Private First Class Jay Koila
Rifleman
ODIN Company | Tyrfing Squad - Fire Team Alpha
Northern Briss - 5 Miles out
So long, farewell, bye bye...
"All Odin call signs..."
As soon as the Radio transmission came through PFC Koila and the rest of the Squad gathered around their Squad Leader who produced a Map. They were told to listen for a transmission from Captain Webber, and to reference his words with their map. Of course they knew the plan and the layout upside down, right side up, inside-out, reversed, burnt, soaked in beer, covered in updated markings, soaked in sweat, replaced, covered in notes, soaked in water, covered in dirt, stained, covered in mud, holed, repaired, holed again, replaced once more, covered in brass, but this particular Platoon treated the Captain like a God.
To be briefed once again, is like God himself coming down and telling them personally, "Good Luck."
"...your primary objective is Objective Hotel..."
The Squad Leader's finger pointed out Objective Hotel.
"Four Miles out!" One of the Sailors yelled for the rest to hear over the roaring engine.
"...an enemy-controlled Forward Operating Base slightly inland which houses a battery of twelve artillery cannons, among other things..."
The finger dragged to the Artillery cannons, and then the Squad Leader highlighted the Guns' max range with a red pen. Koila and some others cringed, the rest quietly swore.
They were almost in-range.
"...You'll be landing on the beach, courtesy of transports provided by the Navy and the boys and girls in. That's the closest that we can get you. Expect heavy resistance provided by anti-personnel guns in MG bunkers and fire from pillboxes, winding trenches, mortar pits, and many other positions on dunes overlooking the beach..."
The Squad Leader, again, highlighted those positions with a red pen. Then traced the trenches, and circled mortar pits.
Those were their first objective.
But wouldn't that mean they'd be passing the MG Bunkers and Pillboxes?
Odin Company's plan for taking on the beach was like clearing a room.
Everyone had their jobs, if that meant to ignore one objective and go for another, then so be it.
"Three Miles!"
"...You must punch an irreparable hole in their line and secure that FOB..."
The Squad Leaders put their maps away and the entire group packed together as close as possible.
"...It will serve as a critical junction for support elements to leave from once we push further inland. Be sure that the FOB is secure, Odin, I don't want any surprises."
Right at the end of the transmission, the Leader keyed his Mic, and all the Infantry Troopers replied, "HOOAH!" all at once and as loud as they could.
Forget if anyone else did it.
They were quiet compared to this particular squad.
"Two Miles!...INCOMING!"
On reflex all of the Soldiers ducked, but all they heard were splashes from the Shells that missed. Then the Pings! from the incoming bullets that the Armor just shrugged off.
But Koila found it weird that they weren't shooting back.
"Sailor! Why aren't we shooting back!?" He asked, shouting over the splashes, pings, and the roar of the engine.
"We're not in range!"
"Bro, do you not hear the bullets ricocheting off the Armor?"
"Soldier. This is a Naval Ship, I'm a Sailor. When I say we're not in range, then we're not in range!"
As if to period the Sailors words, the Sailor manning the Machine Gun took a round to the neck and dropped into the IFV.
"MEDIC!" Someone shouted as everyone jumped to lend a hand in stopping the bleeding.
"Not in-range, huh?" Jay Koila replied glaring at the Sailor as he stepped over the dying Sailor and climbed up into the hatch.
The first thing he noticed when he came up was that it was still early morning. The sun was out and it seemed like the perfect day for a trip to the beach. The fresh air compared to the tight space of the IFV felt good, and so did the spray from the Ocean waves and the splashes made by the missing Artillery Shells. Jay almost forgot that there were people trying to kill him.
Almost.
He grabbed the Machine Gun and depressed the trigger. It clicked.
He growled in frustration and checked that it was loaded before pulling and letting go of the bolt twice. The Private squeezed the trigger again, expecting another click but it suddenly kicked. Recovering from the small scare, he began to lay down Suppressive fire on the Machine Gun Bunkers and Pillboxes.
Seeing someone else shooting, the other IFVs started to fire as well, and for a second here and there they were able to breathe a little, as their fire seemed to be taking effect.
"One Mile!"
"Koila! Give me your Rifle! I'll check it for you!" His Squad Leader shouted.
Jay Koila stopped firing for a few seconds as he unslung his Rifle from his back and passed it down the hatch to his Squad Leader. During the few seconds it took to check, Jay checked his pistol, then put that away before reaching in for his Rifle.
Looking down at his Squad Leader, he said something, and then the next thing he knew he was looking at Sky.
Perhaps a stray round found his head and this was what the view on the way to Heaven looked like.
Or perhaps his IFV took a hit and he was air born.
The latter proved to be correct as his vision of the sky slowly rotated until he saw the wreckage of a burning and sinking IFV, Ocean, and the other IFVs making their way towards the beach.
Jay couldn't do anything but wave at the air hopelessly hoping to grab something to stop him from falling. "s**t. s**t! SHIIIIT!" Was all he could say before hitting the water back first. The landing knocked the air out of him and he came up coughing.
Looking for any other passing IFVs to give him a ride, he waved at the vehicles to keep going. If they stopped for him they'd just easy targets.
PFC Koila looked towards the wreckage one more time, silently praying for the souls of his Squad, before starting to swim the rest of the Mile towards the beach.
