In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

Morning of 12 June / 93 We had orders and we were going to follow them. The men got into the trucks with weapons loaded, and I led the convoy out. As we rolled out from the reserve area, I had no idea where we were going or what we were getting into. I was riding in a jeep with a driver and the company radio operator.As we left the encampment, the road dead-ended to another crossroad forming a Tshaped intersection. After checking the map, I decided we should turn left. Any time vehicles moved in areas close to the enemy they were required to use blackout lights. Blackout lights were also known as“cat eyes,”because only a narrow beam of light was able to shine through a cut in the material covering the headlamp. The narrow-beamed blackout lights pointed downward, illuminating the road immediately in front of the vehicle. After turning left, we proceeded along the road for a short distance. I glanced back to see if all was well, if everyone was following. To my surprise, I saw only two trucks behind me. Only two trucks. What had happened to the rest of the company? I was surprised at first, and then my surprise turned into anger. They must have had a truck breakdown. These heavily used trucks had a reputation for having a lot of trouble. Most of our trucks had been here for a long time and had many miles on them. In addition, the needed parts were not available. Did one of the trucks break down? Did the driver not know where he was going ? Couldn’t he simply follow the truck in front of him? I had been a company commander for only a couple of months, and I had already lost most of my company ! And that without having fired a single shot. I ordered the driver to stop the jeep while I decided what we should do— whether we should keep going or turn around and try to find the rest of the company. After studying my map, I decided not to go back just yet. If they had gotten out of the reserve area, perhaps they had turned right instead of left at the intersection. If just one truck had broken down, the others would be joining us soon. The broken truck would just have to catch up. The more I studied the map, the more I believed whether the trucks were turning right or left didn’t make any difference, because the map indicated that the road we were on was a circle. If the rest of the company had taken a right turn instead of following me, they would eventually meet us, since we were on the same circle. The jeep and the two deuce-and-a-half-ton trucks waited for about five minutes in case the lost trucks had eventually turned onto the correct path and were following us. Finally, I said we should get going and move on to the bridge. According to our map, the next turn we should make would be a left turn only a few hundred yards farther along the road. We would proceed on our current road until we came to the left-turn spot and wait on the rest of the 94 / Chapter 8 convoy. There was no need to go back, so we would proceed onward. Maybe I hadn’t lost Able Company after all. With a big sigh of relief, I told the driver to keep going until we came to the next left turn in the road. We continued on for about a mile (covering what I had thought was a few hundred yards) and came to the intersection where I knew we had to turn. The rest of the company would join us eventually. They would catch up from the rear or meet us headon by coming around the circle. Either way, we would go on to our new position as a complete rifle company. We remained in our vehicles as we relaxed and waited for the rest of the company to arrive. A few men got out to stretch their legs and take care of other necessities. The usual small talk and smoking started, as the men began to relax as only soldiers who know they are heading into battle can. Suddenly a tremendous roar filled the air. Incoming artillery! Big-time stuff! “Everybody! Out! Out of the jeep! In the ditch...

Share