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As Campbell looked to the ground, she saw the Iraqis only a quarter of a mile away from the Ma- rines, and closing in. She had to close in faster. Every second counted. Flying through a dust storm at 200 miles per hour, she assessed the situation, iden-

tifying the friendly forces from the enemy. Then she aimed her powerful cannon, and let loose. Campbell’s attack reached her target, but it also drew attention to her. The Iraqis fought back, firing at Campbell’s plane. The armor on her plane clanged as a barrage of bullets found their marks. Suddenly, Campbell heard an explosion, and her plane bucked out of control. She’d been hit! A surface-to-air missile (SAM) had found its mark. Her 15-ton aircraft veered violently to the left and began a nose-dive toward the city below. Caution lights lit up on the control panel as the plane suffered one failure after another. The worst one was the hydraulics system, which provided power to many critical systems on the

This view of the rear of Campbell’s airplane shows some of the damage from the enemy ground force’s weapons.

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