Brothers Of War

Chapter 5: Tank

5

Tank

The battleground was filled with sound. Bombs dropped all over the place, mortars pounded the Earth, bullets whistled in the air, armored vehicles rolled in, demolishing anything that wasn't American. Sergeant Major Jordan Kelby crouched behind a short stone wall. He was a marine, part of the huge task force fighting in Iraq to counter any insurgent activity. They were front lines. Kelby went by the name of "Tank" to his men because of his stubborn attitude and toughness. He was like a tank all by himself, big, heavy, tough, and destructive. The battle was raging and he was in the middle of it. Behind him were several heavy armored vehicles called LAVs that hammered the walls of the town in front of them. Ten humvees and nearly one hundred men were also behind him, returning fire. In front of him was a bridge, or what used to be a bridge before the Iraqis blew it to pieces. Now there was just a deep cut in the Earth, preventing the vehicles from getting into the city just past it. There was a strip of land that connected this side to the other but it was too small for any vehicle to fit. This is where Tank was, taking cover behind the little stone wall that was being hammered by AK and RPK fire. His M60 was heavy in his hands, and he was itching to use the beast against the sand heads in the city. But for right now, he was in a jam. The Iraqis really fought hard for this city, as if it was another Fallujah. Tank guessed that these were Taliban Spec Ops from the way they fought. There were a lot of them, and even more waited in the city for them. The Taliban fired in rhythm, the small arms fire came, and soon after the RPK shot. They were doing a good job of keeping the American's heads down.

The city they were assaulting was Kubar, a fairly large city, mainly made up of the traditional middle eastern mud huts. The Taliban used this area as a supply depot and a rendezvous point, often meeting up and discussing tactics and plans to strike the oncoming American force. But it was only a matter of time that the Americans found it thanks to UAV intelligence. It was located southwest of Baghdad, and it was hot to the sergeant from Virginia. Several men managed to get to the wall Tank was crouching behind.

"What's up sergeant major?" One of them asked smiling. He was shouting over the noise. Anyone in their right mind would be overwhelmed by the amount of danger in the area right then, but marines weren't in their right mind. Tank knew this, a good marine could keep a steady head in the heat of battle, a great marine can do that while managing to keep their spirits up. Tank took the offered hand and shook it.

"Haven't been able to see over this freaking wall for minutes! How did you even get up to me?" He asked in a slight southern accent. Tank was further than anyone else and had only managed that because he made sure to get there before the Iraqi machine gun nests were set up. The man laughed. He had dirt clinging to the thick sweat all over his face. His desert MARPAT uniform was soaked and sun bleached. Tank guessed he looked like him. Filthy, but not tired.

"LAVs gave some good covering fire, we were able to move up here. I think they even got rid of some of those gunners up on the roofs." Tank nodded. It was good now that he had someone with him, he might actually be able to do something now. There were five with him now along that wall. Even with the extra man-power he didn't know what they were going to do with the machine gun nests hammering their cover. Normally they would just call in an air strike or artillery barrage but there were too many non-insurgents nearby.

"Armor, this is tiger one. Is there any way you can suppress those MG nests?" Tank tried the LAVs via radio.

"We're trying tiger one, they just don't want to budge. Switching to AP rounds. Let's see how they like this." AP meant armor piercing. A round designed to penetrate steel armor, not to mention what it could do to mud walls. Tank wanted to peek up and watch but he knew that was impossible. The LAVs behind him stopped shooting the quick paced fire. They were switching ammo. Soon, the LAVs were pounding the walls of the out-most buildings with enormous rounds. The sounds that came out of the barrels were intimidating.