DISASTER AND TRIUMPH IN THE FAR EAST

1700 HOURS. ASYMMETRIC WARFARE OPERATIONS CENTER

A bank of computers on long consoles manned by Army operators furiously scanning and changing screens for details.

A major Joint Formosan/American marine exercise was underway in the South China Sea to land troops on the northern part of Formosa. This new era of trust and cooperation between the U.S. and the Formosan government was a long time coming, and most welcome as there has been trouble with narco-communist guerrillas and "peace protestors" being "ungovernable" by the Formosan Army troops. Many people on Formosa were terrified of the Chinese Communists at their doors since the recent American administrations have tried to butter themselves up with free trade with the rulers of the world's largest land Army.

Viewing the vast armada of amphibious ships from space, these forces would be evaluated and would send important signals to the powers in the region that the U.S. was here to back its friends to the hilt. The Joint Formosan/U.S. force would land and push inland quickly in against a mythical guerrilla/peacenik force marching on the city, engage those forces and conduct a NEO (Non-combatant Evacuation Operation) of U.S. citizens from the city by heli-lift. Things were progressing smoothly.

"How are our forces doing?" the senior on-duty Colonel asks his NCOIC.

"Sir, they are in position according to plan".

"Good, do you think they are ready?"

"Sir, I think after all of these preparations we will give a good show of it".

The Colonel was pleased.

"Excellent".

Looking down from space with near time imagery, a senior officer could easily keep track of all his forces, especially surface ships with their readily visible wakes.

The Colonel turned to his Chief computer operator;

("ATTACK!, ATTACK!").

Colonel Qiao Xiangsui, of the People's Republic of China had just launched the first asymmetric warfare attack in the 21st century, if all proceeded well the Americans would have thousands of dead and would pull out of the region from public outcry and hegemony in the region would be shared by the communist peoples of asia not the greedy capitalists.

1710 SOUTH CHINA SEA, USS TARAWA

Turning into the wind, the flight decks were covered with CH-53Es Super Stallions and V-22 Ospreys ramps down waiting for their marines to clamber aboard from the forward bow "acclime" weight room. As they were guided carefully away from the tail rotors the ramps raise up and these bug-like craft lift off for the Formosan coast....the Formosan military had just bought these expensive machines and were taking them out on exercise for the first time....

All troop transports lifting away, the rear well deck begins to flood for the single air cushion LCAC craft to spill out the back with LAV wheeled armored cars towards the shore....Meanwhile a few thousand meters off to the Tarawa's right were a LSD-41 Whidbey Island class amphib with new high-water speed Advanced Amphibious Assault Vehicles speeding towards shore....all a part of an expensive lease-to-buy arrangement the Americans had set up to get the Formosa back into the U.S. camp...these were the oldest amphib ships in the inventory anyway...

Meanwhile in "officer country" where the air conditioning works all the time, the Formosan and American counterpart Commander Amphibious Task Forces (CATF) were happy men. 50 miles over-the-horizon (OTH), they knew they were safe from enemy attack and they had launched the landing force so "the make-believe enemy wouldn't even know what him".

A huge explosion then threw CATF and everyone on the bridge to the deck...."What the???"

The Command intercom kicked in, "Sir, mines! Explosion level 2, frame 2, flooding is out of control"

CATF was caught in condition Y, the lowest state of readiness for attack.

"Sound General quarters! Battle stations! Close ALL watertight doors! THIS IS NOT A DRILL!".

It was too late more explosions below the water line....torpedoes...

Aviation fuel tanks began exploding and burning under the flight deck, chaos as men began screaming for their lives as black smoke began pouring all through the ship...

The Formosan Navy was supposed to be providing Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) escort for this exercise...everyone was just going through the motions...no one's guns were "loaded" so to speak to prevent an accidental discharge from damagaing a friendly ship....

Then the Formosan Navy's frigates were hit by torpedoes, sent aflame as if they were hit by American subs. Both sides began to exchange 5"/54 gunfire!

The American CATF called to his interpreter: "Tell them to cease fire! We are NOT shooting at them!"

It was too late. The Whidbey Island, still loaded with hundreds of marines was hit by a salvo of anti-ship missiles, coming from the direction of the Formosan coast......

Without her 20mm Phalanx cannon and Rolling Airframe Missile counter-missile systems on, each missile exploded a chuck of the great ship, exploding fuel and ammunition as the ship vanished in a pillar of smoke and water.

Damage control reported in to CATF and the ship's Captain by intercom.

