Location: 1km Southeast of Ladek Starey
Time: 0830 20 July 2000
<CPT Wolfe calls back "roger, will report back shortly." CPT Wolfe then explains the situation to
the rest of the group, and says "well, should we stand and fight, or pop smoke and run?">
SGM Stewart says "Well if we are gona stand and fight we will need to set up a good ambush and a well concealed
LP.. I have no problem with kicking some butt. If you want I`ll stand out on the LP but I'm gona need one of your
radios and another body."
CPT Wolfe says SSG Martinez, grab your gear and the radio out of the humvee.
SSG Martinez says "roger" then heads for the humvee. He grabs his gear and the radio and walks over to
SGM Stewart. "Ready Sergeant Major?"
SGM Stewart and SSG Martinez head to a good location that they can observe the road (approx. 150 meters east of
the vehicles).
SGM Martinez and talks with CPT Wolfe, "Contrary to the green beanie, I say that we make the stand from the
village, they probably have some defenses, which is better than popping an ambush against a force of unknown strength.
I don't know what Cutter has to say about it, but he'll probably agree with the defense over the ambush."
CPT Wolfe says "I think the village is the way to go, especially since we have no armor. Go relieve Cutter
on the perimeter and send him in."
SSG Cutter discusses the situation with SGM Stewart, then heads over to CPT Wolfe. Cutter says "Sir, I say
we make a stand from the village. Ambushes are risky business, especially when we don't have the firepower that
I would like. If we had a tank or even an IFV I'd say the ambush would be the way to go, but we don't know how
many of them there are or what equipment they have. Your call sir, I'm just an enlisted man, you guys get paid
the big bucks."
Location: The village of Ladek Starey
Time: 0830 20 July 2000
<CPT Cappanetti continues "since you know the situation better than I, what do you think are chances are
of repelling the attack, given say, a few additional grenade launchers and machine guns, and troops to man them?">
Lee speaks to Captain Cappanetti, "Quartermaster corps eh? Well I hope you have an extra firearm to spare.
All I got is my M9. I was hoping those regulars we scared off dropped a rifle or something. Speaking of which,
there were about 10 to 15 of them. There was one UAZ 469 and one BTR-80. Ikeman got the BTR in the passenger compartment
with his M-203 but it didn't knock it out. We were about to cut and run when you guys showed up. " Lee looks
off towards the direction the enemy retreated. "I'm not sure what reinforcements they
have coming. How are you guys situated?"
Lee then looks at Brantley and grins "How ya doing Sergeant Major. I thought I'd be stuck all alone with these
Army guys."
CPT Cappanetti says we have a few M60s, a Mk19 Grenade launcher, some antitank, and plenty of ammo. There are 5
more of us back at the vehicles. Just waiting for them to call back and give me their take on the situation.
Location: 5 km south of Ladek Starey
Time: 1300 July 2000
<SFC Kartz gets some well deserved rest, getting more sleep in one shot than he's had in the last several days.
He wakes up about 1300, collects the mines and grenades, prepares some MREs for breakfast, then says "well
Cap'n, which way shall we head?">
CPT Whitedog says "Like I said before, we should head to the village north of here, get some updated intel,
then head west or south based on what we find out."
Location: 2km East of Highway 43, 14 km Southeast of Ladek Starey
Time: 1030 20 July 2000
<Returning to where MAJ Pickett is waiting, he says "looks like it was a classic hasty ambush. I say the
vehicle came down the road, the two AT rockets were fired, one missed, the other hit the suspension. Then a 3rd
rocket was fired from the rear, probably overkill because it vaporized the top armor. The rocket was either fired
from a tree, or it was a tankbreaker...since the round hit the top, not the back. Not exactly sure about the blood
pool to the north though, might have been one of the ambushers. The mortar attack probably ended the battle. What
do you think?">
Pickett puts his gear away as he joins back up Gunn to do a quick expanding square search from the blood stain.
Gunn and Pickett search for about 30 min, covering about 500m. they then reverse course the way they came. Near
the blood stain they find some tire tracks, most likely a cargo truck. Finding a small stream, Pickett pulls out
his purification tablets and refills his canteens.
They then head back towards Highway 43, Gunn 20m to the south of the road, with Pickett 20m south of him. They
stop near the highway, and Pickett says "well, which way do you think the AT unit went? The reason I say it
was an AT unit is that they used a top attack round on a BRDM had to have been an AT unit."