Legends Never Die

Army Warrant Officer Jessica Fitzpatrick faces many obstacles while stationed in Iraq.This is her incredible, inspiring, adventure to defend her country. Based upon real-life events.

 

   Army Warrant Officer Cadet Jessica Fitzpatrick says her final goodbyes, before she is deployed to Iraq.

Jessica hugs her mom and says “Goodbye, mother. We will talk very soon… I promise.”

 Her mother starts to cry and replies, “Please, please, please be okay.”

 “I will mother.” Jessie whispers.

  “I have something for you, Jessica”. Her mother says.  Her mother takes out a cross necklace. “May he protect you. Just pray to him, when you are scared. He’s always with you.” mother says.

Jessica eyes grow watery. She gives her mother a big hug. She turns around and walks to the boarding gate. She takes one last glimpse at her mother. Farther and farther away, she leaves. THIS IS REALLY IT. Jessie goes through a ton of airport security, until finally she boards plane 76.

The PA sounds in the airplane, “78 hours until we reach Iraq.”

                     *

 Jessica slept for most of the hours, and also does some recordings for her family while on the plane.  After the long wait they finally arrive in Iraq. They make a hard rocky landing. The doors open. General Sergeant enters the plane and yells out, “Move! Move! Move!” They grab all their belongings as fast as they can, and run out the plane’s doors. They reach the ground and sink into the sand. Everyone is a confused. They look around and see they are in the middle of nowhere.

“We are in the desert?” asks Private E-1 Cadet Alonzo.

General Sergeant speaks with power in his voice “Well duh! The base is about 15 miles from here, cadets. Move out!”

Their mouths drop. What have they gotten ourselves into they thought. Sergeant yelps out, “Welcome to Iraq, cadets! This will be the most intense month,  you will ever endure. Get ready!”

*

They run for miles and miles, trying to reach the base. Days pass and they are running out of water.

“Keep up cadets!” sergeant yells out while running.

Their skinny legs pound and pound. Sand up to their knees. They can barely move from the intense pressure. They struggle through the Iraqi desert.

*

After about a week trying to reach their destination, they finally succeed.

“Welcome to base Zoolah, men and women.”  Sergeant announces.

The smell of metallic and fire fill the air of the base.  They are each assigned a tent, to stay. Jessica gets bunked with some women her age. Their names our Erika, Lisa, Carmen, Kelly, and Sharon.

Jessica introduces herself, “Evening cadets, I’m officer Fitzpatrick. But my first name is Jessica… I was assigned here to stay.”  The women glance at her with disgust on their face. One woman, with a big smile on her face, walks toward Jessica, and holds out her hand.

“Hello Jessica! I’m E-4 Corporal Lisa White. Don’t mind the others they just haven’t let go of our last cadet who stayed with us.” They all bow their hands in respect.

Jessica says, “Oh… I’m so sorry.”

Lisa replies, “Thank you. She was shot in the chest, while patrolling Eqknot (Iraqi town) last month.”

Jessica bows her head in respect.

Another woman speaks out “I’m Erika Johnson. Major rank 2. I’ve been stationed here in Iraq for almost two years now. I have an 8-year-old boy back home, and I’m trying to leave.”

Jessica replies, “Great to meet you Erika. Wow, I hope they will release you soon.”

Erika yells out, “YEAH ME TOO.”

Lisa suddenly blurts out, “Okay Fitzpatrick, I will show you around the base. Get your new boots on. The ones you are wearing right now are full of sand. Ha-ha did you sink into the sand, on the way?”

Jessica nods. All the women laugh.

“Hahaha Newby! But it’s all good. We all went through the same thing.” says Lisa.

*

Lisa guides Jessica through all of base Zoolah. She shows her to the cafeteria, weapon armory, bunkers, bathrooms, and meeting tents. Jessica is convinced that she has indeed, signed up for what, and was expected. Lisa shows Jessica to the firing range, where they both shoot their AK-47’s all a cardboard target. The sky turns black.

“Nighttime already?” Jessica says with confusion.

