Drafts

by austin.yaeger on Drafts

Free Write Rough Draft

Free write

It was the second time we had to go to Afghanistan. I always had a love hate relationship with that place. Our first trip wasn’t very successful because some Iraqi soldiers just had to flank us and we had to haul out of there. The first trip there was fun at first. I got a couple decent long range kills and I had fun. My spotter was my best friend, just because he sat my me for 3 days straight. Our main goal was to take an outpost on a hill in the northwestern corner of Iraq. We were almost there when we got ambushed from the south. The soon to be second trip will be the same. Take out the main outpost and kill the terrorists. Our deploy date is September 3, which is in 5 days.
5 days later
The day had finally come where we were heading off to Afghanistan. Our officer woke us all up at 4:00 am, and we packed up everything and hopped in the humvees. We headed to the airport to take off and threw all of our stuff in the plane. I had to take a quick stop to through up just from all the nerves going crazy. As we boarding the plane, my friend said to me, “Wake up, this is only the beginning.” I already knew that but I didn’t want to tell him that and make him feel bad, so I kept it to myself.
We flew from San Diego to some small airport in Iraq. The landing was very rough, as our pilot was a newby. I had to give him crap for it because all my stuff went flying and my bags fell open. We unloaded all of our stuff and headed to base camp. We arrived in Iraq time around 8ish, so when we arrived, we dropped our stuff and crashed. We woke up around 4, again, to start the mission. Our goal was to not make the same mistakes as last time, but to capitalize on what we did wrong. As a team, we need to make sure we are more stealthy, which is why I think we got flanked.
I think we walked a solid 20 miles by the time we reached our destination. The team and I were face to face with a giant hill. It was about 200 feet tall and let’s just say I was not prepared to climb it. As we slowly made the incline up, we always had 2 navigators and spotters telling us where things were. As we were climbing, we reached about halfway up the hill, and one of the spotters abruptly stopped and said, “Stop! East, halfway down the mountain.” We were headed north up the hill, so all 11 of us turned our heads to the right, almost in perfect sync. It turned out it was just a goat on a rock, but I can see how a spur of the moment situation, it could be anything. As we made it three fourths of the way up, no one was really paying attention to the east anymore. The others were looking up the hill to see how much further we were from the top. I decided to look eastward and saw even more goats. I didn’t think more of it, but a little further up the hill were 4 or 5 herders. They were holding something in their hands. I couldn’t tell if they were guns or staffs, so I quietly, but at the same time loudly, “East! With something in their hands!”
Again, all of my squads’ heads turned and all of our bodies dropped. I was praying to God they didn’t see us. One of the spotters pulled out his spotting scope and got a visual on them. Two of the four had guns, what looked like AK-47s, the typical weapon used by Iraqi’s. We tried to hunker down best we could and crawl up the mountain without them noticing. We accomplished that goal and made it all the way up without them noticing. At the top, we pointed out the town that we had to take over. We spotted about 15 Iraqi soldiers with weapons.
“North about 15 soldiers, all carryi-“
Those were the last words my friend said to me, as he was shot, directly in the head. It was from a sniper, but the location was unknown. We looked everywhere, but being careful at the same time. One of the members called in air support and everything alike. No one knows why he called it in, but I’m sure glad he did; because we needed it. About a minute later, we were surrounded by Iraqi soldiers, but we had the high ground. Shots coming all around us, no where to go. My worst nightmare was this. We sat for 30 minutes long, letting them waste all of their ammunition.
Then, out of nowhere, came the very distinct sound of an a10 warthog, “BRRRRRRRRRRTT”.
My squad new that noise from anywhere; The sound of freedom. I knew now that we had backup, but I knew it wasn’t over. We couldn’t rely on just air support, we had to rely on ourselves. As the enemies were distracted, we rolled down the hill; quite literally. The fastest way down was rolling, because of how steep it was. We reached the bottom and didn’t care to wipe the dirt off. We didn’t have time for that. We needed to complete our mission. We charged the town, while air support shot. As the soldiers were distracted we cleared the town. We checked each and every house for refugees. Rodney, my best friend, called for a chopper to come pick us up, which is exactly what happened. The chopper came and we all escaped, except for Paul. Paul was only twenty two years old, married and had a child on the way. I couldn’t stop thinking of it. It killed me that I saw him get shot and how I couldn’t do anything to help.
We arrived at the airport and booked it all the way back to San Diego. I hopped in my Ford F-350 and blazed home. I got to see my family and everything was good.
Authors note thing: this is the rough draft, and I know there is A LOT of work needed. I know I need to explain a lot more, and fix my word choice. My sentence structure isn’t the best and Im pretty sure I have some not so well written sentences. I need to work on not using the same words over and over again too.

