Becoming One Purple Heart (Formerly Purple Hearts)

A Close Call

AUTHORS NOTE: I tried my best to do some research about the Marine Corps uses as well as how combat situations work, but I am defiantly not an expert so there might be some inaccuracies in my writing. Therefore, I apologize if I didn't get things quite right. Writing from the point of view of Luke and Frankie is quite difficult given I don't know anything about the military or war so they might be bit rough and lack some accuracy but I think understanding what Luke and Frankie are experiencing is very important.

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(Luke's Point of View)

It's 02:30 AM here and we are all getting ready to leave on patrol duty again. Usually we would patrol on foot but today we are heading into the heart of Ramadi so we are driving in our armored vehicles as it's about 40 miles from where we are currently stationed. We are leaving so early because intel right now says it is safest to travel under the cover of the night and we have just over two and a half hours until sunrise. Right now Ramadi is one of the most dangerous places on earth as the fighting there has been almost 24/7 for the last few weeks. We all understand the gravity of this situation we are about to face and we all know that we must be hyper alert and aware to ensure the best possible chance of all of us coming back alive. We have been in a lot of firefights since my time over here, but I can tell through everyones body language that today we are going in for the fight of our lives. I have my uniform and boots on and I now need to put on my helmet, tactical vest, gloves, knee pads, nigh vision binoculars, and gloves. Before I put on my helmet I do a quick inspection again to insure I did not miss anything yesterday and that I do not have any bullet holes or other abrasions to my helmet. Once I am satisfied I mount my goggles and night vision binoculars onto my helmet and ensure they are both secured tightly. I then pick up my tactical vest and do a quick sweep of the fabric to ensure that everything is good to go. Once I have double checked my equipment I put my tactical vest on and I tighten down the straps. I then put my helmet on and I buckle the chin strap. We all continuously check our equipment while we are here because it's the only thing we have to defend ourselves. I then take my knee pads and quickly fasten them around my legs. Once I have them on I do a quick check of all of my pockets on my tactical vest to ensure I have everything I need. Once I am satisfied that I have everything I walk over to my trunk/footlocker and I open it up and I grab the envelope that Cassie sent in her package about two weeks ago. I open it up and pull out our wedding picture. I always like to look at it before I leave base because seeing her even if is's just in a picture helps me get into a good mental space as this photo is a reminder of one of the happiest days of my life and it also helps me focus with the upmost clarity as it is a reminder that I need to get back home to her. Once I have had a moment to get mentally prepared I put the photo back into the envelope and I put it back in my trunk/footlocker for safe keeping. I then close it up and I take a moment to go through my mental checklist in my head to ensure I have everything I will be needing. I know I filled up my hydration bladder last night and we all added a few extra MREs to our backpacks too so I think I am ready to go. I then put on my gloves, grab my backpack and my weapon and I head out of the bunk room. We are taking our larger backpacks with us today which means we will likely be gone for several days. When we get outside our unit begins loading into our fleet of vehicles which include multiple Cougars, several Huskies, and several M-ATVs which are all vehicles we will be using to make the drive to Ramadi. All of these vehicles have special fitted armor around them to protect us from shrapnel and bullets. Additionally, most all of the vehicles the Marine Corps uses here in Iraq are vehicles that fall into the classification of MRAPs meaning they are mine resistant and ambush protected which make them good vehicles to travel in given IEDs have caused the most casualties in this war and these vehicles are made to withstand IED explosions.