Act I Scene III The Bog

A/N: Sorry about the delay, I'm gonna try and get the rest of Act I out before I go to Paris Island.

U.S.M.C.

SGT. PAUL JACKSON

News Caster: After heavy fighting today, U.S. Marines began their push into the city where Al-Assad is making his last stand…Fighting has intensified in the Capital city. Anti-Aircraft fire and burning buildings light the night…

"Roger on location. Repeating Map Grid 52761-niner, over." Said Command

"Bravo Six copies over." Replied Vasquez

"Bravo Six we have an Abrams dead in the water call sign 'War Pig'. Lt. Vasquez your unit is shotgun, over."

"Copy. Bravo is inbound. Tell 'War Pig' to standby. We're on our way. Out."

Day 3 - 0500

Sgt. Paul Jackson

1st Force Recon Co., U.S.M.C.

Jackson readied his rifle. Vasquez waved his hand forward, a signal to advance. "Alpha Company's tank is stuck half-a-click north of here, we gotta hustle, let's move!" he said

The team moved up the street and two Marines were cut down by machine gun fire. The rest took cover behind a few burnt-out cars and returned fire.

"Get suppression fire on the building we have to move forward!" yelled Vasquez

Most of the team popped from out of cover and fired all at once allowing a squad of men to proceed down some stairs to the right of the building. Vasquez ordered his men to switch to night vision. Jackson popped the night vision goggles over his eyes, bathing the surrounding area in green light and a laser pointing from his rifle. Jackson rushed forward to take cover behind a broken wall. He rose from cover a popped off a few bursts, killing two OpFor. He quickly moved around the wall into a hallway where he regrouped with the rest of the team.

"Jackson, you and Roycewicz head upstairs. We'll cover this entrance. Go!"

The private was two steps ahead and up the first flight of stairs when an enemy trooper attacked him with his rifle. Jackson didn't have a clean shot so he pulled out a Kabar and stabbed the enemy who was now on top of Roycewicz. "Thanks Sgt." He said. The two Marines moved up the second flight without incident. Jackson waved the private to stay back and readied a flashbang and hand grenade. Jackson tossed the flashbang down the hallway which was filled with enemies and immediately followed up with the frag grenade. The flashbang blinded most of the enemies and the frag grenade took out four. Jackson popped out from behind the doorway and let off a long burst of fire that put the other half-dozen enemies down.

Roycewicz followed Jackson down the hall and helped him take out a machine gun nest as well as another enemy hiding in a room behind a couch. Jackson spotted a mounted machine gun. "Hit their flank with that machine gun." Said Vasquez.

Jackson quickly jumped on it and hosed the opposite side of the building down with lead. The surrounding area was quickly secured when Command came over the comm. "Be advised more enemy troops are converging on the tank. Get there A.S.A.P.!"

"Roger that we're working on it!-Out!" replied Vasquez

Roycewicz and Jackson headed back down the stairs as two more marines executed a door breach on a locked door in the second floor hallway. They found most of the team pinned down in a room firing out of a few windows.

"Sir, there's a ton of 'em out there!" said SSGT. Griggs who hefted a SAW machine gun.

"Shut-up and keep 'em pinned down!" replied Vasquez

Griggs used his SAW to provide suppression fire on the small parking lot outside which was filled with OpFor. Jackson headed past him and through a couple of doorways on the left on the parking lot. He suppressed a full squad of OpFor trying to flank the other Marines, then headed upstairs to secure a balcony. As he did so another Marine yelled "Contact on the overpass!" Jackson saw several OpFor troops on the overpass and used his M16A2's laser sight to take them down. He emptied a magazine, dove for cover and reloaded. He was taking out more OpFor on the overpass when Vasquez came over the radio. "UAV recon's spotted enemy tanks headed this way! Private West, get on the roof and hit 'em with the Javelin!"

"Right away sir!" replied West. West had just stepped out from the safety of the building and was cut down by the enemies on the overpass.

