With It or in It audiobook now on sale!

Just today, the audiobook version of With It or in It: Desert Shield and Desert Storm from the Loader's Hatch, went on sale through Audible. Pete Beretta did the narration, and did a fantastic job! Pick up your copy today, and if you're not already an Audible member use these links:

• US Store—https://www.audible.com/pd/B07G5K7M9V/?source_code=AUDFPWS0223189MWT-BK-ACX0-124131&ref=acx_bty_BK_ACX0_124131_rh_us
• UK Store—https://www.audible.co.uk/pd/B07G5HLRBY/?source_code=AUKFrDlWS02231890H6-BK-ACX0-124131&ref=acx_bty_BK_ACX0_124131_rh_uk
• French Store—https://www.audible.fr/pd/B07G5JF52M/?source_code=FRAORWS022318903B-BK-ACX0-124131&ref=acx_bty_BK_ACX0_124131_rh_fr
• German Store—https://www.audible.de/pd/B07G5LJBC7/?source_code=EKAORWS0223189009-BK-ACX0-124131&ref=acx_bty_BK_ACX0_124131_rh_de

If you click one of those links, become a member, and buy a book, both Pete and I get $25 each from Audible. The first link is a direct link to Audible and not part of that program, so if you prefer not do do the sharing/affiliate link thing, I totally get it.

Let me know what you think of the book!

CampNaNo novel teaser

Just thought I'd share some of the work-in-progress on With Honor, and with Courage, the novel I'm working on for CampNaNoWriMo. Just keep in mind this is a work in progress!

---

“Nut-to-butt, guys, make your buddy happy,” First Sergeant Farmer barked at us. It’s too early in the morning for this crap was all I could muster, since we’d been roused at 04:45 and sunrise wouldn’t be for almost another hour yet. Fortunately, there was a temporary mess hall set up in a nearby building, which was cranking out A Rations today—thank God. For some reason, Assassin troop wasn’t in front of us today. We were standing at the head of the Squadron column on the concrete apron in front of last night’s temporary barracks, facing toward the building with the kitchen facilities, but I could turn my head and see Chaos guys right behind us. Assassin was nowhere to be seen, however. I mentally shrugged. Finally, the doors opened up and we started moving through the chow line.

Scrambled eggs, hash browns, assorted fruit, a sausage patty, a cup of OJ and a mug of coffee decorated my tray as I sat down with Dock and Mac. It took less than five minutes for the three of us to wolf breakfast down. I looked around to see who from our troop was still around, and I could see Top and the CO were still in line waiting to get their food. We had at least five more minutes, so I went to grab another mug of coffee.

“Sar’nt Mac, I’m getting more coffee, you need?”

“Nawp, I’m aight.”

“Dock?” Dock shook his head as he finished up his OJ, so I went over and refilled just my mug. Out of the corner of my eye, I caught the Hummer pulling up to the front of the building, and saw the Squadron CO hop out like his pants were on fire. He headed straight for the CO in the mess line and whispered in his ear. The CO leaned over and appeared to reply back. The LTC then nodded and flew back out to his Hummer, which took off like a shot.

At that exchange, I figured that we only had a few minutes to get our shit together, so I headed back to the table. Mac appeared to witness it as well.

“Y’awn should hur-on up, we gon’ get moved out rightchawn quick,” he said as I approached.

I grabbed my paper tray, swallowed the mug of coffee in about two gulps while Dock and Mac both stood up and cleared out. The rest of the troop was not blind either, and everyone kinda picked up their pace or cleaned up right away. I noticed sergeant Furniss having a chat with the TCs.

As we were dumping our trash, SSG Beach walked up. “Guys, head back and grab your duffels. It looks like the timetable’s been moved up. We’ll be REDCON 1 in about fifteen minutes, got a truck coming for our gear, should be here in about twenty.”

“Yes, sar’nt” we replied almost in unison, then moved out to clear out our stuff.

It only took a couple of minutes, since nobody really unpacked anything. We bolted back out, carrying two duffels, a tactical bag, and a CVC helmet bag each. We knew roughly where we’d form up, so we laid down our stuff about where we’d be standing in formation.

