The Unavoidable

After my baby teeth fell out following running into an Iraqi T-72 tank and with some unaware Iraqi Republican Guardsmen. We had splashed that, and had to

huff it on foot for about another 12-15 minutes to reach our first destination. It was a good sized building that was mostly unused that US intelligence assets

had identified before the beginning of the fight it looked like it was going to be used for some sort of manufacturing or construction. It was just more or less a

hollow building with a a hollow concrete on the outside. It had been identified recently but to make certain, we entered quietly and swept the place making

sure it was clear of any enemy soldiers or possibly heavy machine gun mounted emplacements. We were lucky on this it was clear, to begin we needed a small

and securable place where we could set up equipment and a larger map. You just don't run around all over the city, it is very organized, here another team of

Army Delta Force was soon behind us. These guys are great, I have a couple of very good acquaintances to this day that was a member of this team.

Unfortunately they had not been completely trained on some of the new equipment, this was job #1 from us in the beginning. Us and teams like us had

fanned out all over the city, and as they say, there is no substitute for experience.
I met there commander, who was a 2nd Lieutenant, where there were 16 of us

there were 20 of these guys. This building was quite spacious so there was not a space problem. Up until now, as we acquainted ourselves with one another,

setting up a temporary post like this is something we train on heavily. Gunner, my non commissioned officer was going around and posting guys as lookouts so

we did not get a nasty surprise. We had moved a large table, which was used for construction over to the center of the room, and one my men who I shall call

Railroad got to setting up a large map, and we began to break equipment out. We had ours out and ready to use, this was for the Delta Force guys, I was going

through familiarizing the 2nd Lt., his Sgt. and three guys he had picked and was demonstrating the equipment. Uses, function, what this was what that was, we

had been at it for about ten minutes. He could be hard to hear at times as Cruise missiles and various coalition aviators were still bombing the crap out of stuff.

Now, as perfect as this had seemed to go so far, as we know in life, nothing is perfect. We started getting quick flashlight signals from the various sentries one

one side of the building, of people approaching on foot. All the lighting was killed, night vision goggles were put back on and we all got good positions to

cover the main entrance. Several guys came in, and this was very tense, yet we were well trained. I could soon tell these were British SAS forces of the coalition,

there is a way we identify each other. My Sgt, spoke in a medium voice to them and identified US Army and Delta Force units, which was us and everyone

lowered their weapons. These kinds of things happen in large scale infantry movements. I met their commander, who I will just call The Brit, they were

having equipment problems which can also be quite problems and were a bit out of their position from where they were supposed to be. So they hung out

with us, and used a satellite phone to figure out where they needed to be, there were 8 of them. Great guys, once we were done with that darned revolutionary

war, an American soldier is always happy to see UK combat infantry in any field, especially SAS, they are extremely well trained. They folded right in with us, we

consulted the map as to their destination and it was the way my group was headed once we broke up. We quickly agreed there was safety in numbers, so

they would huff it with us till we got to the right location. I had radio, call central command and identify their group and unit number, all the commands from the

various coalition forces were folded together. Command was quick to return a command letting us know this was what we should do. It was funny, we had

already decided this and upon hearing command's acknowledgment, the big Brit said, "Thank God for them, no ****." In tense moments, and believe me we

were all stressed stuff like this is great. It was a monument to the man's training. We eventually finished my demonstration, the Delta Force guys got their

equipment and we would all accompany them, where I would demonstrate for them on a nearby target we had to surveil, then we and the SAS would go our

separate ways. As soon as we got everything packed up, collected, we all started with Delta force making it quickly across the street to cover us and then we

came out. I was in just about the middle of this group and we had just cleared the door. By this time the Iraqis knew we were all over the place, so what

elements of the Republican Guard was going to cause trouble was looking. A group of them found us, exiting the building, they had a lighter tank which was a

T-62. These things are old and substandard from the way it was angled it was on a slight incline, and could not even use it's turret to target any of us. They were

shining lights, which our night vision gear immediately adapted to, and was not brilliant on their part. All three teams I was with all managed to find good cover,

and I began assessing. Unfortunately there were not that many of them, there were 12 plus the tank crew. They made the wrong decision and opened fire on us

with AK-47 rifles. A Ranger squad throws out a crap ton of firepower, A Delta Force Squad throws out a crap ton of firepower, a British SAS group throws out a

crap ton of firepower. They had an antiquated tank, 12 AK-47's, and we lit up the dang night. My Sgt, shot a flair at the tank, I yelled at one of my guys carrying

another Javelin, "Smoke that <Word!> tank!" To this day, the best description I have for this, if from our side it looked like an episode of Star Wars, as we were all

packing magnesium phosphorus rounds, so it looked like a bunch of blasters, with every dang Storm Trooper added from everyone of those movies had cut

lose. Our fire was accurate and steady, to this day I have no idea what they were shooting at. If it was us, someone needed some more range time, as they were

shooting everyplace but where we were. My guy finally cut loose with another Javelin (ATM), it went up and take number two cratered, the explosion from this

one was a bit more violent as it as not as heavily armored. Not one of us was hit and they with their tank was all down. From most of the people in my group this

was their first firefight, and they just kept shooting, me and my Sgt both both started calling for, "Cease Fire." We finally got them all stopped, made sure

everyone was okay, and quickly advanced to their position. There was nothing left to worry about. Hoping a tank crew was out on the ground and seeing

people on the ground from direction action, is markedly different. We got back in order and continued towards my first equipment demo for the Delta Force

guys. I was numb, my ears were ringing from the noise, but your training takes over. I had 15 other men with escorts to worry about and a job to do. I think about

that event often, and wish those few who had fired at us, had realized how badly out positioned and down by firepower they were. I can't go back and tell them,

none of us said a word as we moved along at a fast pace.