General Powell was right. I still can't believe that we didn't have any KIA. This is thanks in most part because of Amy and Marie. Marie Svoktiv was in her mid-twenties by my best guess. She was one of those women that you didn't pick a fight with because honestly she may knock you out. This tough Russian loves to be in the fight. Marie is one of the best SMs at the company and Amy is shadowing her. Watching them in action was like being able to see beautiful music in an orchestra. That is if the beautiful music contained blood and morphine.
We mounted the SUVs at 1345GMT. Target assault time was 1400GMT since government regulations stated that a full company assault couldn't happen before then. The convoy consisted of two SUVs. The first one carried the SL, both RTL, a LRS, and both CQS. If anything happened to that truck we would lose all but one of our whole combat team! In ours we carried the other LRS, SM, TS, Amy, and myself. Geoff had some sort of special duty and was never included in the planning.
The TS spoke with a sweet, yet authoritative voice, "Four minutes to landing point."
Arnold Roller was the LRS in our fire team on this mission. He was an older man; probably in his early forties. He was retired Army and spent 24 years in the Calvary. His overall demeanour was rough, but once you got on his good side he was very compassionate. I felt him looking at me and turned my head in his direction. He grabbed my shoulder with one hand and pulled me closer to him. Our faces were uncomfortably close and we were making full eye contact with one another. Then he asked in a very serious tone, "You don't want to die a virgin do you?"
I chuckled, but he kept the same serious stare. Just as my face turned from humor to disgust he let out a loud laugh and slapped me on the helmet, "I'm just messin' with you kid!" The rest of the ride was fairly quiet. That is until we rolled into the parking lot of the radio station. I don't remember the explosions.
When I came to Marie's face slowly came into focus. She was slapping me and yelling something that I couldn't make out. All I could hear was the sound of gunfire and an alarm. After a few seconds I got my bearings back and started to stand up. Maria grabbed me by the armor and shoved me behind our overturned SUV. I looked around and could see that the other SUV was also flipped over. The first fire team was already spread throughout the parking lot and trading fire with some OPFOR (opposing forces) on the roof.
I heard chatter from both fire teams on the radio. They were going to make a big push in toward the building. Both RTLs fired smoke canisters at the front entrance from their M203 tubes. Suddenly it was a mad dash toward the thick fog. I thought about it for a second and decided to follow. I don’t know if I was supposed to go as well, but I was a backup driver and there were no more vehicles to drive. I began to step from behind the SUV and the TS grabbed my arm. She looked me in the eye and said, “Don’t even think about leaving this spot without an order. You are on MY team right now and I say we start pulling the equipment out of the trucks.”
Although I wasn’t happy about it I helped her unload the equipment. She was the first tier in my chain of command for the mission so I had to comply. It was very quiet outside. The wind lightly brushed my face and I began to calm down. The fight must have been over inside as well since I couldn't hear anymore gunfire. Suddenly the sound of engines started to consume the area. The TS looked at me and said to get ready for possible attack.
Out of nowhere 4 SUVs sped their way into a parking lot across the street. Thankfully they were attacking some other office building. I didn’t read the wraps on their trucks to find out who they belonged to. Just as I began to relax again it happened.
An SUV came into the parking lot we occupied. We quickly ran around our overturned SUV to put it between us and the attackers. I peeked around and saw that someone had mounted the nest and was pointing the heavy rifle in our direction. The TS did the same and they must have seen her because our cover began to rattle and shake with spray from the nest. She clicked on her radio, “Reporting one enemy vehicle with mounted gunner! Unknown number of targets inside!”
Soon after the report an enemy came around the side of the other overturned SUV. The TS put two rounds into his chest. He was only wearing light armor so it took him down. The mounted gunner stopped for a second and another enemy came around our SUV. The TS and him traded some rounds with each other at the same time. Both were down for good. An object came sailing over the SUV and landed behind the dead attacker’s body.
It was a flash-bang. I remember seeing nothing but white and had a terrible ringing in my ears. This began to fade after a few seconds. Normally it would have lasted longer, but the flash-bang exploded a good ten feet away, in the open air, and behind a dead body. I WAS LUCKY! I picked up my baton and had my knife at the ready. As soon as I saw the muzzle poke around the side of the SUV I jumped into action.
I smashed my baton into the muzzle which caused it to dent and knocked it out of the attacker’s hands. Quickly I raised my baton for a hit to his head. He was fast at blocking with an arm grab and smashed his fist into my left eye. Everything went blurry and all I could make out was a fuzzy figure swinging at me. I’m not sure what happened next, but I think it was one of those sub-routines from my hand-to-hand combat classes. I realized that I had won the fight when I came to and my knife was buried to the hilt in his chest.
Arnold walked up and pushed the guy off of my knife and to the ground. He then slapped me on the back and said, “That was bad ass kid! I can’t wait to see what you can do with a rifle!” There were no more attackers or attacks for the rest of the day. Surprisingly the TS survived the four gunshot wounds and should recover completely after a good bit of R & R.
