13:00 hrs local time. A heavily protected military convoy could be seen exiting a millitary establishment in Jalalabad(Afghanistan). The convoy was headed by 2 Hummvees in the local camaflauge scheme. They were followed by 1 BMP-1, 2 Logistic Supply Flatbeds and one Hummvee at the end. The convoy commander was a Seargent called "Chesty". He was a veteran of the Gulf Conflict, divorced and lived with his childhood friend back in Illinois. Quiet experienced one might say. The soldier driving the Lead Hummvee was known as "Finch". Finch was a newbie to the war scenario and chose to join the military because he did not have enough college funds to let him make is way through college. so he got dropped out and decided to just make the best whats left off. The third crew-member in the hummvee was "Spider", also a newbie but was deployed in the initial conflict of Afghanistan. He was a gunner and had one of the best shooting scores in the academy. It started out as a normal routine patrol but the events that preceded further changed everything that was going to come ahead...Recommended
What was there Ahead?
The mirages could be seen quiet a lot in that blistering day. Chesty turned on some music to lighten up the mood of the crew. It was pretty broken radio set but it sure did its job. Suddenly enough Command ordered the crew to maintain extreme caution and return to base immediately as the satellite imagery has shown recent militant movement in the area. the movement seems like the area has been rigged by IED's. Chesty on hearing this told Finch to slowly put the hmmvv to a standstill. in the next 10 seconds the convoy came to a frozen standstill the sergeant yelled into the radio,"Everyone remain in formation, Gunners take position and keep a lookout for any unfamiliar movement reports of hostiles in this area have been confirmed. Do not move until i direct you to do so". 5 minutes into this situation and the sand was now starting to get into the vehicles. the trail hmmvv reported,"Sarge there seems to be some kind of movement back here, approximately 250 meters 6'0 clock. GET REAADY....... ". These were the last words anyone heard from the trail hmmvv gunner. Spider told Chesty that there are militants all over the area and are coming from every direction. He told Chesty to radio the Convoy to clear the area and Ex-fil back to the Base ASAP. Chesty just bared the loss of one of his Team-member and flash backs of the Gulf War became very clear again. he thought that everything was getting gloomy around him and simply most of the stuff was in-audible to him. He radioed all the vehicles,"RTB ASAP! Remain extremely alert and do not, I repeat do not fire on unarmed civilians under any circumstances". In a midst the convoy took a full 180 and headed back to base. all vehicles were speeding swiftly when Spider saw the body of the trail hmmvv Gunner just dangling from the turret. A huge bang sounded and reluctantly one of the two flat-beds was seen rising up in flames. the convoy could certainly not stop now because it was a confirmed IED hit. 3 minutes into the situation, the team suffered another loss as a second hmmvv was targeted by an RPG fired from a Hilltop. Another BMP-1 was disabled because the IED blew-off too close to it, resonantly the tracks of BMP-1 got of the wheels. 8 soldiers came out to defend the BMP-1, but the militants had already gained an upper hand on the terrain so before the soldiers could take up defensive positions, they were taken captive forcibly by the Militants. Spider saw all of this horror with his eyes, and just could not believe that he was seeing these many catastrophic events in a row. He started praying and hoping that God will spare him this time also as he has done in the past. He stood firmly out the turret with the heavy machine gun at his disposal. Well now after seeing so much horror of blasts and loss of his friends, he was now ready to shoot anything that was going to come between him and the Base. Sarge was yelling,"Spider take up defensive positions, shoot the militants that come in the way, just don't let anything take us down...". Spider was in a flashback of the lessons and the statements taught to him in the military academy, he could only think of the instructions that his instructor was giving him when he was being trained for the different scenarios. "Leave no man behind" were the words striking his eardrum again and again, but he left many men behind due to the situation that was prevailing at the time.
After RTB!!
On reaching safely back to the base he was in a state of shock and could not believe that what had happened in the previous 1 hour, how many friends he had lost? How many wife's are never going to see their Husbands again? How many men are never going to see their children play in the parks again? Who thought that he was buying his son the last ice-cream cone? These were the questions that were being pondered in Spiders mind, there was nothing he could do. He had a crystal clear view of the Battlefield and had seen all of its horrors. It was not the first time something like this has happened, it is all in a days job for The Everyday Gunner!
Stay tuned for Part-2
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