Post by 2t2crash on Aug 1, 2018 2:00:47 GMT -6
24.
As 2nd and 3rd Platoon hauled ass towards Salmon Pass on regularly maintained roads we wound our way around a mix of paved streets, county dirt roads, and finally improved dirt roads that lead to the bridge. We were getting anxious as we watched the time move past the two hour mark for us being on the move to our destination. Road conditions closer to the bridge were fucked due to lack of maintenance and a few trees that had blown down over the summer but finally after two and a half hours we arrived. Brad immediately assessed the location and began issuing orders.
“Smith deploy your guns on our side of the bridge, give them cover and a good angle, one high one even with the bridge.”
“Yessir! WEAPONS ON ME!”
“Sappers get your asses in gear, you’ve got less than two hours if intel is right.”
“On it.”
“Sergeant McCoy deploy the men, I want proper fields of fire, grenadiers on both sides of the road, spread them out and keep em down. Mortars setup behind the crest in the road in the vehicle turnout we just passed and send your Forward Observer up.” Brad looked at his radioman. “Cooper you are to stay on my ass at all times, understood?”
“Like a hemorrhoid Sir.”
I immediately got my ass in gear. “Yes Sir! Get the f*** off the trucks! I want the AT4s to the left, get the Javeline just to the right of the road, with a straight shot down the bridge. Setup, dig in or start piling rocks around your defensive positions. Our primary job is to protect the engineers, understood?”
“HUAH!”
The men and women of 1st platoon were in a flurry of activity spreading out and establishing their defensive positions. Due to the hard cold and rocky ground it was almost impossible to dig so positions were established beside trees, reinforced with hastily built rock walls for cover. I began establishing my position as well which gave me a proper view straight down the bridge. Within 15 minutes I had a low rock wall built and a stable shooting platform. As I stood up Brad approached me.
“Jake I want a couple guys and a vehicle on the opposite side of the bridge, at the top of the rise there. Set them as an OP. Also you’re my Platoon Sergeant, I need you to move your position back another 15 feet and preferably not the middle of the fucking road. Keep our medic by your side and move with her if she is needed. If I go down, you make sure this bridge fucking disappears got it?
“Got it, nothing is going to happen to us brother, we can’t ruin a 140 year streak of family luck in battle.”
“Wiseass. Alright big brother, get moving.”
I walked over to my Willys and grabbed my M1D and my bandoleers of ammunition and before finding Tiny.
“Tiny I have a job for you and a driver of your choosing.”
“Reyes get over here! What have you got boss?”
“I need you two to take the jeep across the bridge and to the crest in the hill up there, you see what I’m talking about?”
“Yes Sergeant, I see it.”
“Back the jeep up, keep it below the horizon so it’s not spotted. Once the column is visible you haul ass back across. Don’t f*** around and try not to get my girl here shot the f*** up. Tracking?”
“Got it. Let’s go Reyes, you’re driving and shift smoothly so I don’t accidentally touch off a round from the Mk19.”
I did not like the looks of excitement and the fire in their eyes as they whipped my baby around and hauled ass towards their destination. Now I need to find Chloe and set up a proper position for us both. To my surprise I found her set up in a slight depression in the terrain, about 15 feet behind the lines… She had learned a lot from Rios it seemed.
“Chloe you picked the perfect spot. Now listen to me. If someone calls out for a medic we will be moving together, understand? It’s important to save lives but you are no good to us if you go down, so make sure you aren’t running into a situation where you are sure to die.”
“I got it.”
“Stay here, lay your stuff out if you need to but be ready. I’ll be back.” With that I made my rounds, checking on everyone and making sure they were set and ready.
While we were setting up our defenses Corey and his demolitions experts had been busy as well. As soon as he was given the order by Brad he had his team moving.
