1. I Remember


    Date: 6/5/2016, Categories: Love Stories, Author: ChuckEPoo, Rating: 16, Source: LushStories

    The early morning fog hung low to the ground, like a misty blanket, and the breaking dawn cast long shadows, as we headed into the sun. The landscape in this region was of sparse vegetation and sporadic groups of trees. We flew close to the deck, trying to use the element of surprise. This was not like many of our search-and-destroy missions, where the target was ambiguous at best. This time, the "eye in the sky" was giving us clear intel confirming this was an enemy staging area. I eased forward on the cyclic and increased the throttle until we peaked at attack speed. Low and fast, we approached on the down-wind side, four hundred yards and closing. I was lead gun ship of three, as we burst through the tree line and crested over the berm. “Black Lightning, this is Cobra One. Target confirmed. Permission to engage?” “You are clear to engage," was the immediate reply. “It's all yours, Pete,” I said to my gunner as we broke into the open. The field was filled with infantry, light armor, and artillery still hooked up to their trucks. It was obviously a fire base in the making. They were totally caught by surprise, probably thinking they were a safe distance from the fighting in the south. There seemed to be around a hundred or more of them exposed in the open, and scrambling for cover as our mini-gun spit out its lethal fire. They didn't stand a chance. Pete was the best gunner I've ever served with, and he expertly directed his wrath on the panicked, camouflage-dressed ...
    enemy. We were the harbinger of death. War is not glorious, but vile and merciless. The stunned enemy were so confused that their first reaction was to run and not even shoot back. We maintained our spear-head formation, cutting through the heart of their numbers, each chopper raining out terror. At the far end of the field, there was a bunkered building, surrounded by a perimeter wall. That small compound was the only protective structure to be seen, and they were running amass into it. Combat was such an adrenaline high. My senses were always peaked and alive, like no other time. It was as if things were happening in slow motion. Even the smell of the nitrocellulose from the gunfire and JP4 gas was etched into my memory. Our speed and downdraft kicked up dust from the ground, as I pushed on the torque pedal and swung around to line up our approach. They had started to regroup from the initial shock, and the tracers from their return fire streaked by with an occasional tick of rounds slamming into our ship's ballistic armor. I concentrated bursts of cannon rounds on the sporadic small arms gunfire coming mostly from the perimeter wall. “Take it out!” I commanded as we closed in on the building at high speed. A fraction of a second later, Pete released a missile and it found its way over the wall and through the front of the fortified building. The initial explosion was marked by a few milliseconds pause, followed by a massive secondary blast. We must have hit a major ammunition ...
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