The weather, the time of night, and the dispersion between units robbed the moment of the drama it so richly deserved. Perched upon a specially fabricated seat in the open cargo hatch of an ancient M-113 armored personnel carrier, Scott Dixon watched the western horizon and waited for the appointed hour. Within minutes, he would lose control over the battle. The plan that he had set in motion was about to slip from his fingers. Once initiated the fight would be carried on by his subordinate commanders, men and women he had done his best to train and prepare for this very moment. That this trial was coming at the expense of their fellow citizens did not matter. Neither Scott nor the soldiers of his division could allow it to matter. They were professionals, fighting for a people and a set of principles that all believed far outweighed the petty concerns or reservations of the individual. What mattered to the major general sitting on the edge of a windswept mesa and the men and women who had followed him to this place was that every one of the actors in this vast tragedy did their job and did it well. Failure to do so would not only mean that some of their number would die for naught, but that those who survived would have to do it again.

In battle the weather is neutral. The staff of the 4th Armored Division could not have counted on it to provide cover for the air assault. This task fell to the heavy guns of the division. At precisely zero three hundred hours the massed guns of Scott’s artillery brigade unleashed a synchronized barrage that would mask the final approach of the Blackhawks carrying the soldiers of the 11th Air Assault Division. In addition to the task of suppressing the Guardsmen during the insertion of the heliborne troopers, the storm of fire would severely limit the Guard’s ability to respond to the attack that would follow.

The first volley of improved conventional munitions hammered selected Guard positions. Each artillery projectile dispensed dozens of small bomblets over the targeted Guard positions. This continued for several minutes as the helicopters touched down, disgorged their passengers, then took to wing again and fled south. All was done according to a time schedule, making it critical that the air assault element be punctual and the artillery be accurate. Errors of mere minutes or a few dozen meters could be disastrous.