Chosen Soldier - Dick Couch [100]
Matt Anderson leads 811 away from the Pinelander’s camp a few hundred meters, where they go on another security halt. There he makes his way around the perimeter, briefing his men in twos and threes. “Here’s the deal,” he whispers to them. “We have a raid target that’s about five klicks [five kilometers, or five thousand meters] east of here. I plan to cover as much ground as we can while we have some light. When we get to the target area, we’ll set up a patrol base this side of the target and do the recon. Our scheduled hit time is at first light. The same standard procedures and signals remain in effect. Let’s get ready to move out.”
Eight-one-one moves into its patrol base shortly after midnight. The men set out security and begin to rotate the personnel on watch, while the others get a few hours of sleep. Anderson, Kendall, Dolemont, and Baker get no sleep. They go forward to conduct the recon of the target. They move around the target, making observations and taking notes. The sentry role players at the ammo depot don’t get much sleep, either, as they man a guard post and perform roving security duties for the benefit of the student raiders moving silently out in the bush. Anderson leaves Baker and Dolemont with a squad radio to keep eyes-on the target while he and Kendall return to the patrol base to brief 811 on their target. Well before dawn, they return to the target site and dump their rucks. Then Anderson goes about the business of placing his C-team in a good fire-support position and his A-team in a good assault position. They move carefully and quietly in the predawn darkness. Before the sun is up, the bark of the 240 shatters the dawn. Moments later, the 811 A-team swarms over the enemy ammo depot like a medieval plague. When the site is secure, it becomes a cataloging-and-destruction exercise. There are boxes of ammunition and shipping crates of rifles, rockets, and claymore mines. Anderson directs the inventory of the cache, and then 811 rigs ordnance for demolition.
After Sergeant First Class Warner, the cadre sergeant at the ammo depot target, gives them an after-action critique, 811 gets a new set of coordinates. Then Sergeant Warner, based on written instructions from Sergeant Janss, makes leadership changes and releases 811 to continue its journey. None of the men in 811 know how many targets they have before them or even how many days they will be in the field. They do know this is the twenty-ninth day of their thirty-five-day Phase II training. All they can do is patrol to their next set of coordinates and radio in for instructions. With Hall and 811’s two officers finished with their leadership duties, the X-Rays begin to take their turns as patrol leader. Specialist Kendall assumes duties as the patrol leader for the third target, a raid on an enemy radio-relay site. At this target, there is a designated time for the attack, and the team is given intelligence that a courier with sensitive information is to visit the site around noon. Kendall has to get his men in place and be prepared to initiate his attack when the courier arrives. Eight-one-one works the target area in a steady downpour. At 1155, a cadre sergeant arrives in a pickup truck, only to be shot to pieces as 811 makes its assault.
At this target, 811 has some problems. The communication