Wartime Memories

Chap. 2: Operation Pilgrim

The day was quickly turning to night over the Kerman Checkpoint as the rest of the camp's cargo trucks shown up to the British line. It turns out the British weren't having that swell of a time as we expected since most of the city is still being feuded over, block after block is being contested and both sides are waiting for someone to break the almost stalemate-bound conditions in the dense urban areas. We lied to the direct south of the city, at a checkpoint which pretty much counts as a 'safe zone' to the combat going on ahead. Civilians did come few and far between, but most were hiding and running for their lives to escape the fighting in the city, just waiting for a reprieve. That fight is for the Brits alone however...Equestrian forces had different directives. Allied forces pushed up pretty far in the past months, and Kerman wont be the last city we passed through by a long shot...but it sure was the most 'memorable' if you'd like to think of it like that. Camps were made in the city to house civilians and keep them safe from the war...they must be scared out of their minds, seeing their families attacked, raped, and killed by enemy insurgents...wondering if their next on that list. It makes me really question why they fight. Are they really fighting for their God, because their religion is under threat? Or are they using it only as an excuse to shed blood? Are they fighting for the freedom of their people? Or are they fighting for the freedom to do whatever the hell they want to their people? I wish I can have a talk with at least one, and not be fed the load of brainwashed B.S. they came to believe. I suppose that day might not come, given the circumstances.

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As I walked through the checkpoint and passed various soldiers all alone with my thoughts, Citrus flagged me over. Citrus was leaning against a sandbag wall near a concrete two-story guard tower with Glint accompanying her.

"So any news?" Citrus said.

"Nothing of any real importance," I replied "we probably won't hear from much of anything for now...the city is turning into a real slice of hell, though."

"And we're expected to jump into that cesspit?" Glint added

"Yeah, but I expect it to be a little more toned down, it's the Brit's problem now, but it'll be everyone's problem when were ready to liberate the place and set up another F.O.B. in the vicinity...for now we get to be lazy"

After taking a second to look around I notice someone is missing.

I proceeded to ask "Hey, where's Splinter?"

"He's off socializing with some of his war buddies, who returned from the city," Glint replied "should be around here somewhere"

"Ahh...so be it...well I suppose we just get to sit around and chat, until further notice..." I said with a slight sigh

Slowly, I watched some vital components of the camp be temporarily set up, the primary armory, the comms. center, etc. In a mater a few hours we were combat ready, and in a few days we would be operational for missions further from home. The big brains of our commanders were hard at work, planning for logistics pathways, tactics assessment, handling intel. on insurgent movements, and so on. I'm sure they'll have something cooked up for us warfighters soon enough...they always do think of something. The rest of the camp's soldiers also offloaded from the trucks and began assisting the British with patrols and checkpoint work as well.

Some time passed, and it was about 04:00 hours when we noticed the soldiers around us become more lively, so we were bound to get assessed on the current situation. Much to my surprise the officer's called the squad leads in for a lengthy briefing. After about an hour of briefing from Equestrian and British high ranks, we had a new Op. set out for us: Operation Pilgrim. The plan is to extract all of the civilians in the city using a major 6-lane roadway through it's center, as now the city is primarily secure. Unfortunately due to the current situation we couldn't get vehicles in to help them out, and also other roads are too enclosed and open for I.E.D.s, so as it turns out...we're all walking them out the front door. The British forces were tasked with holding the rooftops and to generally keep an eye out for enemy forces, our forces were the ones defending the civs. as we got out. We were ordered to hold up the rear of the crowd along with teams Chaos, and Shredder, and together we made Bravo team.

We actually get use of radios this time, so none of us are out of the curve with this one. Alpha and Bravo teams have their own channels, so squads can keep in close contact no matter what. Command obviously has their own channel on our triple-line radios so were able to flick between Chaos, and Shredder on our Alpha line, and between Bravo teams, and command. British forces on the roofs also have their own channel, but their only linked to their command group, so our command line has to play runner for us.

After laying out the plan for the rest of the team, we went for outfitting. This time we had a far better selection of arms, and really no restrictions to what we could chose as a result of command trusting us so highly. Splinter and I chose the standardized R5-14 Assault Rifles with standard sight and attachments, given that there's no real need to do anything special for a standard Op like this. Splinter, however, picked the grenade launcher variant with High Explosive-Concussive rounds. Orion picked the cR5, which was a lighter model of the R5 set of rifles. Citrus picked out an M3SG/1-E from the rack...she was quite the good shot and I think she took pride in that, given she always picked a weapon worth it's accuracy when given the choice, this being a marksman rifle. Lastly, Rev took the FN Minimi Mk.3 with 7.62 rounds, as he was the squad's support gunner...ironically it shot as fast as his mouth sometimes.

