New World

    Al surveyed his surroundings, but there was not much to see. The North and the East held nothing but sand. To the South and the West were his new base and the pathetic bazaar town that surrounded it. It was a far cry from Germany.
    The army had been good to Al, so far. He joined right out of high school because it just seemed like a natural fit. College was not for him, at least not right away. His mom barely earned enough to get by, certainly not enough to help him pay for college, and his dad was not in the picture. Being in debt for years was not an attractive option, so he did what would pay him the most until he could go to school.
    Basic training was a breeze for him. He had always been one of the most athletic kids in school and never had many luxuries growing up, so it did not take much adjustment at all. After being initially deployed in Germany, he now found himself in Afghanistan. It was different there. The smell, the air, the feel... everything was different. He did not like this place at all. It felt more like back home, Texas, than Germany did, but there was something about it he just did not like.
    The next day, his unit was scheduled to go to a nearby town. Sergeant Cardenas told him they were going to “assess the situation,” and he would not be any more specific. This sergeant was unlike any other commanding officer he had been under. He was distant, almost in an uninterested way. Maybe he did not want to get to close to any of his men, or maybe his personality was a coping mechanism. Everyone had his own way to distract himself; Al had been following professional wrestling more closely in the army than he did in high school.
    He turned around and started walking back to the base. Children pestered him for money, and he tried explaining to them that he did not have any. They did not understand. He did not like this place, but it was home for the time being.