Page 50 - 100 Hours to Destiny

Delta Company knew that there were some portions of the Iraqi
army that were battle-hardened veterans; some of the Iraqi soldiers really
had done nothing before but serve in the Iraqi armed forces, and this caused
me concern. The question always lingered – would Delta Company come face
to face with some of the most terrible resistance from these battle-hardened
veterans of the Iran/Iraq conflict? Troops that knew how to use the military
weaponry in their possession…. Artillery, tanks, heavy machine guns, rocket
launchers… these are the weapons that strike concern in an advancing force.
Traps can be set, and inter-locking fields of fire can be encountered, and
once you are in those fields of fire it’s anyone’s guess if you will come out
alive.
Suddenly, Matt Stuck gave me a swift elbow in the ribs and said,
“Witcher quit daydreaming. Pay attention. Come out of la-la land and focus!
The Captain is about to wrap it up.” I looked at Matt and he turned back to
the Captain and listened, and so did I. But I had heard it all, and better yet,
had audiotaped the entire briefing for my personal review in the logistics
vehicle a bit later, on my own time to digest and lock in all that had been
said.

Listen: Capt Pollard
Briefing – Part 1

As the Captain began to bring the period of information to a close,
he put away the classroom effect. He began to talk to us in a different tone,
now it was time to talk Marine to Marine, mano e mano. The kid gloves were
off… we were being told, “get rest, take a moment and reflect, prepare your
mind to do your job because we are on the countdown….it’s going down in
less than 17 hours Gents. Remember confidence comes in the ability to fall
back on your training. Safety out there War dogs! We don’t want any blue on
blue incidents. Nobody shoots till you are cleared to fire, I repeat myself,
nobody shoots till you call and ask permission to fire. Rest assured you will
get your response from me within seconds. We have to be sure of our target,
I repeat, we have to be sure of our target! Today go over your equipment,
gunners double-check your gun turrets. Check to be sure you are uploaded
with both high explosive and armor-piercing rounds. No accidental discharge
Delta, do you hear that? I don’t want to hear one accidental discharge today,
or any day for that matter. Pay the hell attention while you’re checking your
weapons. Let’s get set War dogs, today is the last day of peace. Lean your
bodies out, don’t eat too much, drink plenty of water and rest when