There Were Five

'Hurry up, you idiots!' was the most common phrase heard in the extreme and dry desert air. i wouldnt blame Jacob either. I wouldve called us a bunch of idiots without hesitation.

The sand from the wretched wasteland would fill your combat boots and eventually get everywhere and I literally me EVERYWHERE. It began as just an irritating object of utter annpyance but after we had beenin the deserts of western Iraq for a year and expected to be there for another, it became a normal everyday experience. I suppose I should start at the beginning, shouldnt I...

Im Matthew. The rest of my team called me Mini-Matt because, well, compared to the rest of them, I was just a hobbit. I was in the Special Forces division of the Army, technically speaking, I was in the Army Rangers. We were considered the Navy SEALs of our branch of the military; or at least thats what they told us. Anyways, I was drafted against my will when I turned eighteen. The U ited States had just gone to war again with just about every rogue nation in the Middle East. I was stuck on a Spec Ops team of middleaged battle-scarred trigger happy lunatics. I had a brother and both of my parents were still alive when I was sent to the military. For now, thats unimportant, though. I was given less than a week to spend with my family before they sent me to Fort Benning, Georgia to train for almost eight months. They then considered me a soldier and thought I was ready for combat (I begged to differ, but apparently my pleas werent heard). We were sent to the western deserts of Iraq, 250 miles south of Baghdad. And, well, thats where my story begins.

Jacob Connors, the teams rude and self proclaiming 'captain', was conviced that calling us idiots and chasing around with combat knives and the like would get us moving faster in the heat. He hated how 'slow' we were, but do you honestly think we couldve gone any faster than just a walk in 100 degree weather with hardly enough water for a single hour? Uhmm... No. I dont think so.