Mac looked around for a second, then drawled “Lip, y’awn sit ti’ht. Dock, com’wi’me.” Mac and Dock then headed back into the building, leaving me to guard our stuff. A couple of minutes later they emerged with SSG Beach’s bags and headed back inside—presumably to offer help to any of the other crews.

***

Finally. Formation time. Wait, did I actually just breathe a sigh of relief about a formation? The company formed up, and the CO gave a last few words of a briefing: we are picking the vehicles up from the nearby port, where the Roll-on/roll-off ship has docked. Once they are off the ship, we drive them down to a nearby lot, where HETs are being staged. Load up onto the HETs, then follow the HETs in busses to an offload point near Vilnius.

***

I stand on the top of the HET cab, carefully giving Dock the hand signals to back off the HET—a job I hate, I just know one of these days the driver’s going to make a mistake, or I am, and the damned thing’s going to flip over on me—and he backs down like the carefree professional he is. We get the rest of the tanks offloaded, and assemble in the field just off the 5212 Highway a little west of Vilnius proper when I happen to catch the CO being yelled at by what appears to be a local, maybe a farmer? As he’s politely nodding his head our liaison officer makes a beeline for their conversation. I’m too far away to hear anything, but I’ll bet it’s the landowner all PO’ed about us driving our extremely heavy tanks and Strykers all over his freshly-mown lawn.

“LIP get over here!”

SSG Beach has noticed I’m not paying attention to him anymore, and so I haven’t noticed that the whole platoon is staring at me as I stare at the liaison and the CO try to calm the farmer down. I sheepishly dismount and speed walk over to the rest of the platoon, where LT Mashinter briefs us.

“Alright, now that Lipscomb has deigned to grace us with his presence, here’s the plan for the next couple of days. Squadron has a TOC set up near Musninkai, up the 116 Highway from Vilnius. We’re going to road march in standard column formation from here, along the 5212 until the 116. SOP road march order. There will be a joint MP/local police post set up to make sure we can negotiate the transition without losing any stragglers or running over any locals. Black 5 will be in the lead Humvee, and will call out the checkpoints as he passes them, and Black 7 will be in the trail Humvee and will do the same when he clears them. Radio is per SOP and digi-keys. Disabled vehicles will pull to the right shoulder as far off the road as practical, and radio their position to Black 8 who will meet up with the vehicle and evaluate recovery options as needed. REDCON 1 in ten minutes. Fuel HEMTT will be here in about twenty minutes to top off, with start of movement in thirty. CO wants Black 5 crossing the LD in less than 45 minutes.

“After the road march, we will be forming a troop coil formation here,” he pointed at a spot on the map just North of Musninkai, and continued “and wait for the Mustang 5. When he arrives he will lead us in a road march to our AA for the evening, here about one and a half clicks Southeast of Liukonys. There we will form a troop coil, set security, and do a modified tailgate LOGPAC, sergeant Furniss will provide details upon arrival. We will stay overnight in the AA, and sergeant Furniss has a guard/sleep plan set up, with details upon arrival.

Alright, that’s all I’ve got. Any questions?”

No speaking, just the shaking of a few heads, answered the LT.

“Alright. Sergeant Furniss, they’re all yours.” With that, the LT nodded to the platoon sergeant and took off for the CO’s location.

“A’aight, take a knee chuckleheads. Let’s make this quick. Standard order with White 1, 2, 3, 4. Alternate gun tubes just like normal. Keep your distance, at least 50 meters between vehicles. I want to see your air guards up, and scan your lanes. Refuel will be a hot refuel. Red then White on the left HEMTT, Blue then Green on the right. 1 & 2 will fuel first followed by 3 & 4, 1 & 3 on the left side with 2 & 4 on the right. Be ready to pull up when it’s your turn in the line. Pull through after, you’ll see the Red elements stacked up near the road surface. Once we get the blitz order, Hush 2 on the radios except for bent units, unusual situations, or checkpoint clearance. Black 7 has set us up a good LOGPAC at the AA, but we’ll cover details on arrival. Any questions? Speak now or forever hold your peace!”

None of us are that stupid, really. Nobody had any questions, we’ve done this a bunch of times. Heck, the NTC rotation just before our deployment. I think sergeant Furniss gave this exact same speech there, too.

“A’aight. Let’s go. REDCON 1 in five.”

