Trial By Fire (57 page)

With Sergeant Maupin in the lead, Kozak deployed her three dismounted squads. To the right, she placed Maupin and his 1st Squad.

She recommended that he use the Dragon antitank guided missile, and told him that if he waited to fire until after the tank entering the arroyo began to go over the edge, the thin armor of the tank’s top would be exposed. At the range they would be engaging at, the missile would have just enough time to arm. The missile’s flight time, which would be less than three seconds, wouldn’t give the enemy tank commander much time to react. The way Kozak figured, the forward momentum of the tank, and the resulting lack of control as the tank dropped into the arroyo, would prevent the crew from avoiding the guided missile even if they saw it. Because of the need to time the shot, 1st Squad would fire first and initiate the ambush. When Maupin nodded that he under stood,

Kozak sent him and his squad on their way as she moved to the next squad leader.

In the center, she placed Staff Sergeant Strange and his 3rd Squad.

Because they were too close to use their Dragon, she told him they would have to use the AT-4 light antitank rockets. She told Strange that, by crawling up to the edge of the arroyo, where she and Bell had been, he and his squad could fire right down on top of any enemy tank passing below them. Kozak cautioned him, however, to let the tank go a little farther down the arroyo before his squad fired, lest fragments from the explosion of their own antitank rockets on the enemy tank fly back into the gunner’s face.

When Sergeant Zeigler and his 2nd Squad came up, she ordered them to the left. Their mission was to engage any tanks that had gotten past Maupin’s or Strange’s squads. Because the dust might cause problems with the Dragon, she told Zeigler to use his best judgment in deciding which weapon to use. When Zeigler and his squad were gone, Kozak looked about, watching as the three squad leaders quickly positioned their men.

The thought of failure, and its consequences, never crossed her mind.

Nor had she considered what they would do once the ambush had been initiated and the first three tanks were taken out. Kozak, in the rush of events, was taking the problems on one at a time, as they presented themselves to her. Right then, at that particular moment, Kozak’s only concern was that the squads would be set, in place, before the last enemy tank rolled past their position. With the squad leaders doing their jobs, and nothing more for her to do, Kozak placed herself in the center, with the 3rd Squad.

Back at the edge of the arroyo, Kozak crawled up next to Strange, who was peering over the edge. When he saw her, Strange leaned over and whispered, “Any time you’re ready, LT.”

Scooting herself back a few feet, Kozak got up on her knees and looked to her right. Maupin, who had been watching, waved his hand. He was ready. Looking to her left, she caught the attention of Zeigler, who also waved. Turning back to Maupin, she pointed at him. With an exaggerated salute, Maupin acknowledged the order to fire. Turning away from Kozak, Maupin leaned over to look into the arroyo, placing his left hand on his Dragon gunner’s back as he did so. She watched as the two men, squad leader and Dragon gunner, waited for their opportunity. When she saw Maupin’s hand rise, then slap the gunner’s back, she knew it had begun.

Bracing himself for the shock of firing, Maupin’s Dragon gunner leaned into his sight, took one more deep breath, then squeezed the trigger. The whoosh of the missile rocket engine, and the pop, pop, pop of the tiny guidance rockets firing on the sides of the missile, caused everyone in 2nd Platoon to jump a little. Across the arroyo, only the commander of the tank being engaged saw the incoming missile. As Kozak had predicted, there was nothing he could do. Holding onto the edge of the open hatch to his front, he could only watch, eyes and mouth wide open in disbelief, as Maupin’s missile closed on his tank.

The Dragon impacted on the flat turret roof just in front of the tank commander. While the hatch protected his body, his face and head had no protection whatever when the shaped-charge warhead of the Dragon missile detonated. If the injuries to the tank commander’s head and face from the detonation of the Dragon’s warhead were not fatal, the secondary explosion of on-board ammunition was. To protect the main gun ammunition on a T-72, all rounds were stored under the turret floor, in a circular carousel. The angle of attack Maupin’s Dragon gunner used, however, defeated that system. The jet stream from the Dragon’s shaped-charge warhead was driven straight down into the stored ammunition.

Maupin and the rest of his squad watched as a sheet of flame leaped up, engulfing the tank commander. Then, to their utter amazement, the tank shook, then exploded, ripping the turret off the chassis and into the air.

