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Heroes, or is it all in a days work? Part 4 |
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Heroes, or is it all in a days work? Part 3 |
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Heroes, or is it all in a days work? Part 2 |
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Heroes, or is it all in a days work? Part 1 |
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Heroes, or is it all in a days work? Part 1
Epic
 Created on 3-29-08
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 Story Rating G
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Hi, my name is SPC Malcom, I am in the U.S. Army stationed in Europe. I have been deployed once before to Afghanistan, as a matter of fact not but a month ago. When they gave me the option to go again, I took it without hesitation, I was wishing I could go back with my squad from my first deployment. They raised me, so to speak, as an infantryman, and they were my family. But now most of them have moved on in there lives, whether they got out, or went to a different duty station.
So when they sent me to another company, there were all new faces, people I didnt know, except for 1 man. SSG Tipman, he was my squad leader in the first tour down range. I was glad to see him, considering we had 7 brand new privates from straight out of basic training. Just like I was when I first came to 3rd squad, and now it's my turn to be a mentor. There was about 2 months to train before going down range so we took our 2 weeks of leave and got to work.
Everyday was tough training but not so tough since I had already been through the real thing before, now the hard part was getting our new privates ready for combat. First off there was the initial training period, this was the toughest time. Breaking those bad habbits and starting over from the ground up to become a team.
It was finally time to get started, a job I felt was nowhere near finished, and I felt it was my duty to continue the best i could. So we began our Pre-Deployment process and it didn't seem to take as long this time around, since some of us had been through it before. After all the medical tests, financial classes, and all that was done, we were ready to go.
After 2 weeks of leave at home we were ready to go to Afghanistan for the next year or so, I couldn't wait to get back . The excitment of being woken up by gunfire in the late night or early morning and the smell of gun powder from the .249 SAW was just a few short days away. Just a few more debriefings and a couple more classes before we could leave.
Finally the morning was here, we were on our way. We got on the buses, loaded our gear and began the movement. The road to get there was long, and we had just started but it was 1 step closer. First was the 5 hour bus ride to Ramstein Air Force Base, we arrived approximately 6 hours later due to traffic, we waited in the terminal for what seemed to be a lifetime, but was only a couple of hours before we were told to move to the plane.
Next stop was a brief 1 hour flight to turkey for refueling, then onward to Manas, Kyrgyzstan. In case you are wondering, it is located in Southern Russia, just north of Afghanistan on a world map. we arrived that night and we get told that we would be staying there for a few nights, so we tried to burn as much time as we could to make time fly by faster. Before we knew it we were backe on the air strip boarding the plane again.
Next stop was Kandahar, Afghanistan, former Taliban stronghold, now an air base. and after 3 more days of sitting around just waiting for the word, we got it. We left Kandahar at 01:38, for our final destination, Mizan. A small district in the middle of nowhere, and surrounded by mountains. we arrived in Mizan at 02:27. We went to the safehouse (our living area) and sorted out the rooms, got our bunks and hit the sack for the night.
The next morning was hot and humid, 100+ degrees by 10:00 and no escaping it, i walked out and took a look around the FOB (Forward Operating Base). The terrain was rugged and baron, the only trees in sight were next to the river bed. everything else was just mountains rocks and dirt. We were right next to the Mizan river bed, that led west, to the Argandab River. The Argandab ran North to South. The towns that were on the river side were, (from north to south) Cawshaq, Towkhi Salam, Rabajoy, Spin Murani, and more further down the river.
Most of our objective out there was Humanitarian Aid, but we all knew what our real mission was. The Taliban forces in that area were strong in numbers and we knew that this was not going to be a piece of cake, but we went on as if we outnumbered them.
Part 2 is coming out soon but only if i get some feedback... so yea, and btw this is my first story ever so let me know what u think
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