The Love Within The War

Before it got out of control- Pierce Version

I am Alice Pierce, a war correspondent with CNN Times. I'm covering the war that is raging around our globe..... our enemies.... our cities..... in our very backyards.... The war has been raging on for about 6 months now, and well, it all started with a just simple border dispute between the U.S. forces and allies such as the Russians, Chinese, and North Korean forces, between the borders of Russia and Kazakhstan.... how do I know this, you ask????

Well, you see, my father was there... he was the colonel in charge of the company tasked with protecting the border. It all happened so fast they said after one Marine squad went the wrong way and went too far too close to the border. They were stopped by a regiment of Russian borderline soldiers. The Marines raised their weapons in defense .... and well as they both did that ... Firing of the weapons ensued. Both sides began to fight in the engagement that lasted 72 hours of high-intensity combat, and I mean this involved infantry, tanks, helicopters, fighter jets, and bombers.

My father was stationed there the whole time and didn't want to leave his men behind. He knew that fighting was going to be something even a high-ranking officer would have to do. My dad used to always tell me that he would be back one day when he'd go on deployments. This time, it was a lie because he hadn't come back. Officials told me that a few of the survivors saw my father helping other Marines protect the injured as they were med-a-vac out of the battle zone.... that was the last thing they said to have seen of him. That was 6 months ago it still hurts. I never got a funeral or anything. Just simply, all I got was that he was missing in action....

I was a mess from that news. It wasn't just me but family and friends who knew my dad and were close to him. My mom was aware of it, but as they had split exactly for this reason, she knew it would happen. My mom is doing great with her job as a surgical nurse, it keeps her busy since my brother has left the nest and started college, and my step-dads been supporting my mom since she split with my dad, that was a hard adjustment but it was necessary. Who'd want to know their husband had died in action or worse missing and nowhere to be found. I understand she had to protect herself, but that just left me to deal with the pain of the unknown.

I don't remember that whole day, when I opened my door to be greeted with two men dressed in the United States Marine corp's dress blue uniform, they had a paper and told me the news. I didn't process it until the next morning, and that's when I felt my world crashing down.

When I woke up the next morning, I was so angry with them. Why would they bring my dads paper, and tell me that my dads missing and then leave? Who does that. How can someone be that harsh. I called my mom to inform her, and she was just silent for a while. She heard my voice crack and the soft sobs coming from me. When she spoke, she said sorry and how much she knows this hurts me and that she wishes she could take the pain away. She reminds me this is just how it is, and there is nothing we can do about it, but hope and be surrounded by loved ones and just live life until we get better news.

I called off of work for that week, which really turned into 2 weeks. Peter, my assistant, was the most concerned since he knows I've never called off in the entirety of working with me.  I had to reassure him that I was okay and that I would come back to work. Though, in all honestly, I'm not sure I'd want to. My whole job is to get a sense on war and I did it one because that's where my comfort is, its how I was raised, I don't think I know anything else besides protecting our home, our militray families and shedding light to the people who don't know what the militray really is and what our militray has to go through when they are fighting to protect our values.

Except now, I understand what it means to be on the other side, to be a family member of a military personnel. You never think it'll be your family member, no matter how much you think you're prepared. As the days continued, my best friend Leon helped me get through the pain, the days where i felt like i couldn't breath, and depression at the time, where i wnated to give up my carrer and get as far away from everything that reminded me of my dad. We were close childhood friends...... Who loved each other, but we were too scared to admit that to one another.

Leo remained with me the whole time I was grieving. His work understood that there were going to be times he couldn't go in. I laugh at this now because I knew if it wasn't for my dad, Leo wouldn't have been able to stay with me. He'd have to go to base they wouldn't have cared if it was anyone else. Heck, unless it was your wife, they wouldn't even let you go to a family members funeral. Oh yeah, did I mention he's a Marine. He was here because my uncle, who is also a marine, made a few calls and got him the 2 weeks off. If it wasn't for Leo being here and reminding me that it can only me who can write journal pieces about life within the military and war, to get people to understand the struggles, the world would never know the reality and severity we face everyday, even if it seems like our home if perfect.

Leo joined the Marines 3 years ago now and was later called by the government 5 months ago to go and serve our new enemies.

I still remember the day.... I drove to his dad's house to see him off ... but he wasn't there, I only found his Dad sitting on the side of the edge of the stairs of his house looking on. He looked up to me and said, "There goes, my son.".... He didn't even stop and say goodbye to me, his best friend. It hurt so much that I focused everything on my work. You see, I'm a war correspondent with CNN, and I want to go and keep the good people updated on the war and show how brave our troops were fighting. My whole interest and motivation would go down into flames if .... if by maybe a horrible chance I see Leon's body somewhere in the streets of a battle-torn city... I knew deep down in my heart that if I got the chance.... I should tell him...