We went in thinking that it was going to be an easy op. We were wrong! We’d been told that an aerial convoy consisting of medevacs, supply chinooks, and their escort of comanches had all but been wiped out. Our mission was simple: we were to investigate the crash sites and secure any survivors. The convoy went down by the smoldering rubble of a small Ukrainian town named Brushnicove. The town, at least what we could see from satellite images of the town, was riddled with artillery holes all along the streets and the houses were studded with bullet holes from machine guns to pistols. The convoy that went down was carrying the men who had defended this small town for nearly a month when the position was declared a lost cause. With the brass having agreed that sending in the tanks and F-25’s would cost to much for a smoldering town. Why would they when they have to worry about much more important things to think about then the men covered in dirt crawling through the mud and blood while they sit back in the pentagon smoking their cigars. But I diverge from my purpose, the Brass had ordered a mission to save whoever survived the crashes and most likely the enemy’s assault on the survivors. For the task it was my unit of 7 men along with a recon unit of 5 men and a tank squad made of four tanks which would rendezvous with us. We were set in the forest when we were briefed on our mission. It took us an hour to get out of the thick forest; as soon as we got out of the forest it started to drizzle. About then our squad commander, a medium man who seems like he was born with a five o’clock shadow who we called Sgt. O’Branswick wished us in his normal way of saying good luck,
“Ladies! We are now out of the frying pan and into the fire!” to which we replied,
“It isn't that hot sarge! Are you sure this is the fire?” We would shout with joy at the thought of fighting together. But then again we were always on the front lines and had grown combat happy.

When we got out of the the woods all we could see was a field full of artillery and smoke. Occasionally there was the exploded remains of a tree or two. We knew we were close when we could hear the pop,pop,pop! of the M16’s, the feewesh of the grenade launcher, and occasionally the “booom!” of the hand full of tanks that could still operate after the crash. Around two minutes after we heard this combat we came upon the rear comanche of the ariel convoy. The downed comanche had slid across the ground leaving a streak on the field that showed on the earth as if the comanche had cut the earth as a blade had cut a persons hand. The recon commander, a medium build, slim man named Rick, was a Lieutenant. One look at this man and you could tell that he was a grizzled vet who was also a lifer in the recon unit. He shouted,
“Tim go check and see if the pilots are still alive!” to which Tim replied like he was a puppy ready to please his owner, “yes sir!”. Tim had made his way to the comanche to check for survivors, every step he took he was expecting to come under fire from a hidden sniper or machine gunner we were also expecting him to come under fire but nothing happened. Tim hopped up on to the smoking helicopter and examined the pilots seats looking through the shattered and mutilated canopy shouting back the pilots were alive. Thats when we heard the low growing rumble of a tank’s treads roaring our way.

When you're a grunt or a foot soldier, if you hear the sound of a tank’s treads, two thoughts rush into your head creating fear and hope. The first thought in our case was that the forces that shot down the aerial convoy had sent in a tank to investigate. The other thought that a few of us prayed for, was that the tanks we were to rendezvous with were finally here; unfortunately it wasn't our tank support. Using the headsets we shouted to Tim, “ENEMY TANK!!”. Upon hearing that there was a tank Tim jumped into the gauge of earth left by the helicopter. As soon as he had made it into the trench we could see what it was, it was a russian 2S25 Sprut-SD or as we called it Spurt. When it didn’t fire we believed that the tank hadn't seen us. From what happened next we knew it didn’t see us as our radio man told us, “They’re radioing in something.”
