When Johnny Comes Marching Home Ch. 04

"Are you back again?"

One of the men kicked Johnny's foot when he didn't answer him.

"I was in the hospital," said Johnny and was just discharged ten days ago.

The other man grabbed the bag.

"What's in the bag? Drugs? Do you have drugs?"

Immediately knowing what was happening and blocking their escape, the Captain sent four men around the other way to seal off the alley from the opposite end. He watched while waiting for his men to get in position before advancing upon the three men. If these were the men who put Johnny in the hospital, he obviously wanted to capture them.

"May I help you with something?"

With the Major positioned behind him, a doctor with no fighting skills, the Captain, an Army Ranger, walked closer. One man looked up at the voice while the other two men looked through Johnny's things. He was too weak to fight them or to even care what more they took from him.

"Oh, look," said the man laughing. "Toy soldiers. Unless you want to die," said the man pulling a gun, "fuck off!"

Quick to act, Johnny struck a nerve in the man's forearm with his crutch and his gun fell to the pavement. Immediately overpowering them and restraining them without firing a shot, while Johnny retrieve the gun, the Captain and his men were on the men as if they were terrorist. The Captain approached Johnny and squatted down to him.

"Are you Chief Petty Officer, Johnny E. Mercer?"

Johnny looked up at the officer and nodded his head.

"Yes," said Johnny to the Captain. "I'm Johnny Mercer."

Keeping his eye on the three men, they had his focused attention now. He remembered them. They were the ones who hassled him. He knocked two of them out with his crutch and threw their handgun down the sewer. Even though it was too dark to see, he knew they were the three men who nearly kicked and beat him to death. If he was grateful for anything, jogging something back in place, all of their blows to his head returned his memory.

"Are these the men who beat you?"

Johnny smiled up at the three men.

'Payback is a bitch,' he thought to himself knowing full well that the Captain would be their judge, jury, and executioner on his behalf.

"Yes," said Johnny smiling while knowing what was going to happen to the three, poor bastards.

With the men already restrained, the Captain looked from the men to Johnny. Johnny nodded his head again as if giving the Captain his permission to do what he needed to do. As much as Iraq or Afghanistan was a war zone, so wasn't the alleyways located in the inner cities.

"Release them," said the Captain. "Give them a chance to defend themselves."

As soon as the men were released, before they could even put up their hands to fight, the Captain's men gave them a punishing beating worse than the beating that they gave Chief Petty Officer, Johnny Mercer. In the same way that they left Johnny Mercer, the Captain's men left the three men in the alley battered, bruised, beaten, broken, and bleeding.

*** MadMadMadMaxine ***

They returned Johnny to the hospital by military transport and gave him a private room with a private staff of nurses around the clock. Over the next several months, they fitted with a new arm, a new leg, a glass eye, and a specially designed hearing aid. The news outlets couldn't get enough of writing stories about him, about his war hero family, about his acts of heroism, about him living in Pakistan and working for the CIA in helping to find Osama bin Laden. With his valuable information, he was the man on the ground and behind the scenes who passed along the information that bin Laden was hiding in a compound in Pakistan and not in a cave in Afghanistan.

After several months of physical and occupational therapy, it wasn't until the day of his discharge that Johnny Mercer was properly introduced to the public for the war hero he was. As if the hospital was being invaded a huge contingent of military brass and reporters again, it was the day of release for Chief Petty Officer, Johnny E. Mercer and for him to meet his admiring public. He was expected at the White House to meet with the President of the United States today to receive the Medal of Honor.

"We're standing outside of the Veteran's Hospital waiting to be briefed by an intelligence officer," said the reporter to the camera. "Johnny Mercer, Chief Petty Officer, Johnny E. Mercer of the Navy SEALs was found beaten nearly to death in an alley more than one year ago. Initially it was reported that Mr. Mercer was arrested as a traitor, found guilty, dishonorably discharged, and imprisoned. Then, unconfirmed reports are such that Chief Petty Officer, John E. Mercer, instead, was indeed a war Hero. He fell off the grid the first time when he left a VA hospital before being discharged. Years later, he fell off the grid again when he was erroneously discharged from a Veterans Hospital before he could be properly identified and processed."

The General and Admiral with his contingent of staff filed in Johnny's room. Fitted with his new arm, new leg, a glass eye, and a hearing aid, Johnny was wearing his Navy dress uniform. Pinning one medal on his uniform after another, the Admiral pinned a purple heart, Defense Distinguished Service Medal, the Navy and Marine Corps Joint Service Commendation Medal, Distinguished Service medal, Silver Star medal, Legion of Merit, and a Navy Cross medal. The President would be awarding him the Medal of Honor later that day.

As if he was the guest of honor riding in his own funeral procession, he was taken by a long procession of limousines to the White House and to meet the President of the United States. Before the President introduced Chief Petty Officer, Johnny E. Mercer to America, he was returned to his original rank and then promoted. Skipping the rank of Senior Chief Petty Officer, he was given a battlefield promotion to Master Chief Petty Officer. The President address the room of reporters and television cameras.

*** MadMadMadMaxine ***

"Working in conjunction with the Navy SEALs and the Central Intelligence Agency to help find Osama bin Laden, while on reconnaissance at the border of Pakistan and Afghanistan, Master Chief Petty Officer happened upon an ambush. Al-Qaeda terrorists manned a machinegun nest in readiness to mow down a patrol of Navy SEALs. Going above the call of duty and risking his life, Master CPO Mercer overpowered the machinegun nest and killed both combatants. Then he used their own gun to kill the terrorist who lay hidden to ambush the SEALs. Master CPO Mercer was directly and indirectly responsible for the deaths more than 100 of the enemy and the wounding of scores more before he was injured by a thrown IED," said President Obama.

The President turned to face Master CPO Mercer to applaud him before returning his attention to the room of reporters and to the American audience public.

"People may not always see them, we may not always hear of their success, but they are always there in the thick of the fight and in the dark of the night achieving their mission," said the President. "Before I deliver the commendation to our war hero, we have one more surprise for Master Chief Petty Officer, Johnny Mercer. We have the six Navy SEALs that he saved the lives of that day," said the President leading the applause to Mercy and to the six SEALs.

Six men stood from their chairs to salute Johnny Mercer.

"Oh, and we have a special guest," said the President.

A secret service agent entered the room with an enormous black and mahogany brown, German Shepherd on a short leash. As soon as Johnny saw his friend, Saddam, he started to cry.

"Come," said Johnny and the dog ran to him but just before the dog jumped up on his master and knocked him over, Johnny gave him another command. "Sit."

He squatted down to greet his best friend with a hug, a head rub, and a kiss while the dog licked his face.

THE END

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