During the current times, it's easy for people to take for granted the men and women who are defending this country; right or wrong, opinion versus opinion, they are doing their jobs and doing things well in the most inhospitable conditions that can only be imagined by people who have been in war.

It is not the intention of this author or the publishers of this work to merely make the American military a mere prop in a fictional story. With the highest respect, we attempt to portray them in the highest regard possible. We would never disrespect their ability, their patriotism or their honor for the sake of realism.

But all those soldiers must admit, you would rather be fighting an enemy with a little more class than your current foe--after all, all monsters aren't bad.

The blowing sand stung like small buckshot striking his face and exposed hands. The portly man held his hat tight to his head as he ran from truck to truck shouting at the drivers the best he could, repeating his commands when the wind snatched his words away. He was becoming hoarse with his repeated yelling over the sandstorm that had arisen in the last fifteen minutes. The last truck driver in the line of fifteen two-and-half-ton vehicles nodded, understanding that the convoy would wait on the side of rural Highway 4 until this sudden show of desert fury subsided.