by James Rosone
Sergeant Price was a bit impressed as he watched Lieutenant Martinez trot up and down the line to make sure everyone knew they were falling back. “Those Rangers don’t need to be told twice to leave,” he thought with a smirk.
The lieutenant and Price met up on their way back to the vehicles, but Martinez made a critical mistake and looked back at the front line, where the enemy had been pushing toward them moments ago. He immediately grabbed his stomach and fell to his knees, retching. Price stole a glance backward—the carnage was unimaginable. The ground was practically covered in dead and mangled bodies all the way up to the edge of their positions.
“What kind of commander could order his men into such a slaughter?” asked Martinez as he wiped away the vomit from his mouth with his hand.
When they arrived at their vehicles, Price and Martinez discovered that a couple of them had been destroyed by mortars, and one was simply too damaged to be used. Martinez looked around the motley crew nearby and sadly commented, “Looks like we lost several Rangers in this last battle though, so there’s no risk of leaving anyone behind from Third or Fourth Platoon.”
Just as they were about to leave, a massive artillery bombardment slammed into both the enemy lines and their own lines, where they had just been a few minutes earlier. This was their fire support to cover their retreat as they sped away in their vehicles back to the airfield.
As he sat in the passenger seat of the SOF JLTV, Sergeant Price was exhausted. His hands were shaking as they sped away quickly to the protective perimeter of the airfield. The drive was short, roughly twenty minutes, but it felt like an eternity.
Eventually, they found the entrance to the newly built perimeter, and some of the infantrymen guided them in. Price was glad to see the familiar outline of the Stryker vehicles in the dusk, as well as the Army soldiers manning the various machine-gun bunkers. He was also happy to see the trenches that the engineers had managed to dig and at least one row of concertina wire that had been placed.
The convoy of vehicles made its way to the center of the airfield where the bombed-out hangar was that the Rangers had taken over. Major Fowler was there waiting to greet them. He gestured with his hand in a way that indicated he was performing a head count of the men, and his face dropped. Only sixty-two of the original ninety men had returned.
When the vehicles finally stopped next to the bombed-out hangar, medics rushed forward to help assist with the wounded soldiers. One of the medics announced, “We have helicopters inbound to evacuate the wounded.”
Sergeant Price climbed out of the vehicle, and Major Fowler walked toward him. Price’s right hand continued shaking as he tried to steady himself. Then he bent over and threw up. Unable to control the flood of emotions that was washing over him, he dropped to his knees and suddenly began sobbing.
Major Fowler stopped in his tracks for a second. A few of the other Rangers were reacting the same way. Despite his overwhelming physical reaction, Sergeant Price spotted Fowler waving down Lieutenant Martinez.
“What the heck happened, Lieutenant? Some of your men look to be coming apart,” he said with concern in his voice.
Martinez paused for a second. “It was terrible, Sir…it was worse than terrible. It was pure murder. Whoever the enemy commander was, he just kept ordering these militiamen forward. They just kept charging and charging right into our machine guns, our Claymores, grenades and artillery. The entire ground in front of our position was awash in torn and mangled bodies, Sir,” he explained. “It was pure murder,” he repeated.
*******
Major Fowler just stood there dumbfounded for a moment, not knowing with what to say or how to respond. He hadn’t expected this, especially from his most battle-hardened platoon and Rangers. Looking at what remained of the platoon, he quickly observed that these guys were useless to him as a fighting force for the moment. He’d need to give them some time if he hoped to get them back into the battle anytime soon.
For the next half hour, he and his first sergeant spent their time just consoling and helping their fellow Rangers, calming them and letting them know it would be OK.
“This slaughter wasn’t your fault,” he told several of the soldiers. “You were just doing your jobs. If you want to blame anyone, blame me, or the enemy who placed those men in that position.”
The battle for India was going to be much more difficult than he’d anticipated.
From the Authors
Miranda and I hope that you have been enjoying the Red Storm Series. We are on track to release the last book, Battlefield China, on December 16, 2018. You can click on the link in the title here to preorder your copy. Our audiobook versions of World War III are also coming along: Prelude to World War III, Operation Red Dragon, and Operation Red Dawn have been completed, and Cyber Warfare and the New World Order is currently in production.
We need your help. The two biggest ways that you can help us to succeed as authors are:
1. Leave us a positive review on Amazon and Goodreads for each of our books you liked reading. These reviews really make a difference for other prospective readers, and we sincerely appreciate each person that takes the time to write one.
2. Sign up for our mailing list at http://www.author-james-rosone.com and receive updates when we have new books coming out or promotional pricing deals.
