Hard landing

A Chapter by Austin Jolly

Paul and I are still stretching out on the hammocks within the cargo bay on the C-17, hes about done freaking out, and goes back to playing games on his phone. Commander Benson was just about getting ready to sleep, kinda late too. Everyone else who popped some melatonin on the start of the flight was starting to wake up and shake of the side effects on their air mattress, and other kinds of portable furniture to sleep on.

Paul looks over at me, "yo, when are we landing this thing?"

I try to think while also trying to keep myself from sleeping, "I think in about 10 minutes." I sluggishly announce.

"Dude, its been too long. I thought the trip from Cali to Germany would have been a hell of a lot shorter."

"Yeah, well...oh well." I reply, not knowing what else to say.

I saw an Air Force guy walking around, talking to the crew chief who was in the bay with us. He was walking back and forth like courier on a busy day from the cockpit to the crew chief. I didnt know what was happening, but he was passing some important information to the crew chief, and his replies probably to the pilots.

"Whatcha think hes saying?" Paul asks.

"Probably something about getting us SEALs out of the plane as fast as possible." I joked.

The Air Force courier was then starting to call for Commander Benson, who instantly ran over to him and listened to his intel. Benson then started talking to the crew chief, then walking like he was pissed off to the cockpit to get some further information.

"Dude, Benson looks a little worried." I advise.

"When does BENSON ever look worried, bro?" Paul answers

He was right. Either Benson was really good at hiding his emotions or he was never worried. I guess thats what it takes around here nowadays to earn a reputation of any kind.

"Are you f*****g kidding me???" I hear from the cockpit. That was definitely Benson.

"Why does he have to yell that, bro? Its freaking me the f**k out." Paul claims.

"Dude, he always yells."

"His nickname should be Hellraiser in the system." Paul advises.

"Yeah man, thats exactly right!" I agree.

We started to hear the rain as projected from the storm start to hit the plane. I heard a few claps of thunder from outside the cargo bay, and the pilots were clearly running into some difficulty with the turbulence and jetstreams. They were fighting to control the plane, and force it to cooperate. It felt like the turbulence was blowing from the right, and the pilots were trying to force it the same way, in order to keep it on a straight flight path.

"These pilots sure are having some trouble. You think we're gonna make it to Ramstein?" Paul asks, kind of worried.

"Yeah man, we'll be fine...although I do wish that the pilots were 160th SOAR rather than Air Force pilots." I claim.

I saw Commander Benson walking from the cockpit to the cargo bay. He told us to get switched on and ready to land in a few minutes as he went to go sit down himself. I felt the storm really starting to set in as we enter the Ramstein airspace. The Air Force pilots began making landing preparations, and the crew chief walks back into the cargo bay to keep an eye on us, and tells us that Ramstein security is holding off small riots a few miles from the base. Paul isnt flipping out this time, he must have gotten used to, and accepted the fact that, he was going to end up getting into gunfights soon. As the plane begins dipping through the sky and into the airspace, I could feel the weightlessness of my body as we decrease in altitude. I could hear the machinery working outside the cargo bay, the landing gear must have gone down. the crew chief told us to get back to the Globemaster seats, and to pack all of our s**t. i felt bad for the guy with the air mattress.

We all get into our seats and strap in tightly, when the very next thing we see the crew chief doing is holding one hand to his EarForce radio, and relays the information to us in the form of, "Incoming Anti-Air missile! Strap in and brace for impact!"

what the f**k.

I instantly look over toward Paul, hes strapped in tight and he isnt budging. I figured i would do the same. I sat there, closing my eyes, hoping this was all a dream. my entire body tenses up as i wait for the impact of the missile. Sooner or later, we hear the tell-tale signs of an inbound missile, as it collides with the belly of the aircraft. the whole plane shook violently as I could hear the faint gasps of the other SEALs as the plane vibrated. My body was tense, almost stinging. I looked over to see an Airman sprinting to the crew chief, who was now on the other side of the cargo bay holding himself still through the use of the metal bars on the wall. The Airman said, "the landing gear is offline, and engine 3 has shut down, engines two and four are losing oil pressure and engine one is about to completely tear off."

well that made me feel SO much better.