“??? ????, ???????? ?????!” the tank commander said which we were told means “All clear move up!” in Russian. A few seconds after that message was sent a T-90, one of Russia’s main battle tanks, popped out of the woods to the left of the Sprut followed by a small infantry unit of 5 men. We weren't equipped to take on these two tanks and their supporting infantry so I barked at Rusty our radio operator to,
“Check where our tank support is, and tell them to hurry up!” To which he shouted into the radio, “Rhinos what is your ETA to rendezvous, repeat ETA to rendezvous! Enemy tanks at rendezvous we need immediate support!” Their answer didn't come in a way we were expecting it to since while we were waiting on their answer the five man team of the russian tank support moved in  on the downed helicopter and our recon team member. The two russian tanks had now turned their guns towards the helicopter when out of nowhere one of the recon team members a pvt. Sal opened fire on the five man infantry unit nailing the point man if the group, following his lead we opened fire on the other four men still standing with our gun barrels red hot, muzzles flashing so fast it looked like we left flashlights on the muzzles. While we were doing that Sal got up and ran towards Tim. When we were done with the infantry we could finally hear the T-90’s turret where to target Tim and Sal while the Sprut started to search for us with its long explosive fingers. When out of nowhere Tim and Sal made a break for it until the T-90’s MG stopped them with a “RATATATAT”. Thats when we finally got our support when all of a sudden there was a “whoosh” and the Sprut’s turret exploded off the tank’s body in a fire ball leaving only the burning hull as the turret went flying through the air landing upside down. As the Sprut’s hull and turret still burns the T-90 pulls behind the Sprut in a desperate attempt to save their tank as two shells land near the T-90 sending dirt spray up into the air as if it was a fountain. The final boom we heard was the key blow in finishing the T-90 as the shell landed a hit on the T-90’s  rear right track to which the recon team took advantage of as they flanked the tank to capture it. With the tanks dealt with we ran to Tim and Sal as they moaned in pain, Sal shouting,
“Medic! Medic!” As Tim just moans it is hard for us to hear him though as our tank support consisting of two 120S main battle tanks, a light Expeditionary tank and a light Stingray tank rolls out of the woods to our east. We couldn’t hear Tim moaning with pain as the medic kneeling in a small puddle of Tim’s blood or the small puddle of Sal’s blood since the tanks were so loud. Rusty had run up to the Expeditionary tank using the behemoth of the battle field as a shield he radioed in our situation while the recon team’s commander talked to the tank commander of the Expeditionary. When they returned Rusty told us that a medevac would be by to pick up Tim, Sal and the pilots; while lieutenant Rick told us that he’d talked with the Expeditionary tank commander into staying behind with the wounded while the rest of us would continue the mission.
Without looking behind we re-entered the shadows of the woods again moving towards the town of Brushnicove while at the same time we were listening for any gunfire behind us, but we heard none. It took us fifteen minutes to get to the out skirts of Brushnicove. All the way there Lieutenant Rick was saying how Sal and Tim were best friends in boot camp and that Sal came from a poor neighborhood only joining so that everyone would be treated the same while Tim came from a rich family only joining so that he would be treated just like everyone else. We knew we were there when we came to the splintered and burning town sign letting us know we were now entering Brushnicove. Under the town’s name “?? ??????, ?????? ? ???????? ???” Which we were told ment  “You want it come and get it.” We hopped off the 120Ss and made sure we all knew the mission or at least what we thought was the mission.
“Okay Mac” our commander said looking at the lead tank commander “we’ll go in first and you follow us into the town but first we got to Radio into the town so they won’t start firing at us. Then you’ll bring the tanks up behind us, make sure you lay down suppressing fire cause intel suggests the enemy has some RPGs in the forest. When we get the wounded out of there you follow us back where we’ll rendezvous with the medevacs while the 25’s deal with any hostiles. Everyone got it?!” Just as Sgt. O’Brunswick finished his plan the tank commander spoke up matter-of-factly saying,
“Sergeant I believe you’ve received the wrong orders. We are to go into Brushnicove and secure the German, British, Spanish, and French journalists attached to the shot down ariel convoy. Then we are to escort them to the LZ while the 25’s cover us.” That was the first time we ever saw sarge that angry, but we still had a mission to do so we moved on up the road and didn’t come under fire. It took a few minutes to take in the town around us, buildings reduced to rubble as if you had just poured the pieces of a puzzle out of the box. We didn’t come under fire so we waved for the tankers to follow us, as soon as they were in the town the rubble came to life, men popping out of the rubble covered in dust, mud anything around them they were covered in. The men came out of their hiding spots asking us if we were all the support they would get. Sarge opened his mouth to answer the men but the lead tank commander spoke first saying,
“Who is your CO?”
“I am!” answered a young Captain as he stepped out of the crowd of men.
“Where are the journalist at Captain?”
“Over there, in the old government building.” The Captain said as he motioned towards a two story building which was clearly the target of the enemy’s hidden artillery and mortar crews’ favorite target. As the Captain's second in command lead the tanks to the journalists hiding spot, while the sarge walked up to the Captain and inquired to where the tanks are to which the captain responded,
“Sergeant we’ve been here for a month plus. We wouldn't just leave them out in the open. We hide them so the enemys’ artillery wouldn't nail them. Smart hun?”
WHOOMP!!, BOOM!!.
