He shuffled his feet looking down. It was 3:54 AM and he was on the night shift for guarding the American Embassy. He looked over at his M16A4; he preferred it over the M4 Carbine that was still being issued to the tactical forces in Afghanistan and Iraq. He tried the M4 once, and used it for three weeks but soon got rid of the weapon and used his trusty M16A4. He didn't know why, but usually when the troops were in contact everyone preferred him not to be in CQC due to his accuracy with the M16. He was a natural marksman and was dead on in accuracy in mid-range to long-range firefights, so the others felt safer with him in the rear. That was until they decided to attach the M203 HE 40 mm Grenade Launcher to his M16, so he usually accompanied the front squads to the field if something wrong was to happen. He looked up and stood there in his combat gear. The area was recently a combat zone as a group of insurgents moved in after the main Iraqi Army was destroyed in 2003. The main Coalition forces moved into other parts of the country as Security Forces were left behind to protect the embassies and other things the Americans deemed necessary. He couldn't complain though, the money was good as his organization was contracted for their previous work in other places.
"Hey, you're up." He snapped his head up to see Hawk, the support gunner, standing there. He nodded and grabbed his M16 and walked over to the front gate standing behind sandbags. He placed the M16 down carefully and stood there as he watched the city. For being an Islamic city, he thought it was a beautiful city. He looked around took in a deep breath of the cold air. For being the desert, he never got used to the cold at the nights but he shook it off and continued to stay there.
"Armor, radio check over." He looked up as his radio went off. It was 4:00 AM.
He quickly replied, "Amor, checking in."
"Roger that. You and Hawk are on for another two hour shift. After that, Eagle and Apollo will be replacing you two at the Front Gate. Ambassadors want to wrap this diplomatic deal up quickly, so stay focused. Insurgents have been reported in the area; however these reports are not confirmed. Radio check in an hour."
"Hawk copies."
"Armor copies." He looked down at his M16 and reverted his gaze back onto the city. Sergeant First Class Alex "Armor" Richardson was recently re-assigned by the Department of Defense to be a part of the Ambassador's Escorts. He thought it was a stupid reason until he found out who the ambassador was, and then he decided to take this job a little more seriously. After a few weeks another security team came in, but they weren't regulars, they were contractors, and this was one of the normal jobs. This wasn't a big deal for them as Armor merged with the team temporarily. His role was still the Grenadier as their last grenadier was killed after being surrounded from an insurgent counter-attack and that same insurgent group has been supposedly reported to be in the same town in front of the embassy. He looked at Hawk who was watching from the bunker where Armor was earlier who had the M249 mounted against the wall.
"So let me get this straight Armor, you are currently in the US Army in the Special Forces and you choose this while you could be roping out with your friends?" Hawk spoke up trying to start a conversation. Hawk was a talkative guy and was someone you can get used to as a friend. He can bark, and he packs one hell of a bite.
"Well wasn't really a choice for me. The government posted me here after saving the future ambassador's convoy. I was a Sergeant then. We had just finished off the Iraqi Army and began to the process of rebuilding the country's government. The convoy we were stationed with when the leading vehicle hit an IED. Soon, we were attacked from the east side in the city. We had to get to Baghdad and so after the firefight pinned us down; I grabbed her and ran into a nearby building. My squad secured it and we called for CASEVAC as we held our ground. About twenty minutes later two Apaches came in and opened fire on the remains of the insurgents. As they provided covering fire, many of our men started to regroup and got some of the working vehicles operational and moving, and finally a Blackhawk landed right next to the building to get her out of the area as she was an important politician, so I ran her over to the helicopter. As she got on, she demanded me to get on and being her escort I had to follow orders there. Soon, she began to rise and chose the ambassador path. Soon, she finds out about me being stationed here, and she moves to re-assign me here."
"Damn." He smirked and turned on the radio, "Hey Lifeline."
His radio crackled, "Lifeline here."
"Armor has some game man. Later, he needs to tell you the story he just told me."
"Oh yeah?" Lifeline laughed.
"Yeah, the ambassador here has fallen for our Special Forces buddy!" Hawk turned and looked at Armor.
"Damn Armor, you gotta tell us that story sometime."
Armor laughed, "Yeah, I'll get to it later." His eyes scanned the ground sharply as he saw a slight movement. "Hawk, movement two o'clock."
The radio instantly went silent as Hawk lifted his M249 and started to scan the ground. He looked over at Armor, "I don't see it. You sure you're not letting the night getting to you?"
Armor shook his head as he reached for his M16, "I swear I saw something over there by those bushes…" He reached for his M16 grabbing it, and aimed down his holographic sight on his M16 and he saw more shadows. "I have something at two o'clock Hawk, I'm not joking."
"I believe you now Armor… saw more movements at our eleven o'clock."
Armor quickly snapped looking towards his eleven o'clock. He saw out of the corner of his eyes a shadow raise holding some type of rocket. He quickly snapped back and shouted aiming at the shadow, "RPG! Two o'clock!"