Future Memories

Chapter 11

10 months after deployment...

Fighting was picking up. We were receiving more and more casualties everyday. Amidst the chaos, I received some amazing news. My wife had given birth to a baby boy. He was 7 lbs 8oz., had brown hair and green eyes, and was named Oliver. I was sent a picture along with a letter. Communication over the phone was very limited because of the intensity of the fighting, so now my family and I had to communicate by letters. I was set to go one my third big mission today. Our last mission was a success. We were able to capture our target and bring him in for interrogation. This mission may be the most important yet. We were going in at 0000 hours. Us, Alpha squad, Echo squad, Beta squad, and Hotel squad were to go in and try to capture the enemies second in command at his compound. We'd also be bringing a squad of snipers with us. The sniping squad would be around a mile out in the hills surrounding the area. They'd take out enemy snipers and patrol men. Alpha squad would set up a rope ladder to climb the compound walls. They'd scout the area and when the coast is clear, they'd open the compound doors. Beta squad would breach the door and check the first floor of the building. Our squad would search the second floor. This floor is where the target is said to be residing. Hotel squad would keep watch on the third floor and roof in case the target tried to escape. We left base at 2300 hours. We arrived at our drop off a little early, so we went over the plan again. We were dropped off about 2 miles off of the compound. The snipers were taken to other locations to get set up. When we got the ok from the snipers, we began to move in. The plan was going smoothly so far. Alpha squad go to the compound and set up the ladder. Their lead man climbed the ladder, but something went terribly wrong. As soon he reached the top of the ladder, he was shot int the head. He hit the sand and wet it with his blood. We went with plan B. We brought a few m203s with us in case things went south. We launched a few grenades at the compound door. Nothing. We decided to toss a few grenades in. When were heard screams of agony we new we hit our target. The rest of Alpha squad began to pour in over the wall and eventually got the doors opened. When the doors opened, three men of Alpha squad were hit by bullets and were killed. We took cover behind the compound wall and tossed a few smokes. "Move, move, move!" I heard the lieutenant yell. He was the leader of the entire operation. We began to file in as Hotel squad stayed back and layed down cover fire. We reached the door to the first of three buildings in the compound. We breached the door and entered the building. "Get down!," I heard Ghost yell. There were two enemies firing from the top of the stairs. We took cover and easily eliminated them. We climbed the stairs and began rushing to rooms and breaching doors. We eliminated a few more enemies. When we reached the end of the hall, we breached the room and found our target. He had a woman wrapped in his arms and was yelling something in Arabic. Radar stayed back and quickly appeared and took a shot as his arm. Direct hit. He dropped to the ground and grabbed his arm. Radar and Ghost dragged him out. Hammer grabbed the woman and began to grin. "What are you doing?," I asked him. "I'm returning the favor that these bastards gave us!," he yelled. He threw her down on the bed. I grabbed him, but he shrugged me off. "Let her go. She hasn't done anything wrong," I said trying to reason with him. "Someone has to pay for this shit!," he exclaimed. "Radar! Get in here!," I yelled. "So you're going to defend this bitch?," he said to me. "She has done no wrong." "Fine." He let her go. She was quivering and saying something in Arabic. Most likely a prayer. It was at this point I really began to see the deeper horrors of war. We secured the target and tried to get him out of the house without getting shot. There was still heavy fighting occuring outside of the building. "We have the target secured, let's get out of here," I radioed to the lieutenant. "We'll lay down cover fire. Get him out of here alive." I saw smokes from all directions being thrown. As soon as a big enough cloud was created, We began to rush out of the building. The target tripped and Hammer stopped to pick him up. It was at this moment that something tragic happened; Hammer was shot in the chest. His eyes grew wide and he hit the ground with a thud. "Nooooo!," I yelled. "Grab the target and let's get out of here!," Ghost yelled. I hesitated, then picked up the target and began to run again. We reached the outside of the compound and secured the target. We called for an Evac helicopter. They told us to get a mile out and they'd come pick us up. We got to the extraction point and were picked up. "We have the target on the helo. You can pull out now." "Copy that," he replied. On our way home we were dead silent. One of our fire team was killed today. I couldn't believe it. We returned to base and turned the target over the higher powers. We returned to our barracks and began chatting about the days events and losses. "Damn it!," I yelled. "I can't believe the got fucking Hammer!" "Calm down Roadrunner. We are all upset about the loss," said Radar. "We successfully got the target and we lost a man in the process. We'll miss him greatly, but this is war god damn it!," he said with tears in his eyes. "It's just another fucking life! Like it matters! He'll be replaced within a week! This place is a living hell!" I looked at him. "We are getting revenge for his death. Those fuckers will pay!," I yelled. I decided to not tell the group about what Hammer did and said to the woman. We went to bed with him in our thoughts. Those fuckers will pay I thought. Those fuckers will pay...
Radar was right. Hammer would be replaced four days later. It took some time to get used to him, but we got by. The war would continue to get worse and intensify in the next couple of years...