Just Outside Of Kandahar

Staff Seargeant Kenny Langstrom of the U.S. Marines 15th Expeditionary Unit took two AK-47 rounds – one in the shoulder and one in the thigh – on a mission just outside of Kandahar on 30 November 2001 during Operation Rhino. Others were not quite so fortunate that day. The fighting was fierce; the memories of a greasy column of thick black smoke blowing away from those two burning towers at an oblique angle against the backdrop of a clear blue September sky were still very fresh in everyone’s minds. Perspective would come in time but this had just happened and everyone’s blood was still up. This was less about military objectives and more about vengeance for many.

Kenny and Jay had flown in on the same MC-130 and they had been together for the fall of Mazar-i-Sharif and Herat. Kabul fell as well, though they weren’t there for that. Kandahar was the last major city under Taliban control, and they were there to take it back (or just burn it to the ground, they were fine either way.). However, before they got to the city limits they ran into some serious heat during a patrol in a small village just a few miles to the south.

That morning they were going building-to-building, looking to clear out any insurgent resistance and secure a safe trail for their rear echelon supply lines and things had initially been entirely uneventful. Then they reached a house where no one answered their calls and when Jay breached the front door with his tactical shotgun the bullets started to fly from two of the rooftops just across the street and they were pinned down fast. A moment later several enormous cell phone-activated IEDs erupted from cutouts in the gutters, tearing up the terra firma and flipping one of their Humvees onto its roof and leaving another in flames. Eight dead in less than five seconds.

Naturally, once the element of surprise had passed, the Marines – with their superior numbers, tactics and weaponry technology – quickly turned the tide of the battle and violence raged on that street for the next few minutes. When it was done, the destruction was overwhelming and savage. Why waste time and ammo trying to sharpshoot your enemies when you can simply reduce the small and structurally-unsound buildings that they are attacking you from to smoldering piles of rubble in mere seconds?

The problem was that as soon as he breached the door and the fighting began, Jay took one in the lower leg and went down. He quickly crawled into the house and Kenny tried to take cover around the south corner of the building, which offered decent defilade, but he also took his two bullets just trying to get there, plus some shrapnel in his back from one of the IED blasts. He was dragged out by a medic as soon as the action settled down.

Unfortunately, afterwards, Jay and some Lieutenant named Antonio something or other from the 3rd Ranger Battalion were both gone. The search and rescue mission was immediately underway when Cutthroat One Actual at the Command Post radioed in the report that a large convoy of Taliban fighters were rapidly flooding into the village towards them from the north and the soonest airstrike was going to be at least eight to nine minutes out. They were ordered to retreat immediately and link up with the rest of the MEU two klicks to the south to take up defensive positions and await air support. Kenny was unconscious - snowed with Morphine and Ativan by then - receiving blood thinners and plasma through an IV drip in the back of a medical evac vehicle, so he had no chance to even consider this matter, let alone act on it.

You can probably guess how that fight went. Not well for the convoy of Taliban fighters in the pickup trucks who were targeted with the precision-guided Hellfire missiles, nor anyone else in the general vicinity. Flame and blood. It was all just flame and blood in the blink of an eye.

Later, at the 48th Combat Support Field Hospital Unit in Kabul, after recovering from his first three surgeries, Kenny was informed that his friend Jay was still missing and presumed killed in action. A few weeks later, after some brief treatment in the hospital at Ramstein AFB, he was back stateside at the Walter Reed Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, receiving rehabilitative care for his injuries via the Wounded Warrior Project. He was up and about shortly thereafter. Compared to most of the other guys there he had a relatively short and painless journey to recovery. The majority of them were amputees, or multiple amputees, but Kenny just needed to get back up on his own two feet.

