Road to Commander Pt 1

The raid began tomorrow which resulted in another restless night. The moment he signed on as a US Marine Owens kissed his peace of mind goodbye, and he knew that. Images flashed in his mind of blood, fear and desperation but these images that shook every cell inside him became his normality. He tossed in his bed covered in a feeble cloth that only just managed to cover his six foot four monster of a body but no matter how exhausted his eyes seemed to be, they would never shut as if barge poles stood them open. Owens wanted to sleep. Owens needed to sleep. 

The thought of being dropped into a military hotzone with his platoon was exciting and at the same time his greatest fear. He had become accustomed to the killing but not to the nightmares that followed him after dark. Nonetheless Owens was a professional, a man of incredible stamina and determination who rarely managed to reach goals however what faced him tomorrow was a mission with incredible risk – to capture the Taliban leader Al-Fasshan alive. As thoughts of success and equally the failure that was hours away riddled his mind, it’s as if the busy mind crashed, and thats when he wandered off to sleep.

The hustle and bustle of the early morning camp woke Owens as always and he shot to his feet. All six foot four of him was thrown upwards and shot into action. A suspicious silence riddled the sleeping quarters where his Delta platoon prepared – everyone knew that the numbers that stood in the room right now would be substantially different to the ones in the room hours later, but nobody dared say. The quiet atmosphere was interupted by a quirky looking man resting to the south of Owens’ bunk.

“Bloody hell its quiet in here! You boys aren’t scared of a few ill-equipped taliban idiots are ya?” laughed the man

“Shut it Hayes and clean your goddamn rifle” snapped Owens

“Dont shit yourslef Jo, its just a joke” sneered Hayes in retaliation

“Chopper taking us out in twenty, this is it boys” stated Owens as if to ignore Hayes’ immaturity

Jo proceeded to get his gear together and clean his rifle to perfection – as he would need it later. Upon regrouping Delta platoon squad boarded the chopper for what could be their last time.