“Be careful because you need to check the altimeter as you are going down. If your view gets obscured you will ne-“

The wind roared as the plane door opened and whatever critical information that was being imparted was sucked out into the open sky, soon followed by a line of heavily armed and armoured men, each taking their turn to stand at the exit and briefly pause before stepping out into the air and dropping out of sight.

All sound disappeared. The sergeant’s screams of “Go! Go! Go!”, the peppering of bullets, the intermittent radio communications; sucked into the void by the wind. Soon it was his turn. He paused at the door and the sound rushed back in.

Boom! He stood still, paralyzed as he observed the aftermath of a massive explosion that rocked the earth below him. “Be careful”, he thought before stepping over the edge.