Jerry !! Jerry!! Jerry !!!” I heard a sharp voice screaming in my ear , sounded like a dream I was confused wondering whether it was a dream or reality. I was hit by a migrane for a while ,then after two minutes I struggled to opened my left eye. it was a struggle just like trying to open your eyes on an early Saturday morning after having one too many drinks the previous night. After the struggle, my eyes were open damn first I had multiple blinks cause whatever hit my eyes couldnt be believeable , body part lying all over like chicken in some slaughter house in Kentucky ,- two smashed arms were lying on my abdomen ,I literally puked on my self after seeing them.
40Hours earlier.
Early morning (0400hrs) bell rings this means it’s time for the morning jog and early morning drills. My beddie Craig who is always up before the bell ,he loved reading novels I wasn’t interested in book actually reading ain’t a thing I fancy. The only reading I do is reading of maps and studying enemies’ movements. He is already up while I’m still struggling with spreading my sheets 10 minutes later the noisy Senior Sgt Victor pulls the door and starts his usual commands,” Ladies up Ladies wake ur asses up ,moves ur asses ladies ,chap chap!’ Yes in the military if you dont like being referred as ladies don’t even get the thought coming down here ,stick to your books and degrees.
After the first but perfect preparations we now move to the drill grounds. As usual we perform jogs and draining drills till the sun is up and by 1000hrs we take the 1000hrs- meal , this was always my best meal of the day . A cup of porridge a chocolate bar , 4pieces of biscuits and an apple. After the meal we always go for briefings and tactical strategical lessons or we receive information about coming operations. This time we have received a briefing about an extraction of some kidnapped chemical scientist and two of his assistants=Bangul,Central Africa Republic{C.A.R.}. We are well briefed and informed about the location and how to neutralize the enemy and bring home the hostages. It was a long 4hour briefing ,imagine sitting in an history class for 4hours that’s how it felt to me but lives are involved so I always take these briefings very serious.
At 1530hrs we head to the extraction-drill- point. The extraction should be done to precision so no mistakes are condoned by the seniors so every moment a soldier slips we re-do ,it’s exhausting but always keep your next soldier alive and uninjured at all time and avoid being killed that’s the rule. After the exhausting long exercise at around 1900 hrs it’s dinner time it’s always a great time at the ‘mess’ everyone from different platoons meet here not jus to feed but also to interact with each other , my best friend ,Harald the only canine in our team or as we soldiers call them technically (k-9s). It’s my obligation at all time to keep him clean,healthy and upto all tasks was feeding on his dinner too.
After an hour or so its time for the late worship service conducted by the base Chaplain ,we always conduct sermons a night before the mission-day. Yes, soldiers believe that God is the most supreme and the First Commander so it’s always a great deal to pray before missions.At around 22:00hrs its sleep time and everything in the base always goes quiet like nobody lives there jus spotlight rolling overhead the camp and soldiers on patrol roaming and holding ground.
Extraction Day.
We up as usually for jogs and conduct a few extraction drills to perfect the extraction and for two hours we are set to depart for Central Africa. Harald too is set and ready for the mission like the rest of us. We are a team of six military personnel and one k-9 ,my friend Craig and I were the teams eyes – the sniper team ,Craig was my spotter while I was handling and taking out enemies with my dragunov rifle.
1200hrs we landed in Bangui- American base camp first ,where were protocally briefed and on all communications so as to correctly get Intel about the hostages whereabouts and the point to neutralize the enemy.1324hrs a Bird drops us quietly near an abadoned warehouse where all the action is set to happen. The warehouse was heavily surrounded by 10 heavily armed men ,two were at the front gate. I took out 4 at the back and the team on the ground leaped through the fence quietly. We knew it was a suicide mission because according to Intel there were 15 armed men in the inside and this guys were ready for anything and were ready to die for they so called ‘course’ but that’s wat we signed up for so it was against them. Craig and I were always on the look out for anything suspicious on the outside at a very vantage point ready for anything.
We continued communicating with the team inside and everything was moving on smoothly. The ground team cleared inside the back of the building .We , Craig and I took out a sniper at the roof of the building now five men at the front are still guarded I guess they hadn’t noticed the assault because two were busy sharing a smoke and chuckling. The process to move on well till a few minutes later we heard heavy gunshots inside then I knew it was time to take out the 5 guys on the front. Two ran inside buh I managed to take out 3guys. ‘T1- do you copy ?,T1- do you copy?’ Craig asked on the radio with a tense voice , after a few seconds T1 responded,” Copy S2!” , “What’s your status in there T1?” ,Craig asked.
T1-“We are receiving heavy fire ,but hold your position S2!.”, “Roger that!” Craig answered.
Moments later I heard some screaming coming towards the main entrance , an armed gunman rushed from inside and fiercely ran for the gate but Harald rapidly put him down before he could run-off the compound. I told to my self “that’s my boy, good-boy Harald!” Applausing Harald . Now that I had a clear shot on the guy ,I took him out perfectly. The Heavy Gunfire seemed to have reduced from inside ,2minutes later T1 and the rest of the team came out of the warehouse safely ,though one team member (srg. Vincent) was hit on his left shoulder. Vincent had a hard time walking so he was supported by Srg. Kurt. The team leader T1 told us to join them at the extraction point immediately as a Bird was 2minutes away. As fast as I could I disassembled the rifle and returned it to it’s carrying bag. We walked downhill to the extraction point Craig leading the way while I was behind him carrying the rifle. As we approached the other team about 200 yards from them,my ears heard a loud bang ,it sounded like a bomb which could bring down the white House. At first I thought I was hallucinating but to my knowledge Craig had stepped on an I.E.D. these are common nowadays in warzones you just don’t know when u will step on one. Two months earlier we had lost two marine teams in Syria. It was the most of the hits done on us.
If u don’t believe in luck i think u should because ladyluck spared me. I was thrown down so fast that I didn’t notice wat was happening , I went unconscious that moment there and then.After a few minutes , I heard somebody shout my name so hard. Craig was no more I had lost a friend not jus a friend but a partner. His body parts were scattered all over the place I couldn’t believe and I was under serious shock. Luckily the rest of the team was safe though they had injuries. My left leg was severely damaged I couldn’t walk. The chopper landed and I was stretched into the chopper.
The mission was completed and was a success because the hostages were successfully extracted but I lost a friend and a leg. Craig had a girlfriend and they were expecting in a few months. Poor child will have to be born to no dad. Tears always roll down my cheeks every moment I remember that fateful afternoon. Now I’m stuck in a wheelchair and the only friend Im left with is Harald but he keeps me going. I have been enrolled to some counseling classes like other affected soldiers but that ain’t helping much.Sometimes I wish we could have died both of us instead of living with this kind of pain and tears, but everybody has a purpose of living in this barbaric Earth, yes it’s barbaric -because why do we keep killing each other?,or what would you call that!!?.
okwonkwo 