A Military Sniper Trying to make it Back Home
Christopher White, a navy seal sniper, had spent three months on a reconnaissance mission in a remote desert region in Iraq. On this mission, White had been grouped with his childhood friend, Jonas, who was the commander of their unit. The duo had a lifetime friendship, which could be seen in the way they protected each other on the battlefield and the time they spent on vacations. Accompanying them was four other Navy seals each with their specialty. Being the last mission in the region, Jonas had contemplated it was going to get dirty or deadly at some point, and it did.
It all began when the team lost contact with their base officials. With his experience, Jonas recommended that the team, which was scheduled to be picked up and taken home that day wait for darkness and climb to higher regions in search of a better signal. Agreeing to the cue, the team sought to find a hideout, which they found in a base cave in the highly mountainous desert region. This served the team well since the scorching desert sun was just overhead and their water, food and other resources were just beginning to diminish. Another day without help from their base meant they would have to take measures into their hands to survive. It was about three o'clock, and the team had ample of time to reminisce the events of the mission, which had gone well so far.
Christopher even took this time to joke about the broken communication. However, his weird sense of humor did not deter him from sticking to the mission; he had his sniper rifle ready all the time and was on the lookout for any aggression. Andrew, the third member of the teams, who had a rather reserved personality preferred to take the time patrolling the area around the cave and making trips to reassure his teammates that there was no danger. None of them knew that what Andrew would stumble on, would lead to life and death situation.
Darkness was setting when Andrew continued making his routine patrols around the Cave where White, Jonas, Mike, and Taylor, the communications expert had taken cover from the sun's heat. No sooner that he could take cover, a boy leading a herd of cattle and goats emerged from the bushes and spotted Andrew face on and it was one of the most confusing moments for him from the look on his face. At the back of his mind, he knew that the boy could either provide help for their return home or call for the area militia, which the team had struggled to terminate for a three month period. There was only one way to deal with the situation. Before the boy could react, Andrew reached out to him, grabbed his arm, and dragged him towards the direction of his team. All this time, he tries to signal that the boy remains silent by placing a finger on his lips. On the other hand, he held his automatic weapon ready for action.
Everyone was both surprised and shocked when Andrew returned, this time holding a boy in his hand and looking tense. Jonas immediately read the situation and signaled the team to take various positions as they discussed what options they had. Andrew suggested that the boy had seen a lot, and the crew had to do something about it. Jonas knew exactly what he meant and quickly rubbished the thought. Being a father, Jonas was seen as a weak leader, especially when the team had to make harsh decisions concerning children and women. It was at this moment that the boy started mumbling some English words and Jonas knew they might just get an easier way out. Excited, he asked the boy if they had a phone at home. The boy, who was still in shock, nodded his head to Jonas' relief. At this point, Jonas instructed that Chris takes a position at the pic of the mountain and look out for any cause of alarm.
Jonas also told the rest of the team to stay put while he descends with the boy to his home and try to reach out for help. It seemed to be a perfect plan. As soon as Christopher reached the pic of the mountain, he realized that the enemies had used the boy as bait to lead them to the crew. Immediately Jonas began his descent together with the boy; Chris spotted several vehicles with armed men. From a distance, he could tell that those were not Iraqi military, but the commonly encountered rebels. Still in confusion, he spotted a helicopter approaching the team at the base, and at the time, he could tell his counterparts were clueless about what was coming.
Caught up in a dilemma, Chris did not know want to do. In his mind, he knew that opening fire would only give out their location and again he did not have enough ammunition to stop what was coming. It was in this situation when things became worse for Chris to watch. The chopper went close to the area where Andrew and team had been left on guard. No sooner than anyone could react, bullets were raining all over. Sweating and screaming, Chris saw Jonas go down. Confused, he attempted to descend and help the crew fight the advancing enemies. It suddenly occurred that it would be a losing battle. They were surrounded, but lucky for him; no one had spotted him.
Still confused and battled with what he had seen happen to his friends, Chris had to make a difficult choice that would see at least one of the crew members survive the ambush, and his return to see his newborn son. At this point, Chris decided he could not watch his friends get killed. Chris was selfless and in numerous times, he had put his life in danger to save his comrades, but in this instance, the situation seemed helpless because it was difficult to win with the high number of insurgents. For this reason, he hides in the bushy area, making all efforts to avoid being spotted by the insurgents.
Chris figured that there was no other option but try to make a run in attempts to save his life. From the mountain pic, he began a fast and frantic descent while trying to make as little noise as possible, which could have caught the eye of the swarm of enemy attackers that had probably killed all his friends by then. During this run, thoughts raced in his mind how the boy was connected to the whole thing. It was then that he thought the boy had some form of communication with the enemies who knew their presence in the region and had been used to give out their location. Chris could see himself get home and face the hardest thing in his life; explaining to Jonas' family what had happened. Realizing that he was in equal danger and if he did not survive, no one would live to tell the story; Chris came back to his senses. Darkness had not settled fully and in his experience; he knew that if he did not vacate the danger area fast enough, the enemies would catch up with him in no time. He carefully navigated the danger area and at some point taken cover in the rocks around the mountain waiting for the situation to cool down or whenever he felt suspicious about anything that would endanger his life.
Within no time, Chris found himself at the base of the mountain and all over sudden he could not hear the shooting. He began a mad man run in the direction opposite from which the enemies had come from. Before then, he had removed his sniper gear and hidden his sniper rifle to avoid suspicion if he were to meet someone on the way. Almost miraculously, Chris spotted what seemed to be a village from a distance. He never had time to look back, but from what he could tell, his crew was either taken hostage or killed. It was dead silent; the only sound he could hear was the thudding sound of his boots as he run towards the village.
Chris did not have the time to conceive the danger that would lurk on arrival to the village, where he thought he could take cover and hope for help from the base commanders. It was only on arrival at the village when he suddenly remembered they had an ally there who had been the source of information for the most part of their mission. Almost relieved, Chris began the quick search of the man's house in the village clustered with mud structures. As if everything was working in his favor, Chris found the house, which he and his team had placed a small red mark on the door.
Panting, he knocked the door severally calling for the man ‘Karim! Karim! Karim!' to open the door. It was still early, and Chris could see families prepare dinner out of their huts. At this point, he wished he were back home, making dinner with his wife as it was his tradition when he was not working. Lost in these thoughts, Karim quickly opened the door and pulled him inside. From the look on his face, Karim could tell things had taken to the worst of turns. Karim quickly reached into his bag to get a radiophone given to him by Chris and his team. The phone was in working condition, and Chris reached his base calling for immediate rescue. He knew that the relentless enemies would not rest until they found the missing member of the team assuming they had all the others. In the meantime, Karim handed Chris a cup of hot tea and a blanket as he desperately waited for help to arrive.
As a conclusion, Christopher White was engaged in military operations and they were coming to a close when everything broke loose. At a time when they thought they had established a safe ground as they awaited rescue and communication with the base Chris meets a boy. His analysis of the situation identifies that the boy must have been sent by the insurgents to locate them. On top of the mountain, he sees the problems they were facing and he was not in a position to help his friends. He makes all attempts to save his life and finds a village after a running for a long period where they had an ally, who assists him.
