Home Of The Brave Page #6

I don't know, boss.

Just like the job, this wasn't working out.

What job is that?

The job at this dealership, man.

You know about that.

Right. Right.

She wouldn't see me.

Who wouldn't see you?

Keisha.

She wouldn't see me,

so I had to make her see me.

You know what I'm saying?

Yeah.

Thought she was one of them, Tommy.

Like I turned and wasn't no time.

They don't give you no time.

Right.

Jamal, what do you say

we go back to the center,

and we'll talk to someone, get some help.

- You come with me?

- Yeah.

Yeah, I'm coming with you.

First you gotta give me that gun.

I like my gun.

I know you like your gun.

But come on, man,

you don't wanna do this.

I'll come with you.

Anything for you, Daydream.

Oh, sh*t.

Got movement.

- Sh*t!

- Jamal!

Jamal! God damn it!

Jamal!

F***!

Damn it!

Jamal.

Go! Go! Go!

Mike Falcone called me.

He said you never showed up

for your appointment at the Academy.

Yeah. I thought it was, like, a possible...

He was holding a spot for you.

- Jesus, Tommy!

- So maybe I'm not ready yet,

even if you want me to be ready.

What I want you to stop watching

Band of Brothers, smoking dope

- and playing video games all day!

- Fine. Maybe I should just re-enlist, huh?

Maybe that's all I'm really f***ing good at

is f***ing killing people!

- Stop feeling sorry for yourself.

- F*** you!

You don't know

what it's f***ing like over there!

You don't know

what the f*** I went through!

F*** you! Stay the f*** away from me.

- Damn!

- Stop!

- It's okay.

- I couldn't get to him...

It's okay. Don't. Don't.

It's okay.

I couldn't save... Couldn't save him.

It's okay. It's okay, Tommy.

It's all right, Tommy.

- You all right, Dede?

- We're gonna wait for your father.

What the hell?

Can't work on a holiday.

Think I ate too much.

Penelope, hello.

Come on, come on, come on.

Will, where have you been?

Look, this is Hector,

Rodrigo and... I forget.

But they were working on Thanksgiving

so I invited them to our house for dinner.

Baby, we have guests. My father...

- Carl, hey!

- Will.

- How're you doing, man?

- Baby, go lie down.

No, no, no. It's Thanksgiving.

You don't lay down on Thanksgiving.

Come on, come on, guys.

Come on, let's eat.

Hey, everybody. Happy Thanksgiving.

You know what?

Since it's Thanksgiving,

I think I should say a few words.

Don't worry. Hold on, hold on.

I know, you're all thinking,

"Is he gonna do

or say something crazy? What?

"The drunk, violent fool

"back from a year in the desert."

Yeah, but don't worry. Don't worry.

I'm not going to do anything like that.

I know I get drunk,

and I get angry

and it can get to be a bit much.

But that's how I'm dealing with it.

If that impacts on your life in a bad way,

then I'm sorry.

And I'm gonna make it right. I promise.

But we're not gonna talk about that.

Let's talk about what we're thankful for.

And I'm thankful for my family

and my friends. And my new friends.

And I'm also thankful

that I live in a country

where I can eat till I'm full

three times a day, seven days a week.

And I'm thankful for

two-ration beef with mushroom sauce,

and heat and dust and roadblocks

and Haji Pepsi,

and kids who run up and hug you,

and kids who spit at you,

and mothers having babies faster

so they can grow up to kill you.

And the boys,

who are young and brave and scared,

and the Kevlar

propped against upside-down M-16s

with boots next to them,

Boys with wives and fiances and babies

and mothers and fathers.

Boys who just wanna come home.

And they do come home,

maimed and haunted and f***ed up,

if they come home at all.

But, hey, hey, it's Thanksgiving.

Let's eat, enjoy ourselves.

- Carl, you saved me that drumstick?

- Of course, Will.

All right. Come on, come on, guys.

Let's get something to eat now. Come on.

Grab some of these good comidas,

Mi casa es su casa,

Come on. This is great.

Thanksgiving. All right.

Hey, what is that? What the f*** is that?

- Dad, what're you doing?

- What is that!

Back off me!

- Get over here, boy.

- I'm... I'm...

- Get away from me!

- What's with you?

It's okay, baby.

- He pulled it out.

- My God.

Will.

Put it down.

We'll get you help.

Think about me and Dede.

We all grew up together,

Me and Jordan,

we lived on the same block,

He and I used to play football, basketball,

Anyway...

He died in Al Hayy.

We just got word we were coming home.

We were all pretty excited, you know?

Yeah.

He was my buddy, you know?

And I didn't get to him in time,

And when,

when I was holding him,

when I was holding him,

it wasn't like I saw his eyes close

or you know, anything like that.

I just felt this... Just felt this vibration

and he was gone.

And now,

now I've been back for, you know,

some time now,

trying to make sense of all the sh*t.

What I do know is,

I don't belong here anymore.

Sh*t.

Right here, Rudy. Over the top.

We don't have to talk

about the war today,

We've made some good progress,

Even coming in here was a good first step,

It's not like they gave me a choice, Doctor.

No, it's okay.

I wanna tell it, actually.

I'd been in Balad about a month.

Was 130 degrees, sand was in everything.

It was awful.

We heard mortars all the time,

but we never got anything serious.

I'd just finished a 12-hour shift.

I was exhausted, ready to go to sleep.

When all hell broke loose.

Look alive, people!

Heads up! Let's hit it! Let's go!

Incoming CASEVAC! MASSCAL situation!

What's your name, son?

Pulse 120. Let's get a tie-off here.

I need two units of plasma

to this soldier right away!

How you doing, soldier?

Pulse rapid and thready!

Let's get some QuickCIot over here now!

Hold your head up, son.

Come on, help me! I'm hit!

Radio for help!

Okay, you'll be okay.

Go outside. Go outside. Go.

You guys, you can't be in here.

I need that blood back here now!

Medevac's on its way from Taji.

- ETA?

- One minute.

- Somebody alert the chaplain.

- Okay.

- Please get off me!

- All right.

I need you guys to wait outside.

No, no, no! We're not f***ing waiting!

You all got to fix him.

Do something. Fix him, Doc!

I will do that, but I need you to go outside.

- Motherf***er, you fix him...

- Just calm down.

What are you doing?

- Blood pressure's dropping.

- I need that QuickCIot now!

Starting chest compressions. Go!

Elevate. Elevate. Put his legs up.

I amputated six arms and legs

in three hours.

Four soldiers died on the table,

all under the age of 20.

I mean, I saw all that...

And I'll always have that.

But there's that...

that moment when you realize

you can't help someone,

and you feel heartbreak.

And then the shame

because you couldn't do your job.

It was an unusual situation.

A crisis.

During war...

Doctor, I know all that,

but it's not about that.

It's...

I don't feel anything.

I'm supposed to feel something, right?

When you treat a patient

you're supposed to feel something.

Well, I don't feel anything.

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