Maria's Universe

Enduring Freedom

BY: Maria Johnsen

1 NEXT. KANDAHAR SOUTH OF

AFGHANISTAN. DAY

The road looks like a front line of a combat zone. Some Afghan women are captured by the Taliban that forces them towards a series of holes called prison.

CUT TO:

2 EXT. SOMEWHERE IN KABUL. DAY

A woman in the street comes out of school. Two Taliban follow her and beat her up. One of them spit on her while kicking on her stomach, the Taliban guy continues beating the woman.

TOFIGH:

"You should learn to stay at home instead of going to school like a whore and teaching those little whores!"

We see a close up of Golzar,32’s, bloody face. Some women are witnessed to Taliban’s act. Mina, 27 years old is watching while slowly walking towards the beaten woman.Mina helps her to stand up. One of the Taliban notices her and kicks on Mina’s back while she is carrying Golzar.

3 EXT. A VILLAGE SOUTH OF Afghanistan

The Taliban insurgents kill civilians who do not cooperate with them and burn down their houses.

4 EXT. SOUTH OF Afghanistan PRISON. DAY

Canadian and U.S soldiers are captured in the Taliban prison. We pan the entire Pashmool Afghan Prison. We see the dark holes where prisoners are captured and chained on the wall. Their tired faces cry out for food, water and a fresh air. The Taliban guys guard the prison.

5 INT. TORTURE ROOM. DAY

It is a dark room surrounded by the torture objects. We notice immediately a Canadian officer who is sitting in the center of the room and has been interrogated by the two afghan Taliban officer is shaking because of the severe pain all over his body but does not answer to their question.

6 EXT.MOUNTAIN.DAY

We pan the mountains.

NARRATION:

"The United States Army and Marine Corps have been at war in Afghanistan since November 2001. The Taliban have been bothering people of Afghanistan for quite some time. That is why many troops from various countries went there to help Afghan civilians. 3.200 marines are heading to southern Afghanistan to provide Canadian forces additional troop support and help the Afghan civilians. A special Marine troop has a mission to save Canadian and American officers who are tortured and imprisoned at the Taliban prison in southern Afghanistan."

MUSIC. The opening credits roll over a series of shots of Washington DC and the real people who live and work there, going about their daily lives. We see Jack. A. Williams in Marine outfit does his usual work at the Marine headquarters in DC.

7 EXT. WASHINGTON DC, DOWNTOWN. NIGHT

JACK A. WILLIAMS, single, 30’s, Marine ’s combat engineer officer, an attractive young man, casual clothes, leaves a restaurant and walks towards a Porsche in the parking lot while talking on his cell phone.

JACK A. WILLIAMS:

"I know mom, don’t worry. How’s dad?"

8 INT. PORSCHE .NIGHT

He starts the car and drives.

JACK:

"I gotta go. Alright don’t worry. Okey..bye."

9 EXT. VIRGINIA, PENTAGON CITY. NIGHT

Jack drives his car and turns to another street where his

apartment is located.

10 INT. APARTMENT.NIGHT

It is a nice well-designed apartment, a big flat screen plasma TV stands in the middle of the living room. We pan over some pictures of Jack in his marine outfit, the medallions that he received previously and his family pictures on the wall. He goes towards the refrigerator and takes out a bottle of beer, opens it and starts drinking it. He takes the remote control, turns on TV. The news is on. Without listening to the news, he goes towards the bathroom,drinks up his beer and puts the bottle on the table. He takes his clothes off. The scares on his body have stories to tell.

11 INT. SHOWER.NIGHT

He is under the shower. The water slowly goes down through his shoulders and his entire body. Jack closes his eyes for a moment under the shower. He is worried!

