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“I’m so proud of you,” he said tenderly, leaning forward and kissing her. “I love good news.”
“And I love you,” she said tenderly, their fingers touching each other where they rested on the chain-link fence. “Have I mentioned that if I never see chain-link again? It won’t be too soon. I’m growing to hate the stuff.”
She made a face and scrunched up her nose.
“A necessary evil,” he said evasively, wondering if she guessed that he was looking at homes. “Maybe we could get a puppy someday – or perhaps have a pool?”
“Maybe,” she shrugged, just as the speakers went off again. “We need to go, or we’ll be walking in complete darkness.”
“I was just thinking that,” he admitted, quickly kissing her. “Go, babe.”
“Be safe and I’ll see you tomorrow night.”
“You got it.”
* * *
The next morning,as Austin was walking out to his plane for their planned, normal recon mission… he stared in horror at the unexpected moment unfolding before him.
Trigger Warning
CHAPTER30
GISELLE
“What?”Giselle whispered, painfully aware of the eyes on her as the question slipped unconsciously from her before she could stop it.
“Sir! Yes, sir!” she quickly recovered, seeing the look that Captain Logan and Gretchen were giving her.
“I get it,” Captain Logan began. “Usually Minors always goes, but he’s off-base. I need a 68W to go with the squad. Gear up, Beck.”
“Will there be an AXP?” she asked Gretchen, trying to get a gauge of what exactly she was being sent into. If there was an ambulance exchange point, then she was going deep into a mess today. The AXP were used to get someone from the front line away for help, before they could be moved to the medical treatment facility – or the base.
“No,” Gretchen said in understanding.
Swallowing hard, she nodded, trying not to let her innate relief show.
A sixty-eight-whiskey was a designation for a combat medic. Here in Ghazni, they hadn’t been sending them on the patrols and things had been calming down – or at least until Corporal Reed had almost died.
She had been sent before on a mission and this wasn’t her first rodeo, but it made her very uneasy after working in the plush clinic for almost the last three years without having to go out with the team.
Putting down her things, she immediately disappeared for her locker to get her gear… hating how much her hands trembled. She wasn’t going to the front line of a battle, but riding along with the boys and would be present if something happened.
Sliding her firearm into her holster, she strapped on her bulletproof vest before hefting up her IFAK bag. Each combat medic carries an individual first-aid kit with them because you never know what will be needed – or when.
Her bag was stocked with bandages, gauze, chest seals, and gloves. She always brought two or three pairs of gloves because if things got bad, or she had to change them out… she needed them available in a pinch.
There was also duct tape, scissors, and a combat casualty card for herself – filled out and ready to go should she fall in the line of duty and need aide herself. It gave another medic your vitals, name and rank, along with any allergies. She had an allergy to penicillin that could be lethal. That was a tough moment the first time she ever filled out one, but if she couldn’t speak or was unconscious… it was vitally necessary.
She also brought a tourniquet, EPI pen, a space blanket, and a nasal airway and tactical cric kit. Having used one before, it always made her uneasy. A cric was so much easier to use than to perform a trach in the field to establish an airway. It took less time, there was so much less bleeding, and could save a life if there was a blockage that couldn’t be removed.
Grabbing her helmet, she took a second to take several deep breaths before putting a confident look on her face. It wouldn’t do well to show the guys that ‘the little girl Doc’ was scared.
No, you had to earn your place with the team – and she had. She had been in the trenches with them and had been the first medic on the scene when Corporal Minter lost his leg and had been hauled in unexpectedly several years ago.
That chaotic moment had scared that ‘kid’ who’d just arrived, and it took shoving his squad commander with both hands on his chest, yelling at him to get out of her way, and saving that soldier’s life to earn their respect. She would never tell them how much she cried that night, nor how much she had thrown up.
That was the first time her boss, Houghton, had pulled them all together in a huddle, talking to the staff like they were a family unit… and this team needed her today - if something happened.
