CHAPTER 17: November Rain #1
This chapter will be a flashback chapter, so just to give context into what will be going on. Also, this will go into detail more than previous chapters, so bare with me on this one. With that said, enjoy this chapter.
John's POV.
I got to my room and I was a mess. Tears streaming down my face, I sat down on my bed and wept. For roughly 5 minutes I sat with my head in my hands. As I looked up and wiped my eyes, I saw my guitar rack in front of me.
I then decided to pick up the acoustic and began playing Crystal Ann by Annihilator. Music was another way for me to deal with PTSD. It either would calm me down after a situation I just went through or even put me back in a good mood. Whether it's something as calming like the one I'm playing or something as heavy as something from Behemoth, I always found it cathartic in a way for me.
After finishing the song, I noticed that the five and Shifu were outside my door.
"You can come in." I said putting the guitar back.
My door opened and all except Crane and Monkey walked in, they came in from Crane's door connecting to my room.
"Hey guys, I'm assuming you all wanna know what that was just now?" I asked.
They simply all nodded.
"Viper told us about your diagnosis." Shifu said.
"I wanted to wait and let you tell them. However, after what happened in the dining hall, I had to tell them. Sorry John." Viper added.
"You don't need to Viper. If anything I should be the one saying sorry for not saying anything about it and causing...that."
"If you don't mind me asking, what caused you to have PTSD?" Monkey asked.
"Might as well tell you, it will clear the air a bit and even give you guys an idea of how I have to live with it. If you guys want me to, I don't wanna put any pressure into you knowing about this."
Most of them sat on the floor, except for Tigress, Crane and Shifu, getting themselves comfortable as I was about to tell them what happened to me.
"Now before I tell you my story, a few heads up. This story is not a happy one. It will be depicting scenes of death and mature moments of violence. I do tend to tell stories in vivid detail as well, so bare with me. Everyone cool with that?" I asked.
They all nodded. I then just in case it was needed, I put a box of tissues on the floor in case anybody was gonna need some. This is a depressing story to tell.
"Well in that case, here goes nothing. This took place 6 years ago…"
Flashback.
Date: November 20th 2014
Location: Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan.
This was like any other morning for me. I woke at 7:00 am local time and prep my breakfast before going through my emails. However, 30 minutes later, my phone beeped.
"One new message from Chris"
It read. Chris is my older brother in law.
I unlocked it and read what it said.
"Commander needs to see us in 30 minutes. Heather has already been notified. She will be picking us up."
"Roger that." I replied
Not gonna lie, I was rather bummed since I just flew in the night before. But when duty calls, you answer.
30 minutes later
Me, Chris and Heather (Hutch's wife) arrived at the hangar's meeting room.
"Any news on what he needs from us?" I asked.
"No clue, he just called me and said he wanted us to meet him here along with a flight crew." Heather answered.
As we entered the meeting room, the commander entered behind us.
"Ten HUT!" One of the guys in the room said. We all then stood up still and saluted the commander's presence.
"At ease everybody." He said.
We then took seats in front of the board.
"Alrighty then, let's cut to the chase. You all are probably wondering why I brought you all here. Well, less than one hour ago I was given word that one of our C5's had to make an emergency landing in Istanbul citing engine problems as the main issue. Inside that plane has a few vehicles which need to be here by tonight."
"So, why need us? I'm fairly certain that they have mechanics over there to fix the problem." Someone said.
"That's because we need a plane to fly there, pick up the crew and payload and bring it back before sunset. The plane itself will stay in Turkey for the time it needs the repairs done. Any other questions?" The commander replied.
We all stayed quiet, fairly simple mission if I'm being honest with you.
"Good. Rogers, as you can see your crew will be having a new face in the cockpit. This is our newest recruit, Richard Clarkson."
"Hi." He said.
We then introduced ourselves. This was his first mission, so this should be a fun trip for him.
"When do we leave for Turkey sir?" I asked.
"A plane should be ready in 20 minutes. Callsign will be Reach 65 heavy. If all goes well, you should all be back here just after sunset." The commander said.
"Will do sir." I said.
Within 40 minutes after the meeting was over, we were taxing to runway 21. We were wrapping our before takeoff checklist
"Clarkson could we get takeoff speeds please?" Chris asked.
"Yes sir. V1 is 155 knots, VR is 170 and V2 is 185." He responded.
"Excellent, before takeoff checklist is complete. Wanna call the Tower John?" Chris asked me.
"Roger that. Bagram Tower, this is Reach 65 heavy holding short runway 21."
"Reach 65 heavy roger, continue holding short, we have a group of F18s coming in, there should be a 5 minute delay."
"Continue holding short of 21, expecting a 5 minute delay for Reach 65 heavy."
"Well, now would be the best time to tell you Richard about the typical way out of Bagram. What we normally do is what is called a 'combat takeoff.' Essentially, once off the ground, we enter a steeper climb than most takeoffs so we can evade enemy fire from the ground." Heather said.
"Has it ever happened before that a plane got shot at when leaving the ground?" Clarkson asked.
"Not to us yet, but it isn't uncommon to get called by the tower telling us to expedite the climb and to look out for any hostile vehicles on the ground." I answered.
"Roger that sir."
"Reach 65 heavy, winds are 220 at 10, fly runway heading and contact departure when airborne, clear for takeoff runway 21." The tower gave our takeoff clearance.
"Clear for takeoff runway 21 Reach 65 heavy." I said.
