Charging Into the Fray

FNG

Julian looked around as he and his teammates disembarked from the plane, SEAL Team 3 was one of the first units to deploy for the start of a new war. As the new Platoon Corpsman Jace had a lot to live up to. This was different than being one of the Hospital Corpsmen in the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit. Devil Docs were the cool guys even if they were new to the team. Here he had to earn his spot every day.

Jace packed his gear and was left to pack the Pelican cases into the armory and do inventory with the logistics team. Yeoman Second Class Erin Graham had helped him make sure that everything was accounted for. Once he was done he met up with the others in the TOC, with ten minutes to spare. Lieutenant Jacob Ross and Lieutenant Hal Victors looked at their watches, the former surrendering a $20 bill to the former. David Reese, the new Heavy Weapons Specialist, saved Julian a seat.

Everyone listened to the brief:

They were tasked with capturing Siamak Navabi, a Taliban field commander and diplomat/advocate for Al-Qaeda. He was traveling to the Laghman Province from Khost, the convoy was small meant to avoid attention from Northern Alliance forces in the region. This allowed the Platoon to ambush them as they traveled along the mountainsides. They were going to set up a chokepoint with overlapping areas of fire from the southwest and the northeast. The 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit was going to be their QRF.

One-half of the platoon, including Victors, Reese, Jace, and Chief Petty Officer Greg Branson, one of the platoon snipers, were going to operate the Northeast vector while the others were going to man the southwest. Julian was eager to get in on the action, Branson was going to let Jace act as his support marksman and spotter. During his time as a Hospital Corpsman in the 26th MEU he was assigned to the Scout Sniper Platoon, he placed first in his class in the USMC Scout Sniper Course. While he was attending the Pre-Scout Sniper Course one of the instructors recognized him, Staff Sergeant Matthew Davis had served under his father in Desert Storm and greenlit Julian for the full program. He didn't find out until he saw his father at the graduation.

"The day that I allow a Gibbs to be blocked from becoming a full-fledged HOG is the day pig fly."

As much as Jace tried to avoid nepotism he wasn't one to scoff at the opportunity to become a Hunter of Gunmen.

Julian had applied for the Navy SEAL Sniper Course three days after the Twin Towers fell. He was fresh out of SOCM and wanted to certify as soon as possible. The older SEALs took great joy in making Jace earn their advice and his attempts to pry recommendations out of them. But the course was three months long and the platoon was selected to be one of the first units to deploy.

He wasn't looking forward to war but he wanted to prepare for it.

The Blackhawks dropped off the squads six hours ahead of the time of the ambush. Everyone set up, they took turns looking out and checked in with the Tactical Action Center in a nearby firebase.

"So, how long have you been shooting?" Branson asked Jace.

"I've been a sailor since ninety-nine, Boss," answered Jace.

"That's not what I asked."

"I was fourteen when my dad taught me how to shoot a Three-O-Eight."

"You were a Fleet Marine Force Corpsman for a minute, Scout Sniper Qualified and you were selected for BUD/S just when you were settling in with the 26th MEU," finished the older SEAL.

"Yeah, the funny thing about becoming a SEAL is that you have to join up as something else, qualify, then go through BUD/S."

"American Tax dollars at work," laughed Victors.

"You're a good shot," said Branson. "Too bad you can't handle the big guns until you certify by Navy standards."

Jace shrugged.

He looked to the south, the convoy was on time. He relayed this to the others. They all watched as the militants passed into the chokepoint.

"Hotel One to all callsigns, On my mark. Three, two, one, execute, execute execute!"

They all picked their targets and opened fire, Jace loaded his M203 and fired a grenade at the convoy. When the smoke cleared they went in to verify the HVT kill. Everyone did PID and ensured that all Taliban on site were dead.

They were on their way to the LZ when an RPG cut them off.

They took cover, and Reese and Petty Officer Bridgestone, the other machine gunner, provided fire cover. Victors called for extraction, they had at least thirty Taliban after them. They needed to regain the upper ground, otherwise they were sitting ducks. Jace took out three Taliban, before reloading his M4A1. Reese and Bridgestone ran to join the others but the former was shot in the hip before he could reach the others. Bridgestone had taken a round to the shoulder and thigh and the others couldn't move.

"COVER ME!" Jace shouted. He fired his rifle at the enemy combatants and ran towards Reese.

He slung his friend over his shoulder and ran back to the others. He laid his friend on the ground and began treating his injury, he managed to clamp the wound and kept him stable. As the team fired back an Apache opened fire on the enemy combatants and a Chinook landed, Marines set up a perimeter and the platoon entered the aircraft.

Jace handed Reese off to the Pararescue specialists.

Back at the FOB the team stored their gear, finished their AARs, and went back to their quarters. Jace checked on Dave, he was fast asleep.

Julian checked his email, messages from his dad, and all three of his ex-stepmothers. Diane wished him well and said that 'if he came home in a coffin she'd kill his father', Rebecca updated him on her rehab and hoped that he was okay, and Stephanie hoped that he would be home soon. Jace could tell that Diane and Stephanie were still trying to get him to call them 'Mom'. Steph was nice and they had spent a lot of time together but he saw the signs of the imminent divorce. Diane took some getting used to but he came close to calling her 'mom' in the last year of her marriage to his father.

His dad was stuck breaking in a new agent, Stan Burley (but he kept calling him Steve), other than that they were going over new security protocols.

He finally managed to doze off.

Only Easy Day.