by Tom Jones
The last two men stood by, and one of them entered the passenger seat of the M1114. The driver knocked on the side metal plate of the M1114, “Abu Ridhwan, are you ready to go?” Abu Ridhwan leaned over the bed of the truck, and he nodded, “Yeah, Khattab. Let’s get going.” Khattab acknowledged his squad leader by entering the driver seat of the truck. He started the ignition, and he looked to the man in the passenger seat, “Walid, make sure you have that gun ready to fire out the hole.” Walid held up a MK18 MOD 1 fit with modern furniture including a Magpul MOE stock, and he placed the barrel on the custom firing port of the truck. This allowed him to fire the weapon at potential hostiles and also provided him with protection from incoming fire as the hole was only large enough to fit the barrel and somewhat angle it to shoot people to the left and right. He removed the barrel from the firing port, and he closed the firing port with a piece of metal that he slid into place. However, the firing port made it difficult for Walid to see what he was shooting at, but blind fire was a very common tactic employed by the Islamic State fighters.
Once Khattab was satisfied with Walid’s demonstration, he shifted the vehicle out of park, and he began driving. The two rigged Tacomas had already left, and they were on their way to their respective targets. Abu Ridhwan held his AKM in his hands as the truck drove down the dirt road. Abu Hajaar gave a thumbs up to a passing civilian wishing them the best of luck. The truck drove past the human civilian, and he watched as the M1114 took a right turn. The truck drove on a worn down road when Abu Abdullah looked at Abu Hajaar’s MG3, “When did you get that gun?” Abu Hajaar looked at his fellow squadmate, “I’ve had this gun for a while, remember? Back in 2015, we fought the Kurds in Iraq. I had to drop the gun at the door of the truck when our truck was disabled by a Peshmerga rocket. Walid grabbed it when we were retreating, and I still have my M16A2 as well.” He motioned to the M16A2 that was laying on the bed of the truck underneath the disorganized pile of supplies.
Abu Abdullah then asked, “Remember when we thought Khattab died in the driver seat?” Abu Hajaar nodded, “Yeah, I remember that. It turns out he only got knocked out by the blast. Walid grabbed him as well on the way out. I remember when you stood back up to shoot back at the Kurds.” Abu Abdullah knew what Abu Hajaar was talking about, “It’s been over ten years since that battle happened, but I still remember doing that. Hopefully we’ll have better luck today.” Abu Hajaar raised the barrel of the MG3 by pushing on the stock, “Only God knows what happened…. God is great.” Abu Ridhwan heard the conversation, but he did not comment on it. He even remembered when he was shot during the disorganized retreat in the middle of the Iraqi desert. He was just waiting to assault the CDI FOB. However, assaulting it would be tough as the base was surrounded by a flat desert. There would be no way to take cover in the event that the vehicle is disabled.
After driving for several miles, the truck made a right turn and stopped. The crew was waiting for other Daesh improvised fighting vehicles to catch up before the assault would begin. Abu Ridhwan turned around, and he stood with his AKM in case CDI was planning on ambushing the rag-tag mechanized infantry unit. After a few minutes of waiting, Abu Ridhwan heard vehicles approaching from the direction that he was looking at and several armored custom fighting vehicles approached. The fleet of vehicles was composed of captured American-made vehicles that had been fitted with custom armor plating. Just like the M1114 that Abu Ridhwan was riding in, the other vehicles had been modified so much as they had lost their visual identity. A few older MRAPs with added armor drove by, but the more common vehicles were the custom M1114s. One of the trucks even had an AA turret mounted on the bed, and this was to be used in case CDI were to deploy air support. Khattab began driving to catch up with the other vehicles, and the Daesh vehicles began to split up. Though Daesh did not have a standard uniform, most of the militiamen participating in the assault wore Tri-Color Desert or M81 Woodland BDU uniforms. They also had a mix between OD green and tan gear that was not far too from being passable compared to the equipment that CDI had. Though the equipment was imported from China, it fulfilled its intended purpose.
The nineteen vehicles were driving down the open desert field, and they all began to space apart more. They did not want to be all disabled by one rocket or an AT round fired by CDI. Though the compound was around 800 meters away, that did not stop a few Daesh militiamen from attempting to fire their RPG-7s at the compound. A few rockets were launched, but they either detonated in the air or ricocheted off of the desert ground before detonating. Abu Ridhwan took this opportunity to remind his squad of something important, “Be careful to not fire on our brothers.” Abu Hajaar now stood ready with his MG3. Though the bipod was deployed, there was nothing for him to sit the gun on. The bed of the truck was not wide enough to provide proper support for the bipod.
