Page 38 - 100 Hours to Destiny

known as the fishbowl. This unique device allowed the LAV vehicles to
traverse at night. It was like looking at an old black and white TV, but the
background was green due to the ambient light night vision design.
Earlier in the day, I had taken it upon myself to position my logistics
vehicle in a true north heading. This would facilitate a direct compass
reading when Gunny finally laid down our azimuth to head to the FARP. That
information now came to me via Gunny’s direction. “OK Witcher we are
going to spin directly West 270 degrees and head out into the desert for
approximately two clicks, this is going to be a tight FARP - close to us. We
don’t want anybody getting lost, but we have got to keep at least that
interval between the Company Coil and the fuel and resupply point. Fire up
the log as soon as the Turbo winds up…move!”
“Understood Gunny. Standby to move, Aye-aye Gunny.” 30 seconds
later a hard-left turn west, and my foot was in the gas. [The logistics vehicle
was a very responsive old girl that had been flown over on a C-5 Galaxy
heavy-lift aircraft with five sister LAV variants from the Marine Corps Air
Ground Combat Center in Twentynine Palms, CA. She was one of the very
first American armored vehicles to set down in Dharan airbase in Saudi
Arabia. It was this vehicle that was flown over on the advanced party of
nd
drivers and vehicle Commanders that ran security for the 82 Airborne, of
whom had arrived merely 8 days prior to Delta Company’s advanced party
and had built a thin security barrier around the airport.] This vehicle was one
of the participants in that initial action, and I was more than proud to be at
the helm of this behemoth. Second gear, third gear, fourth gear and we
leveled off at approximately 20 knots across the smooth desert floor. The
fishbowl was lit up brilliantly and vision was good, which sometimes was not
the case when there was cloud cover.
Gunny was standing up with a pair of night-vision goggles in his
Commander’s hatch. We were in communication with each other through
the vehicle comm system. “You’re doing perfect Witcher. Go five degrees
further west. We have about another click before we should possibly be
seeing the silhouettes of the FARP, just maintain your heading and adjust to
my command. Did you get some good rest Witcher? I caught a few Zzzs
myself, ha-ha. I feel pretty good, but you can rest assured we are going to be
up all night and into the wee hours of the morning.”
“I feel great Gunny, totally motivated and ready to get Delta
Company outfitted and fueled up. I’m just driving now Gunns… guide me on!
I’m just glad this FARP isn’t so many clicks away; definitely is simplifying
things.”