Location: 1 km south of the village of Ladek Starey
Time: 1505 20 July 2000
<The pop, pop, pop of several AKs are heard about 300m north of your position, and are answered by the unmistakeable
bark of the '60. A frantic call comes over the radio "THIS IS VIPER 1! I'M SURROUNDED!!!" Several more
bursts of fire ring out...then silence...
All attempts to raise Brantley fail...>
"Shit!" Lee grabs the handset again "Viper 1, Viper 1! Sit tight, the cav's on it's way." then
he yells at everyone, "Mount up! Wolfe, Cutter, take 2 of the villagers in your HMMMV. Martinez y Martinez
and the other 2 villagers, come with me in Red Star. Staff Sergeant, you drive, Sergeant Major keep that Tank breaker
handy. Wolfe, you lead we'll follow about 10 meters back. Head east about 25 meters then north 100 meters and hook
west, we'll see if we can find Brantley and Cappanetti. Don't go fast and keep an eye out for anything."
"Anything you ground pounders want to point out before we head out?"
Lee then speaks back into the handset. "Ikeman, Stewart, give me a sitrep, over? We're in a bit of trouble.
We're moving out, sit tight at your current location."
1700 meters south of the village of Ladek Starey
Time: 1505 20 July 2000
<Ingle tosses a smoke grenade between him and the shooter, then looks at his leg. It hurts bad, but it doesn't
look to be too serious. Then, he puts his Armbrust back on safe, and takes his rifle off his back.
Ikeman, seeing the smoke (green) and realizing that the target is going to try and flank him, pulls back (using
cover and concealment) and moves to outflank his target.
Ingle shouts through the smoke, "Are you that Green Beret I saw a few minutes ago!">
Ingle shouts: "SSG Ingle, John, one each! American, from San Antonio, Texas, Heritage Northwest, Zip Code
78245, in between Potranco and Marbach roads, etcetera, etcetera. Thanks for shooting me! I really get off on pain!
<Not!> By the way, do you have anything to eat!" Of course, I'm already lying down, and I shove my rifle
off to the side.
"No Ranger!, stay where your at, I'll be there as soon as I can, don't shoot my ass." Jerry then looks
for a covered way to get to the downed soldier without exposing himself. "Might just be an english speaking
commie. Fuck!!! Stewart!!!" He thinks to himself. He Looks to where the SGM is. Seeing him behind cover, I
call out "Moving" to the SGM and make my way cautiously towards Ingle.
SGM Stewart yells as loud as he can "last chance boys. "I start dropping you if you dont
sing up."
Stewart then looks over to check on Ikeman.
Kartz, ensuring that Whitedog is nowhere near his field of fire, puts a 20 round burst over the two unknowns'
heads. Making sure they both realize that he purposefully aimed high, Kartz shouts, "Both of you drop your
weapons, and lay flat on the ground, or I drop you both!" He then calls out to Whitedog to come search them.
Location: 2km East of Highway 43, 14 km Southeast of Ladek Starey
Time: 1310 20 July 2000
<Once inside, Smith starts asking Pickett a series of questions :"Have you been following me? Does this
truck belong to you? Do you know if its serviceable? I'm sorry for all the questions, but I've been stranded for
a while now, and am in need of fire support and someone to count on, or I fear I won't make it much farther. Are
you with anyone? Or alone? I'm here alone, but if you have friendlies out there, see if you can contact them."
Gary says, looking into Pickett's eyes for any signs of diversion or deceit.>
> Once inside, Smith starts asking Pickett a series of questions :"Have you
> been following me?
"No son we just kinda bumped into ya."
> Does this truck belong to you?
"No, just got here. Might come in handy really."
>I'm sorry for all the questions, but I've been stranded for a
> while now, and am in need of fire support and someone to count on, or I
fear I won't make it much farther.
"Well it's ok now I guess, your amongst freinds. Where ya coming from?"
>Are you with anyone? Or alone? I'm here alone, but if you have friendlies out there, see if you can contact
them."
"Well I'm not sure if I wanna call my squad in just yet. Lets take a sec ta swap dog tags and wallets and
any papers or orders we might have so we get a good feel for whom were getting to show our hand too, ok?"
"If you wanna surrender before ole Sarge gets nervous, thats good too. Lets have a look?"
Smith says "I won't surrender, but I will display my weapon in a nonthreatening manner (hand nowhere near
the trigger, pointed down).
Smith pulls out his tags and wallet and offers them to Pickett. He takes Pickett's tags and wallet and looks them
over, glancing at Pickett like the ID Checker at a bar with a young kid in front of him...
Satisfied, Smith then pulls out his notebook and exchanges it with Pickett.
After Pickett and Smith have a few minutes of infomation exchange.
"Well.. Ya look alright to me. Tell ya what... Lets go see whats up with this truck."
A quick examination of the truck and surrounding area reveals some bloody bandages in the bed, as well as some
blood in the bed of the truck. There is a good size wet spot underneath the radiator, but you can't locate the
source of the leak easily. The cab is pretty well cleaned out. There is nothing that gives any clue to the owners
or drivers. The thing that suprises you is that the truck still has a half tank of fuel... As any good scout would,
Smith checks the gas tank to determine the type of fuel. As soon as Smith removes the cap, he gets quite a shock.
"Hey Major, you might want to check this out...I know why the bastards were moving so fast...DIESEL!"