Some eagles do strike

"Hold your goddamn fire. wait for them to get closer." I hear over the troop net. sounded like Commander Benson.

I adjust the optics on my nods a little bit to see some uniformed rebels walking in, cautiously, through the base entrance, past the burning German tank. AK-47s all in hand, with a few 74's and 971's here and there.

"We fire on Locksmiths kill." Commander Benson ordered.

Now, to have been selected to ring the first shot in an open-fire sequence by Commander Benson was just as rare as winning the lottery, or being struck by lightning. Physically, i feel, and look, very angry. Emotionally, i'm the happiest person alive.

I do the marksmanship breathing cycles. Breathe in, breathe out...breathe in, breathe out...hold. I feel my lungs, my empty lungs, hold out their time as i locked my breathing. I shifted the magnifier scope in front of my eye as it zoomed in on my EOtech red dot, and the head of the enemy in which its positioned over. Everything around me, silent. I could hear the footsteps of the enemy insurgents across the way. This is what i came to do, this is who i am.

"Blessed be the lord, my rock, who trained my hands for war, and my fingers to fight" I thought to myself.

I slowly squeeze the trigger of my 416 rifle. The trigger finally clicked, as a suppressed bullet rang out from the barrel, travelling through the air, pushing across the wind and the rain like it wasn't even there, through the skull of my target. He falls, dead before he hits the ground, a pool of blood surrounds him as his allies are looking everywhere at once trying to figure out where the shot came from. One of them decided to play dead. Funny.

As soon as that happened, every US fighter and KSK assaulter opened fire, as a non-stop stream of bullets mowed down absolutely everything in its path. Lines of enemy insurgents were dropping all at once. The rest of them decided to fall back, in an effort to regroup and finish us off.

"CEASE FIRE, CEASE FIRE!" someone yells. every trigger was released and all weapons were thrown on safety. "Regroup" i hear over the troop net, as we all move to Commander Bensons position, behind the scrapped C-17.

"UAV recon has identified multiple enemy strongholds that the insurgents are using to regroup and rearm. their Command Center is a hospital just a mile west of that. We're gonna split up into smaller elements, the Airmen are gonna stay here and guard this base. Speaking of which..." Benson finishes as he looks at the toughest looking Airman he could find.

"You!" he points to an Airman in his flak jacket with this big f*****g machine gun he carries with one hand. "what are you, what do you do?" Benson asks.

"Im a Combat Specialist for the 45th TACP" the Airman says.

"45th? Ain't that the new one they opened up?" Paul whispers.

"I think so, but im not certain." I reply.

Commander Benson took a head count of how many TACP guys there were, which werent that many. maybe 5. Benson assigned me, Paul, LTJG O'Hara and a TACP guy from the 45th. we were ordered to clear out the farthest stronghold from the base, about 2 miles out. thats where the explosives were, and it was enough to level a city block, we couldn't just air strike it. UAV said that more than 22 metric tons of C4 and other explosives were moved into that building, and we needed to secure it for some Navy EOD guys to arrive. We were called Hunter 2-4, and the others were called by hunter 2-5, 2-6, Actual, etc. the KSK guys took their own route to the enemy HQ as the rest of the airmen booked it back to the base, leaving only the few TACP guys here to move in with the SEALs.

Just then over the troop net, i hear "Ground teams this is Goliath flight arriving in your airspace in 30 seconds, Close Air Support will be on station and ready to engage on your mark." as i look up in the sky for a little while to see a flight of 3 F-15E Strike Eagles zooming overhead, followed immediately after by another flight of 3 more. The deafening roar of the overhead jet engines burning at maximum power filled the sky for about three seconds before quieting down a little. We could still hear them in the distance. 

The other SEAL teams split off to complete their respective objectives. LTJG O'Hara spoke up with "should we get a move on?" with the distinct sound of eagerness to complete it. We all agreed as we slid and aimed our weapons in front of us, ready to light up anything that might come our way. Through the fog of the downpour we walked quietly and swiftly, listening for any sounds outside of our team.

Paul must have been bored. "So, Airman, whats your-"

"Actually, im Technical Sergeant Kindle...not just Airman." Kindle interrupts. He looked young, couldn't be past 30. He had a fine line of facial hair streaking his chin and sideburns, a dark brown color that looked good on him to be honest. His aim with his jet-black M4 looked professional, with the aid of his angled grip, the rifle didn't seem to move at all in his hands.

"oh, okay." Paul replies as we continue to walk through the destructed road, assuming position behind any piece of cover before moving on. "So, Sergeant Kindle, how are you liking it in the Air Force?"

A rather dumb question...but a question is a question.

"well, its okay. I would have rather been in the Army, but they didn't recruit me for some bullshit reason. my only option was Air Force, so i signed up for TACP. Now here i am with you guys in the middle of Germany going to clear a building full of explosives" Kindle replies.

