This Walk of Life

Chapter 6: Hell of a First Day

3rd Person POV

A loud beeping alarm woke up Ethan and his squad, drowsy by the sudden wake up Ethan looked around confused. "Ethan get up, we're going out!" Andreas yelled, filled with adrenaline he jumped out of bed and ran out the door. His run pattern was wacky and uneven because of dizziness but soon it went away.

Rushing into the locker room, Ethan snatched the G-suit from the locker and shoved his legs through the legs, zipping and securing the G-suit. Ethan grabbed his survival vest with the torso harness. Laying down the heavy equipment, he stepped into the gear and pulled it up fast, almost hurting himself, zipping and tightening his vest he shoved his hands into his gloves and finally snatched his helmet off its shelf and ran out the locker room.

He followed his team close behind, bursting out the front door with enough force to shatter the glass, they sprinted to the aircraft shelter. Ethan panted, the weight of the vest weighing him down, but he wouldn't let some weight hold him down.

Seeing his jet again was a surreal feeling, a moment he couldn't enjoy because shits going down. Crew Chiefs were already halfway done preparing his plane, using the stairs leading into the cockpit he jumped inside and looked at his office space. "Happy to be back" he said while putting on F-35 Generation III helmet.

After quickly starting and setting up his display and arming the ejection seat, Ethan pulled the small yellow lever that closed the canopy. As the canopy came down, he had a sinking feeling in his stomach and butterflies in his stomach. Taking deep breaths, the pilot heard the sound outside the aircraft become muffled as the canopy sealed him inside. 

Starting the engine, Ethan released the brake and felt the aircraft jerk forward taxing down the tarmac towards the runway. Ethan sat in between Andreas and Bob with Adam in the back, looking further back he saw two more squadrons rolling down the tarmac to the runway.

Putting their planes into a halt, the 500th squadron were set up in a trapezoid like formation. Andreas pushed his throttle to full, the advanced jet sped down the runway gaining speed, after getting far away enough, Ethans turn was up.

Even though his hand was gripped around the throttle and joystick, he could feel his hands shaking furiously. Clipping his mask to the helmet he looked down at the long runway that seemed to go on forever, he pushed the throttle forward and felt his heart race faster that any faster he might get a stroke in his jet. Looking to his side the base went by faster and faster eventually becoming a blur, pulling the stick back he felt G's slightly press down on him as he lifted off into the sky.

Ethan formed up with Andreas, Adam and Bob followed close behind. "What's the rush for, captain?" Adam asked, "Three squadrons of Iranian fighters are heading for Baghdad, full afterburn gentlemen" Andreas told his team, Ethan watched his captains jet gain huge amounts of speed. Not wanting to get yelled at, he pushed his throttle for full afterburner too.

Ethan's POV

Approaching Baghdad at breakneck speed with two other squadrons, using the radar the screen displayed nothing until in my peripheral vision dots appeared on the screen. "Bandits, 10'oclock low!" I alarmed my squamates, "I see maybe 10 or more" I said shocked at seeing how many dots there were.

"I see them, it looks like 15 it's a mix of Su-27s and F-4 Phantoms" Andreas informed everyone, "500th drop down and give them a welcoming".

Holding my breath, I banked the jet down towards the earth approaching the Iranians at high speed, my headset beeped as the missile attempted to lock on. The crosshair focused on the Iranian F-4 below me, "Fox 3!" I said launching the missile, the explosive rod dashed forward leaving behind a trail of white.