Corpsman (24 page)

Epilogue

Twelve years later. . .

Command Master Chief Hospital Corpsman Liege Neves waited impatiently beside the statue of General Lysander.  She was in her Navy Service Dress Blues with full medals.  And she had more than her fair share of them, right at the top of the display being her Navy Cross with gold star in lieu of a second award.

She’d been recommended for the Federation Nova for her actions on new Manitoba 11, no, 12 years earlier, but it had been downgraded to a Navy Cross—as if the word “downgraded” was even appropriate for the Navy Cross.  At first, she’d been disappointed, but being the only servicemember on active duty with two Navy Crosses wasn’t too shabby.

And now, as the Senior Enlisted Medical Advisor to the Marine Corps, Liege had reached the pinnacle of her career.  With two-and-a-half more years in the billet, she still didn’t know what she’d do next.  She’d be eligible for one of the major Navy command master chief billets, and she’d probably get one, but after an entire career with the Marines, she wasn’t sure she was ready to make the switch and go blue.

Even her Service Dress Blues seemed awkward to her.  All her other uniforms were Marine Corps, but corpsmen did not wear the Marine Dress Blues.  In formal situations, they wore their Navy uniform.

Liege was aware of a number of enlisted Marines and even a few corpsmen hovering behind her, vultures waiting at a kill.  But they gave her room.  No one was going to crowd the command master chief.

Finally, the first brand new butter bar started down the path to the statue.  Traditionally, the new second lieutenants made the pilgrimage to the statue to render his or her respects.  And the enlisted gathered, crocodiles waiting for the wildebeest to cross the river.

The first lieutenant was not her target, so even if his eyes lit up as he saw who was standing there waiting, she deftly stepped aside, refusing to meet his eyes.  A Marine behind her quickly stepped up to intercept him.

There!
she thought as she spotted her target.

She stepped into the butter bar’s path, came to attention, and rendered her best salute.

“Good morning, ma’am!” she almost shouted out.

The second lieutenant came to a halt two paces in front of her, came to attention, and solemnly returned the salute.

“Congratulations, ma’am!”

“Thank you, Command Master Chief.”

The lieutenant reached into the tiny pocket of her Dress Blues and removed a silver dollar.  Not an electronic credit, but as what most new looeys bought for their first salute, a real, physical coin—in this case a United Federation Marine Corps 325
th
Anniversary Commemorative Silver Dollar, Liege noticed with a quick glance.  She pocketed it without examining it closely.

Command master chief and second lieutenant stared at each other for a few moments before Liege reached out and pulled the lieutenant into a bone-crushing hug.

“Oh, Leti, I’m so proud of you!” Liege said, burying her face onto her sister’s shoulder.

The two stayed that way for a good 20 seconds as other new lieutenants made their way to the statue and their first salutes.  Liege released Leticia, but their medals got entangled, and they had to slowly disengage themselves.  Leticia didn’t have Liege’s impressive display, but with a BC1 and two BC2s, she’d done pretty well so far for herself.

“OK, go give your regards to the general,” Liege told her.

She watched proudly as her little sis marched up to the statue and saluted.  A few Marines rushed up to salute her as well, hoping they were her first, only to walk away disappointed when she only saluted them back in return.

Leticia walked back to her, and the two sisters hugged again.

“And how’s the househusband?” Liege asked.

“Oh, you know.”

“Uh, the ‘househusband’ can hear you,” Vic said from where he was standing, camming the two for posterity. 

Four-year-old Lorna and two-year-old Max were hanging from him, ready to run to her.

“Oh, you know.  He’s doing househusband things.”  She lowered her voice and said, “And last night, wow, those things were pretty amazing.”

“Leti!” Liege said in mock astonishment, punching her shoulder.

“I can still hear you.”

Leticia turned to her children, knelt, and held out her arms.  Both kids, who’d been strictly told that they had to leave mommy alone until after all the ceremonies, left their daddy and ran on little legs across the grass to hug her.  Leticia swept them both up and Vic followed in a more leisurely pace.  He gave her a kiss on the cheek as he reached them.

“Househusband things?” he asked innocently, then turning away from his wife, said, “Liege, we’re glad you could make it.”

“I wouldn’t have missed it for the world,” Liege said, even if it had been a close thing.

She’d been stuck on Earth for the last three weeks, testifying before council committee after committee.  She was proud of her billet, but that was one aspect that she really didn’t like.  She’d had to tell the commandant himself that she was going to the commissioning, come hell or high water.  He’d arranged for her to miss the next testimony, but she’d have to return once more to wrap things up.

