Traveling with B Company, Dixon issued a short frag order to the task force. In effect, all he did was change the direction of their movement from the west to the north. Along with that shift, a battery of 155mm self-propelled guns from the 5th of the 8th Field Artillery Battalion also dropped off and followed the task force.
From his tank Dixon watched the task force pivot to the north. Operating from a tank in the middle of the formation had several disadvantages that made themselves quite evident as the turning movement progressed. In a position no higher than that of any other tank commander in the task force, Dixon could see no more from his tank than the most junior tank commander could. His view obscured by dust, distance, and the flatness of the terrain, Dixon could see at best half a dozen other vehicles. Most of those belonged to B Company, to his front, and the engineer platoon, to his rear. C Company, to his right, and A Company, to the left, were great clouds of dust. Only occasionally was a tank or Bradley from those units visible to Dixon. D Company, the mortars, the scout platoon, and all the flank guards were beyond Dixon's field of vision.
To see the battlefield, therefore, Dixon depended upon his com chin. With all this, and a pair of black Goretex gloves, he was protected from the sand thrown up by the tracks of his own tank and the others around him as well as from the cold.
The caliber .50 machine gun sitting in front of Dixon, slightly off center and to the right, was, by itself, an impressive weapon. On an M-1A1 Abrams tank, however, it is only the secondary weapon. The smooth-bore 120mm main gun protruding from the front of the turret like a great heavy lance was the true voice of the M-1A1. Its design was based on that of the German Rhein Metal gun used in the West German Leopard II. When engaging enemy tanks, it launched an armor piercing fin stabilize discarding sabot round at over five thousand feet, or roughly one mile, per second. This gun was coupled to a fire control system that took into account such factors as wind velocity at the tank's location, air temperature, ammunition temperature, cant of the tank, gun tube wear, tank-to-target range, and speed and motion of the M-1A1 and the target. To move the gun and its sixty-three tons the tank was powered by a turbine engine that put out fifteen hundred horsepower and delivered a governed top speed of forty-five miles an hour.
Anyone who ever had the opportunity to command such a weapons platform could understand the sheer childlike joy that tankers took when moving out smartly in their tanks. And because he took great pleasure from this seemingly unnatural act, Scott Dixon was immediately part of the task force, one of them. He didn't yet know the men by name, and hardly by sight. But they had a common bond, Dixon and all the other tank commanders of the task force. Their love of their tanks and their pride in being able to put steel on target with the first round while moving at thirty miles an hour transcended all ranks and ages. Whether he was a company commander, or the newly commissioned platoon leader, or one of the hard-core E-7 platoon sergeants, a tank commander was a tank commander. Riding with the other commanders into combat, following the lead company and standing tall in the turret, Dixon displayed his willingness to lead, his confidence as a tanker; he wore his spurs proudly.
Fifteen minutes after the brigade order sent Dixon's task force racing to the north, the scout helicopter reported that the Libyan force and Dixon's task force were closing. Coming over the auxiliary radio in his tank, Dixon prepared to respond but was beaten to it by the task force XO, Major Grissins, moving with the TOC. Grissins then put out a call over the task force command net, repeating the information for the company commanders. Each of them in turn responded by acknowledging the information.
Grissins, traveling to the rear of the formation, handled routine reporting from the TOC. Designated the second in command, or 2IC, he did everything to coordinate the staff and combat support elements so that Dixon, up front with the main force, could fight the battle. The task force S-3, in his tank and traveling with D Company, was prepared to assume command of the battle should Dixon lose communications or become combat ineffective. In armored combat that happened frequently. When in contact, the task force commander was often faced with the need to fight his tank or die. Control of the task force therefore passed back and forth according to who was most capable of directing the battle. There would be times when the task force S-3 had control, until he, like the commander, reverted to the role of tank commander. During the same period, the actual task force commander would come up on the net and resume control. The task force XO, sitting back out of the fight, kept track of the battle. When neither the commander nor the S-3 could, the XO commanded. If the commander, after a long absence on the command net, came back up on the net, the XO would give him a quick update and pass command and control back to him. Flexibility, an agile mind, and the ability to understand what was happening in a fight that could involve over a hundred armored vehicles fighting and moving in a ten-square-mile area were the keys to controlling a modem tank battle.
With contact imminent, Dixon could feel himself getting pumped up. Turning to his left, then his right, then all the way around to the rear, he checked to ensure that the formation, at least where he was, was ready. Feeling the need to say something to his commanders before battle, Dixon reached up and pushed the switch on the side of his crewman's helmet forward, activating the radio transmitter. His message was short and all business. He reminded all units that the first unit in contact was to be the base of fire, regardless who it was. The rest of the task force would maneuver on that company. Reports, Dixon reminded them, had to be quick, accurate, and complete.
Satisfied that all was in order, Dixon moved the switch to the rear position, activating the intercom on his tank. He was in the process of going over prepare-to-fxre checks with his gunner and loader when the C Company commander reported contact with a Libyan tank platoon.
Though his voice betrayed excitement and some confusion, the C Company executive officer provided all the information that Dixon needed to begin wheeling the task force into action. The Libyan force, coming out of the northeast, had hit C Company's flank guard platoon. That platoon was already deploying and preparing to return fire. The rest of C Company was doing likewise, forming up on either side of the flank guard platoon. Over the roar of his own tank's engine and through the earphones of his crewman's helmet, Dixon could hear the muffled crack of tank guns firing. They were in contact. The battle was joined.
From his position Dixon could see the tanks of C Company that had been to his right begin to veer off to the east. They were deploying. The tanks of B Company, to his front, were continuing forward, to the north. Without giving the problem much thought, Dixon contacted the B Company commander and ordered him to swing his company to the right, maintaining contact with C Company. Dixon stressed the need to maintain contact: the last thing he wanted was to have his own companies disappear into clouds of dust, get lost, and then pop out and be engaged by another American unit.
With two companies deploying almost head-on, Dixon decided to swing wide with the other two. Both B and C companies, twenty-eight tanks total, should be more than a match for the three Libyan companies with no more than thirty tanks total. It was the second and third Libyan battalions that Dixon was after with his remaining two companies. His idea was to form a large "L" with B and C companies as the base and A and D as the stem. By doing so he would create a kill sack and would be able to bring a crossfire onto the enemy. He quickly issued the necessary orders and received acknowledgments from all commanders.