When he was released the first thing that he did was buy a plane ticket to Phoenix and he went to see Sandra to talk to her about what happened to Jay on that day just outside Kandahar. Of course, she had received the letter from the Department of Defense by then, but those things were always fairly cold, vague and impersonal. Kenny told her what actually happened and answered her questions, and she was crying hard in no time at all. It was not easy but it was necessary. Jay’s widow deserved to know the truth.

Afterwards they had a few beers together and when dinnertime rolled around little Katie came out of her bedroom and announced that she was hungry. Sandra was ready to cook up some burgers with mac and cheese, but Kenny offered to spring for a meal at the diner just down the road and the blonde-haired little girl nearly erupted in pleasure, immediately seeking promises that she would be allowed to order a large chocolate milkshake there. With whipped cream on top!

They all enjoyed a happy little dinner together – hamburgers still carried the day, only with French fries and a pickle on the side rather than mac and cheese – and afterwards Kenny picked up the tab, which wasn’t very much. Afterwards they parted ways and Kenny went back to his room at a local motel.

He was planning to head back to Austin sometime soon but he wasn’t in any rush. His mother was dead from cancer six years now and his father was steadily slipping into senility and growing increasingly angry and abusive in the process and his younger brother Travis was constantly looking for a hand-out. He wasn’t sure he wanted to be there at all but didn’t really know where else he might live. San Diego maybe? Oceanside? He did his basic training at 29 Palms and knew the area somewhat, but it still seemed so foreign to him. All of that sunshine and private beachfront property and overly-beautiful homes and luxury import cars and all of those self-entitled rich assholes and their teenage kids who thought they were just so tough after a year or so of MMA training? Besides, the cost of living was ruinously expensive. He just didn't really know where else to go. He would probably be heading back to Austin sometime soon. He would figure it out from there.

The next day he was giving some thought to this question while looking up flight options for Austin when his phone rang and it was Sandra. She and Katie really enjoyed spending time with him at the diner the night before. Would he like to stop by for some lasagna and Caesar salad that night? He had no other plans for dinner. Why not? The lasagna was delicious. Sandra could truly cook! Katie seemed happy to see him again. It was all very nice.

Things just kind of went on from there, pretty quickly. Kenny had only come to Arizona with the intention of staying for a day or two. He just wanted to tell Jay’s wife what happened outside Kandahar and clear his conscience. He knew Jay would have done the same for him, had Kenny been married. But then he postponed booking a flight to Austin, or anywhere else, for a few more days and decided to stay a little longer and one night Sandra put her hand over his while they were sitting on the couch quietly watching a film on Netflix together, and they just looked at each other and smiled warmly. Nothing else happened that evening but it wasn’t too long before something did.

Kenny spent a few sleepless nights once this all started, considering the moral perils of what he was doing, but Jay was gone now so what good would it possibly do to just leave Sandra and Katie alone in this world? Sure, she would probably find another man soon enough, but who knows who that guy might be? There were a lot of really bad people out there and even more men who were just reckless with the feelings and lives of others. He knew this. Ultimately, he decided that Jay would have wanted his family to be looked after by someone he could trust so Kenny stayed around for a while and before long he had moved in with them.

He was getting checks from the VA but he started doing some part-time contracting work locally, off the books, and soon he was taking Katie to school and picking her up almost daily and they had a weekly “movie and pizza night" going and before long there was a trip to Sedona and then one to Disney and then one day he said the three words to Sandra. He hadn’t really planned to do that, he just did, and she returned the sentiment immediately and kissed him. From there it wasn’t long before she had her marriage annulled and Kenny was shopping for a nice but affordable diamond ring. (Which, she assured him after the fact, wasn't really necessary as she already had one.) They took their time planning the wedding. There was no big rush and they wanted to save up money for the ceremony and a honeymoon in Kaanapali afterwards.

When the day came in mid-June, he woke up early to shower and shave and dress in his rented Tuxedo. (When the hell would be the next time he would need to wear a tux again? Never?) He left the house to give Sandra some privacy to do her hair and make-up with the help of her friends and get dressed in her gown. He was standing on the steps of the church when she arrived in the limo and she was simply radiant in white.

