Posted: 2008-04-19 12:00
I always get those moments when assaulting the village on Basrah. Especially with lots of people on.
To put one of them into story form:
The thunk-thunk-thunk of a 30mm Rarden cannon ended the temporary silence. I looked up. A Warrior had moved up on the high ground behind us and was firing down into the village. An AK kicked off a burst, then a few more AKs joined in. The fire was answered by five or six SA80s. Tracers arced across the river and into buildings.
I turned towards the village, took a knee and looked through my SUSAT. Nothing for a moment, then a guy in blue running from a building and into the open. Buttstock in shoulder, I kept my sights on him, leading him slightly. I fired. Rapid single shots, tap, tap, tap. The rounds thudded into the ground around him, but he made it into cover. Shit. I changed the magazine, sliding home a fresh one.
"Okay, guys, ready to go?" our SL asked.
Lots of "yeah"s and "let's do this"s. We moved from the RP and into the open.
Instantly we started taking fire. AKs and PKMs were firing all over the place in the buildings across the river. We spread out, returning fire. I was on single shots, taking snap-shots at insurgents showing themselves in windows. The guy with the Minimi was taking the heaviest fire, but he gave back as good as he got. The bursts from the machine gun next to me were deafening, and his rounds cracked by us only feet away, but we kept running towards the river, using whatever cover we could find.
After what seemed like hours, I reached an overturned boat. I blatted away at the people firing at us, emptying a mag, then shouted for everybody else to move up while those in front gave covering fire. Ready - one, two, three! I got up and started firing again. The rest did the same. Rounds cracked by my head and thumped into the ground, SA80s were blatting away, casings hitting my helmet. An insurgent emptied his mag with an extended burst, then took cover in a house before I could get a shot in on him.
The Warrior opened up again. 30mm blasted holes in buildings and I spotted several insurgents running towards the river with RPGs. I shouted for someone to take them down. Tracer started smacking into their general area. Thunk-thunk. Two rounds of 30 mike-mike send them flying like ragdolls.
People were shouting everywhere as we reloaded and started crossing the river. The Minimi let rip with a huge burst, the Warrior joined in with 7.62, and then, all of a sudden, we were across. Butt in shoulder, single shots. It was pure mayhem.
Two guys followed me to the closest building. We got up to the door. I checked my mag was full, that I still was on single shots, and went straight in. Clear. We moved on to the next one. The rest of the squad had come across now, and were fanning out, clearing buildings.
PKM left! I could hear it firing. I turned and found myself facing down a path with walls on either side. It was littered with **** and piles of gravel and rock from demolished buildings. The PKM gunner was crouching in the end of it, firing over a low wall. I got my sights on him and squeezed off three rounds, dropping him.
We kept moving, firing and reloading. Somewhere along the way, I got separated from the rest of the guys, and all of a sudden I found myself alone beside a stone wall. I was running low on ammo. Jesus, this was going straight to hell. Everything was chaos. All coordination had gone to the wind as soon as we entered the maze of buildings.
Footsteps! Someone was coming for me, running on the other side of the wall. I was at the end of it, and I mentally braced myself. He would come around the corner any second. Single shots. I didn't want to use the scope if he came right towards me. He was getting closer, closer. Christ, there were two! I could hear more footsteps.
A man in a white dishdash came running around the corner, AK in hand. He ran straight past me, down the alley. I got my sights up, followed him and fired, again rapid single shots, missing at first, then hitting him in the back and one more time in the head. He dropped like a stone, and I grabbed a grenade from my webbing. I chucked it around the corner and reloaded, hearing the grenade bounce on pebble, before an explosion rocked the immediate area.
With a fresh mag on, I went straight around the corner, dropping to a knee as soon as I rounded it. The man on the other side literally banged into me as he ran past. I turned as he did, and we both fired. The AK was on auto, the muzzle blast scorched my face, but he fired high. The recoil from the SA80 made my rounds climb straight across his body, and as he took the rounds and fell, i could feel blood splattering across my arms and helmet.
