Recon Air Assault Mission story

[tallywacker]

An early april morning for me starts out this time around 4:00 in the morning. We have an Air Assault mission today, which is using helicopters to bring you to your mission area. We do this so we can maximize the amount of boots on the ground instead of being tied up with guarding our trucks if we used them instead. The morning is a warm 70 degrees and that usually means it will be a hot day once the sun gets up.

I get out of bed and do my normal routine for the morning. Its the process in the army known as Shit, Shower, Shave. I skipped the shower part this morning since I took one before I went to sleep and knowing as well that I would be drenched in sweat in a few hours. I get back to my shanty of a room (it consists of a large room slipt off into sections with plywood) throw on my work uniform for the day and head to my office.

I'm the communication NCOIC (Non-Commissioned Officer In Charge) so i make sure my radio is working for the day and well as other necessary specialty equipment I will be needing. I throw everything into my rucksack to make things an easier carry. Now that my equipment is good, its time to don my PPE(Personal Protective Equipment) which includes my body armor, helmet, kneepads, elbow pads, eye protection, and gloves. Its a lot of stuff to wear trust me and not very light. It will have you sweating up a storm in no time thats why you carry a camelbak full of water to recharge you during the day.

Everything is set. I head to the chow hall, munch down some jello looking eggs and drink some orange juice. Gotta be fueled for the day of walking. Daylight is about to hit so thats my cue to start walk to the LZ for our birds to come. We all sit in a group designated for our bird and goof off during the time we are waiting. I smoke a cigarette and tell one of the soldiers his mom is cow and he calls my sister a whore. The things soldiers do to pass the time.

The blackhawks arrive and its our time to begin the mission. It consists of doing reconnaissance of the area and check to see if there are any weapons caches. Its rather routine for us so we all pretty much know what to expect. Our area has been very calm and that makes me a happy soldier.

The blackhawks reach the mission LZ(Landing Zone) and we jump out of the helicopter. For some reason the asshole pilot flew over a dry field and dumped us into a freshly irrigated field. There is mud and water everywhere. I do my best to stay upright but others aren't as lucky. Acouple soldiers eat the mud and we all laugh. We all start running through this mess once they recover and reach the first house.

There are a few children and possibly their mother, they stand outside watching us and the kids wave hello. I wave back and our translator asks for any information. She has nothing to report so we keep moving through our objectives doing the same process.

We reach a house at middle of our mission schedule. The owner is a member of the local council. We set up long range communications here and our commander talks with him about the area. While he is doing that I go over and say hi to his children. They're are all standing in a huddle amazed at our uniforms and all the gadgets we have. I give them a few toys I had in my bag, which of course make them very happy. You can tell they have always lived rather poor being that they were farmers and worked hard for everything they had. Another interesting thing in this mans case he had two wives. One went over to the chickens, cut ones head off, and starting making their dinner. The other wife brought all of us chi tea and some bread. People in Iraq are always kind to guests in their home. We all have some of the refreshments and thank him for them.

We finish up at this house and move through a couple more fields. They of course are filled with mud as well. Its always funny to see a bunch of soldiers trying to look serious and barely being able to stay on their feet. Never a dull moment.

So far we haven't found any possible AQI leads and no unauthorized weapons. This is very good. It used to be a hotbed of activity, now people are living peacefully which is good to see.

My platoon finishes up our last house. We are a few minutes from pick up so we move to the proper area. Once we get there we kneel and provide security as we make fun of the people that busted their ass in the mud today. We never let people live stupid things down its too much fun. It always comes back around though so its usually fair in the end.

The field we are in front of is bone dry unlike the others. When the birds start landing the dust is insane. I have to turn my back for a moment then turn around and run to the blackhawk. I can't see a damn thing so I do my best to stare at the guys boots running in front of me while my head is down. I see the edge of the door and jump inside.

It only takes us a minute to load and take off. The view on the helicopter is always interesting but my eyes are too full of dirt to enjoy it at the moment. To sum things up we had a successful mission. The area was clear of troublemakers and the people were all friendly. I love every chance I get to interact with the children and do what I can to make them happy. Its the best part of being deployed. Any mission that ends in no injuries and happy kids is a win for me and the Iraqi people.