FLASH BACK:

12 EXT.COMBAT ZONE SOMEWHERE IN IRAQ.DAY

JACK and his men are under the attack of the Iraqis. JACK shoots at the enemy. One of his men, 21’s gets injured. We see his foot is cut off and a few inches near to him. He is asking for help.. Another man is going to help him but gets shot. He shoots at the enemy in the same direction. One of the marines, Tom, 21 years old, notices a 5 years old little girl in the mine zone. He puts away his bag pack to save her. He walks slowly towards the mine zone. Jack sees him, but cannot do anything since he is busy with shooting at the enemy with his machine gun. We have a long shot of Tom and the girl. She opens her arms asking for help while crying. Tom can’t wait to get to the girl, grab her and go back to a safe zone. Jack sees the little girl.

JACK:

"How on earth did she get there? Watch out, marine!"

( worried)

JACK:

"Be careful marine!"

Tom waves his hand to Jack and smiles, suddenly. Explosion.

Tom and the little girl both are killed in mine explosion.

JACK:

"NOOOOOO"

13 INT.SHOWER.NIGH

Jack opens his eyes under the shower. We see pain , sadness and hatred in his eyes.

14 INT. BEDROOM.NIGHT

He roles on the right side, then left side but cannot sleep. The insert of the clock on his night table shows 02:00 AM

FLASH BACK:

15 INT.COMBAT ZONE IRAQ.DAY

Jack is sitting with his team( Sammy, Tommy, Roberto, Kenneth and Todd.) They get attack and he loses his men and a helicopter. Explosion.

16 INT.MARINE COURT,DC.DAY

We see the marine judges in their marine outfit questioning Jack for loosing a helicopter and his men in Iraq. Jack wounded and is sitting in the middle of the Marine court and answers to their questions and defending himself about a book that he is written about the war. We see his book is as a material in front of them with Jack’s picture and Iraq’s map. They point the book and question him.

JACK:

"Your Honor, they were not my team but my best friends:Sammy,Tommy,Roberto, Kenneth and Todd. They carried themselves with such professional manner! They were humble and i loved them. The spirit of brotherhood have always been among us, your honor!" (Jack cries)

JACK:

"I lost my best friends and a helicopter. We have been in many missions. People speculate about what we do in the war! I wrote that book to set the record straight. So people get a better picture about what is really going on in Iraq.We don’t need that politicians tell us how to do it. We know our job, your honor! The world is changing fast and we should not take the enemy’s intelligent lightly! They have been fighting for years. We must change some of our strategies! It is a tough war. If you do not trust us as special forces, so do not send us. Please don’t tell us how to do it.We don’t watch news when we are there. We focus on the mission. We focus on one thing: to stay.... alive!"

We do not hear the rest of the defense. The juries talk to each other. The insert of the hammer that the judge land on the desk. Jack’s close up. We pan the entire court. They read the verdict, Jack stands up. Jack wins the case. Everybody is happy and shake hands with Jack. Jack thinks of his friends that he lost in war.He ponders again and goes into his deep thoughts.He looks at the his men’s pictures on the table.

17 INT.BEDROOM.NIGHT

Jack stares at the ceiling with wide eyes open.He cannot sleep. His new published book is on the night table besides his bed.He takes it and looks at its contents.

18 EXT. STREET. NIGHT

A long shot of the calm, quite and cleaned street in the night.

19 INT. BEDROOM.DAY

Insert of the clock, 06:00 AM, He opens his eyes and is annoyed by the clock’s constant ringing. He goes towards the bathroom. After a few minutes comes out, opens his closet and takes out his Marine outfit. He looks at the outfit for a second.

FLASH BACK

20 EXT. COMBAT ZONE IN IRAQ.DAY

Several soldiers are killed in the combat field. Jack looks at them and goes forward. The atmosphere is filed with smoke and dust. Jack looks at his men’s faces. The explosion.

PRESENT DAY:

21 INT.BEDROOM.DAY

Jack wears his marine outfit. He is about to go out and looks at the mirror in the bedroom. For a moment he looks at himself.