“TAKE COVER!!!” A few people shouted as artillery shell sailed through the air nailing the second 120S right on the back of its turret, knocking out their radio. Out of no where there was another artillery gun firing but the noise came from behind us. And to our stunned amazement the woods surrounding the town where we were getting fired from exploded as one after another we heard shot after shot coming from behind us. While this was happening the MGs started to take positions and fire into the woods. When we saw the first big explosion we knew that the hidden tanks must have hit the enemy’s artillery. When the fire ceased Sarge went to go check on the tanks that came with us. When he returned he said that the second 120S radio was knocked out and the drive was injured, while the lead tank got hit by a light shell and their treads needed repair. While the tanks were being repaired the lead tank commander walked up to us when the sarge asked the tank commander,
“Still think we can get the journalist out?”
“No I don’t. We can't get the journalist out of here.” sorrowfully answering the Sarge’s question. “The only way we’re getting out of here is if the enemy gives up or if we get a ton of reinforcements from the whole branch.”
“We could call in for air support. Clear the forest, get some supplies!”
“I’ll see what I can do, but it probably won't be much.” As he walked away to radio in what happened, Sarge broke us up into small groups and sent us to certain units. Two of us went to the medics while three of us were sent into the artillery unit while me and one other guy were sent to the MG unit.

We dont know why but shortly after we arrived everything went south. The enemy sent in their big guns with sixteen of their light tanks rolling out of the woods firing as they moved. We had received orders earlier that we were not to waste your ammo on anything unless we could kill it. The enemy’s light tanks were very close to the defensive lines when our artillery started to fire knocking out seven tanks before they had to reload. Of course they wouldn't just send in light tanks they had sent in a large infantry unit. As soon as we saw this we realized this was their big push for the town. With their cover cover destroyed the MG units commander gave the order for all guns to open fire. Sadly the enemy had the same idea with all the tanks they had coming out under their artillery covering them sending hot lead through the air followed by an explosion wherever the shell landed. Our artillery was to well covered for them to be hit, but the infantry wasn’t. Even though our artillery was nailing tanks left and right and we were mowing down their infantry it still seemed hopeless. So we sprung a surprise on them, we had hide rocket launcher teams among the rubble where they couldn't be hit by the artillery but could still fire on the tanks and anything else.
We heard the Captain say fire over the radio when out of nowhere the smoke from the hidden rockets was everywhere. The smoke showing us where each rocket was heading or had hit. Even though we had caught them by surprise they still had the numbers. When their tanks were hit belowing smoke as the fire set of the munitions causing the tank to explode again. Even with the tanks destroyed and the infantry out in the open we were still being overwhelmed as the enemy’s artillery stepped up their bombardment searching for our tanks, and the infantry continuously advancing towards us as if there were an endless supply of men at their disposal. When they were just about to reach the wall around the perimeter everything went crazy. MGs started firing at random while our tanks started firing at the area around the enemy’s destroyed tanks and the mouth of the woods. Through it all we heard a low but growing noise but we payed no attention to it, until we heard the BOOM!!!. About then most of us started to smile because we knew what that sound was. Then the front set of trees combusted followed by at least a dozen explosions as ten jets streaked across the sky. As we looked to the sky we could see that every two jets were different colors while some weren’t even the same models or planes. But we didn't care they were napalming the enemy’s hidden units in the woods. When the jets had secured the woods around the town we could see four helicopters coming in with the internationally recognized symbol for a coalition. As the two transport helicopters landed their doors opened and five three star generals hopped out and began walking towards us.
“You men did good today. Because of your actions four nations agreed to join us. Were sorry for this whole mess but the head brass and president had agreed that we couldn't win on our own, we needed some help and if a nation's public wants to help their journalist the government snaps to it.”
“So you’re saying that the government used us as international cannon fodder? Lovely.”
We didn't really care for a pep talk from a general we were just happy we won.
“What do you boys say about your own battalion?”
“What are you talking about sir?”
“Theres a reason we picked you boys. Your a special unit.”
“Yes we are sir.”
Thats when I spoke asking the big question of,
“What was so special about us that you would send us on a suicide mission”
“That private will all be revealed in time, for now though you should report back to base. This chinook should take you to the base, your other men should already be there.”
We walked to the chinook with a little voice in the back of our head all asking the same thing,
“ What was he talking about?”
thats when sarge looking at the helicopter stopped inquiring,
“Sir this isn't our bases flight insignia, where is it taking us?”
“That sargent is just a mystery you’ll have to just wait and see at the base.”
And with that the general left but sarge still went into the helicopter and with that we followed him in.