Battlefield Ukraine

No Plan Survives First Contact

As SFC Childers was watching the Russian attack helicopters take off from the field with the drone, they heard numerous sonic booms from high-flying aircraft. His eyes raced across the sky, searching for the source of the noise. He saw what appeared to be some missile tracks in the air… then, after a couple of minutes, he started to see several explosions take place. “Clearly, a battle is taking place in the sky above me, but I have no idea which side is winning,” he observed.

Childers looked at the LT. “This doesn’t look good, Sir. I’m not sure what is going on, but my money says those are Russian and American aircraft shooting at each other up there.”

Lieutenant Taylor responded cautiously. “I think you are right, Sergeant. Tell everyone to get ready to engage those Russian vehicles, should they head our direction,” he said nervously, his eyes searching the woods around their position.

“I hope the armor unit that is supporting us is getting close,” thought Taylor. “If those Russian tanks move towards us, we are going to be in real trouble.”

Childers just nodded. The LT was right; they needed to stay frosty now and be ready for anything. Speaking into his headset, Childers announced, “Everyone listen up. It looks like there is some sort of air battle going on above us. That means hostilities have probably started. We knew this was a possibility, and we’ve trained for this. Everyone knows what to do. We have enough firepower with us to kick the teeth out of those Russians in that village. If and when they do cross the demarcation line and head towards us, I want you all to start calling out your targets. Make sure you are not shooting at the same vehicles!” He was trying to fire the platoon up.

“From what we are seeing from the drone feed, it looks like we will probably have about a company, maybe a battalion-sized element heading our way, if those other units follow this one,” Childers continued. “The rest of those tanks and armored vehicles are heading further up north… So, here is what we are going to do. TOW gunners, make sure to focus on the tanks. Javelin crews, focus on the BMPs and BTRs. My Stinger operators, be ready in case those helicopters head our way. Most importantly, remember your training. We’ll get through this together and we’ll kick the crap out of these guys! Hooah!” he yelled.

“Hooah!” came the reply. Everyone in the platoon was filled with adrenaline as they shouted the Army slogan together.

The soldiers in the platoon began to ready their crew. They all hoped that the Russians had not spotted them in this thicket of trees yet. The Raven scout drone spotted the BMPs, BTRs and tanks starting to head towards the village and the demarcation line; it would not be long until they were in range of their anti-tank missiles now.

Ten nervous minutes passed before the first Russian vehicle crossed the demarcation line at the edge of a small village named Pyriatyn. They let the vehicles continue to pass and get closer to their position. They wanted as much of the column out of the village as possible before they called in the artillery strike and began to engage them with their TOWs.

Lieutenant Taylor was getting antsy; he wanted to launch the attack right then. Childers reminded him, “We need the vehicles to move a bit closer, so that they are in range of our TOWs. The enemy needs to get within 2,000 meters of us.”

Slowly, painfully, they waited and watched. Then, when the middle of the column reached 2,000 feet away, Childers turned to Taylor and nodded. “It’s time,” he affirmed.

Lt. Taylor depressed his talk button. “TOW gunners, engage the tanks now,” he ordered. In a mere second, a loud popping noise could be heard, then a whoosh as four TOWs rushed out of the midst of the thicket of trees that they had been hiding in. They streaked quickly towards their intended targets, four T-90 main battle tanks.

Sergeant Childers signaled to his artillery forward observers, “Start raining death on the enemy.”

The forward observers began to call in multiple artillery strikes to their battalion of self-propelled 155mm Paladins. One of the sergeants gave him a quick thumbs-up to let him know the mission had been received. “It won’t be long now until the rounds start to land and really plaster the Russians,” Sergeant Childers thought.

Just after the TOWs left the tree line, the four Javelin crews fired off their missiles at the lead group of BMPs and BTR Infantry Fighting Vehicles.

The Russians reacted quickly; within a few seconds of the TOWs being fired, several of their tanks turned their turrets towards the tree line to engage the Strykers. Just as they were about to fire, the TOWs began to hit them, blowing several turrets right off the chasses of the vehicles. Then the Javelins found their marks, and three BMPs and one BTR blew up in a blaze of flaming glory.

