I do not own DOA
Somewhere in the South of Afghanistan.
It's all the same on the patrol there was nothing different about it that is how IEDs work. The IED blew up the middle car completely even with the extra armor the Taliban just answered that by placing more explosives in their IED. I regain conciseness and I can see 4 dead fellow Rangers in front of me. They did nothing wrong they made no mistakes excepted being at the wrong place at the wrong time. I notice that the Taliban were focusing all of their attention on the car that was not damaged in the explosion and they thought that all of the people inside of the damaged car was dead that mistake would cost them dearly. I regain my focus and I search the rubble and find what I was looking for an M110 Sniper Rifle a semi-automatic rifle that had an effective range of 1,000 meters it is considered the best sniper rifle in its class. I set myself up and control my breathing and pick my first target a short man trying to run to one of my wounded soldiers I predict his movement and squeeze the trigger. His head explodes in blood and brain matter. I pick my next target a taller man that is too busy shooting his weapon blindly at the others to notice his friend being killed that was the last mistake of his life. A quick squeeze of the trigger and the man was no longer a problem to my friends in the other Humvees. By than the other Taliban notice that something is wrong and they start firing in my direction the only problem with that is they do not know where I am and I do. I find another target and take him out now I can tell that the Taliban are angry which was good news for me an angry enemy makes more mistakes than a calm one still I had to be careful and try to hold out for as long as I could until help arrive. I see another target I take aim and make quick work of him. Then I see one of them take out an RPG "Figures they can't find me so they want to see if they get lucky because it does not take a direct hit for an RPG to kill. I concentrate on him and watch him closely he lifts the weapon up and aims it in my direction I look into his eyes put my finger on the trigger and squeeze.
I wake up to a phone going off. I Iooked at the clock it was almost 7 considering that it was Sunday and that I was the one that usually called my family unless something came up I figured it was my command or a wrong number. I picked up my smartphone and answered.
"Hello Price Speaking"
"Price this is Captain Williams sorry to bother you but the brigade just called me with an assignment and I thought that you would be perfect for."
I knew from experience that this was not going to be a typical assignment if they were calling me on a Sunday.
"What kind of assignment sir."
"I will explain it tomorrow morning I want you to be at my office at 8 ok."
I was curious about this assignment so I told the Captain that I would be there and we said our goodbyes and I was left to think about what just happened. I knew that this assignment was not a normal one because I would just receive a call and someone would tell me report in 2 hours. But if it was not that than what was it. I figured that I would find out tomorrow and started thinking about other things.
My name is SSG John Michael Price and I am a US Army Ranger stationed at Ft. Benning Georgia. I am 24 years old, weigh 175lbs and I have been in the army for about 6 years. I have served 2 tours in Afghanistan and 1 in Iraq. As a child I got in a lot of fights with bullies that attacked me and my friends. I got my ass kicked most of the time but bullies only fight people who do not fight back. I was always an outdoor type of person that lived in the small mountain town on Little Switzerland in North Carolina. I learned how to fish and to hunt. I never knew my father and my older siblings never really talked about him. I guess you could say that I had a pretty good childhood and I never even considered joining the military until I was in the 6th grade. That was when 9/11 happened I did not understand why people would do something like that and when I saw people the building jump off to their deaths I was very angry with the people who did that. It was then I started to learn how to fight by studying Muay Thai, Krav Maga, and Wrestling. I do not know why but for some reason I just was very good at learning it and eventually I became a wrestling state champion in high school. Even though I was good at fighting my mother did not let that go to my head and she did not want me to be all brawns and no brains. Her policy was simple keep my grades up or I would not be allowed to go to those training sessions. She also taught me how to cook and clean that was when my mother and I made our bonds. Than when I was sixteen she died of cancer I took that really hard. It was like everything that I looked at sparked a memory with my mother. Eventually with the help of my brothers and sisters I learned to coup with her death. Then came graduation and the issue of how I was going to pay for college again the military came into play and I decided that that was the best option for me. My family was very worried about me joining because we were at war in Iraq and Afghanistan but they supported me. I joined the military and later became a US Army Ranger.
