Story #35: The Sniper

The Sniper

     It was a half an hour past 1400 for Staff Sergeant Johnson and Sergeant Ben in

Afghanistan. These two men were part of the army sniper detail deployed to

Afghanistan. Sergeant Johnson was the spotter for Sgt. Ben, who was the sniper.

     It was another calm day on the military base in the middle of the dessert, until a

voice came over the loud intercom saying “Staff Sergeant Johnson and Sergeant Ben

report to the briefing office. They both scrambled up from there bunks and started

there way to the office. Once they got there they knocked on the door and Sergeant

Major Horris told them to come in. He told both of them to sit down and listen to there

mission that they were soon going to being given. Their mission is to guard a convey of

supplies coming to the base that will be coming through a perfect ambush spot for the

tailiban. Their mission would take them about half a mile away from the road that the

convoy was coming from. There was an old shack that they could set up on to protect

them just through this little spot that an ambush is more than likely. The convey was

coming from a town in the north and then coming through a little village to there

destination which is Base Michael. The ambush point is between the town and the

village on a road called angle road. This was the mission that they were given.

     The two sergeants went back to there bunks and talked about there plan on how to

guard the convey. They might have to do a lot of clearing out for the convey, like

people looking like there acting nervous and were going to attack or people holding

guns behind buildings. Also they might have sit there and do nothing but watch the

convey go by. They talked about it for awhile and then the clock said that time that they

were supposed to leave so they grabbed there gear and weapons. Both of the

sergeants got into a military truck and went out to the shack through a ton of back

roads to get there. Once they got there they both jumped out of the truck and ran to the

shack. The truck drove off so if anyone was looking, people would think it just stopped

to see where they were at. The sergeants looked around at the small shack and made

sure it was secure. The shack was an old building built out of wood. A lot of boards

were missing so it just looked like it was a couple of boards holding a roof up in the

middle of the dessert. The sand was blowing a little harder than normal which meant

they would have to remember the wind while shooting. They both decided to lay on the

old roof that had a lot of holes in it but they had plenty of room to lay on it still. After

climbing up to the roof they picked a certain spot on the roof and both laid down.

Sergeant Johnson set up his little spot with a spotter tool and a set of binoculars.

Meanwhile Sergeant Ben was pulling out his sniper that he chose for this mission

which was the Barrette 50. cal sniper. He brought this incase there was armor that he

would have to punch through. The barrette is a sniper that could punch through armor

and if they shot at a person with it then that person would just explode with blood

everywhere because of the guns power.

     The sergeants got all set up with were they were laying and got there scopes

sighted in to hit exactly where they wanted them to. The convey was supposed to

come by at 1500 or in civilian time 3:00 p.m. It was 2:59 and Sergeant Johnson says

     “Here comes the first truck.”

     Sergeant Ben says” I got them through my scope”

     Sergeant Johnson then says” Look for any people that needed to be watched carefully.”

     The sergeants kept looking down range for strange activity while the convey was

driving by but there was nothing happening which was curious because of this spot.

There was people walking around but there was no one acting like what they were

looking for as a threat. The convey was going very slow because of the tanks in the

back but they were moving without any problems. Both sergeants knew that this could

turn into a combat zone in less then ten seconds. The convey kept coming through the

prime ambush spot and nothing was happening and the two sergeants both started

saying to themselves that this mission was successful. The last truck drove out of sight

and they radioed back to HQ to get an extraction. HQ said it was on its way.The

sergeants started picking up there gear and packing it up. They were still watching 360

degrees around them because someone could of saw them get up from there postion

and they could be attacked. The truck picked them up on schedule and started back to

HQ. The driver was smoking a camel cigarette and the drivers higher ranking officer

was sleeping on the passengers side. The two sergeants were both taking off there

gear when they both heard a loud explosion. The radio in the truck lit up. It was filled

with soldiers voices saying contact and we are under attack in the village. The two

sergeants radio’s were telling them to go to the village and provide cover for the

ambush. Sergeant Johnson yelled to the driver to turn around and go to the village.

The captain in the passenger seat jumped up and ordered the driver to go there. The

driver turned the wheel so hard one of the sergeants in the back flew off his seat. They

raced to a a grain bin right outside the village were the village people keep there food.

