It was the month of May 17th, 2004 10:43 PM, our main squad rendezvoused at the outskirts of Daraa Governorate, Syria. We were composed of two division, one for the front lines and the other for flanking the hostile. I was assigned to the first one as the support. As the silent wind crept through the night, some of us had to keep watch in case they jump on us.
The first division leader was Staff Sgt. Miller, the 5 members were Cpl. Alfred, Pvt. First Class James, Sgt. Chris, Pvt. Spc. Henry and me, Cpl. Hans.
The second division leader was Sgt. Major Joey, members are Pvt. Robert, Pvt. First Class Larry, Sgt. Matthew, Cpl. Shawn, and the infamous Sgt. Shaw.
Every division had it's own medic and it's strategist, but every member was an important part of it.
I went inside the tent where Miller was to check what he was doing. "Sit down Hans, what do you want to talk about? Are you worried that we might die?". Heh, I guess he can already see the fear in my eyes. "I came to talk to you about it. What if we failed to keep watch? What if they actually succeeded on killing us? Tell me Miller, do you have a plan for that?". I waited for his reply, and I always thought that behind an answer comes the explanation. "My answer is simple as this, we'll take the bomb inside the terrorist HQ. No matter what it takes.". He did it again. So I went outside and and once again silence surrounded the dark, suspicious night...
1 hour later...
"Wake up Hans!". I soon noticed that I slept on the watch, then I stood up quickly and asked Henry what the problem was. "Can't you hear that *psssssst* sound?" I sensed it and grabbed my rifle. Suddenly, the ground shook with such intensity you can't stand up. It lasted for around 10 seconds, then we saw black smoke from the second division's campsite. We had to hurry, but Henry wanted me to get the others. "There's no time! I'm sure they would've felt the shaking earlier. Let's just hope they're still breathing." When we arrived at the smoke, the terrorists were already trying to kill our comrades. "Damn it! We gotta go help them!". The ground was covered with holes and bullets, the tents succumbed with flames, and the night sky covered with black smoke. All hell broke loose on that night. "Hans, Hans over here! We need assistance!". When we arrived to Sgt. Major Joey, we saw Larry got shot 3 times. Fortunately, the bullet holes are located on the shoulder, and near the chest. He was still breathing, but he's losing blood quickly. "Get something to stop his blood loss! Henry and Robert! Draw the attention of the terrorists to you, we gotta keep them distracted until reinforcements arrive. Now go! Hans, stay. Help me block of the holes." I was awed by Sir Joey's leadership, it's like he didn't even show a sign of being nervous and his head is in the game. "Are you listening?!" "S - sir yes, sir!". After approximately a minute later, he was fine. But the terrorists are another problem. "Damn it, we lost Shawn and Shaw!" "Keep moving!" "Take cover!" "Robert, throw the frag now!" No matter how much we kill them, they don't seem to stop. Plus, we're running out of ammunition. "Argh!" "Henry's down!" "NO!" I tried to run to his body but Joey stopped me. "There's no use! He's dead, what's done is done! Now let's focus on being alive and giving the reinforcements time to arrive!" Keep shooting, that was the only option we had left. Where could Sir Miller be? Then we heard another group of gunshots coming from our left side. Finally, the first division arrived! They immediately regrouped with us, thankfully there we still some guys remaining to fight alongside with. "How's it goin' Joey? You seem troubled." "Well, you've picked up a heck of a time to turn into a comedian. The ammo and rations got burned down with the fire." Fortunately, they packed extra ammo just for us. We were ready to take back what's left of the camp. "Let's go!"
The battle went on for hours. Bullets flying all over the place, explosions in front of our bodies, and sometimes Death would knock on our door and say "Hey, it's time.". But it was all worth it, we fend them off. We had to get back on our feet again. I saw the body of Henry lying on the ground, but we had to take him home with us. Miller had the idea to contact HQ about giving us rations and ammunition. The black smoke was replaced with beautiful clouds, the Sun shone brightly into the battlefield. It was another day, another danger.
