Lunatik, you forgot that you are ethnically nothing like the locals and you do not speak their language.
Have you ever tried digging a hole big enough to fit a parachute before? Those patrol assh*les will be onto you in no time. They've probably commandeered a civilian vehicle if they don't have one of their own. But let's assume that you were lucky enough I'll tell you the other side of the story.
The MP Sergeant guarding the bridge realized that the AA gun guys had downed a NATO aircraft and could still see the smoke trail in the sky. Those bastards with the 30mm had done it... and he had thought that it was just ornamental. The MP Sergeant knew they had to get to that pilot fast, there was a cash reward of USD60,000 for any group that managed to capture a downed pilot alive.
The Sergeant whistled and put up four fingers. He'd need four men to come along with him and keep the rest of his 12 man squad behind to secure the bridge. He entrusted that duty to the Corporal who had a hard face formed by growing up in a fishing town, spending many years on trawlers.
He ran over to the communications hut where there was a sedan the Lieutenant in charge of activities on the bridge used (commandeered from some unfortunate soul a month back). He grabbed the keys without even asking and ran towards the spray painted civilian car. "GET IN!" he shouted.
The LT was on him. "What the hell are you doing?"
"The AA guys got the NATO plane, look!" He pointed at the sky, the smoke trail was fast dissapating.
"I'm coming with you!" The LT ran back to grab his carbine and was back in time when the Sergeant got the engine running. "Let's go!" One of the Privates who had to stay was relieved. He had seen one of those American movies about chasing down downed pilots. It seemed pretty dangerous.
The roads in the countryside and the ride was a little bumpy but they made good progress as the Sergeant kept one eye on the sky and the other on the road. Good thing there wasn't hardly any wind today, something he had been cursing on all the other days because of the heat. Soon the smoke trail got thicker and it was the end of the road in the right direction. He killed the engine. They ran in the direction of the crash.
"STOP!" the Sergeant breathed sharply. He trained his ear towards the forest.
"I just heard a snapping twig," said one of the Privates who came along. Just then the Sergeant realized that the new boy was a hunter. He was good at these things. "In that direction."
The Lieutenant smiled. "Let's get him then."
After hours of searching it was getting really dark. The Lieutenant called back to the bridge and told the senior NCO on duty that they would have to spend the night outside to catch up with this NATO pilot.
In the darkness the search party came to a village nearby. They knew where it was because they visited for hot baths every now and then.
Something wasn't quite right. Lights were on in one of the houses when it was clearly lights out at this time. The Sergeant walked up to the door and knocked. No response. He knocked again and listened closely. It sounded like someone was trying to struggle. He kicked the door open and the search party began to investigate. In the kitchen was a family tied up, the man half naked.
"The pilot," the Lieutenant cursed.
The two Privates in the group started untying the family. The father first, to get information.
"It was an enemy soldier," the man said.
"How many?" the Lieutenant asked.
"Just one."
"Did he take your clothes?"
"Yes, he's now wearing a gray t-shirt and a pair of jeans."
"But he did not take your shoes," the officer noticed.
"Yes. His shoes were black."
The family was untied but there were still some things that required asking.
"We're going to have to ask the villagers if they saw anyone walking out of the village at night," the officer told the Sergeant. He agreed.
The Sergeant could see the children were seriously shaken by what had happened. He turned to the man. "Sir, we will require some food, coffee, and if possible bicycles if you can spare them."
"Certainly."
Fifteen minutes later, the search party on a caffeine high rode into the forest on their bicycles in search of the NATO airman that had the nerve to screw up the villagers.
If only we had a dog with us, the officer in the group thought.
