Everything transpired faster than Nathan could comprehend. One moment he was charging across the last few meters of open ground for all he was worth and firing as he went. The next he was standing there, aiming his rifle at the surprised Guardsmen. For a fleeting second the young officer hesitated in the hope that the Guardsmen staring up at him would appreciate the hopelessness of their position and surrender.

Combat has a strange effect on soldiers. People caught up in a life or death struggle don’t react as they would under calmer, less stressful circumstances. Just two days before, a major crisis for Fran had been finding the right pair of shoes for one of her children so he could play football. Now she suddenly found herself having to make decisions that she was in no way prepared to make. Reaction and fear, not logic, drove her response.

When she looked up and saw Nathan Dixon bringing his rifle to bear, Fran Meranno instinctively reached down and released the machine gun from its tripod. While still maintaining eye to eye contact with the new threat looming over her, she pulled her gun up off its mount and began to swing it toward Nathan.

Now it was Nathan’s turn to decide. Now he had to make a choice. And as so many others had already done that morning he reacted rather than reasoned. Without the slightest hesitation Nathan jammed the butt of his M-16 into his shoulder, laid his sights square on the machinegunner’s chest and pulled his trigger.

As much as the firefight along the southern portion of her defensive perimeter concerned her, Nancy Kozak was unable to ignore her overall responsibility for the ammo site. Using all her will power, she fought back her urge to rush over to the fight and instead made her way back to the small command post that linked her detachment with Gowen Field’s operations center. There she checked in, reporting her current situation as she saw it while trying to find out what was going on elsewhere.

The captain who took her report was unable to provide her with a clear picture of what was going on or offer her any guidance. Frustrated with having wasted her time, Nancy tossed the phone aside a second time in disgust as she turned away and made for the door. Though she still had no clear idea what was going on over at Gowen Field itself, she sensed that she didn’t have the luxury of waiting for orders that might never come.