Team: USMC
So, myself, 2LT Fighter, Summerstyle, UDA Marksman, and a few others were all flying the Hueys on Muttrah City.
We were conducting re-supply and transporation missions to the Marines in the forward battle area.
Enemy Anti-Air defenses were light, and we took few losses initially.
However, the MEC mortar positions at the Fortress were causing problems for the Marines advancing into the city.
Our AAVs and infantry were unable to penetrate their forward battle line and reach the fortress to destroy the mortars, and our Cobra was down and unable to conduct a surgical strike on the enemy Firebase.
Dsiplaying impressive ingenuity under the constraints of what equipment we had, Fighter had an idea. We would conduct a deniable-operation, which would involve the insertion of a special forces team onto the highway behind the Fortress, where they would then make their way down the valley, disable the mortars, and be extracted.
Our Hueys were loaded up, and we took off from the carrier, with three of the four Hueys providing interference and serving as decoys against the strong MEC AA defenses around fortress.
We came in at 100 meters, just above the ocean.
Fighter inserted his team onto the road successfully, and we returned to the carrier.
Shortly thereafter, the position of our team became compromised. MEC forces must have heard our choppers coming in, because they were ready for the Marines on the ground.
The team came under heavy small-arms fire, and pulled back further East.
Sacraficing themselves, two of the team members engaged the MEC troops and bought time for their third comrade (whose name escapes me) to get back to the Hueys.
Fighter and I came in, and we managed to extract him.
Now we were in a bad position.
We couldn't take out the mortars from the ground using conventional assets, and we couldn't insert another special forces team.
So we decided to do it the old-fashioned way, Vietnam-style.
Summerstyle, UDAMarksman, and myself all loaded into Fighter's Huey.
Our mission was to neutralize the MEC mortars from the air, without putting any boots on the ground.
It was a risky mission, and we all knew it, but it had to be done.
Displaying exceptional piloting skills, Fighter flew the gauntlet past the hostile SAM net, and brought us up to the North side of the Fortress.
As I looked inside, I spotted several MEC infantry hastily preparing their mortars for another barrage.
The Marines had only a tenuous grip on the West City, and another mortar attack might break their lines.
We could not allow those mortars to fire.
Small-arms fire began to hit the helicopter,but we stayed firm, and Fighter managed to bring the Huey to a stable hover.
I was shot in the chest while setting up my weapon, but we stayed on target.
I brought my AT4 up to my shoulder, aimed at the mortar position, and fired:
It was a direct hit, and killed one of the MEC soldiers manning the mortars.
I yelled at Fighter to take us away, and the Huey roared off to the North, while small-arms fire and Stinger missiles zoomed past the windows.
We returned to the carrier safley, satisfied with the good work we had done in eliminating that threat to the Marines.
We didn't have all the assets we needed, and we lost many good men taking out those mortars.
But, like true Marines, were were resourceful, and we got the job done.
Mission Accomplished:
.
