Sniper

Sniper

Watchman 7-3

1st log

This is my first log, well the first log on this mission … I’ve been on a couple of other missions before, nothing where I would have to kill anyone yet, it has just been Reconnaissance so far, this time though I have a target.

I’m a Danish sniper, one of the few snipers from Denmark and I’m a part of the Danish FKP (Frømandskorpset) a Danish special unit comparable to the American “navy SEALs (Sea, Air and Land)” or the English “SAS (Special Air Service)”

I’ve been sent to Afghanistan, more specific in is’ western mountains.

You would think; “Afghanistan? Ahh then it must be like 30°C (86°F)” but no, not high in the mountains, above 4000 meters (≈13000 feet) it’s cold.

I got deployed with only a tent, a sleeping bag, my personal sniper (customized with my blizzard camo and infrared thermal scope), ammunition, and food rations enough for 2 weeks, it all got thrown out from a Hercules C-130 before I was deployed from another C-130 by parachute.

I have just built my tent which is blending into the landscape as it has a white color.

I settled down in my tent because I had been transported to the mission objective sight around three days before it was expected that my target would arrive.

I got cozy in my sleeping bag, a cheap one from jysk I had bought myself, as the military doesn’t have a large part in the Danish budget, if you didn’t have a sleeping bag they would assign you a folding bed, two sheets and a pillow. That’s it, and at around freezing point that is hardly enough to keep you warm.

I then had the mini stove that I got from the supply crate set up in the middle of the tent to be able to make food and to keep a little warmth in the tent, where I prepared some nasty breakfast since I was deployed around midnight to keep a low profile and to avoid being seen.

When i was falling with the parachute i noticed something strange in the distance, it was light like what we in danish call "nordlys" - aurora (i have never seen it in real life but i have in movies and i have heard stories from a relative), i didn't really pay any attention to it, but now while i have nothing to do but wait for my breakfast to cook i like to put my mind to work and thus i came to think of it. It was awkward that there was aurora here, it is normally waaay north of here and usually it is more of a bluish yellow color, the light i saw was almost as if it was moving really fast through the air and this was more a pinkish orange color with other colors; purple, blue, yellow, and white.

It nagges at me because i didn't know what it was, and had never seen anything like it before.

After wondering about it for around 15 minutes i sat up to see how my breakfast was going, almost ready.

My opinion on war itself is that it is both a hideous and beautiful thing, but is has to be a real war about something important, like the nationality or the locals or the borders of the countries.

In those wars the beauty is that a man or a woman has the courage and the honor to be able to stand up for their own country and say "i live here i am from -------, i am a/an -------, and you won't take that away from me, i will protect this land, OR DIE TRYING!".

But the hideous in every war is that people have to be killed and innocent civilians who maybe wanted the thing the army is fighting against are killed for their unknown but stereotype placed opinion.

War is wrong in my sense, but yet i am a sniper, "how does that work" you ask, well simple; i have always liked guns, and i have also always liked money, put those together and you have my dream job, so if that comes with the slight disadvantage that i will be exposed to war and i will have to kill people who have a strategic involvement in "our" plans to win, is something i can live with.

I began to eat my breakfast, though i went on slowly because the only time i am supposed to be in the tent is when i'm cooking, eating or sleeping, everything else, which basically is lying outside with my trusty sniper waiting for my target to arrive at the site around 1.5 klicks (military slang for a kilometer) south and 240 meters down, is happening outside the tent ... Even going to the bathroom.

After eating i went outside to ... Ahem ... "Powder my nose".

When i went outside i saw the strange aurora again, but this time MUCH closer, if i were to guess i would say around 10 klicks away (it was around 50 when i landed), it still looked really weird this time though it was moving way slower, almost at a standstill, and ... It was ... moving ... towards me ?? This day just keeps getting weirder and weirder.

Well i thought, i'm in Afghanistan of course it's weird, it's home of the taleban for crying out loud.

After doing my ...Business ... I went into the tent, got my sniper, food, bipod and started walking towards my sniping position which was around 1 klick south-east from my camp, when i got there i laid down, well of course i laid down, lower profile and greater accuracy and began scouting around for the target site.