“Daesh trucks incoming!” One of the CDI operatives announced while he was looking through a pair of binoculars while seated. Another CDI soldier was watching, and he commented on Daesh’s use of rockets at the distance they were firing at, “Are they trying to hit us with those rockets? They’re almost a kilometer out!” The soldier with the binoculars stood up, “It looks that way. Come on, let’s get ready.” The two operatives checked their AK-15s, and they made sure that their tan Magpul PMAGs had plenty of rounds inside. They then enabled their EOTech sights, and they waited for the insurgents to get closer. They watched as tracer rounds were fired from the incoming trucks, but the rounds fell short by about a hundred meters. “Yeah, we better get inside,” one of the soldiers said cautiously. The others followed, and they went to rally other CDI members in order to prepare for the assault.
Soon, several more CDI operatives stepped on the roof of the FOB, and they moved towards the SPG-9 recoilless rifle emplacements that they had set up in order to dispatch incoming armored vehicles. Since Daesh had brought insufficient weaponry to take on CDI from the distance that they were at, they were unprepared for the recoilless rifle fire as the SPG-9 was operational at longer distances. One CDI operator opened the rear of the rifle, and he loaded in the 73mm round. He closed the rear loading port, and he stood clear of the backblast. The other operator looked through the sight, which was a retrofitted modern rangefinder, and he prepared to fire on the Daesh vehicles. He picked a target and targeted it with the help of the modernized targeting system that did the trigonometry for him. The height advantage that he had meant that he could engage the vehicles at his current distance. He asked the other operator, “Ready?” The support operator replied, “Send it.” The CDI operator fired the round.
Abu Ridhwan continued wasting his munitions by firing at the compound. He had not even seen any CDI operatives, but he continued to fire his AKM with only the ironsights. He did not even bother to change the elevation on his sights to fire on the elevated position. Abu Hajaar decided that he should pitch in, so he started firing his MG3 at the general direction of the FOB. Since none of the personnel in Abu Ridhwan’s vehicle had any tracer rounds, they were unaware of where their spent rounds were landing. Suddenly, a vehicle that was driving in front of them about thirty meters out went up in smoke. The armored Toyota Tacoma burst into flames, and the VBIEDs it was carrying detonated prematurely, causing an even larger explosion. The powerful explosion shook the ground, and Abu Hajaar lost his grip on the MG3. Shrapnel flew, and the crew ducked to avoid the incoming shrapnel. After the Tacoma exploded, Abu Abdullah looked up, and he saw the burning Tacoma as Khattab maneuvered around the truck’s wreckage. Abu Abdullah then heard the noise from the recoilless rifle that was fired from the CDI compound. He pointed towards the compound, “They’re firing on us with anti-armor rounds!” Abu Ridhwan pointed towards the compound as well, “Then start shooting back! God is great!” Abu Hajaar stood back up, and he placed the barrel of his MG3 back on the thin piece of armor. The bipod of the weapon was hanging behind the armor plate, and he began firing at the compound in hopes that he was hitting something. The vehicle hit a small bump in the
desert sand, and Abu Hajaar lost control of the weapon again. He could not move his hand off of the trigger in time, and he began firing into the cab of the M1114. He dropped the weapon, and it landed in the bed of the truck. Abu Ridhwan was the first to criticize him, “Abu Hajaar! What are you doing? You’ll kill our driver!” Lucky for Walid and Khattab, they were unharmed. Walid turned around and said, “We’re okay Abu Hajaar, fire at them, not us!” Abu Hajaar scrambled to pick up the MG3 again, but he accidentally touched the hot barrel. Though he was wearing gloves, he still could feel the scorching heat of the barrel. He let go of the barrel, and he proceeded to pick the weapon up by the stock instead.