“I’m hungry,” Lorna said from where she was perched on Leticia’s hip.

Vic took her and said, “We’re going to eat soon.  Avó and Auntie Gladiola are getting the table now, so if you can wait just a little longer, sweetie?”

“Speaking of which, maybe we’d better get going?” he told his wife and sister-in-law.

Vic had matured into a fine husband and father.  With his family wealth, he didn’t have to work, even when Leticia was corporal and sergeant, so the “househusband” label that Liege liked to tease him with was not that far off.  Most of all, he was good for Leticia, and for that, Liege was eternally grateful. 

Leticia had Vic.  Avó had Gladiola.  Liege wondered what her future held.

As if reading her thoughts, Leticia asked, “So, you’re still on for February?”

“Yeah, the 20
th
.”

“I’ve already put in for leave,” Leticia said.  “Only five days, though.”

Leticia was assigned to 1/13, out on New Palestine, and new second looeys were not expected to take leave throughout their first assignment.  But as they both knew, family came first.

“That is, if you still want to slum with us enlisted scum.  I was thinking of asking Sergeant Major Papp if she wanted to fill in for you.”

“What?  That’s not going to happen!”

“I don’t know, you being an officer and all now,” Liege said as she took Max’s hand and they all started to walk to the parking lot.

“OK, for my first official order as a second lieutenant in the United Federation Marine Corps, I order you to keep me as your bridesmaid.”

“Well, when you put it that way, aye-aye, ma’am!”

Leticia leaned over to give her another quick hug as they walked.

“Hard to imagine, my sister, the command master chief hospital corpsman for the Marines, and Warden, the Second Marine Division sergeant major, getting hitched.”

Liege just smiled.  It was hard getting her mind wrapped around it as well.  But when Warden proposed, seemingly out of the blue, she suddenly realized that they’d been working up to it for a long time, and it was the right thing to do.

It still scared the shit out of her.

Liege looked to where Vic had taken a knee to talk to his young children, catching him saying, “. . .and the tavern’s called the Globe and Laurel.  It’s very famous.  And mommy’s lieutenant class, they put up a box on the wall for their future.  We’ll go see it.  Isn’t that nice?”

“Do they have strawberry sandwiches?” Lorna asked.  “I like strawberry sandwiches.”

“I know you do, sweetie, and we’ll see what we can do.”

Liege took a deep breath, as if she could smell Tarawa, smell Marine headquarters.  Around her, new lieutenants were slowly scattering, families in tow.  They were the new Corps, at least from as far as officers went.  These men and women would lead the Corps in the future, long after she had retired.  And Leticia was one of the new crop of leaders.  Liege wasn’t done yet, but she was getting closer to when the uniform came off.

But not yet.

She gave Max’s hand a squeeze.  Her sister had been an under-educated daughter of the favelas, and now she was a second lieutenant in the Marines and had a loving family.  Her Avó’s mind had been gone, leaving him an empty shell, and now he was his old self and was married to a wonderful, if eccentric woman.

And Liege, she had joined the Navy to save her family.  She had succeeded in that.  But it hadn’t been the sacrifice she’d first considered it to be.  It hadn’t been merely a stepping stone to learn a trade.  It had become her very being.  She was a Navy Corpsman, and that filled her with pride.  And now, she was about to start a new chapter in her life as one-half of a married couple.

Me, married!  The ultimate party girl getting hitched!

Only, the party girl had been an illusion that was left behind long ago, and Liege didn’t miss her.

A huge smile broke out over her face.  Life didn’t get any better than this.

Thanks for reading
Corpsman
.  I hope you enjoyed it.  As always, I welcome a review on Amazon, Goodreads, or any other outlet.

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Other Books by Jonathan Brazee

Women of the United Federation Marine Corps

Gladiator

Sniper

Corpsman

The United Federation Marine Corps

Recruit

Sergeant

Lieutenant

Captain

Major

Lieutenant Colonel

Colonel

Commandant

Rebel

(Set in the UFMC universe)

The Return of the Marines Trilogy

The Few

The Proud

The Marines

The Al Anbar Chronicles:  First Marine Expeditionary Force--Iraq

Prisoner of Fallujah

Combat Corpsman

Sniper

Werewolf of Marines

Werewolf of Marines:  Semper Lycanus

Werewolf of Marines:  Patria Lycanus

Werewolf of Marines:  Pax Lycanus

To The Shores of Tripoli

Wererat

Darwin’s Quest:  The Search for the Ultimate Survivor

Venus:  A Paleolithic Short Story

Non-Fiction

Exercise for a Longer Life

Author Website