11.00 hours
November 9th, 2017
US Firebase, Iraq
Sgt. Joseph Mueller – US Army Rangers
A few weeks has passed since they've flown Carl stateside. Lucky bastard. And how's the base when I'm in charge? Nothing to worry about since nothing has blown up yet. I've ordered the defenses as promised and to this day no hostile has dared to even drive within 1000 meters from us. Either that's because of what I do, or because the Iraqis have been doing a fine job at retaking control of the area.
But... I think for now we're gathered here for something else.
It was the big day for us Americans. The day we get to see... who shall lead our glorious nation and its free people for the next four years. The seven of us followed the election as we watched the live stream from Fox News on my laptop in my room. 254 versus 218 electoral votes, as it says in the displayed scorecard. Oh wait...
"We've updated our electoral scorecard."
"What is going..."
The scorecard display was updated, now it's 274 versus 218 votes
"We are going to make this decision now... the Fox News decision desk... has called Pennsylvania for Donald Trump... this means that Donald Trump will be the 45th President of the United States..."
"YEEEAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!"
"USA! USA!! USA!!!"
We all cheered as the news anchors called in the moment. All seven of us. And of course, there were cheers and patriotic chants just as loud heard from the rooms around mine. Especially the USA chant, no doubt about it. This was a moment of celebration for all red-blooded patriotic Americans.
My squadmates were cheering as well. A few of them brought their red MAGA hats and had been putting them on all day, confident of the Republican victory. And indeed, history records the rest. Trump is President. America, hell yeah.
"Congratulations, Joe. Your guy has won," CT said to me.
"Hahaha he's our guy, C."
"Psst, I..." she moved in to whisper, "I'm more of a Rand Paul fan."
"Ah cool. Then he could use your vote in 2020. Welcome to democracy, minus the establishment dinosaurs now kinda off the seat. But until then..."
"I know."
She took my MAGA hat off and put it on herself. And damn, wasn't she quite a sight in that. Blonde hair, blue eyes, red MAGA hat. She just chuckled upon realizing I'm staring at her, as we continued watching the live stream. She tapped my pocket to signal me to give my phone to her. I did. She went over to the playlist and started to play the "America Fuck Yeah" song. Only to then awkwardly reduce the volume so it's no louder than the live stream.
But yeah, we all get carried away by the mood. I got us all few beers to celebrate. It was indeed our moment, a once in a lifetime moment. The next four years are going to be great. Or if we're lucky, eight or more. Who knows? I'd tell you, we've never had a morale boost like this in a long time.
. . .
14.00 hours
November 10th, 2017
US Firebase, Iraq
A few moments ago, we've just returned from patrol. Tired and hungry, we know one spot in the base we'd hit up. Our squad sat around in the mess hall as we had a late lunch. We had a hamburger with a side of sausages and potato wedges facing each of us with a glass of Coke on the side. I took a bite out of my burger. Ramirez had come over with an extra portion and resumed eating. Guy's got a big appetite.
CT took out her new pistol from her pocket. Unloaded, it sat on the table just beside her plate.
"So... you say it's a World War 2 relic. You sure?" CT asked me, just before taking a refreshing sip from her glass of ice-cold Coke.
"Yes indeed. This thing has a story of its own. Likely to have seen action in World War 2 in the hands of a Soviet commissar. Then the Soviets invaded Afghanistan and some guy sent there may have been issued the gun that used to belong to the previous."
"Looks like we're not the only ones clearing out Tali... wait no they haven't existed yet..."
"Mujahideen. The guys we were backing to hold off the commies. Guy with the pistol was probably killed by one and his stuff looted. Or stolen."
"Pass me the sauce, ese," Ramirez remarked
"There you go," Park replied as he grabbed the bottle of BBQ sauce near him and passed it on. As the guy squeezed it out to his plate, he sneered.
"Ah shit... it's out," Ramirez grumbled
"Think I saw the dude over there took half of it alone," Park replied.