“I want 8 charges on each side of the bridge, four on the left pillars, four on the right on both sides of the bridge plus I want a large kicker charge on top of the bridge right in the center of that bitch. We only need about a pound of C4 per charge but remember P is for “plenty” so use four pounds per charge. Wire this shit quick but do it right and whatever you do…. Don’t look down and don’t fall because it’s a long drop and I wont climb down to retrieve your body. Wilson and Roberts, you have our side of the bridge, Bandy you take the center charge, Cox you and I have the far side. Cox drive the truck, we’ll stop at each location and unload the shit needed at each point. Let’s go boys.”
The sapper trained engineers loaded into the vehicle and headed towards the bridge. At the first stop they kicked out spools of det cord plus crates of explosives and their gear. The team wasted no time getting to their task of preparing their charges and taping them together. Once the truck hit the middle of the bridge it again stopped as Bandy started dumping his gear out of the back.
As they approached their end of the bridge Corey spoke to Cox. “Drive past, turn around in the dirt and bring us back on the bridge so we are facing the right way. Start prepping charges, I’ll throw spools of det chord onto the feed rods so they can unspool as we drive.”
“You got it.”
Both of the engineers walked to the rear of the truck and Corey let out a string of curses when he discovered his stow-away. In the back Jimmy was sitting on a crate of C-4 holding his .30 Carbine.
“What in the f*** are you doing back here Jimmy?”
“I’m not waiting around while you guys fight dammit.”
“Your dad is going to have my ass if anything happens to you. What in the hell are you thinking man! Well fuckin… don’t sit there, get your ass up here. Start breaking open those C4 crates and do exactly like I do. Grab four of them, tape them all together in one line, make sure the same ends all face up. Good, make 6 more of those.”
As their surprise helper started taping the 1 lb charges of C4 together both Corey and Cox began filling their pouches with rolls of tape and blasting caps. Corey looked up at Jim. “Good, now put the charges in these two satchel bags, 4 per bag. Good. Alright, keep an eye out.” With that Corey slung his satchel over his shoulder, walked to the bridge’s guard rail and looked over.
“Damn, I looked down.” Seeing that the steel was easily climbable and accessible he slung one leg over the side, took a deep breath then slung the other over and started climbing down. When he got to the base of the first support beam he immediately got to work and pulled out his first charge and taped it in place. Ensuring it was flat against the steel girder and not going anywhere he pulled out a Gerber multi-tool specially made for explosives work. The gerber had a circular punch which he used to bore a hole in each piece of C4 into which he pushed the detonators into. From there he ran his detonating chord, tied them together and taped them in place to ensure nothing was going to come undone. The process took him less than ten minutes. With his first charge complete Corey looked over towards Cox. “One done, climbing to two.”
“Copy, almost done here.”
Thirty minutes later Corey emerged from under the bridge, sweating his ass off and holding the end of the string of detonating cord that was connected to his demolition set below. He looked up at Jim Jr who was sitting behind the wheel of the truck and waved him forward. As the truck pulled to a stop and both Corey and Cox began tying their charges into the two large spools of det-cord hanging from mounts on the truck the sound of a series of small explosions could be heard from down the road where the Mk 19 was setup, followed by a large secondary explosion that got the group’s asses in gear. Corey hopped onto the driver side running board of the truck as Cox hopped in the back.
“Jim get us to the middle charges, about 5 miles an hour, that was Tiny and the grenade launcher. We need to hurry.”
The truck moved forward at what felt like an agonizing pace, as they reached the center charges where Bandy was waiting they saw the Willys come hauling ass down the road towards the bridge, letting loose another string of grenades at an unseen target in the woods.
“He aint stopping for shit, get slack in the cord and lay it flat on the ground so he doesn’t f*** it up!”
To their surprise Reyes slowed down when he saw the long line of cord and pulled in behind the truck. Tiny was focused to the rear and jumped when first his radio came to life with the voice of the Lieutenant, and then when Corey screamed at him.
“Turn that fuckin radio off motherfucker!”
“Shit!” Tiny scrambled to find the power nob. Radios were a no-no around live ordinance and demolition. He got it off then yelled back. “Hurry up, they are coming and don’t care that I just shredded an M113 with HEDP!”
“How many?”
“A shit-load!”
