When Carter returned to the base, he asked everyone about the wounded soldiers. Were they okay? Did they survive? He was uncomfortable on the entire chopper ride back to Jalalabad. He kept thinking the worst. But when he landed, he quickly discovered that they were still alive and were being transported to Bagram.
He was relieved. Maybe they had a chance.
Then he slowly headed back to his room. He went in and took a long, hot shower. He wanted to wash off the blood and dirt. He was so tired, he propped himself against a wall and just let the water bounce off his body. He had to wash away all reminders of the day. What just happened? he thought.
Bits and pieces of the battle flashed in his mind. The blood. The body parts. The bullets. CK’s shattered skull. It was almost too much.
After the shower, he called Staff Sergeant Marie Schult, the noncommissioned officer in charge of the public affairs shop in Bagram.
“Hey,” Carter said.
“Hey, I heard about your thing,” she said. “Are you all right?”
“I’m good,” he said, trying to pretend everything was okay. “So I have one question.”
“Yes?”
“Do I stay here or do I go back?”
“What are you talking about?”
“Well, I’m not mission capable anymore.”
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine. But I have bad news.” He paused for a moment. “My camera’s been shot. Real bad.”
“No way? Serious?”
“Yeah,” he said. He knew she couldn’t see him, but he was smiling for the first time all day.
She put Dennis, whom Carter had replaced, on the phone. “Hey, you’re going to stay a couple of days to iron all this out. You’re going to have to give your sworn statement. Then come back.”
A few days off. Just what I need, he thought. He prayed that he would be able to sleep.