‘burbs of LA. I was the only child of a journeyman plumber and homemaker Mom, who were childhood sweethearts that married when Dad was 18 and Mom 16.

I was the end result of a “shotgun wedding”. I did not know this until a letter from Mom came while stationed at El Toro Marine base.

After graduating from high school my plans were to serve in the Marine Corps and use my GI Bill to go to college. My plans were to trade-in my Marine dress blues for the dress blues of the LAPD after earning a degree in Criminal Justice...

It was Gunnery Sgt Watkins that broke the news to my platoon. We were shipping out to Iraq in two weeks. We were to be the advance wave out of Saudi Arabia, ahead of the armored divisions and Army infantry. We were full of testosterone and spoiling for a fight. Basic training had convinced us that we were invincible.

It was two weeks after arriving in Saudi Arabia that my 4-man team was deployed into hostile territory on a recon mission. We were to seek out and observe enemy tanks that were dug in near the northern Saudi border. It was a moonless night when our lightly equipped team crossed the Iraqi border into a region known as the “Syrian Desert”.

We’d walked about 10 clicks into Iraq when we spotted large suspicious mounds that might be hiding tanks 100 yards ahead. My platoon leader silently motioned for me to move closer for a better look. I’d crawled on my stomach for about 50 yards when I heard voices. I could see two soldiers through my night vision goggles doing something. They appeared to be digging in the sand…perhaps a new latrine? A chill went up my spine as I saw one of the soldiers place an object in a freshly dug hole….'Oh shit, land mines! '

Breaking into a cold sweat I slowly turned to crawl back to my team when it happened. As my left knee sank into the sand...I heard the explosion.

Strangely, I felt no pain and thought that somehow the blast had missed me…until I realized that I was standing next to a jagged hole in the ground looking at scattered battle gear and a shattered body…my body! How could this be? Is this what happens when we die? What now?

While pondering these questions I felt myself rising above the desert floor. I could clearly see the dug-in tanks, Iraqi soldiers and as I looked to the South I saw the other three members of my team. Having seen and heard the explosion they were falling back in retreat toward the border.

As I continued floating upward, I could see my base camp in the distance and the lights of Baghdad far to the Northwest. Looking up I saw a very bright light in the black sky above. The stars were twinkling and seemed to be dancing as I moved into a tunnel filled with golden light as bright as the sun.

My last earthly thought was, “Who will dry my mother’s tears?'

ROTMS