Oblivious to the danger of flying scraps and shrapnel thrown up as the enemy tank tore itself apart, Maupin’s men turned their faces skyward, mouths gaping, as they watched the tank’s turret twirl. It was the first time any of them had seen a tank die.

Though they could clearly hear the destruction of the tank Maupin’s squad had engaged, the rest of 2nd Platoon was too busy to watch. Both Strange’s and Zeigler’s squads were using AT-4 antitank rockets to deal with their target. Because 1st Squad initiated the ambush, and the 3rd Squad could not fire while its intended target was right below it, a strange standoff existed for several seconds between the 3rd Squad and the tank commander on the vehicle below them. Looking back to see what had happened to the tank to his rear, the commander of the vehicle below Strange’s squad looked about, and then up, right at the men of the 3rd Squad.

Had it not been war, the scene would have been comical, with the tank commander, mouth open and eyes wide, looking up at the faces of Strange’s men as they trained two AT-4 antitank rockets on the tank less than six feet below them. The panicked screams of the tank commander were as clear to Strange’s men as they were to his own crew. Only when the commander reached for his machine gun did someone finally do something. Without a second thought, Strange raised his M-16, flipped the safety off with his thumb, and squeezed off a three-round burst. Hit in the back and shoulder, the tank commander dropped down the open hatch of the turret, out of sight, as the tank continued to move down the arroyo and away from Strange’s men. When he thought that there was a comfortable distance between his men and the tank, Strange gave his gunners the order to fire.

Both antitank rockets impacted, striking the top of the engine compartment.

Though their effort yielded a less spectacular result than that of the 1st Squad’s, the resulting damage and fires caused by the antitank rockets were enough to stop the tank. For the longest time, Strange and his squad watched and waited, their rifles and automatic weapons ready, prepared to gun down the crew of the burning tank as they abandoned it.

But no men came out. Only the screams of the crewmen burning to death, screams that seemed more animal than human, came out of the stricken tank. That the tank crew chose to die as they did was almost a disappointment to Strange’s squad. It was a feeling akin to what a hunter experiences when denied the pleasure of a kill he feels he deserves.

Kozak had no time for such feelings. Looking to the left, she noted that Zeigler’s squad had already engaged their tank. She watched as, for whatever reason, a second volley of AT-4 antitank rockets was launched into the tank being engaged by Zeigler’s gunners. Beyond Zeigler’s squad, Kozak could just make out pillars of black smoke farther down the arroyo. That had to be Rivera and the Bradleys. They were engaged.

Waving to Bell to come over, Kozak looked around while she waited, her eyes falling upon the far side of the arroyo, the side the enemy tanks had come from. The fear of not being able to deploy her platoon in time to catch some of the enemy tanks was now replaced with an uneasiness that, in all probability, there were more tanks over there, tanks that could, at that very moment, be massing for an attack. The artillery mission she had requested should have come in by now but hadn’t. When Bell handed her the hand mike, Kozak keyed the radio and called for Rivera.

Instead of Rivera, however, Sergeant Kaszynski, the assistant squad leader for the 1st Squad, replied. Kozak was puzzled. “Alpha two one Alpha, this is Alpha two six. Do you have contact with Alpha two four, over.”

There was a pause before Kaszynski answered. “Two six, this is two one Alpha. Alpha two four’s track has been hit. Over.”

It took Kozak a second to realize the significance of Kaszynski’s statement, given in such a matter-of-fact manner. Her platoon sergeant’s Bradley had been hit. How, she asked herself, could that be? “Alpha two one Alpha. How bad is the damage to two four? Is two four still operational?

Over.”

As she waited, Kozak looked around. Still no artillery on the far side of the arroyo. On this side, all her men were, like Kozak, watching the far side for more tanks. “Two six, this is two one Alpha. We’re kinda busy here right now. Two four’s track is stili moving. There’s a red flag on it. Can’t talk now. We’re engaging a tank. Out.”

