My name is Tanner Pietrowski. I am eighteen years old and I have made a decision that could change my life forever.
My mom is very worried about my decision and my dad is very proud of me. What is my decision you may ask? I have made the decision to join the Marines. More specifically I want to be a Marine sniper. I want to serve my country overseas. My grandpa was in the Army and fought in Korea. I have already completed the Marine training and sniper training and am ready to be sent to battle.
I received a phone call that I would be sent to Iraq in a week and needed to be in West Virginia in a couple days to be sent away. I was excited to be sent but nervous, Nervous about getting killed or badly wounded in battle.
It was finally the day to get sent away. Away from everything, my family, friends, home. I was boarding the plane with about a 100 more soldiers. Our mission was to take out a group of terrorists located in central city of Iraq.
We had just arrived at our base in central Iraq and were going to set out on our mission in the morning. My spotter and I had found a place that we were going to set up at tomorrow because we had heard that the terrorists were planning on passing by the building.
I woke up in the morning, ate some breakfast and headed out to were my spotter and I were going to be camping out at. We got up into the room and set a claymore by every door. We then began our wait. ”Wake up, wake up” I heard my spotter whispering to me. “There are eight enemies heading our way get ready”. I silently brought up my Barrett fifty caliber sniper rifle with variable zoom. I was ready to start mowing. One of the enemies was caring an RPG and I figured that if I shot the missile it would blow up and wipe out all of them. My spotter told me to shoot. I slowly pulled the trigger and watched a big explosion. “Definite hit” i said to my spotter. I had just taken out eight enemies with one shot. We had been told to stay there all day so we couldn’t leave yet.
It was almost time leave when I heard the claymore explode. I quickly turned to the door and pulled out my knife and waited by the door. I heard voices coming up the stairs and started to think about home. All of the things I left behind. I couldn’t think about that right now. I had to protect myself. The first guy came in the door and he stabbed me in the leg I then stabbed him in the chest and he slowly fell to the ground. I grabbed my knife from out of his chest and realized there was another one. I whipped out my .44 revolver and took care of him.
“Are you alright?” my spotter asked me. He could see that I had a stab wound in my leg that was bleeding and my pants were red. We had to call a medic otherwise I would bleed out.
We got on the radio and called for a medic to get us out. They were there in a heartbeat and got us out.
Because I was injured the Marines were forced to send me home. My leg was severely injured and I needed twenty stiches. I was happy that I was able to go home but not for the reason. I was told to pack my bags and that I would be sent home tomorrow. The next morning I boarded the plane and found my seat. I sat next to one of my buddies who was also injured. However he was more severely injured than me.
As I got off the plane I saw my parents standing there. They were overjoyed to see me. They were a little sad that I was injured but still were very happy to see me. My decision was not a bad one and am still very proud of what I did for my country.