A story based off a book by Allan Zullo and the Iraqi war. All rights go to Dan and Jeff, I own nothing.
For the Iraqi citizens in the slum now known as Sadr City, it was another tense day as the invasion of their country marked its third week. Some didn't know whether to cheer or hide from the Americans who were patrolling the dangerous and unsecured streets. They didn't know if the next block would erupt in a firefight, if the next intersection would turn into a kill zone, or if the next storefront would unleash a deadly RPG (rocket-propelled grenade). Yet, despite risking death simply by walking down the sidewalk, the people tried to carry on with their everyday lives.
On April 8, 2003, on the outskirts of the capitol city of Baghdad, Sergeant Phineas Flynn watched woman buy vegetables at the open-air market, men tinker with cars at the auto-repair shop and children ask soldiers for candy. The 33-year-old Marine scout sniper and his four-man squad had just finished delivering mail to members of another sniper team. And even though he and his men had longed for a hot meal and a hot shower after engaging in several firefights in previous days, they agreed to help another company patrol the urban area. They could have used the rest, because the biggest battle – the fight to secure Baghdad – was near.
Soon gunfire broke out a few blocks away and increased in intensity, triggering an uneasy feeling in Flynn. We're about to get into a serious fight, I don't feel good about this one, he told himself. For one thing, his squad was separated from the other platoon without any mortars or tanks for support. For another, the Marines weren't sure where the small-arms fire was coming from, only that it was getting closer. Then he heard over a two-way radio that a radio operator had been shot in the head and killed by an enemy sniper.
Suddenly, rapid gunfire exploded all around him Flynn and his men ducked behind a wall, dropped to the ground, and began shooting back RPGs whistled overhead, and grenade blasts sent chunks of concrete into the air. Everything was happening so fast. When an RPG explode nearby, two marines who were crouching next to him went down. Struck by shrapnel, they suffered injuries to their heads and arms. Five minutes into the fight and already we have casualties, he thought.