We broke up, and Dock and I started walking toward Bodacious. On the way, Dock started humming an old classic rock tune, “Black Water” by the Doobie Brothers. I started singing, Dock joined me, and Cooke joined in. We all three locked arms and started singing the chorus at the tops of our lungs, skipping all the way back to our tanks.

“By the hand (hand) take me by the hand (pretty mama)/Come ’n’ dance with ya daddy all night long/I’d like to hear some funky dixieland, pretty mama come & take me by the hand.”

I could almost hear the rest of the platoon rolling their eyes at us. We didn’t care, we were damned if being deployed would crush our spirits.

Military History Monday: Battle of Kasserine Pass

Welcome back to Cogitations of a Semi-Pro Wordsmith and my weekly column Military History Monday! Today’s topic is the World War 2 Battle of Kasserine Pass, 19–25 February 1943. This battle represented the first US taste of combat against the forces of the Wehrmacht of Germany. Allied forces included the UK’s 6th Armoured Division and elements of the US Army’s II Corp. The US II Corps consisted of the 1st, 9th, and 34th Infantry Divisions, along with the 1st Armored Division. The Axis forces primarily included the German 21st and 10th Panzer Divisions, commanded by the “Desert Fox” Irwin Rommel.

Precursor

Leading up to Kasserine Pass, things in North Africa had become tenuous for the Axis forces. Montgomery had already defeated their forces at El Alamein and had pushed through past Tobruk and taken Tripoli. US and UK troops had landed in Algeria and Morocco, behind the Axis forces in Tunisia, threatening to cut off the Axis forces in Africa from their supplies. Italian and German troops shifted from Sicily into Tunisia, and Rommel reoriented some of his forces to the west after the Allies gained a foothold on the eastern side of the Atlas Mountains.

Battle

On 19 February, Rommel sent two attacks against the Allied positions. The 21st Panzer division attacked to the north, against the UK 6th Armoured and their attached units, with most of the 10th Panzer attacking against the US 1st Armored at Kasserine. The attack of the 21st faltered, but the 10th saw success over the first two days, initially slowly but overnight between the 19th and 20th overran two US defensive positions and on the 20th inflicted heavy casualties on US defenders. Eventually, the Allied forces were displaced some 75–80 km to the West. On 21 February US defenders near Djebel el Hamra including elements of the 1st Armored and 1st Infantry Divisions held against a relentless attack by German and Italian forces. The next day, a counterattack by Allied forces pushed the Axis back. Over the next couple of days, Allied commanders mounted a defense against an Axis attack toward Thala, which resulted in heavy Allied casualties but prevented the Axis from taking the town and cutting the Allied defenders in half. Axis commanders including Rommel recognized their attack would be unsuccessful and elected to pull back to their original positions and concentrate their efforts against Montgomery’s 8th Army in Tripoli.

Outcome & Aftermath

The immediate outcome of the battle was that Axis and Allied forces essentially returned to the same positions they had been in on 18 February. Tactically, the battle revealed enormous problems with US military command structure, leadership, equipment failings, and troop training. Aside from casualties, which were very high, the US Army learned valuable lessons and relieved most of the senior commanders. Some of these lessons included training soldiers to not silhouette themselves at the tops of ridge lines, emphasizing that leaders perform personal recon of the terrain when possible, and a heightened focus on integrating infantry, artillery, armor, and tank destroyer units as combined arms forces.

Ultimately, the costly defeats suffered by the US forces at Kasserine resulted in a markedly improved fighting force, one that Rommel himself later would note had made drastic and positive changes in a relatively short period of time. In addition, the replacement of senior commanders resulted in a new commander and deputy commander of the US II Corps, in George S. Patton, Jr. and Omar Bradley. These two soldiers would be instrumental in improving the combat effectiveness and tactical flexibility of US forces in Europe.

Further Reading

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/battle-of-the-kasserine-pass

http://www.nationalww2museum.org/see-hear/collections/focus-on/kasserine-pass.html

http://www.history.army.mil/books/staff-rides/kasserine/vol-i-part_1.pdf

Another 5-star review for With It or in It on Amazon

R. Schultheis says it "brilliantly captures what is the rarely described gritty and demanding life of an armor crewman." (5 stars). Buy the eBook of With It or in It on Amazon, Smashwords, iBooks, Barnes & Noble, or Kobo, or the paperback on Amazon today!

