Instant Essay -- Creative Writing Essays

InstantIll always remember Instant. That was the nickname the men had tacked ontothe muscled freak that wielded the M60 in my unit. Instant was short forInstant Death. And Ill always remember the premiere time I saw Instant inaction.I was a new Lieutenant assigned to Vietnam. Back then, the Army didnt try to split any team spirit within the corps men were rotated frequently beforeany friendships developed. Consequently, my men were a group of strangers coupledonly by the need to survive. They were eighteen- and nineteen-year-olds with theeyes of old men. My first sit downisfying assignment was to check a tiny hamlet, Dien Hoa.Army Intelligence believed the Viet Cong were operate 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 relief from the relentless heat of Nam the blades cut the thick,humid air and pushed a breeze downward all over the passenger compartment.Soon, we circled the landing z maven. 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 shout.The helicopter circled low and slowed down until it roughly hovered four feetfrom the commonwealth. The door gunner mashed the spade grips on his .30 caliber M60 utensil gun. The gun spewed bullets over the field below us.It was time to jump discharge the skids while we skimmed above the surface of thelush, chiliad valley. My stomach mat like it was turning wrong-side-out.We dropped into the grass, stumbling under heavy packs and the weight of ammoand weapons. I wondered most snakes and hoped the groan I mad when I hit theground was drowned by the noise of the helicopters. Though the helicopter gunnercontinued judgment of dismissal into the heavy growth to the north of them, there was no returnfire. We were adept for the moment.OK, I yelled signaling with my hands the way youre not divinatory to. Handsignals are a good way to mark yourself as the leader. Its just the thing enemysnipers watch for. But few of my cardinal 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 make careful, deliberate shots. One after another, theblack, running forms crumpled. With a final con of shooting, only a loneCharlie servicemanaged to escape into the grove of trees below.The bodies of the VC dotted the clear(p) hillside. Sporadic last shots ended thelives of the few wounded who continued to reboot below us. Complete silencereigned 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 locomote flat.A weak cheer went down the line one man dropped to his knees and 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 saved 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 however for thoseminor wounds, he had managed to come through the fight uninjured. And hedshown a green lieutenant and his men what true bravery was.