"Private West is down! West is down! Jackson, get the Javelin!" said another Marine

"Jackson! Pick up the Javelin so you can take out those tanks!" said Vasquez

Jackson hurried to West's position and grabbed the Javelin. He headed up to the balcony and took cover behind a crate. He crouched to avoid fire from the troops on the overpass and locked on to the first tank. The Javelin missile leapt out of the launcher and fired its rocket, propelling it into the air. The missile arced and came down on the third of four tanks. Jackson reloaded the launcher and fired three more times, taking out all the tanks. Once all the tanks were destroyed the enemy troops began pulling out. Jackson, back down on ground level traded the Javelin for a Dragunov sniper rifle. As the Recon platoon made their way through a marketplace the few marines guarding the tank came over the radio.

"Bravo Six we're taking heavy fire from our position north of the overpass! Where the hell are you?"

"We're almost there hold on!" replied Vasquez

The platoon finally made it to the tank.

"Alpha Six what's your status over?" asked Vasquez

"We're still surrounded sir! There's just the four of us left but the tank is still okay! Over!" replied a marine

"Contacts to the east and more flanking to the south! Hold the perimeter!"

The Recon platoon took up positions around the tank, Jackson took out one or two to the right of the tank then turned toward a long fence and focused his fire there.

"Bravo six, this is Warpig! The main gun's offline but we still have our machine gun!" said the crew of the tank.

Vasquez noticed some of the enemy carrying detpacks. "They're moving in with detpacks! Don't let'em get close to the tank!" he said

Jackson saw the same and switched to the Dragunov. He used the sight to prioritize targets by distance, targeting the closer ones first then moving back. Jackson soon ran out of ammo for the sniper rifle and switched to his assault rifle. He moved up behind a dumpster close to the fence line. He tossed two flashbangs over the fence then popped out and moved in. He turned left and gunned down an Opfor coming at him, then spun and mowed the rest down. He started taking fire from the roof so he moved closer to the building itself and moved into a hallway. Command came over the radio as he did so. "Bravo Six, be advised, more hostiles assembling to the west of your position over."

"Two Charlie, Bravo Six! Requesting air support for fire mission, over!" replied Vasquez

"Uh, negative Bravo Six, there's an enemy ZPU to the south of your position. Until you take it out we cannot risk sending in any more choppers, over." Replied Command

"Jackson! Find that ZPU and take it out so we can get some air support! Lopez! Gaines! Cover him!"

Jackson had already spotted the gun and was behind a window across from it. There were several OpFor in the building ahead, preventing him from getting to the gun. Jackson ordered Lopez and Gaines to suppress the area while he tossed a flashbang/frag grenade combo, blinding the enemy first the killing the majority with the frag. He switched to the grenade launcher and fired two more round into the building and one more on the roof.

With the building clear the three marines moved up and Jackson used his grenade launcher on the gun. It didn't destroy it but it killed the three OpFor using and guarding it. Jackson moved it and slapped a packet of C4 on the gun and armed the detonator. He moved away with his team out of the building back towards the tank. Jackson pressed the button and the gun exploded nicely. Lt. Vasquez came over the radio next. "Jackson, I've got air support on the way but they need our exact location. Plant the IR beacon and get their attention. Out."

Jackson sprinted to a good location and planted the beacon. The chopper pilot came over the radio next. "Ok, positive ID on your sparkle. We're coming in hot from the northeast."

A moment later a pair of AH-1 Cobras came screaming in. They both fired rockets at a structure with several dozen OpFor with mounted and covered machine guns. The Cobras fired again and again until the machine gun fire withered and died. "Uh, two, you see anyone left down there?" asked the first pilot.

"Negative, we got 'em." Replied the second.

"Roger that. All targets destroyed we're outta here. Good luck boys. Out." Said the lead Cobra pilot.

"Command, LZ is secure. Bring in the engineers and let's get this tank moving." Said Vasquez

"Roger that. They're on the way. Good work. Out." Replied Command

"Squad, regroup at the tank, let's go!" said SSGT Griggs.

Jackson joined the rest of the recon marines as Lt. Vasquez pulled out a piece of chalk and began drawing on the tank.

"Listen up. We don't have much time to get this tank out of here. We'll take up defensive positions around the Bog here, here, and here, and buy the engineers some time to get the tank moving…Ooorah?" he said

"OOORAH!" replied the team.

The marines moved to their assigned locations as the engineers repelled in…