The crews of the Stryker vehicles began to reload the TOW launchers as fast as they could, and so did the Javelin crews. One of the T-90s that had not been destroyed fired at the tree line, hitting one of the Stryker vehicles; it promptly exploded, throwing one of the crew members from the vehicle several feet away. Several of the BMPs then began to rake the tree line with 30mm and 100mm cannon rounds from their main guns. Tree limbs, branches, and bushes simply began to burst, throwing bark and chunks of trees in every direction at the soldiers below and around them.

One of the Stryker vehicles had their TOW launcher reloaded and fired off both missiles almost immediately. The missiles streaked across the field towards two more of the Russian tanks, which were now racing towards the tree line, firing their main guns. One of the Light Armored Tactical Vehicles (LATVs) took a direct hit, exploding and throwing shrapnel everywhere. One of the Javelin missile crews hit another BMP, just as the gunner of the same BMP killed them with a fiery blast from their 100mm gun.

Then, Childers heard the artillery come flying over their head, impacting all around the remaining Russian tanks and infantry fighting vehicles. The artillery guys were yelling in their handsets, “Hey, Gun Bunnies — keep it coming!”

“We are plastering the Russians,” thought Luke.

As the artillery continued to land, the remaining Russian force fell back to the village they had just left to get away from the artillery. The forward observers continued to walk the artillery in towards the village, making sure the Russians found no safety, even in falling back to a populated village.

Lieutenant Taylor yelled over the radio, “Cease fire! Stop firing on that village, there could be civilians in there!” The forward observers who were with the platoon radioed back for the battalion to check-fire, which is how the artillerymen say ceasefire. It took a few minutes for all the soldiers to stop shooting and for the artillery barrage to end. Once it had, and the smoke began to clear, they saw the absolute carnage their platoon had just inflicted on the Russians. They had nearly wiped out what was probably a company-sized armored unit, along with their support vehicles and troops. When they looked further back at the village, they saw that most of the little township was a smoking ruin.

Several additional armored vehicles and tanks were burning in the village, strung across the various roads and side streets. They all felt a little better about plastering the village once they saw that they had also killed a lot of Russians. Sergeant Childers put his binoculars back in his pocket; he had seen enough.

“Listen up everyone!” he yelled. “Grab our dead and wounded and get back in the vehicles. We are getting out of here NOW!” He picked himself off the ground and began running up to the various positions where his soldiers were dug in, encouraging them to grab their gear and get in the vehicles.

Lieutenant Taylor walked up to Sergeant Childers and put his hand on his shoulder to grab his attention. “Hey, we just stopped them. Why are we falling back now?” he asked, not fully understanding the logic in his platoon sergeant’s decision or the urgency in trying to get everyone loaded up, along with their wounded and their equipment.

Childers paused for a second, like a father who is trying to have patience as he answers a question from his teenage son. “Sir, we just plastered the Russians. They are either going to call in artillery on our position or an airstrike. In either case, we can’t stay here. We need to fall back to our secondary position and see if headquarters wants us to link up with the rest of the Troop or what they want us to do.”

The Lieutenant had that look on his face like he realized that he should have known that. He was thankful that Sergeant Childers had talked just loud enough so that only he could hear him, and not the rest of the platoon.

“Come on LT, I’ll lead the platoon to the next position,” offered Childers. “You get on the radio with headquarters and find out what they want us to do next. Good?” he asked, hoping the lieutenant fully grasped the situation now. He needed him to step up and handle the radio call while he focused on getting them out of there alive.

Taylor nodded, and they both got back to work.

The vehicles were in the process of backing out of their position when several artillery rounds started to land where they had just been. They had made it out less than two minutes before their old positions were plastered by enemy artillery fire. As they fully cleared the copse of trees, they turned around and sped away as fast as they could towards their next position.

The lieutenant tried raising their higher headquarters multiple times but just got static. He tried raising several of the other troop leaders to see if they were available. He managed to get in touch with two of them. They were also falling back to link up with a battalion of heavy tanks from the 1^st armored division. He got their coordinates and agreed to fall back and link up with them. He advised them of his wounded and asked if they had any. They all replied that they had not run into any Russian units yet but had seen a lot of attack helicopters and aircraft heading towards the NATO base further north. “It’s really odd that none of the other platoons have engaged any of the Russian units yet,” he thought. “Our sector can’t have been the only one that the Russians tried to breach.”

Twenty-five minutes later, they found the battalion of M1A2s and the rest of 4^th Squadron, their parent unit. Their Captain, a man by the name of Len Richards, walked up to them all smiles. “That was one heck of an engagement you guys had. Well done on stopping that Russian armored column,” he said shaking the lieutenant’s hand.

