I am Sergeant Paul Jackson of the Marines 1st force recon. As we began the invasion it was just supposed to be simple; it was anything but. We rode in on helicopters. I wiped the sweat from my forehead and cocked my M4A1. The chopper was silent except for the rotors and the radio. None of us had seen combat before, we were nervous as hell! I pulled out my M9 Berretta and cocked it. As I returned it to it's holster, we got over the mainland. There were RPG-7s going off everywhere, all intent to hit us. We rode in deep, around the center of the city. I leaned my head out the side of the chopper to get a better look at all the chaos; an RPG went right by me. My squad got a good laugh at my reaction. Makeshift APCs with fifty-caliber's were driving around trying to organize their forces.The one man who had seen combat in our whole force, Lieutenant Vasquez, was in a chopper next to us making his chopper laugh. I caught wind of him saying that if it weren't for the RPGs he'd vacation here. I chuckled a little at that. Smoke was everywhere as we approached the LZ. As the helicopter stopped, I took a deep breath and hoped it wasn't my last.
The man next to me dropped the rope and went first out of the chopper. I slung the M4 around my shoulder and slid down the rope just like in training. I pulled out my M4 when I hit the ground as I got a headset call from Lt. Vasquez.
"2nd squad, on me to the target building. Go!" He said in his raspy voice. Well, at least it sounded raspy from over the headset. Yelling and organized chaos ensued as the rest of the force set up huge barbed wire roadblocks. Four men guarded the first blockade I saw, and they yelled at me to go down the alleyway. I followed the two men in front of me to the huge four-story building. "There's the target building. Left side door breach, stack up!" Vasquez said over the headset. Two men kneeled by the door covering us and the Lieutenant stuck an explosive device on the door and quickly resumed his position against the wall. He ordered us to blow the charge. As we did, Vasquez quickly ran into the building with another man and cleared the room with only a few shots. "Jackson, take point." He said to me as we neared another door. I went down the stairs and peeked into the next room. I saw two Tangos running alongside the table; I took them out with my M4. I reloaded and continued around another corner of the big room. Two more enemies were waiting there and started to shoot at us. I cooked off my grenade for two seconds and threw it at them. It air burst right above them; they were obviously dead. I heard footsteps behind me and another enemy popped out from one of the rooms behind us. He tried pulling the trigger on his shotgun, but I shot him first. I looked at the row of tables in the room. Weapons of all kinds were there! AK-47's, RPG's, AK-74u's (the submachine-gun version of an AK), and two SVD Dragunov's. I grabbed the Dragunov and put my pistol down on the table. One of the men grabbed an RPG off the table and aimed it at the enemies. I quickly smacked it out of his hand.
"Are you fuckin crazy?!" I started yelling at him, "If you fire an RPG inside it'll either cripple you or kill you very painfully!" Lt. Vasquez put his hand on my shoulder.
"It's nice that you're watching out for your fellow marines, but..." He pointed to the room next to us, "They're more important right now." I calmed down and answered with a crisp 'Yes, sir.' I resumed firing at the enemy. I don't know why I wasn't shot, maybe they thought I was crazy and would take five bullets before I died. Oh well. I was alive. I threw a flash bang in the next room; it went off and we all ran in. We took out the five Tangos in the room, and left the building. "All call signs, check the bodies. We need a positive ID on Al-Asad." Vazquez said over the intercom. There was no sign of Al-Asad anywhere in the building. The Lieutanant called in. "H.Q., this is Red Dog. Target building is secure, but we don't have Al-Asad. Over." I didn't hear what H.Q. responded with, because they were only linked with Lt. Vasquez. "Roger that H.Q., out. Heads up, I just got word that Al-Asad is broadcasting half a click east of here, in a TV station. We're gonna move in on foot and take down the package there. Move out." The only way was directly through enemy fire, so that's where we went.
