14.
The Wadi—October 2009Rat-tat-tat…rat-tat-tat. To their left, the gunfire appeared suddenly from somewhere up in the trees along the ridge. At first two AK-47s were firing down at the team. But then McKenna counted…five different muzzle flashes up there in the pine trees.
There were at least five hostiles hidden up there, an ambush, shooting down on them from a really superior firing zone. Rocks and ricochets were kicking up all around the four Marines, some getting dangerously close.
The immediate instinctive response when a group of men first come under direct fire is to quickly draw in together, bunch up tightly—the comforting grip of the group. But experience or training can overcome this often deadly tendency.
The well-trained Force Recon team instantly separated themselves in
