“Dad! Dad! Where are you?” I screamed through all of the confusion. I had lost sight of my dad and the battle was becoming overwhelming. Was he dead or had he been captured? There was no way to know. The battle continued to rage on and there was nothing I could’ve done about my dad. I kept fighting and encountered a few close shots before I saw a gleam of metal in the mud below me. “Hey! Cover me,” I yelled to the soldier fighting beside me as I bent over to pick up the metal object. Just as I could clearly make out the metal as my dad’s dog tags, I felt a searing pain in my right arm. Immediately, my arm went numb and without realizing it, I cried out in pain.

“ Arbour! What’s going on?” cried my best friend, Walsh. He looked extremely worried and that was one of the reasons we were best friends. He always was looking out for me and never asked anything in return. We had met on the first day my dad and I got shipped to Afghanistan. I was scared, and when I stepped off the plane I saw Walsh who looked calm and from that moment on, I knew Walsh would be the best friend I could ever have. As the battlefield slowly went black, I could barely make out what he was saying.

When I woke up I was in an unfamiliar place and didn’t remember much as to what had happened before I blacked out. Immediately upon looking around, I spotted Walsh. My voice came out as a croak when I asked, “ Where am I?”

At first no one heard me, but soon, Walsh popped up and answered, “Are you okay?” I am fine, I thought to myself, all I wanted to know is where the heck am I.

“I’m fine,” I answered, “but where am I?”

“You are in the medic’s tent,” Walsh replied. “You were shot in the battle.”

I tried to think back to the battle and all I could remember was the glint of metal. What was that metal, I thought. Then it hit me all at once and I relived seeing my dad’s dog tags laying on the ground. I then realized that my dad was missing. Does anyone know? Is he dead? I need to tell someone. All of these thoughts bombarded my brain at once and I just sat their in shock deciding what to do.

“M... m... my dad he’s missing,” I managed to cry out. I couldn’t stop my brain from imagining his body lying there all bloody on the battlefield or wondering if the Afghani troops had captured him.

Walsh had started pacing. “Arbour, did you just say that your dad is missing?”

“Yes. We have to go looking for him.” I quickly stood up and then just as quickly fell over. I had forgotten about my arm, and that I may have been unsteady but in that moment all I wanted to do was find my dad. I needed to find him. It didn’t matter if I fell, but when I started falling to the ground I could only anticipate how it would feel. When I hit the ground my whole body filled with pain, and it felt like little pins and needles were poking at my skin.

Walsh rushed over and grabbed my arm. “Woah, let’s take it easy Arbour.” Another soldier walked up and informed us that a search party would be heading out to the battlefield in hopes of finding my dad. “I’m sure that they will find your dad,” Walsh assured me. I wasn’t too sure about that though.

The next day I had woken up shortly after 4:00 and decided it was time for me to head out and look for my dad. “Walsh, I am going out to look for my dad,” I stated. Walsh knew what to do, and he gathered a group of soldiers to come with us. We quickly gathered all of the supplies we would need for the short journey and headed off.

While we were walking through the battlefield, I continued to question what I was doing. What if he is dead? I wondered, or worse, has he been captured? I needed something different to think about when suddenly someone cried, “Arbour, is this your dad?” I ran as fast as I could over to the spot they were at. Thoughts were running through my head, What if this is really my dad? My hope crumbled when I saw the body laying there and realized it was not my dad.

“No,” I replied defeated, “this is not my dad.”

As we continued walking I heard many whispers coming from the soldiers. They all thought that my dad was dead. I would not lose hope yet though because I knew that we would find him. My heart stopped when I saw a band of Afghanistan soldiers walking towards us. I wanted to run but they were already too close. We had to fight.

After fighting a short successful battle we came out mostly unharmed and with two of their soldiers held captive. While taking them back to our camp I had a brilliant idea. “Guys,” I exclaimed, “maybe these goons know where my dad is!” Everyone thought that was a big possibility.

“We should interrogate them.” Walsh suggested. We continued back to camp and immediately upon arriving handcuffed the captives so they couldn’t run.

“Do you know anything about a captured American soldier?”

“No,” replied the first soldier.

“What about your buddy over there?” I fired back.

“I can’t speak for him.” the soldier immediately replied.

“Fine,” I replied, “you are dismissed.” The second soldier was brought into the room for interrogation. “Do you know about or have anything to do with the capturing of an American soldier?”

“I had nothing to do with it but some other men in my platoon may have been part of the capturing.”

“Who did they capture?”

“I’m not sure but it was definitely one of your guys.” I had heard all that I needed to, I knew that my dad was the American soldier captured in the battle there was no doubt about it. All of the other soldiers knew too and they wanted to find him. My dad wasn’t just another commander to them, he was like their father, too, and they were his kids. The least they could do was help find him.

We decided that the only plan that would work, even if it wasn’t the smartest, was to go to the Afghanistan camp and get my dad back. How we would do that no one knew, but we did know that we would find a way. While we were walking Walsh had a fantastic idea it was like you could see the light bulb turn on over his head. “What if we trade our captives for your dad.”

“Walsh, you are a genius!” When I had thought that all hope was lost Walsh, like always, came through and saved the day. I was ecstatic and almost didn’t notice that one of our captives amidst the celebrations had tried to escape. Before it was too late, I noticed and my hope once again began to crumble. My heart started beating a million times a second and my face became flushed. I can’t lose this captive now. I thought. He is my only hope. As my hope was slowly draining I acted on a limb and flung myself at the captive. I managed to stop him and we continued, while keeping a close eye on him, to the camp.

Before long, we had reached their territory and started wondering what our next move was. Many suggestions were made and we came to the final consensus that I would sneak by the few soldiers there were to see the general and trade our captives for my dad. We got into position and I started toward the general making sure that I didn’t draw any unwanted attention to myself. As I walked toward him I thought to myself what the heck am I doing. Then I realized that I was saving my dad. “Excuse me sir I am looking for the general.”

“That is me,” he replied very meanly. “What can I do for a boy like you?”

“I am here to get my dad. The American soldier.”

“And why do you think I would give him to you?” he asked snarkily.

“Because I might have something that interests you.” I shoot back as I show him our captives.

The General suddenly looks nervous. “Maybe we can work something out.” he replies sheepishly.

“That’s what I thought,” I tried to keep cool as I continued, “I’ll give back your two men in exchange for my dad.”

“You drive a hard bargain, but I guess that would work,” the general replied. “Here.” The man handed over my dad and I gave him the two captives.

“Dad! Are you ok?”

“I am so glad to see you!” My dad and I embraced each other for a quick second before we were reminded that we weren't on our own soil.

“You guys should probably leave,” the general reminded us. We hurried away, and headed back to meet the rest of my platoon.

As we were walking, I noticed a few soldiers staring at us and then out of the corner of my eye saw one pull the trigger on his sniper rifle. I stood there frozen and felt like my feet were bolted to the ground. I didn’t move until I saw the bullet zoom past my face and that it was headed directly for my dad. In those couple seconds between seeing the bullet, jumping in front of my dad, and getting hit, I didn’t think once about what would happen. All I thought was that I would do anything and everything to save my dad, even if it meant dying.

I was hit in the chest, but my platoon fought off the remaining soldiers, and had enough medical skills to slow the bleeding until we were safely transported back at camp. They sewed up my chest and I turned out to be ok. I was transported back to the states and after a six-month hospital stay was discharged and brought back to my original home in Virginia. The following week I had the happiest day of my life when my dad surprised me and showed up at our front door. Five months later I was deployed to Afghanistan and I was then back on the battlefield with my best friend and my dad.