"Conserve ammunition!" Sergeant Bishop yelled at first and fourth squads repeatedly. "Aim first and then squeeze the trigger! Lighten up on that AGL!" The fourth squad leader walked back and forth encouraging the men on as Sergeant Kunst ran back to the  hasty support by fire position.

Private Rutger Passet caught a round high on the left shoulder. It spun him around and knocked him back onto the dusty soil about eight feet away. PFC Larry Fokking flew through the air flipping end over end six times in rapid succession from the impact of a buzzbomb. His body slammed into one of the adobe stucco type building, killing him on impact.

Sergeant Kunst saw the two casualties yelling, "Medic! Take a look at these men!" He saw the platoon medic ducked behind a building. It was time for the one man who might be able to save some lives to go to work.

Sergeant Kunst looked at the target building. He could see a few dozen heads bobbing up and down from behind cover. Then he remembered the Lieutenant. "Dagger Six, this is Dagger one, SITREP, over."

"Dagger one, dagger six, send it, over," came the response.

"Dagger six, dagger one, we responded to a distress call from Indigo element. Provide supporting fires, they lost two vehicles in the kill zone. Target building is large adobe style stucco building to our east and north of your position. Estimate a hundred plus regular infantry and several dozen militia armed with a variety of small arms to include buzzbombs and RPGs. We have sustained one KIA and one WIA. Class V is diminishing as we speak. Recommend we break contact and link up at rally point Papa Bear three clicks south of here, over."

"Dagger one, this is dagger six, roger good copy. We are not going to break contact...." and then the radio went dead just as the Mortar rounds began impacting around second and third squad.

"Dagger six, this is a dagger one, over?" Sergeant Kunst spoke into the radio as mortar rounds landed in the city just south east of where he stood. He then turned to the fourth squad leader, "Bishop!" He yelled, "I think something is wrong with zero six. prepare the squads to unass the AO! We got mortars coming in on us." With the next explosion, the first squad's jeep was hit, Private Bastiaan Oonk and PFC Albert Felton were killed instantly. Their jeep and corpses were tossed fifty feet into the air. "Bishop! We need to get out of here now!"

Sergeant Bishop turned to acknowledge Sergeant Kunst. A round struck him in the neck, separating the man's head from his torso. The body belonging to Sergeant Hansen Biship stood erect for a full three seconds before it realized it no longer had a head telling it what to do. Kunst watched the man in horror as if time slowed down. It teetered and then faster and faster to the ground. It was a very odd sensation. He could no longer hear the screams from men being hit. He could no longer take his eyes of his friend's body. His arms did not extend as if to catch himself from falling.

Then he woke up. "Get out of here! Everyone Move! Back to your Skimmers, GO! GO! GO!" He yelled over and over at the survivors. "Run! Get your asses in gear!" Kunst was one of the last to leave. He keyed the mic again, "Dagger Six, this is dagger one, over,"

Finally a response came over the radio, "Dagger one this is dagger fife, Dagger six is KIA. I've ordered Dagger two and dagger three back to rally point Papa Bear. See you in fife mikes, over."

Sergeant Kunst caught up to his squad as they raced toward the skimmers. Mortar rounds were landing heavier in the area they just vacated. the soil was ripped up and the corpses of their friends were mixing with the sand and other debris being tilled in the afternoon heat. The squads arrived at the skimmers and took off heading south toward their rally point with the rest of the platoon.

Shortly after arriving, Master Sergeant Klinker and Sergeant Kunst set up a security perimeter and began collecting ACE reports from the squad leaders. ACE is an acronym for Ammunition, Casualties and Equipment.

Sergeant Kunst found his own squad in possession of fifty percent of its basic load of ammunition (BLA). He had six soldiers left, with Private Koenraad Price suffering from a broken left arm. He had suffered a through and through injury where the projectile passes through the limb and continues on to some other location. Second squad had four survivors including their jeep and their assistant squad leader, Corporal Jouke Rosen. Third squad consisted of seven survivors. PFC Gerard Kotts and Private Harold Lucius were KIA. The fourth squad now consisted of six men. They had two wounded soldiers, The Assistant Squad Leader, who was now their squad leader, Corporal Dedrick Schlief lost his helmet and suffered a laceration across his left cheek that ripped the top of his ear lobe off. Blood was gushing down his cheek and across his chin, but the medic was looking after it. The fourth squad jeep driver also took a hit in the right shoulder, but it was not enough to kill him. It was for the best part a minor flesh wound. The Platoon Headquarters only lost the Platoon Leader, Lieutenant Michel Vandervoort. The platoon was now down to twenty-six survivors. Everyone was panting excitedly. More than a few hands were shaking, not a calm nerve in the bunch.

"Charlie Six, this is Dagger fife, over," Master Sergeant Klinker called over the radio. He paused six seconds and tried again, "Charlie Six, this is Dagger fife, SITREP over." He tried a few more times and then gave up. He was getting no response. Sergeant Klinker looked at his NCO leadership who were huddled around him, "It looks like we are on our own boys. Whatever happened at Able, it don't look good. Whatever hit us in that town, ain't good either."

"Maybe we should link up with that armored car platoon," Sergeant Kunst recommended.

"Roger that, Gottfried," Sergeant Klinker responded. "I'll give them a call now and set up a rendezvous point."