 
by austin.yaeger on Drafts, Finals

American Dream Essay

What is The American Dream
The American dream is not dead, it is just that some people do not have the right mindset and work ethic to live it out. Through the characters Willy, Lennie, Candy and his dog, and the poem Brother Can You Spare a Dime, I will show how the American dream is a very difficult life task to accomplish, but it is achievable. I will also show how the American dream can be hard for some people, and how to rid the bad things in life, so that the American Dream can ride that much smoother.
In the book, Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck uses the character Lennie to show the struggles of having problems trying to live the American dream. George gets tired of having to repeat himself over and over again and yells, “I’ll tell ya again. I ain’t got nothing to do. Might jus’ as well spent all my time telling you things and then you forget ‘em, and I tell you again.”(Steinbeck, 4). This quote shows how Lennie has problems forgetting simple things and how this can affect his daily life. The quote also shows how if you have problems, like a mental disorder, people will look at you differently and it is harder to make it in life. Some people do not normally want someone who has a mental disorder working for them, which is wrong because everyone deserves an equal chance. Towards the beginning of the book, George becomes very mad at Lennie and blasts at him, “Blubberin like a baby! Jesus Christ! A big guy like you.”(9). The quote shows how George is telling Lennie how he is a big baby, and he is comparing him to one. Being called a baby is not very nice and it is even harder when you know you have a mental disorder or other problems. Lennie can not do much for himself, which makes it even harder for him to live. Just like how Lennie has problems that hurt him, Candy’s dog is just like that in the way that the dog is useless and they want him out of their lives. They want to rid the bad things of their lives so life will be easier.
In the book, Of Men and Men, Steinbeck uses the character Candy and his dog to show how disregarding the bad things actually helps you. Carlson becomes angry at Candy about his dog, “Why’n’t you get Candy to shoot his old dog and give him one of the pups to raise up? I can smell that dog a mile away. Got no teeth, damn near blind, can’t eat, Candy feeds him milk. He can’t chew nothing else.”(Steinbeck, 36). This quote shows how ridding the bad things in life, will actually make things easier to complete the American dream. Without the bad things that slow you down, you can strive faster and be more successful. An example is if someone is mean or annoying, ignore them and do not worry about them. Do not let them hold people back from dreaming. Another time in the book was when candy was feeling bad for his dog and he thought that, “”Maybe it’d hurt him,” he suggested. “I don’t mind takin care of him.””(45). This is the best quote because it shows how Candy was blind by the fact that his dog was useless and he needed to get rid of him. He took care of him for no reason and was wasting his energy on him. In addition to Candy’s dog being useless and needing to get rid of him, Willy is sort of like that as well. He needs to get rid of the mindset he is in and change his ways for the better.
In the Film and Novel, Death of a Salesman, Miller uses the character Willy to show how being like him is bad. Willy was lost in his life and had no clue what to do. He had a job, but it was not paying well at all. Willy was becoming pretty mad at Charley about him having a job, “I got a job, I told you that. Why the hell are you offering me a job?”( Miller, 29). This quote emphasizes that Willy is stuck and he believes he is succeeding, but he really is not. Willy believes he is doing fine and that he does not need a job when he already has one. At Willy’s funeral, Charley started to talk about Willy and how, “Nobody dast blame this man. A salesman has got to dream, boy. It comes with the territory.”(111). Charley is saying that Willy was losing his dream. Willy did not even start his own dream, but his friends did it for him. Willy dreamt, but he did not dream for himself. When dreaming, always do what will make yourself happy and what you actually want to do. Willy wasn’t happy, he was faking it. In addition to Willy needing to change away from wrong, the poem shows how hard it was, and still is, to achieve the dream. The poem, Brother can you Spare a Dime, it shows how it is not easy with bad things going on, and how the road to success is not easy.
In the poem, Brother can you Spare a Dime, Crosby uses excellent word choice and thoughts to create a very well written poem. This poem shows how back then, times were tough and people had to keep pushing through. Crosby talks about how, “They used to tell me I was building a dream, with peace and glory ahead, why should I be standing in line, just waiting for bread?” (Lines 5-8). This quote shows how hard life really is and how people can lie to others so easily. Crosby was told that the American dream was easy and it is free floating, but then he got hit with reality. Crosby also talks about him asking, “Say buddy, can you spare a dime.” (Line 24). This quote is the main line in the poem and where the poem got its name. This quote also emphasizes what I said above. It shows how hard times were, especially during the Great Depression. The Great Depression was a very hard time for many, and many gave up on life during it. It shows how the road to success has its road bumps. The road bumps can be major or minor, but still affect people. We need to learn to overcome the road bumps we run into, and to persevere through it.
The American dream affects everyone living in America. People come to America just to be able to live out their lives the way they want to. What some people don’t realize is that it is very hard and difficult. The American Dream is not an easy task to accomplish. Some people are brainwashed, like the character Willy, into believing that it is easy and free flowing. Some people on the road to success will make the way harder, but make sure to ignore those people. Ignore the bad things in life and try to get rid of them so they do not stress people out. The American dream is also hard if someone has a mental disorder or some other problem. Some people are biased in the fact that people with problems are useless or not fit for some jobs or tasks. That is wrong and everyone deserves an equal opportunity at reaching the very difficult task that is the American Dream.

