WEBVTT

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- I was a company commander in the late

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'80s at the national training center

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and we were conducting a
long night infiltration,

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a light infantry company
conducting a long night

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infiltration to seize a
mountain pass from the enemy.

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And unbeknownst to the
observer controllers,

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I had dispatched a
reconnaissance squad out across

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the desert to pave the
way for our company's

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night infiltration to
find a good route and

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to secure that route and to
guide us down that route.

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Well, turns out that
squad, they bumped into

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the enemy and all of them were notionally

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killed in action except for
one, a corporal named Alonzo.

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He took the radio and he
took a couple of anti-tank

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launchers and he took the
map and compass and he

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moved out to accomplish
the mission you gave us.

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So, I was, with great fear
and trepidation, we moved the

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rest of the night and at dawn,
right before the sun came up,

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we arrived at our company's
assault position and there in

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the distance I could see
silhouetted against the sky, a lone

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figure with a radio and
anti-tank launchers on his back.

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Corporal Alonzo was
standing there by himself.

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Though he was the lone
survivor of his squad,

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he had moved across the desert
and accomplished the squad's

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mission and guided the company
into our assault position.

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That's a remarkable story
of disciplined initiative.

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Even when the plan went completely astray,

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he found a way to get
the mission accomplished.