"Those are ours, aren't they, Mrs. Dixon?" Johnny was leaning forward over the steering wheel, watching the first helicopter fly down the narrow street.
Fay watched the second roll in and disappear between the two buildings. "Yes, Johnny — they're UH-60s."
Johnny was wide-eyed and excited. "What are the troops for? Do you think they're going to have to fight to get you out?"
Fay, with a scowl on her face, turned to him. "You really know how to cheer someone up, don't you?"
Johnny suddenly realized what he had said. Sheepishly, he apologized. Fay, however, didn't hear him. She was lost in her own thoughts. What, she thought, if they had to fight their way out?
The wheels of the lead Blackhawk hadn't even touched down in Tahrir Square before Captain Harold Cerro and his men began to pile out. Crouching low, the men ran to the front of the helicopter, deploying into a semicircle. Once they reached the edge of the square, they knelt down, keeping their rifles at the ready. Cerro, followed by two radio/ telephone operators — RTOs for short — each with a radio on his back, remained in the center of the semicircle. They also knelt, at least until the Blackhawk they had just exited took off, flying over the Mugamaa Government Building and back north over the Nile. The other two helicopters, having landed on either side and a little behind the first, did likewise after discharging their troops. When they were gone, Cerro and his two RTOs were the only ones standing in a complete circle of sixty American combat troops.
After a quick visual inspection of his troops from where he stood, he took the hand mike from one of the RTOs. Keying the mike, he waited a second before broadcasting. "EAGLE SIX — THIS IS BRAVO FIVE SEVEN — LEAD BRAVO ELEMENT HAS SECURED PADDOCK — OVER."
There was a delay of several seconds before Eagle Six, the commander of the Marine guard detachment at the American embassy, answered. As Cerro acknowledged the response, a second flight of three Blackhawks came thundering around the corner of the Nile Hilton toward Tahrir Square. As the first helicopters had done, they touched down in a wedge. The troops scampered out but did not go to the perimeter of the square as the first lift had. Instead, they formed up by squad in tight groups within the ring of troops. The company executive officer, First Lieutenant George Prentice, jumped out of the lead Blackhawk and trotted up to Cerro, followed by one RTO. A few seconds later First Sergeant Andy Duncan joined them.
As soon as the second lift departed, Prentice reported in, telling Cerro there were no mishaps, no problems. As before, Cerro radioed the embassy that all his troops were on the ground and he was ready to move to Eagle Base, the American embassy. As the Marine commander was giving Cerro permission, an Egyptian army colonel, escorted by one of Cerro's men from the perimeter, came up to Cerro, the XO, and their party. The soldier reported that the Egyptian colonel said that he was here to escort them to the embassy. Coming to attention, Cerro saluted the Egyptian. "Captain Harold Cerro, commander of B Company, 1st of the 506th, Airborne, Air Assault."
The Egyptian colonel didn't catch everything Cerro said but let it drop. Instead, he informed Cerro that he was ready to escort them to the embassy as soon as they were ready. Cerro thought about the situation for a moment. He and his company, there to escort the American evacuees from the embassy to Tahrir Square, were in turn going to be escorted by the Egyptian army. Cerro was sure it all made sense to someone.
He turned to Prentice and Duncan, "Okay — we all straight on what we do?"
Prentice spoke first. "I secure the PZ with 2nd and 3rd Platoons, receive the evacuees, position them for loading, and then load them into the slicks. I'll operate on three radio nets: Eagle net, company net for movement of evacuees, and battalion net for talking to the slicks. If something goes down while you have a group of evacuees between here and the embassy, I take 3rd Platoon and come get you."
Cerro nodded. "Check." He turned to Duncan.
As Prentice had done, Duncan recited his tasks. "I stay in the embassy with 1st Squad, 1st Platoon and organize the evacuees into caulks. I also maintain liaison with the Marine detachment commander. For commo, I use their radios to talk to you. If you get into trouble, 1st Squad and the Marines will come chargin' out after ya."
Cerro chuckled. "You know, First Sergeant, the reason I put you with the Marines is because you're the only guy in this outfit that can understand them."
Duncan made a face. "Sir, I resemble that remark."
The three laughed as the Egyptian colonel looked on. He was amazed that these professional soldiers, men who might be called on to help defend his country, were joking at such a time. Americans, he thought — were an odd and undisciplined race of people.
Cerro regained his posture. "And I, gentlemen, will escort the evacuees from the embassy to the square using the rest of 1st Platoon. Any questions?"
Prentice piped up. "Yes, sir. If you don't mind me saying so, and I'm sure you don't, isn't it kind of dumb to start doing this at nightfall?"
"Not at all," Cerro responded. "You see, it took all afternoon for some shit-for-brains in the embassy to figure out that maybe, just maybe, the Egyptian army might be shifting forces from the east to the west. Little did he realize that the normally abominable traffic was going to be impassable. The decision to switch from ground evac to air evac wasn't made until after 1500 hours."
Prentice looked at Cerro. "Thank you, sir, for providing that insight into the minds of our Foreign Service Corps."
Taking one last look around, Cerro called to the platoon leader of the 1st Platoon to saddle up, fix bayonets, and prepare to move.
Duncan made a face when Cerro ordered bayonets to be fixed. "Sir, do you think that's wise?"
"Don't worry, First Sergeant. I doubt if they're going to get into a serious run-in with any Egyptians. The bayonets may be just the thing that keeps a young lion from trying us."
Duncan shook his head. "It's not the Egyptians I'm worried about." He looked at Prentice. "It's our own people I'm worried about. You remember what happened the last time we had bayonet practice?"
Prentice rubbed his right hind cheek. "That's a cheap shot, First Sergeant. It was an accident."
Cerro suppressed the urge to laugh. "All right, sports fans, give me three cheers for Virginia Mil, and let's go."
Cerro and Prentice, both graduates of the Virginia Military Institute, yelled out an old school cheer while Duncan watched in amusement and the Egyptian colonel watched in horror.
Turning onto Kamal Eddin Salah, the WNN van ran into a police barrier. An Egyptian policeman, armed with an AK assault rifle, waved at them, indicating that they needed to turn around. Johnny shifted the van into reverse and started to back up. Fay stopped him. "Don't you dare back up," she yelled. "Tell them you're press. Here." She grabbed the sign from the window of the van, with the English and Arabic words for "press" on it. Thrusting it into Johnny's hand, she told him to wave it and drive forward.
Clenching the sign between his teeth, Johnny shifted the van back into a forward gear and began to move. As he did so, the Egyptian with the AK put his rifle up to his shoulder, aimed it at Johnny, and yelled something in Arabic. Johnny slammed on the brakes, throwing everyone in the van forward. "Mrs. Dixon, I don't think they want us to go through here."
Fay looked at the police. For the first time she looked beyond the barrier. Further down the street there was a mass of people blocking the road. Even if they had gotten past the barrier, they would never have been able to make it through the crowd. Opening the door, she yelled to the children to grab their stuff and get out. Johnny turned to her, a look of surprise on his face. "I don't think that's a good idea, Mrs. Dixon — I mean, just you and the kids fighting through that crowd. Besides, they might not let you in."