Staring over the railing of a troop transport at the all too familiar view of the ocean, the water was calm and the sun was rising in a reddish orange hue. A man in his mid 20's with light brown hair, a square looking jaw and deep set blue eyes like they'd seen a thousand deaths sat with a cigarette in hand slowly burning away as he ignored it, deep in thought. He thought about how he could've done better, about all the men lost over the years and how he would've Gladly traded places with any of them. "Sgt Adkins!" Yelled the major, waking him from his deep thought. "Sgt adkins! Where the hell are you!". "Here major bradford, how can I be of service?" Adkins said. Major bradford looked visibilly nervous yet excited, a bad sign. "Get your and your squads asses down to the landing craft now! The assualt on iwo jima begins in 30 minutes, and your squad is the number 2 boat. Get it in gear marine!". "YES SIR" said adkins as he turned and trotted into the transport to gather the stragglers and new guys who hadn't been on deck with him and the rest of the squad. As the last marine in the squad finally fell into formation, sgt adkins hollared "down the net boys! Load that landing craft quickly we are launching the boat in 15 minutes. Jackson, pollard, and evans you guys are boarding last with me." As the the boat was loaded and finally ready to move towards the island, the navy began the bombardment. Thunderous 16 inch guns from all the ships in the bay began to rain hell fire on the japs hiding anywhere near the beach. Whispers ran up and down the landing craft from the new guys "how could anyone survive that?" There's no way any of those dirty japs will survive" "ah shit I wanted to kill em and they're all gonna be dead!". Pollard snickered and looked at adkins "these newbies have no idea what they're in for". Adkins yelled "SHUT THE HELL UP, they can and will survive in numbers higher than you can imagine. They're going to be ready as soon as we touch the beach. Be ready to hit the sand and move as quickly as possible!" Adkins looked bored as he continued " if you have a god pray to them, if you want to take another look at any family pictures now is the time! Some of you will die, if you see the man near you drop you need to keep moving! If you stop for any reason YOU WILL DIE. Check the gear of the man in front of you, once this boat hits the beach you won't have time to piss your pants!". The next few minutes passed slowly in near total silence. The only sounds to be heard were prayers being said as the boat crept up near the beach. "30 SECONDS" screamed the boats driver. Adkins yelled "get your heads out of your asses marines, it's time to move it!" As more of the boats got near the beach the japs finally decided it was time to unleash hell. Machine gun emplacements up and down the beach lit up the incoming boats, mortars began to fall all around the boats in the water, some near misses with others nailing the centers of the boats. Boats began erupting in flames with body parts flying out, screaming men jumping into the water to put the fires on their clothing out. As more men bailed into the ocean with blood soaking their clothing and the water around them, the sharks began making their way into the bay. One in fifteen men who bailed thinking they were safe were dragged down by the sharks. As this horror was happening the first line of surviving landing craft hit the beach.