What defines a hero

I'm wasn't exactly sure what bravery was until I fought in the Middle East.  It was on this day April 3,2007, that Sgt. Sparks showed what a real American Solider was.

It was early in the morning and our platoon was just getting suited up to head out on a patrol.  It was a hot morning that day, around 90˚ at 8am and we were carrying around twenty pounds of gear.  You don't know how bad it sucks to be lugging gear that early with that much heat.  We were all ready to set out when a mortar came soaring over our heads and detenated right in our camp.  The blast was so deafening that my ears rang non-stop, so much so that I couldn't hear for the time being. 

We rushed back to what was left of the camp, my hearing slowly coming back and what a horrible time to come back.  All i heard was men screaming for medics and for help.  It was the most terrifying sight I have ever seen and to be so helpless didn't make it any better.  Thats when Sgt. Sparks dropped his gear and amidst all the yelling, carnage and chaos started taking control of the situation.  He told a group of men to stand guard outside, and then at a flick of is fist he ordered another group of men to search for any medical supplies.

I was ordered to tend to any solider needing medical attention.  I came across my friend, Chris laying in his bedrack, surrounded by blood.  I just looked at him and froze, I couldn't even think, i couldn't even move.  I checked his pluse but I guess I was blind to the fact that there was a giant piece of shrapnel sticking out from his chest.  I knelt down beside him, said a prayer, and covered his body up.  It was bad enough knowing that Chris wasn't the only death that day. 

Why was this happening, we were a post that was away from all the action, a peaceful post that did routine checks and visited people in the cities.  It was not time to ask questions, it was time to do my work.

"Sgt. Sparks!  What do we do now?" I yelled from across the wasted camp.

"I want you to secure the perimeter on the south side of this camp.  We don't know if there is going to be a follow up.."  Suddenly Sgt. Sparks feel to the floor as a bullet ripped through his chest.  He hit the floor with such a thud, it scared me.  Standing behind my CO was a man, dressed in desert garb with an Ak-47.  He looked around and started firing round after round, hitting living men and even the wounded ones.  We were so stunned that he just killed Sparks that we were caught off guard.  I quickly dove a truck.  All I could hear was the sound of a fire fight and my yelling.  It was a terrifying situation.

I layed flat on my stomach to get a better view of what I should do.  I saw more robed men walk into the camp looking over everyone.  I picked up my rifle, raised it, set it on the hood of the truck and fired off 15 rounds towards the men.  I closed my eyes and hoped for the best.  When I opened my eyes I had shot and killed four men and scared off the rest.  I quickly hustled back to the camp to see who I could find that was still alive.  I walked around dead men, men asking for help but my focus was on Sgt. Sparks.  As I approched him, he rasied his head and said, "You really think those cowardly bastards got me?"

He was injured pretty badly taking a shot through the shoulder but he wasn't wasted and I had a fear that this fire fight was only beginning.

"Come sir, we gotta get you to a safer place." I said as I picked him up.  More men rasied their heads and slowly got up joining us as we walked back to the truck where I once lay.  Sparks, even when injured, was determined to finish his job.  He starting assigning men to positions around the back side of the camp, and he took myself and him around the corner to cut off any first attack.

"I know your tough solider, thats why your here with me.  We are the first line of defense, we are here to save your fellow soliders from a second wave.  Are you with me on this?"  He said.  His stern voice reassured me.

"Yes sir, any day."  I replied.

We were waiting for about 20 minutes until, just over the horizon, we noticed a group of twelve to fourteen men, coming towards our camp.  They were in shooting range and Sparks lifter his rifle, looked down the sight and fired off a single round, removing one man from the group of twelve.  They scambled as Sparks and I fired our weapons pumping rounds into their bodies, dropping them like flies.  I was so caught up in the moment of trying to shoot them, that it was only when someone yelled that I noticed I had been hit and almost exactly at that time, I heard medic trucks rushing into the camp maknig a heavy perimeter.

It was this day April 3, 2007 that I realized what heroism was and what it took to be a true American hero.  Even when wounded, Sgt. Sparks still held his men under control, helped save the lives of many and set an amazng example of a leader.