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Part 29
NOTE- in an effort to "keep info from falling into the wrong hands" I've kept the chapter below kinda simplistic for the part about them attacking the house. Most tactics knowledgeable people would change a lot of things from this, I realize that. Understand that sometimes it's better to be a little ambiguous. :) I've also attempted to show the effects of FATIGUE on people, decision making skills, endurance, etc. Robert
Upon looking over everyone as they got ready to leave the retreat, Jim had doubts about the timing of the attack. Of course it was perfect from a Trojan Horse/hit them while they are wasted point of view. What more concerned Jim was the look of fatigue beginning to set on the faces of the Group. It had been a rough couple of days. The first encounter with Gomez, the running gun battle, loss of friends and now adding a raid on to it.
5 hour energy drinks, what their was left of them in inventory, were distributed to all the attack force. After the gear inspection but before everyone finally geared up, a 10 minute stretching and warm up season was called by the medics. This included your partner open palm slapping you all over your chest and back in a Systema relaxation and breathing drill. The effects were similar to drinking a cup of coffee to most people. It also helped everyone relax a bit and served as a reminder on the importance of good breathing.
Eight men and two women would go on the raid. Only a few would remain at the retreat and they would have to remain on full alert until the attack was over and the rest of the Group safely home.
The women were as good or in some cases better, than any of the men. They had trained side by side with them for years in all aspects of fighting and survival. In this particular action, they would serve as designated marksmen, and both were more than adequately prepared for this.
Jim had wished he invested in more night vision devices. He owned three units, Bill owned a set of PVS7B's and Barney had owned a set of cheap Russian goggles, unfortunately the Russian set proved next to worthless. It would have been nice to have everyone set up with a set of PVS 14's but a nearly three thousand dollar purchase for each wasn't possible.
One of the DM's would be equipped with a PVS14 set up directly behind the ACOG on their AK. The other would use the M1A that had the PVS4 dedicated night vision scope mounted on it. The rest of the night vision devices would be used by the assault team.
Rusty and Scott would set up Rusty's Serbu 50 caliber to take out that reinforced section of the house. All of the attackers were given two Infrared Cyalume lightsticks that were cracked and checked with night vision immediately after arriving at the rally point. One was tied to the front of their gear, one was tied to the back of their gear. This would help avoid any friendly fire accidents or one of the DM's mistaking a Group member for one of Gomez' crew.
In training they had practiced clearing houses plenty of times. Practiced individually, in groups of twos and in groups of fours. They had practiced making an assault the same way they were going to tonight.
Yet as the saying goes "no plan survives first contact."
Everyone was in covering positions 30 minutes before the assault force began it's stalk to the side of the house.
Chad was part of the covering element and was doing his damndest to stay awake. He had two large cups of coffee as he was packing, then the 5 hour energy drink they were all given. Chad was just not in very good physical shape and that didn't help dealing with the stress and fatigue of the last few days.
Laying prone for 30 minutes after sneaking into the area didn't help the situation. Chad nestled down behind his rifle. The support or covering element was told to keep as low of profile to the ground as they could. Unwittingly, he feel asleep with his rifle in his hands.
Steve, Jim and the others approached the house from the wood lot on line.
As they approached to within 10 yards of the house, a dog started to bark loudly. Neither Miguel's interrogation nor the recon done by Steve and Lyle had revealed the presence of a dog.
The dog's bark broke the silence of the night. It startled Chad. Chad had never broken the habit of riding the trigger despite all the training he had received in the group. When he heard the bark he jerked at the trigger and sent a round off. The round didn't hit any of the Group, but it definitely changed everyone's plans.
Jim and Steve both sprinted the last couple yards to the side of the house and the others in the assault team followed.
Jim fired 8 rounds of 00 buckshot at the area near the lock on the door then tossed the shotgun to the side and brought up his AK as Steve pulled a CS grenade from a pouch on his vest and chucked it in the door. This was followed by another one from the same pouch as Jim began shooting into the house.
"FALLBACK NOW!" Jim yelled after this.
Two others tossed molotovs and pipe bombs through windows before withdrawing.
"LIGHT THEM UP!!!" Steve yelled as they reached the wood line and it seemed like the whole world erupted.
The house was filled with CS, men and women began screaming and coughing. DeJesus was screaming at them to open fire but only one was firing and he was simply spraying rounds out of one of the remaining windows.
"F@#k this!" Pedro said between coughs as he opened the door and began to run off. The covering element let him get through the doorway in order to perhaps give others inside the idea that this would work. Pedro got exactly 5 steps out of the door and began firing blindly into the night. Eight rounds of 7.62x39mm hollow points from 3 separate rifles put him down hard.