SFC Childers looked confused. “You saw the engagement?” he asked.

Amused at their confusion, Captain Richards replied, “Yes, we saw it. You still had your scout drone loitering over the area, sending back the video. You guys did a bang-up job.”

He looked down briefly, as if paying respects. “I’m also sorry for your losses. They were good men. I’m going to make sure everyone is put in for some medals for that action. Your platoon temporarily stopped the Russian advance in this area, which is giving us the time we need to reorganize after headquarters was wiped out at the airbase,” the Captain said, full of pride about what one of his platoons had managed to accomplish on their own.

Several of the medics from the other troops had run over to their vehicles and helped to unload Nemesis Troop’s wounded as they began to provide them aid.

Breaking the train of thought, Lt. Taylor suddenly announced, “Sir, we need ammo. My vehicles and men are short on just about everything. Also, what about air support? Those Hinds are still out there and it’s only a matter of time before they, or those aircraft up there find us and start dropping bombs and missiles on us.”

The captain smiled, glad his lieutenant was thinking of the broader picture. He motioned with his arm. “Walk with me back to the command track. I need to show you what’s happening,” Captain Richards said. He led the three of them through the wooded area to where the Command Stryker vehicle was tucked away. As they walked through the trees, Lt. Taylor and SFC Childers saw dozens of Abrams battle tanks geared up to fight.

As they approached the command post, they also saw a Major and a Lieutenant Colonel (LTC) talking with a Command Sergeant Major (CSM). The captain waited for a break in the conversation before he introduced them. “Colonel Munch, Sergeant Major Fields, this is the platoon commander and sergeant from my second platoon; they are the ones that stopped that Russian column down the road.” Captain Richards was beaming with pride.

The Lieutenant Colonel and the Sergeant Major smiled warmly at them. The colonel was the first to greet the newcomers. “Good work out there. You guys probably bought us at least an hour before they try that again.” The colonel paused and looked down. “My condolences on the loss of your men. They did an amazing job, and as I’m sure your captain already told you, we’re going to make sure everyone gets recognized for their heroic acts.” The colonel’s facial expressions somehow simultaneously conveyed genuine concern and pride. He came across as a leader who cared about his men and the sacrifices they were making.

LTC Munch continued, “We need to bring you guys up to speed before we push off and go hunting for Russians. Pryluky Airbase has been hit hard. Headquarters is offline. They also hit Kiev International Airport at Boryspil relentlessly as well. Word has it that MG Mueller and most of his staff were killed in the attack. So, right now, that leaves us with no idea of who’s in charge or what in the world we are supposed to do beyond our initial orders.” He spoke with the smugness you’d expect from a senior officer who has probably seen a lot of combat and liked to make things up as he went.

Smiling at the colonel’s comments, SFC Childers commented, “Well, I was taught in the Rangers that in the absence of orders — attack without mercy.” The CSM smiled a wicked grin at the mention of Ranger School. Like Childers, he also sported a Ranger tab on his shoulder. Childers, however, also had a 75^th Ranger Regiment Combat patch, so he’d actually been a Ranger, not just gone through the school.

The colonel, who also had a Ranger tab, smiled and said, “Oh, I’m going to like you Sergeant Childers. That is exactly what we are going to do. I’ve got five Avenger Air Defense vehicles with us too, so we have some air defense should those fighters up there (or those Hinds you reported) decide to get frisky.”

“How did you manage to get five Avengers?” Captain Richards asked, surprised by the number. Typically, a unit might have one, maybe two of them. Not five.

“Let’s say I saw a lost air defense unit that was looking for an escort to the Pryluky Airbase,” LTC Munch replied with a smirk and then continued, “By the time we got halfway to the airbase, we heard it had been thoroughly hammered and we were being redirected to this location to link up with you guys. As we were headed along in our little gaggle, some Russian Su-34s saw us moving along and thought that we might make nice sitting ducks to attack. That was a really stupid move on their part though, because the Avengers that we had with us managed to shoot down two of the Su-34s before they even managed to cause us any damage. After that, the Russians diverted course, and we all decided to stick together as we hauled tail out of there.” The CSM had a wry smile on his face as he spat a stream of chewing tobacco on the ground.

“Enough chatting — it’s time to get down to business,” the Colonel said as he walked over to the map. “Here’s what we are going to do…”