The driver pulled up to the grain bin and both of the sergeants jumped out the back

and started to go up the stairs to the top. When the truck started to leave an RPG

came roaring into the side of the truck and blew the whole thing up. Both of the

sergeants were stunned for a second and knew that this was just not a couple of foot

soldiers. There were probably fifty at the least. The sergeants ran to the top and

quickly got set up to cover the convey. Clearly the convey has been hit pretty hard if

there ride has just got blown up.

     The convey was made up of one lead Humvee and two transport trucks with

supplies in it. Also it had two tanks behind that with a Humvee for the rear. Altogether

there was twenty five american soldiers under attack. The first Humvee had been

blown up killing all of the men inside. The tailiban made a road block so they could

stop the american troops from escaping. The americans started shooting from holes in

the vehicles. Tailiban snipers killed all of the truck drivers and passengers in there. The

only men left were the two tank crews of the 103 tank division and the rear guards

which were four men.

     The two sergeants set up their gear and started going to work with clearing out the

tailiban. It seemed like they were in every corner. Sniper Ben saw a man peek around

the corner at the convey and he saw an RPG in his hand. Ben shot at him and all the

spotter-Sergeant Johnson- saw was his head explode like a watermelon. The body fell

to the ground with the RPG still in the mans hand. Next Ben shot at a man in a little hut

shooting an AK-47. This time the spotter saw his chest rip apart and fall on the window

edge. This did not stun either one of them because they had seen it before. After

awhile the tailiban started to retreat because they did not know why all of there men

were getting shot. There was still the tailiban sniper and a few men still shooting at the

americans. Sergeant Ben saw the sniper a couple of times but he kept moving through

the village.

     All of a sudden a white car came speeding at the convey to the back of the unblown

up Humvee. Sergeant Ben saw him and knew he needed to eliminate him so he told

the spotter where the car was and asked him where he should aim, the spotter said

thirty degrees north and forty degrees west on the second notch. Sergeant Ben shot at

the car and hit the man driving, in the head, and the car flipped. The mans body got

thrown out of the car and got ripped in half by an old telephone wire hanging very low.

The car was a suicide bomber which would of killed the four americans in the Humvee.

He saved them for now at least. Sergeant Ben kept firing and killing a lot of the men.

The one man he could not find was the taliban sniper. He did see him move again and

he saw that he had a spotter also which made him an elite sniper. He kept looking but

he just kept finding normal warriors which he killed when he found them. Sergeant Ben

eventually made the tailban start to go back into hiding and the convey was starting to

clear the way back to base with the casualties. The sergeants started to pack up when

a sniper bullet flew threw the air and hit Sergeant Johnson in the head, splitting it in

two. Sergeant Ben got down as fast as he could. Then he heard something coming up

the stairs of the grain bin. He quickly pulled out his side arm and waited. The man

came up and Ben shot him in the chest twice killing him. It was the tailban sniper’s

spotter.He waited for a minute and happened to see a window crack oh so slightly

open. He pointed his rifle at it thinking it might be the sniper but it turned out to be a

women airing out the house. He did not want to get up because he knew the sniper is

probably watching him. He grabbed his walkie talkie and called for a truck to pick him

up. They said they will be there in three minutes. They were on the way to pick both of

them up anyways. Ben then reported that his spotter was KIA . After waiting a few

minutes, the truck pulled up, to not get shot, Ben threw his backpack up in the air to

see if anyone would shoot but they didn’t He crawled to the stairs and slid down them

as slow as he could. The tailiban sniper would be high up looking for him and not the

truck. He made it into the truck and they made it out alive. They didn’t know they had

the cross hairs of the tailiban sniper on them while leaving the village. The sniper did

not shoot because he was the town’s leader and didn’t want to risk it so that is why he

sent his spotter.

     When Ben got back to the base all the men from the convey were tanking him and

were giving him hand shacks. He was awarded the silver star for bravery. He didn’t

feel right about getting it unless his spotter was given one also. Sergeant Joseph S.

Johnson was also awarded it at his funeral. He was twenty three years old. Sergeant

Ben finished his tour in Afghanistan. The first thing he did when he got back was visit

Sergeant Johnson’s grave and leave his binoculars in front of the grave and

said”HOOHAH Sergeant Johnson.” Sergeant Ben retired after that and went back to

his home in Kansas were one day he will tell the story of Sergeant Johnson.