Continued from Chapter 3:

While working deep undercover for the CIA in Pakistan, he routinely crossed the border to Afghanistan and Pakistan. From where he was perched atop of a hill, he could see the borders of both countries. At the time he was there, he overlooked a six-man band of Navy SEALS who were obviously on a mission. Even without binoculars or the aid of his sniper rifle scope, he could tell they were SEALS. With the CIA paying for tips and receiving mixed and bad info, unsure if he was hiding in a mountainous cave in Afghanistan or was protected by the Pakistani in Pakistan, it was anyone's guess where bin Laden was hiding.

Obviously the SEAL team along with a spattering of Army Rangers and Delta Force Special Ops were out looking for Osama bin Laden in different parts of Afghanistan. Always on the alert and at the ready for any assault, the SEALS spread out and never walked in a close group. They didn't walk through enemy terrain in the way that young, inexperienced Marines did. Sometimes high on Marijuana and having too much of a good time to see the danger of their folly, Marines were too busy talking and joking with one another to sometimes pay attention that they were walking into an ambush.

Comfortable fighting alone and/or in teams of two, Navy SEALS, Army Rangers, and Delta Force Special Ops were career combatants and better prepared. They could feel danger before they could see or hear danger. Just as they intuitively knew the terrain, they keenly knew the dangers. They'd never go out in the field with inexperienced soldiers who could get them killed.

Because of his higher position, able to see 180 degrees, pointing out of a rocky crevice, he saw the barrel of the machine gun before his buddies did. Literally running down the mountain at full speed, he knew he wouldn't be able to stop. The only way for him to stop his descent was to fall on top of the machine gun nest. Taking them by surprised he killed both men, one with his knife and the other with his sidearm, a Glock 19.

He could have killed the both of them with his knife but, knowing they'd recognize the sound of his SEAL issued sidearm, firing his gun was his way to warn the SEALS. As soon as he fired his gun, a double tap, one in the chest and a second shot in the head, the SEALS opened fired just below his position. With them firing in front of him at the terrorists below him, he fired the machine gun behind them, below them, and around them. Had he not captured the machine gun, with the machine gunfire pinning them down and making them fall back, they'd be slaughtered by the terrorist that lay hidden behind and all around them.

There were terrorists all over the terrain hiding behind big rocks and trees. The only way he could single-handedly kill more of the enemy was to lift the heavy gun off the mount and carry it with him while firing as he went downhill. For his SEALS not to shoot him, he yelled out their word.

"Hooyah! Bratatatat! Bratatatat! Bratatatat! Bratatatat! Hooyah! Bratatatat! Bratatatat! Bratatatat! Bratatatat! Hooyah! Bratatatat! Bratatatat! Bratatatat! Bratatatat! Hooyah! Bratatatat! Bratatatat! Bratatatat! Bratatatat!"

Firing as he walked, that was the last thing he remembered until waking up in a hospital bed.

Chapter 4:

When the navy nurse walked in any badly injured veterans' room, by the injuries they sustained and/or the lack of good medical care they should have received but didn't, she sometimes expected to see them dead in bed. Budget cuts and with the military unable to persuade good doctors to forgo private practices to serve as military doctors were the real issues. Any decent doctor would earn many times more on his own rather than re-upping and giving their lives and entrusting their medical careers to Uncle Sam.

When the Navy nurse walked in Johnny Mercer's room, having grown accustomed to so many veterans not awakening from comas, she didn't expect him to be awake but he was. Much like so many others, she expected to find him dead in bed, especially someone with his severe injuries. Yet, when he saw her, as soon as he saw her, he smiled at her as if he recognized her, knew her even. He smiled at her in the way that a father smiled at his daughter. He seemed happy that she was happy that he was awake.

"Johnny! I mean, Mr. Mercer." She was beaming as if she had just witnessed a miracle. "You're awake. I can't believe it. I wish I was here to see it. I'm your nurse, Emily," she said introducing herself and pointing to her name tag while talking to him slowly as if he was mentally incapable of understanding her. "We didn't think you'd make it. I'll get the doctor. I'll be right back."

