Instant Essay -- Creative Writing Essays

InstantIll perpetu eithery remember Instant. That was the nickname the men had tacked ontothe muscled giant that wielded the M60 in my unit. Instant was terse forInstant Death. And Ill al itinerarys remember the first time I saw Instant inaction.I was a new Lieutenant depute to Vietnam. Back then, the Army didnt try todevelop both team relish within the corps men were rotated frequently beforeany friendships developed. Consequently, my men were a group of strangers unitedonly by the direct to survive. They were eighteen- and nineteen-year-olds with theeyes of old men. My first real assignment was to check a tiny hamlet, Dien Hoa.Army Intelligence believed the Viet Cong were operating from Dien Hoa. Our jobwas to determine if that was correct.We rode in an olive-drab chopper. The whooping blades of the helicopter giveus a little mitigation from the relentless heat of Nam the blades cut the thick,humid air and pushed a play downward over the passenger compartment.Soon, we cir cled the landing zone. The LZ looked cold. Theres only one wayto find out if it is really cold, I thought as I double checked my M16. If noone zapped us when we entered, it was cold. If they did, it wasnt.Lock and load, I yelled.The helicopter circled low and slowed down until it almost hovered four feetfrom the ground. The door cannoneer mashed the spade grips on his .30 caliber M60machine gun. The gun spewed bullets over the celestial orbit below us.It was time to jump off the skids while we skimmed preceding(prenominal) the surface of thelush, green valley. My stomach felt like it was turning wrong-side-out.We dropped into the grass, stumbling on a lower floor heavy packs and the weight of ammoand weapons. I wondered about snakes and hoped the groan I mad when I hit theground was drowned by the noise of the helicopters. though the helicopter gunnercontinued firing into the heavy growth to the northeastern of them, there was no returnfire. We were safe for the moment.OK, I yel led signal with my hands the way youre not supposed to. Handsignals are a good way to mark yourself as the leader. Its just the thing confrontationsnipers watch for. But few of my twenty-seven men could hear me over the roarand firing of the helicopters. I had no choice. Move out. On the double, Iordered. The choppers lifted. We were on our own.The soldiers started with the usual complaining b... ...prized buck. We made careful, deliberate shots. One subsequently another, theblack, running forms crumpled. With a final flurry of shooting, only a unaccompaniedCharlie managed to escape into the grove of trees below.The bodies of the VC dotted the open hillside. Sporadic furthest shots stop thelives of the few hurt who continued to stir below us. Complete tranquillizereigned for a few moments, then Blake yelled an obscenity at the last Cong whohad eluded us.Silence.We did it, I simply said, my words falling flat.A weak nourish went down the line one man dropped to his knees an d cried. Eventhough wed all felt as good as dead, we realized we had won.Afterward, waiting with the wounded and dead for dustoff, I thought about thefirefight. Instants selfless deed had protected our skins. It was little wonder themen had so much respect for the soldier. I studied him for a moment. He sat byhimself beneath a tree, carefully cleaning his M60 like a mother washing a baby.He wore a bandage over his right eye and a second on his arm except for thoseminor wounds, he had managed to get through the fight uninjured. And hedshown a green lieutenant and his men what full-strength bravery was.