This is completely fiction and the combat teams as I described are not the way it is

My name is Samuel Allen Steele. I graduated highschool when I was sixteen. I wanted to join the military but I was too young so I went to a local trade school instead. I learned about working metal and fabrication. When I graduated they even helped me find a job. On my eighteenth birthday I joined the army. I thought I knew what I wanted to do.

First was basic and then advanced training, after that I went to airborne school and then into Ranger school. After graduating I was assigned to a company that was working out to deploy overseas. Our combat teams were set up like this, they have a point man, two to four flankers for security and a four man striker team plus the team leader or squad leader.

New men normally start out as flankers, that was where I started. Right away I wanted to be a striker. They did the major part of any attack and that was how I got my nickname, Striker. By the time we arrived in Afghanistan I was where I wanted to be. Most of the missions were milk runs and we barely fired a shot. Two months in country all that changed.

It was early afternoon and we were coming back from a patrol. My squad was in the back of the lead truck and we had a hummer leading the convoy. In the intersection in front of us three black SUVs started through and explosions ripped into them. The truck slammed on the brakes and men scrambled to jump out. I was not waiting for that and leaped up and over the side.

I landed in a crouch and scanned the area as I flipped the selector off safe. I started moving towards the intersection as automatic fire began raking the wrecked SUVs. I was past the lead hummer when two men came out a doorway to the right. I knelt as I turned and my rifle came up. In that second before I squeezed the trigger I saw one man aiming a RPG and another lifting a rifle.

I put two rounds through the first man’s chest and he jerked back as he fired the grenade. Even as it sped in front of me, I shifted and shot the second man. The grenade exploded against a car and I was knocked down. I had searing pain in my left upper arm and my left thigh. I rolled to my feet as men yelled and started reacting. I glanced towards the SUVs again and lifted my rifle as an insurgent ran up to one and pointed his rifle.

I put three rounds through him before limping towards the vehicles, “Men down! Cover me!”

I reached the middle vehicle and knelt in the open back door. The vehicle had been flipped over and I glanced in to see two men wearing black utility uniforms. I pulled the closest out as he moaned and leaned further into the vehicle for the other man. I could see the two men in the front seat slumped together as I grabbed and pulled the other man out.

He was unconscious but breathing as I shifted him around and lifted him to my left shoulder. I grabbed the other guy I had pulled out by the back of his body armor and stood before walking backwards. I was carrying one and dragging the other as I scanned the streets with my rifle in one hand. I fired at two insurgents to keep them behind cover as I moved back.

I pulled the guy I was dragging behind the first hummer where three of my squad were providing cover. I dropped him as I knelt and let the other man slip off my shoulder and my shoulder bag went with him. I stood and lifted my rifle as I stepped out again and moved back to the SUV. This time I had to fight to yank the door open and reach for the first man.

I pulled him out and knelt and moved into the vehicle to grab the guy stuck behind the wheel. I struggled to get him out before shifting and lifting him to my shoulder. I grabbed the other man at the back of his armor before struggling to stand. I moved back as I kept my weapon up and ready. I went back four times to carry and drag men back to safety.

By the time I had the last man behind cover we had air support and two more companies on site. I left them to the medic as I fell in with my squad and we headed towards one of the houses that had insurgents in it. The other squads had covered the backs of the houses which was a narrow alley so we expected insurgents to be inside.

I went through the door third and Sgt James had already taken down two men. He had gone into the first room with the second man, corporal Davis. I moved past the doorway and kept going with specialist McDannels following. At the next doorway I glanced back as I pulled a flash bang. I pulled the pin and nodded as I tossed it through.

I moved as it went off and swept the room as I entered. There were four men trying to recover from the stun, each man held a rifle, there was also a couple of women. I put a burst into the chest of two men and shifted as the last two lifted their rifles. McDannels killed one with a burst through his body as he knelt just inside the door. The last man sprayed where I had been but I had kept moving and he only hit the wall.

Both McDannels and I killed him a heartbeat later with rounds through his chest and head. I covered the women as McDannels moved into the room to remove weapons from the men and search them. He covered the women and nodded towards the door. I stepped out and fell in with Sgt James and he started up the stairs. I turned and went up backwards, pointing my weapon up towards the next floor.

The insurgent that appeared suddenly lifted a grenade and I shot him through the head. We dropped into a crouch and waited a few seconds before there was an explosion. I was up and moving as the sergeant struggled up with blood running out an ear. On the next floor landing I moved across to the opposite wall before sliding my way down the hall trying to watch two doorways.

The sergeant was across from me a moment later and nodded as he pulled another flash bang. I copied him and we pulled the pins together and tossed each one into the rooms. As they exploded we started moving, I slid through the door and fired straight into the chest of a man in my way. His rifle went off as he fell and I continued to move.