Teaser Thursday: A short entry from *With Honor, and with Courage*

Teaser Thursday returns! Today, here's a short sample from a work-in-progress, a novel about a US Army tank crewman in Lithuania with his unit, when the (almost) unthinkable happens: a deliberate attack against the US and NATO units in Lithuania by Russian forces. The novel is tentatively titled With Honor and with Courage, and I'm hoping to have it ready in 2017.

---

I looked at my watch. Almost time to go REDCON 1. I tapped sergeant Beach on his arm, and said over the intercom “sar’nt, I’m gonna check the turret one last time.” He nodded and I hopped out of my hatch. I checked both side sponson boxes, closed and latched. I double checked the tarp and the bustle rack, to make sure the fold covered all our crap and was tied down, but still accessible: check. I leaned over and checked the hatches on the back deck, which were all closed and secured. The crosswind sensor was upright and latched. I checked the TC’s .50: locked & loaded; same with my Mark-19 grenade launcher. I slipped back down inside the turret, and made sure the coax was locked and loaded, then popped open the ready ammo door just to visually record the layout. I stowed the knee switch and the door closed with that satisfying thunk it always made. We were ready for war.

At exactly 08:10 zulu, the LT gave his short count over the radio. At the end of the countdown, Dock started the engine. I turned the radio back on, and assumed my standing position: facing the left rear of the tank, observing for enemy helicopters and aircraft. I left the grenade launcher oriented up and front instead of spinning it around like I normally would, at least until we got clear of the AA and started heading to the LD. I knew myself and that weapon well enough to know I wouldn’t accidentally discharge it, but there’s no sense in even looking like you’re tempting fate. She’s a stone-cold bitch like that, and will fire off a grenade from your launcher just for thinking about traversing it early.

We sat in our troop coil, waiting for … I don’t know exactly what. Bodacious, my magnificent tank, only had the one radio and it was tuned to the 1^st platoon frequency. Although technically each platoon has its own frequency, we often shared one or the other between the tank and scout platoons, to make it easier for the platoon leaders to share information. Since we can only monitor one frequency on this tank, we kept it on the platoon frequency, which meant we couldn’t hear any of the other chatter at the troop or higher level.

Finally, after what seemed like a half hour we heard the scout platoon sergeant on the radio: “Red and White elements, prepare for movement. Red elements line up on Red 1 and Red 4.” The Strykers pulled out of their positions in the coil, and started heading out toward the road 500 meters ahead that served as the Line of Departure.

“Alright Dock, slow and easy back hard left.” SSG Beach wanted to pull back first, to line up in the direction of movement rather than pull straight out from our coil position. It’s a trait of tankers borne out of the necessity to never pull forward of a firing or other stationary position, lest the enemy be waiting on you.

I heard the whine of the engine as Dock put it in reverse, and the metallic THUD of the transmission engaging, then felt a slight jerk as he slowly applied power. I crept up a little bit, standing on the edge of the turret ring rather than on my loader’s seat/platform, to get better eyes behind the tank. SSG Beach was also directing his eyes rearward, over the right side of the turret.

“Okay, straighten out, back up about fifteen more meters.”

Dock leveled out the handles, and gave it a little bit of gas. I grabbed the skate ring for support, and stepped back down onto the standing platform. I look a last look around with my bare eyes at the deep green of the forest and grass around us. I pulled down the goggles to cover my eyes and pulled up my “tanker’s kerchief”—really, just a bandana in the US Army’s “scorpion” camouflage pattern—to keep the dust out of my mouth and nose. It gets a little hard to breathe occasionally, especially when it’s humid like this, but it’s better than digging dirt out of your teeth and nose for a year afterward.

“Got it Dock. Pull out.” Dock slowly applied the brakes, then I felt and heard the THUD of the tranny dropping into gear. With a slight wobble, we began moving forward about 10 mph or so. I resumed my rearward facing guard position, but this time I traversed my magnificent Mark-19 grenade launcher. Sometimes, I miss the machine gun, but right now is not one of those times. I could see the TOC and the rest of the troop combat trains getting assembled behind us to our left rear, about 300 meters, and the CO’s tank pulled over toward the main village road. Blue and Green platoons were over on the other side of the village doing the same thing we were, barely visible through the slight haze from the dust of our movement. I could see Green 3, roughly on line with us now, before they pulled forward of the edge of Kazimieravas and became obscured by the foliage.

