Still, King’s decision to suspend his efforts to press his attack against the motor pools based on the information he had in hand was sound. Even if he had a solid appreciation for the chaotic state that the Guardsmen were then in or the fact that they had next to nothing by way of ammunition, King’s overriding orders to avoid open hostilities with Guard units influenced his decisions. This, coupled with his desire to preserve as much of his precious company as he could, drove him to accept the smaller solution.

With nothing more to do while he waited for his 2nd Platoon to abandon its forward positions and withdraw to where he was, King looked over at the smoldering hulk of the Guard tank sitting in the center of his drop zone. Even from this distance he could see the motionless body of a Guardsman hanging out of the commander’s hatch. Blood had been spilt. This was no longer a show of force. This was a battle, a real kill and be killed battle. And from where he stood, Andrew King started to imagine that it would be his company that would wind up being killed.

Trailing behind his platoon leader, Nathan’s radioman was doing all he could to catch up with the determined young officer. Like every RTO, he not only had to carry his own personal equipment, weapon, ammunition, and gear, he also had to haul the twenty-two pound AN/PRC 119 radio along with its spare batteries, extended antenna, and other associated items. Though he was as fit as any other man within the platoon, he was unable to maintain the pace. In the process of trying to do so, the RTO crammed the radio’s hand set into a rear pocket of his trousers lest it fall off his web gear and drag behind him. Before doing so he never thought to readjust the radio’s volume. As was his practice, the volume was still set on low to prevent the squawk of an incoming message from betraying his position in the early morning quiet. This, together with his own huffing and puffing and the noise around him, drowned out King’s efforts to hail Dixon.

The alarm raised by the Guardsmen positioned along the western side of the ammo site’s perimeter had proven to be false. It took time for Kozak to realized that the people her NCO saw running about were fellow Guardsmen. Most of them were pilots and ground crew of the Army Guard helicopters and Air Guard A-10s scrambling in an effort to get their precious machines off the ground and into action. The rest were trying to start vehicles parked near the ammo site. Where those vehicles were going was beyond Kozak. All she knew was that there were no paratroopers endangering them from that quarter.