“Yes. Time seems to lose its meaning when you are in the Armed Forces. 3AM or 3PM... It doesn’t never to us Soldiers.”  Lisa tells Jessica.

“Oh, I see. That’s understandable.” Jessica says with her hand on her chin.

Lisa tells her “It’s getting pretty late. We should head back to our sleep tents, before Lieutenant General Wright finds out where we are.” Jessica agrees and jogs back to the sleeping tents with Lisa. They encounter a camel spider while jogging the past the tent of public affairs.

Lisa yells, “Halt Fitzpatrick!”

Jessica comes to a rough stop, and freezes.

Jessica whispers, “Woods... What do we do?”

Lisa whispers back, “Just... stay.. Still.. It won’t hurt us, if we make no movements.”

They both stay still as a statue, for several minutes.

All the sudden, a cadet comes out of the Public Affairs tent, running with a M-9 pistol in hand, and aims at the spider. Woods and Fitzpatrick continue to stay still knowing if they make any movements, the Spider will attack. The unknown cadet pulls the trigger and the Camel spider dies instantly. Woods and Fitzpatrick sigh with relief. The mystery cadet puts his pistol back in its canister and walks away. The women wanted to thank him, but he was gone in a heartbeat. They scratch their heads in confusion and walk away.

*

They arrive back to their sleeping tents, and soon fall asleep. The women are wakened to a trumpet at 0400 (4am). Jessica slowly gets up from her bottom bunk .The women jog off into the fields, in their pajamas now full of mud. The temperature is below 20 and Jessica shivers with her arms crossed together. Sharon suddenly speaks with anger in her voice and says, “Fitzpatrick, you are in the Army! Get used to the cold! Lieutenant General will give you punishment, if you show weakness!”

Lisa nods and says, “She’s right, don’t show weakness.”

Jessica sees their cold breath, and nods with un-satisfaction, and puts her arms by her side. She is only wearing shorts and a T-shirt.  They all wait for Lieutenant General, barefoot in the freezing cold.

30 minutes pass and finally the general arrives.

He speaks with great fury and demand in his voice, “Alright, ladies let’s get a move on!” All the women get into formation and jog all around the base, wearing nothing but their shorts and tank tops in the freezing weather.

Erika suddenly begins to feel woozy and collapses to the ground.

Lieutenant runs to her and yells, “Come on Private! You’re just like the rest of them! Don’t be weak!”

Erika unable to catch her breath to speak, throws up all over the mud.  Lieutenant is not pleased. He grabs her by the arm, and yanks her up. She is dragged like some rag doll, to the clinic ward. All the women watch her in distress. The door slams behind Erika. They all continue running in the freezing cold, as if nothing happened.

*

At 0900 (9am) they head back to the sleeping tents to rest up.  Jessica’s meeting about a new mission is in the afternoon. All the women fall back to sleep.

*

Kelly wakes up to a flash bang that has been thrown in her tent. Her eyes are stunned and head has a terrible ache. She panics and yells, “Ahh! Who did this?!” She hears all the girls laughing. She runs out of the tent with her hands over her eyes. Her eyes are swollen. She yells at the woman, “That’s funny? You guys did this?!” They all nod and try to hold their laugh in.

Lisa tells Kelly, “The last person still in the tent will get flash-banged. You didn’t wake up early enough.”

Erika is confused and angry. She lets it go and heads back into the tent. Jessica goes to the meeting tent for her mission assignment.

*

She arrives to the meeting tent and Chief explains the mission. Chief welcomes the cadets, “Good Morning cadets.”

They all respond with a powerful, “Good morning!”

Chief explains the mission, “Okay, Cadets.. As you may already know, Al Qaeda has found out we are here. According to our spys, we found out they are planning to come at us with force. Armed force if I may say the least. We must attack back, officers. I brought you cadets here knowing I could trust you with this serious sneaky mission. Must I ask another better unit?”

All the Officers yell, “No sir! No sir!” Chief says his last word “Good. Stealth practice tomorrow at 1400 (2pm), Meeting adjourned.”

They all yell the military chant “Hooah!” and proceed back to their bunkers.