We have really appreciated connecting with our readers via social media. Sometimes we ask for help from our readers as we write future books (we love to draw upon all your different areas of expertise). We also have a group of beta readers who get to look at the books before they are officially published and help us fine-tune last-minute adjustments. If you would like to be a part of this team, please go to our author website: http://www.author-james-rosone.com, and send us a message through the “Contact” tab. You can also follow us on Twitter: @jamesrosone and @AuthorMirandaW. Our Facebook website is also a good place to connect: https://www.facebook.com/JamesRosone/ We look forward to hearing from you.
You may also enjoy some of our other works. A full list can be found below:
World War III Series
Prelude to World War III: The Rise of the Islamic Republic and the Rebirth of America
Operation Red Dragon and the Unthinkable
Operation Red Dawn and the Invasion of America
Cyber Warfare and the New World Order
Michael Stone Series
Traitors Within
The Red Storm Series
Battlefield Ukraine
Battlefield Korea
Battlefield Taiwan
Battlefield Pacific
Battlefield Russia
Battlefield China (available for preorder, to be released December 16, 2018)
For the Veterans
I have been pretty open with our fans about the fact that PTSD has had a tremendous direct impact on our lives; it affected my relationship with my wife, job opportunities, finances, parenting—everything. It is also no secret that for me, the help from the VA was not the most ideal form of treatment. Although I am still on this journey, I did find one organization that did assist in the healing process for me, and I would like to share that information.
Welcome Home Initiative is a ministry of By His Wounds Ministry, and they run seminars for veterans and their spouses for free. The weekends are a combination of prayer and more traditional counseling and left us with resources to aid in moving forward. The entire cost of the retreat—hotel costs, food, and sessions, are completely free from the moment the veteran and their spouse arrive at the location.
If you feel that you or someone you love might benefit from one of Welcome Home Initiative’s sessions, please visit their website to learn more: https://welcomehomeinitiative.org/
We have decided to donate a portion of our profits to this organization, because it made such an impact in our lives and we believe in what they are doing. If you would also like to donate to Welcome Home Initiative and help to keep these weekend retreats going, you can do so b
y following this link: https://welcomehomeinitiative.org/donate/
Abbreviation Key
AAV Amphibious Assault Vehicle
AD Armored Division
AKA Also Known As
AWOL Absent Without Leave
BND Bundesnachrichtendienst (German intelligence)
BTR Bronyetransporter (Soviet class of armored vehicles)
CAG Commander Air Group
CG Commanding General
CIA Central Intelligence Agency
CIC Combat Information Center
CIWS Close-in Weapons Systems
CO Commanding Officer
CVC Combat Vehicle Crewman’s Helmet
DHS Department of Homeland Security
DIA Defense Intelligence Agency
DoD Department of Defense
ECM Electronic Counter Measures
ESSM Evolved SeaSparrow Missile
FAC Forward Air Controller
FIST Fire Support Team
FBI Federal Bureau of Investigations
FISA Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act
FRAGO Fragmentary Order
FSB Federalnaya Sluzhba Bezopasnosti (Russian counterintelligence)
FSO Federalnaya Sluzhba Okhrany (Russian Secret Service)
FSO Fire Support Officer
GDF Global Defense Force
GRU Glavnoye Razvedyvatel’noye Upravleniye (Russian intelligence directorate)
HE High-explosive
HIMARS High Mobility Artillery Rocket System
HQ Headquarters
HUD Heads-Up Display
IR Infrared
IT Information Technology
J3 Operations Officer
JDAM Joint Direct Attack Munitions
JLTV Joint Light Tactical Vehicle
LCAC Landing Craft Air Cushion (hovercraft)
LES Leave and Earnings Statement
LNO Liaison Officer
LRAS Long-Range Acquisition System
MANPADS Man-portable Air-defense Systems
MP Member of Parliament
MPH Miles Per Hour
MRE Meal Ready-to-Eat
MWR Morale, Welfare and Recreation
NCO Noncommissioned Officer
NVG Night Vision Goggles
PEOC Presidential Emergency Operations Center
PLA People’s Liberation Army (Chinese army)
PM Prime Minister
POTUS President of the United States
PSYOPS Psychological Operations
R & D Research and Development
RIM Rolling Airframe Missile
RO-RO Roll-on, Roll-off
ROTC Reserve Officer Training Course
RPA Russian Provisional Authority
RPG Rocket Propelled Grenade
RTO Radio-telephone Operator
SAM Surface-to-Air Missile
SAS Special Air Service
SecDef Secretary of Defense
SITREP Situational Report
SOF Special Operations Forces
TACP Tactical Air Control Party
TOW Tube-Launched Optically Tracked Wire-Guided
UPS United Parcel Service
USAID United States Agency for International Development
VLS Vertical Launch System
VP Vice President
VTOL Vertical Takeoff and Landing
WMD Weapon of Mass Destruction
XO Commanding Officer
