Chapter 9, The Amazing Adventures of Ralph Kroder, a work in progress

Brains of the outfit

      

Ralph’s platoon of six Stalker APCs was ambushed while driving through a small village fifteen kilometers west of Xuddur in Somalia. The platoon escorted eleven Mercedes flatbed trucks loaded with food and supplies for a refugee camp thirty kilometers farther west.

Ralph’s Stalker was last in the column. First Squad and Second Squad led the column, followed by five Mercedes trucks, then the platoon leader’s Stalker and Weapons Squad Stalker, six civilian trucks and the trail element, consisting of Third Squad and Ralph’s APC.

The village consisted of twenty mud brick houses ten meters south of the hard-packed dirt road. A shallow stream ran east-west twenty meters north.

Jihadists blew the ambush by initiating fire when the lead element and four trucks were in the kill zone. First and Second squads immediately returned fire with turret-mounted .50-caliber machine guns and two squad automatic weapons, as well as M-8 infantry rifles, all weapons firing at jihadists on the roofs of houses. No fire came from lower floors, since all windows and doors were at the back of the houses.

Drivers of the four Mercedes trucks increased speed and drove to the right, passing the two lead Stalkers and getting out of town as fast as possible.

The fifth Mercedes stopped before reaching the kill zone. Platoon Leader First Lieutenant Daniel Morrell took his Stalker left of the Mercedes and directed Weapons Squad to the right. Both vehicles opened fire with .50-caliber machine guns, with the Weapons Squad adding fire from its two M-249 machine guns.

The .50-caliber and 7.62-millimeter guns ate up the mud brick houses. Bullets slammed into and through Jihadists attempting to fire RPGs from rooftops, exploding heads, and in at least two cases, separating upper and lower bodies.

Ralph sent Third Squad and his own Stalker far left, positioned to fire in whatever direction was necessary or possible. His movement became important within minutes, when surviving jihadists decided to run. The only direction to run, though, was west, the direction covered primarily by two .50-caliber machine guns and Third Squad’s squad automatic weapons. Third Squad’s riflemen and the grenadier added to the killings.

The firing was over in less than seven minutes. Lieutenant Morrell sent First and Third Squads west to corral the four Mercedes trucks, which had stopped two kilometers ahead. He sent Third Squad forward as lead vehicle and directed the convoy to continue. Ralph agreed with the lieutenant’s decision. Searching the village would take time, and the platoon’s mission was to get the convoy to the refugee camp.

Ralph happened to glance over the side of the Stalker as Specialist Floyd Foyt, Ralph’s driver, backed up. “Holy shit,” Ralph said. He stared at the jihadist, who had been run over by four of the Stalker’s eight wheels. The raghead’s face was flat, as was most of his body. Blood and gray matter, pushed from the man’s head, soaked into the red sand. “Where did he come from?”

Vehicle commander Sergeant Cody Browning stared at the body. “Looks like a used toothpaste tube, don’t he.”