 From the author of Historic Third Ward comes the next masterpiece. BE ALL THEY PRETEND TO BE! Assigned to a team made up of unwanted Special Forces soldiers, Gus deployed to Afghanistan. Because of their location in Afghanistan, the team was told never to expect medical evacuations of any kind from aircrafts. Team members accepted the fact that they would likely die from loss of blood before getting to a hospital if anyone was shot. Several missions were continually unorganized and death felt moments away. Gus found out from other team members that their team sergeant was on depression medication and had been diagnosed with mixed emotional features. That information wasn’t helping to offset another team member who had injured his leg prior to leaving the United States, but because his best friend was the sergeant major, the team was forced to keep him. Another soldier spoke more about his excitement over his tax-free paycheck than fighting terrorism. The team’s intelligence sergeant dedicated his entire time in country to playing video games. Other Special Forces members were completely computer illiterate or afraid to leave the camp. Gus wondered how well his unit would win the hearts and minds of the Afghan people as he watched the company’s executive officer throw rocks at cars while in convoys. He wondered what the blast of an IED would feel like. Never mind how the executive officer used a grenade launcher to wound Gus’ junior radioman without any repercussions. The chain of command was co-located with Gus’ Special Forces team and refused to tag along on missions to see how dysfunctional the team was. The Sergeant Major’s main concern was his refusal to shower. The Major in charge of the company made it a point to know the operation of his digital camera rather than his own men. The few functional members of the team somehow kept the team together and ensured dozens of successes, which the pathetic members were sure to take full credit for. As the end of the tour neared, some of the few functional members began to lose focus. Others fell apart. He would not fail the team. What Gus didn’t realize was that the team would fail him. The military needed a scapegoat and they molded it into being Gus. Getting back to the United States alive would be a surprise to Gus. Frosting on the cake of life. Arriving back to find out he was to be played the sacrificial scapegoat would be an even bigger surprise. Gus could not believe how much the military refuses to know its own soldiers. He had no intention of being a scapegoat and most everyone would have to find that out the hard way. Gus was much more dangerous with a pen than with a gun. | 
