Lost Sight - NATO-Russia Conflict 2018

9: Foxtrot Pass

Captain White gathered the officers, for the second time in the last sixty minutes. He held a small map in his hands, in which Private Mircea 'Kiwi' Ormenisan, helped him explain. The briefing summed up where they would come in, and where they would defend. Hitman Company's two rifle platoons would form the spearhead of the reinforcements and join the street-to-street fighting on the main street near Foxtrot Pass, while the Weapons' Platoon (a.k.a Hitman 03) would provide accurate mortar fire from a position at least two hundred meters away. Using the Global Positioning System, Captain White's artillery spotter Lieutenant Charlie Goodwin would call the shots for the mortars.

Salvade's platoon would be on point along with Charlie Goodwin, and head into the city on Romanian trucks until they were close enough to Foxtrot Pass.

And that was why there were plenty of trucks travelling into the city, with twenty men cramped into each truck to make them fit. It took less than thirty minutes to get into the city. They dismounted at a Romanian Forward Operating Base, where they met the grizzled and dirty defenders of the city. To the Marines' surprise, they saw men with American flags on their arms. Then the sky began to rain. And the ground was soggy and wet.

To Private First Class Dave McMartin it just got shittier. He hated the rain and hated the cold. Or maybe he was too used to swimming in the warm Californian waters and laying on the ends of his mat. He missed the girls in bikinis and the laughs he had with his friends. Plus the big summer parties.

It rarely rained in California, too. The sky was blue and pretty there, while in Romania it was fucking gray. Fucking gray and fucking rainy. He jumped off the back of the truck and the wet mud splattered on his pants. "Fuck..."

Sergeant Edgerton Hernandez, his squad leader, jumped after him and commented, "Stop whining, Private. Get used to it."

After him, Corporal Julian Rae jumped into the mud and didn't give a single fuck about it. Fuck, if there were guts under his feet he wouldn’t feel a thing. Julian was known for the guns on his arms, and his utilities were pressed on his body for that. His 'guns' always found its targets; which were mainly college girls in and around UCLA while he was based in MCB Pendleton. He humped his M240G like it was nothing. "Yeah, stop fucking around, Dave."

Dave could only shrug. He kept walking then, following his squad in the rain.

2nd Squad consisted of twelve Marines, led by none other than Sergeant Edgerton 'Eggy' Hernandez. His right hand was Corporal Julian Rae.

"So remind me again, sarge, what the hell are we doing again?" Asked Lance Corporal Ian Malcolm. He was dark-skinned and carried an underbarrel grenade launcher on his M16.

Bespectacled Lance Corporal Robert Schmidt, the platoon’s explosives expert, then spoke up. "We're gonna save the asses of some Romanians being screwed by Ivan. Somewhere called Foxtrot Pass."

"Damn that seems fun." Said Ian.

I don't know about you, Ian, but training is fun. Real war isn't. Better shut up or they'll take me as a coward.

"Shut up back there!" Said Sgt. Hernandez and nobody spoke a word. Through the wet and cold rain, the Marines headed into the alleyways. Lt. Salvade stood on point along with Sgt. Hernandez and Kiwi, in which the Marines of Hitman 01 now call him. At least in 2nd Squad.

The sounds of gunfire could be heard in the windy background. The city was mostly in ruins. The sky was gray, and the rain got thicker by the moment. Kiwi led Hitman 01 through some ruined alleyways where some Romanian soldiers stood guard. At the end of the said alleys, the gunfire grew larger in the background. There was a small sign in Romanian at the end of the alleyway. It was a painted wooden plank, which had Romanian words on it. Kiwi told to stop. The lieutenant raised an arm, and the entire platoon went on one knee. "We're entering the red zone. Don't worry, sir. There's an important crossroad to the right about five hundred meters from here. Foxtrot Pass is that way.”