“f***. You done Bandy? In the truck, go go! Tiny no HE on the bridge, she’s rigged and wired.!”
Moments later the first vehicles to show were a couple of pickup trucks rigged with PKM machineguns plus half a dozen riflemen clad in black with red berets on. ANTIFA had evolved it seemed. As the lead vehicle cleared a tree-line it was saturated with fire from the grenade launcher.
“I SAID NOT SO CLOSE TO THE FUCKING BRIDGE!”
The second truck driver was smarter and pulled off to the side behind some trees and disgorged it’s troops before pulling forward to give the gunner a shot at the men on the bridge, just a mere 250 feet away.
In a surprising display of movement and riflemanship Corey pivoted on his left foot and turned 90 degrees to his left while bringing his AR15/M16A4 clone to his should and unleashed a series of controlled shots that were so close together it sounded like his civilian rifle was burst capable. Three of the enemy soldiers immediately dropped to the ground with shots to the center mass, the other four scouts plus the PKM gunner and vehicle driver followed suit as both the M1919 and the M240 on the opposite side of the bridge let out a series of bursts at the target emerging from the woods.
“Move move move!” Corey hopped back on the truck as Jim moved it forward to the last charge series, so they could be linked. Meanwhile enemy forces began to come into view
of the bridge defenders, slowly at first and on foot in a manageable flow. Rounds began to hit the truck as more of the communist forces joined the fight. With the last charge wired in the engineers all clung to the sides of their truck as it moved towards their side of the canyon. As it pulled in and past the defending platoon Corey grew alarmed as it idled in rather than brake to a stop and yelled out to Jim just before the truck smashed to a stop against a tree.
Corey picked himself up off the ground as he felt blood flow down the left side of his face. Ignoring his own problems he ran to the truck and ripped open the door only to catch his nephew as he fell out of the truck, coughing blood and red foam out of his mouth.
“MEEEEDIC! WHERE THE f*** ARE YOU?” Corey slung Jim Jr over his shoulder in a fireman’s carry and hauled ass towards the Chloe whom he saw running his way. Rather than stop in the open Corey ran past her towards the depression and got Jimmy off his shoulder, ignoring the shock on his father’s face.
“He took a round in the back, he’s got a sucking chest wound.”
Brad McCoy had been observing the progress of the engineers when his radio came to life. “LT we have a reinforced light armored company heading our way. I see two BMPs, several M113s plus technical and troop transports. I’d say we have 250 or so men headed up fast. I’m going to give them a moment of pause with the Mark 19.”
Before Brad could tell Tiny no he heard five small detonations followed by a loud secondary that was visible from their vantage point. “LT this is Tiny, we’re coming in hot being pursued by two technicals plus infantry, how copy?
“Solid copy, get out of there now!” Brad looked over at his RTO “Get me on the TOC’s channel now… Castle Control this is One - Six Actual how copy?”
“I read you One - Six, send traffic, over.”
“Castle Control 1st platoon is in direct contact with company sized force of mix light armor plus troops. The bridge is still intact at this time. Over”
“Copy that One - Six, Castle One Actual says get that bridge down and beat feet. Over.”
“Roger that Castle One I’ll keep you updated, Out.” He nudged his radioman. “Be ready to move, get me back on comms, keep monitoring the command line.”
“Yes Sir.”
As soon as the first vehicle broke out of the trees Zach had his guns set. “Get ready, I want those guns to talk, gun 1 initiates, 2 responds. AG’s pick your targets unless I say otherwise” Before the belt feds could get a round off the first truck was ripped to shreds by the grenade rounds but they soon had their targets as the infantry squad broke out of the trees.
“Troops, 150 meters out. Handle it!”
Zach’s command was all they needed. The first 5 to 7 round burst from the 1919 resulted in cutting down two of the fighters, the 240’s response dropped two others just as Corey gunned down the others. With the second technical appearing there was almost no pause in fire from the two machineguns as they both responded to the threat.
“TALK THE GUNS DAMN YOU!”
The two teams dropped back into their alternating staccato, the alternating fire giving the barrels time to cool and to keep the weapons in the fight.