“Good to go Dock, hold here.” SSG Beach looked over and lined us up with the rest of White platoon, and we waited again.

Military History Monday: the Zulu Buffalo Horns

Welcome back to Military History Monday! Today’s topic is the Zulu Buffalo Horns formation largely credited to the Zulu chieftain Shaka. While the buffalo horns formation was used as a hunting tactic prior, Shaka is usually noted as having adapted it to a military one. It was used to great success even against the technologically superior British forces at Isandlwana on 22 JAN 1879 during the Anglo-Zulu war.

Zulu and southern African tactics before Shaka

Before Shaka’s rise, the vast majority of conflict on the African plain was usually small-scale raids. There was occasional direct conflict between forces. Such conflict often involved stylized formations, taunts, even celebratory gatherings. These rarely resulted in large-scale slaughters or high casualties.
As Shaka rose to power in the Zulu clan, he began making changes to how his warriors fought, as well as which tools they used. He modified the existing spear (the assegai), creating a shorter spear with a wider blade point (the iklwa), and improving the shields they used. In addition, he changed their tactics to employ the buffalo horns (impondo zenkomo) formation in battle, among other changes.

Details of the Buffalo Horns

The impondo zenkomo formation consisted of three main elements:
    ⁃    The “Chest” (in essence, the main body)
    ⁃    The “Horns” (the left and right encirclement elements)
    ⁃    The “Loins” (a final, reserve force)

In the short, here is how the formation worked:
The main body, or “chest” of the Buffalo would engage and pin the enemy force. The encirclement forces, or “horns” would then come around the enemy force on the left and the right, attacking them from the sides and rear while the main force continued to attract the majority of the enemy’s attention. The reserve, or “loins,” would wait until needed and would plug any parts of the formation that needed reinforcement.
The “chest” would be the best warriors, the strongest and most capable fighters. They would need to be able to charge into the enemy and stay engaged while the “horns” made their move around the flanks.
The “horns” would be the newest, and often youngest, warriors. They had to be fast. They were expected to move quickly around the enemy flanks and encircle them.
The “loins” would be the oldest and most experienced warriors. They were often hidden or had their backs turned toward the battlefield so that they wouldn’t get overeager and attack prematurely.
Though the formation itself was not invented by Shaka—encirclements as a tactic had a long history in other military forces—the Buffalo Horns formation was notable for Shaka’s focus on training his warriors to use it.

Successes

Once Shaka’s Zulu forces began using the Buffalo Horns formation routinely, they were able to subjugate several nearby tribes. Eventually, the Zulu became the most prominent and dangerous tribe in eastern south Africa. They were dangerous enough in battle against other, similarly equipped tribal forces, but also succeeded against a technologically superior force of British regulars at the Battle of Isandlwana, slaughtering the British force with their spears, cowhide shields, and Buffalo Horns formation even against the Martini-Henry rifle-equipped 1st of the 24th British Foot soldiers.

Aftermath

During Shaka’s reign, the Zulu transformed from one of the many tribes in the eastern part of south Africa, in the modern areas of Swaziland, southern Mozambique, Lesotho, and eastern South Africa, to the predominant tribe in the area. Although the Zulu were eventually defeated in war by the British, their military prowess under Shaka’s influence—including the use of the Buffalo Horns—led to significant change in the power and prowess of the Zulu. 

References and further reading

BBC History page on the Buffalo Horns formation

EZines Article on Shaka and the Buffalo Horns

Wikipedia Article on Shaka and the Buffalo Horns

Save on *With It or in It*!

Starting today until 17 March, 2016—the day of the 25th anniversary of our return to Ft. Bliss from the Middle East—you can buy With It or in It: Desert Shield and Desert Storm from the Loader's Hatch at the Kindle and Smashwords store for 25% off the retail price! On the Kindle Store, the price is discounted to $2.99, and on Smashwords use the coupon code BS23W to get 25% off ($2.99, down from $3.99).

Kindle: http://bit.ly/withitKDP
Smashwords: http://bit.ly/withitSmash

With It or in It reviews

Reviews from readers for With It or in It are starting to come in. Here's the first:

"Amazing insights into the American tank crewman's life during war!" says A. Davis. (5*)
Buy it on Amazon!

