“Fall back!” “Take cover” That’s all I could hear. Explosions and gunshots were ringing throughout my ears as I ran back and jumped into the trenches. “I need ammo!” “Who’s left?” I could barely stand but that wouldn’t stop me from holding the line. I peeked up over the wall of the trench as bullets whizzed past my head. I quickly proceeded to slam another magazine into my M14 Marksman Rifle. My last mag. “OPEN FIRE!” I blindly fired into the cloud of dust, dirt, smoke, and the enemy.

“Johnson. Hey, Johnson, wake up. C’mon. Get up,” I woke up to the sound of Lt. Billy Jenkins' voice yet again. “Do that again and Colonel Babcock will make you run ‘round the base all night,” Bill proceeded to say. “Yeah yeah whatever,” I sleepily responded.
“Would you two stop yappin’ and get cleaning, inspection is in five.”
“Shut up Ramirez,” I yelled.
“That’s Staff Sergeant Ramirez to you Johnson.”
“Alright ‘Staff Sergeant Ramirez’,” I said letting as much sarcasm slip in as I could.
I made my bed and got into uniform as quick as I possibly could. I was tying the laces on my boots as an instructor I had never met before barged in and yelled,”ATTENTION!” We all stood up quickly at attention. The instructor scanned the room without speaking a word and then promptly left.
I leaned over to Bill and whispered,“What’s up with that guy?”
“Stay at attention, Johnson, trust me,” he responded under his breath.
Cling, cling, BANG! I was blinded. I quickly recognized it as a flashbang. My ears were ringing and I was extremely confused. As I regained my vision, I saw the instructor standing above me.
“Attention soldiers.”
“SIR YES SIR,” everyone, including myself, yelled out.
The instructor nodded and walked out the door. Everyone was just left standing there rubbing their eyes and blinking rapidly. I kneeled down and continued to tie the laces on my boots. I looked over to Billy and it seemed like he knew my question just from my face. “Yeah, that always happens,” he said while putting Windex and 409 in the supply closet. I chuckled and put the broom and mop away. I checked my watch and it was already 07:00. My squad and I then quickly proceeded to the briefing room. I was both nervous and excited; this was my first assignment and briefing. We all stood around the table as Colonel Babcock entered. We all stood at attention.
The colonel began the briefing, “At ease. Gentlemen, today you are entering the battle in Iraq. Your company will be split up into 4 groups. Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, and Foxtrot.”
Martinez quickly interrupted, “What about Delta and Echo sir?”
“Settle down soldier, hold all questions until the end.” He continued, “As I was saying, the four groups will airdrop above a to-be-determined drop zone via C-130 and parachute in. Alpha and Bravo are our front lines. They will push North and lock the insurgents in to the town. Charlie will push up their right flank and Foxtrot their left. The marksmen will set up on the hills with M14 Designated Marksman Rifles and a spotter. Any questions?”
“NO SIR!”
“Good, now get geared up.”
“YES SIR!”

We all ran 2 miles down to the armory and started gearing up. After I grabbed my rig I walked over to the weapons and grabbed an SMAW launcher. Billy walked up to me.
“Hey Johnson, you’re with me. So, I guess, you’re a marksman now.”
“But I’m trained as anti-tank”
“I don’t care, orders are orders.”
“I have absolutely no idea how to use a sniper rifle. I’ll be as effective as a chicken with no head.”
“Grab your stuff and meet me at the range in 5. For weapons, grab an M14 and an M9 pistol. Pvt. Dylan Swarch will be your spotter.”
“Alright.” I rolled my eyes.
I grabbed my gear and walked down to the range. I arrived and met up with Billy. As he set up the targets, I loaded my rifle and got ready to fire. Billy came back and showed me the basics. I shot ten targets, twice each. I got a decent headshot ratio. We checked the time and we ran back to the C-130.

We all got seated and buckled up. We made sure that everyone was present and not crippled or injured in any way. I was sat between Pvt. Swarch and Colonel Babcock. We all got some needed rest as the flight was going to take about 10 hours without the drop time.