As I thought about my life I thought about my family Jeremy will be learning how to drive soon now that he was 16 he was growing up fast and I was missing out. I never expected my family to understand what I do, I just hope that they can accept it and when I do finally visit I can pick up where I left off. My older sister Janice keeps on telling me that I should get a girlfriend but I just never found anytime for it plus with my job and with the army's ability to call me anytime to go anywhere in the world I knew a relationship would be hard. Who knows maybe God would give me someone special and understanding but I got my life ahead of me.
The Next Day
I walked into the commander's office and saluted Captain Williams which he returned and told me to sit down.
"SSG Price I will get straight to the point we just we just got an assignment from the brigade and I thought that with your experience you would be perfect for the job."
I was curious so I responded with "what kind of assignment sir".
Williams looked at me then he looked at his papers and without looking up he said "What do you know about the Dead or Alive Tournament."
I was very surprised is that what this was about a tournament "not much"
Williams looked at me again "It is a fighting tournament that has fighters all over the world and it is conducted on a ship that will set sail from Saudi Arabia this year."
I was starting to get really confused now "ok well what does that have to do with us sir"
"The President does not want any of our fighters to be put in harm's way because there are a lot of people in that area who do not think to highly of us so the president has suggested that we send some soldiers over there to look after them."
"Sir isn't that a job for the navy why go to us."
"Because SSG Price the Saudis do not want our navy ships near there port it makes them nervous plus it make the Iranians start there Anti American speeches again so rather than just have ships escort them everywhere the military's of all the countries participating and going to send troops to run security and our country is asking for names and I thought you would be perfect so I am going to send you to the D.O.A. tournament to help run security."
"You have got to be kidding me." I thought "I am a Ranger America's most elite light infantry and I was going to be doing a security guards job." Captain Williams saw the look on my face "its 3 mouths traveling the world and the TDY pay is about $150 a day not to mention the fact that that ship is one of the most expensive trips to go on and you're going for free. I think you will survive. Pack your thinks SSG you are living next Monday."
So here I was on a Black Hawk with 6 other men 3 other Americans and 2 British soldiers on our way to the D.O.A. ship. It was really quiet on the chopper and I took the chance to look at everybody onboard. 2 of the Americans were in the Navy while the other was in the Marines due to the fact that the guys in the Navy had their face covered I say there were Seals. On the British side one of them was a member of the Royal Marines while the other also had his face covered and was probably SAS.
"Wow they are taking this protection detail really seriously" I thought
We finally made it to the helipad and landed on the ship I got off and took in my surroundings there were people looking at us in wonder and I was guessing that most were probably the fighters wondering what we were doing here. I could not help but notice that there were a lot of hot women here from all over the world.
"Jeez I hope they don't put a "No Fraternization" rule here or I might just die.
We got our things and put our stuff in our rooms and headed for a meeting that we were going to have in the lunch room. When I finally got there I took in my surroundings and sat down. I could hear someone singing and saw that it was the Marine that was on the chopper I was about to ask him to keep it down when I heard one of the British guys say. "This is Fucking Horse Shit what the Fuck am I doing here." Then I hear a German tell the singing Marine "Please cut that out" in a heavy German accent. The Marine smiled and said
"What's wrong you don't like the arts?"
"Oh we love the arts when they are being sung by someone who can actually sing." I said
The Marine looked at me smiled and said
"Well aren't you happy to be hear." I responded with "I am overjoyed to be here last week I was in Ft. Benning Georgia and I was thinking man should I stay here or go to Saudi Arabia my life is complete now. The Marine smiled and said touché. Than all of a sudden we hear "ON YOUR FEET" and everyone stands up and in walks a full-bird Colonel.
"Be seated" the Colonel said and everybody sits down "Welcome everybody my name is Colonel Jones and I will be the commander of this protection detail. I am here to tell you what our mission is and the rules you are to follow while you are on this detail.
End of Chapter.