I brought the scope up to my shoulder and held my breath. Time seemed to stop as I focused the cross hairs on an enemy with and AK in the building in front of us. I pulled the trigger; the report of the rifle echoed through the street, for he was the last man on that rooftop. One shot, one kill. I had learned that in marksman school. I was designated an infantry/sniper, I could do both jobs. I ran through the alleyway ahead of my squad and arrived at the intersection where the barbed wire was. We cut the wire and continued on. Walking calmly, we reached an intersection that just didn't look right. Vasquez pointed at one of the men.
"You! Go scout out the intersection and we'll move up behind you." The man gulped and nodded. He slowly moved up the road; the squad moved up a little. The man in our squad who found this war not hell, but exhilirating, moved up next to me.
"Little bastard's scared shitless." He said. The man on point moved up a little, as did we. I was behind my whole squad covering the rear. I peeked over the small bulldozer I was hiding behind. I noticed the man on point was the same man who had tried to fire the RPG in the last building. I thought, We're screwed. He stopped in the middle of the intersection and waved for us to come up. My squad began to move up cautiously. I saw something move behind the man on point.
"Fuck..." I muttered under my breath. I guess I was the only one that saw it, because no one else did anything. "Hey," I called. The point man looked at me. "Enemy behind you!" I yelled. The man turned around just to have his throat slit by an OpFor. The Lieutenant finally saw this and shot the man in the gut. He hit the dirt hard and started groaning. Vasquez ordered us to take cover behind the crates. One man didn't follow orders. I knew him well, his name was Mike. The point man was his best friend. He walked up to the OpFor lying on the ground with hatred burning in his eyes.
"Get back! Get back dammit!" Vasquez ordered. I could tell that Mike wasn't listening. He cocked his M9 and shot the man in both of his arms.
"Suffer...Suffer you son of a bitch..." He then shot the man in his knee caps.
"Get back now! That's an order private!" Vasquez kept yelling. Finally, Mike aimed at the man's head and fired, killing him. He then started laughing hysterically. After a minute he fell to his knees, sobbing. Vasquez watched him for a minute. "H.Q., this is Red Dog. We need a two medics, fast." Yet another one of our men went in the open, but this time to comfort Mike. He stood Mike on his feet and picked up the point man's body. They walked to a crate and set him on it. I kept watching the road ahead of me. The man that comforted Mike began to walk over to the Lieutenant when an SVD shot rang out. The man fell silently; his brains, a huge amount of blood, and part of his skull flew out. "Sniper! Get down!" Vasquez stated the obvious. "Jackson! Take him out!" He ordered.
"Yes, sir! Does anyone know where it came from?" I answered, reloading my own SVD. Mike managed to choke out a few words between his sobs.
"He...He's in the...TV...Station," He told me, "Fo...fourth...floor..."
"You saw him?" I asked.
"I...I saw the...the shot...The...The bastard shot from...a pitch black...room..." He managed to squeeze out.
"Thanks, Mike. You're a good man." I tried to comfort him a little more. "Staff Sergeant Griggs!"
"What up Jackson?" Our support gunner asked. He was a tall, muscular guy, perfect for running around with our Squad Automatic Weapon.
"Throw a smoke grenade so I can get ready for the shot." I told him.
"I got your back, man." He replied as he threw the grenade. I aimed at where I thought the spot was and waited for the smoke grenade to die down. The grenade cleared just enough for me to take the shot. I saw the man aiming his rifle out the window. Dumbass. You don't poke your whole rifle out the window. I thought. I pulled the trigger and everything seemed to go in slow motion. I could actually hear and see the action of the rifle cycling the empty cartridge and load a new one. I saw the tracer go through the air slowly until it slammed into the sniper's head. As soon as it hit, time resumed normal pace. The two medics came, evacuated Mike, the point man, and the man hit by the sniper. They went away and we began to resume our advance. Suddenly, a truck with a fifty on the back came roaring down the intersection and firing at us.
"We're in a bottleneck! Fight it off!" Vasquez ordered. I pulled out my M4A1 and started tearing enemy's to bits.
