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The Bridge

July 1st 2001

Sweat poured down my rugged unshaved face, bathed in my camouflage, and dripped on my MP5 sub-machine gun. As I ran for my God-forsaken life I spit out my fresh chew and screamed at my division sniping in the nearby trench, "GET THE HELL OUT! IT'S GONNA BLOW!!" Once I gained their attention it was too late. BAWOOSH! I tried to glance at my four other companions but I only caught a glimpse their distraught visages a split second before debris covered my sight and I was luckily blown forward from the impact of a Chinese high explosive grenade. My sniper division, was unluckily obliterated by it. I was knocked unconscious; barely gasping for air. Various thoughts filled my head… A chunk of our team snipers wiped out within a second, including my long time friend PFC Ransom, two year Green Beret sniper specialist, I use to drink Michelob with back in college before we got drafted. I almost forgot it was a couple days before it would be my birthday. I can't believe the war was almost over because it seems like it has lasted for an eternity. How did I get knocked unconscious? I couldn't even recall the face of my wife and the baby girl she gave birth to from what I read in her letter. I have to defend the bridge at all costs, but am I even alive?…But the only thing that ran through my head at the moment was how devastating the end of this skirmish between China and us it was and how it should've been.



The conflicts between the U.S. and China that would last for a decade all started on April 1st, 2001 when U.S. a UP-403 spy plane collided with a Chinese F-8 fighter jet, killing the Chinese pilot and tearing one of the wings of the spy plane as it safely landed into a Chinese air field. As Chinese officials demanded an apology for the mishap, they kept the crew of 24 as hostage for eighteen days forming one of the most critical standoffs in U.S. history. After the ten days elapsed, a cataclysmic event shocked the world....

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