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the tanks were ~plo~ded ~ith the correct engineer equipment.
1/7 crossed F'hase Line E(lac~:,  the kuwait/Saudi ~rabian `~order, at
         continued to move past Phase. Line Purple, and:arri.Ye.d at the
attac~ position without incident one hour earlier than e>:pected at
(?2C)C).      .
        Wi                 *:~ the.Batf~lion.began moving t(p~the.Line
    ......th  -
o+a.Departure at O=~i~, crossing ita s~ort.while a+ter.     ~bout 0600
Tiger ~ reported the mine+ield close to.its +ront       In +act1 the
mine+ield was +urther +orward than.~or.igina1.ly p?rqei.yed. ;..Teams
~~ch.-and Tank had to continue .+orward.past .Fha.se L~i~e Saberto
+i~~dfthe +orward trace 0+ the mine+ield.     ~s the sunbegan to peek
over. -the eastern horizon twenty minutes later, both Captain Craig
Baker and Captain tiancini had ~opped-a red.star cluster indicating
that they had +ound the mine+ield~~.~bstacle~Clear.ing Detachments
(OCD~s) *+rom both teams immediately.    egan their.treaching-.
procedures, putting into e++ect those actions rehears?d hundreds
0+ times in the' previous months. Team Tank +ired their Mk'~8 single
shot-line charge to no e++ect." -The~ attempted. t0~~~~~~~~t~.
nianually but could.not do so.     Captain Mancini then called One 0+
hL~tMK154'-3 shot line charges +or~~~nd0   ~~t.~.+i'redtOt'ce.4 had to be
primed manually to detonate, then++ollowed in-.tr~ce,-.o+.a mine.plow
the length 0+ the +irst blast,     and +ired a second time to complete
the breach.     Rep--ating an event that would become routine by the
end.o+ G--'Day, the OCD once agair sent an engineerout to manyally
prime the charge.     But when Team.Tank +ired~the green and white
starcombination signaling lane 4 clear, only 24 minutes had
elapsed. The time was 0644.
    `.Initially, Team Mech     eemed "good to go11 +or their assault
breach on lane 3.     Their one shot line charge, aligned on a 010
degree azirruth, +ired and detonated as advertised. ~ut as
S;r~~~ht.~cott~He~msa'i M-~C".T~nI'. was~~~t waywthrowgbr,prpg+ing .the~
l~eA'~tb~aby~sraelj~~io~-c~~~~~ ,tt,e&~~rt~c'k0 what ~aa~tLO~-~~~ieve,
w~~cub~~a~~pu1se~minea- m~~~. b~~~~ti~~&V~C-a~ed~~~f
~`t--'~~-s'~nbutrd~(nagec;to~the~4e~t.-'t~ead ~nd~~~~ri~~~~ ~~w
~D~~%t~i cr:eate~eemob~~it~
        Reacting quickly, Team Mech shi+ted 3) meters to the le+t,
called up a three shot and +ired another line charge. . ~+ter
priming manually to detonate, the tank with mine plow proo+ed the
lane to the end 0+ the blast waiting until another line shot,
again manually primed, could ~lear the rest o+ the path o+ mines.
Lane 3 was open~'=d at 07()7.  Tiger 3 then passed through 1/7~s
assault breaches encountering no resistance to their +ront but
reporting a possible position on their right +lar~k.     ~s 1/7 pushed
through the breach on 3rd Tanks      heels, Team Tank established a
support by +ire position to the south while Team Mech prepared to
envelop +rom the west.    ~ recon by +ire +rom Team Mech received no
return +ire, so 1/7 continued to attack +orward.
        Shortly therea+ter, TF~ ordered 1/7 to hold at Phase Line
R~pier in order to guard k'ipper~s right +lank until Task Force
Papa Bear began e++ecting their assault breaches on TFR arid i/7~s
right +lank.    The C'~mb~-t Train atternpted a resupply 0+ the
MK.i54's~ but we moved to ~P 17 be+ore it could be completed.

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