After outfitting we mounted up in the Ace trucks and went out to the entrance of the city. When we were in the truck everyone was able to socialize.

Shredder leader (who was sitting right next to me) nudged my shoulder  "Yeah we heard of you and your squad, man...fuckin' badass that we're pairin' up for this one, eh?"

"Well I wouldn't think of it as 'badass'....we're just kickin' ass and saving lives, through and through" I return.

"Eh, I guess your right about that..." he says "but gotta admit some of us are gettin' laid tonight, eh?...what you say about bringing your boys along so we can 'talk' to some Arabian hotties after this is all said and done?"

"Nah, man, I ain't about that life...I prefer keepin' it clean" I replied.

"al'ight, suit yourself" he mentioned as he picked up his hands and raised his shoulders showing no contest

As we rode I glanced out the back, and saw plenty of 5+-story buildings...we're getting close to operation launch.

The trucks dropped us on a really encroached alleyway, so it made the walk to the A.O. a breeze. What happened when we met the crowd...I...didnt really expect.

Time to hop out of the truck and get on the move to the mission area.

"Alright, alright, simple Op. We go in and we get people out, and if we meet any new resistance, we tear them up and keep going." I declared.

The squad formed on me as we marched ourselves up the street with the rest of Alpha and Bravo closely behind. The crowd grew as we got closer and it really is massive, with about 200+ men, women, and children within it. I looked toward the roofs and saw British sharpshooters and other soldiers posting up and keeping eyes out for insurgent movements. Must be hell for them...spent all day fighting and now their watching our backs hearding people out of a city like cattle. It really didn't matter, we all had a job to do, at the time...we'll bust each other's asses once we get Stingray set back up. As we approached the crowd of people, some were cheering and waving, others were crying because they lost their families, and others were even crying because they could finally get out of that hellhole.

I saw a filly in a white dress and brown knit jacket as we walked by, she just stared right at me with her big beautiful hazel eyes. There were no parents around to comfort her or do anything for that mater, she was just all alone in the ocean of a crowd. It's hard to believe she may never get a home after this, or even if there will be someone to take care of her. That's war for you.

We met up adjacent to the center of the crowd and Concord squad leader in Alpha called out "Alright people lets get into position, and begin moving these people the hell out. The guards fulfilled their part of the job, lets do ours"

And so we did. We split into Alpha and Bravo, began coaxing the people to get moving, and started down the highway. The crowd was big enough to take up 3 lanes if we let them spread out more, but we kept them at 2 for safety. They started laughing and cheering, as if they were part of a parade, all chanting and singing songs of celebration. Some were about ready to hug us and even carry us, but they knew they couldn't because we may think them to be an insurgent. I'm sure we all preferred we save the real partying until we actually got the hell out of here, though.

The people began cheering one phrase, now, but I couldn't understand them, so I walked over and patted Glint's shoulder to get his attention "Hey, your our translator, so what's the crowd saying right about now?"

"Their yelling an older chant, right now. Their loosely chanting 'Make us safe. Long live Persia', and also alternating between our countries, as well...good to see the citizens actually know who the good guys are, ya know?" he replied

...I honestly couldn't agree more with him, better to hear chants of motivation, than chants of death and war, these days.

Before I could say anything more, I heard one of our soldiers yell out "Hey, stay with the group! Hey you hurry the hell up!"

Then I heard "Alright, we got a straggler, just keep going we will get her back with everyone else" from the radio.

I turned and looked back... my concern instantly rose. It was that little girl I saw earlier, but she was now 50 feet behind us. Shredder leader and 2 of his men were walking back towards her...but instead of continuing to walk with everyone else, I just stopped. I stood there looking right at her, thinking to myself 'What the hell are you doing, you can leave now, but instead you just stop in your tracks? Why?'. I noticed Rev was starting to come back to tell me to keep up with everyone, but I just wanted to make sure everything was ok. As I watched Shredder leader put his hand on her shoulder and try to get her to come back to the crowd, I noticed she probably wasn't even paying attention to him...she didn't even care he was there. She just stood there with her head pointed towards the ground, maintaining a sort of isolation. I began to walk backwards, putting distance between us. After watching her, I noticed she wasn't just putting her head down, but she...she was crying. Eventually she did pick her head up, but instead of finally acknowledging the presence of the soldiers, she just looked up and stared at me again. Her hazel eyes once again locked on my face as tears rolled down her cheeks.

