It was dark, wind was blowing in my face and there was extremely loud machine running. It took me a moment to realise I was in a helo, in the edge seat with my gun in one hand and roof mounted strap in the other. For some reason I wasn't buckled in and the helo banked, so I leaned. I could see the ground, I felt if I reached out I could almost touch it.
The helo straightened and I looked to my left - my squadmates faces were all blurry. I knew them well; we were like a family, but they were far away. They were there, but unreachable.
"Hey," I called out, but my voice was drowned out by the helo. I couldn't talk to my squadmates, I didn't have a headset and my voice was carried away on the wind.
I looked out the open side - to my right - into the night sky and I felt a tug inside my gut. There was no voice, no magic fairy telling me to jump but when the helo spun I wasn't surprised. I let go of the strap and I flew. Everything went dark.