Just Your Average Day in the Desert

The first missile hit in the middle of the night. The warning for the attack hadn’t even gone off before it had hit. She knew they would follow them back. After an attack like that at the school, the Taliban were on their asses. Destroying every attempt they made to make the civilians lives better and now they were coming after them.

She was flying alone to Berlin from Canada to meet her father. She was only 13 years old but she was destined to make a change in the world and wanted to make it now.
A 12 hour flight later and she arrived in Berlin, as she walked out the gate she could see the only man in a CADPAT desert uniform, buzzed hair and a ridiculous tan. The man looked up and smiled at her, that smile she had known her entire life. “DAD” She yelled running up to him and throwing her arms around his neck. He giggled,”Hey, baby girl, it’s great to see you. I’ve missed you so much.” He gave her a huge squeeze back. Her dad wasn’t much taller than her and his blue eyes matched hers as they looked at each other, she was delighted to see him alive. “Are you ready to go to the next gate to catch our flight?” Her father asked. “Of course”
“Master Corporal Koolar it’s nice to see you again” She acknowledged the other man she knew on the plane and relaxed into the spacious military cabin. “I think you’ll love it in Panjaway, the locals are extremely friendly and tend to let us know about the Taliban activities when we go through the town on the medical clinics” The master corporal explained, the personnel who had already been in the area briefed her on what to expect the entire plane ride to Kandahar.
It was just sunset as the plane touched down in the Kandahar airfield. The sky was a brilliant red colour and the heat of the day had yet to go away. She squinted as she walked down the stairs onto the tarmac with her bag. Her dad was right behind her. A French soldier drove up in a small golf cart to meet them. “Bon soir mon amis” He said as he greeted her father. They exchanged a hug. Her father turned to her, “This is sergeant major Principe, he will be joining us in Panjaway." She nodded at him and swung her large duffle bag on to the cart, she was already sweating and she hadn’t been in Afghanistan 1 minute yet.
They walked into the open air cafeteria of KAF, there were members of almost every military in NATO walking around and getting their dinners. "Pick anything you want, we have coins for this, there’s Tim Hortons, it’s the last taste of real coffee that you will get for the next 4 weeks" her father poked her in the side trying to bug her. She just giggled but the heat was starting to get to her. "Something cold, I don't know how you guys deal with the heat" The military personnel around her laughed. Someone said "You'll get used to it."

Morning came too soon and they were pushed into an armoured car, the heat of the day starting to emerge once again. Driving through the city of Kandahar was like a completely different world. Poverty was everywhere, the streets were filled with masses of people, starvation, markets with unfamiliar foods and animals walking the streets slowly. The roads went from paved to unpaved in a matter of minutes of leaving the city limits. For miles it was only grape and poppy fields. Dusty, dirty and the only greenery came from the poppy stems. They must have spent hours driving with the convoy of trucks behind them. Finally they hit a small town, Panjaway. The locals seemed unnerved by the military trucks going through the middle of the town. There were two story buildings but mostly everything was one level and run down even though they were quite modern. Farther in the distance she could see the mosque that all these people went to, to pray to Allah to help them with their misfortunes. Small children played in the street while their mothers, covered from head to toe in a burka, watched over them. The roads were paved but finally they hit one long dirt road leading to a mountain far in the distance, if you could even call it a mountain. An old leopard tank circa Soviet Union times sat with a young Afghan soldier sitting on top with a rifle in his hands at the very point where the road turned to dirt. The truck stopped with a jerk. Everyone got out. "Move quickly into the tank" Her father whispered into her ear. ”Why are we taking a tank?” She inquired to her father, ‘Because that right there is the most dangerous road. It’s laced with car bombs and IEDs” Her father said discreetly. She was a little shocked but she did as she was told. The young soldier holding the rifle helped her up and she slipped into the hot body of the tank where two Canadian soldiers sat at the controls. "Master Corporal Doyle? What a surprise to see you" She looked the young goofy smiling soldier up and down, it had been ages since she had seen him. He looked up, giving her his goofy grin and reached across the small area to hug her. "What the hell are you doing here? What are you doing in hell, really?" He joked but she could see in his eyes that it was partially the truth. "I’m here with the Major for a month and I’m helping with humanitarian work like rebuilding the girl’s school that was destroyed by the Taliban" He nodded his head and looked back at his fellow soldier. Just then her father popped through the hatch followed by the Afghan soldier. "Rejes this is my daughter Maria, Maria this is our interpreter Rejes" He extended his hand to her and she gracefully shook it. "Let’s get this puppy going shall we?" Doyle yelled as the engine started. The tank started rolling forward, slowly but surely. Looking through the hatch they drove perfectly down the centre of the road avoiding the sides which she was told were the worst places for IEDs. She closed the hatch tightly. "About 15 minutes till we reach home guys" the second soldier who had stayed silent up until this point yelled over the engine.

Finally the tank rolled to a stop. The hatch was opened and she pulled herself out carefully. Just behind them was a barbed wire type of gate. She dropped to the ground and a plume of dust came up around her. She squinted and surveyed the base she would be calling home for the next month. Small buildings ranged around the base of the mountain and one large one which she assumed was the mess. She could see the porta potties and the showers just at the very end. She hauled her duffle bag over her shoulder as she followed her father into one of the small mud buildings with walls thick as four car doors, closest to the end of the base, also closest to the washrooms as her father pointed out. When they got inside it was cool and dim, there wasn't much in it but once they turned the corner a flight of short stairs led them down to a full office and private bunk areas for the officers. A friendly and familiar face greeted them. "Major it’s nice to see you back, and you've brought your daughter as well" He was young, that was really an understatement. He was 18 year old Dylan Tuck. Only just a private when he was sent to serve overseas. "It’s nice to see you again Dylan" Maria piped up. Her father smirked and continued down a hallway making a turn at the final door. "Home sweet home for the next month my dear" It wasn’t much. A cot, bedding, a bedside table, a boot locker and the most surprising thing was the 9mm pistol sitting on the edge of the cot with a full box of magazines. "There's proper clothing in the locker, a pair of boots and some towels and stuff. There's a gun holster too. Wear it at all times. Keep that gun loaded. Oh and keep your stuff in the locker, there are some nasty things you do not want crawling around in your stuff. Keep the bedding off the floor too. I’ll leave you to unpack now." Her father stepped out of the room. She closed the door tightly behind him. She dropped her bag on the cot and picked up the pistol. She put a magazine into it and cleared the chamber, but kept the safety on. Guns weren't that abnormal. She had learned to shoot when she was eight but this time the gun belonged to her and that’s when she really began to realize what a dangerous place she was in. She quickly changed into the CADPAT pants and a beige Under Armour shirt with her boots which she tucked the edges of her pants into and tied tightly, remembering her father’s words on the creepy crawly things that you really didn’t want in your stuff. Finally she put on the last thing: the gun holster. She quickly rechecked the safety then placed the gun on her hip. She stowed everything away, even making her bed even though she knew sleep wouldn't be for a long time and she walked back into the office area. There were a few more people in there now chatting and looking at the computer screens in the dimly lit room but as soon as she walked in the room fell silent. Her father looked up from a folder he held in his hand marked OMLT, which was the code name given to his operation here, and handed her a package. "This is your schedule and rules and such for the base. I’m going to get Doyle to show you around the site as I have a training session to go to. You kids have fun now. Maybe take her to the range, I’m sure she’s a little rusty with a gun since her mother won’t let her touch one.” Her father knew saying she was rusty with a gun would get a rise out of her but she tried to keep calm and smiled at him. “That would be lovely.” She said as she turned sharply to go up the steps and back out into the dese