A/N:

1. This chapter is when the volunteer troops went fighting in the jungle for the first time.

2. Video title: The Warrior's Path.

Warning: This chapter contains usage of child soldier (child abuse), and a reference to mutilation with the main inspiration is several events in Iraq during the war with ISIS.

Source:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2993300/Mutilated-beheaded-thrown-deaths-tall-buildings-time-pictures-claim-ISIS-fighters-subjected-wartime-atrocities-allegedly-carried-Iraqi-forces.html

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/horrific-pictures-shows-iraqis-beating-9281716

http://www.news.com.au/world/middle-east/isis-enemy-the-beheader-claims-to-have-killed-130-terrorists/news-story/ff7b67c2ebab664f02a2f55981678dbd

3. Enjoy the battle!

......

04.45 WIB, FOB "Merdeka", Rangkasbitung, Lebak, Banten, Three weeks after the liberation of Rangkasbitung

Staff Sgt. Stephen Downing, A Company, 288th Infantry Battalion "Pelangi Nusantara", Army National Volunteer Force attached to 15th Mechanized Brigade "Dharmawangsa" 7th Infantry Division "Jayakarta"

"Attention!" said Major Wambe.

"Freedom isn't Free!" he shouted opening the mission briefing.

"Rainbows!"

Wambe began his briefing "Today, the Rainbows will be redeployed to a village called Pabuaran, near Mount Karang (a dormant volcano)."

"About time" I could hear William's reply on the new order.

"Well, I don't think we want to be here forever, right? We got more places to clean up." replied Rudi, still as enthusiastic as ever.

His wording about "clean up" resonates deeply inside me, after what I have seen so far with the liberated Rangkasbitung. Particularly when we took guard duty in the outer perimeter of a hastily erected gallow in front of the Regent's Office used to punish high level collaborators, just in time for one condemned to be hanged there in public. In addition, our stay in the city was at the same time as the Volunteer Force's reorganization.

The moment when we were announced to be one of the first unit to be regularized with it's corresponding battalion standard were the most prideful one for an old soldier like me who survived Afghanistan and missed the adventure upon being civilian once more, and I cannot be grateful about the decision of my home country to support Indonesia in her moment of need.

Back to the present; For the girls under my wing, Agnes was the most ecstatic. "Finally a new job."

"All of you, silence. Now, where did I left things off? Your mission there will be clear and hold. The locals there were divided, some are loyal and some are pro NII. Intelligence believed that the village contained weapons and explosives inside the village particularly in the local mosque. Also pay attention to the forests in the vicinity of the mountain, because another report said the NII rebels have clandestine weapons factory there. Enemy size estimated to be 200 well hidden and well-entrenched enemy fighters."

"There are reports of the existence of a communist cell there as well, agitating farmers there to join their rebellion."

"During the way, keep your eyes peeled for ambushes and IEDs. Helicopter and drone support are ready and available. Use it to your own advantage. Further detail will be explained once you arrive there. Before we're moving out, let's pray for our success, prayer start!"

A few seconds later... "Prayer's over. Good luck and make the Motherland proud! Freedom isn't free!" Wambe shouted.

"Rainbows!" we replied once again.

"Battalion mount!"

The journey went unmolested and our trucks arrived on the border of the village hours later at dawn. But upon disembarking, we were greeted with gunfire went out near our position in a wooden area.

Heavy machine gun and miniguns were quickly brought up to bear, as we began our pursuit into the woods.

I signaled to my squad to fix bayonets, started with my own SS-2 carbine.

"Takbir!" The moment was there - one rebel unsheathed a machete and tried to charge at me and ended up impaling himself. Another poor bastard soon fell to the cold steel as the rebel tried to aim his SS2 at Putu.

To our surprise in the middle of this firefight, "Sir!" said Rudi which had run to my position after voluntarily scouted the enemy position, looked disturbed. He later said "I think those bastards have child soldiers!! Should we engage?" I replied while trying to get the picture of the situation, and with my scope, I saw several platoon-sized kids as young as 9, together with several adult "handlers" shooting AK-47 and M16 rifles at the Indonesian forces' position. I quickly called our superiors.

