Dak To
As soon as Ortega was discharged from the Hospital, he decided he didn’t want to leave for the US or take any other kind of leave for that matter. That ended up being the reason why Trautman – who was always short on personnel – went to meet him personally in the hospital he was staying.
*
Trautman sat down on the chair next to Ortega and got things started with his usual update regarding the search for Rambo and Jorgenson, despite not having any news.
He then went on to talk about his “private war’, the one he was fighting against the conservative side of generals.
Afterwards he discussed how impressed the Brass had been with operation POINT OF NO RETURN and how the Baker Team program had been renewed and granted its funding.
Ortega was pleased to hear that.
Pleased because they had a good reason to fight, something that couldn’t be said for the thousands of other soldiers there.
Something as fucking important as actually winning the damn war so that losing Rambo and Jorgenson wouldn’t have been in vain. That’s only if they won, of course.
In the end, it all came down to one thing: winning the war.
It’s too bad they were still a long way from declaring victory though.
After they discussed the debriefing Trautman and the generals had, the subject moved onto ops currently in progress, and potential future ones.
Trautman decided in favour of mentioning operation NO MAN'S LAND to Ortega, and even went as far as telling him how he hoped Ortega would be well enough and want to take part in it. He went on to explain that due to the number of casualties and losses the SOG teams had had, the whole operation was now, at risk When Ortega told him what he really thought about this new op, or about taking part in it, Trautman was taken back unexpectedly.
Ortega wanted in.
Even if he was still recovering, there was nothing he could want more.
Despite how willing Ortega was however, Trautman felt a little guilty about having “talked” a wounded soldier into doing a mission he could easily have given to someone else.
“You’re still recovering, Ortega. You don’t have to go at all costs. You know full well there’ll be other ops.”
“No Sir, I’ll run this one.”
There’s no denying that at the beginning, a part of Trautman hoped Ortega would be well enough to go right from the start. In hindsight however, the Colonel was starting to get a little concerned.
Regardless of his condition, the more Ortega thought about it, the more he seemed to like the idea. Yet as Trautman observed him more carefully, he was getting the impression that Ortega was still in pain and not actually fully recovered at all.
“You just wrapped up a long and dangerous mission, Ortega and it’s your second one. This time you got shot in the gut and last time you almost snapped your back in half when Dak To was under siege. Now you don't even want to go back to the US on leave even though you can. You’re starting to worry me.”
Trautman paused for a moment before adding:
“To tell you the truth, on second thought, you don't look so coherent. I hate to say it but that's the truth.”
“With all due respect Sir, I should be the one deciding whether or not I’m up to doing it, or be the one to choose which two men I’d recommend for this mission.”
Trautman kept changing his mind.
“You can't volunteer if the doctor tells you have to stay in bed.”
“Yes, I can.”
The two of them stared at each other in silence.
“So you’ve already decided then and you think I can't keep you from going.”
“With all due respect Sir, no, you can’t. It would go against everything you’ve taught us in all those years of training. Commanding ourselves is up to us. Right?”
“Ortega...”
“I’m going, Sir, and I’ll take that dickhead we call Eagle with me. It’ll be a Baker Team leader thing, and we’ll get it done better than anyone else ever could.”
Trautman stood up.
He couldn't understand what was going on in Ortega's head.
He seemed possessed.
Trautman stared at him a while longer before saying:
“If we were on a battlefield, you’d get a medal for stepping up.”
“...But this is a fucking civil war – said Ortega, quickly interrupting – and we’re fucking SOG soldiers, meaning we’re assassins. That's how the rest of the world sees us anyway, nothing more than a bunch of fucking murderers. It doesn't matter. Medals are for losers, not people like you and me. You don't go giving medals to those men who are just doing their duty.”
“Yeah,” replied Trautman, still more perplexed than ever.
He looked Ortega straight in the eyes again, in an attempt to shed light on this madness.
“I’ll see to making the details available for you,” he said somewhat reluctantly.
The Colonel saluted Ortega for the last time, then turned around and left.
-
What the Colonel didn’t know was that, deep down, Ortega had a debt to settle. He owed blood.
He’d lost Johnny and Jorgenson to operation 'Point Of No Return'.
They were neither dead nor wounded: he had literally lost them, the same way you lose a knife crossing a battlefield that’s waste-high in grass somewhere and there’s fuck all you can do about it besides leave it there.
He couldn’t help but feel there was a price to pay for the mistake he’d made.
He really had no other choice.
If he spent a single day more in bed he’d go crazy.