Just Another Day
“You’re new, right?”
“Right.”
“I remember my first mission in this special forces outfit. You’ll find the operations can be a handful at times, but soon enough you’ll realise it is just another day.”
“Right.”
“Hmph. Specialist Dwight, isn’t it? You seem a bit gloomy. You nervous?”
“I am... but it is something else. My younger brother died in a raid on a checkpoint last month. A gunship ended up shelling the entire area.”
“I’m sorry to hear that, but try not to let it distract you. He died as a hero in the line of duty; know that his death wasn’t meaningless. I am sure you got the mission brief on today’s operation; you’re going to want to be mentally prepared. I’ll be your leader, Sargeant Gumpert - but everyone calls me Gump. You’ll fit right in Dwight, we’ll be moving out soon.”
“Right.”
***
Stricken silent with angst, he knew not the face of war.
For as he made preparations, he stared shaken to the core.
Countless stories of brutality, by the enemy’s sordid fight,
For many things ran through his mind, only to utter “right”.
The four man team together, the Black Hawk’s Blades had whirred,
Embarking upon the desert, they had watched as the sands had stirred.
To penetrate terrorist caves,
To infiltrate the swarming hive,
To rescue captured journalists,
To bring them back alive.
Corporal Lyon looked at the quite specialist,
“You know Dwight, I’ve done this for a while,
Three years a covert operationalist,
There’s quite some knowledge I’ve compiled.”
“And what exactly did you learn Sun Tzu?”
Specialist Pyke had interjected.
“I learnt you should keep your big mouth shut!”
Corporal Lyon wittily intercepted.
Listening along to his team, Dwight had silently snickered.
Gump had then spoken up, while the two had still bickered,
“We are nearing the enemy hostel; this’ll be the LZ.
Several clicks away’s the target, stay close to me.”
“There are four hostages inside;
Intel’s been a bit awry.
Let’s hope they’re still alive:
Stay frosty, don’t die.”
And so the hawk had landed, a speck against the yellow land,
Against the sweltering sun, against the scorching sand.
Silhouetted against the horizon, the team knew what’s to be done.
Equipped with hardened resolve and training second to none.
Against the harshly lit landscape, they proceeded to move.
They went towards the compound; they knew what they must do.
Over the wall, behind the guards, they moved to look inside.
A shadow- not be noticed, the guards from which they’d hide.
Lyon had spoken up. “We got two tangos on the western wall,
Leading up to the prisoner cell: Do we engage them all?”
Gump perplexed in deep thought, had to think fast.
Had to make a decision, before too much time had passed.
“Looks like we have to, we must move with speed.
The prisoner’s holding cell’s ahead, in which we must proceed-
Proceed through the route as our previous plan set,
And leave through the Eastern exit under cover of the hamlet.”
“Then to continue 500 metres, out to the LZ,
But we won’t make much progress ‘til we lose the enemy.”
Gump then took his weapon, he knew what must be done,
Carefully he had aimed, down the sights of his gun.
