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But at least no one had died.
Not the soldiers…
And not the woman I’d been ordered to kill.
One more thing:
The entire time I served at Bagram, there were never any reports of anyone using a Russian anti-tank grenade against US or NATO troops. And certainly not by a woman.
11
The tragedy occurred two months into my deployment, although it happened in Sweden.
A week before I got shipped out to Afghanistan, my mother was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a type of cancer.
As soon as I heard, I took a short leave to go back to Gothenburg to be with her before leaving the country.
The moment I saw her, I was struck by how tired she looked. How pale her face was, and the dark circles under her eyes.
“How bad is it?” I asked, dreading the answer.
She smiled. “It’s not that bad. Hodgkin’s lymphoma usually responds well to chemotherapy. I start treatment on Monday.”
Sweden’s healthcare system was socialized, so I knew she would be alright as far as money went –
But the physical toll…
“How will you get back and forth between the appointments?” I asked. “What about eating? What about – ”
“Shh.” She took my hands in hers. “I’m going to move in with Ingrid and Leif for a few months. She’s going to take care of me and drive me wherever I need to go.”
“What about your job?”
“They’ve given me medical leave.”
“What about Aunt Ingrid’s job?”
“They’re going to let her arrange her schedule around my chemotherapy. It’s alright, Lars… plenty of people have to deal with this. I’ll be fine.”
“But I’m going to be halfway across the world – ”
“Afghanistan is only a few thousand miles away from Sweden,” she said with a slight smile. “That’s not halfway across the world.”
“It might as well be! If something happens, I can’t just leave and come back – ”
“Nothing’s going to happen, darling,” she said comfortingly. “Nothing’s going to happen except I’m going to get well, and you’ll come back from deployment, and life will go on exactly as it always has.”
Later, I felt bad that my mother was the one dealing with cancer – and yet she was the one who comforted me. But that was my mother for you.
We spent two days together, going out to eat and reminiscing about the old times. She laughed a lot and was in good spirits, which relieved me.
As I said goodbye to her, I hugged her close and prayed that everything would be alright and that the cancer wouldn’t take her.
Half of my prayer was answered.
It wasn’t the cancer that took her.
I’d been out of the brig for a month and was back to the daily grind at Bagram when I got the call from Leif.