As if he was a stroke patient, unable to speak the words, he smiled and nodded his head. The nurse found the doctor down the end of the hall.

"Doctor, Major, Sir," said the nurse with excitement. "He's awake."

The doctor turned to her and frowned at her as if she was wasting his time.

"Who's awake?"

She nodded her head in the direction of Johnny's room.

"Johnny Mercer," she said.

He looked at her blankly.

"Good," said Major Adams. "We can finally give that bed to a real war hero instead of to a drunken, homeless bum. With him a dishonorably discharged traitor, I don't know why he was even put here in the first place. Obviously some major fuckup from above. Process his paperwork and as soon as he's able to walk, today, tomorrow, or in a week, get him the Hell out of my hospital," said the doctor walking away from his nurse.

*** MadMadMadMaxine ***

Only, getting rid of Johnny Mercer would not be as easy and as simple as that. He was a bad penny who kept returning. Once he awakened, the word spread all over the hospital that a veteran, a homeless man, they found beaten nearly to death in an alley almost a year before had awakened from his coma.

Once he had awakened, as if he had cheated death again and arisen from the dead, a miracle in their hospital, he quickly became somewhat of a celebrity. Every doctor, every nurse, and every orderly wanted to see, meet, and talk to Johnny Mercer. That was big enough news when too many coma patients asleep that long never awaken from their deep slumber. Those who have been in comas for as long awaken suffering brain damage, other injuries to their internal organs, and/or atrophy to their limbs.

When the newspapers and CNN got a hold of the story, always looking for a human interest article with a happy ending, but before just reporting the story, they investigated who Johnny Mercer really was. They uncovered that he was a decorated Navy SEAL, the best of the best. They discovered that his brother was a Navy SEAL killed in action, and that his father was a decorated Green Beret soldier in Viet Nam. They discovered that Johnny Mercer, a fifth degree, black belt in Judo, once instructed other Navy SEALS in hand-to-hand combat.

Then, when they found out that he was dishonorably discharged from the Navy, found guilty of treason, and imprisoned. Even though he was released out of sympathy for his severe, war related and life threatening injuries, they now balked at reporting the story. Quite the paradox for a news organization to withhold news by not reporting it, but he was an enigma. Now the press had a real conundrum on their professional hands.

Do they tell his story or not? Obviously, any cub reporter knew that there was much more to this story than what they were given and finding. If he was dishonorably discharged, why was he even there at a VA hospital? Obviously, someone hirer up signed the paperwork to put him there. Obviously, typically for the military by sticking a classified label on it, there was a cover-up of some sort of covert action.

At the very least, something not uncommon with the military, there was a paperwork snafu why someone who was dishonorably discharged from the service would be cared for in a veterans' hospital in the first place. Granted he had extensive injuries but why would a man accused of treason, found guilty, court marshalled, dishonorably discharged, and imprisoned be released from prison so soon in his sentence? Perhaps, someone higher up had pulled some strings to get him the medical care that he so needed. Seemingly every time a reporter scratched the surface of the story, the story loomed larger, took a life of its own, and grew bigger. Every time a reporter found an answer to her or his question, they had more unanswered questions.

Curious how he lost his left arm, his left leg, the hearing in his left ear, and the sight in his left eye, reporters used their contacts at the Central Intelligence Agency to dig deeper after the Navy suspiciously refused them in interview. Obviously, having been done this road before with the military and with politicians, someone was hiding something but why? Few traitors are released from a military prison unless they were working undercover with another government agency, such as the NSA, DIA, DoD, Homeland Security, or was an operative for the CIA.

Rangers, SEALs and Delta Force soldiers, made ideal candidates for undercover spies and were routinely recruited for dangerous missions and assignments that no one else could successfully do. The CIA only enlisted the best and with Johnny's credentials, his command of languages, his hand-to-hand fighting skills, and with him a trained killer, he was the perfect choice. Upon further digging, with his mission to help find Osama bin Laden, reporters found that, indeed, he was a CIA operative working undercover in Pakistan.

