“What the hell happened?”
She gives her head a slight shake, to make it clear she doesn’t want to talk about it. I look to Weber, who is sitting to her left. In a whisper that is almost a growl, I hear him say one word. “West”
We exchange a concerned look, which clearly irritates, Abram. She rolls her one functional eye, and hisses.
“Stop looking at me like that, I can take care of myself.”
My eyebrows shoot up as I take in her bruised face and neck.
“Obviously, you can.”
She cracks a small smile.
“You should see the other guy.”
To which, the three of us laugh, just a little too loudly.
In the next instant one of the instructors barks across the mess hall in a booming voice.
“Since, you are all done eating…formation in two minutes.”
This is received by groans and angry stares in our direction. We rush off to formation. That’s when we see West, being escorted away by two MPs. He is missing a chunk from his right ear, he has a busted lip, and his right arm is in a sling. A big grin spreads across Weber’s face, as he says, “Hell yeah, Abram, the other guy has got nothing on you!”
I think I see her blush for an instant before she falls into formation. Standing tall and proud as if she wasn’t just assaulted by a psychopath. The next three weeks of assessment and selection are exhausting physically and mentally. One by one the herd is thinned, but at the end the three of us are still here. We are elated on our last day. We have all been selected to move on through Q course. Weber, with his medical background gets selected for 18D, the Delta Force medical sergeant. His MOS training, will last the longest. Abram gets selected to train as an 18F, an intelligence sergeant. She is a computer tech genius, and she got the highest score out of everyone here on the language battery exam. I was selected for 18B, a weapons sergeant...I’m good at blowing shit up.
There are six phases we have to make it through to get call ourselves members of Delta Force. The training for Abram and I will last fifty-two weeks. Weber’s training will last ninety-four since he was selected as 18D. We go through the first three phases together, after that our day is split. We are still grouped together for the physical challenges, but then break off into our separate MOS training groups.
Weapons training is intense I am learning about weapons systems from all over the world. After seeing all the fire power, the world has available, I am a little surprised we have lasted this long. I get the itchy feeling the world is a powder keg ready to blow at any second.
Q course is the most intense and grueling experience of my life. I am almost grateful for the way my dad treated me. It has hardened me in a way that makes it possible for me to deal with the physical and mental battery I am being put through. I wonder about Abram and Weber. What happened in their lives that has made it possible for them? Is their fortitude coming from a positive and enlightened place? Or is it from a personal hell inside, like me? Do they fear the monster they are creating to survive might overtake them?
Stage four is nothing but mud, blood, and sweat. But no tears because I don’t fucking cry. Delta doesn’t cry. That’s just a waste of fucking water! I make it through everything they have to throw at me. Abram is there, not just holding her own, but she gives no indication that she is tired or suffering. I know she is, because I have never been so tired and beaten down in my life. You can occasional here the moans of pain and fatigue from the guys about to break…but no emotion, no sound escapes her. I can’t stop thinking about how she does it; what made her into what she is?
Graduation week comes with little fanfare for me. There is no family here for me. What I find interesting, is that there is no one here for Abram either. No proud parents embracing her. I don’t know why it seems more wrong for her to be alone than me, maybe because, she is only the second female to make it through delta force training. After graduation I head out to meet the other guys that Abram and I will be joining to complete funny platoon. Funny platoon is the intelligence gathering platoon. Abram and I will be filling the two slots left open after two of their guys retired. On my way out, I see Weber who is still in MOS training, he is with Abram. I am shocked to see a smile on her face. I realize suddenly that they are in a relationship. I have no idea how long it has been going on. I have never seen them actually touch each other, but their body language is clear.
I take my time getting to Stevie’s. It is a little dive bar in Fayetteville, where we are supposed to meet our team. I scan the scene and notice Abram has still not arrived. I am relieved that no one is talking shit about her in her absence. She proved herself during training and has clearly, been accepted into the brotherhood.
A week later Abram and I are comfortably ensconced in our ODA, or operational detachment alpha. We are made up of twelve soldiers, the captain, the chief, and two sergeants from each specialty: weapons, communications, engineering, medical and intelligence. I engage in conversation when I should, but really, I’m trying to figure them all out.