 

 

 

Works Cited
Crosby, Bing. “Brother Can You Spare a Dime.” poetryfoundation.org. 30 October 2017. Web.
Miller, Arthur. Death of a Salesman. Penguin, 1998
Steinbeck , John. Of Mice and Men. Penguin, 1993

 

 

 
by austin.yaeger on Drafts

Nightstand

Nightstand
Austin Yaeger

The day was October 24th. It was a creepy, and eerie Sunday night in St. Deroin. I was talking a midnight stroll down an abandoned road to my Grandma’s gravesite. She died 3 years ago and today was her 102nd birthday. The way she died? No one knows. Still to this day, no one can figure it out. It still stands as a mystery. As I was walking down the long and windy gravel road, I caught something in the corner of my eye. I snapped my head towards it. It was a man. A taller man with a red shirt and dark blue jeans. He reached for his back pocket, and whipped out a stick of, what looked like, dynamite. Out of the other pocket, he pulled out a short, but very shiny lighter.
The man wasn’t looking at me, he was looking at something off in the distance behind me. Before I could turn around, he struck the lighter and a flame appeared. The night was so quiet, I could hear the wheel strike the flint. He slowly brought the dynamite over to the bright orange flame. When it lit, he held it up towards the sky. The explosion was extremely loud. It sounded like someone broke the sound barrier, and it lit up a 100ft radius around him. The man disappeared, and there wasn’t a hole under him. About 5 seconds after the dynamite explosion detonated, another explosion behind me blew off. One after another, the explosions kept coming. It was like a chain reaction. It seemed like they were circling me and the cemetery. I had a terrible feeling about this, so I made a quick decision to run.
Home was about the longest one and a half miles away. As I ran for my life, the explosions followed me. I burst in the door and ran up to my room and leaped on my bed. I looked out of the window to see that there weren’t any holes where the explosions were following me. The whole night, I couldn’t sleep at all. I couldn’t stop thinking about what happened at the cemetery. At around 8 a.m, I decided to wake up and walk myself back down the the cemetery. The whole way back, I was very cautious and had my eyes peeled for anyone I saw. Off in the distance I could hear different animals and birds making their noises. As I crept closer and closer to the cemetery, my stomach fell to my feet. I saw my grandmas grave site, but something next to it. As I slowly walked even closer, I saw a giant hole in the ground, shaped like a casket hole. There was a sign in the dark hole that read in dark bold handwriting, “You’re next”. I read it in my head. Then I whispered it to myself. The explosions were back. Except they were just in my head. They were getting louder and louder. I couldn’t control them. The next thing I knew, I collapsed on my face and couldn’t see anything or feel anything. I was asleep, until I woke up hearing organ music, the same music that was playing at my grandmas funeral. I couldn’t move though. All I could do was listen.
I woke up and everything was black. I had been buried somewhere. I could hear breathing to the right of me. An extremely heavy breathing. Like someone was gasping for air. I tried banging on the wall but nothing worked. The earth was too heavy. The breathing increased, louder and louder until it sounded like it was in the casket with me. I closed my eyes and didn’t want to look. I could now feel the breathing on my neck. It was my grandma, and she had a blank look on her face. Her lips, cracked and white as a ghost, coming dead towards me. I suddenly felt myself floating, higher and higher. I couldn’t tell if we were going up or down. I burst through the ground and the sun was beaming down on me. I looked around, but didn’t see anyone. I knew where I was though. I was in the middle of the cemetery, right by my grandmas gravestone. I ran as fast as I could to my house, and ran to my room, where I saw a little folded note card on my night stand which read in tiny cursive handwriting, “No need to thank me, Arthur, I did what I could”. Signed, by my Grandma.