Page 21 - 100 Hours to Destiny

S-2 Marines Thundering In

43 Hours and 30 Minutes Prior to Invasion of Kuwait
2/22/1991 @ 0800 hours – 8:00 am Kuwait time

Twenty-two days… 22 short days. The battle of OP4 and the fiery,
explosive deaths of our fellow Marines, and an untold number of Iraqi troops
lost was still vivid in our minds. The vicious firefight, the surprise attack from
Iraqi forces kept us on edge and Delta was standing on high alert. The entire
Company was constantly at 50% watch, this level of continual peering
through scopes, binoculars, and night vision was fatiguing. A haze of
inconclusion, and a touch of uncertainty to what exactly the future held in
this ongoing, and ever-intensifying conflict lingered. What once was
seemingly a fiction novel playing out on a movie screen before January 29,
was now absolutely real, as Delta Company had lost eleven of its finest on
the sands of OP4.
Marines were cleaning weapons and listening to the company
encrypted radio transmissions, the normal chatter, when suddenly the
Company Commander Captain Roger “Rock” Pollard himself burst over the
net.
“All Delta elements Company Coil on my POS. Breakdown all
equipment and standby to move. Need you here quickly Delta.”
Immediately Delta began reacting – reassembling weapon systems
and preparing the vehicles to move out. Vehicle Commanders began
shouting directives to crew members, also cross-checking their Marines’
equipment and readiness to get to the Captain’s location.
Soon, within about a 15-minute period, all assets were in place
around the makeshift command post, that being the vehicle American Hero
belonging to Captain Roger “Rock” Pollard, the LAV-C2 communications
vehicle in which rode the Executive Officer of Delta Company, 1stLt Scott
Williams, the Humvee of First Sergeant Alfonso Villa, and logistics LAV-L of
Gunnery Sergeant Steven Dell for which I was now the driver/sub-
Commander. Now the Company was set in the coil, the timeless Marine final
defensive position.