The job is to kill one tank.  The guys in training never seem to get that idea, of course the guys taking the course have been around for awhile and the term macho military is redundant.   They all watched too many war movies with one guy killing tank after tank.    Tanks are hard to kill for a few reasons, the first is because they are manned by a crew that doesn't want to get killed, second they are armored so most of the stuff you shoot at them bounces off, last but not least, they shoot back.

We spend four hours of classroom training teaching them what to do and what they shouldn't do.   They will of course do most of the stuff we tell them not to do, and none of the stuff we tell them to do.    The classroom is completely different than the field, things happen faster and a wrong answer is really wrong in the field.

This course is full of Captains, a Major, and a  Marine Corps warrant officer. They are all in the Advanced Infantry Officers course.   When they finish they would most likely take command of a combat infantry unit.    They have all been in service for at least four years.   The questions they asked in the classroom made them appear pretty bright and well motivated.

We put them in buses and take them to the motor pool.  We load them up into a M113 Armored Personnel Carrier (APC) This is Vietnam era equipment and if you have seen one in an old news clip they look like big metal boxes with the guys always riding on top of them instead of in them.  This is because the amour is so thin that if it rolls over a mine everyone inside "buys the farm."  A term that means that your parents will be able to pay off the loan on their farm with your GI government insurance.

We spend way too much time in the motor pool since most of the guys have never seen an APC before.  We have a driver from the 197th Infantry Unit.  They hate this duty since they will have to drive around a bunch of crazy officers and no one will stick around to help them clean up when we are done.   The only joy they get is to completely ignore all commands from the students.  The students will scream at them to slow down and the driver will speed up, bouncing everyone in the back around until they are bruised and bloody.

We don't ride in the APC, we lead the way in an International harvester jeep like vehicle.  It is a lot like an SUV except it has no air conditioning and you can clean out the interior with a fire hose.   We lead the way because that is the Infantry motto, "We lead the way!"   Really it is because following a M113, pronounced One One Three is just plain stupid, they kick up dust and are driven by a disgruntled guy from the 197th whose only joy is to drive like a nut.

We arrive well rested and looking very sharp in our starched fatigues with little blue badges that indicate that we are the guys in charge. The students show up dirty, dusty and bruised.   We make them put on camouflage stick and then give them a warning order.  A warning order is the order that explains what the commander wants to happen and is given before the complete order is sent down.   I served for 11 years in the Army I never got a complete order and since we don't want to give our students any false expectations we never gave them anything  except a warning order.  We will of course continue to promise them a complete order.

The order is very simple, Proceed to grid coordinate 16SGL01948253 and prepare an anti-armor ambush.  Your mission is to destroy or disable ONE tank.  We emphasize "ONE" tank, but it never helps. These guys have watched too many Rambo movies to not try to take out the entire column.  We are at grid coordinate 16SGL01948253 so that part of the plan has come off perfectly.  We give them maps and then tell them to make a sand table.   A sand table is a patch of dirt that they create a model of the terrain on.  They will use it to brief the instructors on the plan.   They also have to pick a leader. We give them four hours to prepare.  You would think that since the course is full of Captains, and a Major that their would be a mad rush to be the leader,  there isn't.  These guys would rather keep their heads down and carry a Sixty (M60 machine gun) then step into a leadership position.   The Marine Corps Warrant officers steps up and takes charge.  I'm not sure if I should be offended or amused, an Army Officer course and the lowest ranking guy has taken command, and a Marine at that.

We tell the new commander that he has three hours to get his patrol squared away.    We then go sit in the Jeep and eat our lunch.  We are close enough that if they need us they can come ask us a question but far enough away to complain about how really stupid this class is.   If they do ask us any questions we read them the warning order again and then look at them like they are too stupid to live.

We never give them the full four hours, first because in combat things happen faster and you always run out of time so you have to learn to do the important things first, second because we don't want to work late.  This is a job, and when we finish it we go home to our lovely wives and if they aren't home we go home to someone else's wife.   Either way we want to go home.   After an hour and a half we tell the leader that things have changed. he has to brief us in ten minutes.  Five minutes later we are standing around the sand table saying, "Time!"

The briefing goes surprisingly well. They use all the right jargon.  "Patrol will mount and using stealth will maneuver into a hasty firing position.  Alpha team will provide security  for the Dragon gunner.  The ambush position will be located on the military cress of hilltop A1 using the northern ridge line as cover and concealment."   It goes on and on like that which would impress us but we have never seen anybody pull off anything even close to what they explained at the sand table.  It is required as part of the training and we will come back to the same sand table for the "After action report" and embarrass them by asking how closely they executed the plan they presented.

We cut it short, since the clock is running, by walking away and loading up in our jeep.   They see us leave and load up in their One-One-Three.  Their crazy driver follows us.  He shouldn't, since we are going up to a bare hill that we use as a look out point.  It looks directly down the road that the tanks will be driving up in a couple of hours.    We pull up under the only tree on the hill, open the doors and wait.    The driver pulls up next to us and stops.   They have driven pass their ambush position and completely out of the area that was represented by the sand table.