Sounds of men screaming in the background. "Sir...fires out of control...ammunition cooking off...we can't control it...request.."

A giant explosion tore the Command island from the ship and it fell into the water. CATF, the Captain, all senior level leaders gone.

The Tarawa was finished....

A young Junior Lieutenant from the still intact ship stern saw the Tarawa's flight deck awash in flames and its island gone...he took charge:

"ABANDON SHIP. ABANDON SHIP"

Lifeboats in barrels were hurridly ejected to inflate into the waters below..there was no time.....the ship began to list to the starboard side...a prelude to capsizing....

1800 HOURS The Air/Sea FORCES

Operating by emission control or "radio silence" the 25% U.S. and 75% Formosan marine units had no idea that their new Amphibious Ready Group had vanished from the sea. As these forces landed, they took up defensive positions "by the book" as all operations are the same whether they were in Australia or at home at Camp Pendleton, California. This was a "no brainer". Shoot some blanks. Run around a bit...do some photo ops for the DOD cameramen with them, and in a few days....AUSTRALIA.....liberty with a nation where the females out-number the men by a ratio of 7 to one..."WWWHOOOOEEEE!".

By 1830, the V-22s and CH-53Es had offloaded all of Company A (U.S.) and their Mercedes-Benz Sport Utility Vehicles with a machine gun on each at Landing Zone "SCARECROW" which some salty gyrene at S-3 had named against the accepted norm of using a bird's name. A few miles to their west, the LCACs would be bringing in their LAV armored cars after the AAAVs secure the surf zone....facing them would be some token Formosan Army units firing blanks....however, as the aircraft flew out to sea they ominously did not receive routine radio confirmations from their mother ships....

BBRRRAPPP!

The "war" had begun for SGT Dale Wynn. "Return fire!" he cried to his marines. His "SAW" M249 5.56mm gunner fired a belt at a Formosan OPFOR at close range. "Youre dead!!!".

The Formosan continued firing as live tracers sliced into the SAW Gunner whose eyes shot wide open before tumbling over. The Formosan continued walking through the marine positions, gunning down everyone in sight. "MY GOD" was all Wynn could say before he was cut down.

A grenade was tossed into one of the SUVs, exploding it and its occupants into a bright orange ball of flame. That's when Captain Dick Clark realized this was no "war game". His men were getting slaughtered. Accused of being a little too "into" this war stuff, he had one 15 round magazine with live 9mm rounds for his Beretta. He loaded it into his pistol, pulled the slide back and let go just in time to blast a Formosan guerrilla with a Kalishikov, which he promptly took. He told his radio operator to take the AKM and drop his M16. "Let's go".

He radioed to the beach to try to warn the Formosan Soldiers in Company B.

"FLASH. FLASH. FLASH. This is not a drill. Communist Soldiers are shooting live ammo at my men. I say again...they are shooting LIVE AMMO AT US."

It was too late.

As the AAAVs rumble ashore 25mm turrets spinning in play war, REAL RPGs began to smack into their sides, exploding the bodies of the men inside and setting off their ammunition and vehicle fuel cells.

The Navy personnel manning the LCACs could not believe their eyes. They thought a collision or accident had taken place and rushed to the columns of flames rising from the distant beaches...

When the LCACs reached the high water line, the Communist guerrillas opened fire, ripping through their unarmored skin. They had no weaponry to shoot back. One LCAC exploded after its aviation grade fuel was set off by a RPG. It was from the Whidbey Island. The other LCACs from the Whidbey Island and the lone LCAC from the Tarawa darted towards shore to offload their LAVs. As they dropped their front ramps and went off cushion, Formosan narco-guerrillas fired volley after volley into the thin skin sides of the LAVs, setting off secondary explosions and killing everyone inside instantly. Then the guerrillas ran away.

As the enemy ran away, the surviving marines stumbled out of the flaming armored cars which if were not hit spun their wheels aimlessly in the loose sand......that's when the mortars began to fall....sharp viscious explosions that cut apart men's bodies as they were caught in the open..it was a baited ambush....the Formosan marines dropped their rifles and ran for heir lives while the Americans without leaders hit the deck in a prone position and waited for orders...from leaders who were either dead or without a course of action to take...

2200 HOURS. SCHOFIELD BARRACKS, HAWAII

The duty Sergeant ran into the hallway and screamed for every 25th Infantry Division "Tropic Lightning" to get his gear on RIGHT NOW. This was not a drill.