As 2nd and 3rd Platoon hauled ass towards Salmon Pass on regularly maintained roads we wound our way around a mix of paved streets, county dirt roads, and finally improved dirt roads that lead to the bridge. We were getting anxious as we watched the time move past the two hour mark for us being on the move to our destination. Road conditions closer to the bridge were fucked due to lack of maintenance and a few trees that had blown down over the summer but finally after two and a half hours we arrived. Brad immediately assessed the location and began issuing orders.
“Smith deploy your guns on our side of the bridge, give them cover and a good angle, one high one even with the bridge.”
“Yessir! WEAPONS ON ME!”
“Sappers get your asses in gear, you’ve got less than two hours if intel is right.”
“On it.”
“Sergeant McCoy deploy the men, I want proper fields of fire, grenadiers on both sides of the road, spread them out and keep em down. Mortars setup behind the crest in the road in the vehicle turnout we just passed and send your Forward Observer up.” Brad looked at his radioman. “Cooper you are to stay on my ass at all times, understood?”
“Like a hemorrhoid Sir.”
I immediately got my ass in gear. “Yes Sir! Get the f*** off the trucks! I want the AT4s to the left, get the Javeline just to the right of the road, with a straight shot down the bridge. Setup, dig in or start piling rocks around your defensive positions. Our primary job is to protect the engineers, understood?”
“HUAH!”
The men and women of 1st platoon were in a flurry of activity spreading out and establishing their defensive positions. Due to the hard cold and rocky ground it was almost impossible to dig so positions were established beside trees, reinforced with hastily built rock walls for cover. I began establishing my position as well which gave me a proper view straight down the bridge. Within 15 minutes I had a low rock wall built and a stable shooting platform. As I stood up Brad approached me.
“Jake I want a couple guys and a vehicle on the opposite side of the bridge, at the top of the rise there. Set them as an OP. Also you’re my Platoon Sergeant, I need you to move your position back another 15 feet and preferably not the middle of the fucking road. Keep our medic by your side and move with her if she is needed. If I go down, you make sure this bridge fucking disappears got it?
“Got it, nothing is going to happen to us brother, we can’t ruin a 140 year streak of family luck in battle.”
“Wiseass. Alright big brother, get moving.”
I walked over to my Willys and grabbed my M1D and my bandoleers of ammunition and before finding Tiny.
“Tiny I have a job for you and a driver of your choosing.”
“Reyes get over here! What have you got boss?”
“I need you two to take the jeep across the bridge and to the crest in the hill up there, you see what I’m talking about?”
“Yes Sergeant, I see it.”
“Back the jeep up, keep it below the horizon so it’s not spotted. Once the column is visible you haul ass back across. Don’t f*** around and try not to get my girl here shot the f*** up. Tracking?”
“Got it. Let’s go Reyes, you’re driving and shift smoothly so I don’t accidentally touch off a round from the Mk19.”
I did not like the looks of excitement and the fire in their eyes as they whipped my baby around and hauled ass towards their destination. Now I need to find Chloe and set up a proper position for us both. To my surprise I found her set up in a slight depression in the terrain, about 15 feet behind the lines… She had learned a lot from Rios it seemed.
“Chloe you picked the perfect spot. Now listen to me. If someone calls out for a medic we will be moving together, understand? It’s important to save lives but you are no good to us if you go down, so make sure you aren’t running into a situation where you are sure to die.”
“I got it.”
“Stay here, lay your stuff out if you need to but be ready. I’ll be back.” With that I made my rounds, checking on everyone and making sure they were set and ready.
While we were setting up our defenses Corey and his demolitions experts had been busy as well. As soon as he was given the order by Brad he had his team moving.
“I want 8 charges on each side of the bridge, four on the left pillars, four on the right on both sides of the bridge plus I want a large kicker charge on top of the bridge right in the center of that bitch. We only need about a pound of C4 per charge but remember P is for “plenty” so use four pounds per charge. Wire this shit quick but do it right and whatever you do…. Don’t look down and don’t fall because it’s a long drop and I wont climb down to retrieve your body. Wilson and Roberts, you have our side of the bridge, Bandy you take the center charge, Cox you and I have the far side. Cox drive the truck, we’ll stop at each location and unload the shit needed at each point. Let’s go boys.”