JACK:

"Let’s do this, marine!"

He goes out of the bedroom.

22 EXT. STREET. A MILITARY CAR.DAY

Jack comes out of his apartment and goes towards a military vehicle. He gets in the car.

23 INT. THE CAR. DAY

Jack sits in the car. There are three other marines, sitting in the care

JACK:

"Good morning."

ALL:

"Good morning,sir."

24 EXT. HIGH WAY. DAY

The car drives in the highway. We see the airport sign.

25 EXT. AIRPORT. DAY

The US soldiers and Marine Corps are going to the airplane in one line. Jack is among them along with a Canadian officer who is accompanying him.

26 INT. HERCULES. DAY

The US army soldiers, marine Corps sit in their places. A Canadian officer sits beside Jack. JAMES, early 30’s, US army talks with Matt, 26, (Marine AIR). James is bored and wants to amuse himself by talking out about everything. He finally finds a topic to talk about.

JAMES:

"Is there any way that we can ensure that the U.S air force stays out of the area and that the ground support comes from we "Marine Air”?"

MATT:

"Marine Air has always been a great support."

JAMES:

"Should we warn the parents of Afghanistan to keep their daughters away from Canadian Force members?"

JAMES:

( curiously looks at him. For a moment he hesitates to reply. However he is thinking about commenting anyway as a sign of being polite.)

"Not as far as I ‘v heard."

MATT:

"If the Canadian forces get help from Marine Aviation assets, there will be many more casualties."

( Everyone notices their conversation. A Canadian officer, 35’s, Eric,unhappy with James ’comment)

ERIC:

"Wow ...that’s a pretty low blow coming from you. You know, you fly boys have had your fair share of friendly casualties too."

JAMES:

"What do you mean?"

ERIC:

"Remember the A-10 pilots that greased a bunch of our AAV units with grunts attached during the second invasion in Al Nasyriha? Our AAV is one of a kind and you’d think maybe someone would recognize that, maybe at a minimum on the 2nd and 3rd attack runs....but too late to change that’ eh."

JAMES:

"So?!"

ERIC:

"Are you saying that we are indiscriminate killers’ hell bent on killing anything that breathes, whether it’s a legitimate target or not? If I remember correctly, the air force practice danger close training with live ordnance at 1000m when our pilots do it at 500m in training with Marines on the deck! I would assume they are better suited for our CAS then your boys. I’m also sure you have capable pilots as well; I’m not knocking them, but to come in here and insult us over target selection......ironic." Eric bitterly looks outside the air plane. The sound of airplane is a little bit high. The atmosphere becomes dead

silent.

JACK"

"I am not Canadian but well said."

JAMES"

"You missed my point. I never intended to insult marine or Naval aviation."

JACK:

"Alright guys. We got a long way, just calm down."

ERIC:

"It is a total lack of what close air support means today. As for what the CF relies on or uses, I imagine they use what is available. They do rely on ground assets. Of course, peace keeping missions don’t usually result in a lot of closing with and destroying the enemy, does it?"

JAMES:

"Anyway! As you know our mission is to help the Canadian forces in south of Afghanistan! I am sorry for the confusion."

ERIC:

"Apology accepted, I was pissed at what appeared to be a smack in the face to our pilots,"

27 EXT. THE SKY. EVENING

The airplane flies in the vast sky towards the ocean.

28 INT. AIRPLANE. NIGHT

Some soldiers and marines are asleep, some listen to music and some look at various magazines. Jack is in his deep thoughts. He slowly falls asleep.

FLASH BACK:

29 EXT. VILLAGE IN IRAQ.DAY

It is a village under the attack of the enemy. People are running from Taliban. Jack is carrying a child, The child’s mother sees them, comes towards Jack and takes her child. She thanks him and runs away with the child. Suddenly a Taliban guy shoot at them. Jack sees the incident and shoots back at the Taliban.

To be continued.....

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