A few of us just chuckled a bit. CT just casually grabbed the gun and twirled it around a few times as she looked to me.
"And... then?" she continued.
"From there on, it's passed from one guy to another. Taliban broke off from Mujahideen and then Al-Qaeda came along... somewhere along that way it got into Alqam's hands."
"Then it almost killed you, then you took it from him, and now it's in my hands."
"Hell yeah. I just gave you what almost took me upstairs."
"It's a sign of trust, Ma'am," Park continued, and turned towards me, "Sarge, tell me something."
"Shoot."
"Now that Trump is coming in... think we'll finally do something about the Norks?"
"I... don't know, to be honest. We just might. You have relatives back in SK?"
"Lots of em. Damn, man, Seoul is just too close."
"Yeah right it is... Hey, if anything turns up we just might be redeployed there and..."
"Sergeant Miller?"
I heard the voice call me from behind. I turned around and saw a couple of familiar faces. Remember the two guys that Carl gave Alqam's PDA to? One of them, Cpl. Carter, just came up.
"Got something for me?"
"Yeah. You're gonna like this. While everyone else was watching The Don, a bunch of us continued getting the contacts in this phone and tracking those currently in this country under satellite surveillance. And we've found this... uh... come with us."
"Roger that. Let's not burn daylight," I told Carter and waved at my teammates as I got up and left.
"Catch ya later," CT remarked.
"See ya," I replied and waved.
Carter took me to his station where the rest of the intel guys are at. He led me to a table with a set of monitors and displaying satellite and drone imagery. They're all taken in coordinates located through tracking the contacts in the PDA. And he moved our attention to one, the most remote location. Right near the Iraq-Iran border, it's an old mining complex in the hills. I was still looking when I heard a lady call from behind.
"Corporal, I will take it from here."
"Yes, ma'am."
I turned to my six. The leader of our army intel team had just showed up
"Staff Sergeant," I greeted and saluted.
"At ease. Let's cut to the chase and I'll show you what we've got," she replied.
She moved over to my position. We both continued examining the display. The images from the drone was clear enough for us to see what the enemy has over there, as she explained what we've got. Drone imagery showed an outpost just outside manned by two squads and protected by a T-55 tank and a couple of technicals. A ZSU-23-4 Shilka was stationed within a distance from the outpost. And it was a very remote location, as there were no inhabited villages or anything within a two-mile radius.
The contact in question almost never left the area within a 100-meter radius. Except for two occasions: the battle for Qaraqosh, and the night showdown when I took out Alqam. That just might be the warlord we're supposed to neutralize.
"Pretty remote, well-guarded and dug-in. Should hold off anything short of an SF team. What would you think?" she asked.
"Think like the enemy. If you were a bad guy you'd hide in something like this. Less chance to be discovered and there's some defense should you get sniffed out. At least, long enough for you to run should the enemy be detected. That's got to be him," I assured.
"No facial recognition yet, though. Are you sure?"
"Then again there is a chance he's another warlord fighting for the bad guys. But either way he's been rolling with Alqam. We've got nothing to lose here. I mean hey, there ain't nothing more American than to kill 'em all and let God sort 'em out."
"Kill them all, let God sort them out, huh? Yeah... that's definitely the next most American thing I've heard since yesterday. Should we call it in?"
"We'll strike at sundown. Get the helicopters ready, and... get us an Apache. Does anyone here sexually identify as an Apache attack helicopter and have the urge to kill needlessly from above?"
. . .
18.00
November 10th, 2017
Iraq
"Triple A, dead ahead. Engaging."
The radio transmission ended, as the AH-64D Apache Longbow gunship on our ten fired off an AGM-114 Hellfire missile into the distance. I watched it from onboard our UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter, as the missile flew in the evening sky until it meets its target. And, boom, it took out the vehicle in a large explosion. I briefly saw the silhouette of a Shilka turret getting blown off from its hull.
"Target down. Enemy tank detected... wait what the... it's down."
