I almost had the shit literally scared out of me today. We were on patrol when we thought that we heard a noise down an alley. It turned out to be a couple of cats fighting over a dead rat, but that wasn’t the scary part. We turned to leave and noticed a loud rumbling sound. Soon the ground started to tremble slightly. Not knowing what to expect we all hit the deck and crawled toward the road. Ramirez was on point and the first to the alley opening. He motioned for us to stop as he clicked on his radio. The conversation that followed was very humbling.
“Fire team bravo to HQ; over.”
“HQ to bravo; what is your status; over.”
The rumbling grew louder as the ground shook harder.
“Status is urgent. Two APCs marked with competing colors heading your way; over.”
“HQ alarm will be sounded and stations posted; over.”
I could hear the alarm at HQ sound off. Then Ramirez got excited.
“Holy shit! They have a tank!”
There was radio silence for a second.
“Bravo say again; over.”
“They have a tank and it’s rolling in your direction!”
The radio silence lasted an uncomfortable amount of time.
“Bravo prepare to flank rear of OPFOR on mark”
“You want us to flank a damn tank? Are you serious,” I could hear panic in Ramirez’s voice.
“Stand fast Bravo team! Prepare for mark.”
I could see the two APCs and tank roll past our position. Thankfully they didn’t see us. FTL Park came over the radio to report fire team alpha’s situation.
“Fire team alpha to fire team bravo; over.”
Ramirez calmed a little bit when he heard his buddy’s voice, “Go ahead alpha.”
“I can see the enemy armor. Are there any more units trailing?”
“Negative. No telling how many are mounted up in those things though.”
“Let me worry about that bravo. I’ll call mark when we are ready for your flank. Standby.”
“Roger alpha. I’ll call in a SITREP if ours changes; out.”
We laid in wait for what seemed like an eternity. My watch showed that four minutes had passed since being given the order to standby. Four minutes is a lifetime during a fire fight. The strange this was that I didn’t hear a single round fired. Surely HQ didn’t surrender before putting up any sort of fight. HQ came over the radio and summoned us back. It turns out that the armor drove past HQ without incident. We were put on high alert and completed the rest of our patrols mounted in a SUV.
“Fire team bravo to HQ; over.”
“HQ to bravo; what is your status; over.”
The rumbling grew louder as the ground shook harder.
“Status is urgent. Two APCs marked with competing colors heading your way; over.”
“HQ alarm will be sounded and stations posted; over.”
I could hear the alarm at HQ sound off. Then Ramirez got excited.
“Holy shit! They have a tank!”
There was radio silence for a second.
“Bravo say again; over.”
“They have a tank and it’s rolling in your direction!”
The radio silence lasted an uncomfortable amount of time.
“Bravo prepare to flank rear of OPFOR on mark”
“You want us to flank a damn tank? Are you serious,” I could hear panic in Ramirez’s voice.
“Stand fast Bravo team! Prepare for mark.”
I could see the two APCs and tank roll past our position. Thankfully they didn’t see us. FTL Park came over the radio to report fire team alpha’s situation.
“Fire team alpha to fire team bravo; over.”
Ramirez calmed a little bit when he heard his buddy’s voice, “Go ahead alpha.”
“I can see the enemy armor. Are there any more units trailing?”
“Negative. No telling how many are mounted up in those things though.”
“Let me worry about that bravo. I’ll call mark when we are ready for your flank. Standby.”
“Roger alpha. I’ll call in a SITREP if ours changes; out.”
We laid in wait for what seemed like an eternity. My watch showed that four minutes had passed since being given the order to standby. Four minutes is a lifetime during a fire fight. The strange this was that I didn’t hear a single round fired. Surely HQ didn’t surrender before putting up any sort of fight. HQ came over the radio and summoned us back. It turns out that the armor drove past HQ without incident. We were put on high alert and completed the rest of our patrols mounted in a SUV.
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