The 2nd Brigade's Air-Mech-Strike Battalion was on alert status and was ready to load up into its cross-country-capable TRACKED Future Combat System light tanks and Gavin-MAVs and fly by Army Future Transport Rotorcraft (FTR) craft to anywhere in the Pacific within 18 hours. As they donned load bearing vests with pre-loaded live ammunition in their M4 Carbine magazines, their leaders hurridly planned for their Emergency Deployment Readiness (EDRE) Exercise Battle drill, except it was no "exercise".

1st BN, 2d BDE, 25th LIGHT INFANTRY DIVISION TACTICAL OPERATIONS CENTER

General David Stevens turned to his assembled staff. Tall, jet black hair, he looked like the actor Sam Elliot. His wife kidded him that if he could only "act"...3rd Brigade was in Korea on exercise with the 172nd Brigade from Alaska.

"Men we have to mount and go. I will update you on the way with digital comms. Here is the SITREP. The Formosans and the jarheads were conducting a joint amphib op on the northernpart of their island, when their OPFOR turned out to be narco-commies with live ammo. It seems the government was a tad bit over-optimistic about its governability problems. It looks like the Red Chinese are helping them because they just sank an entire amphib squadron off the coast."

Whistles retorts were let out by everyone. You could hear a pin drop.

"The sea lanes are gone. Washington wants our boys out of there."

The assembled Staff Officers came in closer as General Stevens pointed on his topo map on the table.

"See that stretch of highway running north-south at Grid FU 3456 4567?"

"This is where we will land after the 1st of the 501st secures it after a glider landing."

The men were incredulous. "Glider landing?"

Stevens had to let the secret out.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlN9oFX6YKY

"Men the boys in black have created a pod that attaches under the FTR that has glider wings that unfold so it can be released from high altitude and sneak in quietly. We were saving it for a rainy day like today."

The men were amazed.

"This way we don't have to wait for parachutes to be recovered before we can land with our rotors intact. Our mission then is to foray out in our armored vehicles to the beach landing site here to the west and the helicopter landing zone north...find survivors and pull them back to our Assault Zone and get them and ourselves the hell out. UNDERSTOOD?"

0600 HOURS WASHINGTON D.C. THE SITUATION ROOM

President Julie Walters was still groggy as her advisers shuffled her to the conference room. They all sat down.

Her National Security Advisor, a hard-charging ex-marine in the Ollie North mode was still handsome and confident this a.m despite news of the disaster.

"Ma'am" he said as an announcement that the meeting had begun.

"We can send the marines on Okinawa to Luzon within the next 48 hours, secure the area and get our men out".

Walters was a woman, without any military experience but she was no fool.

"What's going to stop the same thing from happening again?"

The Ollie North look-alike smiled and turned on his charm.

"This time we will be prepared".

Walters was not pleased.

"Do we even know what went wrong????...."

The Advisor was speechless for the first time in his life.

"Not good enough....sit down, Gerald."

Walters knew her presidency was at risk, if it were not fatally wounded already...

"What can the Army do for us?"

Vice chief, General James Gibbons was there in the place of the Chief of Staff who was away visiting the troops in the Balkans on peacekeeping duty.

"I can be there on the ground by AIR in under 24 hours, find our people and get them out of there in under 2 days".

The National Security Advisor and Mc Commandant had their faces turn red.

"I'd give myself a little lee-way if I were you".

Gibons retorted:

"You are NOT me, and I will not lolly gag taking my time getting there on a slow-boat to China while Americans are dying."

The President intervened;

"Boys, the enemy is out there, not here..."

"Jim what will you do to prevent us losing more men on the ground?"

"We deploy with warfighting BRIGADES not tiny companies and battalions. We will use TRACKED armored vehicles with firepower, mobility and protection to go in and snatch our men. Once we have them, we fly out so we do not strike any mines or torpedoes..most importantly we will not be seen from SPACE."

The President didn't understand. Her CIA director explained.

"Mrs. President, we believe whoever did this was using space imagery to target our ships and marines."

She was dumbfounded.

"How did you let this sorry state of affairs develop? We have been spending BILLIONS on these ships..."

The Air Force Chief cut her off.

"Mrs President, we have no time. We need a deployment decision from you. We can cover the ARMY from the air into and coming out from the area, we can't do anything about space".

President Walters was incensed.

"You have my go ahead. When this is all over I want answers or some of you will be needing to polish up your resumes...GET OUR MEN HOME ARMY".

Gibbons stood up at attention and replied; "Yes, Ma'am!"..as he opened up his cell phone and spoke one word into it: "GAVIN".

