Cup of Joe CD2021 --non.writer--

His eyes were tightly closed, but in his mind's eye he could see it clearly.

A white, ceramic cup filled with black coffee that was changing color as he doled out a generous serving of cream.

Hot: a tendril of steam rising from the cup. The waitress, a no-kidding Gum-Chewing-Goddess-Made-In-The-USA, walked by to ensure his meal was in order and flashed him a toothy smile.

Outside, the sun was rising and bringing forth another glorious spring day ...

A loud WHUMMP interrupted his reverie, and was followed by several others. Fire mission for the crew in the mortar pit. To his left, a rhythmic and distant whopping sound signaled the flight of a UH-1 'Iriquois'.

Crap. Still in Vietnam.

Standing up, he strode over to the idling duce-and-a-half, and using a towel, grasped the piping hot canteen cup that had warmed up while sitting on the manifold.

Sitting again in his own pit, he stared dully at the small brown packet. Print on its exterior announced:

COFFEE INSTANT TYPE II
2.5 GRAMS NET
WITH ASCORBIC ACID
DIRECTIONS: DISSOLVE CON-
TENTS IN 1/2 CANTEEN CUP
(8 OUNCES) OF WATER.
MFD. BY: TENCO, A DIV. OF THE
COCA-COLA CO., LINDEN, N.J.

Ripping the packet open, he emptied its contents into the canteen up. His spoon from the mess kit served to stir the mixture. As always, he carefully cleaned the spoon and returned it to his upper left front cargo pocket. Time to enjoy the coffee, such as it was.

His eyes were tightly closed, but in his mind's eye he could see it clearly.

--

Cheers

a reply to: F2d5thCavv2

Your story was visceral and wrenching. I could literally feel the mindset of the protagonist of the story -- which I suppose is you. Very well done.

a reply to: argentus

Thank you argentus.

I was in the military, but thankfully served in times of relative peace. Yes, I drank c-ration coffee many times.

Cheers

That was very well written and gave me a flash back/memory of an L.Z. called David in Cambodia. C4 heated water for coffee and one of my crew members asked me what I was going to do when I got back to the "World". As I pour my military issued coffee into the container I say, " When I get back I am going to put cream in my coffee and try to always remember this day".

Except for the fire support base called David the whole area looked like a well manicured huge fairway on a golf course. The whole area was beautiful.

a reply to: 727Sky

My huge thanks to you for serving in SE Asia. o7

When I was overseas, I couldn't wait to get back to the "world", aka "the land of the big PX".

And after I returned, it didn't take long to want to return to where I had been in the military! Thereafter, I got lost in Europe for keeps.

Cheers