A Day Of No Return

A Day Of No Return

A Day of No Return
In the pitch dark, I said a prayer, with my stomach getting tight as a mustard seed, and my heart pumping faster than I can intake air. I open my eyes and hear the roar of the Blackhawk’s engine like the king of the jungle getting ready to feast. I heard my Lieutenant yell out “Green Light!” I slid across the hot metal floor to get to the door of no return. After it opens, I hooked up to the rope of death, as I call it, and try to prepare for the worst. Once I hooked up to that rope and repelled down to the earth in the early hours after midnight, I did not really know what was hotter: the temperature or the rounds that were speeding past my head.
It was my unit’s first night and mission in theater, as I was racing down the rope as fast as I could like I had black oil on my hands. It was a blessing that I hit the ground in one piece:, yet I could not say the same for some of my brothers-at-arms. The nightmare began and you could hear screams from every direction. “I’m hit, I’m hit! Medic!” It was like the earth was opening up. I could hear explosions going off rapidly in my area. I located a heavy metal object that my team could use for cover. Quickly, we set up behind the object and released a wall of gun fire in the direction where I felt we were getting the most of the resistances.
I could tell it was about seven to ten rebels that were firing down on our position. In a fire fight, the longer you sit still in an area the more likely to get pinned down, with the survival rate decreasing by the second. I quickly radio to the red team to give us cover fire so we could advance. It was about fifty feet between our position to the building that we were advancing to secure. The red team used their weapons to jack-hammer the front of the building, along with the “little birds” (helicopters) assisting with rockets. Under that cover fire, my team advanced across the street to the building where the Iraqis were held up and began our assault. Then...