Many of the marines and soldiers of third squad, second platoon, B company, 1st RIC Battalion would stay up during the morning after their shift ended and sleep in the afternoon. Elton Ward, also known as TNT preferred to sleep early in the day and spend his afternoon and evening with other activities. 

When the shift ended at 0800 hours, Elton hauled himself out of his coffin in the Cryo room, ready to brief Corporal Harrington his replacement. Elton shared the same RI-1 with the Memphis Tennessee native, Connor Harrington. Connor was a former Marine Force Recon like Elton, but also served a tour with 1st battalion, 4th Marines before his time in Recon. The two junior NCOs were cordial with one another and had a mutual trust, professionals share in regards to their duties as RIC operators.

Once his quick brief with Connor ended, Elton began typing his report. Every marine and soldier had to complete a daily after actions report (AAR) on anything and everything that happened while in the coffin. This report included any missions, actions during movement, actions on contact, exfiltration routes, performance of the RI-1 and any damage taken during the previous eight hours. Elton attempted to record his AAR in chronological order. Once complete, he e-mailed the document to his Platoon Commander, First Lieutenant Caroline Pasternack, a short blonde woman from Baltimore, Maryland.

After work, Elton gave a few of his co-workers a ride home, then returned to his apartment off Bay Rd. He parked his car in his assigned parking spot and ran up the steps to his apartment. He had gotten used to the prosthetic leg. He felt comfortable with it now after more than two years with the titanium appendage.

He changed out of his duty uniform and into shorts T-shirt and running shoe. Then headed back outside for a quick five-mile jaunt through the neighborhood. He wasn’t pushing it today; he just needed the run to vent frustrations from the work day. Although he loves his work, he couldn’t stand being cooped up in the coffin for six hours. Some days it was unbearable. At least it wasn’t an a twelve-hour shift. That would have driven Elton nuts.

During the run, his mind wandered to the events of the previous night while serving as [i]Wombat[/i], his tin man. He thought about his own actions and the actions of his unit. There were some aspects he liked and some he did not. He would need to address them later. At the beginning of shift, the squad leader, Sergeant Adam Lane, a native of Sacramento, CA would sit down with the squad and talk about the previous night’s actions. It was a way of getting their heads back in the game ready for the next shift and to discuss any deficiencies or areas the team may need work on. Eventually, Elton sang a running cadence in his head. It brought him back to happier moments in the Corps and helped him to relax.

When he returned home, the clock on the wall told him he had completed the five miles in under thirty-eight minutes. It wasn’t his best time, but he was satisfied it was comparable to other run times this week. After a quick meal and some television, Elton drifted off to sleep on the couch in the living room.

Unlike the other members of the squad, Elton did not wake up to an alarm clock. He slept for six and a half hours, woke to use the rest room and then take a shower. His bladder served him as his alarm clock. He ate some breakfast and dressed in his Krav Maga clothes; a T-shirt and boxing shorts. Elton hung around his apartment the rest of the afternoon, watching television or playing games on his gaming console. He also had daily maintenance to perform on his prosthetic. He didn’t like sleeping with it on, but it was a sign that he had gotten accustomed to it. Often, he would take it off when home alone just to air out his leg. He never wore it in the shower.

Around six PM, his girlfriend, Rachel came home. She was a San Francisco Native he met in Palo Alto. He had only known her for six months, but the couple got along great. He was in love with her and asked her to share an apartment after four months of dating. The first month was a bit rocky, but they have slowly gotten used to their living arrangements.

When she walked in the door, Elton stood up and hopped over to greet her. He kissed her on the lips and asked, “how was school, babe?”

She smiled at Elton. She had full lips and a lighter complexion than Corporal Ward. He thought she was beautiful. She also got into extreme sports, hiking and camping. Which meshed pretty well with Elton’s ideas of fun. “School was good. Professor Hancock went on one of his rants about the President. I wish we could go to school and remain apolitical.” She gave a knowing look to her boyfriend who stood four inches taller than her, “know what I mean?”

“Yes, ma’am.” Elton smiled at her, uninterested in getting into a political discussion as well.

Rachel took care of her book bag. She was a student at Stanford University. She earned her bachelor’s degree in biomechanical engineering last year and was currently enrolled in the Master’s Program focusing on cybernetic or bio-synthetic prosthetics, which is one of the reasons Elton’s leg attracted Rachel rather than turned her against entering a relationship with the Marine. She has fallen in love with the man over the past six months as well.

Elton left the house for his 8PM Krav Maga class at Krav Zone in Sunnyvale. He only started four months ago and was considered a Yellow belt in their curriculum. It was similar to the self-defense training he received in the Marine Corps, but he made an effort to clear his mind of anything he learned in the Corps in order to grasp the concepts of this Israeli Self-defense system. He thoroughly enjoyed it. It was brutal and realistic stuff. Krav was more a therapy for him than anything else. He always sought out the same guy, Matt Johnson to partner with him in class. Matt is comparable to Elton in height and weight. Matt exudes confidence, but doesn’t talk much. The two are getting used to working together.

After class, Elton was soaked in sweat and needed to run home for another shower and then change into his duty uniform.

“Hey babe, did you sleep on the couch again?” Rachel asked when he walked in.

“Yea, I was watching the tube. Couldn’t help it. Never made it to bed.”

“You need to quit doing that. I bet you left your leg on, didn’t ya?” Rachel assumed a motherly condescending tone towards Elton.

“Don’t get all snippy with me, Rachel,” Elton was annoyed with this. “I ain’t your son.” He raised his voice a bit with her.

She quickly moved in close, snaking her arms around his waist and smiled up into his brown eyes. He quickly melted away forgetting why he may have yelled. “It’s OK babe, you know I love you.” He kissed her, “I need to go get ready for work.”

After helping Duncan into the car, the two rode in silence to the Hump where they worked on what was known in the Military community as a Top-Secret facility.  The radio played Hip Hop tunes on 106.1 out of San Francisco. Elton always felt pumped listening to the music. He never asked Duncan what he thought of it. 

After helping Duncan get into his wheelchair they went inside the facility. At one time in the past six months one of them said, [i]’you know we only have one good leg between the two of us.’[/i] Elton was quick to point out, [i]’Yea, and it’s mine! You can’t have it!’[/i] Elton remembers smiling at that comment. He respected Duncan Webb and appreciated the work he did with the RIC program.

Elton waited for Sergeant Lane before going into the Cryo Room. “See you in there, Duncan,” Elton called out. “Err, Lance Corporal Webb!” He added to sound like a real Marine.