Suddenly his view is obscured by a blinding light and he pulls the goggles off to see what just happened.

A red flare glows in the mud ahead of him. Smouldering and red hot. He quickly unslings the rifle and draws his sword, spinning around to face the treeline while tossing the backpack onto the roof of the beast. Then stamps on the flare driving it into the mud while pulling a grenade from his belt. The pin is out but he holds the clip tight to prevent the trigger from engaging. This was an ambush, and he’d walked right into the kill zone - Again.

He hears movement to his left and without hesitation throws the grenade towards it before sliding the goggles back down and fires at the treeline in another direction to pick off anything that moves.