Page 100 - 100 Hours to Destiny

Sgt Yancey spoke as he knew I was standing there, he never looked
at me but just started speaking, “You know Witcher, I’ve been around this
Military a long time. I spent years in the US Army and now I’m a Marine. I
trained with the Army Airborne, and I’ve seen a lot, but I’ll tell you this I’ve
never seen so many men killed, and so much heavy equipment destroyed as
quickly as what we just saw here tonight. I don’t think I’ll ever forget this
firefight and its brutality. We’re the best Witcher…that is one cold, true
fact!”
“Roger that Sgt. I’ll be continuing my watch now. Let’s see how
tomorrow goes. And by the way, Delta 5 reports that the Air Force is going to
drop a massive bomb within the hour, and for us to hold onto our hats.”
At that point Sgt. Yancey looked down at me and said, “Roger that,
I’ll tell my crew.” The remainder of my watch was uneventful.

2/25/91 @ 0500 hours

The scouts of Sgt Yancey’s vehicle were all awake and gathered just
outside of the back troop-hatch as I approached to seek what would be the
last Marine to stand watch before sunrise.
“Hey Devil dog, what Marine has the last watch here?”
Cpl John Harris sounded off with, “that’d be me. I’ll take it from here
Witcher.”
And with that, I responded, “Aye-aye Cpl.” And my head swam, here
was Cpl John Harris of 1/9 offering to perform a roving security watch on
behalf of our area. Normally roving watch is left for E-3s and below, yet this
Cpl of Marines, Cpl John Harris, was in it for the team and stood watch
disregarding rank: That made an impact on me.
I returned to the LOG quickly and climbed the 3-rung metal ladder to
drop down in my driver's compartment. Gunny was already seated in his
Commander’s compartment. No sooner had I sat down in my driver's seat
than the ground began to move. Light illuminated over the horizon; it was
the bomb they had been talking about. For a moment there was not a sound,
but the hatches on the vehicles began to vibrate wildly, and the vehicle
began to bounce around on the heavy suspension. Then came the sound
wave with a deafening roar. It was immediately intimidating, as none of us
were prepared for how truly close or how powerful this bomb was going to
be.
“Gunny!!!”
“Calm down. Calm down. It’s a big one, but we are going to be OK.”
“Damn Gunny, that was one big bomb. I’m sure glad we weren’t on
the receiving end of that.”