Several crates were open with RPG grenades in them but that was it, “CLEAR!”

I heard Sgt James, “CLEAR!”

I went back to the man I had shot and knelt to search him and moved the weapon away. I moved to the door to see Sgt James in the other doorway. He gestured to stay and headed back downstairs as more men came in. A few minutes later the lieutenant came up. Several men were with him taking pictures of the weapons and dead for after action reports.

An hour later I was sent to the hospital with Sgt James to have them look at the shrapnel in my leg and arm.

The next couple of months were busy ones and it was not until we returned to Kandahar that I had a visitor. We walked into the huge company tent and stopped when we saw the general. A civilian was with him and they turned to face us.

The company commander grinned, “specialist Steele, you have a guest.”

I looked from him to the general and he smiled as he gestured to the civilian who was wearing a utility uniform, “this is Mr Jackson, one of the men you rescued in that ambush.”

I nodded, “sir.”

Mr Jackson grinned and waved me forward, “they told me what happened when I woke up in the hospital. I also had your bag.”

I frowned because I had been looking everywhere for that. He grinned as he looked at the general, “he has talent as a weapon designer.”

I looked at the general when he looked interested. Mr Jackson turned to touch a long weapons case, “I had a fabricator look over your plans. He built the pistol and the sniper rifle.”

I came closer to look into the case when he opened it. I grinned and reached in to pull out the carbon fiber 45 and look it over carefully. On the side it had the name Striker inscribe and 001, “has it been fired?”

Mr Jackson laughed, “yes and several of my men want one.”

I looked at him as he looked at the general, “it is light, rugged and very accurate.”

I reluctantly put it back and picked up the long barreled sniper rifle. I looked it over carefully, “any trouble with the integrated silencer or the new double buffer system I designed?”

He shook his head, “none. The piston and rotary bolt increased both the accuracy and the effectiveness of the silencer.”

I nodded and caressed it before putting it back in the case. Mr Jackson smiled and opened another case with a thigh holster, “the general agreed to let you use the pistol since it uses the 1911 magazines.”

I looked at the general before grinning, “thank you sir.”

He laughed, “it is the least I can do.”

I looked at Mr Jackson, “are you going to use the rifle?”

He nodded, “I had two made. My sniper team can not wait.”

I looked at the rifle and sighed, “I should have designed a shorter rifle.”

The general laughed and slapped my shoulder before nodding to the company commander and leaving. Mr Jackson left a few minutes later after putting the pistol in the other case. He also left me a check for using my designs. It was a month before I saw Mr Jackson again. Our company had cleared a compound his company had found. When he came into the compound it was with a few squads of his people.

He spoke with the CO and the Intel people before looking around and crossing to me. I smiled and turned to introduce him to my squad and he grinned, “your rifle has been a big hit.”

I grinned and turned to pull out my new shoulder bag. I pulled out my pad and separated several sheets before handing them to him, “think you might be able to look these over?”

He frowned but started looking, a moment later he looked at me and grinned, “it is the same as the sniper rifle but shorter and chambered for 5.56.”

I nodded and turned to point to the top drawing, “the biggest thing we have when clearing a building is the loudness of the rifle in the building. This is like the sniper rifle, the silencer has four double chambers, each chamber buffers up into a second chamber. Several companies make rifles with pistons but use Aluminum. I use carbon fiber because we need something stronger that can take a beating if it has to.”

He nodded and switched to another page, “you have a built in laser sight in the front stock?”

I grinned, “yeah, for short ranges. See the cover flips back to uncover it so it is protected when you do not use it.”

He nodded and folded the design, “I will have someone look it over.”

He looked around, “you men did a great job here.”

After he left we packed up and headed back to our camp.

Three months later I was trying to decide where to go on leave when Mr Jackson invited me to go to the shop that he had turned my drawings over to. Not only did I help make the new rifle but several members from swat teams came to see it. When I came back to my company I had a check and a pistol for each man in my squad.

Our first mission was a large building with suspected tunnels. The whole company was going with my platoon clearing the inside. I followed Sgt James through the door and moved as I fired into the two insurgents that appeared suddenly with rifles raised. The sergeant swept into the room they came out of and I followed as he shot two more men.

I knelt and watched the narrow stairs down as the other squads started sweeps through the building. It was a long time before the corporal tapped my shoulder, “take point.”

I nodded and stood as I started for the stairs. By the time we reached the bottom I knew the rifles would just get in the way because the tunnels were very narrow. I flipped the safety on and let it hang on its lanyard as I pulled my pistol. When I glanced back it was to see the others doing the same thing. I moved down the tunnel with the pistol leading the way.