For the first time ever, US M1A1 Abrams tanks have been destroyed in battle. This Army Times story is a gritty account of the combat that was reported in the news yesterday as having resulted in "150 to 500" Iraqi casualties and none for coalition forces.
It begins- “We’re in contact,” Lyle said calmly, as if he were announcing the time of day, not that his cavalry troop had just been ambushed at night in enemy territory.
And then- His senior enlisted tactical air controller, Air Force Tech. Sgt. Michael Keehan, went to work. Within minutes, two more A-10s came swinging into action overhead, dropping eight 500-pound bombs and raking the two tree lines with cannon fire. The bombs exploded with a “whompf-bang!” and cast a pall of black smoke that quickly dissipated. Both tree lines were now burning fiercely, and Keehan wore a look of pride. “It looks like ‘Apocalypse Now,’ ” he said to nearby soldiers.
Observe the slant the Times of London puts on the same story, making it seem that coalition forces are enduring the "apocalypse" themselves.