"This is Alpha Victor White 6 Actual, we have encountered NII child soldiers. Request authorization to engage."

Then Maj. Wambe replied "To friendly units, be advised the enemy had dastardly brainwashed children to fight against their own country. They are now capable to harm innocent lives and had engaged us in combat. Most of the kids, however, were families of corrupt officials especially police officers. High command had given us order to treat them as adult combatants. So, engage at will, I repeat, engage at will!"

I later ordered. "You heard the danyon (Battalion CO), we will end their misery! Waste them!"

Just like Taliban or ISIS, I suppose. That feeling of pity despite some of those kids are 'tainted' according to the current societal discourse, passed by as as mortars, grenades, RPG launchers, and rifle fire silenced the gunfire from the child soldier's position while the 288 began to take casualties on our own.

Example one, PFC Mohammad bin Syafat, a Malaysian volunteer from the 3rd platoon A Coy took a bullet on his head, an instant death. On our left flank, an NCO in the 2nd Platoon, B Coy, Corporal Patricia Liuputri fell by a NII grenade thrown towards her unit. Know there was insufficient time to throw the grenade back, she used her body to shield her squad leader, Sgt. Eddy Heryawan and her other comrades from the explosion. The sergeant survived with light wounds. Three more volunteers from 3rd Platoon B Coy were severely injured after stepping a tripwire connected to an IED and must be evacuated by air.

But their sacrifices were not in vain. After 1,5 hours of firefight, drone swarm overhead from the brigade command finished the remaining fighters by raking their position with machine guns, while others engaged the belatedly deployed enemy one. Those little friends came from the West and proceed to lead the ensuing pursuit. Finally, in the forested area near the foot of the mountain, we found several small NII shack-like chain of outposts with associated bivouac, supplies, and equipment such as diesel generators, fuel drums filled with diesel fuel, supply depot with 4 boxes of ammunition and RPG grenades together with its launchers, materials commonly used for making IEDs, a 3D Printer, dozens of FPV drones, and several sheets of documents, the latter quickly seized by soldiers from the intelligence section, which I hope containing actionable intel.

Like usual, we seized guns from dead rebels. I managed to reach the part of the woods when we encountered NII child soldiers for the first time, followed by my squad.

"So young, they were supposed to play with their peers, go to school, appreciate our natural environment, and many more things as a child instead of fighting in the name of religion, no matter their parents crimes." said Ramlan upon seeing the corpse of NII child soldiers. Serenity painted on their faces after all of misery and abuse the kids received by the terrorists. Agnes broke down in tears, hugged by William who's also disgusted by the sight of dead jihadi kids. Others looked at the dead kids and their handler with contempt against the rebels, visible on their eyes.

Rudi, drenched with anger, kicked one of the adult corpses and shouted in English. "Those animals stole their childhood forever. Animals!"

He later pulled out his combat knife and knelt over a dead adult NII fighter which looks like their "handler" and I knew what he will do to the corpse and called him;

"Rudi, what are you doing?"

He replied, dryly "Taking souvenir, sir. Like what the Iraqis did with bodies of ISIS fighters, why we don't do it here too? NII is the same as ISIS and deserves the same treatment."

"Put it back, this is an order! To desecrate their body by cutting off their heads, or other parts, will that make you any better? Or when you took a selfie with a severed head of a terrorist and send it to your parents, do you think they will approve it?" I asked, certainly horrified with his intention.

Hangings were dreadful enough. Or how some of those kids' parents or grandparents were disgraced elites.

He answered me as he holstered his knife, and faced me; his rifle on his back.

"Nothing, sir, It can't resurrect those kids, or soldiers, or policemen who had been killed fighting those rebels, for example. It also will make me not different from the terrorists and I could end up facing court-martial." I decided to hug him afterward and softly said: "You and I are believers of God, and we are the agent of His justice, It will and has come to them."

"... we are His soldiers under the Indonesian flag, the proud red and white, please show our people, and the world, that we are different than them. Difficult, but it must be done." with tears out of my eyes. He also teared up while I hug him, with a fatherly hug. Yes, hugging fellow comrades in war isn't prohibited.

