The Day When Our War Began

Chapter 1: The Days Before

I was stationed at Camp Pendleton, California with the 1st Battalion 1st Marines back in 2006. It's been ten years of hard work but I'm finally where I want to be. A Lt. Colonel. I couldn't stand the thought of a desk job so I've decided to stay in the front lines with my men. I've fought two tours in Iraq and two tours in Afghanistan as well as a drill instructor on Parris Island.

I was assigned a scout mission near the DMZ with three other marines on August 23rd, 2016. During the mission briefing, we were told that there was an increased amount of troops and armor moving towards the DMZ and our job was to figure out if it was a training exercise or a threat. Our squad consisted of a sniper, rifleman, communications specialist, and team leader.

At 0330 hours we were deployed just a mile from the southern portion of the DMZ with a five mile hike to our scout position. Nothing had gone wrong up until we heard the familiar sound of static radio signal and the ripping of the air by the bullet that had gone past Corporal Lances head. We spotted the sniper about 550 yards to the Northeast on a hill. I was Lances spotter, we sat there waiting for the perfect moment to fire for about ten minutes until he made a fatal mistake. When reloading, the sniper moved right into Lances crosshairs and the shot was taken. Finally after getting the intel needed we made a six and a half mile hike to our extraction point. Under the cover of smoke and a Cobra attack helicopter, we were picked up by a UH-60 Blackhawk.

HQ wasn't happy, their worst fears had been realized. At least seven thousand additional troops, forty tanks, and fifteen artillery pieces had been moved to their border. We knew that they could strike South Korea at anytime and overwhelm them so we had to prepare quickly. The 1st Battalion 5th Marines, 2nd Battalion 1st Marines, and 2nd Battalion 7th Marines were getting ready to be deployed to South Korea to assist in securing the border. Within the days we saw more and more movement on their end, we knew it was going to turn into a war. A continuation of the first Korean War. But this time it was going to be worse.

How could we know when it would all crash down? How could those men cope with the possibility of dying? We didn't know. We couldn't know. So we prepared for the worst. It was the least we could do.