Lucky Scouts Dodge "Big Bullets" That Ripped Their Bradley

He went fast to Stephens. "Is he gone?" asked DeMasters.

"I'm afraid so," SGT Nino replied. Inside HQ-21, Stokes had gone into shock. SGT Nino and medic Michael Gindra redressed Stokes' wounds and tried to start an intravenous infusion, but it was no use; Stokes had lost too much blood. Only after his friends were treated and ready to evacuate did Bradish mention that he needed help. "Ranger Bob" was injured much worse than he'd let on. He had lost portions of his right hand, suffered a painful groin injury, and had taken around through both upper thighs.

The medics wondered how he had run around, popping flares, radioing for help, tending the wounded, and trying to set up perimeter security. Holding up his injured hand, Bradish quipped, "They thought they got me, but I fooled them... I shoot left-handed."

Centurion on our left. SGT Jones, my 36 Bradley commander, called in contact with enemy infantry troops and, right after that, with a BMP.

Bradish received the Purple Heart and McClure was awarded the Silver Star for actions under fire. Lucky Scouts Dodge "Big Bullets" That Ripped Their Bradley by Tony Wunderlich, VI1 Corps PA0 SABOT rounds rip armor and destroy tanks and tank crews, unless the crew gets lucky. Some scouts of 3rd Plt., 4th Squadron, 7th Cavalry Regiment, needed every ounce of luck they could muster on Feb. 26, when two of the deadly rounds ripped through a Bradley Fighting Vehicle during the ground war. As these scouts engaged the Tawakalna Division of the Iraqi Republican Guard, Bradley 36, commanded by SGT Roland Jones, was disabled by enemy fire, prompting a rescue mission by the Bradley team in 31. After the 31 team, led by 2LT Michael J. Vassalotti, retrieved the crew from 36, an Iraqi tank unloaded two SABOTS on 31. Both rounds penetrated the Bradley's armor. But in a stroke of tremendous luck, the rounds did not hit the scouts inside. A flash bum was the most serious injury.

Recounting the event, Vassalotti started at the beginning. "Our mission was to execute recon on 3d Armored Division's right flank with a one-kilometer sector between 3rd AD and the 2nd ACR," said the 23-year-old 3rd Platoon leader. "An additional mission was to maintain contact between them, specifically between 4/34 Armor "SFC Ivery Baker, my platoon sergeant, reported troops to the front also, so I immediately reported to my commander that we had sighted one BMP. That quickly became two when the Bravo section platoon sergeant called in another. Then, Sergeant Jones called in a third. "By the time I called in the first, one was in flames because SGT Baker had given the fue command," Vassalotti said. He added that before he could finish calling in contact with the second and third enemy vehicle, all three had been destroyed.

Vassalotti said 36 had gone forward and taken up a firing position. 'We moved up with them on line and continued to engage the enemy. We moved south, out of the way of 2nd Platoon, which came through us to start firing and, in the process, we went blank on ammunition. We had to reload.

"Second Platoon took the heat off us while we pulled back and around them to the right and began reloading," Vassalotti said.

SGT Jones picked up the narrative: "LT 'V' came over the net and said we had to move south about 800 meters. As we were shifting, my loader was reloading a TOW missile. When we took up position, we engaged another BMP and a tank. We were getting low on ammo, so I told my driver to pivot so we could reload. 1 realized we were still up front so we started backing up. It sounded like we lost a track, so I told him to stop. As soon as we stopped, we took around in the transmission. Later, we found out it was from a 12.7-mm machine gun. 22 ARMOR - MayJune 1991