The End of War.(Kevin Hughes) I was there when it happened…err...started…or ended. I can’t really tell which. You see it wasn’t plain at first what was going down. What was happening. What was beginning…what was ending. The greatest Warriors in History, turned out to be two Soldiers tired of fighting.

One was a Marine from one country. A nice girl in High School. A smart girl in College, using the ROTC to pay for her education. A tough, no nonsense graduate of Recondo School after Officer Training. Now? A grizzled Veteran of three wars. Twice Divorced. Three kids. Two of whom no longer talked to her. And a Colonel.

The Other one a Captain from another Country. A simple herder as a child. His brains brought him in from the Field to the Big University in the Capital. His Ph.D should have brought him the Nobel Prize in Physics. Instead it brought him to the middle of a godforsaken part of his country. There he made Nuclear Weapons. He had no real power as a Captain. But he was in charge.

I was a reporter. I had covered so many wars that I couldn’t cover Civilian activity…unless it was a tragedy. Only death and destruction got filtered through my lens. I won awards for taking pictures of war that only people who haven’t been in a war wanted to see. I didn’t need the pictures at all. All I had to do was close my eyes, or try to sleep. The pictures came back to me unwanted. No one but me could see them, and I didn’t want to.

I guess that is why I cried a lot when I drank. And I always drank alone.

But that is in the past.

*****

The Marine Colonel stood outside the objective. A door opened. She held her hand up - it was all the crack troops needed to hold their fire. The man coming out the door waited that heart beat it took her hand to hold their fire. He smiled a crooked smile- closed the door gently behind him- and walked towards the Colonel.

When he was about ten feet from the Colonel. He stopped to study her for a moment. What he saw was a sweet little girl trapped by life and duty. The hard lines in her face hid the fact that under her battle uniform lay a locket with a picture of her three children in it. On her worst nights, she would pull that locket out, open it in the dark- and stare at the life she brought into the world. It would help her let go of the life she had taken out of the world. She cried dry tears.

He nodded to himself.

*****

The Colonel looked at the Captain facing her. He was taller than the picture in his file let on. She was a good six foot two, with her boots, sense of duty, and purpose, she stood a solid six four. And still she had to look up at the Captain. She studied him as he stood just ten feet away from her.

She saw a thin boy, covered with the detritus of war, wanting to get out from under it all. What little happy was left in him, was left behind in the hills where he used to watch the goats. A smidgen of Happy trailed out of those hills with him, as he toured the Universities in six countries- including the ones he was at war with now. There was even a girl at one of them.

An Infidel to his State, his Religion, his Mother. A goddess, a gift, and the kindest human he had ever met - to him. Other than this damn war, the biggest mistake he ever witnessed was telling her she couldn’t come home with him. She moved on - heart broken but strong. He moved on just heart broken.

Not once in the last 15 years did he have a day where he didn’t think of her. Wish her happiness. And wonder…”what if?”

The Colonel saw that - and more. She nodded to herself.

They closed the gap to about three feet - then they talked. For an hour. Another hour. Another hour. People flowed out of the building behind the Captain. None of them armed. The Marines lowered their weapons to port arms. But not their alertness. And still the Colonel and the Captain talked.

Another hour. And another. And then…the Moment.

*****

That’s right. That moment. The one that my camera caught. The one that not only won me awards from every country on Earth but has become the Iconic symbol of what Humans were possible of doing. Just two people. Tired. Sad. Worn. One a Colonel, one a Captain. Together…they changed History. Forever.

They shook hands. The unarmed people from the Captain’s building fell to their knees in prayer. Later some of them went back into the building and issued some orders. Other buildings all around the country opened their doors. Then more calls were made. Like a rock leaving ripples in a pond, waves of orders flowed out from that one building to wash up against History.

Computer after Computer got the message. Technician after Technician, language after language read those messages. Within one day, the weapons of mass destruction everywhere on the planet were turned off, shut down, or disabled.

The Captain had started that ripple with his unarmed, unashamed, unrehearsed plea to the Colonel.

*****

The Colonel let her hand drop from the tall gaunt giant’s hand. She smiled up at him. Leaned into her collar and Spoke:

“We are done here. I am done. Call HQ. Tell General Martin we are coming home. Oh, and tell him we are leaving our weapons.”

That message rippled out. Unit after unit dropping weapons right where they stood. Then turning to walk home. Or climb onto a vehicle and drive home. Or hop onto a chopper or a plane and fly home.

One or two hard cases tried to turn the Soldiers back to War, Death, Destruction. They were ignored. Later…they were Tried. Even later than that…they were forgiven.

Everyone went …Home.

*****

A few Strong men didn’t survive the end of War. Fists in the hands of the righteous knocked the cockiness of cowardice out of them. Then knocked the wind out of them. Then…finally…their very lives. No longer would the pride and arrogance of Leaders far from the battle dictate the destruction of men and women who never met - except on the battlefield.

The Strong Men of History were revealed for what they really were- a lie.

The two strongest people in History were strong enough to stop fighting. For the first time ever, War ended with a real Victory. With one conqueror - Peace.

A Colonel from one country who simply ordered her troops to put their weapons down. A Captain from another country who simply ordered his people not to unleash the weapons they had spent a lifetime building.

She just wanted to play with her grandchildren. He just wanted to walk the hills of his childhood with a girl he knew.

So they stopped fighting.

She went home to her country. After a while, all three of her children spoke with her often. Usually just after they dropped off her grandchildren.

He went to another country. He found the Infidel girl. She wanted to walk the hills of his youth. Together they did. His mother fussed over the dinner she was making. After all, her daughter-in-law was coming over.

Peace found its leaders in the last war ever fought.

One was a Colonel who wanted to be a Grandmother.

The other was a Captain who wanted to be a Husband.

All it took was a handshake in the middle of nowhere.

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