OUT OF SIGHT

Out of Sight The sweat ran down the outside of the light green and jet black cam-cream that caked my face and neck, the warmth of the downdraft coming through the door did little to cool me down in the intense jungle heat. It was our first mission, our team had been in theatre less than twenty hours, we'd hit the ground running that was for sure. we'd been in the air an hour now, and from the open door i could see our escort, another Blackhawk attack helicopter, but with more firepower than the army of a third world country. The door gunner looked out over the endless green that was the treetops of the worlds largest jungle. Two and a half million square miles of pure hostile, lost and nowhere. Easily one of the planets more unforgiving terrains. The red light came on and the door gunner called; "Action Stations" and we all got ready to de-bus. About ten minutes later both birds made a very sharp and stomach lifting decent. Our chopper went down to a clearing about half the size of a football pitch and hovered about eighteen inches off the ground, pushing the grass underneath it flat against the earth.