Team Yankee: A Novel of World War III (Revised & Expanded Edition)

EPILOGUE

Nothing untoward did happen. The ceasefire held. Over the next few days the Team stayed in place, maintaining its vigilance as they methodically went about the task of preparing for a possible continuation of hostilities. While they were careful not to let their guard down, life began to improve. Regular hot meals became available, as did mail service. The men began to catch up on their personal needs, from bathing to clean laundry. Even the weather improved as they moved from the heat of summer into the cool days of early September.

It was during the first week of September that the Division was replaced by a National Guard unit recently arrived from the States. The job of disarming the Soviets to the Team’s immediate front was left to them. Division was temporarily moved back into the western portion of a now re-united Germany where it received replacements of equipment and personnel. By the time this was finished, the Soviet regime that had started the war was no more, and the chances of a new war were, for the foreseeable future, nonexistent.

With the crisis over, the Army bureaucrats began to reassert themselves. Those people who had lived in government quarters in Germany before the war were rotated back to their home station to conduct an inventory of their property, if it was still there, and to prepare a claim for any damages or losses sustained during the war. The decision as to whether personal property that survived would be sent back to the Stales, or families brought back to Germany hadn’t been made yet.

It was strange returning to the military community the battalion had left a little over a month earlier. So much had changed. The community looked the same, empty of women and children, but otherwise unchanged. The MP who escorted Bannon’s group verified their names and quarters’ addresses before letting each of them into their quarters. Bannon, like most of the others, had lost his keys somewhere along the way.

When he walked into his quarters, he was overcome by a feeling of relief and joy. For the first time he knew it was all over. The horrors, though they would never be forgotten, could be relegated to the past. The life he had known before could resume.

As he was looking around the quarters, he was struck by the way everything was as it had been when he had left. Going over to the dining room hutch, he opened a drawer, took out a family album and made his way over to the sofa, just as he had that night in early August. As he leafed through it, he realized just how much he missed his family. Looking at the pictures of his children, he was secure in the knowledge that they had a chance to enjoy future free of the fears both he and his wife had grown up with. Again, Americans had been called on to pay for their freedom. And again, they had met the challenge, paid the price, and prevailed. Bannon prayed this would be the last time.

But he knew better.