A red flag, that meant wounded on board. For a moment, Kozak looked about her and took stock of her platoon’s situation. Deciding that it was pointless to try to talk to Kaszynski while he was engaging, Kozak dropped the matter. By doing so, Kozak realized, she was abdicating control of half her platoon. Not that she could have done much from where she sat, since the Bradleys were somewhere off to her left and out of sight, commanded by assistant squad leaders in combat for the first time, fighting an unknown number of enemy tanks. That left the rest of her people with her, and with no way of getting around except by foot, facing an imminent attack by God knew what from across the arroyo. On top of that, she had no way of knowing for sure if Rivera had ever managed to get a report in to the company commander. Reaching the conclusion that she had screwed things up about as bad as she could on her own, Kozak decided it was time to report directly to Wittworth.

Ordering Bell to turn around so she could change the radio frequency to the company net, Kozak decided that it was time to find out. Using a small plastic-covered card she kept around her neck on her dog-tag chain, she looked up the company frequency and set it on the radio. When it was set, she took the hand mike, keyed the radio, and tried to contact Wittworth.

“Alpha six, this is Alpha two six. Over.”

Wittworth’s response startled Kozak. “Alpha two six, this is Alpha six. Where in the hell have you been? What in the hell are you doing?

Over.”

With Rivera possibly out of action, she wondered how much Wittworth knew. Deciding that she should start by giving him a full report, Kozak tried but was cut off by Wittworth. “Two six, this is six. I say again, what in the hell is going on? Over.”

“Alpha six, this is Alpha two one. Dismounts are located one point three klicks north of checkpoint Charlie three three. We have engaged and destroyed three enemy T-72S at that location. Break. Alpha two four and the tracks are engaging more T-72S vicinity of checkpoint three three.

Alpha two four has been hit. Over.”

“Alpha two six, this is Alpha six. Request you confirm that you are engaging T-72S. The Mexicans don’t have T-72S. Over.”

Wittworth’s last comment struck Kozak, causing her to hold the hand mike out at arm’s length and look at it with a strange expression on her face. Sergeant Strange, who had been watching and listening to what she was saying, asked her what was wrong. Kozak let the hand mike fall to her lap and looked at Strange. “The CO says the Mexicans don’t have T-72S. He wants us to confirm that we’re engaging T-72S.”

Leaning over, Strange looked into the arroyo at the burning T-72 less than ten meters from his location, then back to Kozak. “Well, LT, they got ‘em now.”

Kozak chuckled as she picked up the hand mike. “Alpha six, this is Alpha two six. Affirmative. We are engaging T-72S. Over.”

Without a pause, Wittworth shot back, “This is Alpha six. That’s not possible. Over.”

Before she realized what she was doing, Kozak keyed the hand mike.

“Six, this is two six. Well they got them now. If you wait a minute, I’ll let you talk to one of their tank commanders. Over.”

Strange, as well as those members of his squad who could hear, began howling over Kozak’s statement. As she waited for Wittworth’s response, she looked up at Strange and his soldiers. Unable to restrain herself, she also began to laugh. What an idiot, she thought. He’s nowhere near the fighting and he’s telling me what I see. What an idiot!

The next voice that came over the radio surprised both Wittworth and Kozak. Blue 6, the battalion commander, had been listening on the company radio net.

“Alpha two six, this is Blue six. I’ve monitored your report and have your Bradleys and the T-72S in sight. You’re doin’ a great job, two six.

I have some fast movers and snakes coming your way. Do you have smoke to mark your position? Over.”

Though she had no idea what snakes were, Kozak asked Strange if he had any colored smoke. Pulling a canister from his web belt, he showed it to Kozak. “Is violet okay, LT?”

Giving Strange the thumbs-up, Kozak informed the battalion commander that she had colored smoke.

“Okay, Alpha two six. The forward air controller is asking to pop that smoke now. The fast movers will be coming in from the southeast.

Over.”

Hesitating, Kozak wondered if it was such a good idea to mark her own position. If friendly forces could see the smoke, the enemy forces could also. Still, the battalion commander had told her to pop smoke. Without another thought, Kozak told Strange to pop the smoke and toss it to the rear of their position so they could mark it for an air strike. She waited until the dark violet smoke cloud was well developed before she reported back.

“Roger, Alpha two six. We have your smoke. Fast movers inbound now. When they finish, I want you to collect some prisoners, pronto. We need to find out who’s driving those tanks. Over.”

“Blue six, this is Alpha two six. Wilco on the prisoners. Will advise you when we have them in hand. Over.”