*** MadMadMadMaxine ***

Suspecting that he was hiding somewhere in Pakistan from the chatter received, Johnny was assigned to a special operations tasked and directed to obtain information of the whereabouts of Osama bin Laden. With their primary mission unconventional warfare, foreign internal defense, special reconnaissance, direct action, hostage rescue, counter-intelligence, and counter-terrorism, Chief Petty Officer, Johnny E. Mercer, was the CIA's selected candidate for the job. Even though he stuck out like a sore thumb because of his immense size, with few men having his fighting and killing skills, he was so chosen because he was fluent in so very many Middle Eastern languages and dialects. Familiar enough with the customs and traditions of the Pakistani people, he was the CIA's inside man.

Digging deeper now, once the reporters found his connection to the CIA that put him in Pakistan, that uncovered information put them in touch with the real story. The more information they uncovered the more questions they had. This wasn't just some homeless bum living in an alley for years, this was a highly trained Navy SEAL with a direct connection to Pakistan and to the CIA, and with an indirect connection to Osama bin Laden.

Osama bin Laden the Al-Qaeda leader captured and killed, was mysteriously and supposedly dumped overboard the U.S.S Carl Vincent. Such an odd and unbelievable coincidence, three months later, a Chinook helicopter carrying those same Navy SEALS Team 6 members, who found and killed bin Laden were killed themselves when there slow, low flying copter was hit by a rocket propelled grenade. Something smelled. SEALs never traveled together in that way. They always split up. They always used more than one helicopter.

Just as the Mafia never left any witnesses behind alive to testify against them, seemingly the United States government used the same cover up tactics not to fully disclose to their people what really happened. Not backing up the government's story, crew members of the U.S.S. Carl Vincent testified that Osama bin Laden was never aboard the U.S.S. Carl Vincent but was flown to the United States instead. Deemed classified, with no photos and no DNA evidence, President Obama disobeyed a court order by refusing to release the real story of what happened to Osama bin Laden. So troubling to grieving families, he refused to release the real story of what happened to the Navy SEAL 6 team killed in action. A real heartache to relatives, he refused to release what happened to those men who supposedly killed him.

The deeper the press dug the more inconsistencies they found. Then, a like dog sniffing out a bone, the press reported the real story of how Navy SEAL Johnny Mercer single-handedly saved a contingent of Navy SEALS on patrol. He was responsible for directly and/or indirectly killing more than 100 Al-Qaeda terrorists with a machinegun.

From a homeless man, a brutal physical assault victim miraculously awakening from a yearlong coma in a VA hospital, to a war hero accused of treason, something wasn't right. Not adding up, every new fact the press found, made them question the original story that Johnny Mercer was a traitor. This was a once in a lifetime story. Suddenly, with Johnny Mercer a real, live war hero, something America needed in this time of terrorism and terrorists, Johnny was an instant celebrity. Every talk show wanted to interview him. Every American wanted to shake his hand, pat him on the back, and buy him a beer.

The American public already adopted him as their poster boy as who a real American is and what every child should grow to be. Kids were already wanting to be him when playing war games. There was talk of a Johnny Mercer Xbox video game and Johnny Mercer dolls becoming the new GI Joe dolls. The public was already comparing him to Delta Force actor, Chuck Norris. Publishers had book deals in place and movie producers wanted to make his movie.

There was already a collection with more than a million dollars waiting and ready to buy Johnny Mercer a special wheelchair house when he was released from the hospital. Crowds of people lined the street in front of the hospital waving flags and singing Johnny's song. When Johnny Comes Marching Home, a Civil War song written in 1863 by Louis Lambert a pseudonym of Patrick Gilmore.