They start to setup on the bald exposed hill top.    Just to understand how an anti-armor ambush is suppose to work, in case you haven't done one before reading this,  I'll explain the basics.  You put out a hasty minefield  then you walk back 1000 meters, the maximum effective range of a dragon anti-tank missile.  You walk back because you want to shoot a tank from the back.  The armor is a bit thinner in the back and people, even tankers, have a tendency to look in the direction they are driving.   You want a hill between you and the rest of the armored column because you are suppose to kill one tank and the other tanks will be mad when you do it.  So you don't want them to see you do it.  After you have your gunner in place you walk back to the minefield, which is yours so it is safe since they will only go off if a 13 ton tank rolls over them. Standing in the middle  of the mine field you look back to see if you can see the guy sitting behind the Dragon missile, you're not suppose to see him. You then walk out about five hundred meters and put a claymore mine down with a sandbag on top of it.   You will use this later.   You walk back to your gunner cleaning up anything that might give your position away.

You put out security and hope you never have to use them and then you call up the artillery boys and give them the location of your minefield.   You then ask the the time of flight or Time on Target.  This allows you to make everything happen at the same time.   Normal time of flight for artillery is 23 seconds, it takes 11 seconds for a Dragon missile to travel 1000 meters.  You time the attack so that 23 seconds before the first tank enters the mine field you call for artillery, 12 seconds later you let loose the missile and 10 seconds later you fire off the claymore.  The first tank will enter the mine field even though it saw what it thinks is a missile back blast.  The artillery will start to fall. Hopefully the tank will hit a mine and be hit by your missile.  The rest of the tanks in the column should be pretty confused because some of them will have seen a missile, others might see the mine field, and of course they will all see artillery falling. While they are scared and confused you will load up your one-one-three and ride off into the sunset.  Mission accomplished "One" tank killed and an armored column that is very much slowed and nervous.

Now this is what is suppose to happen and other than setting up the mines and claymore that is what the briefing at the sand table described.  So what did they do.

First they followed us up to the  top of the most prominent hill in the area.  One that would have already been targeted with artillery by the opposing forces.  The "Leader" decided it would do.   He also decided that since we issued him two LAW's (Light Anti-Tank Weapons) that he should use them to kill a couple of extra tanks.   LAW's are like pistols.  They are nice to have just in case, but you don't go into combat with just a pistol, and you don't go looking for tanks with a LAW.   They have a 300 meter effective range and they bounce off any decent tank made after World War II.   He positions three of his guys 300 meters away from the road and in his defense they allowed him to do it.   He positioned his Dragon gunner 700 meters behind them, alone.  Real soldiers are not that brave.  He then puts his M60 machine gun on top of the hill right next to our jeep, which annoys us since they are really loud and the cordite stinks.

I am getting madder and madder.  This is the worst ambush I have ever seen.  I start to complain, loudly.  The other guys say, "We have to let them make mistakes.  We can cover it in the After Action review."  I say, "I just want them to do one thing right."  This gets the Marine Warrant Officer upset.   He explains that he out ranks me and I'd better start to show some respect.  I explain that in twenty minutes an Armor column is going to come rumbling down that road and he had better be ready.   The course is Pass/Fail and I'm the Sergeant that decides which.

It is too late to stop the tankers and they want to get back to somebody's wife just as much as we do, so we let it go.

They come around the hill and can see our jeep.   The warrant officer initiates the ambush by throwing a red smoke grenade in front of the M60 machine gun.    It marks our position clearly.  He then ordered the 60 gunner to open up. A tank travels around with a shell in the chamber so all they have to do is point and shoot.  A good crew can reload in less than 3 seconds so when the smoke goes off we heard the tank commander say over the command net, "Firing,"  The tank accelerated and blew past the guys with the LAW missiles, and transmitted,  "Firing" for the second time  The Dragon gunner was just about ready to fire when he had to get up and get out of the way of the tank.  If he would have stayed in position he would have gotten run over.    The tank continued up the hill.   The ambush leader told his remaining guys to mount up.   They ran for the One-One-Three and just as they finished loading the tank pulled up right behind it blocking it in.  The tanks main gun was inches away from the leaders face when he said for the third and last time "Firing."   He then leaned out of the turret and said, "Boom."     He turned to me and asked, "Do you need us any more today?"  I replied, "Nope, I think that will do.  Thanks for your help."    He rode away saying, "Always a pleasure to help the Infantry."

I let the other guys do the after action report since I didn't think I could add much to "Boom."   We cleaned up and I headed home.     Two weeks later I got a call from the office of the Commanding General of the United States Army Infantry school.  I had never met the General before so I spit shined my shoes put on my best dress green uniform and showed up ten minutes early.

The General's aid looked at me like I had been convicted of raping a nun.  He then showed me into the office.   The General didn't look up from his desk for a really long time and kept me standing at attention.  He then said, "Sergeant Hartman. We have had a formal complaint from the United States Marine Corps about you.   It alleges that you were disrespectful to a Marine Corps officer."  He paused for effect ,and I thought, "It wasn't a Marine Corps officer it was a warrant officer," but I assume the distinction would not help my case.   I stood at attention and waited.   The General then said, "Do you have anything to say?"   I responded by saying, "The officer in question initiated an Anti-Armor ambush with a red smoke grenade on his own position."   I was prepared to tell him the whole story but I decided to wait until he asked me to speak again.    I stood at attention for what seemed like a very long time with the General looking me up and down.   Finally he looked back down at the papers on his desk.   I swear he was smiling when he said, "Dismissed."