Gray Horse Troop: Forever Soldiers by Baker Charles

Author:Baker, Charles [Baker, Charles]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Powder River Publications
Published: 2015-01-29T22:00:00+00:00

I inquired about how this column was received, all to no avail. I imagined a reading audience of maybe 25 residents of Jacksonville. I had so much to say, had an opinion about everything military, but it was hard to imagine that anyone really gave a shit. The US Army was at war in Iraq, but America was out to dinner followed by a movie.

With Norman Lloyd and 42d Div PIO Bob Giordano at FOB Danger

Presentation of 42d Division Combat Patch at FOB Danger

It didn't take long to get into the routine of things at Paliwoda. It was hot. It was dry. It was minimal. Not unlike LZ Colt when I got there back in January 1968. But then again, not like it at all. I moved about slowly, pacing myself and getting used to drinking lots of water all day. There is more time to reflect in the combat zone than at any other time in one's life. Things move slowly. In fact, when things move too fast in combat, people get needlessly hurt. (er, general, I mean that in tactics, if you go too fast, you will get all your best point men killed. Strategically speaking, you can't get out of this war fast enough for me.)

The good news was that I was back with the soldiers after so many years. The main event for the rest of 6 April was planning for a big multi-site raid by Bravo Troop at dawn on 7 April. The platoons would be moving into positions in the dark. The operation would include our Special Forces unit that was located just across the street, and troops from the 203d Iraqi Army Battalion, stationed in the compound next to ours. Eight sites would be raided simultaneously. A couple of the areas were high risk. Norman had been adopted by Bravo Troop by this time, having served with them so many years earlier, and I was not about to rain on that parade.

Norman was getting ready for the operation when I returned to the hooch. He was a kid in a candy shop, polishing his new $5000 lens. I planned to say a little prayer for him that night, and get up at about 0530 so I could be drinking coffee in the TOC when things started popping.

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