The Valley of Death
Jim was walking ahead on that humid day. It was so hot; all of the men in the 221st Infantry Regiment had taken their long sleeved shirts off. We were talking and joking when a clarion bang sounded throughout the valley. Jim shot backwards with the red spray.
“SNIPER!!!” I yelled.
There was no point in retrieving Jim’s body, we all knew the bullet had been aimed precariously and had gone through his heart killing him instantly. We dove behind any cover we could find. A bullet ricocheted of the boulder I was hiding behind. From the sound of the gun, I guessed it was a SVDK Russian sniper rifle.
What were the Russians doing here!? Our fight was with Afghanistan! I took out my M249 light machine gun.
“Aarghh” I grunted; it was unloaded.
I pulled back the cocking handle; I then attached the magazine to the machine gun. I put the extra 4 1/2 inches into the feeding tray and I slammed the feed tray down.
I then counted to three and stood up to look down my barrel through the sights.
‘Where are you?’ I whispered to myself. ‘I’m only going to shoot you.’
“There we go!” I said when I spotted him.
I made sure he was on my sights. I pulled the trigger and my shoulder was thrown back.
‘It never fails to surprise me how powerful this gun is.’ I thought.
The sniper fell off the cliff; his body bounced off various edges. It finally came to rest on the floor; twisted out of shape. I scanned the area; looking for more snipers. It looked clear, but then Magan, one of our Greek transfers, shot back twisting to the left. I rushed over to him; he had been shot in the arm. His arm was shattered.
“MEDIC!!!” I called out.
Donovan ran towards me and methodically began wrapping a splint on Magan’s arm. Magan didn’t say anything, but it was obvious he was in a lot of pain. His face was distorted to the cry of pain. I told him to get to the back. I looked for the other sniper, when I saw him I shot, but missed. As I ducked into cover I felt a crushing blow to my head.
Thankfully I had my helmet on when the 9.3x64mm bullet slammed into my head. I tripped and fell forwards. I belly crawled to cover. I then checked myself to see if I had been injured in any way. Before I could shoot the sniper he fell from his top, I never found out whether he slipped or if he was shot.
All of us in the 221st Infantry Regiment waited for ten minutes. There was no sign of any more snipers. Only 1 casualty was good. I looked away when we walked past Jim’s body; I didn’t like war. I only joined the US Marine Corps because I thought it would be a good way to get a scholarship. I thought we would be touring Afghanistan, but now this. I wasn’t suited for fighting.
All of us walked for 2 hours. I took the last sip of water in my canteen; 40® C. Way too hot for anyone. I stopped suddenly when I heard rumbling; it was definitely not thunder as there were no clouds. I clicked.
“TANKS!!!” I yelled the loudest I could.
I ran back, but I knew that the tanks would outrun us. When I looked back I saw it was the only heavy tank produced by the Soviet Union: the T-35. I was suddenly thrown forward when the 76,2mm shell hit the ground before me. As I tried to get up I noticed that only Stanley was in my sight. He ran towards me and picked me up. I tried to ask what happened to the rest of the 221st Battalion, but I couldn’t get the words out of my mouth; I wanted to avoid the fact, but I knew everyone else was dead.
I could see the 45mm machine guns pointed to us; I just waited for the hot unbearable pain in-between my shoulder blades. Stanley and I were thrown forwards again, but this time it was because the Warhorse HMH-465 United States Marines Corp helicopter had fired a missile into the tank.
“The 2nd Battalion 18th Infantry Regiment is here.” I said to Stanley.
I was surprised that the 18th Infantry Regiment had heard all the gunfire.
A lot of lives were lost in what Stanley and I called The Death Valley.
2 days later we found Donovan walking around about 2 km outside our camp; he was delirious, but unharmed. He was given the chance to leave and he took it without hesitation. He is now back in Kansas with his family. Me? I still fight because I want revenge for all the lives that were lost, including my brother: Tyler.
Carl Olinger