"When Johnny comes marching home again, Hurrah, Hurrah,

We'll give him a hearty welcome then, Hurrah, Hurrah;

The men will cheer, the boys will shout,

The ladies, they will all turn out,

And we'll all feel gay,

When Johnny comes marching home."

Everyone was waiting for him to be discharged from the hospital. Only, gone, gone, gone, he was gone from the hospital. Ten days after he had awakened from his coma, he was gone. Discharged without him having a place to live, he was given a new crutch, some clean clothes, and a small bag of medication and sundry medical supplies. Instead of fitting him with a new leg, a new arm, a glass eye, and helping him with his hearing loss, they allowed him to leave without being a whole man again. In the way that the CIA abandoned him in his time of need, so didn't the United States government and the Veterans' Administration. Even though he was a real, live, war hero, they treated him as if he was nothing more than a homeless, drunken bum. How dare they?

*** MadMadMadMaxine ***

The next day after he had been summarily released, alive with high ranking officers of the army and navy, as if the hospital had become a war room, the hospital was invaded by a huge contingent of military brass. The scuttlebutt was that Johnny Mercer was rumored to be nominated to win the Medal of Honor. With a two-star General and a Rear Admiral leading the pack of a Colonel, a Major, a Commander, two Captains, a Lieutenant, and a squad of enlisted men, they walked the corridor looking for Chief Petty Officer, Johnny E. Mercer.

Reporters setting up command stations in front of the hospital and in the hospital parking lot, had huge, television trucks with satellite dishes mounted to their roofs. The rumor filled the air that there was a real, live, Medal of Honor winner in the hospital. The Medal of Honor hadn't been awarded to a Navy SEAL in more than 50 years since Petty Officer Michael A. Thornton was awarded it in 1972 for his heroic actions in Viet Nam.

"Where is he? Where's Johnny Mercer?"

The Captain asked the Navy nurse in charge where they could find their war hero.

"He was discharged yesterday, Sir," she said looking chagrined.

Giving her more attitude than she gave the Captain, the Colonel stepped in to take over.

"Discharged? The man has one arm, one leg, one eye, and can't hear out of his left ear," said the Colonel with anger. "Who signed the order to discharge him?"

The nurse looked down the corridor and when she spotted Major Adams standing at the end and holding a chart, she pointed to him.

"Major Adams, Sir," said the nurse. "He's the Chief of Staff and the doctor in charge."

The contingent of military brass paraded towards the Major before the General and the Admiral advanced, took the lead, and the General spoke.

"Major Adams, a word," barked the General loud enough to echo through the hall.

Major Adams walked sheepishly towards the General and Admiral. Once he neared, he saluted both of the officers.

"Sir! Yes, Sir."

The General gave the Major a stern look.

"Where is my war hero? Where is my Medal of Honor winner, Major? Where is Chief Petty Officer, Johnny E. Mercer?"

The Major looked at the General with confusion as if he was talking about someone else.

"Chief Petty Officer Mercer, Sir? I don't know who that is, Sir," said the Major.

The General took a step closer to loom over his Major.

"I don't like your answer, Major. Where is my war hero?"

With all of the color draining from his face, the Major had a look of horror on his face.

"I don't know any Chief Petty Officer Mercer, Sir."

The General pounded his fist in the air as if he was pounding the Major's head.

"You don't know him? He was here in your hospital in a coma for nearly a year. He awakened ten days ago and you discharged him yesterday. You," said the General louder while pointing his finger in the Major's face as if he was about to screw his finger in his eye, "discharged a veteran in need of medical attention without helping him." The General stepped closer to the Major and raised his voice again. "You discharged a war hero, my war hero. You discharged a Medal of Honor winner in need of a new arm, a new leg, a glass eye, and help with his hearing. What the Hell kind of doctor are you not to fit a war hero with a new arm and leg. What the Hell kind of hospital is this?"

The Major looked as if he was going to pass out and/or vomit.

