Writing in Cadence

“Move it, Prophet!” SFC Kahrman yelled as he jumped in the lead Humvee.

SPC Mike “Prophet” Profeta was Kahrman’s gunner, and he was right behind his platoon leader. Profeta scrambled into his place in the turret and kicked their driver, PFC Riddle in the process. He yelled down into the hatch that he was in and was already loading rounds into his M2 .50 caliber machine gun and would rack the slide as they rolled out of the gate. The gate guards could barely get the heavy iron gate out of the convoy’s path before it exploded out of the base like a venomous snake looking to strike. And that is exactly what this snake was looking to do.

SFC Kahrman began relaying comms across the convoy of 1^st Platoon with information relevant to the mission at hand. Reaction missions meant on-the-fly responses, with units moving within as little as five minutes of receiving the order, and that left little time to fully brief the details. The radio crackled with the cross chatter of truck commanders confirming and disseminating the provided information and Profeta could hear all of it through the headset he wore. A 3^rd Platoon convoy had been ambushed and was pinned down—1^st Platoon was on rescue and recovery. He flipped to the Humvee’s internal communication channel.

“Sarge, are they going to be ok,” he asked?

His platoon sergeant leaned back up from the notebook he was scribbling coordinates into and looked up through the turret with a stone set jaw.

“They will be when we get there.”

The convoy reached the auto market, a place considered to be one of the most dangerous locations in Baghdad. Smoke was rising from where 3^rd Platoon had been hit by the initial IED blast and the survivors were bunkered down in a nearby building. They were trading rounds with the insurgents who set up the ambush, and they were severely outnumbered. Profeta was already training his weapon on the someone armed with an RPK and letting rounds loose PFC Riddle, began pushing towards the building. The enemy began to scatter as .50 caliber rounds found their targets. SFC Kahrman was coordinating on the radio with the provided air support and, like angels from heaven, two Apache helicopters came swooping in from over the skyline. Their presence caused a shift on the battlefield, and some of the tension on the comms was gone.

Profeta flipped his comms back over to the radio and began communication with the other gunners in the convoy as they set up lanes of covering fire for the injured still in the building to be moved. He loaded another belt of ammunition like it was just another day at the range and laid suppressing fire down as SFC Kahrmen and the rest of 1^st moved up to tend to the wounded. They secured the area and began moving the injured troops back to the trucks.

As they returned to the convoy, which was still taking fire, SFC Kahrmen confirmed that everyone was loaded up and called over the radio to roll out before hopping back into his own vehicle. He immediately began radioing back to base CASEVAC information and Profeta took up his position for the trip back. The mission would not be over until the soldiers they had pulled from the ambush had made it. SPC Profeta set his jaw and continued to scan the road ahead.