He Won't Be Coming Home

I was crunched in a Humvee, men on all sides of me as the vehicle bounced around on its tires, taking us to the one place I didn't want to be: Haifa Street. Troops were sent there repeatedly, trying to maintain control, only to either be killed or retreat. No progress was being made at all, and I figured they should just stop trying; Iraq was a lost cause. They didn't want us there, so why couldn't we just leave?

It was a sweltering day, like most of them were, and this raid was not going to be fun. And I just prayed to whatever God there was that none of us were going to die. Injuries could be healed; death was irreversible.

Soon the Humvee stopped and we all piled out of each side fast as lightning, meeting up with the many other soldiers there on the mission. And once we were out and ready to go, they all turned to look at me. Their corporal.

"Today ain't gonna be pretty, I can guarantee you that much right now," I started off, looking around at all the pairs of eyes that were focused on me. "I've worked these streets before, as many others and even some of you have done, and it is single-handedly the most deadly place you could choose to be right now. Keep your eyes open, be aware of your surroundings, and shoot anything that moves. Civilians here are your enemies; take them down.

"Peters, you and the rest of your men are going to infiltrate from the south. O'Halloran, from the north. I'll take the east entrance, and Jones, you come up along the west. Surround them, and they'll have nowhere to go. Is everything understood?" I called out, making my orders clear.

"Sir, yes, sir," came the chorus of voices to my ears. I gave them all the dismissal and moved out, except my own men. I honestly asked myself every day why on earth I was made a corporal. I had done nothing worthy of such a position, at least it seemed that way to me. They said I had done a great act of bravery - I guess they didn't know that I'd been scared out of my mind every day since I had arrived one year ago.

"Move out," I said to my men, and I led them down a street to the right, heading west until a side street was reached which we turned onto, going south. I had no idea how the day was going to end, but I only hoped it was better than most days.

As we neared Haifa Street we slowed down, keeping our eyes and ears open for any movements or sounds we might hear. I heard gunshots go off before we even got there, the sounds echoing off the walls and don the street to us. Hopefully it was my own men shooting and not the other way around.

I turned my head to the men behind me and nodded once, which they returned. "You got my back?" I asked Private Duke, who was directly behind me. He made eye contact and nodded in response, and I turned back around. We were at the corner and not much seemed to be going on at all, which could either be really good or really bad.

I stuck my head around the corner slowly, seeing just a few straggling people moseying about. There was an old woman with a shawl draped around her head and shoulders, a child holding her hand as they slowly walked with their backs to me, among others. It was the part of Haifa street that wasn't a threat, as of then, which was exactly what I wanted - sneak up on the enemy from their own territory. It would either work, or it wouldn't, and all I could do was give it a shot.

I turned back to my men and gave them the signal to follow before I stepped quietly into the street, moving quickly to the other side until they were with me. It continued to stay silent where we were, so we headed off down the street, closer to the gunshots I could hear going off.

I caught a glance from the old woman as we passed her. Her eyes bore into mine until she looked away, bending down to the little boy, who looked up as well. She said something to him and he ran off in the other direction, back the way we had come.

"Alright, we've got spies," I said quietly to the few men nearest me. "Be on your toes, they're going to know we're here..."

We kept our eyes on everything - anything that one could hid behind, empty windows, doorways, side roads. We moved among things that could hide us - barrels, cars, large empty wood cartons - anything big enough to conceal us.

I froze in place when I heard a door open. I quickly gave me men the motion to quiet down and be alert, turning to them after.

"Stay down..." I whispered.

Voices talking in another language could be heard coming from the door that had opened, and my heart started pounding as an Iraqi renegade came into view, an automatic gun in hand. I felt we were found out for sure until the man turned back to the open door, laughing at something that might have been said. He closed the door and leaned against the outside wall, his gun propped up next to him. He didn't know we were there, so I was momentarily relieved.

I watched closely as the man took out a very dirty, crumpled package of cigarettes and took one to his mouth, lighting it shortly after. The concept of where this man was and where he came from intrigued me - where there was one renegade on Haifa Street, there were usually others, sometimes many. The prospect of taking them all out was appealing, especially if they didn't know we were there. The element of surprise would be ours.