Then as if without warning, that innocent little girl...someone who would of had her entire life ahead of her...in a massive flash and boom just disappeared. There must of been an I.E.D. strapped to her chest, underneath her loose dress. The explosion disintegrated her and the soldiers, and knocked me off my feet.

I heard the radio fill with chatter and also heard Alpha yelling "What happened? what the fuck happened over there?"

The rest of the men answered for us and also assessed we were fine, other than the fact we lost 3 men and a civilian. The crowd screamed and started to run up the street in terror.

I got back up and ran back to Bravo, instinctively grabbing my radio and ordering "Alpha! Stay ahead of the crowd and keep them controlled! we'll catch up!"

I met up with the rest of Bravo as Splinter yelled "Did you just see what I saw?"

I turned, looking back down the road, the horrible occurrence still raw and looming in my mind  "Yeah, but it doesn't mater, we still got a job to do"

Gunfire broke out from the roofs, cutting me off from saying anything else.

Command started barking on the radio "British sentries reported heavy insurgent forces moving on your position, Bravo! They'll be on you in a minute!"

"Copy all" Chaos' squad lead replied.

"Hey!" I yelled, grabbing everyone's attention "If these guys are running up on us, we can't just turn tail and retreat! let's hold position here, and set up a line of defense against their attack so we won't have to worry about any more civilians being in danger!"

Some of the men nodded in agreement, but others didn't like the idea at all.

Chaos leader chimed in "Well that's all we got in terms of action right about now, so lets get set up while we still can".

The rest of Shredder squad joined Chaos, as they set themselves up on the left and center parts of the roadway, whilst we set ourselves up on the right. We moved segments of debris to make cover. Rev set up on a concrete block on the center lane, Splinter and I took rubble on the outer lane, Orion and Glint took the inner lane, and Citrus took an elevated position behind us. Soon we all signaled we were ready to the other squads.

"Well you think we should of expected this?" said Splinter, as we was sitting on the ground and leaning against the rubble

"Well yeah," I replied "but at least we get some action, right?"

"Eh, yeah, can't argue with that" he agreed.

Eventually, gunfire broke out on the ground, and not just on the roofs like before. 'Contact!' was shouted as bullets whizzed by our heads, and enemy insurgents appeared among the heat waves in the distance. Bravo started unloading on the insurgents as they ran toward us. They were practically ignoring the fact they were being shot at as they went from a charge to taking cover. It was a hail of lead all over the place, and nobody was letting up, nobody giving an inch. I periodically heard soldiers yell out 'Reloading!' as they all went through their clips, and covered the ground in cartridges. More and more bullets started flying toward us in the firefight, and I soon realized we were becoming heavily outnumbered.

"Rev keep the bastards suppressed, we need room to work over here!" I yelled

"Aye aye, Cap.!" He responded as he began to take longer bursts of fire toward the insurgents trying his best to keep them pinned

The other squads likewise did the same.

I knew that couldn't be enough to break these militants, so I turned to Splinter and yelled "Looks like it's time to let loose with that GL of yours!"

He nodded, popped up, and started to send shells periodically down range in between firing normally. After 3 hard minutes of non-stop shooting they started pulling our RPGs and began firing those at us as well. One of the squads on the left flank were hit, and one man went down.

"Hey, command, tell the Brits to make themselves more fucking useful, we're being hammered down here!" Chaos lead's voice screamed on the radio

"Look we're doing all we can, just please hold out for just a while longer, we got support units on their way" command calmly replied

'Well they better get here soon, we may have to lose ground if they don't.' I thought to myself. But of coarse in an Op. like this there's bound to be something else going wrong, to make life that much harder. Like thunder there was a BANG that was much louder than the others in the fight.

"Sniper!" Orion yelled

I took a look around to see who was hit, and I saw Rev on the floor "Shit, Rev's down I'll go check him, keep me covered!" I yelled out as I quickly moved to Rev's barrier

He was screaming in pain and holding his left shoulder, so I can expect he was hit around that area. I got down and pulled out field dressings from his tac. vest.

"Dammit, they got me, the bastards got me" he uttered as I was applying bandages and other necessary field first-aid.

"Citrus, you found that sniper yet?" I yelled

"Yeah, I've got him in my sights!" she replied

"Good," I continued to yell "then drop the ass-hat!"

I heard her take the shot, I wouldn't have doubt in the same accuracy that saved us in the past. Likewise knew that he was well and truly dead.

