Real Military Service Starts Here

Abstract

One day they asked for an ambulance to the helicopter landing area at the operations headquarters. I went there with the second lieutenant who was a friend. An expert sergeant and two privates had died in combat and they were bringing their bodies back to the base. I had to take them to the morgue and identify the bodies. I had been wondering when I would have to do something like this. We took them down from the helicopters in stretchers. There was anxiety among the soldiers. Everybody rushed to the landing area to find out who had been killed. Suddenly I found myself in a responsible position. We put the boys on the stretchers and started carrying them to the ambulance. The soldiers around were crying and running to the see the bodies. The corpses were in terrible condition; as if they had been taken out of mud … Their eyes were open. They were covered with blankets. I had to lift the blankets. I can never forget that sight. It was the first time I was looking at a corpse so closely and with such psychology. Their mouths and noses were filled with dirt. They must have struggled on the ground quite a bit before they died. There was still blood coming out … I am a calm person by nature, so I don’t lose control in such situations. I concentrate on my responsibilities and on what needs to be done. We tried to calm down the soldiers who were crying and hugging their dead friends. Everybody felt the pain. They had said there was one martyr, but there were three. Martyrs should not be left unaccounted for.