“One vehicle down.” The CDI operative announced as the second operator worked to quickly change the 73mm HE shell of the recoilless rifle. Having another round loaded, he moved out of the way again and sat on the right side of the emplacement. The primary operator looked through the sights again, but he stopped when he heard two more SPG-9s being fired to his right. He looked at the rangefinder again and saw that one of the 73mm rounds destroyed another small IFV; However, the other round impacted too high of the target. The operator zeroed in another improvised APC, and he asked if the support operator was ready. The support operator replied with, “Send it,” and another 73mm round soon left the recoilless rifle. The round directly impacted the front of the improvised APC, and the vehicle burst into flames. As the support operative began reloading the rifle, the gunner announced the successful shot, “Another one down.” The second recoilless rifle fired, and it struck a heavily armored custom MRAP. However, the angle was poor, and the vehicle was able to continue driving. The third SPG-9 was ready to fire again, and it soon fired at the vehicle that the previous shot was unable to disable. The round struck the vehicle’s right axle, and the MRAP exploded as it tipped over on its side.
The improvised fighting vehicles were now about 500 meters out from the CDI FOB, and their numbers were still dwindling. All of the VBIED carrying trucks were destroyed, and several other vehicles were either heavily damaged or destroyed. Abu Ridhwan decided that they would not make it to the compound. He decided that it would be best to abandon the first objective of the operation and just move to fight the CDI operatives that had been deployed to the nearest city. He bent down to alert Khattab of the change of plans, “Khattab! Turn around, we lost our bombers! Go to the city instead!” Khattab slammed on the brakes of the M1114, and he turned the steering wheel to the left. Abu Hajaar and Abu Abdullah were unprepared for the sudden change of course and speed, and they lost their balance. Abu Abdullah was thrown against the right side of the improvised vehicle bed, and he accidentally fired his RPG-7 directly upwards. The backblast was blown inside of the truck, and Abu Ridhwan felt it. Abu Hajaar’s MG3 barrel slid on the thin plate of armor, and his Rheinmetall MG3 fired upwards as he lost control yet again. Abu Ridhwan held on to the side of the truck as it continued its turn.
As the crew was still turning around, a few more vehicles were thinking of doing the same thing, but one vehicle continued its course for the CDI building. The improvised MRAP veered to the right, and the left side of the front bumper rammed the M1114. Abu Abdullah dropped the RPG-7, and it landed outside of the vehicle. Abu Hajaar’s MG3 landed inside of the bed, but no rounds were fired into the cab this time. Abu Ridhwan was thrown backwards, and he dropped his AKM inside the truck. The vehicle that continued moving forwards was soon struck by a 73mm round, and it quickly slowed to a halt upon exploding. Abu Abdullah watched as his RPG-7 was left in the dust, “Abu Ridhwan! My launcher is there!” Abu Ridhwan looked over after the shockwave subsided, and he saw the RPG-7. He shook his head, “Abu Abdullah, we are not going back for that! Use a different weapon instead.” Abu Abdullah rummaged through the disorganized pile of equipment in the bed, and he removed a different Kalashnikov variant. This weapon was configured to fire a rifle grenade through the means of a muzzle-loaded pipebomb. The homemade explosives had to be manually lighted via the fuse before deployment. Though it was not the RPG-7, Abu Abdullah figured he would probably find a replacement in the city when the crew were to reach it. After all, RPG-7s were commonly used by both Daesh and CDI, though CDI’s RPG-7s were of considerably higher quality.
Most of the Daesh vehicles now were either retreating or were destroyed by the three CDI SPG-9 emplacements. Eight vehicles were now remaining, and Abu Ridhwan was hoping that CDI would cease to fire on their vehicles. However, the rounds were continually fired at their vehicles. Another M1114 that was driving to the right of Abu Ridhwan’s vehicle was struck by the 73mm round. The round impacted directly in the bed of the vehicle, and the Daesh crew in the bed of the truck were dismembered as their limbs blew out of the truck. Abu Ridhwan’s crew braced themselves for the explosion shockwave, and they kept their helmeted heads down to avoid the incoming shrapnel of the destroyed vehicle. Khattab began swerving to avoid more incoming fire by CDI, and he asked Abu Ridhwan, “Are we going to Abu Kamal?” Abu Ridhwan leaned into the cab again, “Yes, our brothers need help to fight CDI there! They need our support, so we cannot lose any more vehicles!” Abu Abdullah was in the process of screwing in a pipe bomb into the muzzle launcher of his AKM. Once the explosive was secure, he readied the lighter, but he decided to wait until they arrived at Abu Kamal to combat CDI. Khattab continued to swerve at random, and this seemed to help him dodge some of the incoming rounds fired by the three recoilless rifles. A few rounds came very close, but the vehicle emerged unscathed from the fire.
