A Short Vicious War Pt. 04

'I sat back and spent a little time thinking about my family, my dad was 88 yrs. old and still on duty, my younger brother was 21 months younger than I was. I hoped he'd be okay, like me he was no longer a spring chicken but still did stupid shit to show the kids he was still the top dog. Mike came in followed by Sara with Sue and Angel right behind them. They stood before my desk like pillars of strength.'

"It's nearly time Boss." Mike said and held out my coat and armored vest. I quickly donned them and grabbed my weapon and headed for the door, my troops following me.'

'Paul was standing by the LZ waiting for my arrival. "General, we have a 5 guys that have mild frost bite on their toes and the Doctor would like to send them back for treatment with you." He said.'

'I nodded and looked around. "I was just going to ask you if anyone needed to go back for medical treatment Paul." I told him. "Let the Doc know that we may not always have a chopper handy." He nodded and I watched the 5 individuals in question join us in the standby area.'

'I looked at my watch and saw that we had maybe 20 minutes until the bird was supposed to arrive. "Mike come with me the rest of you stay here." I said and headed off to make one quick patrol of the security in the area.'

'We stopped at several spots, and I spoke with those who were there, giving them an encouraging word or two them moving on to the next guy. When I came to my people we would hug or trade an insult or 2, I told them I'd be back as soon as I could.'

"Chaos Base, Dagger 40, 5 mikes out, over." They called in, I looked at my watch, they were right on time for once.'

'Shit.'

"Come on Mike we gotta hump it." I told him and started jogging through the thick snow. I heard Sam give 40 the weather and viz report then clear him to land as we neared the West side of the LZ. We could hear the thump of the rotors and stopped where we were and crouched down as Dagger 40 popped over the tree line and flared for his landing.'

'I heard the pitch change and tapped Mikes arm as we rose and jogged around the nose of the Pave Low, avoiding the refueling boom that stuck out 25+ feet in front of the bird and ran into Sara who was pulling Sue with her towards the crew door. I stopped her and yelled for her to get her strapped in and to stay with her. She nodded and carried out my order, I watched them both get hauled aboard by Tommy and I shot him a thumbs up as I went aft to help off load then load those who were leaving.'

'I could see several long cases and recognized them as Javelin antitank missiles by the FGM-148 markings on the cases, 25 came off and I watched the stuff come aboard as Angel came up to me and handed me the briefcase then went aboard herself. I had counted 14 go aboard and gave Mike the case and pointed him to the door, he was number 15 and I was the last, number 16.'

'I went past the crewman who was standing on the ramp and slapped his arm. "Last man." I yelled at him and did a quick head count, there was 16 of us sitting aboard and shot Tommy a thumbs up as I pulled my pack off and sat next to Sue and Sara and belted in.'

'We heard the rotors spin up and the felt the chopper lift into the air and bank around to the left and head out. Looking around I could see the crew with their guns still out as they scanned the ground for possible threats as we bobbed and weaved for several minutes then started a climb. A few minutes later the pulled in the guns and closed the doors, the noise level dropped, and the temp started to rise in the back.'

'Tommy came over and handed me a cord and I plugged it in to my comms. 'Ya got me Tommy?" I asked hitting the PTT on the cord. He shot me a thumbs up.'

"Time till we reach base?" I asked.'

"2 hours 45 minutes till we hit base John, the boss up front says it's okay if you step up there." He told me. I unbuckled and stepped up to the cockpit, It looked like something out of Stat Trek to me.'

"General, welcome aboard, Coronel Frank Gordon 20th Spec Ops Squadron Det. A." He said as the pilot pulled us up over a ridge and dropped us into the valley.'

'I looked at the instrument panel and found the altimeter, we were about 100 ft or so, and I knew that the mechanical altimeter was always a little behind. I looked at the MFD panel and found the air speed indicator, we were going 140kn 75 feet above the ground and the FLIR was painting the way.'

'We chatted for a few minutes, and I stepped back and looked at my people, many were asleep, I slid back into my seat and buckled in, Sue touched my arm, and I leaned closer.'

"Yes Pet." I said into her ear.

"Master where are we going?" She asked.

"Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska my pet. Try and get some rest it's going to be crazy once we get there."

'I looked at my watch noting the time '2218' and did some math in my head, we'd be there around 0100. I looked around one more time smiling to myself, it had been a lot of years sense I had done something like this. God, it felt good to be back in the saddle again, it just sucked that it took a war in my own yard to do it. I laid my head back and let my eyes close. It really had been to long.'

And here I bring part 4 to an end, there is more to come so if you like what you're reading please leave a comment and let me know. Have a great Veterans Day to all my Brothers and Sisters who have stood their watch on the wall. I mentioned my dad in this chapter, He was a Navy Commander and retired in 93 after 36 years in the Navy. He passed away just before the 4th of July, 4 years ago. This chapter is dedicated to him and all the things he taught me and all those he taught at MSU all those years ago. Love you and still miss you Dad, thanks for being there.