“Another horrific day of drills and conditioning,” thought Geo Kealer as the sound of a bugle broke the pre-dawn calm. Fresh out of training, he rushed out of bed and made it almost before the horn quit blowing, for fear of the possible consequences of being late. The lieutenant came in, with the ugliest expression on his face. He was an incredibly ugly man. He had a large, twisting mustache, a bald head, and a score of scars crisscrossing his face. He was probably the most lax officer in the army. But he came in with a grim expression, slowly pacing up and down the barracks. Finally he stopped at the far end. Turning around he stood silently looking at the ground for several minutes. Finally he took a deep breath and said, “Men, Go to the armory and get armed for battle. The enemy has marched across our border and slaughtered entire towns. This will be the biggest challenge of your lives. Some of you will die but, if you follow orders and fight till death, we will win.” Suddenly some people were arguing and fighting. Others were scrambling to the door, eager to finally start getting some action.
But Geo Kealer just sat down quietly. He was suddenly too scared to speak. He had never killed anyone before. Let alone even been in a real fight. One thought formed in his mind and stuck. “I’m going to die.”
After the commotion settled down and the members of his unit were either in line at the armory or sitting in the barracks, shocked. Geo’s best friend, James Walker, walked up to him and sat down on the bed across from him. Geo slowly looked into his eyes. They were as full of tears as his. They stared into each others eyes sharing the dread that covered the barracks. Finally Geo broke the silence saying, “We should get to the armory before people start looking for us.” James Walker nodded his agreement and they got up and slowly walked to the door. The base was small, but heavily fortified. It was surrounded by ten foot, electrified, razor wire fence. Every 20 yards there was a guard tower with a spotlight and a fifty caliber anti-aircraft gun and a smaller machine gun for ground targets. The armory was a massive concrete building surrounded by tents full of weapons ranging from rocket launchers and grenades, to handguns and knives. As they neared the building the sound of orders through megaphones filled the air. Following them they found the rest of their unit. They got in line early but there was still about five hundred people in front of them. By the time Geo was covered, head to toe, in body armor and weapons. his unit was ordered to report to the vehicle depot for transportation to the front lines. They were heading toward Kertland. The enemy is expected to attack there next and Geo and his unit are expected to be there to surprise them and drive the away from the city.
When they got to city they were horrified to discover that it was already under attack. Ordered to sneak around and attack from behind, Geo, James, and about half their unit took off through the woods. Just before they got into position the rest of the unit surged forward pushing the enemy’s front lines backward. when Geo and his people attacked the enemy was pinned between the two groups. At first he was more scared than he’s ever been. First he was deafened by the gunfire. Then almost blinded by the blood and dirt in the air. Halfway through the battle it had all become a blur. Nothing was going through Geo’s mind except “Take cover!!!” and “FIRE!!!” He ran out of ammo and started fighting hand-to-hand. Finally, he was wrestled to the ground by one of his own men. Finally his hearing returned and he heard people saying “It’s over! We won!”
Geo was ecstatic when he first heard the news. Then he realized someone was missing. “James!” he screamed over and over into the air. Rolling over bloody, burnt, dismembered, corpses to find James, Geo was about to give up hope when he heard someone moaning. Following the sound he finally found James. His body was riddled with bullets. A bloody stump is all the remained of his left leg. Face covered in dirt and blood James reached out and grabbed Geo by his arm and pulled him close.
He said “Geo... You are my best friend and the closest thing I have to family... I just want you to know that it was an honor and a privilege getting to know you and I want you to keep fighting. Don’t ever quit, slow down, or start thinking your going to die in battle. If you start to, just remember what happened to me.” At that he died. Geo could do nothing but cry. Eventually someone found him and led him to a tent full of doctors. That's the last thing he remembers.
When he finally wakes up, days later, his unit is already marching toward the enemy’s border to counter attack in an effort to cripple them bad enough to force them to pull back their remaining troops to defend their own people.
Geo went on to become the greatest war hero in history. Having never lost a battle he is the most decorated officer in history. He fought in dozens of battles in a number of different countries. The whole time remembering what his best friend James told him in his dying moments.
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