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

           ahead?  They could really hurt US right here. Oh well,
           everything was going good so far.
               All of a sudden:   BOOM!   BOOM!    Two bright
           flashes followed by massive secondary explosions lit up
           the sky. My heart dropped through my stomach. Both
           explosions came from near the head of the column.
              An ambush! They got us!
              "Speak to me, Red! Red, speak to me! What's going
           on up there?" Skipper tried to sound calm but couldn't
           hide his concern. Silence. It must have been our tanks.
           "Red! Red! Speak to me!" More silence.
               Oh God! I can't believe they got us. I wanted to
           throw up. It was all so unbelievable. Would we be next?
           Still, no response.
              "Any Red dement, any red dement, this is Gold.
           What's going on up there?"
              "Roger, Gold, this is Red. Destroyed two enemy
           trucks."
              Thank God! Trucks! Oh, that's right. We had all
           forgotten about the last intel report which mentioned a
           parking lot along our route toward the airport.

    As resistance collapsed the battalion completed the last kilometers without
further enemy  interference. The 1st Tank Battalion had reached  its battle
position alongside the airport perimeter road on the task force's right flank by
2100.179
    As the 1st Tank Battalion halted, the engineers went into their own night
battle position about a half-mile south of the airport perimeter road, between the
1st Tank Battalion and 1st Battalion, 1st Marines. Their drive had been typical.
After Colonel Hodory's commanders' meeting, the combat engineers moved into
formation behind the tanks. The column had moved a few kilometers when it
stopped-~3d Battalion, 9th Marines, had gotten engaged.  Malted next to a
burning wellhead, the engineer task force waited as day turned to night. A
sandstorm struck soon after dark. When the column began moving again it
pressed slowly forward, surrounded by flaming wells belching thick black
smoke. At least the wells enabled the track vehicle drivers to see, but when the
unit veered off from the main column to establish its night defensive position,
it drove away from the flames and into absolute darkness, devoid of sky,
ground, or horjzon.1s0
    Many in the unit felt uneasy. The blowing sandstorm made speech difficult
outside the vehicles. It took the detachment commander's deputy, Captain John
M.   Allison, 20 minutes to get the task force's mix of AAVs, tanks, and
armored  combat excavators   (ACE's) into a circular defense that normally
required a few minutes to accomplish. Instructed by regiment to orient the unit's
defense to the southeast, he faced the command vehicle in that direction and put
the three M6OAl tanks outside of the main circle to allow their guns maximum