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"There is no better weapon to have than teamwork." Lt. Col. Winship
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The Lieutennant was right. There is no better weapon than temwork. I think that's what got us through that war. We were the first to arrive and the last to leave. I'll admit it. I got scared. I thought I might never see my wife again, see my children grow up, or even remember the feeling that you can only get when you're at home in your own bed. The feeling that everything's going to be all right. I got the feeling that this was a mistake. That is, getting involved in this war. Frankly, I didn't think that we would be able to get in, get the job done, and get out. I knew that there would be difficulties. I knew that people would be killed. But even after all my training, I wasn't sure if I was ready for anything like this. Our platoon's job was to eliminate the resistance. Sounds easy, right? Well, we couldn't just rush in and kill everybody. We had to basically destroy any and all of the enemy's training bases. It was just my luck that I was a sniper. I was away from the action, yet so immersed in it. I remember our first attempt at an Iraqi training facility. I couldn't help but think how many of these people were tricked into joining the military. We got all of our equipment set up. The time was drawing near. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw one 'sweeper' team leave. I really didn't want to go through with it. But I was forced to by my own ethics. I was always taught never to quit, never to leave something unfinished, never to go home without a fight. We had spent weeks on our plan, but the few minutes before it was to begin, I felt as if it had only taken a day, and we were unprepared. Almost like sending a baby into the wilderness with a spear. There was no turning back. I leveled the crosshairs on their only guard on my side. The signal was given, and I shot. The guard couldn't have been any older than 16, and was killed instantly. Immediately, there was an acidic taste in my mouth. I had just thrown up. It took my a minute to pull myself together. After that, my body took over. I was just a pawn, doing what I was told. We swept through that base in about 15 minutes, leaving not a trace behind. We lost only 1 Marine the whole time we were there, and that was the time.
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