Afterwards, at the reception hall, they were standing together and talking happily with two of Sandra’s aunts from Kansas City when out of the corner of his eye Kenny noticed a Marine wearing dress blues and carrying his white cover under one arm coming through the front doors, but he quickly disappeared into the men’s room.

Kenny placed one hand on Sandra’s lower back and leaned in to whisper in her ear.

“I just have to visit the head. I’ll be right back.“ Sandra just smiled at him and nodded, continuing her end of the conversation without pause.

When Kenny entered the men’s room, Jay was in front of one of the sinks, an orange prescription pill bottle by one hand, staring into the mirror. Kenny was stunned speechless to see him there but Jay just slowly removed his navy blue jacket with all the ribbons and medals and dropped it on the floor. He had a Heckler & Koch .45 ACP in a black leather holster under his left arm. Kenny’s blood ran cold and he suddenly felt a need to urinate that had not been there just a few seconds earlier. Jay stared at him through the mirror.

“Nemo Resideo.“ It was not said in a friendly tone.

There was a brief pause while Kenny gathered his thoughts.

“Jay. I...can’t believe I’m...actually looking at you right now.“ He didn't normally stutter.

There was another brief pause as Jay unbuttoned his collar and slowly began rolling up his sleeves.

“Well fuck, man. We’re good friends. You‘ve got my back and I got yours, right? You didn’t think I would show up here to see you marry my wife today? Become the new legal guardian of my daughter?“

Kenny raised his hands, palms out. There was something very different about Jay’s eyes and it was deeply disconcerting. His eyes were black and lifeless, much like a shark. He had also lost about 25 pounds but he looked lean and fit, the veins in his neck pulsing slightly, his jaw muscles working.

“You gotta understand. They told me you were KIA.“

Jay just turned and stared at him for a few seconds before answering slowly and quietly. 

“Yeah well, what you gotta understand is that when you’re locked up in a filthy makeshift Taliban prison for two years, in some shithole village that no one cares about, you don’t really have a whole lot of access to phones or email. While you were fucking my wife and taking my kid out for cotton candy, or whatever, I was getting the shit kicked out of me. Either that or, you know, just starving and dying from dehydration in 115 degree heat and getting bit by rats whenever I was able to sleep for a little while. No big deal. I’m sure we were both enjoying ourselves equally.“ He casually drew the pistol, racked a round into the chamber and then set it down on the sink counter next to the pills.

Kenny was now sweating through the armpits of his tuxedo, despite the air-conditioned cool of the restroom.

“Jesus. How did you get out, man?“

“That’s really none of your fucking business at this point.“ His eyes narrowed and a vein started to throb at his left temple.

Kenny took one step back.

“Jay. Easy, man. Think about this.“ 

Jay just stared back at him and let that linger in the air between them for a moment, subtly shaking his head from side to side.

“Trust me, I’ve thought about this, Kenny. I’ve thought about it long and hard. It’s really all that I’ve been thinking about since I got back.“ He reached down and pulled the military issue KA-BAR knife with the serrated steel edge from the sheath strapped to his ankle and held it in his right hand with the blade pointing outward.

“Hey, man,“ Kenny said, holding out his palms again, briefly glancing towards the bathroom door. “Come on, Jay. Semper Fi, brother. I'm unarmed. Do you really want to come at me with that blade right here and now, with Sandra and Katie right out there? Is that really what you want to do?“

The term Semper Fi and the reference to his wife and daughter only seemed to elevate Jay’s anger from where it already was. Such great heights now. He looked down at the white tiled floor and took a deep breath through his flaring nostrils and spit angrily. When he looked back up he raised his eyebrows, let out an almost inaudible growl, and then nodded slightly before he answered the question in a menacing half-whisper through clenched teeth and began moving forward.

“Yes...I do.“

THE END