Synopsis
Two female veterans of the US Army return to their country.
After five years of service in the dangerous zones of the Middle East, they begin civilian life.
They make a promise to be in constant communication.
Jaimie Jade Hacibe Joya, an American, Latina, third generation Honduran, Paraguayan, Venezuelan, Cuban,
enters the Illinois State Police.
Petula Ashworth, South African, white, finds temporary jobs while traveling the Eastern U.S. with no fixed destination.
Petula communicates with Jade; she informs her that she begins a romantic relationship with a handsome Brazilian Latino, Guillermo Cespedes.
Petula still tells him that she is temporarily living in Oask Point, a small farming town in Ohio.
Then he doesn't call her anymore. Months and months without communication.
Jaimie Jade Hacibe Joya on her first vacation goes to Oask Point to surprise Petula, she wants to know how her life is going, she wants to know how well her relationship is going.
She arrives in Oask Point. No one knows Petula or Guillermo.
Her social networks are static, her phone is disconnected due to non-payment.
Jade decides to find out.
She does not accept that her friend and partner Petula Ashworth is an UNKNOWN, unreachable USER.
She decides to stay at Oask Point....
The Helibras Super Puma dodged the flash.... No doubt an unguided missile.... Everyone smiled nervously...If it had hit them, no one would ever find their corpses in the dense jungle.
It was just that: a patrol in the jungle, searching for criminal gangs, garimpeiros, irregulars, guerrillas, drug traffickers, etc. .....
For them it was to be perpetually with bad breath, bad smell, encounters with poisonous snakes, to relieve themselves in the bush, fatigue, nerves, insomnia and a single happy moment, when in the clearing of the jungle, they heard the unmistakable sound of the "Bird" that came to extract them from that hell ....
- Except for the scare, it could not have done us much harm -explained the sergeant in the middle of the noise of the apparatus, referring to the shot- Our helicopter is armored underneath.
They nodded, it was surely so. 24 months of coming and going, of few leaves, of many scares and tension, very bad pay and extreme use, almost every day, of their IMBEL 7.62 rifles were over.
Now they could get out of their rigid military discipline of their jungle battalion and go back to living.
- We are going to parade all over Manaus
- Well, don't expect much applause out there,---said a smiling boy from Pernambuco.
-I'm going to join the National Police,--said one of them.
-- I don't want to know anything about discipline. I'm going to the beach of my lady Rio de Janeiro.
-- Well, I'm going north. I am going to New York - Guillermo Céspedes affirmed with his head - I will leave Sao Paulo, the New York of the South, and go to New York, the New York of the North....
They all laughed.
They landed at the base, at last! It was the last mission. No more fighting, no more patrolling, no more patrolling... The remaining days were to behave well, not to be too smart, and soon they would be the most missed "civilians", "reservists". The plans said amidst the noise of the Helibras engine increased....
"I'm going to drive heavy trucks in Spain". "I'm going to work as a security guard for a millionaire coffee plantation owner. "I'm going to work as a mechanic with my dad. I'm going to Dubai and I'm going to join the army there, the pay is spectacular. I'm not going to do anything at all". "I'm going to reenlist". "I'm going to the Federal Highway Police". "I'm going" ... "I'm not going" ... "I'm going" ... "I am".
Those who remained silent, who did not say anything, it was because they would take advantage of the training to join the criminal gangs, which they themselves had been fighting for months.
I
In another helicopter, a Black Hawk, with all the extreme technology upgrades built in, Jaimie Jade Joya "Jotajota" and Petula Ashworth, were riding in exultant joy.
, traveled exultant with joy and had a reason . They had finished their 4 year contract plus one additional year for lack of relief and were returning home after 5 years. They had served as military policemen in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain and Baghdad.
...Maintaining order and security on bases... There was no more fighting. Shiite militias and Kurds had wiped out ISIS in Mosul...Now the job was to keep order and security in bases.
Mosul ..Now the work was incessant and in the middle of routine ..The usual routine;.maintain order and security ,control soldiers and officers who forgot discipline .Do internal investigations; above all make those who saw a beautiful latina next to a spectacular blonde understand that they were not nice and were just doing their job.
And always say.
"Careful... Careful..." "Sergeant and military police with very bad temper" ..That was usually their motto.... Soon that would be a memory. So at the end of the helicopter flight they saw the huge green mass of the cargo plane that would carry them...A Globetrotter.
-They explain it to me and explain it to me again and I don't know how it can fly,--- said Jaimie Jade, her eyes wet with excitement before boarding.
At last they joined the group of 250 men with their backpacks waiting to board.
- Let's go home! -Petula exclaimed happily.
- Attention, men. Hold the line, you are still soldiers. Whoever forgets has 60 more days here to remember... Quiet…--said a gruff color sergeant commanding.
-Careful... Careful,--whispered Petula.
- Sergeant and bad-tempered,-- said "JJ" quietly.
II
Hours later they would fly over Turkey .Turkey was still nato.... They were there for a while ..A lousy period..Then they would fly over Romania and then descend at Andrews base in Germany....
48 hours and in that time many of the returning group were approached for propositions in offices, to reenlist, to do operatives in CIA, NSA, naval intelligence, air intelligence, military intelligence and private defense contractors, and others whose cycles were not even known.
They did not receive any invitation to go to offices for these interviews, however, they would not lack for work upon arrival.
A chartered civilian plane. An additional 11 hours of flight time; the beautiful green girl would tell them that they had arrived in New York.
As they were flying and the group was sleeping Jade told him
- I'm going to my hometown, I'm going to sleep with all the gangbangers I can get my hands on.
- Here you had enough
- They are not from my town. And what are you going to do?
--I don't know. I'm going to see what jobs are available out there; for now I'm going to go clubbing.
--There are no blondes left in New York. Now they're all Latinos, Chinese and undocumented. You'll be a foreigner in your town.
- I'm a foreigner...I'm not Italian...I lived in Diker Hights when I was growing up.
--Pasta and lasagna. Said "JJ."
-- It was my basic training for the army. I'll get a job, do something, and I'll be alive on Saturdays...
-- Well, I'll sing "Chain of Fools" every day in my house...
I'm leaving right now , I'm going to get high and drunk at every gas station...You know..Facebook,Telegram,Twitter,Whatsapp,Instagram ,Tik Tok,and whatever comes out everyday with me.
-- We haven't landed yet. You forgot Instagram, Tinder and Zoom.
--Oh,"old fading woman". That one, too.
-- In two days, no earring,-- the blonde prophesied.
-- Don't even think about "fading"...It was too much what we went through together...You're not leaving me.Te quiero mucho y estas dentro de mi.
-- Yo tambien.
...They landed. Some relatives. No one for the two of them.
6 hours later Petula and Jade hugged in front of the bus terminal..They didn't have the luxury of crying..Jade put her hand.Petula placed her hand on top.Jade placed her other hand on top and Petula finished the tower.
Laughing and waving Petula stayed until she saw the bus leave.....
She was alone in New York...Veteran, her only friend was leaving her alone.... Unemployed;Exactly the same as 30 million unemployed Americans, thanks to the coronavirus developed at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in Communist China.
5 years is a lifetime. Actually what I wanted was to get to know the country I had defended in those five years... villages, towns, cities ;not being tied to any place and rolling around ....