"Thank you, sarge," he said. I am the oldest people in the squad, being 42 and so the young guns entrusted to me with most of them are in their early 20s and still have parents, are looking at me as father and leader figure on the field.

Later the radio crackled "Be advised, the 1125th Battalion main element had arrived near your position to reinforce ours and deal with the enemy outpost you discovered. Rainbows, we will enter the village themselves, reinforcing National Guard and Police which also had arrived to cordon and search the village. Any request from the forces?" said Major Wambe on the radio. I can see Captain Wuwur talked on the comm "A company requested 250 bodybags to evacuate the dead, over."

......................................................................................

09.30 Western Indonesia Time, Pabuaran village, Pandeglang Regency, Banten

PFC. Muhammad Ramlan.

"I can't believe those scum did that to kids, Corporal. Not gonna lie, I want to puke."

"Yeah, poor bastards." answered Widya, as the whole battalion exited the woods and into the village proper.

Near our current check point position, Banten Guardsmen were rounding up random men for interrogation. Nearby, a group of female soldiers from a civil affairs platoon attached from brigade support battalion entered a local school to "win their hearts" by helping students doing myriad tasks, such as maintaining the local Victory Garden planted two days ago in the school for an additional food source, delivering supplies, etc.

"... she is best girl"

"No... Yuuki is better you know"

And then

"Halt!" Widya raised his hand toward two young men riding a motorbike. Together with two regular soldiers, we checked their bodies and the motorbike with the database collected by intelligence folks.

"Please show me your identities." I asked the two motorists. They showed me their ID card and valid driver's license. A soldier also checked their mobile phones to check for suspicious messages or pictures containing terrorist material. They came out clear so we let them go. Suddenly, from several houses and the forests, I can see a group of armed men, but they put their hands up and one of them carrying a white flag. Other soldiers received their surrender.

Later, a farmer came towards us and said, giving us a poster, turned out to be propaganda for an FDNI-affiliated organization, the Konsorsium Pembaruan Agraria (Consortium of Agrarian Reform) (1), and said with a hushed voice to avoid unwanted attention. "Sir, yesterday I have attended their meeting in the local village hall, and obtained some interesting information and given this poster. Our village head and some of these village representatives should be detained. He secretly under the FDNI pocket so he permitted the Reds to do their activities unchecked. As you know, we also often reported unwanted fees we should give to those people, so-called revolutionary tax. Especially if you have a business (shopowners, craftsmen and other light industry, and especially tourism). Those people helped drive out the jihadists (by passing intelligence to the government forces and loyalists), but later started their own movement here."

True to the farmer's word, Cipait's village head was an FDNI agent and was apprehended along with several village representatives. No shot was fired in the process, which was the desirable outcome

In a coffee shop nearby, there were five more arrests, revealed to be FDNI members inside the village.

Guardsmen and police officers seized documents and pistols from their hands, and near a banana tree, officers found a hidden pouch with two MP5 submachineguns with its magazines. There was also a report of the village's local mosque contained another arms cache with M16, SS1, SS2, and AK-47 rifles, bomb-making materials, and canned foods, together with an NII flag.

After the discovery, the command had decided that every inhabitant of the village including schoolkids were to be gathered up in the local football field. Minutes later, Major Wambe, the highest-ranking officer available, addressed the crowd.

"Good morning and sorry for the inconvenience caused to your own activities. Today as part of the defense of our nation, we searched this village and your chief turned to be a Communist. He will soon face justice."

"...To anyone who was involved in activities of the FDNI or NII, please step forward and turn right into the table right there. Don't be afraid. No harm will come for those who are innocent."

Some people who turned themselves up also surrendered their terror-related materials and weapons, knowing that we're keeping our word. Most were required to undergo "reporting obligation" (wajib lapor) in the local police station, which also staffed with several members of the Army's Banten National Guard.

Others whose names matched the database and deemed dangerous enough to be let go with reporting obligation or have no people who were able to give them a guarantee were separated and led into nearby police and army vehicles for further processing in Rangkasbitung.

Just another day in my new office I suppose.

A/N:

(1). A real left-leaning organization advocating agrarian reform, farmer's rights, and land rights in Indonesia.