*

The next day Jessica goes to eat breakfast with Sharon, Lisa, and Kelly. Jessica talks about the mission, “This sounds like a difficult mission. Al Qaeda can be very sleek.”

Sharon replies with sarcasm in her voice, “No. Al Qaeda isn’t sneaky at all.” Jessica looks at Sharon with annoyance. Kelly scratches her head and asks, “Do you think you’re ready for this, Fitzpatrick?”

Jessica takes a big sigh and replies, “Yes.. Most definitely.” Sharon has an evil grin on her face and says, “We will see.”

Lisa suddenly speaks with worry in his voice, “Jessica, you just got here, and you already have a mission to terminate some of Al Qaeda’s members. That is intense. When is the mission date?”

Jessica answers back with a simply, “fourth-sixteen-eleven.”  Sharon laughs and says, “Not a bad death date.” All the woman look at her, with furiousness. Sharon smiles and eats her bacon.

Lisa asks the women, “Did you hear? Erika was sent back home, for her illness. She must have had it already planned that whole thing out.” Jessica says, “She must have!” Lisa then replies, “It must have been worth it. She gets to see her son again.” Jessica nods.

*

After breakfast they all split up going to their units for the day.

Sharon goes with her Engineering unit, and works on repairing helicopters.

Lisa goes to her Public Affairs unit tent, writing new segments for the “Dirty combat boots” Army Newspaper.

Kelly goes to the Missile controls unit, and prepares missiles for the Sergeant’s inspections.

Jessica goes to armory, looking for a new weapon to trade off.

*

      The next day Jessica goes to the practice mission. Chief is standing straight and tall, waiting for the cadets to arrive. They all gather in a straight line facing Chief. Chief tells about the practice, “Sheath is the key, to defeating them. We must remain under the radar, in order do this surprise attack. Got it cadets?”

“Yes sir!” They all chant. Chief announces what they will be doing today, “Grab the rifles and put on your camouflage suits. We will learn to snipe while remaining hidden in our environment. We must blend in with our surroundings.”

They all grab their rifles and march to a fake forest set up, on the base. Jessica climbs a tree and blends in with the branch. They have dummy targets in the distance.

On her first try she gets right in the head and the dummy falls down.

Chief comes by and looks up at her and says, “Nice job, Fitzpatrick! We will definitely position you in high places, to snipe.”

Jessica nods and smiles. After hours of sniping, practice is over all the officers are dismissed. Tomorrow is the last practice before the mission.

*

Jessica wakes up and heads straight to the meeting place, she met with the officers and the Chief, yesterday. Chief is there along with the other cadets, and tells about today’s practice, “Today is the last practice we have for mission, since tomorrow is indeed the mission. So you must pay attention to everything I have to say. Today we will practice infanity moves, for when we run it.”

All the troops head toward the fighting corridors with instructors showing the moves.

They all learned the “Maneuver”. Maneuver is the movement of forces supported by fire to achieve a position of advantage from which to destroy or threaten destruction of the enemy. Infantry forces move to gain a position of advantage over the enemy and to hold that advantage. They maneuver to attack enemy flanks, rear areas, logistics points, and command posts. In the defense, they maneuver to counterattack a flank of the enemy

attack. Maneuver, properly supported by fires, allows the infantry to close with the enemy and gain a decision in combat.

How to use “Firepower”. Firepower is the capacity of a unit to deliver effective fires on a target. Firepower kills or suppresses the enemy in his positions, deceives the enemy, and supports maneuver. Without effective supporting fires the infantry cannot maneuver. Before attempting to maneuver, units must establish a

base of fire. A base of fire is placed on an enemy force or position to reduce or eliminate the enemy's ability to interfere with friendly maneuver elements. Leaders must know how to control, mass, and combine fire with maneuver. They must identify the most critical targets quickly, direct fires onto them, and ensure that the volume of fires is sufficient to keep the enemy from returning fire effectively, and the

unit from expending ammunition needlessly.

