Final Day

Oh what a day. It was a long one, again. We’re finally finished with force protection, thank God! I think I’ve had enough of it. First off, it started like yesterday, almost. I had to be on the aid and litter team. This time one of the towers of my platoon was hit with indirect fire. I went up to the top of the tower to find two of the soldiers injured. One had a leg fracture; the doc was working on the other patient. So I got a Sam Splint from my combat lifesaver bag and started making a splint out of it. Next I got one of Doc’s Sam Splint’s for the other side of the leg. I secured the splints and we too the patients down the ladder. I tell you, this shit wears me out fast. These guys get real heavy after wearing the protective vests. So the day started off good because I saved two lives, well aided two.

Afterwards I got put on the reserve force. We got call in to reinforce the entry point after motor fire took out almost all of 1st Platoon at the gate. We got up there and started pulling security. This is where things got bad. As soon as I got there an EPW tried to escape so I took her to the ground and kicked her over so she was on her stomach. After she was under control I moved behind one of the barriers at the checkpoint. The rest of the squad was kind of spread out behind barriers. This is when I got in the wrong. Another EPW was trying to make a break for it when I shot him. Problem was there was a friend solider right next to him and he ended up being a casualty because of it. I’m glad this was only training.

At the end of the day I was placed on a bunker for perimeter security with another Joe. He later got pulled from the position and I got stuck all by myself. Problem was I didn’t have much ammo and I knew it. Well, we started getting attacked by insurgents and I took them down one by one with my weapon. I was trying to conserve, as much ammo as I could but I knew it wouldn’t last. I called back to other positions to request more ammo but it was useless. I knew that no one would bring me more. I was going to be a goner. Sure enough one of the insurgents showed up and shot me. It was game over. I knew it was just training but he won because I didn’t have enough reserve and resuply. Actually I had shot him but for some reason the laser didn’t get his receiver or he didn’t have it on. Anyways, I let him win to feel good. I didn’t feel bad that I didn’t make it. I knew what I did right and wrong. To me it was all in good fun.