Page 106 - 100 Hours to Destiny

support. And with that Gunny ordered me to get up there to the enemy
troops exiting the vehicle. Upon arriving, Gunny ordered me to stay on the
radio as he leaped off the vehicle, pistol in hand. The scouts of two LAV-25s
dismounted and rallied to Gunny’s side.
I observed Gunny shouting to the Marines, “Let’s go!” and waved his
pistol in a “Charge” motion. Two Iraqi soldiers with weapons in the hands
were suddenly confronted by our Marines, and they dropped their weapons
and put their hands in the air. The two Iraqi prisoners were suddenly thrown
on the ground and several of the Marines held weapons on them. Gunny
took several more Marines to the back of the truck and cleared for safety.
There were no more troops on board the truck and Gunny stepped out from
behind the truck and motioned to me with an OK hand signal.
In the next second other LAV-25s opened fire on some other targets
and the noise was deafening as they were behind us, shooting targets
spotted somewhere in the distance ahead of us. This was the first time I had
ever found myself in front of the muzzle blast, and so close to LAV-25s firing
their main guns. I watched Gunny Dell and the scouts immediately hit the
deck. We all thought for a moment that we were being shot at from an
unseen enemy lurking in the smoke. It was nerve-racking and the moment
suddenly became very confusing. Gunny started shouting, “It’s 25mm.
Everybody up!”
“Ceasefire, ceasefire! Nobody shoots another round. Delta 7, what’s
going on over there with that truck?”
Gunny was back on his feet and told the other Marines to stand up
and begin searching the prisoners. I had just heard Delta 6 ask what was
going on and here I was in the catbird seat no more than 30 yards from the
truck with Gunny off the net. It was left to me to answer and report to the
Captain what I was seeing. It all came naturally, and the words just simply
started flowing out of me to describe to the Captain what I was seeing unfold
directly in front of me.
“Delta 6, this is Echo 3 Witcher, the Seven has led eight 1/9 scouts
onto the vehicle. They have taken two enemy POWs and are conducting a
search of those two individuals at this time. One occupant in the truck took a
25mm round to the face and he is still in the truck, dead. Delta 7 has cleared
the truck of any other combatants and the truck is completely destroyed at
this time.”
“Roger that War dog. You tell the Seven that as soon as he has
disarmed and cleared those POWs to send them south and let’s go.”
“Roger that Delta 6, will advise.”
I waived Gunny back over to me. I was still standing in my driver's
hatch with my comm helmet on. I told Gunny that the Six says to make sure