Frontline Patriot

• Levi Ramsey, Grade 6
• Short Story
• 2020

Being on the frontline is harsh for multiple reasons and the weather in Afghanistan is extreme - if it’s windy, sand blinds your eyes like burning acid. Every few seconds, someone gets shot or killed. Being in the Seal Team 6 means everything to Sam.

Tonight the Taliban invaded Afghanistan and captured ten US Navy Seals. Sam’s best mate Liam found himself a prisoner of the Afghan Hostage Group and immediately sent a distress call to Sam. Sam went straight to the Lieutenant General and told him what had happened to Liam. They made a decision that no matter what happened, they were going to send a Hostage Rescue Team to save Liam and the other Seals.

That night the American Government received a mysterious call that said to pay the Afghans $45m and if they didn’t pay it within 24 hours then they would kill all the Navy Seals they had captured.

So Sam and the other Seals geared up to rescue Liam. The Navy Seals tracked them and the Afghans were sailing through the Arabian Ocean. How they got out to sea so quickly was a mystery. The Seals were finally ready to intercept the Afghans little party.

The Arabian Ocean was crystal clear, as if a jeweller just polished his diamond. The Seal Team knew that it would be a dangerous mission. Sam knew that despite all the training they had gone through it would be the hardest thing he had to do. The Afghans’ boat was a rotten hulk, nothing more. The Seals tactic was the element of surprise.

Sam was trying with all his strength to lift himself up on the deck without being seen. There were few guards on the lookout, but they would still need to be stealthy. One step would make a terrible noise of metal grinding. Once Sam had finished what he thought was a strenuous climb, he gave the signal for the others to come aboard. The Team made their way silently across the boat, guns pointed in every direction.

Sam saw a guard and shot him once in the neck. They carried on through a passage and found doors coming up on both sides of them. The first one was empty. They opened the other door and found two of the guarded hostages and one of the other Seals shot the guards. They told the hostages to wait with a Seal at the back until they returned with the others. “How many more hostages did they take?” whispered Sam. “Six others,” he replied. They carried on, worried that the guards would have heard their conversation. Sam heard low whispers at the door and decided that this was his moment...he entered.

Liam and five other hostages were leaning against the wall, fear in their eyes. A gunfight broke out and the US Marines managed, this day, to retrieve their valued soldier’s. The Team climbed back onto the top deck and found the Apache helicopter waiting, as planned.