Page 66 - 100 Hours to Destiny

I grabbed my clear drivers goggles and put them on before rising
with the pneumatic switch that would lift my driver’s seat up and out of the
confines of my steel capsule. Rising up, I popped the driver’s hatch open and
slung the 25 lb. metal enclosure into its locked position, also known as the
Open Position.
“Coming up Gunns.”
“Roger.”
Coming up I peered back at Gunny who was standing in his
command hatch, typically wearing his NVGs as he always did during night
travel. My foot stayed into the gas and despite dropping back from Missile
Magnet to 35meters, we were humming along at about 10 mph and holding
steady with the rest of Delta Company.
Fred Battley of the 1stLts LAV-C2, in all his inventiveness, had
dropped a red in color fluorescent chem light tied to a piece of parachute
cord out of one of the rear hatches and it dangled on the back of Missile
Magnet giving off a dim beacon of light of which I quickly became affixed.
Battley’s action to drop the chem light was working perfectly for me to travel
in Missile Magnets' footsteps without the assistance of night vision, further
giving me a little bit more of a reprieve from such intense focused night-site
driving. One just had to know Fred Battley, probably one of the more
resourceful, mature members of Delta Company. Fred Battley was a deadly
Marine to the enemy, capable of calling in Naval gunfire, Air on station, and
the 81mm mortar guns. I chuckled a lot thinking of Fred and considered it
just a little “smart gift” that he offered me with the chem light… but I know
that he had his own concerns of some LAV in the night inadvertently crashing
th
into them. An actual unfortunate incident had happened on January 25 ,
1991, where Marines of Bravo Company of the LAI Battalion had endured a
nighttime collision incident claiming the lives of three of America’s finest
United States Marines.

2/24/1991 @ 0400 hours

“Witcher, pop back down into your hatch. Your five minutes of up
driving is over….I want you safe Devil Dog. I can’t afford to lose my driver.
Let’s get you safe again Witch. Button up.”
“Roger that, Gunny. Moving down now.” The immediate reaction to
orders, it’s what Marines do… but I reacted hastily out of my complete and
unwavering respect for Gunny Dell. Grabbing the open hatch was easy, as I
dropped down so came the hatch with my descent. Buttoning up felt good