Wanting to go with the maneuvering force, Dixon ordered his driver to move with A Company. The driver, buttoned up, could not see A Company's Bradleys. Rather than stop, he continued to follow B Company's tanks. Dixon was about to order the driver left when the gunner yelled out a target acquisition report. Though he knew it was more important to ensure that the task force deploy properly, Dixon couldn't resist the urge to fight.
Dropping down to his sight extension, Dixon saw not one but two Libyan T-62 tanks rolling south. From his current position, Dixon had a good oblique shot. Before issuing his fire command, Dixon stuck his head up to make sure another friendly tank wasn't about to mask his fire. Two tanks from B Company were close. To get two shots, he'd have to be quick.
Without further ado Dixon screamed out his fire command, slurring the words into one long one. "GUNNER-SAYBO-TWO-TANKS-RIGHT-TANK-FIRST!"
Neither the gunner nor the loader needed to understand what Dixon said. They were drilled and ready. Dixon hadn't even said the word "tank" before the gunner screeched "IDENTIFIED!" and the loader yelled "UP!"
With the word "up" still ringing in his ear, Dixon yelled "FIRE!" and immediately stuck his head out of the hatch.
There was a pause while the gunner made a final lay on the target and relased. Ready, he screamed, "ON-THE-WAAAY!"
When the gunner hit the y of "way," he squeezed the trigger. The 120mm gun discharged the round in the chamber, sending a quick jolt through the tank. Upon leaving the gun tube, the projectile released the propellant gases which created a muzzle blast that blew up a great cloud of dust and dirt, obscuring Dixon's tank and the tanks they were firing at. In the driver's compartment, the driver's vision was momentarily obscured, forcing him to drive blind. He was ready for that, however. As the gunner announced "On the way," the driver had made a mental image of the next fifty meters of ground and drove across it, in the dust cloud, on faith alone.
The momentum of the tank, and a wind blowing from north to south, quickly cleared the dust and dirt. The gun, held on the first target by the gunner and the tank's stabilization system, was pointing at a burning hulk. Without another thought Dixon issued his subsequent fire command, again slurring his words. "TARGET-FIRST-TANK-LEFT-TANK-FIRE! "
Again the gunner and loader stumbled over each other on the intercom as the gunner announced "Identified!" and the loader "Up!" As before, the gunner paused, relaid his sight's aiming dot onto the new target, lased, yelled "On the way!" and fired. As soon as Dixon's tank emerged from its own dust cloud, the picture of a burning tank filled the gunner's sight. "WE GOT HIM! WE GOT HIM!"
Masking his own joy, Dixon responded with a simple, matter-of-fact "Target, cease fire." That was, for Dixon, the extent of the celebration. He had had his fun as a tank commander. Now he had to get back to being the task force commander. Looking to his left and right in order to get his bearings, he was surprised to find himself out in front of B Company. The three tanks he saw to his left and right, marked with three white bands on their gun tubes, told him he was with the 3rd Platoon of B Company. All three were straining to catch up with their task force commander. Further to the left, more B Company tanks were moving to catch up with the 3rd Platoon tanks. In his haste to kill Libyans, Dixon had unwittingly dragged the whole B Company line forward with him.
Keying the radio, Dixon contacted the B Company commander, ordering him to halt his forward movement and form a base of fire. Conforming with Dixon's last order and following Dixon's tank, the B Company commander had pivoted on C Company instead of pulling abreast of it. In effect, that move took B Company out of the base of the "L" and put it in the stem. Dixon considered this, then decided to go with the situation as it was. It would serve no good purpose to have B Company back up. They were in good firing positions where they were. Best to leave them there.
Ordering his driver to hold, Dixon let the rest of B Company sweep by before turning his tank to the left and in search of A Company. As Dixon's tank moved north, behind the line of B Company tanks, Dixon watched them engage the Libyans. From the reports from both B and C companies' XOs, there was not much left of the Libyan tank battalion. Those tanks that were left were thrashing about in a kill sack swept by the crossfires of B and C companies.
Dixon saw in the distance a pair of Bradleys from A Company racing to join B Company. He had no sooner ordered his driver to head for the two Bradleys than the scout platoon leader reported that a mix of Libyan BMP infantry fighting vehicles and tanks was coming up on the right of the remains of the Libyan tank battalion. Sheer luck, Dixon thought — nothing but sheer luck was bringing the rest of his task force into position just as a Libyan mechanized unit was coming into action. And the fact that his Bradleys were going head to head with BMPs was icing on the cake. The 25mm Chain Gun of A Company's Bradleys would make short work of the Soviet-built BMPs while D Company took on the tanks.
Dixon joined the Bradleys just as the commander of A Company reported that he saw the approaching BMPs and was preparing to engage. Wanting maximum effort, Dixon ordered the D Company commander to continue his swing to the left, ensuring that he maintained contact with C Company. When the D Company commander gave Dixon a wilco, Dixon contacted the B Company commander, ordering him to shift the fires of at least one platoon to the northeast onto the approaching BMPs. Dixon finished his latest frag order by instructing B Company and C Company to finish the Libyan tank battalion and be prepared to move once the third Libyan battalion was found.
With the task force completing its maneuvers and A Company's Bradleys starting to fire, Dixon had little to do. Seeing the A Company commander's Bradley, Dixon ordered his driver to move into a slight depression next to it. Once they were there and had halted, Dixon ordered his gunner to search for targets. His gunner, anticipating the order, was already on one and responded with a sharp acquisition report. "ENEMY TANK AND BMP! TWELVE O'CLOCK!" As before, Dixon dropped down to confirm the targets. Satisfied, he issued his fire command, engaging the tank, a more dangerous threat, first. Without a single wasted motion, the gunner laid his sight onto the tank while the loader armed the main gun, cleared the path of recoil, and announced he was ready by yelling "UP!" Standing upright in the open hatch, Dixon ordered the gunner to fire.
As before, the tank was enshrouded in dust. This time, however, the dust took longer to clear, since Dixon's tank was stationary. As they waited for the dust to disperse, the A Company commander's Bradley fired its 25mm. When the dust finally cleared from Dixon's field of vision, he saw both the tank they had engaged and the BMP they were going to hit next burning. The A Company commander had apparently engaged and destroyed the BMP while Dixon was waiting for his dust to settle. Turning toward the A Company commander's Bradley, Dixon saw the young captain stick his head up to survey his handiwork. Facing Dixon, the captain had what could only be described as a shit-eating grin from ear to ear. Dixon smiled, nodded his head, and gave the captain a thumbs-up. The A Company commander returned the thumbs-up, then dropped down to search out more targets.
Boosting himself up onto the seat of his stand, Dixon stood as high as he could in order to survey the situation. To his left, or the north, he could see D Company coming on line, engaging the Libyan mechanized battalion as it did so. A Company's Bradleys were pumping round after round at the Libyan BMPs with telling effect. Here and there a Bradley let loose a TOW antitank guided missile at a distant Libyan tank. From behind them artillery rounds from the direct-support 155mm artillery battery screamed overhead. The artillery rounds — mostly improved conventional munitions and similar to the Air Force cluster bombs — scattered hundreds of tiny armor-piercing bomblets into the midst of the shattered Libyan formations.