The War That Followed
Short Story
A firm Spring breeze swept deceptively across Camp Shelby’s old Vietnam War-era barracks. Within minutes, skies darkened, and a calm quiet blanketed the entire post.
Most of the local inhabitants of the Gulf Coast knew the drill. Listen for emergency sirens, stand on the front porch staring at dark clouds in the distance, continue to gaze at the horizon as if you’re welcoming an unlikable distant cousin, and finally go back inside to watch TV like you were doing five minutes earlier. There was usually no point in seeking shelter because, often, no better shelter was available in these rural enclaves of South Mississippi.
The weather prognosticators out of New Orleans were on the TV and radio all morning, breathlessly reporting on a fast-moving cold front that was scurrying southeast toward Hattiesburg, accompanied by the exact times it would be hitting various towns and communities. Most of the place names sent viewers to maps for identification because most folks hadn’t heard of Whynot, Mississippi.
Spring cold fronts often yield violent storms and general unpleasantness in the south. And they lowered the temperature by one or two degrees in the summer.
At Camp Shelby, hundreds of Soldiers were waiting their turn to be sent by their government to a distant country overseas to fight a war…