With the assault crew clear, Rusty opened up on the side of the house that was supposedly reinforced. Fifty caliber ball ammunition ripped up that side of the house tearing it to shreds.
Hundreds of rounds were tearing into the house from two directions, CS filled the house and a good portion of the house was now on fire. Those gringos had all the doors covered too. DeJesus looked around and realized the futility of the situation.
"DISPARA! DISPARA!" he yelled at what was left of his men. He didn't bother to look to see if his command was heard.
DeJesus entered his room, slammed the door shut and grabbing the metal frame, he threw his bed over against the wall. He pulled a small rug back and yanked a cord that opened a trap door. He smiled. Just then a 7.62x39 hollow point round hit the fleshy part of his upper left arm. DeJesus dropped himself into the tunnel.
Most of the Group members were now on their 2nd or 3rd magazine. This was not "spray and pray" this was a cover shoot. They had done a similar drill in training numerous times before.
No one else came out the door of the Gomez safe house. The cease fire signal was called.
Partners reloaded one at a time, switching half empty mags for fulls and tucking the half empty mags back into mag pouches bullet points down. Empties were retrieved and stowed either in dump pouches, cargo pockets of pants or put back in mag pouches facing upward so that at feel it would be noticed that they were not fulls.
DeJesus Gomez had blood everywhere. He had been wounded before. Hell he had been in this very situation before. He was wounded during a Sandinista offensive in 1987 and his compadres hid him in a tunnel in a village in Ocotal. The search the Sandinistas made of the village almost turned up the tunnel. DeJesus wasn't taking that chance this go around. No one else knew of the existence of the tunnel, not even his sons. Also, DeJesus kept a "surprise" ready for just the possibility of this.
Everyone held their positions for a couple minutes.
Steve said to Jim, "want me to go in there before it all burns up?"
"Let's sit tight another 10 minutes, all we are going to miss is a little loot. And that ain't worth losing someone over." Jim said.
Jim got on the radio- "security half, widen out." This meant that half of the folks on security would focus their attention further out now, away from the safe house. This was a prudent move considering the house was very well covered and likely contained no survivors.
DeJesus waited. Surely by now some of them would be in the house searching for loot before the house completely burned down....
NOTE- in an effort to "keep info from falling into the wrong hands" I've kept the chapter below kinda simplistic for the part about them attacking the house. Most tactics knowledgeable people would change a lot of things from this, I realize that. Understand that sometimes it's better to be a little ambiguous. :) I've also attempted to show the effects of FATIGUE on people, decision making skills, endurance, etc. Robert
Upon looking over everyone as they got ready to leave the retreat, Jim had doubts about the timing of the attack. Of course it was perfect from a Trojan Horse/hit them while they are wasted point of view. What more concerned Jim was the look of fatigue beginning to set on the faces of the Group. It had been a rough couple of days. The first encounter with Gomez, the running gun battle, loss of friends and now adding a raid on to it.
5 hour energy drinks, what their was left of them in inventory, were distributed to all the attack force. After the gear inspection but before everyone finally geared up, a 10 minute stretching and warm up season was called by the medics. This included your partner open palm slapping you all over your chest and back in a Systema relaxation and breathing drill. The effects were similar to drinking a cup of coffee to most people. It also helped everyone relax a bit and served as a reminder on the importance of good breathing.
Eight men and two women would go on the raid. Only a few would remain at the retreat and they would have to remain on full alert until the attack was over and the rest of the Group safely home.
The women were as good or in some cases better, than any of the men. They had trained side by side with them for years in all aspects of fighting and survival. In this particular action, they would serve as designated marksmen, and both were more than adequately prepared for this.
Jim had wished he invested in more night vision devices. He owned three units, Bill owned a set of PVS7B's and Barney had owned a set of cheap Russian goggles, unfortunately the Russian set proved next to worthless. It would have been nice to have everyone set up with a set of PVS 14's but a nearly three thousand dollar purchase for each wasn't possible.
One of the DM's would be equipped with a PVS14 set up directly behind the ACOG on their AK. The other would use the M1A that had the PVS4 dedicated night vision scope mounted on it. The rest of the night vision devices would be used by the assault team.
Rusty and Scott would set up Rusty's Serbu 50 caliber to take out that reinforced section of the house. All of the attackers were given two Infrared Cyalume lightsticks that were cracked and checked with night vision immediately after arriving at the rally point. One was tied to the front of their gear, one was tied to the back of their gear. This would help avoid any friendly fire accidents or one of the DM's mistaking a Group member for one of Gomez' crew.
