Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Local Guardsmen 'rain down' on Prescott

There were many Prescott residents who seemed to know what was happening Saturday, April 1, when Guardsmen from the Alpha Company descended on Prescott - quite literally - from the air. Two Huey helicopters landed at the Tom B. Lee Jr. Arkansas National Guard Armory and later flew across town to the former health department building on the site of the old Prescott Hospital.

The event was planned to give the community a glimpse of what the men of this company had learned and at least a small taste of what they accomplished in Iraq. Many of the men who arrived in Prescott from the local area and as far away as Hope, Gurdon, Arkadelphia, Nashville, Stamps, Hot Springs and other communities have done a tour of duty in Iraq. Others are preparing to go.

Those who were to carry out the raid on the building were given some basic information. They knew what the building looked like and had a good idea of the layout of rooms. They knew that two high priority targets - men who were funding terrorist activities - were in the building. An American correspondent was also being held in the building by an unknown number of insurgents.

All the players in this exercise were military with the exception of the correspondent - me. The idea was to have an impartial observer inside to help evaluate, but also to tell the story of what happened inside the building - a view hidden from the many who gathered to watch the exercise.

Many of the men who gathered at the armory had seen action. Even though the event Saturday was only for training, they seemed to take their intelligence, practice and orders seriously.

Inside the building, there were actually four insurgents and the two high priority targets. Though the event was largely scripted, the insurgents acted as they probably would have had the event been real. The first insurgent stepped outside to take a look around, hoping it would be clear so that those inside could make a run for the distant treeline. He was shot down by snipers hiding across the highway.

When the choppers first came over, another insurgent stepped outside to gather information - who was coming and whether it was possible to take out that enemy. As the crowd witnessed, he was gunned down by soldiers in the chopper.

Then it became evident that a raid was imminent. Guardsmen were seen rushing toward the building from several angles. The two men left inside had evaluated the possible entrants and were working to cover all three potential points.

There simply wasnt enough firepower inside to withstand the rush and it took only a few seconds for the two gunmen to be overrun.

Saturdays practice went off well with only one or two minor problems. As helicopters flew over, one insurgent emerged to take a look and was promptly gunned down. Another made the mistake of showing himself and was taken out by snipers hiding across the highway. The remaining two were killed inside the building. Both money men were taken with only a minor struggle and the correspondent - thankfully - was returned to safety.