The morning continued with little change. The heat of the day was turning the tank into an oven. The chemical suits only made things worse. When it became clear they were in no immediate danger of attack, Bannon began to rotate his crew, letting two of them dismount at a time to stretch, smoke, cool off, and eat. During his break he walked over to check on Alpha 33, the tank nearest 66. Its TC was also rotating his crew out. Just after noon, Polgar came over to 66 from Mech Platoon’s mounted element to report.
Bannon and Polgar were still conversing when they were joined by the battalion commander and S-3 who came rolling up the logging trail in the M-113 they operated out of during operations. Apparently, they were as bored as Bannon was and were getting a little antsy with nothing to do but listen to their radios, and wait. While the colonel went to visit his Mech Platoon on foot, the S-3, Maj. Frank Jordan, brought Bannon up to speed on the status of the covering force battle.
The cavalry was taking a beating and wouldn’t last much longer. They’d managed to annihilate the Soviet recon element and had fought the first attacking echelon to a standstill, badly weakening it in the process. But they had paid for that success, as the parade of ambulances and evacuation of damaged vehicles coming down the opposite hill, through the village, and into the small valley to the rear indicated. As a result, brigade was anticipating a passage of lines sometime in the late afternoon. The cavalry wanted to hold on until night in order to withdraw under the cover of darkness, but Jordan informed Bannon he didn’t think they’d be able to. Not long after sharing this news, the colonel rejoined Jordan and Bannon, made some small talk, and then left with the S-3.
Rather than waiting out the afternoon doing nothing, Bannon decided to follow Reynolds’ example and visit the platoons to show his face, check on them to see how they were adapting to war, and to pass the word to be prepared for the passage of the cavalry. He told Folk where he was going to be and, if a call came in on the battalion net, drop to the company net and tell the XO to respond if he hadn’t already done so. With helmet, pistol, and LBE, Bannon set out on his tour on foot.
As he had that morning, Bannon went from tank to tank, working his way to those elements on the left first. When he reached Alpha 31, Bannon went over the information that had been passed to him before reviewing the status of 3rd Platoon with Garger. This was followed by a review the Team’s and the platoon’s responsibilities and actions during the passage and the conduct of the defense. To Bannon’s surprise, Garger was able to go over each phase of the pending operations as well as each and every actions his platoon was responsible for in detail and without hesitation. Either Pierson had been working overtime with the lieutenant, Bannon thought to himself, or the boy was catching on. Regardless of how this transformation had come about, Bannon was satisfied the young officer had concept of the operation straight in his mind and was as ready as any of them were to carry it out. There was still the question, however, if he would be able to when the shit actually did hit the spinning propellers.
Satisfied all was as well as it could be expected with the 3rd Platoon, Bannon continued on his rounds. Even in the shade of the forest, tromping up the hill in the chemical protective suit and the floppy, loose fitting chemical overshoes was brutal. By the time he reached the XO’s tank, he was in need a rest and a long, cool drink of water. As he settled down in the shade next to Alpha 55, Uleski reached down and handed him a can of Coke, a cold can of Coke. Not only did Bannon have no idea where it could possibly have come from, at the moment he had no wish to find out, for the answer to that question would more than likely entail something that was highly unauthorized.
After deciding it would be best if he set his curiosity over how his XO was able to chill cans of soda in the field, Bannon went over the Team’s responsibilities during the passage of lines and when the Soviets finally got around to attacking them. Uleski, as the team’s executive officer, would have to be able to fight the Team within the framework of the battalion’s battle plan effectively if Bannon became combat ineffective, a subtle way of saying wounded or killed. Neither gave that grim possibility a second’s thought, for both had been trained from Day One in the Army everyone was expendable and replaceable. While it was not a comforting thought, it was part of the job and, in theory at least, universally understood.
Finishing with Uleski, Bannon toyed with the idea of letting the XO go over to 2nd Platoon to check on them and pass on the word about the cavalry. It was tempting. But 2nd Platoon was the one platoon he had not seen that morning. It was only proper that an effort should be made to pay a quick visit to them in order to show the flag.
As with 3rd Platoon, Bannon stopped at each tank, checked on their readiness, and exchanged small talk he hoped did something to ease the nervous tension every member of Team Yankee he came across was doing his best to hide. When he reached the platoon leader’s tank, Bannon passed on word about the cavalry and reviewed the Team and platoon plan with him. No sooner had they finished then the hills across the valley erupted in a thunderclap of explosions and flames, heralding the commitment of the Soviet’s second echelon. It would not be long now, Bannon reasoned as he tromped on back to 66 as fast as his floppy chemical overshoes would let him. His first battle, a term that had become as trite and over used as his own personal motto, Steel on Target, he used to annoy Reynolds with every chance he had, was upon him.
Just as Major Jordan had predicted, the cavalry had not lasted as long as had been expected. The fresh battalions of the Soviet’s second echelon broke the worn and severely weakened cavalry like a dry twig. Thirty minutes after it had struck, it was obvious that the covering force battle was over, and the time had come for the cavalry to pass through the Team’s positions. The lazy, boring late morning and early afternoon gave way to a steady buildup of tension as the cavalry began the process of handing off the battle.
The first elements to reach the passage point were the cavalry’s support elements; medical, maintenance, and supply vehicles. These were followed by artillery units and squadron headquarters elements. The passage was not the neat parade like processions practiced during training. Vehicles would come down singly, in pairs, sometimes in groups as large as fifteen. Some were dragging damaged vehicles. Others limped along, wobbling on blown out tires like drunks. All showed some sign of damage. Trucks had their canvas tops shredded. Tracked vehicles that had had gear stowed on the outside now had it scrambled and tossed about on top, with articles of clothing and shreds of canvas and camouflage nets hanging from the sides. There were even a couple of trucks running on tire rims, unable or unwilling to stop to change tires. If there was any semblance of order to the cavalry unit passing through the Team, it was not evident from where Bannon was watching.
In the midst of the passage, a scout helicopter, followed by two attack helicopters, came weaving down through the valley from the north. The three slowed to a hover just in front of the Team’s positions, with the scout across from Alpha 66 and an AH-1 Cobra attack helicopter on either side. The OH-58 scout slowly rose until it was just barely peering over the trees on the opposite hill. Its tail-boom moved slowly left, then right, as its observer scanned the landscape on the other side of the hill. Like a bird dog alerting, the scout suddenly froze, pointing to the northeast. The Cobra on the left then rose slowly to treetop level, hovered there for a moment, orienting in the same direction as the scout. With a flash and streak of white smoke, the Cobra let fly a TOW antitank missile. Both Cobra and scout remained in place for about fifteen seconds, then dropped down and flew a few hundred meters north to another position, preparing to fire again.