82                                  U.S. MARINES IN THE PERSIAN GULF, 1990-1991


night. Second Lieutenant James D. Gonsalves, Company C, 3d Tank Battalion,
encountered an enemy tank 5OOfl after moving into         position:13~

           We had pulled up to our 2nd day's objective and were
           awaiting further orders. The smoke clouds from the
           burning oil wells were closing in fast, reducing visibility
           to less than 1 ,500 meters. All of a sudden my loader,
           Lance Corporal Rodrigues, yelled: "We got a T-62 out
           there--Look!" "Gunner!  SABOT! Tank!      Range 1100
           meters!" The first explosion was small but then its
           ammo   started cooking off. I counted    14 secondary
           explosions.

   While the enemy threatened a counter-attack,    nothing materialized that
evening possibly due to the poor visibility which affected both sides. Gunnery
Sergeant Cochran wrote of that evenIng:

           It turned to midnight, had to use night vision goggles to
           see. Did not work. By 6PM Iraq troops PCs [personnel
           carriers~ and t[anlks were reported 3 k[ilometers] from
           us  and  moving   closer. They   finally   stopped 2
           k[ilometers] short of our pos because of total blackout.
           1 could not see the end of my 50 [cal. machine guni
           barrel 4 ft away.

   Task Force Shepherd's attack on 24 February mirrored Task Force Ripper's
experience. No organized enemy force contested Shepherd's advance until it
moved to the north side of the second obstacle bdt. Then, when the task force
attacked enemy artillery positions north of Al Jaber and later took tip position
to protect Task Force Ripper's assault on the airfield, its LAVs got into a series
of firefights.
   Task Force Shepherd's movement through the first obstacle belt went
unopposed. Moving in trace of Task Force Ripper, LAV crews found the desert
swept clear of enemy soldiers. Lieutenant Colonel Myers used that moment to
link up with Company C after its release by Task Force Taro. The task force
then consisted of Companies A, B, and C. Thus reinforced, Myers immediately
planned to launch an attack after passing through the second set of lanes.'38
Unfortunately, at 1130, when the task force reached the next obstacle belt,
Myers arrived to discover that Task Force Ripper's lanes were still choked with
units whose movement had been delayed by the Iraqi defense and the fouling of
Lane 4. After waiting 90 minutes, Lieutenant Colonel Myers decided to bypass
these lanes and create one of his own. His Marines had spotted a set of tire
tracks through the minefield which seemed recent enough to indicate the area
had to be free of mines.'39
   By 1330 Myers had his three companies and combat train on the north side
of the obstacle belt when he received an order from the division forward