Instantly, thousands of miles away at the frigid air base in Alaska, the "Geronimos" of the 1st Battalion of the 501st were loading into the glider pods of their FTRs configured for fixed-wing flight....as they rolled down the long runway and took off, they saw the skies recede as the waters increased below them....as they tried to nap.....this was it..combat...for real....for keeps...

DAY 2: THE DEAD, THE DYING, AND THE BARELY LIVING

CPT Clark had gathered all the living into a farmhouse on the road leading to the province capital ..posting guards with the few captured AKMs and ammo they had....

What he did not and could not know was that there was no help from the sea coming...and the narco-guerrillas were on the march to the city to kill Americans who innocently think they are collecting POWs for a fun afternoon of military maneuvers culminating in a gee-wiz helicopter ride to an off shore aircraft carrier....

At the Asymmetric Warfare Center in Beijing, Colonel Qiao Xiangsui was ecstatic! "The Americans will have dozens of dead and noone to blame or strike back against...their own Formosan allies did this to them..."

He laughed merrily.

"There will be noone to save them unless they want to run into our sea mines, submarines, and even if they could fly in, we will wait for them along the roads with our latest RPGs...their casualties will mount..until they withdraw from the region...for good..."

Visions of earning his first General's star flushed through his scheming mind...

"Execute PHASE II"

1710 HOURS DEMILITARIZED ZONE, 38th PARRALLEL SOUTH KOREA

The Korean war started again at about 1700 hours with the largest artillery barrage ever experienced in the history of mankind. Across the entire breadth and width of South Korea, aircraft struggled to get off the ground while everyone else huddled in bunkers waiting for the fires to lift.

They didn't.

Following this "walking fire" were swarms of small AN-2 Colt biplanes filled with suicidal North Korean Army (NKA) Paratroops set on jumping in and seizing/destroying all the south's airfields and ports. Once these were knocked out, South Korea would be strategically isolated from the rest of the world and would fall. Tunnels packed with thousands of men and tanks and armored personnel carriers busted their way through the last few dozen feet of dirt and emerged on the south side of the DMZ---they were now swarming towards the coastline of the south to block ports and airfields to the Americans---if this were chess and a game, they were in "check", with mates soon to follow.

North Korean troops were given the last remaining foodstuffs of their starving land and told to get to the bottom of the South Korean peninsula and secure the foodstuffs to unify their people. There was no turning back. They had cleverly coordinated their attack with a diversionary strike at Formosa to draw U.S. forces away from their main effort.

Our J-STARS and electronic battlefield means while able to temporarily stop the NKA armored columns with USAF TACAIR strikes could do nothing as a sea of starving humanity following the rain of "walking fire" appeared on their radar screens as an ever increasing haze, growing by each minute.

After performing one sortie, the South Korean and U.S. AF pilots had to divert to Japan to land, their airfields were under NKA Airborne attack or were contaminated with chemical agents. The North now had "air supremacy" by default--the entire nation of South Korea turned into a "Dien Bien Phu" by their massive unstoppable artillery.

Everywhere except at Col Dan Burger's Brigade which happened to be in the field at the time holding an Airhead seizing exercise with the 3rd Brigade of the 25th Light Infantry "Tropic Lightnings" Division and USARPAC's 172d Arctic Brigade. The 1/501st Paratroops were diverted to rescue the debacle on Formosa.

As the war began, they tossed aside their MILES transmitters and helmet halos and desperately loaded live ammunition CDS dropped to them by the last C-130s flying out of the country. Caught in the surprise attack, Burger's men surrounding the hills in the Honshu valley awaited the onslaught. Below them, a stretch of highway that the 172nd BDE would short field land onto and seize, thereby turning it into an "Assault Zone" which USAF C-130/C-17 aircraft holding the 25th Infantry could land onto. Dubbed "Assault Zone Yankee" it was the "door" usually of a forced-entry, here it was the umbilical cord to life and death. The 172d roared overhead in C-130s and began their tactical airland operation---fortunately they had time to load up with live ammo before leaving Hawaii.This was the last American plane Burger would see for days. They were all alone.

Not wanting to become a 21st century version of "TF Smith", the savvy Burger SATCOMed USARPAC for help.

CINCUSARPAC Headquarters, Camp Shafter, Hawaii

The planners at USARPAC were fixed on their map of South Korea, a good 10 enemy Divisions--perhaps more were now in the south headed along the coast, bypassing the capital, Seoul.The war would be over in days and the hand-wringing would begin except for one place: Burger's Brigade holding Assault Zone Yankee.