I got up, running for cover, wondering if I'd get out of this alive.
To put one of them into story form:
The thunk-thunk-thunk of a 30mm Rarden cannon ended the temporary silence. I looked up. A Warrior had moved up on the high ground behind us and was firing down into the village. An AK kicked off a burst, then a few more AKs joined in. The fire was answered by five or six SA80s. Tracers arced across the river and into buildings.
I turned towards the village, took a knee and looked through my SUSAT. Nothing for a moment, then a guy in blue running from a building and into the open. Buttstock in shoulder, I kept my sights on him, leading him slightly. I fired. Rapid single shots, tap, tap, tap. The rounds thudded into the ground around him, but he made it into cover. Shit. I changed the magazine, sliding home a fresh one.
"Okay, guys, ready to go?" our SL asked.
Lots of "yeah"s and "let's do this"s. We moved from the RP and into the open.
Instantly we started taking fire. AKs and PKMs were firing all over the place in the buildings across the river. We spread out, returning fire. I was on single shots, taking snap-shots at insurgents showing themselves in windows. The guy with the Minimi was taking the heaviest fire, but he gave back as good as he got. The bursts from the machine gun next to me were deafening, and his rounds cracked by us only feet away, but we kept running towards the river, using whatever cover we could find.
After what seemed like hours, I reached an overturned boat. I blatted away at the people firing at us, emptying a mag, then shouted for everybody else to move up while those in front gave covering fire. Ready - one, two, three! I got up and started firing again. The rest did the same. Rounds cracked by my head and thumped into the ground, SA80s were blatting away, casings hitting my helmet. An insurgent emptied his mag with an extended burst, then took cover in a house before I could get a shot in on him.
The Warrior opened up again. 30mm blasted holes in buildings and I spotted several insurgents running towards the river with RPGs. I shouted for someone to take them down. Tracer started smacking into their general area. Thunk-thunk. Two rounds of 30 mike-mike send them flying like ragdolls.
People were shouting everywhere as we reloaded and started crossing the river. The Minimi let rip with a huge burst, the Warrior joined in with 7.62, and then, all of a sudden, we were across. Butt in shoulder, single shots. It was pure mayhem.
Two guys followed me to the closest building. We got up to the door. I checked my mag was full, that I still was on single shots, and went straight in. Clear. We moved on to the next one. The rest of the squad had come across now, and were fanning out, clearing buildings.
PKM left! I could hear it firing. I turned and found myself facing down a path with walls on either side. It was littered with **** and piles of gravel and rock from demolished buildings. The PKM gunner was crouching in the end of it, firing over a low wall. I got my sights on him and squeezed off three rounds, dropping him.
We kept moving, firing and reloading. Somewhere along the way, I got separated from the rest of the guys, and all of a sudden I found myself alone beside a stone wall. I was running low on ammo. Jesus, this was going straight to hell. Everything was chaos. All coordination had gone to the wind as soon as we entered the maze of buildings.
Footsteps! Someone was coming for me, running on the other side of the wall. I was at the end of it, and I mentally braced myself. He would come around the corner any second. Single shots. I didn't want to use the scope if he came right towards me. He was getting closer, closer. Christ, there were two! I could hear more footsteps.
A man in a white dishdash came running around the corner, AK in hand. He ran straight past me, down the alley. I got my sights up, followed him and fired, again rapid single shots, missing at first, then hitting him in the back and one more time in the head. He dropped like a stone, and I grabbed a grenade from my webbing. I chucked it around the corner and reloaded, hearing the grenade bounce on pebble, before an explosion rocked the immediate area.
With a fresh mag on, I went straight around the corner, dropping to a knee as soon as I rounded it. The man on the other side literally banged into me as he ran past. I turned as he did, and we both fired. The AK was on auto, the muzzle blast scorched my face, but he fired high. The recoil from the SA80 made my rounds climb straight across his body, and as he took the rounds and fell, i could feel blood splattering across my arms and helmet.
I got up, running for cover, wondering if I'd get out of this alive.