I listened to the machinery and turbulence the aircraft was running into, which was getting louder and louder as we fell faster and faster towards the Air Force base, the pilots are doing the best they can to control the plane and force it into glide. I felt completely weightless. the crew chief then yelled, "BRACE FOR IMPACT!!!" and my body locked itself into maximum tension, it felt almost as though a bullet couldn't puncture the muscle. At that moment, i felt a very violent bang and the ear splitting sound of the belly of the aircraft grinding against the ground. It shook me left and right as i locked my hands and legs into each other. I felt the seat straps begin to rip as i tried to hold myself in one place, i felt the plane do complete 360's as it slid across the ground, i heard the left wing completely detach itself. a multi-million dollar aircraft, scrapped. next thing I knew I felt the seat strap completely tear off as i find myself flying through the cargo bay.

The very last thing that went through my mind, "Oh s**t." as i slam into the cargo bay wall.

I blacked out.

I wake up some time later, still in the plane with the cargo bay ramp just now creaking open. I could barely make out the voices i kept hearing. my vision was blurred and my ears were ringing. I could hardly make out Benson running over to me and picking me up. He carried me all the way to the ramp and jumped out of the little space it left when it opened. He managed to not drop me as i felt the small bounces of Benson sprinting with all of what he had in him, and later set me down on the wall at the base a few hundred feet out from the wrecked plane.

The ringing in my ears calmed a little, but i could hear Benson saying, "German KSK assaulters arrived and are holding off the enemy forces at the gate! That should buy you enough time to get into your combat gear, do it quick you have 10 minutes! Your weapons are in your dufflebag in the bathroom to the right of the entrance! GO GO GO!!"

I got up as best i could without tripping, and using the walls for leverage as i tried to walk to the bathroom. I looked back to see Benson, already in his combat gear, sprinting with his weapon to the front gate. I look over a little further to see Paul running toward me, only in his Navy BDUs, just as i am.

"you good bro?? come on, get up! we gotta get going!" I heard him scream as he grabbed me to pick me up.

I managed to stand and run to the bathroom, as my vision cleared up and my ears stopped ringing. It took me about 5 minutes to suit up in my Crye Precision Combat Uniform, and my rifle, my Heckler & Koch 416 rifle. i slapped a new mag in and slung it over my wrist. As soon as Paul and i exit the bathroom, i hear a loud explosion coming from the direction of the main entrance. I seriously hoped it was a slightly overpowered German tank.

Paul and i ran out the door as fast as we could, and to the airfield, to see the C-17 in an inverted direction, with the cockpit completely torn from the body. I didnt know if the Pilots were okay. We looked over to see countless Airmen in ABUs and flak jackets and a few SEALs and KSK fighters running from the entrance. Littlebirds hovering over us with their machine guns singing their song and the rockets screaming past us towards the entrance, which probably isnt there anymore. We both ran toward the company of retreating fighters as i hear something about strike eagle support over the troop net. Shell casings from the littlebirds above us rang constantly on the ground as they continued to spray their payload all over the entrance.

We could see the small sparks emerging from the littlebirds coming from the enemy return-fire, as the tail rotor of one of the littlebirds caught fire. it spun hopelessly out of control and crashed into the ground, followed by a huge pillar of all-consuming fire.

"2-3 is down! 2-3 is down!" i heard someone scream over the troop net. I look over towards the entrance to see two tanks from the German Tank Division roll in, with their cannons facing towards the enemy combatants, unleashing their "Hell Shells" with an ear-splitting "BANG!!" followed by a soft wave of dirt pulsing from the tank with each shot, and a shockwave immediately after the cannon fire. through all of the smoke and fog from the rain, i couldnt see how many enemies there were. the retreating allied fighters halted behind or inside the scrapped C-17. I ran in through the hole of the detached cockpit, with Paul running in another direction. I looked at the seats to see that nobody was sitting there, with the exception of a small spatter of blood on the flight console. i took a crouching position just behind the chair, looking out the window towards the entrance. One of the German tanks blew up from RPG fire, while the other sped away with smoke coming from its back as it zoomed past the C-17 and through a different exit.

The Littlebirds flew off, i counted 3, while hearing over the troop net, "Viking flight is winchester, RTB to refuel and rearm. Strike Eagles will be on station to assist in 2 mikes, out."

I nodded in disbelief as i threw my weapon off safety and pointed the muzzle towards the entrance. I activated my Night Vision optics, or as we like to call them, "nods", and saw my teammates IR lasers dancing all over the direction of the entrance. I pulled the 3X magnifying scope in front of me to zoom in on my EOtech recticle. I placed my finger softly on the trigger, and slightly squeezed it while maintaining trigger discipline.

I could feel the sweat coursing down my face as I held my weapon directly forward, waiting to ring that first shot.

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