RED WHITE AND BLUE BLOGFEST

Hosted by Melanie Schulz @ http://melanieschulz.blogspot.com.au/

On September 2, 2013, the Red, White and Blue Blogfest is happening!

Post a short story of 500 words or less on your site on September 2, 2013, 

with a military theme to be part of the Blogfest!

 

 All the stories entered will be complied into an anthology ebook 

that will be available on Kindle- 

All proceeds to go to Operation Purple, 

a great organization that sends children of our military to summer camp, 

free of charge.  

And if that's not incentive enough, this is also a contest. 

One randomly chosen entry will win a $50.00 amazon gift card, 

as well as a signed copy of, The Newstead Project by Melanie Schulz.

 A tally system is to be used to pick the winners. 

The more tallies you get, the more chances you have to win. 

HERE IS MY ENTRY:

Contemplation, Elation and Dreams 

By Carolyn Brown

(500 words)

The young man sat waiting, contemplating his dreams and aspirations, oblivious to the noisy, busy atmosphere surrounding him. Soon the truck would be here to transport his battalion to the airport to board the plane headed to Afghanistan, relieving the duties of men who had completed their tour of duty.
He had always wanted to walk in his father's footsteps and proudly took up enlistment as soon as he come of age, hoping to fulfill his dreams and live up to the memory of his dad. 
In the quietness of his mind, he hoped he would achieve greatness during this combat mission and be able to live up to his father's image. A great man. A hero, who never made it home alive, but was dearly loved and respected by his friends and family.
A tear slips from his eye, as he thinks back to the day his mother received the visit from the military official, pulling up to their run down house in the shiny, black Hummer, outstretched hand holding the official letter from the Secretary of State, which changed their lives forever. Wiping the spilt emotion from his face with the back of his hand, he stands and joins his buddies, pushing back his hurt and emptiness, he puts on his brave face and heads to the truck, climbing in with his platoon to head off to the other side of the world to do battle and fight for peace and justice, just as his father did many years ago.
“Hey, Joe!  I saved a seat for you.” A second young male gestures towards him, beckoning his presence. He sits in the seat provided and bumps shoulders with his buddy as he plants his rear end into the seat. “It won’t be long now, and all our hard training will be fulfilled.”
“Yeah, I was just thinking the same thing.”
“Are you excited? I know I’m pumped!” the tall, blond haired guy next to him interjects.
“Suppose so.” Joe replies, “I was just thinking, you know about what happened to my dad and how I felt the time he didn’t come back.”
“Mmmm, yeah it’s tough man, but hey, he did end up a hero!”
“Yeah, but I miss him, you know.”
“Well I think the best thing to do, is to make him proud of ya!” blond guy replies.
“I’ll try, thanks man.” Joe, forces a brilliant smile, but his fears are still sitting just below his conscious thoughts and he tries hard to quell them to fit in with the emotional high his mates surrounding him are portraying.
There is an excitement inside the truck, he does not understand. His long term grief has overshadowed any feelings of elation and anticipation, which seems to be enveloping his fellow platoon members. Joe just feels empty and alone and secretly wishes that this was over and that he was headed home. He forgets the reasons why he had enlisted in the first place and questions his own judgement.