Sabzak Pass (III)

Soon shots begin to be heard. They try to identify the origins. The insurgents are good at fighting, as they have shown in the last days and centuries. However, they have received the order to free Sabzak Pass and there is no other possible answer to it. Tonight at this time nobody has managed to find a solution.

All components of “Albuera” are targets for the insurgents’ shots, that have chosen time and space, being good at their job. Everybody knows that the insurgents are shooting to prevent them from manouevring. Slowly but steadily, the men of the Battalion “Albuera” are getting closer to them.

Sergeant Kouiche drives his vehicle listening to the radio and looking at the fire through the window. This fire, terrible angel, wants to take control of the battle. The radio roars, everybody reports on what they see or the attacks they are suffering. 5V, in a calm voice, gives the orders he considers most appropriate.

Sergeant Kouiche clearly sees the units’ evolutions. Dragón and his men are to his right. The enemy is right opposite them. Further ahead, Kiriki performs a pincer movement and moves toward the first insurgent positions. Tánatos and his section move to the right. Kent, who is at the vanguard of the section, starts to cross the border, and receives heavy fire.

The rest of the squads in the first section, where Sergeant Kouiche is, place themselves forming a line. In front of them they have a gully and a small valley, soaked in sterile dust, dotted with some dry bushes where the wind escapes, painting the landscape with the same colour as that of the battle. The situation is complex, since practically the whole unit is under enemy fire. On top of that, they must be careful with the ground, which is also fighting against the LMV vehicles, so to say.

Under enemy fire, they make the decision to disembark. Pony has been commanded to walk up the mountain. It is a bad situation, as it is clear who is in control of heights. Barney is also trying to find possible targets. Everyone, from the deployment centre to the assistant in the tactical subgroup, is filling the air and the ground with fire, spreading fuses with their MG4. Their soldiers, Pumba and Chino, are next to him. The air is filled with bullets and their sounds, that always get to their destination later than the metal. Kent has remained in his position. He is helping the Advanced Air Controller to mark the targets.

The section is deployed practically forming a line—Animal, Ompare, Gincho, Kent—. At a certain point, 5V authorises Kent to disembark. Once outside the vehicle, the element that has landed occupies a position up a canyon from which insurgents can be spotted, some of them riding horses, at the eternal gallop of those who step on those valleys since the beginning of time, some of them running. The landing areas are beaten relentlessly, and the soldiers disembarked from “Albuera” respond to the fire with more fire, as the vehicles in the rear provide coverage with their collective weapons.

There is no rest in the land beaten by the fire, that turns into dust that goes up the air to conceal all the fighters, in the shape of thousands of sand particles which have experienced the permanent existence of battles. Sergeant Kouiche and his squad do not stop shooting, gaining every centimetre of sand with a lot of effort, exposing themselves to the enemy fire, justifying their actions with the mission they know so well, freeing Sabzak Pass from the warlords.

Sergeant Kouiche and his squad do not stop shooting, gaining every centimetre of sand with a lot of effort, exposing themselves to the enemy fire, justifying their actions with the mission they know so well, freeing Sabzak Pass from the warlords.

Kouiche spots Gilito standing next to the vehicle, serious and ready to support him, if it was necessary. He sees the brave soldiers Yosi and Eros, the shooters of the two Linces in the squad. He looks astonished at the ballistic shields of the vehicles, full of impacts. He tries to understand the strength or feeling that makes two 20-year old boys remain there, holding their machines, responding to the fire with fire. To this left, the drivers, corporals Fito and Jesús, despite seeing the impacts on the front of their vehicle, keep manoeuvring to reach their brothers, just a few metres before them. He looks to his right quickly, because the bullets cross the sky and their sounds arrive slowly after them, and sees soldiers Socom and Javi calling his name and covering him with thie fire. The precision shooter, Javi, is right next to him, stuck to the ground, selecting targets and conducting the reconnaissance with his body on the ground, the mystery that merges earth, air, water and fire in nature.

Sergeant Kouiche remembers that he was very thirsty a short while ago, but he did not have the time to leave the weapon and take the flask. He is still thirsty. And as he hears and lives the sound of the battle, he thinks that everybody is there when needed. He convinces himself that his soldiers are the best ones in the world. He would not like to have any other by his side. Once again, he commands them to go back into their vehicles and move on. So much time has passed today that they are no longer the ones they were. What they have lived has changed their hearts, their souls, their heads and their hands.

The enemy fire is losing strength. The conquered positions are ensured so that Sabzak Pass can breathe again, and its inhabitants are able to move with their goods freely, with no warlords threatening them. Time passes by. The helicopters are already there to help with the fire.

Action ends. The land is theirs now. Battalion “Albuera” has determined the battle with the sweat of these last days, but also with all that previous effort from exercises and manoeuvres they conducted for so long before coming to Sabzak. Kouiche looks at his men and women. He knows that they will always be part of that place and that story, waiting for someone to write about it. And, leaving epic poetry aside, the sergeant gets back to the necessary task after having consolidated the success of the attack. They count the ammunition. He calls Arandela to see what he can do with the vehicle, now full of holes. He approaches Kent and hugs him sincerely, as real mates do. He asks about all his partners: “¿Hey, What about Kiriki’s men? ¿How did Ompare do? ¿And Serantes?”

He is told to remain in his position until further notice, when he can go back with his people to “devour“ another story. He starts to clean the weapons surrounded by those who will always remain in his heart, together with Sabzak Pass. He smiles when one of his men asks him for water, and remembers he is thirsty: “Please, give me some water, I’m parched.; ¡You certainly can’t shoot!“