The sapper trained engineers loaded into the vehicle and headed towards the bridge. At the first stop they kicked out spools of det cord plus crates of explosives and their gear. The team wasted no time getting to their task of preparing their charges and taping them together. Once the truck hit the middle of the bridge it again stopped as Bandy started dumping his gear out of the back.
As they approached their end of the bridge Corey spoke to Cox. “Drive past, turn around in the dirt and bring us back on the bridge so we are facing the right way. Start prepping charges, I’ll throw spools of det chord onto the feed rods so they can unspool as we drive.”
“You got it.”
Both of the engineers walked to the rear of the truck and Corey let out a string of curses when he discovered his stow-away. In the back Jimmy was sitting on a crate of C-4 holding his .30 Carbine.
“What in the f*** are you doing back here Jimmy?”
“I’m not waiting around while you guys fight dammit.”
“Your dad is going to have my ass if anything happens to you. What in the hell are you thinking man! Well fuckin… don’t sit there, get your ass up here. Start breaking open those C4 crates and do exactly like I do. Grab four of them, tape them all together in one line, make sure the same ends all face up. Good, make 6 more of those.”
As their surprise helper started taping the 1 lb charges of C4 together both Corey and Cox began filling their pouches with rolls of tape and blasting caps. Corey looked up at Jim. “Good, now put the charges in these two satchel bags, 4 per bag. Good. Alright, keep an eye out.” With that Corey slung his satchel over his shoulder, walked to the bridge’s guard rail and looked over.
“Damn, I looked down.” Seeing that the steel was easily climbable and accessible he slung one leg over the side, took a deep breath then slung the other over and started climbing down. When he got to the base of the first support beam he immediately got to work and pulled out his first charge and taped it in place. Ensuring it was flat against the steel girder and not going anywhere he pulled out a Gerber multi-tool specially made for explosives work. The gerber had a circular punch which he used to bore a hole in each piece of C4 into which he pushed the detonators into. From there he ran his detonating chord, tied them together and taped them in place to ensure nothing was going to come undone. The process took him less than ten minutes. With his first charge complete Corey looked over towards Cox. “One done, climbing to two.”
“Copy, almost done here.”
Thirty minutes later Corey emerged from under the bridge, sweating his ass off and holding the end of the string of detonating cord that was connected to his demolition set below. He looked up at Jim Jr who was sitting behind the wheel of the truck and waved him forward. As the truck pulled to a stop and both Corey and Cox began tying their charges into the two large spools of det-cord hanging from mounts on the truck the sound of a series of small explosions could be heard from down the road where the Mk 19 was setup, followed by a large secondary explosion that got the group’s asses in gear. Corey hopped onto the driver side running board of the truck as Cox hopped in the back.
“Jim get us to the middle charges, about 5 miles an hour, that was Tiny and the grenade launcher. We need to hurry.”
The truck moved forward at what felt like an agonizing pace, as they reached the center charges where Bandy was waiting they saw the Willys come hauling ass down the road towards the bridge, letting loose another string of grenades at an unseen target in the woods.
“He aint stopping for shit, get slack in the cord and lay it flat on the ground so he doesn’t f*** it up!”
To their surprise Reyes slowed down when he saw the long line of cord and pulled in behind the truck. Tiny was focused to the rear and jumped when first his radio came to life with the voice of the Lieutenant, and then when Corey screamed at him.
“Turn that fuckin radio off motherfucker!”
“Shit!” Tiny scrambled to find the power nob. Radios were a no-no around live ordinance and demolition. He got it off then yelled back. “Hurry up, they are coming and don’t care that I just shredded an M113 with HEDP!”
“How many?”
“A shit-load!”
“f***. You done Bandy? In the truck, go go! Tiny no HE on the bridge, she’s rigged and wired.!”