“Johnson. Wake up. Seriously.” I was once again awaken by Billy Jenkins. I checked my watch. 02:00. Drop time. I rubbed my eyes and got up out of my seat. I picked up a parachute and got in line at the cargo door.
“Go, go, go, go.”
“You ready Johnson,” Colonel Babcock asked.
“Of course I am”
I saw my teammates jumping out one by one. I heard the parachutes deploying and the air smelled like jet fuel.
“Go, go, go,”
I was up. I ran and jumped. I freaked out on the inside. I felt really nauseous. I deployed my parachute. Right as I pulled the cord, gunshots were being fired up at us. I heard the screams of my comrades as the rounds hit them. Just as we were nearing the ground, there was an explosion. I looked up and saw the C-130 burst into flames and the flaming metal bit drop down on us. We landed on the barren land with the town, full of insurgents, 500 meters in front of us. I hit the dirt.
“Get up Johnson. We gotta move,” I didn’t recognize the voice because of the noise but I followed it through the smoke, gunshots and fire. We ran up the left flank of the town. Once we left the smoke I saw Billy, Dylan and all the other marksman in my squad. The voice I had followed was Colonel Casey Babcock. I found Dylan and set up my rifle. I was firing like a madman hitting my target mostly every time. I felt like a natural. Dylan could barely catch up with ranging the targets.
“We have to move up, they’re getting hit pretty hard down there,” I said after about twenty minutes of fighting. The rest of the squad had also noticed that the remainder of our men were pinned down in the town. We moved down the hill and into the town firing at the enemy the whole way. We got to the town and took cover behind one of the walls. Another squad’s commander ran over to us and started to explain the situation, “We have three of our confirmed KIA and seven others injured. Two of our explosives engineers were captured and were taken into one of the builds down the street a little way down. I’d appreciate it if you could try and rescue them.”
The colonel looked at the mass of enemies ahead and turned towards us, “I need Ramirez, Johnson, Jenkins, and Dylan, I won't even try your last name, to come with me to rescue those men. Everyone else provide covering fire. Let’s go!”
A little bit after sunrise we moved up and searched six building for our men before Dylan noticed some footprints headed into a cellar behind on of the buildings we had just finished searching. We moved in and neutralized the six insurgents inside. We then found and untied the two soldiers. We had found them. We all knew we had very little time before the insurgents came to our position but still we took a quick break. After about five minutes we decided to roll out. We made it outside and the sun was starting to set already. Then we were under heavy fire. I could barely see a thing. The insurgents had thrown smoke grenades to provide them cover. I knew that I had to get to some cover of my own but I had no idea where any was. Then I realized there were some impromptu trenches a little way behind me. “Fall back!” “Take cover” That’s all I could hear from my team. Explosions and gunshots were ringing throughout my ears as I ran back and jumped into the trenches. “I need ammo!” “Who’s left?” I could barely stand but that wouldn’t stop me from holding the line. I peeked up over the wall of the trench as bullets whizzed past my head. I quickly proceeded to slam another magazine into my M14 Marksman Rifle. My last mag. “OPEN FIRE!” I blindly fired into the cloud of dust, dirt, smoke, and the enemy. Everything went black.

“Johnson. Everything is going to be fine. Just breathe alright. And, and try not to pass out again,” this time Dylan was kneeling over me. Colonel Babcock and Billy Jenkins were trying to get some shrapnel out of my leg. The Colonel looked over at me, “good to see you’re with us again Johnson. We called for an extraction after the grenade went off next to you. You were bleeding out fast but luckily Jenkins knew some first aid, enough to keep you stable at least.”
“How long was I out?” I asked them.
“Maybe an hour or so,” Dylan said, still panicking.
“How long until extraction?”
“Fifteen mikes or something like that.”
“How many casualties do we have?”
“Seventeen dead. Fifteen wounded, including you.”
I started to look around although my view was limited by my squadmates holding me down. We waited in the trenches for what felt like an eternity before the evac choppers landed. My friends carried me onto the blackhawk and an actual medic got to work on my leg. It turned out that it was broken along three of my ribs. We flew back to an aircraft carrier, the USS Ronald Reagan and sat tight for a debriefing.

As we flew in to the enemy territory, we believed we had the upper hand. We had absolutely no idea that our enemy would anticipate our attack and be prepared to defend against us. We had no gain from that mission, only loss of seventeen soldiers. I didn't know them personally, but I still felt like there could have been some way to save them and I was angry. Angry at the loss of American soldiers and for no gain at all. I’ve heard that they were defending a group of injured men. At least they died to save others. I can never stop thinking about that mission. What I, and my comrades, could have done to maybe have achieved something. If I could have done it all over, there is much I would have done differently. But that’s another story.