"Rhea," an airy voice attempted to pierce through the now long forgotten dream.
"Rhea, come on," and with a sudden jerk on my left shoulder I had awoken.
Disoriented, I peered around me to make sense of my surroundings. While everything was still hazy, I recall briefly thinking how my new life seemed much more like a dream than my actual dreams, and how a large part of me simply want to go back to sleep.
"Rhea, we're going to be late. Let's go. You know we have to report to Commander Forrest by 0600 hours, and you know he has very little patience for any infraction, much less tardiness," said the still blurry figure with a half-lecturing and half-pleading tone. He flashed a light that must have been the Sun itself in my eyes, eliciting a few choice words from my mouth, but it had his intended effect. I lunged out of bed, and began to recall where I was, and who was so urgently prodding me awake. The man in front of me had pounded on my door and awoken me late the night prior and then told me to pack quickly and lightly. Upon compliance, he then ushered me out the door and drove me through the night to the closest military base some three hours or so away from my home. I'd been here often over my time in this land, and technically I had been given a commission as a lieutenant due to my various aptitudes and subsequent training. Given my unique circumstances, however, I had never really been called upon for anything "official" before, however.
"Lt. Marshall, I'm very well aware and I had an alarm set. Not that you seem to care much about my well being, but given your fire drill last night, I was attempting to get every last second of sleep I could," I scathingly replied while gathering my military attire and toiletries. "Now please step back outside while I continue getting dressed."
"Three minutes and I'll march you in there stark naked if I have to, but that's all the time I'm giving you" is all he said as he stepped back outside and slammed my door shut behind him.
Given that Lt. Marshall had never been known to exaggerate, followed by the immediately subsequent thought that being paraded in my birthday suit before the commander was about the only thing I could imagine more horrifying than reporting to the commander looking half-dead and unkempt, I decided I'd better skip everything about proper grooming with the exception of throwing on my clothes, gargling some mouthwash and running a brush through my hair a few times almost simultaneously.
Sure enough, one hundred eighty seconds on the dot, he came crashing back through the door and began escorting me out without a word. He seemingly gave no care to my still rather unkempt appearance, my untied boots, my bed head or really anything other than marching me to the commander's office. I was caught between the sinking pit in my stomach at the scolding I'm sure I'd get from the commander, and the elation at having avoided the alternative had I actually chosen to test him and jumped in the showers…
Of course, once we arrived at the office the commander kept us waiting outside for the next forty-two minutes while he concluded some phone call. Despite my pleas, however, Lt. Marshall refused to allow me to excuse myself back my room or the restroom to try and straighten up any further.
Upon finally being beckoned into his office, we were addressed.
"Lt. Marshall."
"Commander," he responded with a salute.
With a very pronounced delay after glaring at my appearance, "Lt…I'm sorry was it Lt. Levine or Lt. Hogwashed?"
"Lt. Levine, sir," I replied cautiously and with a belated salute.
"Interesting, because I could have sworn it was the latter to have the audacity to report to a commanding officer looking like you just came off the farm."
"My apologies sir. It won't happen again sir."
"See that it doesn't…ever…or I'll assume that you must really want to help out and get your hands dirty by cleaning every kitchen, sink, faucet, pipe and lavatory in the base for a month."
"Yes sir."
I could tell the commander wanted to berate me for another hour, but he must have been impatient given how long his last call was and how important our briefing supposedly was going to me, so he quickly moved on.
"Alright, lieutenants, have a seat," he began as we both gingerly sat in the chairs in front of us.
"I'm sure you're aware of the growing political tensions we've all been seeing on the news. Well, I'm not at liberty or quite frankly well enough informed to discuss that, but suffice to say the top brass are mobilizing everything we have in a show of force out of deterrence," he continued. "Honestly, I don't think any of this is necessary, but again that's not my place," after a brief pause he proceeded, "Lt. Levine."
"Yes, sir," I responded.
"I know there was an implicit understanding that you'd get to more or less live out your life normally, but things have changed and you are technically a commissioned officer."
"Sir?"
"You're being sent to the DMZ. There's a plane leaving at 0900 hours, and you're going to be on it. Lt. Marshall will be joining you."
"I don't understand sir, I've never really…"
"There's nothing to understand. It's an order from the top for all reserve officers to be mobilized without exception. You'll be briefed further once you arrive. Honestly, I don't know much beyond that anyway."
The next couple hours was a blur after we were dismissed by Commander Forrest. I returned to my room, grabbed what few things I had brought with me to the base, found a few minutes to actually freshen up in the showers and properly dress, find something to eat, and then I was on a plane. A plane ride to another side of the world that I'd never been to, or at least had never been to in this time. I remember the whole trip was almost nothing but silent contemplation interspersed by brief moments of eating, resting, relieving myself, and recording my accounts of the day. I realized my life was changing again, and I felt compelled to begin recording what was happening. I'm eternally grateful that I did, as these very tales are now recorded to pass on because of that decision. Of course, I couldn't have known then how this would all end.