Later we provided cover to the HR team as they compiled information for the After Action Report that would be have to be submitted to the government. I have a pass tomorrow. It’s my birthday. I could get a cake made of dog poop as a present and it would still be the best birthday ever. Just in case you were wondering; everything does taste better after you come close to dying.
We mounted the SUVs at 1345GMT. Target assault time was 1400GMT since government regulations stated that a full company assault couldn't happen before then. The convoy consisted of two SUVs. The first one carried the SL, both RTL, a LRS, and both CQS. If anything happened to that truck we would lose all but one of our whole combat team! In ours we carried the other LRS, SM, TS, Amy, and myself. Geoff had some sort of special duty and was never included in the planning.
The TS spoke with a sweet, yet authoritative voice, "Four minutes to landing point."
Arnold Roller was the LRS in our fire team on this mission. He was an older man; probably in his early forties. He was retired Army and spent 24 years in the Calvary. His overall demeanour was rough, but once you got on his good side he was very compassionate. I felt him looking at me and turned my head in his direction. He grabbed my shoulder with one hand and pulled me closer to him. Our faces were uncomfortably close and we were making full eye contact with one another. Then he asked in a very serious tone, "You don't want to die a virgin do you?"
I chuckled, but he kept the same serious stare. Just as my face turned from humor to disgust he let out a loud laugh and slapped me on the helmet, "I'm just messin' with you kid!" The rest of the ride was fairly quiet. That is until we rolled into the parking lot of the radio station. I don't remember the explosions.
When I came to Marie's face slowly came into focus. She was slapping me and yelling something that I couldn't make out. All I could hear was the sound of gunfire and an alarm. After a few seconds I got my bearings back and started to stand up. Maria grabbed me by the armor and shoved me behind our overturned SUV. I looked around and could see that the other SUV was also flipped over. The first fire team was already spread throughout the parking lot and trading fire with some OPFOR (opposing forces) on the roof.
I heard chatter from both fire teams on the radio. They were going to make a big push in toward the building. Both RTLs fired smoke canisters at the front entrance from their M203 tubes. Suddenly it was a mad dash toward the thick fog. I thought about it for a second and decided to follow. I don’t know if I was supposed to go as well, but I was a backup driver and there were no more vehicles to drive. I began to step from behind the SUV and the TS grabbed my arm. She looked me in the eye and said, “Don’t even think about leaving this spot without an order. You are on MY team right now and I say we start pulling the equipment out of the trucks.”
Although I wasn’t happy about it I helped her unload the equipment. She was the first tier in my chain of command for the mission so I had to comply. It was very quiet outside. The wind lightly brushed my face and I began to calm down. The fight must have been over inside as well since I couldn't hear anymore gunfire. Suddenly the sound of engines started to consume the area. The TS looked at me and said to get ready for possible attack.
Out of nowhere 4 SUVs sped their way into a parking lot across the street. Thankfully they were attacking some other office building. I didn’t read the wraps on their trucks to find out who they belonged to. Just as I began to relax again it happened.
An SUV came into the parking lot we occupied. We quickly ran around our overturned SUV to put it between us and the attackers. I peeked around and saw that someone had mounted the nest and was pointing the heavy rifle in our direction. The TS did the same and they must have seen her because our cover began to rattle and shake with spray from the nest. She clicked on her radio, “Reporting one enemy vehicle with mounted gunner! Unknown number of targets inside!”
Soon after the report an enemy came around the side of the other overturned SUV. The TS put two rounds into his chest. He was only wearing light armor so it took him down. The mounted gunner stopped for a second and another enemy came around our SUV. The TS and him traded some rounds with each other at the same time. Both were down for good. An object came sailing over the SUV and landed behind the dead attacker’s body.
It was a flash-bang. I remember seeing nothing but white and had a terrible ringing in my ears. This began to fade after a few seconds. Normally it would have lasted longer, but the flash-bang exploded a good ten feet away, in the open air, and behind a dead body. I WAS LUCKY! I picked up my baton and had my knife at the ready. As soon as I saw the muzzle poke around the side of the SUV I jumped into action.
I smashed my baton into the muzzle which caused it to dent and knocked it out of the attacker’s hands. Quickly I raised my baton for a hit to his head. He was fast at blocking with an arm grab and smashed his fist into my left eye. Everything went blurry and all I could make out was a fuzzy figure swinging at me. I’m not sure what happened next, but I think it was one of those sub-routines from my hand-to-hand combat classes. I realized that I had won the fight when I came to and my knife was buried to the hilt in his chest.
Arnold walked up and pushed the guy off of my knife and to the ground. He then slapped me on the back and said, “That was bad ass kid! I can’t wait to see what you can do with a rifle!” There were no more attackers or attacks for the rest of the day. Surprisingly the TS survived the four gunshot wounds and should recover completely after a good bit of R & R.
Later we provided cover to the HR team as they compiled information for the After Action Report that would be have to be submitted to the government. I have a pass tomorrow. It’s my birthday. I could get a cake made of dog poop as a present and it would still be the best birthday ever. Just in case you were wondering; everything does taste better after you come close to dying.
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