In training they had practiced clearing houses plenty of times. Practiced individually, in groups of twos and in groups of fours. They had practiced making an assault the same way they were going to tonight.
Yet as the saying goes "no plan survives first contact."
Everyone was in covering positions 30 minutes before the assault force began it's stalk to the side of the house.
Chad was part of the covering element and was doing his damndest to stay awake. He had two large cups of coffee as he was packing, then the 5 hour energy drink they were all given. Chad was just not in very good physical shape and that didn't help dealing with the stress and fatigue of the last few days.
Laying prone for 30 minutes after sneaking into the area didn't help the situation. Chad nestled down behind his rifle. The support or covering element was told to keep as low of profile to the ground as they could. Unwittingly, he feel asleep with his rifle in his hands.
Steve, Jim and the others approached the house from the wood lot on line.
As they approached to within 10 yards of the house, a dog started to bark loudly. Neither Miguel's interrogation nor the recon done by Steve and Lyle had revealed the presence of a dog.
The dog's bark broke the silence of the night. It startled Chad. Chad had never broken the habit of riding the trigger despite all the training he had received in the group. When he heard the bark he jerked at the trigger and sent a round off. The round didn't hit any of the Group, but it definitely changed everyone's plans.
Jim and Steve both sprinted the last couple yards to the side of the house and the others in the assault team followed.
Jim fired 8 rounds of 00 buckshot at the area near the lock on the door then tossed the shotgun to the side and brought up his AK as Steve pulled a CS grenade from a pouch on his vest and chucked it in the door. This was followed by another one from the same pouch as Jim began shooting into the house.
"FALLBACK NOW!" Jim yelled after this.
Two others tossed molotovs and pipe bombs through windows before withdrawing.
"LIGHT THEM UP!!!" Steve yelled as they reached the wood line and it seemed like the whole world erupted.
The house was filled with CS, men and women began screaming and coughing. DeJesus was screaming at them to open fire but only one was firing and he was simply spraying rounds out of one of the remaining windows.
"F@#k this!" Pedro said between coughs as he opened the door and began to run off. The covering element let him get through the doorway in order to perhaps give others inside the idea that this would work. Pedro got exactly 5 steps out of the door and began firing blindly into the night. Eight rounds of 7.62x39mm hollow points from 3 separate rifles put him down hard.
With the assault crew clear, Rusty opened up on the side of the house that was supposedly reinforced. Fifty caliber ball ammunition ripped up that side of the house tearing it to shreds.
Hundreds of rounds were tearing into the house from two directions, CS filled the house and a good portion of the house was now on fire. Those gringos had all the doors covered too. DeJesus looked around and realized the futility of the situation.
"DISPARA! DISPARA!" he yelled at what was left of his men. He didn't bother to look to see if his command was heard.
DeJesus entered his room, slammed the door shut and grabbing the metal frame, he threw his bed over against the wall. He pulled a small rug back and yanked a cord that opened a trap door. He smiled. Just then a 7.62x39 hollow point round hit the fleshy part of his upper left arm. DeJesus dropped himself into the tunnel.
Most of the Group members were now on their 2nd or 3rd magazine. This was not "spray and pray" this was a cover shoot. They had done a similar drill in training numerous times before.
No one else came out the door of the Gomez safe house. The cease fire signal was called.
Partners reloaded one at a time, switching half empty mags for fulls and tucking the half empty mags back into mag pouches bullet points down. Empties were retrieved and stowed either in dump pouches, cargo pockets of pants or put back in mag pouches facing upward so that at feel it would be noticed that they were not fulls.
DeJesus Gomez had blood everywhere. He had been wounded before. Hell he had been in this very situation before. He was wounded during a Sandinista offensive in 1987 and his compadres hid him in a tunnel in a village in Ocotal. The search the Sandinistas made of the village almost turned up the tunnel. DeJesus wasn't taking that chance this go around. No one else knew of the existence of the tunnel, not even his sons. Also, DeJesus kept a "surprise" ready for just the possibility of this.
Everyone held their positions for a couple minutes.
Steve said to Jim, "want me to go in there before it all burns up?"
"Let's sit tight another 10 minutes, all we are going to miss is a little loot. And that ain't worth losing someone over." Jim said.
Jim got on the radio- "security half, widen out." This meant that half of the folks on security would focus their attention further out now, away from the safe house. This was a prudent move considering the house was very well covered and likely contained no survivors.
DeJesus waited. Surely by now some of them would be in the house searching for loot before the house completely burned down....
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