Monday, 22 June 2009

• Jay Hohmann

  Personal Narrative

  English Composition I/ Mrs. Heller

  Attack on FOB Dallas

              Waking from a deep sleep is usually a gentle process that involves very little thought or effort.  However, if one is smacked out of a deep sleep by a bullet of adrenalin, you really see all the lights come on.  Instead of floating out of a dream into consciousness, you fall screaming out of the clouds and slam into your body like a ton of bricks.  Every part of you instantly transitions from a sublime numbness to a frenzied panic.  As your mind claims control of its carriage, sight and sound fade in.

              There was a series of loud explosions outside the tent belonging to my Company.  I think that is what initially cut me from the sky hook of my dream, and as my consciousness seeped into my head, I saw my First Sergeant leap from his cot and strap on his combat gear.  As more explosions ensued, he barked “GO GO GOOOOO!” at the top of his lungs.  In an instant, he moved across the entire length of the tent and began giving instructions.  All the soldiers in the tent immediately jumped up from their slumber and slapped on all their combat gear.  I had all my equipment on before I could remember what I had dreamt.  I ran over to where First Sergeant (Top) Herfel was pacing and issuing orders.

              “Those explosions were from indirect fire (mortars)”, he shouted, “but battalion is expecting the enemy to breach the perimeter.  We need to establish one hundred percent perimeter security.”  All of the Sergeants claimed groups of three to four Soldiers apiece and quickly exited the tent in order to position themselves on the surrounding sand barriers (berms).  I grabbed a couple of troops and instructed them to follow me.  Watkins, Mantanona and Zamora sprinted in tow as I ran out of the tent and moved to a berm facing the left side of the Whale.  (A massive hill that skirted the northern portion of FOB Dallas)  For a moment, we scanned the crest of the hill with our night vision goggles for silhouettes of human forms.

              “We may need more fire power.” I said sternly. “Watkins, Mantanona, let’s get a 50 CAL over here.  Zamora, stay put.  We will be right back.”  The three of them acknowledged.  Watkins and Mantanona sprinted back to the tent with me and grabbed the gigantic 50 caliber machine gun with a massive tripod and all the ammo we could carry.  Weighed down by 200 pounds of metal a piece, we quickly lumbered back to where Zamora was posted.  Zamora and Mantanona began positioning and loading the machine gun as Watkins and I scanned the hill.  Over to the left of my group, a dozen other Soldiers sat like stone sentinels searching for movement.

              The single sighted night vision goggles took away my depth perception and gave everything a Kool-aid green tint.  After a couple of minutes, it was hard for me to determine whether I was seeing movement or my eyes were playing tricks on me.  I closed my right eye and opened my left one so I could see normally for a moment.  On the left side of the Whale, I thought I saw human shapes moving up over the crest.  I opened my right eye again and studied that area for a moment.  The shapes were definitely human.  They moved down from the crest and began to skirt along the side of the hill.  “Look!” I whispered.  Watkins and Mantanona shifted their rifles in the direction of the silhouettes, and Zamora poised the 50 CAL.  As we watched, a frantic beam of green light began to play erratically on the enemy shapes as they moved across the Whale.  “What the fuck is that?!” I hissed.  The air was dusty enough for me to trace the beam of light back to its origin.  I sat and stared, dumbfounded by what I saw.  Our Company Commander was leaping back and forth in the open near the entrance of the tent and shining a laser pen on the enemy.

              Before I could say anything, Watkins jumped up, sprinted over to the Commander, and tackled him to the ground.  I heard a loud grunt and the slapping of ballistic plates as the two collided.  Nice work, Watkins, I thought to myself and returned my attention to the Whale.  Watkins returned quickly and reclaimed his position on the berm.  I affectionately patted his helmet, and he gave me a thumbs-up.  Luckily, the enemy had not noticed any of this activity and continued to move across the Whale, right into the sights of approximately sixty Soldiers.  Top Herfel, who had positioned himself behind a trailer in front of our firing line and about thirty meters from the base of the hill, raised his hand like a musical conductor preparing a symphony for the opening note.

              Top dropped his hand and the entire set of berms facing the Whale opened fire on the enemy.  Between the peppering sounds of gunfire, I could hear myself and my Soldiers screaming the loudest war cries we could muster.  The rush of adrenalin that initially woke me up had now amplified a hundred fold and every frantic breath tasted like a mixture of gun powder and hate.  Overhead, parachute flares popped in the sky and lit up the battle space.  We could see the enemy scrambling for cover as we fired again and again.  On the left portion of the hill, an enemy machine gunner began to fire on our position.  The four of us shifted our fire towards the machine gunner and emptied clip after clip while Zamora rattled away with the 50 CAL.

              After we had suppressed the machine gunner, I started to move towards the Dining Tent in order to get a better position for firing on the enemy.  Once I was against the tent, I moved to the corner and looked up the hill.  I could see the enemy about 40 meters away from me coming down the hill towards the concertina wire that laced the outer perimeter of the FOB.  I opened fire on them and kept firing until my bolt locked open.  I dropped my clip to load another magazine and felt my ammo pouches.  They were empty.

              I saw an enemy soldier at the base of the hill lob a grenade at one of the berms to my far right side.  A soldier from another battery jumped over the berm into the enemy line of fire.  He bent down and picked up the grenade, hurling it back over the concertina wire at the enemy.  One of the bad guys stopped firing.  He pointed at the soldier who had returned the grenade and yelled “YOU AREN’T ALLOWED TO DO THAT!”  That small break in character quickly reminded me that this was just a training event.  My excitement began to dwindle with the reluctant concession that I knew this wasn’t real.

  I turned back and started calling for Watkins and Mantanona to join me at my location.  They got up and hustled towards the tent.  By the time they reached me, the firing had died down and the shouting had started to dwindle.  I turned and looked over towards the base of the hill where the enemy was still advancing.  They were tending to one of their members who appeared to have fallen and injured himself.  Top Herfel ran over to them and I heard people yelling “End Ex! End Ex!”  The combat simulation was complete.

              The three of us stood by the tent for a moment, still buzzing from adrenalin.  I told Watkins and Mantanona to go and help Zamora strip down the 50 CAL and put it away.  I looked at the sand berms where everyone had been firing from.  All the Soldiers were giving each other high fives and carrying on gleefully.  Every body was so pumped up from the exercise that I could tell we all wanted to do it again.  I looked at my watch and realized that an hour and a half had passed since I woke up.  I was shocked.  Lit had only felt like minutes had passed.  With that realization, the adrenalin subsided, and I began to feel very tired.

              As the Soldiers slowly came back to the Company tent and started to strip off their gear, I reflected on our performance.  I was very proud to have been a part of the company during this training.  I lay down to go back to sleep and clicked on my IPod.  I hoped we would be able to perform this well if this ever really did happen.  That was my last thought before I relinquished my mind back into the cloudy realm of dreams.

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