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The Untold Story - a Story of a NATO soldier
The air was so still as if it was dead. There was absolutely no trace of life, whatsoever to the extent of the eye. A staunch smell of decomposed bodies occupied the surrounding air.
Are you sure that they are hiding out here, Brian?", asked Jimmy, the leader of battalion 4 of NATO, breaking the long silence. "Yes", said Brian, the senior-most NATO soldier, highly unconfident in his answer. This was not the first time he answered to this question. Surely, he can see the frustration in Jimmy's eyes as it had been 6 hours since they were waiting in their bunker. Something in his instinct told him that he cannot be mistaken. Last night, he traced a Taliban camp back resting there.
It was a harsh weather, where the temperatures reached 55 degrees easily, completely sucking moisture from the air. Moreover, the frequent sand storms made it one of the deadliest places in the world.
"If they don't show up, are we going to die here, in these disgusting bunkers?", asked I, equally frustrated as that of Jimmy. "Have patience, Adam", Brian replied. Jimmy picked the line "Shhh! They are waiting for the opportunity, Adam. Once they show up, we are going to send those sons of bi**** to hell.
The same moment a bullet pierced through the wooden part of our bunker injuring Brian on his arm. "Hell yeah! its contest time!", said he, tying a cloth to his blood oozing arm. I immediately caught hold of my binoculars and the sight I saw left me in shock. Our entire bunker was surrounded by Talibans, they outnumbered us by three.
When I turned aside to explain Jimmy the situation, he already started to take steps. Wasting no time, he segregated our entire batch of 84 to 4 groups, I leading the left-most group. "I want every one of you to attend to the party", Jimmy encouraged.
As a SEALS member, I was trained to handle the most dangerous situations I would ever face. Finally, after a dead minute, firings started. Both of the teams gifted bullets to each other. All of a sudden, a bullet penetrated into the bosom of Spike, a new recruit instantly sending him to death angel. With the increased rage, I installed a rocket launcher on my shoulder and fired tens of Talibans to death. Continuously, I was losing my companions. Suppressing the stream of emotions flowing, I had to move forward. After an hour of fierce battle, finally, silence ruled again. The desert became dark red, as if that were a bloody sea with corpses floating on it. Finally, we won, we survived. Unfortunately, only 28 of us were present for the party.
"Jimmy, where is Jimmy?", came Brian shouting. "Jimmy is no more", said Carter sobbing. Brian and I rushed for searching Jimmy's body and ultimately, after minutes of search, we found a fleshy, charred and completely disfigured corpse containing "The Best Soldier, NATO, 2010" medal and a badge bearing the name "Jimmy Warner". Our hearts wrenched with pain.
We began our search to save our injured and killing the injured Talibans. Moving forward, a low groan caught my ears which dragged me to a short, small and handsome boy whose age wouldn't exceed 16. He was constantly repeating من می خواهم به شما می بینید، مادر (I want to see you, mom (In Persian)). A freshet of blood dribbled out of his stomach whenever he repeated the words. His pain was so heart-breaking that I had to ease that with a bullet. "That makes your count to 93", Carter said. Tears drenched my face by then.
An invisible world encircled me throwing me to a dark corner. "Why did you kill my son?", asked the mother of the boy. "You killed my only son, he is not even 16 years old. How would you know the pain of a mother, you cold-blooded monster?"
Then the boy appeared "Why did you kill me? You separated me from my mother. You just killed me coz you have extra bullets in your country? One day, you have to answer for your sins".
*******
The words echoed again and again pricking sharp fences into my heart. "No!, please forgive me, please forgive me", I woke up sobbing severely, in Bagaram airbase.
"What happened Adam? Is it a nightmare? Since 3 days, you have been crying. What happened?", asked Brian. "Hmm, it's not nightmare Brian, it's a fact," said I, wiping my tears. " What sin did a 15 year boy do that I have killed him? What right do I have to separate families? I am an evil, Brian".
"Adam, there is nothing called good and evil here, there are only two things, survive or death", he said. "I know, Adam ", he continued, "Killing people is not good. 5 years before, after my training as a SWAT soldier, when the government posted me to Afghanistan, I thought war was going to be heroic. But now, I don't see heroism in killing people, I don't see fun in seeing people losing their families, but as I said we have to survive, for us, and for our families. Remember, war is a place where young people die and old people vie."
"Get ready boys", we are into a new mission. "Talibans are in again", alerted Carter. In an hour, we got into war field again. The opposition had many youth whose age limits to 25. We emptied the ground in 3 hours. At the same time, we lost many of our companions. I was struck again when I saw a corpse of a 20 year juvenile. "Keep moving Adam", Brian patted my shoulder.
"Keep moving boys," I shouted.
"Jimmy, where is Jimmy?", came Brian shouting. "Jimmy is no more", said Carter sobbing. Brian and I rushed for searching Jimmy's body and ultimately, after minutes of search, we found a fleshy, charred and completely disfigured corpse containing "The Best Soldier, NATO, 2010" medal and a badge bearing the name "Jimmy Warner". Our hearts wrenched with pain.
We began our search to save our injured and killing the injured Talibans. Moving forward, a low groan caught my ears which dragged me to a short, small and handsome boy whose age wouldn't exceed 16. He was constantly repeating من می خواهم به شما می بینید، مادر (I want to see you, mom (In Persian)). A freshet of blood dribbled out of his stomach whenever he repeated the words. His pain was so heart-breaking that I had to ease that with a bullet. "That makes your count to 93", Carter said. Tears drenched my face by then.
*******
An invisible world encircled me throwing me to a dark corner. "Why did you kill my son?", asked the mother of the boy. "You killed my only son, he is not even 16 years old. How would you know the pain of a mother, you cold-blooded monster?"
Then the boy appeared "Why did you kill me? You separated me from my mother. You just killed me coz you have extra bullets in your country? One day, you have to answer for your sins".
*******
The words echoed again and again pricking sharp fences into my heart. "No!, please forgive me, please forgive me", I woke up sobbing severely, in Bagaram airbase.
"What happened Adam? Is it a nightmare? Since 3 days, you have been crying. What happened?", asked Brian. "Hmm, it's not nightmare Brian, it's a fact," said I, wiping my tears. " What sin did a 15 year boy do that I have killed him? What right do I have to separate families? I am an evil, Brian".
"Adam, there is nothing called good and evil here, there are only two things, survive or death", he said. "I know, Adam ", he continued, "Killing people is not good. 5 years before, after my training as a SWAT soldier, when the government posted me to Afghanistan, I thought war was going to be heroic. But now, I don't see heroism in killing people, I don't see fun in seeing people losing their families, but as I said we have to survive, for us, and for our families. Remember, war is a place where young people die and old people vie."
"Get ready boys", we are into a new mission. "Talibans are in again", alerted Carter. In an hour, we got into war field again. The opposition had many youth whose age limits to 25. We emptied the ground in 3 hours. At the same time, we lost many of our companions. I was struck again when I saw a corpse of a 20 year juvenile. "Keep moving Adam", Brian patted my shoulder.
"Keep moving boys," I shouted.
I almost cried after reading this.
ReplyDeleteyou said it right that war is a place where young people die and old people vie
Yeah, it is a sad but true fact. Also we cannot wage a war or terrorism as war itself is terrorism. Thanks for visiting :)
DeleteVery well written ! Got so many emotions wrapped up....remorse, hurt, helplessness, courage and that struggle to live on. Hats off to our brothers serving our country!
ReplyDeleteThank you :) . Yeah, I too salute our brothers to the extent of my spine. Keep visiting.
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