For the Motherland

Dimitri rode in the back of a truck carrying about fifteen troops. There was many of these trucks in front and behind of the one he was riding in; in the distance he could see a tank following closely behind. Dimitri gripped his AK-47 tightly and resumed talking to Colonel Pyotr Grigorev on the radio. Colonel Grigorev was in fact in the same truck but inside the cab. Dusk was getting closer and the wide open shrub land deserts were making him sick. The only thing that broke the land was the small patches of hills. Dimitri caught a glare in his eye coming from one of the hills, perhaps it was a sniper? No, it must of only been some natural reflective surface, he thought. Just has he closed his eyes he the roar of some kind of rocket. Someone screamed "Brace for impact!". He quickly opened his eyes and saw a rocket from a rocket propelled grenade hit the truck behind them and explode into flames.

The convoy stopped and as the Russian soldiers jumped out the backs of the vehicles they were cut down by machine gun fire. Using a dead body as a shield, Dimitri jumped out of the truck and slid his way to the passenger door of the truck where Colonel Grigorev was seated. Before he reached it the passenger door opened and Colonel Grigorev eloquently got out and drew his revolver. While singing, he fired his gun wildly into the hills from where the machine gun fire was coming from.
"Unbreakable union of freeborn republics!" the Colonel sang while slowly walking toward the hills.
Dimitri started to climb underneath the truck. "Colonel, we need to get under cover!"
The Colonel continued, "Great Russia has welded forever to stand!"
"Colonel, your going to fucking kill yourself, get under here!" Dimitri was now fully under the vehicle, firing at the hills with his AK-47 periodically
Colonel Grigorev finally turned around, "Lieutenant Dimitri, we are one of the most powerful nations in the world, we can handle some overzealous people wearing towels on their head." Colonel Grigorev continued singing, "Created in struggle by will of the peoples!"
"Dammit, Pyotr get fuck over here before you get shot!" A bullet hit Dimitri's gun snapping it in half.
"United and mighty, our Soviet Lan-" Blood poured out of the new hole in Colonel Grigorev's head. He dropped onto his knees and more bullets continued to shred his body.

The ground shook and a loud bang exploded throughout the battlefield. Dimitri saw a fiery explosion at the nearby hills. The machine gun halted. Was it finally safe? Dimitri crawled out from under the truck. Dead bodies, all Russian, littered the ground. Grabbing a new gun from some dead corporal, Dimitri stumbled towards the tank. The smoke started clearing from the hills and machine gun fire started again. Dimitri quickly scrambled inside the cab of a personal transport truck. He laid on the floor as bullets whizzed right above him, easily penetrating the thin metal of the truck. The tank fired again but this time the machine gun didn't stop. He heard the war cries of Afghan freedom fighters, terrorists, whatever you called them. They were charging and all hope was lost. The radio inside the cab crackled, "Lieutenant Klimov, what the fuck are we supposed to do?" Dimitri quickly grabbed the radio microphone and pulled it close to him. "Retreat to the tank, the Afghans are charging and try to use the vehicles as cover as much as possible. Stay low and just try to survive until we can get air support."

The tank and armoured vehicles was only a dozen meters away. Dimitri decided that as soon as the Afghans stopped firing at him he would jump out the drivers side of the cab and sprint towards the tank. A bullet grazed Dimitri's temple, he twitched and hit his head on the steering wheel. Blood smeared itself over his face. Someone must of heard his screams because the cab door on the drivers side opened and a hand pulled him out of the truck. The unfamiliar man dragged Dimitri towards the tank where there was a group of Soviet soldiers taking cover behind it. Dimitri swatted at the other man's hand and stood up. "I'm fine, I can walk." Dimitri yelled over the noise of combat. While trying to run behind the tank the man was hit by machine gun fire, dieing less than a meter from the safety of the tank.
Dimitri took a deep breath, "I really must be a bad luck charm, just like what my brother always used to say." then squatted by the tire of the truck hoping not to get hit while he formulated a plan. Some voice cried out "Air support in five minutes!"

The battle was about to end, all in glory of the motherland. Dimitri sat in that spot for those five minutes, waiting eagerly for whatever the Soviet Air Force had up their sleeve for the Afghans. The roar of a gunship was heard overhead. It was Dimitri's favorite, a Mi-24 helicopter. It flew overhead the hills and launched it's missiles at the enemy. Machine gun fire halted but there was still the Afghans who were charging. The Mi-24 flew around and used it's machine gun to fire upon the charging Afghans. Soviet soldiers came from out of cover and helped with annihilating the threat. A rocket appeared from a group of Afghans and hit the tank leaving a couple of men dead and a burn mark on the tank. Dimitri kept under his cover not wanting to risk his life, he just listened as the sound of gunfire got weaker and eventually stop. He then heard a cry of victory and everyone broke out into singing the Soviet national anthem.

Dimitri was overcome with anxiety as he realized that he was third in command and both Colonel Grigorev and Lieutenant Klimov were dead which made him first in command. The senior officers of the company were slow to respond to replacing dead officers so it looked like he was stuck in this position for awhile. The rest of the evening was spent counting the bodies and figuring out how far they were from the village of Na'ebabad. It was only 29 kilometers from the base to the village and it turned out they were only 5 kilometers from the village. They would of already been at the village if it wasn't for the majority of the road being missing from roadside bombs as the road, A76 was traveled a lot constantly had a battle going on somewhere.

In the morning the convoy continued on reaching Na'ebabad in less than an hour. Reaching the checkpoint outside of the village Dimitri was hailed by one of the garrison guards.
"I heard that you were attacked on your way here, are the reports true about all the other officers being killed?"
"Yes, we lost about thirty-six men. We only have a little under seventy now."
"Don't understand why you were sent to this wretched hell hole, we get attacked at least once a week. Enjoy the locals, they are worse than Americans." The guard smiled and motioned for the convoy to continue into the village.

Na'babad did look like it was really attacked every week. Most of the buildings were collapsing and those still in good shape compared to the rest were riddled with bullet holes. The citizens of the village looked at the soldiers with resent and disgust. Did they not understand that the Soviet Union were saving them and giving them a better life? Even if it took a couple of years it would be better in the long run.

The rest to be written in later intervals...