ABSTRACT
At daybreak, hours before that elongated moment of terror and minor epiphany, I had surveyed from a hilltop the beginning of the simulated battle at Fort Irwin. Black Hawk and Apache helicopters flew so close to the deck they were below us, F-16s and A-10s roared overhead, and the dust and smoke trails of M1A1 tanks and Bradley armored personnel carriers cut across the desert floor. It was difficult to tell just what was going on, but our personable handler, Major Childress, former commander of an OPFOR unit and then head of public affairs at the National Training Center, did his best. He provided a running commentary for what we could see, but we learned more by eavesdropping on the radio traffic among the combatants. Accounts of confusion and in more than one instance, fratricide or “friendly fire,” were overheard. It was, however, an aside from a member of the press that provided some much-needed perspective.
