- Mission accomplished.
-
You have completed bootcamp training; you are now ready for your
first battle.
Be warned, the full thing won’t be this easy!
Return To Armor Alley
“Why’d I go back?” he said, the words stretched thin and hard.
The old tanker stared straight at me—or, not at me, but at
something in the room that I couldn’t see—something I could
barely imagine. He cocked his head as though hearing—flared
his nostrils at some imagined acrid stench—all his senses
seemed to strain toward something, somewhere…
“Because, it’s the only way to get there,” he half-whispered,
half-screamed, his eyes blazing into mine.
I never saw him again, but I kept the letters that came—all
ten of them.
I keep them to remind myself of why I became what I am today—
Of what I found in …… Armor Alley.
- Battle 1:
Cake Walk
-
We started strong today, with the tanks and vans spaced well out,
and didn’t run into the enemy until we were halfway to the target.
Our chopper cover managed to nail most of their birds before they
got anywhere near us. Their pilots flew like they were asleep, lucky
for us.
I started out 4th tank in line, but after their 3rd bunker I was
number two. I hate it up there. I watched Johnson and his squad get
shot up trying to take a bunker on foot. They should have waited for
us.
We got our van to the base and blew the enemy away—got a big
pat on the back from the brass for winning battle one. Big deal. I’m
just glad my tank is still in one piece with me inside it.
This seemed way too easy. I’ve got a bad feeling about this…
- Battle 2:
One-Gun
-
They managed to get an anti-airgraft gun into the alley while we
were sleeping. We didn’t even see it until we were almost on top of
it. Three of our chopper pilots and a missile launcher went down
before the lead tanker levelled it.
The third chopper was trying to put a pair of missiles into the gun
when it got him, but he fired too early.
I managed to stay farther back in the pack today because we didn’t
lose any tanks, but I feel like something’s coming that’s going to
melt those guys in front of me away like hot lead.
The commander won’t even talk about making it all the way. He says
the Alley’s still too long for us to be thinking about the end.
But we just found out he doesn’t know what he’s talking about. Turns
out he’s never been there before.
- Battle 3:
Sucker Punch
-
They switched tactics today, getting their choppers to work on our
bunkers, dropping men and blasting balloons. It wasn’t too big a
problem, except you had to wonder what our choppers were doing. I
spent half the day mowing down infantry. Something’s up.
It was almost too easy. My old man used to tell me that you got
nailed in battle when you got cocky—started thinking you
couldn’t miss. It’s hard not to feel like we’re in control, and the
other drivers just laugh me off when I get gloomy. They’ve never
been down the alley before. I have.
Aw, what the heck. I might as well have some fun and forget about it
for one night. I’m going down the alley anyway, so I’ll ether be
dead or I won’t when it’s all over.
- Battle 4:
Airborne
-
The enemy choppers were murder today. It seems like their pilots got
chewed for sleeping yesterday; they started ramming our choppers and
dropping bombs all over the place. We lost the whole first wave on
the way down the alley—two choppers, five tanks, four
engineers… what a mess. We heard there was a massacre when
the number two chopper had to turn back for fuel.
None of the brass seems to care much about the men. It’s the vans
and the choppers they’re groaning about.
We passed the stretch of the alley where the fight happened. Place
looked like a burned out exploded junk yard, all spread out around
this blown up bunker. The tanks were still smoking, just twisted
piles of iron. I’m lucky I was sweep in the second wave or I’d be
stew meat by now.
Even after we hit the target there weren’t any volunteers to lead
the assault tomorrow. I got assigned to take out the 4th tank. I’ll
mail this and the other letters tonight, because it looks like I
won’t get another chance.
- Battle 5:
Two-Gun
-
Our convoy ran up against a fully-equipped enemy ground force for
the first time today, after we spent half the day trying to get past
a huge bunker and a pair of anti-aircraft guns.
The choppers have managed to wipe convoys out ahead of us before,
but their tanks were too spread out today. Two of the tanks in front
of mine were blasted away, and I rolled into the target alongside
the number one tank with my right track blown completely off.
I don’t blame the chopper pilots for not clearing the way
completely. Back at base they said they had their hands full in the
air. The enemy helicopters were up to some nasty tricks, with two of
them just flat out ramming our guys.
The chopper guys also say the enemy vans are jamming their radar,
making them lose track of us and the enemy both while they’re
flying.
Thank God I get sweep duty again tomorrow. Our lookouts saw lights
tonight within shelling distance down the alley.
