European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - August 07, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Report three soldiers continued from Page 3 kept demanding an explanation. Iraqi shells exploded with a Singie bang not with the ferocity of a barrage. A Friendly artillery Salvo must have gone awry and now no one would admit it. Or a fighter plane had dropped a Cluster bomb. For answers he got baffled shrugs. Looking Down at his bleeding men the colonel seethed with anger. As the big tanks had moved through his lines after the attack their heavy treads had set off unexploded shells and the cavalry had cowered to the Side. Now As the sky began to lighten the circumstances seemed to matter less than the fact that it was Over. For or a Brief period the morning brought respite for Hager s Little band. After picking its Way through the cavalry the division had paused again for breath. The sounds of War were far off the Gale had eased. They uns trapped water jugs from the Back hatches of the Bradley and washed for the first time in three Days. The sergeant took off his boots to Massage his swollen Ankles then thought to inspect his soldiers too. They also had sadly bloated feet. When the order to move came again the word was that just ahead Lay the Medinah div perhaps the strongest remaining element of the iraqi Republican Quot guard. They rumbled Forward tanks and Bradley in a line the platoon packed tight Between battalions. The map showed a Road just ahead. There was a Call to get guns Forward to get eyes on the Road. They cleared a gentle slope and their lieutenant peering ahead through his Thermal sight was shouting holy hell. There were targets everywhere a menacing line under Jet Black Clouds the glow of tanks dug in behind Sand barriers. The Advance units eased Back a few dozen Yards to take cover behind the wrinkle of the Ridge. Then the tanks on either Side of Hager were firing. And Hager was ordering his men to fire their Tow missiles As Well and then to fire again. The War had become a tank Battle at last. From far away came the flashes of enemy tanks firing Back. The sergeant braced for the Roar that would mean f they had struck Home  shells were falling Short a just sprays of Sand in the distance. It dawned on Hager that the iraqis were out of Range. Now it was ducks in a Row a Heady Rush and his Guys were lined up like musketeers for a non Stop fusillade. From the tanks next door the main gun thud was both horrible and terrific crouching in his Bradley Hager found so much to shoot that the Tow missiles soon ran 1 Low. Once enemy artillery threatened to find the Range the ground beginning to burst and Flash All around his unit. But the Battery was soon silenced and the Apache helicopters were Shwop to hopping overhead to take out whatever might be left. Creighton had other problems. The Drivers of steel tracked tanks did not have to worry much about the scattered shells but a Driver cps a rubber tired truck did. And in her exhaustion Creighton stumbled into one last terror. It was Daylight the All night March must have blurred her sight. Too late she recognized the yellow canister that told her she had wandered where Supply trucks did not belong. Then came the explosion. Creighton s Luck held. She herself was unhurt. And when she climbed Down from her cab she found nothing More serious than a front tire blown to shreds on a mangled Metal rim. There was a spare but it had been a Long time since the teacher had changed a tire and that was Back Home. It was easy to undo the bolts that held the spare in place. But when she thought about crawling under the six Axle truck itself she hesitated. The wrecking Crew when hey materialized once More wrestled with the wheel for close to an hour. But they got her moving again. When word came that Hager s Section would move once More the storm dark sky was Black with diesel smoke and the soldering of ammunition bunkers. Suddenly the battalion to the left was lurching Forward before anyone was ready and their lieutenant had to shout for the platoon members to catch up. This was harder going no longer empty desert but the wasteland of Battle obstacles ahead glowing with fire. And then the battalion was swerving farther left almost reckless in its charge and Hager s platoon still had to follow straining to Bridge the Gap. It moved in a ragtag line the six Bradley in a Row and As they Slid sideways past a burning Bunker Hager found himself at the rear. A Cloud of smoke appeared ahead of him. The Lead Bradley was burning its Crew bursting from the hatches and running across the desert. Hager watched in Dull Shock and then horror. On his left another track was hit engulfed in lurid  was alongside in a reflex. Outlined against the Smoky sky were three iraqi soldiers an ambush team in flight. As they ran one still carried the hand held launcher that had fired the rocket grenades. Hager and his gunner entered him in their sights and opened fire main gun and machine gun at full clip. A they held Down the triggers until All three were dead. But All that remained of the Bradley Driver was his Torso tossed upon the Sand. And when Hager and his men pulled the others from the Back they found flesh seared and i macs jutting at grotesque angles. As they Laid platoon sgt. Frederick Wiggins Down it was already Clear that his leg was lost. News of the ambush travelled quickly. It raced upward from the platoon to the battalion to the brigade the division then the corps. At every step the news caused Shock and a reappraisal. Perhaps there was still something out there in the unsettled dusk. What had seemed a Chance for a final blow against a helpless foe now seemed a Foolhardy risk. With night approaching the order was passed Back Down the channels this wednesday evening the division was to stay put. Thursday feb. 28 that was How it ended. There was to be no final climactic Battle a not for Hager s men or the cavalry not for Rebecca Creighton or anyone else. Overnight As soldiers slept the cease fire was arranged. The artillery let Loose a final pre Dawn Salvo before the 8 . Deadline. Then silence took hold. The rain had finally eased. The Sun was peeking out. Behind the lines Reese found that his anger was now spent. It had Beer Tad the colonel thought. Twenty four of his men were Hurt 14 vehicles were destroyed. But no one had died. And for the somber officer there was a senses of release of insulation from danger. At last Blackhawk was not longer out front. The teacher a her truck s Load now craved by thirsty helicopters a was hailed As a hero in her Small world. No heavy Tanker in the whole division had made it farther Forward. Already she had decided that she owed her Success to the Scarcity of alternative sit was Best Creighton would say later that she Learned Only to drive her truck Forward and never in reverse. The searing immediacy of the War has receded now the Triumph and the horror mixed in a Dull glow. But it is still there Down inside. The sight of a thin Moon can bring you Back to the desert Back to Garcia and the All night March and your Muscles clench All Over again. Creighton Back Home in Martinsburg w.va., and undecided about her future in civilian life is sure of one thing she never wants to relive her experiences in the iraqi desert. Quot once was enough Quot she said. For Reese looking Back at the Battle from his Home in Ansbach Germany what endures Are lessons about the Power of fear. To Block it out he said is easier said than done. But in the March Forward from Garcia he reflected now there was a nobility in having conquered it. He has the explanation he wanted about the artillery fire. Quot shortly after the War an investigation was conducted and maj. Gen. Ronald a Griffith told me that All the evidence and information that had been presented to him leads him to believe the artillery fire was enemy fire Quot Reese said. Quot i have accepted this As being  Hager now the platoon sergeant for the scout platoon with he and he co 4th in 66th Armor in Aschaffenbur Germany has Quot no regrets for  a the War taught him a lot he said. Quot after All the training i actually got to go to War. Now i know i can do  the stars and stripes contributed to this report. Amp to 1�y-<v it it i. Its Vine Crawley the iraqi Border into Kuwait on the first morning of the cease fire. Page the stars and stripes wednesday August 7, 1991