"Longbow-2, confirm?"
"We're seeing a disabled T-55 here... and a bunch of dead guys. Detecting heat signatures of two technicals heading our way in full speed. Permission to engage, over?"
"Give em hell."
"Solid copy."
The Apache immediately fired a couple of Hydra-70 rockets at the technicals, taking them out in their tracks. Soon after, a Stinger flew from somewhere in a nearby bunkhouse. But the Apache immediately deployed flares to break away from missile lock. Right before the enemy Stinger could reload for another shot, the Apache returned fire with a volley of rockets. The explosions demolished a third of the bunkhouse in a flash.
"More dead guys here. Hmm... LZ is clear, over."
"Copy that. Rangers lead the way, let's move!"
As our Apache just hovers nearby while keeping an eye out for possible enemy reinforcements, our two Blackhawks flew towards the flat plot of ground about fifty meters from the mining complex and deployed us on fast-rope. We've brought in my squad and another squad, along with a sniper team to keep watch.
"Go! Go! Go!" I exclaimed to the squad as we fast-roped to the ground.
Davis and Park landed first and immediately scanned the surroundings. CT and I went down after them. We took point ahead of the others as they fast-roped down the Blackhawk and landed two-by-two. But as we approached the mine entrance, a couple of ragheads went out running towards us. I quickly aimed my SCAR-H at the guy on the right and fired a burst to his torso. CT blew away the guy on the left with a blast from her underbarrel shotgun.
"Clear!" she shouted.
"Taking point," I remarked.
I went ahead with CT just behind me, as we approached the mine entrance. But as we got in and turned on the flashlight, we were greeted with an unexpected sight. A dead terrorist was leaned against a mine cart, with a couple of gunshot wounds in the torso. Beside him, another one laid down on the ground with his head busted open. And just under my feet, one guy laid dead with a knife wound through his shoulder and into his lung cavity.
Wondering what happened, I gazed at the dead bodies when suddenly CT tapped my shoulder. I looked to her and she gestured to our front. A few meters ahead of us inside the tunnel, another guy laid dead with a gaping hole in his chest, underneath a mounted PKM behind a pile of sandbags. Beside him one more guy had lost an arm and bled out.
"Whoa..."
"Joe?" CT asked.
"Looks like we're not the only ones after Al-Kuwbra."
I stepped on a pair of spent bullet casings. I crouched to pick one up and look at it.
"5.45 mm round... hmm... what do you think, C?"
Just as I asked, I looked behind and saw CT with her rifle pointed at me. I vaguely heard a guy mutter in Arabic somewhere behind me.
"Don't... move..."
Her eyes were wide open, trained on the sights in the distance. She exhaled, and a muzzle flash erupted from her rifle as she pulled the trigger. A 5.56 round flew just over my shoulder, barely grazing my shirt, and went into the distance. I looked to the direction she fired and saw one dead guy lean against the cave wall, just five meters behind me. A revolver was lying just beside his open hand.
"Whoa... that was close..." I muttered as I got up.
"I got your back, Joe," she replied, and bumped a fist on my shoulder.
We proceeded further into the mine and followed the rail. A couple guys laid dead beside a downed cart. One of them had a knife stuck in his neck, the other had a single bullet hole on the side of his head.
There was a mine elevator shaft to our right, but the elevator itself isn't there. I went up towards it and looked to find it's downstairs. Alright, someone had definitely made it inside.
"We'll go down here," CT called, and turned towards me, looking concerned.
"Something up?" I asked. I pulled the lever on the elevator controls to call it up here.
"I got a feeling we're just picking off stragglers at this point."
"Someone else had come before us..."
"SF?"
I shook my head and took out my radio, "All units, hold fire unless fired upon."
The elevator arrived. I ordered Davis and his fireteam to stay here and keep watch while the rest of us descend down the elevator. They'll go down after we do, on my go.
I took a deep breath as the elevator went down. We best get ready for anything...
Though honestly, I have a wild guess... friendlies.