Last but not least, “Protection”. Protection is the conservation of the fighting potential of a force so that it can be applied at the decisive time and place. Units must never permit the enemy to acquire an unexpected advantage.

After learning all the infantry basic statistics and physical statistics, Chief says, “We are ready.”

                                   *

The next day, Jessica wakes up and jumps right out of her bed and yells, “Mission day ladies!” All the women are jump from freight and all start laughing and throwing pillows at Jessica. Jessica yells, “Hey! Hey! Grumpies!” 

They all get out of bed and watch her pack all her weapons. Lisa suddenly says, “Be careful okay?” Jessica’s eyes meet Lisa’s. Jessica replies with a smile and says, “Don’t worry.. Will you be okay here, while I’m gone?” Lisa starts to have tears rolling down her cheek.

Jessica sees the worry on Lisa’s face and sits next to her, on her bunk. Fitzpatrick holds Wood’s hand on her lap. Lisa bows her head, with sorrow. Jessica nudges her and says, “Hey… this won’t be the last time we meet again. I’m coming back. Don’t worry.”  Jessica hugs Lisa.

The siren for the 842 mission Al Qaeda blasts all around the camp. She now knows she must go. She hugs all the women. She heads toward the tent exit and on her way she goes to halt and turns around, and says, “It’s not goodbye… it’s see you later.” She disappears in the sunlight.

                                   *

All the officers meet at the convoy in front of the base. Chief yells out, “In! In! In! In!” and signals them into the convey. Jessica takes one last look at the base. She gulps and jumps into the convoy.

                                   *

They all get closer and closer to their destination. AK-47’s and M40 snipers in hand, as they ride together. Chief gives the signal to stop. They make a sharp break. He says he heard something. Jessica’s heart beats faster and faster. He yells out, “False alarm!” and the convoy continues on. Jessica takes a big sigh.

                                   *

Two hours later and halfway through the Iraqi desert. The convoy is hit by a rocket missile. Cadet Bryce and Cadet Pierce panic and yell out, “Code red!! Quick go-“Before they could finish the outburst, the convey does eight horrific flips. The cadets bounce all over and some fall out. Jessica holds onto a handle under her seat, while it all occurs. She sees Cadet Lawrence in front of her, having his neck cracked, and his head dangling. She watches in horror as if in slow motion. It was indeed the longest seconds, Jessica Fitzpatrick had ever experienced.

                                   *

The convoy finally stops and Jessica is un-conscious. She wakes up to two cadets at her aid. Opens her eyes, but all she can see is a blur. She is coughing and can barely breathe because of the smoke. As she looks around barely being able to see anything, she sees a lot of red. There is blood everywhere. She looks at herself and her leg is bleeding excessively. She becomes  un-conscious again, from losing so much blood. Two of the cadets quickly grab a towel and tie it to her leg very tight, to make it numb. It stops bleeding and her eyes re-open. She sees the two cadets shaking her to awaken.

She finally gets up but limps. She sees all the bloody soldiers and turns away and crouches with the two cadets left. She sees Chief has busted his head open.

She now knows it up to her and Cadets Cunningham and Maltezo.

They hide behind flipped over convoy and speak into their transmitters requesting backup. Fitzpatrick, Cunningham, and Maltezo make a plan in the meanwhile. They knew couldn’t go with Chief’s sheath mission, since they have already be exposed.

Cunningham speaks with quickness, “Myself and Maltezo will run it with our Ak’s. You snipe from here Fitzpatrick. Got it?” Fitzpatrick nods and yells, “yes sir!”

They see the Al Qaeda members along the top of the desserts, with their weapons pointed, waiting for a victim. They all hide behind the convoy and Maltezo gives the count to three signal.  Jessica says, “About 20 of them. Let’s do this.”

Three.. Two.. One!

Cunningham and Maltezo rise up and run from opposite sides, of the convoy. They both shoot their AK-47s at the enemies. Maltezo kills three with only 2 rounds of her bullets. Cunningham aims and discharges his ammo, taking turns at his enemy he fires at. Fitzpatrick dolphin dives in the sand with her sniper in hand. She zooms and aims for a member. She fires and succeeds. She quickly reloads and aims for another one, which was aiming for Maltezo. She shoots him down. Cunningham yanks off his frag grenade handle, and throws it to the enemy’s side. Cunningham yells out and commands, “They are blinded!  Noww!”