VLOG explaining my decision to donate

Rather than make an elaborate, long blog entry detailing my decision to donate some of my income from With It or in It, I recorded a VLOG instead:

New Novel teaser

Today, I have an early morning teaser for you; part of a scene of a new novel I'm working on, about a conflict between NATO and Russian forces in the Baltic states in the late 20-teens.

---

“Roger, over” Sergeant Beach acknowledged into the radio. “Lipscomb, secure the antenna. Docker, we’re going REDCON 1 in five minutes.”
“What’s up sar’nt Beach?” I asked.
“There’s been an incident over at 3/7’s FTX. I don’t know what yet. We go REDCON 1 and then REDCON 1 minus in five, and the LT has a briefing for us behind his tank in like ten.”
I popped back up on top of the turret, pulled the antenna down and secured it to the tiedown, then made sure the sponson boxes were orderly and closed them all up. I grabbed two MREs, threw one down to Sergeant McDonagh and tucked one behind the breech roll on the turret wall near my station. “DOCKER do you need an MRE down there?” I hollered.
“No I’m good.”
I looked at Sergeant Beach, and he shook his head no. I pulled the tarp back up over the MRE case in the bustle rack, made sure to tie it down, and hopped back on the back deck: all clear. Rear area of the tank: clear. All hatches closed and secured; fuel tank covers closed and latched. Bravo Two-Three, Bravo Troop, 6th squadron of the 8th Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division, was ready to roll. Just a few moments later I hopped in my hatch, put on my CVC helmet and heard the troop commander issue the countdown.
“SHORT COUNT FOLLOWS BREAK
“FIVE, FOUR, THREE, TWO”—radio silence for ONE, then a simultaneous howl as nine M1A3 tanks and twelve Strykers simultaneously start up. After a couple of minutes, the command comes to assume REDCON 1 minus, and the engines are shutdown. I see the crews of the other tanks dismount, and tap Sergeant Beach on the shoulder, pointing.
“All right guys, let’s get to it,” he says over the intercom, then pulls off his CVC and pops out of his TC’s hatch. Sergeant McDonagh follows immediately behind him, as I secure my CVC and strap on my Kevlar helmet and grab my notebook. We meet Docker as he crawls out of the driver’s hole, and amble over behind B-21 to meet the LT for our briefing.
LT Mashinter was looking over a map with SFC Furniss as the platoon gathered. When all four tank crews were assembled, the LT started into the briefing. “At 0330 this morning local time, ground surveillance radar detected an incursion into the security perimeter of 3/7 Infantry in their training area during their FTX. Intrusion initially was by a foot patrol, and followed by the FSE of the 1st Guards Motor Rifle Regiment. Elements of the 1st Platoon, C 3/7 took incoming mortar and small arms fire, and sustained light casualties while returning fire.
“2nd Platoon is structured as a tank platoon supporting 1st scout Platoon in executing B Troop and 6/8 Cav’s overall mission, with no change to SOP. The enemy is the 1st Guards Motor Rifle Regiment of the 2nd Guards Motor Rifle Division, with elements of the 147th Guards Artillery Regiment in fire support. They are a mixed unit of T-80 and T-90 tanks, BMP-3s, BRDMs, and 2S1 and 2S3 artillery. They are estimated to be at approximately 95% strength, and appear to be preparing to attack in depth against 3/7 Infantry. They are currently located in an area bounded by the 47 gridline to the East, the 56 gridline to the North, the 40 gridline to the West, and the 52 gridline to the South, marked as OBJ ROCK on the map overlay here. They are expected to continue to attack along this axis, toward the 3/7 TOC, and then possibly on to either Dieveniskes or Rudnia."

Now available: With It or in It

I'm excited to announce that my memoir of my experience in the 1991 Persian Gulf War (Operations Desert Shield, Desert Storm, and Desert Sabre), With It or in It: Desert Shield and Desert Storm from the Loader's Hatch is now available for purchase from the following locations (all e-book vendors for now):

Amazon: http://bit.ly/withitKDP

Apple iBooks: http://bit.ly/withitIbooks

Barnes & Noble Nook: http://bit.ly/withitNook

Smashwords: http://bit.ly/withitSmash

Kobo: http://bit.ly/withitKobo