"What does TACP stand for?" Lieutenant O'Hara asks.

"Tactical Air Control Party. The Air Force opened a new unit, called the 45th combat wing. We're all just TACP guys, most of us are either in Africa or Iraq." Kindle replied.

I hear a faint cry of pain to my left down a small alleyway as I throw my weapons recticle in the direction of the noise taking a crouching position. O'Hara was the first to move in up to the wall of a destroyed building, keeping himself covered while looking down the alley every now and then. I look over toward Paul to see him crouched facing one way, while Sergeant Kindle covered the other side of the street, behind a detached piece of concrete from one of the towering buildings. I move up to the other wall adjacent to O'Hara as he crouches just enough to point his weapon down the alley, while keeping most of himself covered. he was leaning, and looked like he was gonna fall.

"Locksmith, up." he orders.

"Check." I reply. the cries of pain get a little louder and slightly creepy like the faint groans of terror in a horror film. I keep my head down while keeping my eye looking through the EOtech sight, magnifying scope pulled away. I turn around and signal O'Hara to move up, as i crouch and cover his blind side as he moved up.

"move." He orders. I pull my weapon to the other direction and follow him in through a dead end, this is where the noises were coming from. There was a makeshift tent, or so it looked. Blankets and sheets nailed into the ground on all the corners held up by a few poles, which were held in one place by sandbags. The person was male, looked about 40. His left arm, gone, bleeding was held off by a rag tied tightly on the wounded area. He was laying on a pillow, with a blanket over him. 

"Dont...dooont move the...blank...blanket" the man said.

"Sir im going to have to move you to safety, you are not safe right here." O'Hara testifies.

"no...nooo...go...run...!" the man counters, voice filled with fear.

"run? Lieutenant i think we should book it back to the squad." I advise.

"stand down locksmith, im bringing this guy to safety!" O'Hara counters.

"Boom.....booooommm...." the man says.

"Lieutenant!" I yell

O'Hara yanks the blanket off of the man to see stitches in his gut. The man keeps yelling "boom! boom! boom!!"

I look over toward the man to see his wound marks. My heart dropped. Oh s**t.

"BOMB!!!! BOOOOOMB!!!!! GET BACK, GET THE F**K BACK!!!!!!!!!" O'Hara yells.

We both book it back down the alley as we hear the man scream in agonizing pain, seemingly louder the further we got away from him. My heart is racing, beating a mile a minute. I could see Paul and Kindle already in the middle of the street when they heard O'Hara scream, covering both sides of the streets.

"BOMB! GET DOOWWWNNN!!!" O'Hara yells as we all dive to the nearest cover point. Next thing we hear is an ear splitting explosion coming from the mans location. It vaporized the nearby walls as the buildings nearby came crashing down on top of where he used to be. The shattering glass ringing as fragments hit the ground in front of us, the whole building was completely collapsed, it just wasnt there anymore.

"Hunter 2-4, Hunter Actual, what the f**k just happened?" Commander Benson yelled over the troop net.

"Hunter Actual, we have just encountered a civilian bomb threat. The bomb had appeared to have been surgically placed into the intestinal area of the victim, how copy?" O'Hara replies.

"Solid copy 2-4. continue with the mission, many thanks for the alert." Commander Benson finishes

"ALL TEAMS ALL TEAMS, HUNTER 2-6 IS CURRENTLY UNDER HEAVY FIRE FROM HOSTILE MOB HEADING TOWARDS ALL TEAMS IN MASSIVE NUMBERS! ADVISE YOU PULL OUT IMMEDIATELY! I SAY AGAIN, PULL OUT NO-" I hear over the troop net. his words were cut off and replaced with silence.

"S**T!!" Paul yells.

I hear Commander Benson, "Hunter 2-6 is down, i say again, Hunter 2-6 is down. All teams are ordered to fall back to Ramstein Air Force Base and await further updates."

Thats when we hear the unmistakable sound of AK-47 fire coming from the road a long length ahead of us. A lot of it. "Guys...we should...run." Kindle advises. 

"Good idea..." I reply. we all run back to the base as fast as we possibly could. The constant clacking of our boots hitting the ground and splashing in small puddles was the only sound we could hear over the rainfall. The fog had somewhat cleared up, and we could see Ramstein in the distance. we were surely getting distance from the hostile mob, but the AK-47 rounds sounded like they were getting a lot closer.

As we literally sprint with all that we had back to the base, I couldnt help but think about that mans face. He was so f*****g scared of death, he was crying. His eyes screamed in agony and hopelessness. I didnt think of anything other than why it had to happen like that.

what the hell have we gotten ourselves into...

Author's Note

Anything on the imagery? this one was typed late at night..so if something doesnt make much sense, let me know!
cheers! :)