The renegade man finished his cigarette with a few more puffs before he flicked it to the ground, letting the embers continue to burn. He grabbed his gun, turned, and went back inside, the door shutting securely behind him. I already had it in my mind what I was about to do, and there was no turning back.

I turned to face the men all crouched behind me, our current position being behind a few cars.

"Nobody move unless I give orders. Duke, you guard my back - someone fires, you take them out," I said, and they all nodded.

Slowly and quietly, I stepped out of hiding, staying crouched to the ground. There was a window to the front of the building, right near the door I watched the man return through, and if I was soon or they had any reason to believe they saw someone outside, I was done with.

The strain on my legs was heavy as I stayed crouched to the ground, slowly working my way across the road on the balls of my feet. It seemed to take forever, my heart pounding in my chest the entire way, but soon I was against the wall, opposite my men, and the voices were louder and clearer. I didn't know what they were saying, but I could tell that they carried a casual tone in their voices. Better to surprise them when they least expect it, then.

I crawled my way along the wall until I was directly under the window. Slowly, I craned my neck up so I could barely see inside. There were ten of them or so all gathered, talking, laughing, drinking, having a generally good time. Ducking down quickly before I was seen, I leaned back against the wall, reaching around my waist until I came in contact with the hard object I was searching for. I pulled the grenade from my belt, holding it in my fist as I looked down at it.

"This one's for Zacky..." I whispered to myself before I hastily pulled the pin, tossing it aside before pitching the grenade up over my head, throwing it in through the window. Not caring if I was seen now, I stood and made a mad dash, reaching the other side of the street just as I heard the explosion and felt the heat on my back as I dove to the ground, landing at the men's feet. I turned to see the damage I had done, and saw that people were sticking their heads out of upper story windows.

"Shit..." I said under my breath, and I got up to my feet. "Open fire!" I yelled, and they all
stood, aiming their guns along with me, taking out anyone we could see. They hadn't seen us before we stood and therefore had no placed targets, so we were able to take them out quickly without much fire at ourselves.

"Corporal..." I heard come in over the radio. "Corporal Sanders..." I quickly crouched down and grabbed my radio, getting out of site from the street incase there were still enemies we couldn't see.

"I copy. Over."

"Corporal, we need back-up," I heard O'Halloran's voice call out.

"State your position."

"Fuck! Right in the fucking middle! We're surrounded, taking heavy fire. All three of our groups..." he said, his voice sounding panicked.

"We'll be there," I said before putting the radio away. "Move out! Center of the street. Get ready for heavy fire!" I yelled over the sounds of bullets hitting bodies and stone walls as the last renegades in our area fell to the ground. We all made a mad sprint in the direction of all the previous gunshots, getting closer to the most dangerous threat with every step we took.

Upon our arrival, I realized just how heavy the shooting was. Coming up behind one side of the surrounding enemies, we were able to pick them off, one by one, until we were able to reach O'Halloran and the rest. We stood in the middle, facing outward as we resumed fire on our assailers.

"How bad's the damage?" I shouted over my shoulder to O'Halloran as I reloaded my automatic.

"Four wounded, six dead," he called back, and I cursed under my breath as someone threw a grenade, a bright wall of fire coming up on one side of us.

The next few moments seemed to flash by in an instant, one after another. Two trucks rumbled down the street one coming from each side of us. Screams were ringing in m ears, coupled with the deafening sound of bullets whizzing back and forth. American soldiers all around me on both sides went down, our numbers quickly reducing to half.

"O'Halloran?" I screamed over my shoulder once more, but I received no reply. Quickly I glanced behind me to see his bloody form lying crumpled on the ground. "Fuck," I cursed, turning back around and continuing to shoot the enemy soldiers. More were pouring in by the minute and I knew that the mission had failed.

In a flash, I felt a searing pain in my knee, the bone shattering as two bullets lodged into it. My entire right leg gave out and I fell to my knees, pain shooting up my right side with every move I made. My gun fell from my hands and I knew it was over. I was going to die.

My heart started pounding in my chest before a bullet slammed into my neck along the side. I choked, feeling the breath escape my lungs, and fell face first into the dirt, my arms splayed out in either side of my body. I coughed and spluttered, feeling the blood course down my throat as my cheek rested against the heard, hot ground. Sounds escaped my ears and the last thing I saw before I closed my eyes was my own blood, pooling over the dirt.