“EMBRACE THE SUCK”
Interior – dim barracks room. A 15-year-old Joe Jukic sits cross-legged in front of a flickering TV in 1991. Desert Storm footage rolls. A Learning Channel special about biblical prophecy overlays images of Baghdad.
JOE (V.O.)
They said it was history.
They said it was liberation.
They said Saddam was insane.
On the screen: footage of George H. W. Bush announcing the Gulf War.
JOE (V.O.)
But I was fifteen.
And I was watching The Learning Channel talk about Revelation like it was a weather report.
Cut to grainy imagery of Scud missiles and oil fires.
Kyle Smart — the cadet — stands taller than his years, eyes locked on the screen.
Chris Armstrong shakes his head.
KYLE
Saddam’s crazy. Guy thinks he’s Nebuchadnezzar.
CHRIS
You gotta stop him before he burns the world down.
Joe doesn’t blink.
JOE
Or maybe somebody wants the world on fire.
Silence.
JOE (V.O.)
They called it Operation Desert Storm.
But it felt like someone trying to kickstart prophecy.
On the TV, Revelation scrolls across the screen.
“Fallen, fallen is Babylon the Great…” — Book of Revelation 18
JOE (V.O.)
Revelation 18.
Wouldn’t hurt to look it over.
Cut to older Joe — now hardened, Solid Snake-like. A shadow operative shaped by history.
JOE / SNAKE
They drafted us through television.
Through fear.
Through Sunday school and satellite feeds.
You don’t need a draft card when you’ve got narrative.
They said, “Embrace the suck.”
Hoo Ahh.
So we did.
But I learned something in the desert —
The real insanity isn’t one dictator in Baghdad.
It’s believing war is destiny.
Pause.
SNAKE
Prophecy isn’t a script.
It’s a warning.
And if Babylon falls…
It won’t be because God pushed the button.
It’ll be because we did.