Fitzpatrick goes for the rocket launcher she took from Chief, and steadily positions it. She shoots it at their direction. She kills about 11 of the Al Qaeda members. Maltezo yells, “Nice work!”

Fitzpatrick quickly changes back to her sniper and quick scopes.

Maltezo spots a enemy with a rocket launcher aiming at the convoy. She yells out to Fitzpatrick, “Fitzpatrick! Get out of there! Rocket Launcher up ahead. Evacuate! Go! Go! Go! “ Fitzpatrick spots him but its too late. She sees the rocket heading towards her. She quickly tries to stand up from her bloody leg. She feels a indescribable pain in her leg as she puts pressure on it to walk, and she cries in agony. She limps as fast as she can. Practically jumping on one leg. Right when the rocket hits the convoy she jumps to the ground. She is unharmed but can’t hear from the blast. She only hears a sharp beep.

It’s Cunningham asking for her to grab the sniper and keep shooting. With no shields or cover she proceeds anyway. She snipes three members dead. She rolls over missing a faint shot. She takes a deep breathe and gulps.

*

    Six more members left and finally the hummers pull up. They quickly shoot all the remaining enemies. The nurses and doctors run straight towards Fitzpatrick. They put her on a stretcher. She becomes un-conscious again from exhaustion and lack of untreated wounds.

*

Fitzpatrick wakes up in a hospital bed, at the clinic with Sharon, Lisa, and Kelly around her.  Jessica smiles and says with a gentle voice, “Girls… you’re all here.” Lisa had been crying, Kelly had been praying, and Sharon had been just waiting. Jessica looks under her blanket and sees her right leg, has been stitched up. She remembers everything from what had happened. The girls tell her shes a hero. Jessica smiles and falls back asleep. She’s extremely tired and in pain. She recovers in the clinic for 3 months.

*

After recovery, Jessica is left in a wheelchair. They release Fitzpatrick and send her back home. Back in America, to see her family that has been worried sick about her she feels comfort. What she doesn’t know is that she is actually going to Washington D.C to receive the highest award a Cadet could get.

*

She arrives at the airport where Jessica’s mother is waiting with open arms. She sees she is in a wheel crouches down, to hug her daughter she hasn’t seen in months. She cries and cries.  Her mother sees she is still wearing the cross necklace, she had given to her the day she left. Her mother says with tears of joy, “I’m so proud of you Honey.”

Jessica begins to cry too and says, “I love you too mother.”

*

Jessica’s mother puts a blindfold over her daughter’s eyes, and drives all the way to Washington D.C which is only an hour away from their home. Jessica asks, “Where are we going mom?” Her mother replies, “It’s a surprise!”

*

They finally arrive and Jessica’s mother walks her to the front of the white house. Her mother says, “We are here. Take off your blindfold” Jessica removes it, and she has wide smile on her face. She still doesn’t know why she is at the white house though.

They arrive at the entrance and the secret service let them in. Jessica couldn’t believe she was actually able to get in.

Jessica’s mother leads her to a room full of people. They all make an entrance for Jessica. Jessica was still wearing her Army Camo suit, from the plane fight. The hallway of people leads to President Obama. Her eyes grow big, and she salutes him and shakes his hand. He announces that she will receive the Medal of Honor and Purple Heart award. She is very happy.

President Obama gets out the badge and places it on her uniform, and says “You have served your nation very well, Jessica Fitzpatrick. Truly an honor to have you, protecting our citizens. You deserve it.”  

Jessica has tears of joy and shakes the president’s hand one last time. They take a picture together.

Jessica Fitzpatrick has left a legacy, for the nation. First female woman to earn the Medal of Honor.

Author's Note

Based upon a true story. Jessica Fitzpatrick is a made up character but the events and situations are based on a true story. Also real Army lingo and ranks included.