Flying high

A Chapter by Austin Jolly

I woke up to the wonderful sound of one of the SEALs thunderously banging on our door. Paul must have been startled because he fell off of his bunk and onto the cold, hard floor.

"GO TIME IN 20, GET UP AND OUT OF THERE!!!!" he yelled.

out of instinct and the thought of it being Commander Benson pounding at the door, I explode out of bed and blast out the door with the dufflebag in hand. right behind me was Paul, also with his dufflebag in hand. the hallways and corridors were still populated with Airmen, but not nearly as many as earlier. we could actually move around and s**t.

"Hey bro" Paul says as we walk down the corridors.

I look over to him to see him holding two hammocks, navy blue in color.

"youve gotta be kidding me." I reply.

"one for me and one for you" Paul says as he shoves one in my bag after opening it.

"thanks bro" i say.

he nods in agreement as we walk towards the door leading to the runway, there holding the C-17 Globemaster, the biggest metal bird I have ever seen. I know next to nothing about it, but all i know is that it'll get us to Ramstein AFB in Germany. The ramp wasnt lowered yet, so Paul and I waited for the ramp to drop and the rest of the SEALs to get here. for the longest 15 minutes of my life we waited, a few SEALs coming in at a time, O'Hara being the first of them followed by Benson. We would find the Air Force crew for the C-17 every now and then walking around the bird and inspecting it and all of its turbines, making sure theyre all in the right order and nothing is wrong with them.

By the time the Air Force crew finished inspecting the bird, the ramp opened and Paul and I were the first two to board, and started crawling around the cargo bay to find a spot to hang our hammocks, there was no way in hell we were sitting in the rock-hard chairs provided by the Air Force that are worn down to its frame from years upon years of delivering other assaulters, SEALs, soldiers, pretty much anything to the front line or any FOB or Military Installation. One guy brought an air mattress, twin size fit for a single person. black in color with a dark shade of blue. In total, 11 SEALs were boarding the Globemaster. 5 in team One, 5 on team Two and Commander Benson, who was leading the op from some place else. we didnt know where Lt Commander Harrison was, O'Hara assumed he was already at Ramstein.

"yo, theres a few spots here we can hang" said Paul.

I looked over to him to see a young and stupid Tick laying on his hammock suspended about 4 feet in the air. but real friends never let you do stupid s**t alone, so i hung my hammock on the heavily fortified metal bars against the wall on one side, and a separate island for seating more personnel and gear situated in the center of the cargo bay. it hung like a champ, and supported all 192 pounds of awesome, which is me.

I jumped up to lay in the hammock next to Paul. "this is comfortable, where'd you get this anyway?" i ask

"theres a new sports authority place that opened up back in california a few months ago called "Ballers Sports Shop". i got these for the house but i didnt hang them up. i knew they would have a real purpose someday." Paul smartly replied.

"that may have been the smartest thing i've ever heard from you...like...ever, bro. EV-ER." I reply.

the rest of the SEALs go on board, everyone brought hammocks, air mattresses, anti-gravity chairs, and sports-chairs...except for one guy, who ended up sitting in the rock hard Globemaster chair. poor guy. The turbines had started up and the Air Force crew chased us back to our Globemaster seats, which really felt like a pile of bricks was more comfortable than that s**t. I felt the sudden movement of the plane as we started to take off, turbines getting louder and louder. about five minutes later, i felt the downward force of the plane, indicating that we were taking off right about now. ten more minutes went by when we finished climbing, and the Crew Chief of the Globemaster told us that we were good to go back to our comfort zones. immediately after he said that, ten SEALs exploded out of their seats and threw themselves on whatever portable furniture they brought with them. I could hear the sound of Pokemon, i looked over to see one of the SEALs playing his DS. i thought that s**t was extinct.

I guess even men get bored.

"what the f**k are we gonna do for the whole trip to Africa, bro?" Paul asks.

"I dont know. play games on your phone?" I reccommend

"nah man, all the games i have require internet. im an online gamer, if you know what that is anyway"

"well you know what, i have a life, jackass."

we we both laugh away at the insult, when Commander Benson comes in with some news...BAD news.

"GUYS! LISTEN UP!! Ramstein Air Force base is reporting large sums of rebellious personnel coursing throughout Germany. Local Authorities are handling the situation, but the local Military may have to get involved. We have reason to believe that Folami Baas is leading the attack, and all cities and residential areas within 5 miles of Ramstein are in the slow and steady process of evacuation. Expect numerous armed personnel, theres a good chance that the attackers will overwhelm the local authorities and will attack Ramstein directly. I want everyone suited up in full combat gear and loadout as soon as we get to Ramstein. Germany has asked us for help, lets make sure we do just that!"

Everybody was in question about it. I knew something bad was gonna happen. I couldnt help but think how the attackers could overwhelm the German Tank Division. I felt a sinister chill shoot down my spine and giving me chills like nothing has before. That fact was very scary. I looked over toward Paul who was laying in his hammock, hands joined together on his stomach. He had the most concerned look on his face that ive ever seen, i could tell he was very afraid. his eyes were practically the size of golf balls and his arms were slightly shaking. we was scared shitless. for that single instance, and probably the only instance, i could relate to his feelings.

"You good, bro?" i ask.

"I-I dont know man. This whole Folami Baas thing ha-has got me shivering bro. I dont know how we'll pull, pull this off." He replies.

His voice sounded like he was going to dive directly into a nervous breakdown. he was tripping over his words like he hardly spoke english. He was definitely afraid.

"Dude, we can be sure that that one guy Baas is responsible for the attack, when we get to him we're gonna f**k him up, you dig?" I said

"Dude i hope so. We have to protect a whole Air Force base from a force that overwhelms the German Authorities. I-I mean who supplies these guys good enough to where they can kill off an entire police force? And how are they gonna take out the tanks?? and who brought them here???"

"I dont know man, but we're Navy SEALs and we can do s**t they cant, we'll f*****g live through this bro." i reply.

Lieutenant O'Hara spoke up, "guys, Ramstein Meteorology is reporting a large string of thunderstorms on its way over Germany. we're gonna run into some bad weather when we get there."

A*****e.

"Oh, great, thunderstorms! thats just what we needed is thunderstorms trying to defend a base thats out-f*****g-standing man!" Paul complained. he sounded like he was hyperventilating a little bit, and his voice indicated a bad case of fear. I didnt know why that was bothering him as much as it was, but it was freaking me out a little too.

like any other friend would do, i spent the rest of the flight trying to calm him down. Now i couldnt think of anything but the worst for what we're gonna get ourselves into.

what the f**k are we gonna do...

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