As the NATO troops disembarked into the scorching tarmac of The Great White Elephant International Airport in the Republic of Lumbago, all but a few of the soldiers were unaware they followed the footsteps of their great-grandfathers and uncles in a long line of international interventionalists into this little corner of Africa.
One of the few who knew of this African country’s ever-present role in the crossroads of history was Lieutenant Holdem, he sat amongst his Marines readying their Humvees after the weeks at sea; he studied the strange photograph of his grandfather, Major Francis Holdem in a pristine blue dress uniform with a revolver in one hand and a cricket bat in the other standing next to a sunken Arab dhow among a group of natives and a smattering of German, British and French officers.
The pop-pop-pop of automatic gunfire in the distance and the loud mechanical slap of a MK-19 being locked and loaded brought him back to the present. Lieutenant Holdem and the rest of Marine RCT-2 had been in country for a week, their objective along with the rest of the NATO taskforce is to clear the capital city of Njia Pandamito of rebel forces and restore the democratic government who have been evacuated into the city of E’Fluent. The young lieutenant had joined the marines to see combat and as the Sergeant Major approached, he knew he and his platoon would not have to wait long.
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