Fog of War

Since I rode with the Company Commander we were in search for an ideal spot to set up his command post the driveway that we had just escaped had not provided us with any cover.  I made a mistake.  We walked down that drive with flashlights which I believe is what provided them a target. I am thankful that nobody was killed because of it. 

We turned down the next corner and again dismounted to patrol in front of the vehicles. McDonald made it from the back of the vehicle to the front before he passed out from his concussion. I was on the left side of the road and he was on the right. I ran over and sat him up by yanking his Flak. When he sat up he woke up and jumped to his feet not knowing where he was, spinning and pointing his rifle in every direction. Thompson reported more shots coming from the front.

The confusion of battle is described as the fog of war in which there no longer is a clear plan as to what you are doing, just reacting to whats going on without the confidence of whether you are making the right decisions.  McDonald was injured. We were taking fire and the mission of finding a place to set up command was still a priority.

    We medevaced McDonald and found our CP. Scouts cleared two huge houses and set up our LPOP (listening post/observation post) on the roof of the house on the West bank of the Euphrates. Everything was quiet for a couple of hours. Then it began to rain. The lightning from the storm gave away our position and we watched as an anti-aircraft gun walked its tracers down from the sky on to our rooftop. We returned fire, as did the LAV's on the ground. They stopped shooting at us with the AA gun, but small arms continued through the night.

Nobody slept that night.  We fought in the rain.  I was terrified. The fog had lifted and we knew what we needed to do.  We killed them before they killed us.  With the night almost over and the realization that we had survived, I remember thinking that it seemed that night had lasted a week.  How I had been blown up only hours ago and thinking if I would see McDonald again, I wouldn't. 

When the sun rose we saw at least a dozen sandbag reinforced fighting positions that we had taken out in the through the night. Things were quiet until two RP-G's were launched at us from a house just off to our south on the other side of the river, one bouncing off of black 4's LAV.  My scouts engaged as I called for fire with the 81mm mortars. After two adjustments, I fired for effect with the rounds dropping right on top of the house. I shot three more fire missions through out the day.