Fight or Flight

Ground Combat Element.

Veronica stood in front of the bulletin board, staring at the deployment roster.

Infantry battalions.

Her eyes trailed down the long list of battalions scheduled to deploy.

2nd Battalion, 5th Marines.

Her battalion was made of approximately 800 Marines and Sailors. She flipped the page to see more information.

Golf Company.

The company was made of about 200 Marines.

Combat destination: Afghanistan.

She let out a breath, licking over her lips. Back to the Middle East, she thought.

Deploy date: February 28, 2014.

She counted the weeks in her head; there were twelve weeks until then. She flipped the page again to see the alphabetical list of personnel. She always liked to know who she would be going with.

"You're right there." An arm reached over her shoulder, finger pointing at her name on the list. "And I'm right there." The finger pointed to Nathaniel Graham under the list of G's.

"Hmm." Veronica's eyes scanned the entire list of names. Her teammates were going. There were some names she was familiar with and there were some she wasn't.

Company Commander: Captain Ben Middendorf.

He'd been the commander of the company for the past two years. This would be the company's first deployment with him as commander. She didn't know him too well, but she knew that he'd gotten numerous awards and medals for his service in the Corps. She would have to trust him and his judgment when they deployed.

"I don't think Collier's coming with us," Nathaniel said, standing beside her. They both focused on the bulletin board.

"I know.”

Their former commander, Sergeant Collier had moved up in rank since their last deployment to Iraq. He spent his time working in his office and commanding duties from a distance. He was no longer in active duty, therefore leaving Nathaniel to lead their squad on his own. However, he was still very close with his former team.

"You gonna tell Audrey now or wait a while?" Veronica looked at him.

"Considering she already knows we're leaving, I may as well tell her when," He said. "I don't know how I'm going to tell Alex..."

"You better pick up a pamphlet," She suggested. There were multiple resources and booklets that explained how to tell children about deployment, depending on their age group.

"The last time I left he was just six months," Nate sighed. "Now he's three."

"He's not really going to understand too much, so it should be okay," She told him.

"I guess," He shrugged his shoulders. "Are you going to tell Matt?"

"I don't know," She said uncertainly. "I'm going to call my parents later and tell my brother. I just don't know what his reaction is going to be like."

"There aren’t many reactions he can really have. I doubt he'll be really pissed. He'll probably like... just be in shock or something."

"He knows it's coming, though.”

"Then he should be prepared to hear it." Nate looked at his watch. "I've gotta get back to work, but you have to tell him no matter what." He walked away.

Veronica sighed, smoothing down the wrinkled pages of the announcements before turning away. She had to get back to work, too.



"Hey, sweetheart," Her mother answered her call.

"Hey, Mom," Veronica said. She absently slid her soda can back and forth across the island countertop. "Is Dad around?"

"He's right here," Her mother said. There was some shuffling in the background. "I'll put it on speaker. What's going on?"

"Deployment rosters came out today," She started the routine talk. "I leave at the end of February."

She heard her mother sigh. "Where are you going?"

"Uh, Afghanistan." She kept her voice low, watching the entryway of the kitchen just in case Matt walked in. He was in the living room playing video games.

"Well, you gotta do what you gotta do," Her father said.

"Yeah..." Veronica stopped fiddling with the can. She propped her elbow on the counter, resting her head in her hand.

"Are you looking forward to it?" Her father asked. "That's the real question."

"Yeah," Veronica nodded. Leaving was always bittersweet. "I'm ready to get back out there."

"That's my girl," Her father chuckled.

"Have you told your brother yet?" Her mother asked. "Do you want me to tell him?"

"I'll probably call him tomorrow and tell him," She told her parents. She could only imagine his despondent reaction. Her brother could be hard to read sometimes.

"Well, alright," Her mother said. “What about Matthew?"

"Er," Veronica peeked at the doorway again, "I'll tell him soon. I don't know how I'm going to tell him."

"I tried to hint to him at dinner," Her father said.

"I know, Dad," She said, recalling her father asking Matt questions about what would happen when she left.

"If he can't handle it, then he's probably not the one for you," Her father added.

Veronica closed her eyes for a moment, taking in her father's words. "I'm sure he'll be just fine. I'll call you guys soon."

"Bye, sweetheart.”

"Later, Mom, Dad." She hung up. Telling her parents was easy; it was the actual leaving part that was hard and emotional. She took a swig of her soda, the carbonate burning her throat. She jumped at an ahem from behind her.

"You on the phone?" Matt asked.

"No, I just got done talking to my parents," She shook her head. She wondered if he'd heard her conversation. His facial expression didn't give anything away. "What's up?"

"I'm bored of the game," He told her. "I was thinking we could watch a movie upstairs or something."

She hesitated for a moment, searching his eyes for anything that would tell her if he'd overheard her or not. There was nothing. She stood up from the chair, her soda in hand. She gave him a weak smile. "Yeah, sure."