Note : This story is nothing but a fiction
Maybe it is a true that we uniform men don't have a heart_maybe not... All I know is that we do what ever we have to do to protect our country, integrity, property and most importantly, lives. Well, if you are one of those who believe we've lost our souls on the battle fields , perhaps this story would help repair your misconception. First, I need you to know that I am writing this after we had just finished repelling an attack on small village in Maiduguri .
It was exactly 4:35 am when the commander badged in with a message from the Chief of army. We've just had one of the slight opportunities to take a nap after the army's relocation to Borno. Our operations have increased in severity ever since then. My squad own the day time job of monitoring the road blocks. We inspect every single vehicle that patronizes the road. Until 10pm when we are allowed to shift for the nighters who take the watch till day breaks , we remain under the scorching sun,searching and inspecting.
One thing different I noticed about the urgent morning call was the presence of the chief himself. He rarely visits our dormitory. That meant real business. So we all ran towards our lockers according to the tune of the commander's voice;Run! Run!!.. I got two short guns into my boots, a sub machine gun and quite a number of grenades. Fast and furiously, we jumped into the militaty trucks and drove off the barrack.
............................................................................
Not very much had transpired before our arrival at the Village under terror attack . Although few houses were already on fire and I could hear wails of women and children. Yet, we remained under cover strategising and awaiting the next order. The formation today was quite like the usual; stealthily round up the entire scene before the terrorist can finish loading their hostages. We did just that. It was going on quite easily until the commander announced our presence. "You are surrounded... So you are advised to drop your weapons and let the hostages go! ". Well, they didn’t take his advice . About fifteen armed terrorists opened fire at us. I took corver, behind a mud house and again awaited the next command. Retaliating the fires was quite impossible except at the cost of innocent civilian lives. So we acted as bait while the militaty Plan B was being executed. Our riflers took down some of the terrorists until they started retreating with a little hostage_the girl screamed in agony "Uwar! Uwar! Uwar!" (meaning Mother! Mother! Mother! ) as she was being carted away in the lorry . Some soldiers had to stay behind to protect the remaining civilians. I happened to be one of the five men ordered to pursue the terrorists .
We took to our heels towards the down town and kept shooting at their tyres until the vehicle eventually broke down . Okay, I need to tell you it was a trap! It was quite horrifying as I saw my men being taken down by the terrorists. It was apparent that they also had a plan B. Some more of the terrorists had waited at the down town in case of repels like this. Before I could describe what had went wrong, we were down to two men. This time, I hid myself behind a very big stone, panting. I peeped a little... Lo and behold! I saw the girl escaping behind them. I knew I had to cook up a distraction very fast before they would notice her absence. I considered of throwing my self out at them. Or I just keep calm and await back up . Before I could decide, the second soldier took the later idea and jumped out of his cover; what a sacrifice! . He received multiple bullets on is chest before dropping dead. At that instant I was sure I needed to do something or await my turn to receive the bullets. So, I reached for two of my grenades, pulled off their safety pins and tossed them towards the terrorists. The explosion raised a lot of dust into the air which made me uncertain of the number of casualties conquered by my grenades. But, I rushed swiftly through the dust to check if the girl was safe. Subhanallah! She was not.
As I run continued, Not only her hijab flowed behind her ;two of the terrorists were also fast after her;they both had no guns . Her tiny legs were unfortunately not quick enough to escape the terrorists. I dived after them with a breath of compassion. I willed very high to save the little life at all costs... In sha Allah
She ran into a bush screaming herself out and falling at intervals . They followed. I also did.
Even though I chased with every remaining jolts of strength embedded in me, I still was quite late. The ferocious looking men already got hold of the girl. Well, I didn't even wait to see what they wanted to do with her, before doing what I had to do. I pulled the trigger of my short gun at them from behind simultaneously .
I saw the traumatic relief written on the girls face as I reached to her rescue. I could hear the innocent pounds of her heart as she looked down ran towards me. I took her into my arms, and squeezed her to my chest. And I kept chanting the word Alhamdulilah (meaning glory be to Allah) into her ears. She soon busted into even more tears as she said the word with me.
Well, I hope my story have helped you realize that everyone's body is a jar that contains a soul - including the soldiers. We also love and care like every mortals should. And,I also hope you have learnt a lot about our dedication like to wane the reign of insurgency from the country . However we remain in dare need of your prayers. May the peace and Mercy of Allah be upon us all .