"Uh, yes, General, Sir, Johnny Mercer. I remember him now. We had several coma patients. Yes, I discharged him but I—"

Tired of listening to his lying yammering the Admiral didn't allow the Major to finish.

"Find him. Go now. Bring him back here. Call me when you find him," said the Admiral turning his back, and leaving. "Captain, take your squad of men and go with Major Adams. I want Chief Petty Officer Mercer found now, today."

"Yes, Sir," said the Captain.

*** MadMadMadMaxine ***

The Captain checked the medical chart to see where Chief Petty Officer was originally found.

"Let's try where they originally found him in the alley. Knowing someone like him would leave nothing to chance, there must have been a reason why he was there. Maybe he lived there because he was close to food, water, and shelter," said the Captain talking more to himself than to the Major.

Obviously, Johnny's strategic reason of defense for preferring that particular alley was because he could view the alley in both directions while staying hidden between two dumpsters. Also, the close proximity to the pizza parlor with food, water, and the ability to use their restroom was a big, underlying factor too. The Captain and the Major found Johnny Mercer in the same alley where he was found nearly beaten to death a year ago.

Only, there were three men with him. They hovered over him and were yelling at him. Obviously, they weren't his friends. The Captain remained at the beginning of the alley watching and listening.
"Are you back again?"

One of the men kicked Johnny's foot when he didn't answer him.

"I was in the hospital," said Johnny and was just discharged ten days ago.

The other man grabbed the bag.

"What's in the bag? Drugs? Do you have drugs?"

Immediately knowing what was happening and blocking their escape, the Captain sent four men around the other way to seal off the alley from the opposite end. He watched while waiting for his men to get in position before advancing upon the three men. If these were the men who put Johnny in the hospital, he obviously wanted to capture them.

"May I help you with something?"

With the Major positioned behind him, a doctor with no fighting skills, the Captain, an Army Ranger, walked closer. One man looked up at the voice while the other two men looked through Johnny's things. He was too weak to fight them or to even care what more they took from him.

"Oh, look," said the man laughing. "Toy soldiers. Unless you want to die," said the man pulling a gun, "fuck off!"

Quick to act, Johnny struck a nerve in the man's forearm with his crutch and his gun fell to the pavement. Immediately overpowering them and restraining them without firing a shot, while Johnny retrieve the gun, the Captain and his men were on the men as if they were terrorist. The Captain approached Johnny and squatted down to him.

"Are you Chief Petty Officer, Johnny E. Mercer?"

Johnny looked up at the officer and nodded his head.

"Yes," said Johnny to the Captain. "I'm Johnny Mercer."

Keeping his eye on the three men, they had his focused attention now. He remembered them. They were the ones who hassled him. He knocked two of them out with his crutch and threw their handgun down the sewer. Even though it was too dark to see, he knew they were the three men who nearly kicked and beat him to death. If he was grateful for anything, jogging something back in place, all of their blows to his head returned his memory.

"Are these the men who beat you?"

Johnny smiled up at the three men.

'Payback is a bitch,' he thought to himself knowing full well that the Captain would be their judge, jury, and executioner on his behalf.

"Yes," said Johnny smiling while knowing what was going to happen to the three, poor bastards.

With the men already restrained, the Captain looked from the men to Johnny. Johnny nodded his head again as if giving the Captain his permission to do what he needed to do. As much as Iraq or Afghanistan was a war zone, so wasn't the alleyways located in the inner cities.

"Release them," said the Captain. "Give them a chance to defend themselves."

As soon as the men were released, before they could even put up their hands to fight, the Captain's men gave them a punishing beating worse than the beating that they gave Chief Petty Officer, Johnny Mercer. In the same way that they left Johnny Mercer, the Captain's men left the three men in the alley battered, bruised, beaten, broken, and bleeding.

