Everyone was ready and willing just blindly to accept the comments that the terrorist made. Hell, they even devised a clever little pet name for him, "The Cyber Bombardier." The whole situation was becoming a substantial stupid nightmare, and the way things were panning out, it didn't look like this was going away.
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Nine years ago, Mid 2016
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It had been eight months since the Cyber Bombardiers video went viral, and as if one viral video wasn't enough, he had put out a new one each month.
In response to the series of videos and their alleged plausibility, a large-scale investigation was put into effect by the US government and several large organizations worldwide in an attempt to find this man. His threats grew larger and larger with each video, and with each new clip on the internet, more and more people became anxious about the threats he made.
But I firmly believed that it was all a load of BS. I had since convinced my entire group of friends that the Cyber Bombardier was full of crap. That all he is is a hype train and a doomsday preacher.
Hell, seven months and no results, just a lot of smoke and mirrors. From what I've heard, not one of the SOU (special operations units), such as the FBI, CIA, or MI6, has been able to trace him down and capture him.
It's like he's a ghost, which just reinforced the notion in my head that nothing would happen. The only person I couldn't convince was Renton.
"Dean, you still don't get it. Not even the government can find him. On top of that, he's getting a lot of support from other terror cells; tell me something, how can we be prepared if we can't find him and he's making these threats? Well, Dean, how can we be ready if something happens?" Renton was getting more and more aggravated as time when on.
Each time a new clip would come out, he would panic more. Until finally, he had enough, and he had to act out.
One day, after being pushed too far, he waited until Dad and I were home and called a family meeting. Which was my Dad's way of saying everyone must sit a the kitchen table together and discuss something serious.
"I wanted to let both of you know I spoke with a Marine Recruiter."
My Dad and I both had the same reaction. We both started laughing.
"Wait a minute; you're telling us that YOU, the laziest person on the planet, want to join the military and not just the military but the hardest branch."
I started laughing even harder Until, finally, my Dad smacked the back of my head hard enough to cause me to faceplant into the kitchen table.
His viewpoint differed slightly from mine as someone who served in the Army for several years, let alone as a former Special Operations Soldier.
"Renton, if you are sure about this, you have my support but be warned, you will not enjoy it. What job were you looking to do?"
Renton thought about his answer for a few minutes but finally spoke up. "I want to be infantry." Silence hung in the air as my father studied my younger brother.
"You know that when you aren't fighting, you will pick up trash and be a glorified janitor for the base, right." My Dad said with a straight face, causing Renton to slam his fists down and hit the table angrily
"THERE'S MORE TO IT THAN THAT, DAD. I WILL FIGHT TO DEFEND OUR COUNTRY FROM PEOPLE LIKE THE CYBER BOMBARDIER!"
My father calmly stood up, walked over to my brother, grabbed him by the shoulder, and threw him to the ground. Renton's only reaction was to yelp.
"DAD, WHAT ARE YOU DOING," I rushed towards my Dad and brother, but my father put a hand up, stopping me as he pulled Renton's arm behind him.
"Tell me something, Renton? How do you plan on defending our country if you can't even defend yourself from a 65-year-old man?" He released Renton and went into the living room without saying another word.
Now alone in the Kitchen, I looked down at my brother as he lay on the floor staring at the ceiling with eyes void of intelligence for a solid minute.
Seeing enough and releasing a loud sigh, I extended a hand to him and helped him.
"You can do it. I've got your back. You know that it's always been us versus the world anyway; nothing different if you join, I'll join too." Just like that, it looked like our future was decided.
Well, at least in our heads, we were nowhere near prepared for what was in store for us. People have an image of what it would be like to be in the Military. Let me tell you this it's NOTHING like what you would think.
For the next three months, all my brother and I did was work out and try to get physically and mentally fit for the oncoming trials on the path before us.
Finally, the day came when it was time to say goodbye to our lives and move on to something that would turn out to be our best and worst decisions.
On December 4th, 2016, My Brother Renton and I Stepped onto the Military base that would be our home for boot camp. I looked at my brother out of the corner of my eye as the bus stopped and the Drill instructors came rushing at us.
All we did was grin cockily at each other. We knew this would be the most trying experience we had ever lived through, but we would make it. And we did.
:: I won't go into specifics about my training, but if you really want to know, I'm sure you'd be able to locate some old books lying around somewhere that have all that information. With our training complete, Renton and I left Parris Island hardened and ready for battle. This is what you should take from this segment of my story.::
After Boot, we were moved to the school of infantry, aka the infantry training battalion, for two months, and then guessed what, even more training. It seemed like all we did was train.
Everything from survival to shooting under stressful environments and mindsets, you name it, and it was probably involved; but in the end, we were both considered grunts, so all we did was train.
We didn't realize that while being molded into Marines by the Corps, the President of the United States had declared War on The Cyber Bombardier.
He had passed a bill to do so, since back then, going to war with an entity or governing body wasn't as simple as stating, "WE WANNA WAR YOU BRO," instead, it was all handled through the legislature.
Basically, all it did was detail that we were actively tracking down the terrorist and had finally located where he was. As such, with the paperwork finalized and the other branches of Government voting to pass the bill, the President started moving troops in to eliminate him and the Army of followers he had begun to amass overseas.
Due to this Declaration of War, Renton and I weren't granted leave when we were supposed to. Instead, we were thrown into more training. Once we completed that, we were shipped off to Yuma, Arizona, for Desert training; finally, after almost a year of endless physical and mental exercises and preparation, we were released to our own devices and granted leave.
With our proper documents in hand, Renton and I booked the first flight out of that hell hole and hopped on the first plane home we could get, but we weren't ready for what awaited us when we returned.
For Us, Time had stopped in the past year. We were secluded from technology, and except for the brief phone calls and letters between our parents and the few friends who would speak to us, we only knew what the Military wanted us to know.
We were nowhere near ready for what our city had turned into.
Our Dad met us at the airport in his cruiser, and when he saw us, he had this radiant look. Gone were the two boys who had left home, and standing before him were two grown men who had physically and mentally changed completely.
He knew it and could see it when he stepped out of the car.
We had what was known as "Military Bearing."
Wearing a beaming smile, our Dad walked over to us as we stood there with our gear bags and worldly possessions and examined us in our uniforms.
"You both look very sharp. However, I'm going to warn you both about our current situation, not to scare you, but to prepare you. Things have changed; I'm not sure exactly how much you know about the President's declaration, but dark times are ahead of us." He said while taking our luggage and throwing it into the SUV.
Hearing how stern our Dad was being, my brother and I just shared a glance. Eventually, it was I who spoke up first.