Moments later the first vehicles to show were a couple of pickup trucks rigged with PKM machineguns plus half a dozen riflemen clad in black with red berets on. ANTIFA had evolved it seemed. As the lead vehicle cleared a tree-line it was saturated with fire from the grenade launcher.
“I SAID NOT SO CLOSE TO THE FUCKING BRIDGE!”
The second truck driver was smarter and pulled off to the side behind some trees and disgorged it’s troops before pulling forward to give the gunner a shot at the men on the bridge, just a mere 250 feet away.
In a surprising display of movement and riflemanship Corey pivoted on his left foot and turned 90 degrees to his left while bringing his AR15/M16A4 clone to his should and unleashed a series of controlled shots that were so close together it sounded like his civilian rifle was burst capable. Three of the enemy soldiers immediately dropped to the ground with shots to the center mass, the other four scouts plus the PKM gunner and vehicle driver followed suit as both the M1919 and the M240 on the opposite side of the bridge let out a series of bursts at the target emerging from the woods.
“Move move move!” Corey hopped back on the truck as Jim moved it forward to the last charge series, so they could be linked. Meanwhile enemy forces began to come into view
of the bridge defenders, slowly at first and on foot in a manageable flow. Rounds began to hit the truck as more of the communist forces joined the fight. With the last charge wired in the engineers all clung to the sides of their truck as it moved towards their side of the canyon. As it pulled in and past the defending platoon Corey grew alarmed as it idled in rather than brake to a stop and yelled out to Jim just before the truck smashed to a stop against a tree.
Corey picked himself up off the ground as he felt blood flow down the left side of his face. Ignoring his own problems he ran to the truck and ripped open the door only to catch his nephew as he fell out of the truck, coughing blood and red foam out of his mouth.
“MEEEEDIC! WHERE THE f*** ARE YOU?” Corey slung Jim Jr over his shoulder in a fireman’s carry and hauled ass towards the Chloe whom he saw running his way. Rather than stop in the open Corey ran past her towards the depression and got Jimmy off his shoulder, ignoring the shock on his father’s face.
“He took a round in the back, he’s got a sucking chest wound.”
Brad McCoy had been observing the progress of the engineers when his radio came to life. “LT we have a reinforced light armored company heading our way. I see two BMPs, several M113s plus technical and troop transports. I’d say we have 250 or so men headed up fast. I’m going to give them a moment of pause with the Mark 19.”
Before Brad could tell Tiny no he heard five small detonations followed by a loud secondary that was visible from their vantage point. “LT this is Tiny, we’re coming in hot being pursued by two technicals plus infantry, how copy?
“Solid copy, get out of there now!” Brad looked over at his RTO “Get me on the TOC’s channel now… Castle Control this is One - Six Actual how copy?”
“I read you One - Six, send traffic, over.”
“Castle Control 1st platoon is in direct contact with company sized force of mix light armor plus troops. The bridge is still intact at this time. Over”
“Copy that One - Six, Castle One Actual says get that bridge down and beat feet. Over.”
“Roger that Castle One I’ll keep you updated, Out.” He nudged his radioman. “Be ready to move, get me back on comms, keep monitoring the command line.”
“Yes Sir.”
As soon as the first vehicle broke out of the trees Zach had his guns set. “Get ready, I want those guns to talk, gun 1 initiates, 2 responds. AG’s pick your targets unless I say otherwise” Before the belt feds could get a round off the first truck was ripped to shreds by the grenade rounds but they soon had their targets as the infantry squad broke out of the trees.
“Troops, 150 meters out. Handle it!”
Zach’s command was all they needed. The first 5 to 7 round burst from the 1919 resulted in cutting down two of the fighters, the 240’s response dropped two others just as Corey gunned down the others. With the second technical appearing there was almost no pause in fire from the two machineguns as they both responded to the threat.
“TALK THE GUNS DAMN YOU!”
The two teams dropped back into their alternating staccato, the alternating fire giving the barrels time to cool and to keep the weapons in the fight.