"What the, where am I?" SGT Patten opened his eyes, and shut them again as the light burnt the images of horror into his eyes and brain. "I am an American soldier, I will always place the mission first, I will never quit" he quoted to himself over and over again to calm down. He opened his eyes again and surveyed the body strewn ground. he then did a mental shakedown of himself before doing a visual. everything felt alright, oh, never mind, bruised ribs. but thats it he then looked himself over. some minor cuts and bruises but nothing major. he then checked his equipment. His sidearm, a 9mm Beretta, was on the ground next to his head. compass, check. he then looked in his ruck...or what was left of it. the explosion and resulting shrapnel had shredded the bag and broken the frame. he threw it down in frustration. "DAMN!" he swore. everything he needed to survive had been in that bag. all he had was his knife, his beretta and a quarter canteen of water. he had been dropped ten miles from Baghdad with his spotter, SFC Johnson, to watch a farm that was reported to have leading al'quida members hiding there and to eliminate them if he saw them... he saw two of the three before they put chopper in the air. there was nothing in the report about air support but the calls back to the base were met with static. the Helicopter was equiped with air to surface missles designed to take out tanks and fifty caliber gattling guns that could put one hundred rounds into one square foot in a second. the result was devastating. the spotter, radio, and all extra equipment was destroyed within the first few moments of the attack. Now that he thought of it, Patton had no idea how he survived. The ground around him looked like it had been freshly plowed, but for some reason, they passed over the seven by three foot area where he had been laying. His spotters body was torn beyond recognition. Patton reached down and grabbed the dog tags off the body and placed them in the front pocket of his ghillie suit. he then began to formulate his plans to get home.
