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Vehicles.  His anti-tank devices, large concrete structures that were either shaped like a caltrop or the giant ’16 ton’ anvils from the cartoons, kept the tanks busy long enough for his meager defense force of less than three thousand to move from point to point and engage them with medium-range anti-tank missiles.
    The tanks crews also proved to be reluctant to use their main gun to clear the obstacles.  Less than a dozen main guns were fired, and then only after his men had destroyed two tanks, before the tanks were called back and the smaller, more agile Bradleys began to make their way into the base.
    It’s true that war is a nasty business, and once it comes down to one-on-one fighting it’s chaotic and all the best planning in the world goes out the window.  On the other hand, a battle like the one Ben was involved in is almost orchestrated…choreographed even.  Obviously neither side knew what the other was planning, but you eventually started to get a feeling for how the other side thought and what was coming next.
    Ben almost felt as though the other side was being…hesitant in its attacks.  It was obvious that they’d been instructed not to level the base, if at all possible.
    He immobilized three Bradleys, again with medium-range shoulder-fired anti-tank missiles, but he was beginning to lose men on his side as well.
    Less than an hour after the attack began, Ben’s troops had expended almost a million rounds of ammunition, most of it fired at the tanks and Bradleys, which basically shrugged it off but kept the occupants’ heads down and inside the vehicles.  The second wave was going to be tougher, though, and Ben did his best to prepare his men to fire on fellow Americans.  It was entirely possible, probable even, that many on today’s battlefield had served side-by-side during their careers.  Not the definition of ‘friendly fire’ he’d grown accustomed to, but a fitting description nonetheless.
    The sun was going down by the time the infantry started its assault all along the perimeter of the base.
    There was no way for Ben to defend the entire perimeter; he simply didn’t have the manpower.  Instead, he’d reinforced the passive defenses as much as he could; additional razor wire at both the top and bottom of fences and remotely detonated claymore anti-personnel mines, as well as unmanned sandbag bunkers to give the impression of a larger defensive force and discourage the invaders from using that avenue of approach.
    Ultimately, it took less than a day for the invading force to gain a decisive advantage and Ben was forced to admit that they would have to abandon the base.
    …
    “It’s going to be a fighting retreat,” Ben told the platoon sergeants, “and we’ll punch through to the west.”
    “Sir,” one of the Sergeants said, “it’s almost like they want us to do just that.  The fighting has dropped off there and there’s hardly any heavy weaponry on that side.”
    “I know,” Ben said.  “And I admit that I don’t know for sure, but with the way this battle has progressed up to this point, I get the feeling that whoever’s commanding the troops on the ground on the other side would just as soon let us go as kill us to a man.  He has to know he’s going to win eventually, but if he can give us a way out without making it too obvious, he’ll save a lot of lives on both sides.”
    Ben didn’t say that he also got the impression that in the grand scheme of things, the opposing commander was on their side.  Sure, people had died on both sides, many more on the other side than Ben’s, but the percentage of casualties was far higher for Ben and both sides knew it.
    “First rule of an ambush,” one of the other Sergeants said.  “Give the other side a way out and let them see it when the time is right.  Yeah, I know this isn’t an ambush, but it’s still true.”
    “What’s our casualty situation,” Ben asked.
    “Seventeen dead, Sir,” the first