Chapter 6

Fifteen minutes in a firefight is a fucking long time. You need to police your ammo well; you need to keep your head balanced. You need to keep up your concentration levels. One mistake and you are a dead man.

I fired out the last mag I had for the L96A1 Sniper Rifle, then picked up my last grenade and threw it as far as I could. My ammo was getting short, I had three mags for the Ultra-Compact Individual Weapon. I had the Glock but it was more of a close-up weapon. Oh, and I had some flash-bangs.

“Running low on ammo over here!” I said into my throat mic as I fired a three-round burst into an area that I was sure was being used by some of the Taliban soldiers.

“Same here boys” I heard Sacka say in my earpiece. Band-Aid said he was short as well.

“We need to get into the camp and liberate some weapons from the dead.” Ship said.

“I will skirt right and head in,” I said.

I scuttled backwards and ran around to my right before heading back up the rise. There were two men in front of me. they were crawling up the rise toward Sacka and they did not see me. I used the Ultra-Compact Individual Weapon to take them out, two three-round bursts. Two dead Taliban...

I ran over, checked they were out of the game and before using my knife to cut the straps from the AK47s, then I checked them for spare mags and came away with five thirty-round mags as well as the ones in the Kalashnikovs.

As I checked the guys over for intel I heard a noise to my left, I spun toward the noise and saw three Taliban warriors moving toward me. I had an AK assault rifle in my hand, I found the safety and then started to fire at the men. The first man went down like a sack of spuds. The next guy was hit in the gut. He dropped to the floor. I swung my muzzle at the third man. He was firing at me, I rolled to my left as rounds chewed up the ground where I had been. Two three-round bursts took him out of the game.

I jogged over to them and used my Glock to make sure the second guy, who I had gut shot, was out of the game. I stripped them of weapons and spare mags and ran over to take over behind a four-by-four that was on its side.

“Sacka, I have Aks and Mags” I said and he replied that he was on his way. I stood up and fired out the mag in the AK47 I had picked up. I ducked down and swapped mags, stood up and started to pick off targets.

As I ducked down to swap mags, I saw movement and swung the gun toward it, then stopped as I saw Sacka jogging over to me. He picked up an AK stood up and fired it out at four Taliban lads who were running toward the four-by-four. He ducked to swap the mag in the AK and I stood up and used controlled three-round bursts to keep the Taliban at bay.

I killed three of the group, they were sloppy, and they did not fire good areas of cover. The last lad dropped behind some rocks. I was sure he was alive but he was not firing. I took a flash bang.

The G60 stun grenade, or ‘flash-bang’ was designed to disorientate and distract hostiles in a room, giving the entry team a few precious moments in which to enter and neutralise any threats.

The stun grenade contains a mercury and magnesium powder which upon detonation creates a blinding flash, equivalent to 300,000 candlepower. The 160 decibels of sound produced by the grenade not only shocks and stuns but is also loud enough to disrupt the balance function of anyone in range, causing severe dizziness.

Inside its power and effectiveness are amazing, outside it was still a scary bit of kit.

I lobbed the flash-bang over the rock that the lad was hiding behind closed my eyes and opened my mouth as I ducked behind the four-by-four. I heard the lad scream and when I stood up, he was holding his hands over his eyes. A three-round burst from my left took him out of the fight.

Sacka smiled at me and gave me a thumbs-up. Then he used a hand signal to tell me we should move up on the count of three. I made sure my mag was seated and then we both ran around the side of the four-by-four, Sacka to the left and me to the right.

We dashed across to the rock that the lad had been hiding behind. I kept us covered whilst Sacka searched the four dead men. He threw me four more mags for the AK and another AK.

I picked it up and fired it out, then picked up the first AK47. I was a superstitious fella, once I had a gun, I could trust I tried to keep hold of it. The first AK I had liberated was a clean, well-looked-after tool. Some Aks had dented iron sites and they made aiming them difficult.

I could hear increased fire from the other side of the camp and it was obvious to me that Ship and Band-Aid had moved in as well. I stood up fired a few rounds off and then dropped to my knees as rounds flew toward me like angry bees.

Sacka had been on his knees but he dropped to the ground and edged around the side of the rock, I did the same. I edged to the right and started to return the fire that was peppering the rock we were covering behind. I heard Sacka firing a series of perfect three-round bursts and I was soon doing the same.