My Father, the Space Marine

My Father was (is) not a Space Marine (maybe in some parallel Universe, so awesome!). But he did have an awesome job (wonder why I never followed...). He was a  Helicopter Pilot, for a young lad, having a Helicopter Pilot for a father, awesome! He was also for a time a Combat Pilot, and has told me a few stories as we've both gotten older. A very serious business, that he was involved in back then (70's), people died. I now appreciate far more the seriousness, and the perilous nature of that part of our lives, my own military service coming a short while after.
So, I'm working on a short story which has nothing to do with anything I, nor my father, did during our service. I'll share a little bit shortly

Oh all right then

“Yeah, you keep talking Olezka, and you’re so ugly that when you lie down at the beach the cats try to cover you up!” Pyotr shouted over the sound of the shells bursting around us “but really I was just thinking…”
“Stop, you’re just going to hurt yourself…”
There were explosions going on all around us
“Was just thinking that now was as good a time as any, and you’re strapped in, you’re not going to be able to get at me”, he laughed at that, and then an uncharacteristically serious look crept across his face.
“Pyotr, what the fuck have you gone and done?”
The rest of the guys in the drop ship, including CPO Semetov (yeah, if he was involved then things were going to be rough down there) were now turning their heads to take note of proceedings.
“Well Olezka, it’s like this, I’ve asked your sister to marry me”
“Marry me” came through quite loudly, the explosions seemed to stop for a few seconds, just then.
And they came back with a vengeance. Cracks, Bangs and Clangs as shrapnel bounced off the ship, Phwumps and Krumps as the sounds of the explosions shot past us, we were tearing through this rather hateful atmosphere at quite a pace.

But now is time to wrap up for the evening, off to bed, to read Terry Pratchett / Stephen Baxter "The Long Earth". Good Night.