Page 61 - 100 Hours to Destiny

DAY ONE - MOVING TO THE FLD

2/23/1991 @ 2400 / Midnight

The friendly images of Bedouin ranchers observed in Desert Shield were over. It was time to
launch the massive wave of American war vehicles. Scenes like this photo were left in Saudi
Arabia…left to the ages. Into Kuwait we go… It was time for war… time to avenge those lost at
OP4.

“Go ahead and bring the vehicle to a stop right here Witcher,” Gunny
Dell commanded. “Wind it down and let the turbo spin down, then shut it
off.”
“Roger that Gunny.” I too had a pair of NVGs and no more had I shut
the logistics vehicle down than I grabbed those NVGs and hit the pneumatic
air switch, lifting me up out of my driver's compartment. I wanted to see OP4
again.
Dawning the powerful night vision goggles, I dialed them in to see
the bullet-ridden castle-like structure. I could see two tanks still sitting in
their same position where we had killed them all those days ago. A pickup
truck was flipped on its side just to the left of the main building. There was
battle litter EVERYWHERE – and I could see massive gun round pockmarks all
over the building, as well as a small masonry storage building off to the left
which had suffered tremendous damage. My mind raced back to those
moments during the incredible firefight of Jan 29, 1991. I could hear the
radio communication of Captain Pollard’s commands. I could hear 1stLt
Williams, Gunny Dell and all of the other Platoon members and Platoon
Commanders shouting over the net in excitement, while bullets blazed,
aircraft rockets streaked through the air, 25mm chain guns piped off and
men died. It was overwhelming, and I took the NVGs off and took my helmet
off and slid back down into my driver's hatch…and thought about 11
Marines.