James Rosone - Battlefield Russia

When they arrived at their vehicles, Price and Martinez discovered that a couple of them had been destroyed by mortars, and one was simply too damaged to be used. Martinez looked around the motley crew nearby and sadly commented, “Looks like we lost several Rangers in this last battle though, so there’s no risk of leaving anyone behind from Third or Fourth Platoon.”

Just as they were about to leave, a massive artillery bombardment slammed into both the enemy lines and their own lines, where they had just been a few minutes earlier. This was their fire support to cover their retreat as they sped away in their vehicles back to the airfield.

As he sat in the passenger seat of the SOF JLTV, Sergeant Price was exhausted. His hands were shaking as they sped away quickly to the protective perimeter of the airfield. The drive was short, roughly twenty minutes, but it felt like an eternity.

Eventually, they found the entrance to the newly built perimeter, and some of the infantrymen guided them in. Price was glad to see the familiar outline of the Stryker vehicles in the dusk, as well as the Army soldiers manning the various machine-gun bunkers. He was also happy to see the trenches that the engineers had managed to dig and at least one row of concertina wire that had been placed.

The convoy of vehicles made its way to the center of the airfield where the bombed-out hangar was that the Rangers had taken over. Major Fowler was there waiting to greet them. He gestured with his hand in a way that indicated he was performing a head count of the men, and his face dropped. Only sixty-two of the original ninety men had returned.

When the vehicles finally stopped next to the bombed-out hangar, medics rushed forward to help assist with the wounded soldiers. One of the medics announced, “We have helicopters inbound to evacuate the wounded.”

Sergeant Price climbed out of the vehicle, and Major Fowler walked toward him. Price’s right hand continued shaking as he tried to steady himself. Then he bent over and threw up. Unable to control the flood of emotions that was washing over him, he dropped to his knees and suddenly began sobbing.

Major Fowler stopped in his tracks for a second. A few of the other Rangers were reacting the same way. Despite his overwhelming physical reaction, Sergeant Price spotted Fowler waving down Lieutenant Martinez.

“What the heck happened, Lieutenant? Some of your men look to be coming apart,” he said with concern in his voice.

Martinez paused for a second. “It was terrible, Sir… it was worse than terrible. It was pure murder. Whoever the enemy commander was, he just kept ordering these militiamen forward. They just kept charging and charging right into our machine guns, our Claymores, grenades and artillery. The entire ground in front of our position was awash in torn and mangled bodies, Sir,” he explained. “It was pure murder,” he repeated.

Major Fowler just stood there dumbfounded for a moment, not knowing with what to say or how to respond. He hadn’t expected this, especially from his most battle-hardened platoon and Rangers. Looking at what remained of the platoon, he quickly observed that these guys were useless to him as a fighting force for the moment. He’d need to give them some time if he hoped to get them back into the battle anytime soon.

For the next half hour, he and his first sergeant spent their time just consoling and helping their fellow Rangers, calming them and letting them know it would be OK.

“This slaughter wasn’t your fault,” he told several of the soldiers. “You were just doing your jobs. If you want to blame anyone, blame me, or the enemy who placed those men in that position.”

The battle for India was going to be much more difficult than he’d anticipated.

Miranda and I hope that you have been enjoying the Red Storm Series. We are on track to release the last book, Battlefield China, on December 16, 2018. You can click on the link in the title here to preorder your copy. Our audiobook versions of World War III are also coming along: Prelude to World War III, Operation Red Dragon, and Operation Red Dawnhave been completed, and Cyber Warfare and the New World Order is currently in production.

We need your help. The two biggest ways that you can help us to succeed as authors are:

1. Leave us a positive review on Amazon and Goodreads for each of our books you liked reading. These reviews really make a difference for other prospective readers, and we sincerely appreciate each person that takes the time to write one.

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We have really appreciated connecting with our readers via social media. Sometimes we ask for help from our readers as we write future books (we love to draw upon all your different areas of expertise). We also have a group of beta readers who get to look at the books before they are officially published and help us fine-tune last-minute adjustments. If you would like to be a part of this team, please go to our author website: http://www.author-james-rosone.com, and send us a message through the “Contact” tab. You can also follow us on Twitter: @jamesrosone and @AuthorMirandaW. Our Facebook website is also a good place to connect: https://www.facebook.com/JamesRosone/We look forward to hearing from you.

You may also enjoy some of our other works. A full list can be found below:

Prelude to World War III: The Rise of the Islamic Republic and the Rebirth of America

Operation Red Dragon and the Unthinkable

Operation Red Dawn and the Invasion of America

Cyber Warfare and the New World Order

Traitors Within

Battlefield Ukraine

Battlefield Korea

Battlefield Taiwan

Battlefield Pacific

Battlefield Russia

Battlefield China(available for preorder, to be released December 16, 2018)

I have been pretty open with our fans about the fact that PTSD has had a tremendous direct impact on our lives; it affected my relationship with my wife, job opportunities, finances, parenting—everything. It is also no secret that for me, the help from the VA was not the most ideal form of treatment. Although I am still on this journey, I did find one organization that did assist in the healing process for me, and I would like to share that information.

Welcome Home Initiative is a ministry of By His Wounds Ministry, and they run seminars for veterans and their spouses for free. The weekends are a combination of prayer and more traditional counseling and left us with resources to aid in moving forward. The entire cost of the retreat—hotel costs, food, and sessions, are completely free from the moment the veteran and their spouse arrive at the location.

If you feel that you or someone you love might benefit from one of Welcome Home Initiative’s sessions, please visit their website to learn more: https://welcomehomeinitiative.org/

We have decided to donate a portion of our profits to this organization, because it made such an impact in our lives and we believe in what they are doing. If you would also like to donate to Welcome Home Initiative and help to keep these weekend retreats going, you can do so by following this link: https://welcomehomeinitiative.org/donate/

AAV — Amphibious Assault Vehicle

AD — Armored Division

AKA — Also Known As

AWOL — Absent Without Leave

BND — Bundesnachrichtendienst (German intelligence)