Two other SEAL members who had been with the radiomen ran toward them and helped to tear into the charging enemy. In less than a minute, the four of them had mowed down close to thirty charging enemy soldiers. The group collectively changed magazines and scanned for new targets as they worked to establish some sort of perimeter around the shattered command center.
As the SEALs reengaged another group of charging paratroopers, one of the wounded enemy soldiers threw a grenade in their direction. Punisher saw the object arc through the air right for them and yelled “Grenade!” as it bounced off an object that seemed to propel the grenade right toward them, instead of away.
It landed right in the center of the group, and without thinking, Punisher instantly jumped on the grenade just as it went off. While he didn’t die outright, he couldn’t move his body and just lay there as his body began to bleed out. In that instant, he saved his fellow SEAL members, though they would eventually be overrun before the day’s fighting was done. Sadly, during the battle of Fort Mag, the entire SEAL platoon was eventually wiped out.
Colonel Tilman had been thrown to the ground when the command center took a direct hit. He didn’t know what had hit them, only that the room above him was spinning. Tilman realized he needed to gain control of his mind and get back into the fight. He pressed his leg against something firm and did the same with his hand. In a fraction of a second, the spinning stopped and his mind stabilized itself. Rolling over to his side, he got up to his knees and saw the two SEALs who had been on the roof moments before, shooting it out with an unknown number of enemy soldiers that were clearly nearby.
Tilman saw Lieutenant Commander Haversham and one of the other SEAL team members rush to the gaping hole in the side of the building and add in their own firepower. “Colonel Tilman, are you OK?” asked one of the Marines, who had been talking on the radio to the offshore command ship before the explosion.
Getting back to his feet, Tilman nodded and reached for his M4 in case he needed to use it. Turning to look toward the SEALs who were still firing at the enemy, he saw an object fly into the room.
Someone yelled, “Grenade!” Before anyone else could react, one of the SEALs dove on top of the grenade as it went off.
“We need to fall back!” yelled one of the SEALs.
Boom! Bam! More explosions rocked the area, causing the structure to shake violently. The supports of the building had been thoroughly compromised.
Lieutenant Colonel Jackman turned toward the SEALs. “Fall back to the artillery batteries’ position!” he yelled. He reached down and helped a wounded Marine get to his feet.
The Spec Ops guys nodded and said they would provide covering fire while they grabbed the wounded and fell back.
Colonel Tilman grabbed one of the lance corporals, signaling that they should run to the wreckage of one of the Ospreys from the previous day and set up a firing position to help cover their retreat. In seconds, the two of them were running at full speed toward the wreck, with bullets kicking up dirt and rocks all around them.
Bringing his rifle to his shoulder, Colonel Tilman sighted in on a cluster of enemy soldiers that were trying to come around the building. He fired a series of controlled three-round bursts into the soldiers, hitting several of them before they turned their fire in his direction. Bullets hit the destroyed wreck they were hiding behind, forcing Tilman and the lance corporal to seek cover. While they were keeping the enemy focused on them, one of the SEALs came around the corner and finished them off with a burst from his M240. He quickly waved for the Marines behind him to cross the taxiway and make their way back to the artillery batteries’ position.
When the 105mm artillery guns arrived the previous day, they had the helicopters place the guns on the northeast side of the airstrip, near the firing range. It was a relatively large open field, which gave them more than enough room to set the Howitzers up on. They had also placed one of the two mortar platoons inside their perimeter. As the front half of the perimeter of the base began to fall apart, it made sense for them to try and fall back to the artillery position while they continued to call for help and reinforcements.
Had the Marines not gotten the Howitzers set up in the early hours of the morning, they wouldn’t have been in a position to take out the enemy rocket artillery. As they ran toward them, Tilman thought, “God only knows how long we would have held up if the enemy had been able to pound us relentlessly with rockets.” As it was, they had already caused a considerable amount of damage.
It took Colonel Tilman and the rest of what remained of his headquarters staff fifteen minutes to fight their way back to the artillery positions. When they crossed over into their lines, they were quickly met by a number of corpsmen, who helped get the wounded moved back to the ad hoc aid station they had set up. Looking back across the airstrip, Tilman saw small pockets of Marines fighting various clusters of enemy soldiers. Overhead, he heard jets high above them, engaging some unseen adversary.
“Man, we could really use some air support,” he thought.
The artillery commander walked up to him with his radioman. “Colonel Tilman, thank God you’re still alive. When your headquarters was taken out, we thought you’d been killed. I’ve got the division commander on the radio. He wants a status report. I was about to tell him you were killed, and the base was being overrun,” the captain explained, obviously glad that he wouldn’t have to be the one to relay that kind of information to the general.
“Thank you, Captain,” said Tilman. “Let me see if I can try and get us some help before we all get wiped out.”
Grabbing the mic from the radioman, he lifted the receiver to his mouth. “General, this is Colonel Tilman. Are you there?” he asked, too tired and rattled to remember what call sign he was supposed to be using that day.
The general responded, “You sound like hell, Micah. How bad is it?”
“My headquarters was blown up with me in it. Most of my staff was killed, and a lot of our radios were destroyed. I’ve got tanks inside the wire, along with God only knows how many other armored vehicles. These flipping paratroopers are all over this base right now. The north side of the base perimeter has held for the moment, but they’re taking a beating. The east and south sides have held, despite the Chinese throwing what was probably an entire battalion at them. However, the entire west side of my lines has collapsed. For the moment, I’m hunkered down with the Howitzer battalion. I need some freaking help here, or we’re going to get wiped out,” he replied.
“Colonel, I’ve lost nine surveillance drones over your position in the last four hours. We just got a new drone over your position, providing us with some real-time video of what’s going on. You’ve got small pockets of soldiers holding various positions all over the base. I’m doing everything I can to get your reinforcements right now,” the general explained.
The division commander let out a deep breath before he continued. “I told the strike group commander that we have to get you guys some air support, even if he has to lose a few planes in the process. He’s sending six Hornets your way. Once they’re on station, we’ll let you know so you can coordinate their attack. As to reinforcements, I’m sending a company of Marines to you right now. They’re roughly ten minutes out. See if they can retake the airstrip again. I’ll see if we can get the better part of a battalion sent to you throughout the day,” his boss replied.