ALERT
“Attention!”
Their CO (Commanding Officer) shouted. From a distance, you could hear their feet coming together in a halt as they all snapped to their feet. Infact, if you were blindfolded, you would think someone just shook a big mango tree and the fruits were falling with a loud ‘thud”, but two seconds later, there was no more sound. Most of them in their army fatigues and combat boots, others, still fully dressed as they had just returned from patrolling the nearby village. Chukwuebuka, or Bukaz as his fellow soldiers usually called him had had little or no sleep for the past 56 hours, not because he didn’t want to, but because he had a duty to perform.
“I know it’s been unusually tough these past few days,” the C.O started, I’ve pushed most of you to your limits and more, and if it were possible, I’m sure most of you would like to see me take a bullet, but that’s ok; I don’t give a shit about your feelings, not then, not now, not tomorrow. We have a job to protect these bloody civilians, and it’s a job which I intend to see through irrespective of your feelings. The days ahead is going to be tougher because we can’t predict where these fools are going to attack next, it might be here, it might be the next convoy, it might be the village we just recaptured, be that as it may, we got a job to do. Are we on the same page?” “yes sir” was the chorus. “Dismissed” he said.
“Bukaz,” Yetunde whispered from behind as they made their way to the Officers’ Mess. “Bro, the cable just came in, and she just delivered, guy, I don turn papa so, so next time you dey buy me beer, make am two bottle.” Bukaz couldn’t hide his joy as he turned to hug his buddy tight. They’d been through thick and thin, fighting side by side in the same unit for the past 4 years, and if there’s anyone he’ll ever be comfortable with watching his back, it was Yetunde. “Brotherly, I’m so so happy for you man, papa bom boi, na wetin you be now” Bukaz patted him on the shoulder as they walked on. Yetunde’s countenance changed as they approached the officer’s mess; Bukaz, I want you to do me a favor, I need you to be the Godfather of my son, I know I’m asking too much, but guy, wetin man go do?
Kaboom! The nearest barricade went up in flames as boko haram fighters poured out from the surrounding bushes. How they managed to creep up to the army base unnoticed was something no one could explain. “Incoming!” another soldier shouted, as every soldier ran to man his battle station. Their years of training kicked in, that alert nature, feeling the surrounding, the clarity, adrenaline rush as each soldier geared up. The look on their faces said it all, this was not business as usual. This time, they weren’t fighting to save some cattle and civilians held hostage in a nearby village; this time, they were fighting for themselves, for their lives, for their kids at home, for their wives and for their family — their base had just been attacked; this wasn’t a fight for the nation, this was a fight to stay alive. Orders were flying up and down, troops assigned posts, the advance team, preparing to move out. Bukaz and Yetunde were among the advance team. This was not a target practice, these militants were using armor piercing rounds, and different machines the Nigerian Army wasn’t used to. Phew phew phew, bullets flew; some sounded like “kpo kpo kpo” others sounded like “tatatatata”. Bukaz unit did what they knew how to do best, fight back, shots against shots, bullets against bullets, wills against wills; some fighting to stay alive with inferior fire power, the others fighting to annihilate with a superior fire power but little military know how. The battle of “Wills” was what Bukaz will later write in his diary that evening. Some knelt and fired away, others lay and fired; each man watching the others back. “We’re not losing any man today,” their commander kept shouting as they fought back. More soldiers were pouring out of the base now…smoke everywhere. You could hear some soldiers screaming as they were hit by the enemy’s bullet. One soldier was rushing to go help another fallen soldier as a grenade exploded few feet away from him. He was lucky, but his right leg wasn’t as lucky as the rest of his body was. “Cover me,” Yetunde shouted before anyone could notice. Bukaz could not hold him back, but cursed silently as his friend, who just became a father rushed off to save the two fallen soldiers. With all he had, he turned to fire at anything moving in the opposite direction of where Yetunde was headed. His mates heard the cry too and flanked Bukaz as they shot at every moving object in 180° radius in Yetunde’s direction. Just as he made to grab the hand of the wounded soldier, a bullet ripped through his laps and right shoulder, one of the militants presumed dead and was laying 9 feet from where Yetunde was, and his riffle pointed at Yetunde’s chest. Bukaz cried out, and with all rage, ran towards the direction of Yetunde while the other soldiers made mess of what was left of the boko haram member that had just shot Yetunde.
“Don’t you dare die on me you this fool, you have a son waiting for you at home, and a wife waiting to see your face” Bukaz whispered as he held Yetunde in his arms. The battle was almost over if not over. They were retreating; several bodies lay on the ground, soldiers and militants. The Islamic militants didn’t expect this kind of defense, so they retreated to go lick their wounds.
22 soldiers and two officers wounded, and Yetunde was one of them. They were all flown back to Maiduguri where they would receive proper medication
As he sat by the road side, replaying the images of the last three hours, tears filled his eyes. He thought of how he nearly lost his friend; he thought of Bayo who had just lost his leg to a grenade, he thought of other wounded soldiers who he wasn’t sure would survive their wounds in the hospital, and he thought of the Nigerians oblivious to what just went down, and what they (soldiers) go through every day to keep the country safe…as his thought train ran, he didn’t know when the tears started rolling down his cheeks. He was a soldier, fighting for what he believed in.
PS: Dedicated to the 113 Battalion soldiers who fought the Boko Haram terrorists at Kareto Town, Northern Borno on 18/04/2016. God bless your efforts, and God bless your families too. May God keep you too. You’re always in our prayers.
This work is strictly fiction.
#GodBlessOurSoldiers
Written on 21/04/2016
