War Machine Page #6

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We have been at war now for eight years,

at enormous cost in lives and resources.

Years of debate over Iraq and terrorism

have left our unity

on national security issues in tatters.

And having just experienced

the worst economic crisis

since the Great Depression,

the American people are

understandably focused on

rebuilding our economy

and putting people to work here at home.

Sir.

You got your troops.

Buddy here just announced

to the whole of Afghanistan

that we are about to abandon it!

That's like telling the bad guys

all they gotta do

- is wait out the next 18 months...

- Yeah.

...and then we'll be gone!

And so he just told an auditorium

full of young American soldiers

the war they've been asked to fight

these last eight years

has been nothing more than

one great monumental waste

of everybody's time.

That was a clusterfuckingly

stupid f***ing speech!

Thank you, Greg.

Well, you heard him.

He's not giving us the full 40,000.

They're giving us 30.

I just got off the phone with the SecDef.

We gotta get the rest

from our coalition partners.

Looks like we're going to Europe, boys.

So, uh, pack your, uh...

Oh, I don't know, f*** it!

Pack whatever it is they wear in Europe.

- Speedos and sh*t! Willy.

- Hmm.

The world stage.

It's always seemed funny to me

how a man can go from looking at a map of,

I don't know, say Helmand province,

to finding himself in Europe

trying to persuade our friends and allies

that his crazy dream

is their crazy dream, too.

Bonjour, General.

Thank you.

- Bonjour, monsieur.

- Hello.

Okay, so tomorrow afternoon,

you have the presentation

to I'cole Militaire.

Uh... Tomorrow night,

dinner with the minister of defense.

That is a gala dinner, by the way.

Just a heads-up so you can prepare

yourself mentally. It's a big one.

Meetings the next day.

Then we got the night free.

- And then to Berlin.

- Yeah.

Here we go.

Obama is in Copenhagen tonight.

They wanna know

if you can spare time for a meeting

on Air Force One tomorrow morning.

The president wants some face time.

Now he wants f***ing face time.

F***ing dick.

So can you do that, boss?

Then we can jet across

to Copenhagen at zero six.

The president's gonna be

on the tarmac at 8:30.

Well, you're the keeper of my schedule,

Cory. You tell me if I can do it.

Uh, okay, yeah, we can have you back

in Paris early afternoon,

depending on how much time you two need.

And I can shift your morning meetings.

See that out there? I'm calling that dusk.

That's close of f***ing business.

Boss, you good with this?

Sure, Pete. We're not in theater.

You boys earned it.

Sir, have you had a chance

to say hello to your wife yet?

You know, she checked in this morning.

I think she's waiting for you

in your room.

Sh*t. Right, I should do that.

What room am I in again?

- What?

- Five-seven-one.

- Five-one-seven.

- Stop. Go.

- Five-one-seven.

Five-one-seven.

- Hi, boss.

- Hey, Willy.

- Hi. Hi, honey.

- Hi.

- Hi.

- Huh.

I'm sorry, I've been delayed.

The president is wanting time

with me tomorrow,

and we've been trying to ascertain

whether... whether or not

we can accommodate this request.

I'm gonna leave you two be. I'll be...

- I'll be right next door.

- Okay, thank you, Willy.

Well, we're in Paris.

Yeah... Hopefully we'll get to see

some sights.

Yeah, I'll have, uh,

Cory, uh, schedule some time.

- Yeah.

- Okay,

but you do what you gotta do,

because I am here for you.

- Oh, yeah?

- Uh-huh.

- How's Tim?

- Oh, he's good. He's good.

- He sends his love.

- Okay.

Um... He's...

He's got a new girlfriend now.

- Ooh!

- Yeah, I like her.

Yeah, her daddy's an ILE instructor

over at Leavenworth.

- Huh.

- Mmm-hmm.

Yeah, she's sweet. You'll like her.

Hmm.

Well...

Well, I... I think it's just great you're

getting to see the president, honey.

You must be very excited, huh?

Hey, Glen.

Hope you don't mind me hitching a ride.

I'm on my own dash to see the president.

They told me you were heading

over there this morning.

No problem, Pat. My plane is your plane.

- Knock yourself out.

- Thanks, Glen.

So my hope is, depending on how long

your meeting goes with the president,

we can have you back in Paris NLT 1400,

then straight to

the cole Militaire for 1500.

My uniform will be crushed

after these flights.

I'll need a shower, a fresh shave.

I'm allowing for four solid hours

with the president.

If it's less than that,

we should be fine to go via the hotel.

I am just contingency planning

for the possibility

we may be running tight on time.

- Can we move the cole Militaire back?

- Not really.

Gonna be a lot of people there.

We have the gala dinner right after.

We don't have any wiggle room here.

You should wear the fatigues

to the thing this afternoon.

The general, direct from the battlefield.

No need to shower

when you're straight from the fight.

- That's good.

- Yeah.

- It's very good.

- I like that.

Well, just make sure

Willy has my fatigues on standby.

Talking points for the president.

How you doing, Glen?

Oh!

This one is a b*tch, right?

Nothing about war is easy, Pat.

Right on.

Though I'm guessing, somewhere deep down,

you were happier in Iraq.

A soldier leading soldiers.

Soldiers above you, soldiers below you.

Just a nice bubble of soldiers.

Just ordered. Right? 'Cause it has to be.

War is chaos, so then the army has to be

the opposite of chaos.

But now you find yourself

in the real world.

Now you're dealing with civilians,

and civilians don't make sense.

Not making sense is a luxury

I can't afford. Hmm.

Lives depend on it.

- No, of course.

- Yeah.

Absolutely.

And you can't live in the bubble forever.

You gotta rise as your talents dictate.

What do you want, Pat?

How do you think this ends?

Simple. We either win it or we lose it.

Yeah, I don't know.

I think I'm gonna call bullshit

on that, Glen.

All the winning we were ever gonna do,

we did in the first six months.

And since then,

we've just been making a mess.

And that's all it was ever gonna be.

You're not here to win.

You're here to clean up the mess.

You'll get your 40,000 troops.

Get 'em in there. Get your PowerPoint

presentation in order, you know?

Just move the needle a little bit.

Show everyone how all the graphs are

pointing in the right direction.

That's all you gotta do.

That's how this ends best for you...

anyway.

A nice-looking set of graphs.

Or a nicer-looking set of graphs

than the last set of graphs.

Either that or get yourself fired.

Then you can say "I told you so"

when it all turns to sh*t

or fizzles out or...

however it is this thing ends.

There's no street parade

at the end of this one.

It's good to talk.

Everybody. How are you?

Morning.

Yeah, it's good to see you again.

- How you doing? Good to see you. Nice tie.

- Thank you.

All right. How's it going?

- Morning, sir. Nice to see you again.

- All right. Take care now.

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