After a rude awakening early the next morning I rushed to strap on my required body armor, prep my assault rifle, and over all gathered my other equipment. I rushed to an inspection outside my quarters where I was soon joined by Mitchell. We were sent to our sand colored gun-truck where the driver and gunner were already in place waiting on me and Mitchell. He took shotgun position while I climbed in the back before slamming the door shut. A gun-truck in front of ours took the lead while a bomb technician team was in a more advanced truck behind us. Their truck carried a whole assortment of equipment such as robots, blast suits, and other such tools of war.
After turning our radios to a secure frequency we rolled out of the compound and into the desert city our base resided in. We began our search for improvised explosive devices, better known as I.E.D.’s, that came in all forms such as dead animal carcasses, abandoned vehicles, or even more covertly just buried in the almost all dirt roads just under the surface.
After about 45 minutes of cruising around the city we came upon a suspicious mound in the dirt alongside the road we were traveling on. After immediately after backing the vehicles away from the spot, the bomb techs sent in their robot, affectionately known as: “Sparky III”. Upon closer inspection there were five copper wires extending from the mound, revealing that it was indeed an I.E.D. after all.
“Let’s move out!” our commander bellowed over the radio as Mitchell and I stepped out of the truck, weapons already at our shoulders surveying they area as the infamous Max dawned his bomb suit.
As the other soldiers stepped out of the vehicle, we all moved to the back near where our truly insane bomb dismantler was waiting. On the back of his protective suit in reflective lettering was the name: Maximus. After twenty minutes of scanning the buildings, keeping very suspicious civilians away, and the constant watch over “Maximus” the bombs were diffused.
When removed from the dirt to be transported away and destroyed to prevent them from being armed again, we discovered they had all been set up in a “daisy chain” meaning: they were all connected in a ring under the surface of the ground by a single detonator wire. The now inactive mines were placed in the back of the truck as my comrades and I climbed back into the trucks and drove away from the now bomb free area.
Five years of my life passed much like that day. A few firefights here and there but more or less the same every day as one tour of duty turned into five. I came to find even more friends among my company especially my driver, who everyone called Shadow (because of his amazing driving skills), and gunner Abel, as well as some of the medical staff that happened to work with Chris. After being hit in the arm by shrapnel from small arms fire I was taken care of by a medic nicknamed “Fireblitz” who came to be a person I trusted very dearly. She had earned this title by her honorary actions of defending the wounded while she drug them to a safety zone where they could be treated for their injuries when our compound was attacked two years ago. She was very modest about what happened that fateful day and never boasted to impress anyone.
During my third tour of duty most of my company was sent to separate places, leaving me alone, and ridiculed, during my tour. However by some miraculous turn of events we were all stationed back at the same base during my last two years in the service. I had grown quite accustomed to the military way of life and the constant stress we were put under. My little pony had shown me what true friends were like, and the military had brought actual ones into my life. Who knew that by my acceptance of my sixth tour of duty my life, and the lives of my friends would be changed so dramatically… in a way we never expected…