“Alright, that’s enough. That’s enough!” One of the SPG-9 operators announced to the other two anti-tank crews. The other two crews fired their last rounds at the fleeing vehicles before stopping. The operator of the first cannon stood up and suggested, “I think we should send in a Hind after them to deal with the rest. You know they’re probably on their way to Abu Kamal where our forces are fighting the rest of Daesh. Let’s call them up at the nearest airfield and see how soon they think they can get back to Abu Kamal.” The men left the SPG-9s, and they moved back inside the building to call for air support. As they re-entered the building, the CDI operator asked, “How many are left?” Another operator answered, “They’ve got six of those left. The ones they have left look like medium sized improvised vehicles. I kept trying to destroy one of the ones that is based on an old Humvee, but they kept on swerving out of the way. Oh well, the Hind will take care of the rest of them. Let’s go call it up.” The operators entered the command room, and one of them used the radio. The radio operator said, “Pit Viper, this is Command Post Eight, we engaged a fleet of Daesh vehicles attempting to assault our base. We have driven them off, and they are heading to Abu Kamal where our men are currently deployed at. How soon can you provide air support? Over.” The helicopter pilot replied, “CP Eight, this is Pit Viper. We just finished refueling after our recent engagement at the city. ETA fifteen minutes. Over.” The radio operator finished the transmission, “Acknowledged. Be advised, there are six improvised fighting vehicles closing on the city. They are armed with MGs as well as explosives. Be careful and good hunting. Out.”
A C-130 Hercules landed in an open desert field adjacent to Abu Kamal. As the plane landed, its propellers kicked up dust and dirt. The unmarked plane screeched to a halt, and the rear cargo bay opened up. Several NSS members stepped out of the aircraft, and they turned to look at the aircraft after the rough landing. One NSS member carrying an MG 74 looked underneath the aircraft, and then he looked up as the engines began to slowly power down. Another NSS member was carrying a Steyr StG 77 and spoke in German, “We barely made it out of Germany, Fritz.” The gunner brought his attention to Hans, “Yeah. It all fell apart once they got to Berlin.” Several more NSS members exited the aircraft, and some of them gathered in order to plan what to do next. Fritz then asked, “Wait, how did we lose Berlin? There were no Bundeswehr troops where we were.” Hans shrugged, “I dunno. We just got the order to retreat.” Fritz raised an eyebrow, “So, why did the rest of us decide to j
ust pack it up and go?” Hans crossed his arms, “Uhh.. Wait - remember what they told us about a day into the attack? They said that we needed to defend that train station for some reason.” Fritz pushed the barrel of his MG 74 into the sand, and he used the polymer stock to lean on while he spoke, “What could be so important for one little train station? Also, why would they tell us to not kill the anthros? You know that they are literally subhumans! They’re lower than blacks and Jews.”
Hans nodded, “Yeah, I agree. I dunno what they are thinking of. I didn’t really listen to that for most of the time. If I saw an anthro, I opened fire. I bagged myself about ten of them. I got a few dogs, wolves, and foxes. I even took down one tiger.” Fritz remembered something else, “Foxes? That reminds me. Command told us that they were the priority.” Hans removed the goggles from his face, and he placed them on the LWH he was wearing, “I don’t give two shits what command tells us to do with foxes. I’m killing them.” Fritz nodded, “I’m with you. More or less, I joined the NSS to get rid of anthros specifically. Literal subhuman trash.” Hans asked, “Say, why are we here in Syria anyways?” Fritz relayed what he heard from others, “Well, this is where we were supposed to go after we were to take over Europe. However, that didn’t look like it happened… Now we’re here for some reason or another.” Hans scratched his face, “Umm. Not sure who came up with that, but if we get to kill some arabs, then I’m ready.” Fritz commented, “I hear CDI operates somewhere around this location. We might be up against them too.” Hans remembered something else, “How long has CDI been the biggest PMC company in the world?” Fritz shrugged while still holding the MG 74’s stock, “I wanna say about a half a decade, or so?” Hans replied, “Then you have all of those anthro-only companies. They typically don’t do so well. Only other anthro businesses hire them and such.” Fritz asked, “Ain’t there a few companies that hire both anthros and humans?” Hans nodded, “Yeah, I remember one was some American company. I don’t really care too much to remember their name.” Fritz was trying to remember the name, but the other NSS members called them over. The two NSS soldiers began moving to the platoon.
