It was a cold, dark night; I could only see the soldier next to me. He asked, “When do we start the attack?”
I answered, “ Two minutes.” The only thought going through my head was surviving the night so I could see my wife and kids back at home. I looked down at my watch. It read eleven o’ clock time to begin the attack. I tapped the soldier next to me, and he relayed the tap down the line. We all got up and started running out of the woods toward the house. I could feel the cold Russian air on my face as we began sprinting to avoid spotlights. Inside the house were four terrorists plotting to launch a missile at the United States. It was our job to prevent this from happening by any means necessary. I ordered our unit to stop and fire some shots to take out the guards at the back door. Three quick silenced shots from the sniper marksmen and the guards dropped dead like flies; everything was going right according to plan.

We broke the back door down and entered as silently as possible. However, there were more guards right behind the door so we took defensive positions. I threw a table over to hide behind. Another soldier tried to run behind the table but was killed. The fear that was in me now turned to anger. I squatted behind the table and began shooting. Every bullet magically hit an enemy square in the chest dropping them dead. After a few more minutes of shooting, the room was clear. We advanced and could hear the terrorists moving in the room upstairs. I went up the steps feeling my heart pound inside me from the fear that someone would be around the corner when I turned. I threw a grenade around the corner and let it explode, then advanced. Sure enough, there were two men with guns that now lay dead. I put my ear up to the door and could hear the terrorists speaking as if I was right next to them. The other soldiers came up the stairs and waited for my command to break down the door. With a quick hand motion, two men went running at the door and slammed it down.

We all rushed the room. One of the terrorists jumped out the window to escape. Thinking he was dead from the fall, I went over to make sure, but I saw him running. I knew we had to capture all of them, so I bolted downstairs and out the door.
Running as fast as possible, I got out my pistol and started shooting, hoping to slow him down. I was on the final bit of breath when I fired my last shot, and the bullet pierced his leg. I saw him drop then walked the rest of the way to get him. Breathing like a racehorse that just finished the Kentucky Derby, I grabbed him and pulled him up and walked him back inside the house where my comrades awaited. We called for a truck to come pick up the captured terrorists, which arrived momentarily. I went to sleep that night back at base knowing my family and all the Americans were safe for now.