*** MadMadMadMaxine ***

They returned Johnny to the hospital by military transport and gave him a private room with a private staff of nurses around the clock. Over the next several months, they fitted with a new arm, a new leg, a glass eye, and a specially designed hearing aid. The news outlets couldn't get enough of writing stories about him, about his war hero family, about his acts of heroism, about him living in Pakistan and working for the CIA in helping to find Osama bin Laden. With his valuable information, he was the man on the ground and behind the scenes who passed along the information that bin Laden was hiding in a compound in Pakistan and not in a cave in Afghanistan.

After several months of physical and occupational therapy, it wasn't until the day of his discharge that Johnny Mercer was properly introduced to the public for the war hero he was. As if the hospital was being invaded a huge contingent of military brass and reporters again, it was the day of release for Chief Petty Officer, Johnny E. Mercer and for him to meet his admiring public. He was expected at the White House to meet with the President of the United States today to receive the Medal of Honor.

"We're standing outside of the Veteran's Hospital waiting to be briefed by an intelligence officer," said the reporter to the camera. "Johnny Mercer, Chief Petty Officer, Johnny E. Mercer of the Navy SEALs was found beaten nearly to death in an alley more than one year ago. Initially it was reported that Mr. Mercer was arrested as a traitor, found guilty, dishonorably discharged, and imprisoned. Then, unconfirmed reports are such that Chief Petty Officer, John E. Mercer, instead, was indeed a war Hero. He fell off the grid the first time when he left a VA hospital before being discharged. Years later, he fell off the grid again when he was erroneously discharged from a Veterans Hospital before he could be properly identified and processed."

The General and Admiral with his contingent of staff filed in Johnny's room. Fitted with his new arm, new leg, a glass eye, and a hearing aid, Johnny was wearing his Navy dress uniform. Pinning one medal on his uniform after another, the Admiral pinned a purple heart, Defense Distinguished Service Medal, the Navy and Marine Corps Joint Service Commendation Medal, Distinguished Service medal, Silver Star medal, Legion of Merit, and a Navy Cross medal. The President would be awarding him the Medal of Honor later that day.

As if he was the guest of honor riding in his own funeral procession, he was taken by a long procession of limousines to the White House and to meet the President of the United States. Before the President introduced Chief Petty Officer, Johnny E. Mercer to America, he was returned to his original rank and then promoted. Skipping the rank of Senior Chief Petty Officer, he was given a battlefield promotion to Master Chief Petty Officer. The President address the room of reporters and television cameras.

*** MadMadMadMaxine ***

"Working in conjunction with the Navy SEALs and the Central Intelligence Agency to help find Osama bin Laden, while on reconnaissance at the border of Pakistan and Afghanistan, Master Chief Petty Officer happened upon an ambush. Al-Qaeda terrorists manned a machinegun nest in readiness to mow down a patrol of Navy SEALs. Going above the call of duty and risking his life, Master CPO Mercer overpowered the machinegun nest and killed both combatants. Then he used their own gun to kill the terrorist who lay hidden to ambush the SEALs. Master CPO Mercer was directly and indirectly responsible for the deaths more than 100 of the enemy and the wounding of scores more before he was injured by a thrown IED," said President Obama.

The President turned to face Master CPO Mercer to applaud him before returning his attention to the room of reporters and to the American audience public.

"People may not always see them, we may not always hear of their success, but they are always there in the thick of the fight and in the dark of the night achieving their mission," said the President. "Before I deliver the commendation to our war hero, we have one more surprise for Master Chief Petty Officer, Johnny Mercer. We have the six Navy SEALs that he saved the lives of that day," said the President leading the applause to Mercy and to the six SEALs.

Six men stood from their chairs to salute Johnny Mercer.

"Oh, and we have a special guest," said the President.

A secret service agent entered the room with an enormous black and mahogany brown, German Shepherd on a short leash. As soon as Johnny saw his friend, Saddam, he started to cry.

"Come," said Johnny and the dog ran to him but just before the dog jumped up on his master and knocked him over, Johnny gave him another command. "Sit."

He squatted down to greet his best friend with a hug, a head rub, and a kiss while the dog licked his face.

THE END

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