Victory Point - Ed Darack [122]
“I know. We’re smokin’ like champs up here. Be bad if we ran out.”
“Well, don’t worry. Middendorf’s got more. We’ll consolidate forces, and then we’ll raid Dorf’s smokes.” Konnie shot the captain a wry, conspiratorial grin.
Grissom just shook his head, trying to hide his laughter. “I guess this is what they mean when they say ‘alone and unafraid,’ ” he stated.
“Sir . . .” Konnie paused, holding back laughter. “At least we have each other.”
“Go lead Marines, Konstant.”
With that, Konnie set about reinforcing the camp’s defense, sending the two scout/snipers attached to Fox-3 and five other Marines to an observation point to the west of the patrol base. Pigeon, wanting to know how things in the area looked from up high, kept radio contact with two A-10s flying above the Chowkay. With a variety of targeting sensors, the A-10s would be able to pass information to the FAC while he directed them to sweep the area. When the seven Marines Konnie had sent out established a firm position, a sergeant in the group radioed a grid of their exact location, which Konnie passed on to Pigeon. But the seven were looking to find an even better location, so they set out to reconnoiter ground a few hundred yards to their north. Realizing that their initial location gave them a better view of the surrounding area, they turned back.
“Konnie,” Pigeon said, “A-10s reporting personnel moving toward the snipers’ grid they just occupied.”
“Movers, huh?” Pigeon gave Konnie the location at which the A-10 pilots had reported seeing the suspected bad guys; they’d approached from north of the snipers’ grid. “If they’re heading south to the snipers’ grid, then there’s about to be an ambush.” Konnie paused for a moment. “Tell the A-10s to take them out, sir. Tell them to take them out now!” he exclaimed.
“Okay. That’ll be danger-close” (a situation where friendlies lie close enough to a target to risk getting hit). But Pigeon, studying his map and the terrain before him, had doubts about the accuracy of the grid. “I want you to do a show-of-force run. I repeat—show-of-force run.” Pigeon directed the A-10 to essentially perform just a flyby, without releasing any ordnance—showing, but not applying, force. He then contacted the sniper team; “One of the A-10s will be coming in—if he’s aimed at you, let me know. Let me know immediately.” The burly Warthog banked hard and put its nose toward the ground, the barrel assembly of the 30 mm rotary gun protruding from the craft like a blunt stinger.
“He’s pointed right at us. Right at us!” came the call from the snipers as they eyed the fast-approaching bulk of a huge gun framed by a gray fuselage, wings, engines, and tail fins.
“ABORT—ABORT—ABORT,” Pigeon boomed over the radio to the A-10, instinctively calling for the aircraft to break off its attack vector, even though the pilot had no clearance—or intention—to release ordnance. The pilot rolled out of the dry run, spewing flares on his egress.
“Holy shit, Pigeon. I almost smoke-checked seven of our own guys,” Konnie remarked as his face turned ashen. “Man. You saved eight lives just now.” He paused. “Those seven—and me . . . from drinking myself to death before I reached thirty.”
“Just doin’ my job, Konnie,” the FAC calmly replied.
And with Fox-3 red on everything essential, Pigeon would continue to work his job at a feverish pace that morning—Jeremy Whitlock and his staff already had Fox’s vital supplies roaring toward the Chowkay. Cruising at more than a mile above the Hindu Kush, the crew of an Air Force C-130E Hercules gently pushed the big craft lower in altitude as they equalized the pressure inside the airplane with that of the outside air. On cue from the pilot, one of the Hercules’ loadmasters released the rear doors on the craft at ten thousand feet above sea level. The upper door hydraulically tucked inside the bird as the lower ramp folded and locked flat, revealing a roughly ten-by-seven-foot open-air “window” to eastern Afghanistan. The four powerful turboprops echoed throughout the Chowkay in a dull hum, announcing the approach of the