- Battle 6:
Super Bunker
-
My hearing is totally shot. I lost track of how many bombs went off
around us when the bad guys hit today, and my ears are still
ringing. There were rockets flying back and forth overhead from
helicopters I never even saw through the smoke, and it seemed like
the foot soldiers were screaming for blood from first light onward.
It seemed like the enemy was in our face from the minute we started.
The column commander told me to cover a squad of engineers trying to
take over an enemy aircraft gun, and I splashed by what was left of
them in a puddle of mud and blood that was up to their ankles. They
got the gun, though.
I’m glad we had a launcher with us to keep the choppers off our
backs, or I would not be writing this now. There were bits of burned
metal falling around us like rain as we passed the half way point.
Two of the tankers behind me caught up and we snuck a van in close
enough to blow the target, but I can’t remember how we got there. I
can’t hear, and my head hurts. The general says we’re on a roll, but
I don’t care anymore. I just want to keep moving, because if I don’t
I figure it’ll mean I’m dead.
- Battle 7:
Scrapyard
-
When we started out this morning, the commander said we were a
little more than halfway to our final goal. I felt like standing up
and screaming “only half way?!?” The idiots. They’ll kill us all. We
lost five choppers today. The pilots say they’ve almost given up on
the radar.
They were on us like flies on meat before we were halfway to target.
My tank’s turret is damaged so they sent me out last. I didn’t
argue. It was like running into a meat grinder, with the sound of
bombs and machine guns getting closer and closer as we rolled down
the alley behind a couple of vans.
The first three convoys out were completely destroyed, and our lead
two tanks bought it from a pair of rockets. I was driving up and
over twisted, steaming piles of iron scrap for miles down the alley,
and we had dying men strapped on the back as we finally hit the
target.
I’m so sick of the smell of the alley that I can barely breathe,
what with the blood and cordite and diesel and burned flesh stink
all around. I just keep going forward, because everyone else is.
- Battle 8:
Blind Spot
-
I wouldn’t be writing this except I had one terrific chopper pilot
save my life big time today.
The anti-aircraft cover has been murder, and one nest was giving the
pilots a real time of it until this guy screams in, finds a blind
spot in the ground unit’s fire pattern, and rockets the bad guys
into oblivion. Just after that I saw this same guy get his bird
wrapped up in a barrage balloon cable and go up in smoke. I saw the
whole thing from about 500 yards away. The engineers I was escorting
were fixing one of our guns nearby while this went on and didn’t
even blink.
There just seem to be more and more of them every day, and the
commander says we’re spending everything we’re making on new
equipment to replace what we’re losing. He says we’re doing great,
that we’re three quarters of the way there.
But if we make it I can tell you we’ll come swimming in on a river
of blood and diesel oil.
- Battle 9:
Wasteland
-
I’m standing here writing this in the ruins of the enemy base, and I
don’t really know how I got here. The casualty lists are out though,
and it’s clear this day was a disaster from the beginning. Only the
fact that we’re here keeps it from being a total loss.
27 tanks. 7 helicopters. 50 infantry. 12 vans. 8 missile launchers.
The commander lost an arm, but says he’s going to control our final
run down the alley tomorrow. Our funds are almost gone, and the
enemy came real close to stealing what was left.
I can’t believe we’re almost there. I lost my gunner and driver
today, and drove the beast into the target myself. I don’t recognize
any of the guys I’m with here, and I don’t know if it’s because
they’re green troops and all my friends are dead, or because I’m
losing my mind.
Tomorrow’s the last push. I’m not afraid. There’s not much left of
me to kill.
- Battle 10:
Midnight Oasis
-
They’re holding me in reserve today, as they say I’m the only
experienced tanker they’ve got left. I’ll write this while I wait
and leave it with the base’s battery commander. If you get it,
you’ll know we got to them before they got to us, and who
knows—I may even still be alive.
We knew before our radar started blanking out that they were coming
at us with everything today—we’ve brought up every piece of
hardware we’ve got. Second wave just rolled out, and our third
chopper of the day is lifting off. It isn’t even 10:00 yet. Gonna be
hot in the Alley today. We’re all going to be looking for a piece of
shade.
They say war tests you… makes you tough…
That’s bull. It turns you into a machine—some kind of machine
that only knows the difference between winning and losing. We don’t
master the machines we command—they master us. And in the end,
we don’t fear death. He marches alongside us, cheering us on,
laughing while we fight for some cause we’ve forgotten.
The column commander’s waving me forward. I see the lights of tanks
and rocketfire coming my way. Good luck, pal. The Alley’s all yours
now.
to the enemy base.
to
)
to steal some of their funds!
to