We lined up with the runway and applied takeoff power.
"Takeoff thrust, set." Heather said.
Because the plane had no cargo in the back, she picked up speed quicker than it normally would when it was full. Within 30 seconds we reached takeoff speed.
"V1...Rotate" Chris said.
I then lifted the nose and we were airborne.
"Positive rate, gear up please." I said.
Chris retracts the landing gear.
"Reach 65 heavy, contact departure now on 125.55."
"125.55 for 65 heavy, see ya."
We then change radio frequencies to the departure controller.
"Bagram Departure, Reach 65 heavy is with you climbing through 1,000 feet for flight level 100 (10,000 feet)."
"Reach 65 heavy roger, expedite climb to flight level 100, reports came in of 3 suspicious trucks on runway heading." They warned.
"Roger that, expediting climb to flight level 100, on look out for the trucks, 65 heavy." Chris said.
Chris applied full power to speed up the climb as I pulled the nose up to a higher angle to avoid a potential missile.
"Flaps up please?" I asked Chris.
"Will do-"
*BANG*
Out of nowhere, this loud bang echoes through the plane. Best way I could describe it was if someone took a baseball bat and hit an aluminum garbage can with the intention of breaking through it.
"What the hell was that?!" Heather asked.
"I dunno, but whatever it was it janked up the flight controls." I said.
"Umm Lieutenant, we just lost hydraulic systems 1 and 2-
"Beep! Beep! Beep!" An alarm sounded in the cockpit.
"- and it appears we have engines 1 and 2 on fire!" Clarkson said.
"Can you take a look and see what the damage is John? I'll take over the controls." Chris said.
"Roger that, you're in command." I said.
I looked over to my left and what I saw horrified me. The left wing was on fire and damaged beyond repair. Knowing that we were fucked, I called back ATC.
"Mayday, mayday, mayday. This is Reach 65 heavy declaring an emergency. We have both engines on our left wing on fire and we lost 2 of our hydraulic systems, requesting to return to Bagram."
"Heather, Clarkson, commence emergency engine shutdown." Chris added.
"On it. Richard, take the manual."
"Yes ma'am." He said.
"Reach 65 heavy roger, how badly damaged is your left wing at this time?" ATC responded back.
"Just barely holding on to the frame, we need to get back pronto."
"Roger that, make a right turn heading of 270."
"Heading 270, 65 heavy."
As we began our turn, I then decided to warn the loadmasters of the situation at hand.
"Boys, this is the Lieutenant speaking. As you are probably aware, we have suffered a major problem with the left wing. We will be heading back to the airport. I hope that if all goes well, we will be on the ground in 10 minutes. So please stay seated with seatbelts on. Thank you."
"Reach 65, if you can, make a left turn of 030, maintain current altitude and speed, contact tower now on 127.75. Good luck up there."
"Turn left 030, maintain speed and altitude and 127.75 for 65 heavy, thanks for the help."
During the turn, I was then able to get a glimpse of where the 3 trucks were, I then knew what happened to our bird.
"Bagram tower, this is Reach 65 heavy, with you flight level 020 speed is 250."
"Reach 65 heavy roger, we have been made aware of your situation. We have first responders at the ready."
"Roger that and if possible, could you get a couple fighters ready, we noticed the 3 trucks that were spotted earlier. They are on the final approach path of runway 03, about 2 miles from the threshold." I said.
"Copy that, we have 2 A-10's getting ready as we speak."
"10-4, Reach 65 heavy."
"Clarkson, could you go into the crew quarters and get the 2 duffle bags, one red and one camo colored, and bring them in here? I will explain more once you have them." Chris said.
"Yes sir." He said.
A few moments later, he brought them in and strapped himself back in.
"The red one has all we need in case of an accident. Medkit, beacon, radio and rations to survive for a couple weeks."
"Umm...why have the camo one as well?" I asked.
"Judging by how she's flying, I don't think we're gonna make it to the runway. Mind taking over, so I can further explain?"
"Got it, I have control."
He went on to show the small arsenal we had in the bag. It consisted of 2 assault rifles with 10 mags for both, as well as 2 pistols with 10 mags too. Chris would bring both bags every time we flew together. When I asked him about it the first time, he said 'Best be safe than sorry, especially in this area of the world.'
I then saw what Chris had to deal with, this plane was on the verge of falling out of the sky. Chris then called the tower
"Bagram, this is Reach 65 heavy, we may have to put her on the ground now. We're losing airspeed very rapidly and at this rate, we won't make the airport."
"Reach 65, roger. If you need any more assistance, let us know."
We were now at 800 feet and just barely above stall speed.
"Do we lower the gears?" Clarkson asked.
"Negative, it will only add drag, which will cause us to stall. We won't add flaps either at the speed we're going." I said.
"Roger that sir."
"Heather, get on the PA and tell the guys we are putting her down on the desert floor."
"On it."
She then calls the cargo bay
"Cockpit to cargo bay, we will be landing on the desert floor. Brace for impact."
"Should we go through the forced land-"
*BANG*
Clarkson got cut off by a second and more violent bang which then caused the plane to pitch up as it started falling from the sky.
"Everyone hang on!" I screamed.
Within 10 seconds of the second bang, which I knew at this point that it was another missile, we hit the ground. The plane then slid across the floor as it spun from side to side for about maybe 3 football fields before finally coming to a stop.
I will be splitting this chapter in 2 because of just how long it will be if I did it as a whole.
Stay tuned.