"Alright, now you, just try not to get shot again, alright?" I directed towards Rev as I was getting him against the barrier

"All due respect sir...fuck you" he said in reply

I grinned at him and began to look back at the enemy ahead. They were slowly being worn down in the fight, and they couldn't last much longer.

"What the hell?!" I heard Orion declare with some surprise in his voice "I put three shots in one of these guys and he is not even flinching! Must be hopped up on drugs or something!"

They probably were, considering they aren't afraid to be shot at, nor do they appear to feel pain from being shot and just shrug it off.

In the distance I started to hear a sort of low THUMP THUMP THUMP THUMP sound get closer and closer to our position. Looks like command pulled through yet again, because we found a UH-1 Huey gunship hovering over us, and it started absolutely devastating enemy troops with it's dual Gatling Guns.

I hop back on the radio and ordered "Alright, looks like our work is done here, let's get back to the edge of town while we still can!"

The squad an I started running back, with the rest of Bravo following suit.

We finally made it to the edge of town again to find Atlases and a cheering crowd of people waiting for us. One of the Alpha soldiers said "Damn, you guys got hammered out there" as we passed by them

I think we all just wanted to get back to the checkpoint at that time. When we got back, we mostly split up, with Splinter taking Rev to get his arm checked, and the rest of us turned in all of our equipment and got out of our gear and just wore our fatigues.

Instead of checking on the squad, I walked alone to a stone wall that overlooked the sunset that descended on the mountains. I just sat there...not reflecting on the battle or what's coming next...I was just thinking of that young girl. They strapped a bomb to her, and blew her sky high. It's hard to think what else they could of done to her, as well. I began to think 'The bastards...they think their fighting for a good cause...they think their not going to be touched by the slightest bit of karma...monsters...their *all monsters...they deserve to be put down like rabid dogs, the lot of them. After all my time fighting wars, I never seen someone go that low...to sink themselves to using a defenseless child as a weapon to maim and kill. They better prey to God that I don't get close enough to touch one of them, because I'm ripping their sorry ass in half when I do'*.

"Hey...you ok?" I heard someone say as their steps grew louder behind me

She hopped over the wall and sat next to me  "So are you going to answer me, or are you going to not tell me like a big idiot?" she demanded.

It was Citrus.

Trying not to show my stress, I said "Don't worry, I'm fine...just tired"

"Bullshit" she fired back

I turned my head to look at her, and I noticed she was looking me in the face the entire time, her deep orange eyes not deviating from mine.

I finally gave in, letting out a sigh and saying "Fine...it...it was before the attack...that innocent little girl...just the way she died...disappearing in that explosion...I just can't get it out of my head"

Not breaking her gaze she said "Well I've learned there is always a good side to everything, no matter how bad the situation is. Can you pick anything that went well in that amount of time?"

"Yeah," I reply "we only lost 3 men, and got the crowd out with minimal injuries..."

"Aaaaaand?" she questions with a smile beginning to form on her face

"and what?" I said bluntly

"Well..." she began "remember how the little girl stopped and didn't continue moving with the crowd?...you could see it as she was sacrificing herself...she did die, yes, but imagine the outcome if she stayed with everyone. Many more people would have died. she made a decision many of us would have made as well, and in the end it was the right one, so you can't beat yourself up over something like that, especially over something you can't change. So in the end you could just accept it for the way it is, and make sure that you yourself are doing the right thing, as well."

With even a slight smile showing on my face I said "Well, I guess your right."

She then did something I didn't expect: she giggled, threw her arms around me, pulled me in for a long tight hug and said "Yeah, I am...and don't worry, if you don't do the right thing, I'll make sure to give you a nice hard smack to get you in the right direction"

With a slight laugh, I replied "Hey, whose the Lance Captain here, you or me?"

Adding a seductive tone to her voice she lightly uttered "If it's just you and me all alone, I'm 'Captain'"

In this moment I remembered I had the photo Rev taken in my pocked, and must of forgotten about it until now. I pulled away from Citrus' arms and taken out the photo with her giving the typical response "What's that?"

Without saying a word, I handed her the photo, and she took a good few seconds to look at it, before blushing and innocently saying "O-ohh...sorry"

With a smile still locked on my face I reply "It's ok...you can go ahead and keep the photo, though... I don't need it"

I began to hop over the wall and head out towards the medical tent.

With her cheeks still blushing still on her face I hear Citrus make a feint "T-thanks" as I walked away

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I think we all can agree the ending to that day was as good, if not better than any of us expected...our luck was sure to run out next time...