"They are now completely surrounded" the G-3 Operations officer remarked.

"We have no forces in the area to project by air or sea to break through to them to get them out of there."

The CINCUSARPAC, General Nelson was not a "happy camper" this day, the day he was handed a lightning fall of a Southeast Asian ally and an entire American Army with dependants fighting for their lives. They will have to sue for peace if they couldn't quickly turn the tide.

"So they stay where they are at".

The G-2 chimed in.

"Sir, we do not know how long they can hold Assault Zone Yankee, reports are planes are massing with the last NKA Para-Commando reserves. If they fly to AZ Yankee, we can't stop them".

THE CINC was pissed.

"We can't interdict them?"

"The Air Force planes flying from Japan can't make out the wooden AN-2 Colts from the ground clutter on their screens. And the artillery prevents our Stinger MANPADS teams from engaging them until its too late. We are pinned down all across the country. If they take AZ Yankee, we are finished".

"DAMN IT! You tell the Air Farce I want those planes interdicted!".

Just then a S-3A from the National Guard Enhanced Brigade participating in the exercise with the 25th LID walks in with mud caked all over his BDUs.

"You asked for me, sir?"

"Yes, Major Lariot...you said you might have something for us..."

"Yes, Sir my Brigade is AIR-MECHANIZED, that is we are all ground mobile in vehicles sized to fit inside helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft. We can be federalized by you and fly to Korea on your order."

THE CINC winced.

"A NATIONAL GUARD unit, you are not ready".

Used to such slights, Maj Lariot smiled.

"We have what you need to hold that Assault Zone, we have a Squadron of Ridgway Ozelot light armored vehicles with Stinger missiles that can be stuffed 4 per a C-130 that can shoot down those NKA Paratroops before they can even drop. You fly us in, we will hold your low-level air space above you."

The Ridgway Ozelots were based on the LEFLASYS The LeFlaSys Light Mechanized SHORAD (Short Range Air Defence System), also known as ASRAD (Atlas Short Range Air Defence System), has been developed for the German Army to provide protection of vital assets such as command, control communications and information centres (C3I centres), airfields and troops on the move, or in the battlefield against the threat of low level flying fixed wing and rotary wing aircraft. An Army platoon is equipped with a LeFlaSys Air Defence Platoon Command Post and typically between five and eight Ridgway Ozelot Air Defence Weapon Platforms.

The Weapons Platform Ozelot is built on a highly mobile, small armoured tracked vehicle, the Ridgway Wiesel 2, developed by KMW at Kiel in Germany. The Ozelot carries four ready-to-fire surface-to-air missiles, including the Stinger, Igla, the RBS 70 MK2 and others. Ozelot is air transportable in CH-47D or 53 helicopters.

The CINC was befuddled.

"We don't have such things in the active force?"

"You do in the M6 Bradley Linebacker system but its at best 2 per C-17, the C-17s are in Charleston, SC and the Linebackers at Ft Hood, Texas. You will never get them there in time. We are here now. You can get 12 of us in a single C-17, if you had them.."

The CINC smiled for the first time that day.

"Consider yourself federalized".Then Major Lariot's BDE Commander, Col Stiebert arrived. After a long discussion, his EXFOR AirMECHANIZED Brigade with Ridgway Wiesel 2 Armored Personnel Carriers and All Terrain Vehicle "Dragoons" would be flown in to help Burger's Divisional Combat Team--the "Task Force" name was rejected because it was felt it was "bad luck"--to scour the hills around Assault Zone Yankee and keep it free of North Koreans. If of course, the NKA Airborne could be stopped and AZ Yankee held.

1800 HOURS 50 MILES OUT FROM TEMOY, THE SPEED CRANE "POWER SLEDS" APPROACH

The Geronimos were ready. General Stevens and his command group sat in the back of C4 ISR Ridgway Wiesel, while directly behind it was another Ridgway Wiesel with the first Squad of the RSTA Squadron's "Alpha" Troop. This was the only way Stevens would have it---RANGERS LEAD THE WAY---and Stevens was a Ranger for most of his Army career. Being a Ranger wasn't a snobby title, it was a way of life, an outlook on things he wanted ALL his Soldiers to share regardless if they got down to Ranger school or served in the 75th Ranger Regiment. This egalitarean outlook won over many of his men who were fiercely loyal to him and themselves as they all soon realized their potential as self-actualizers. As the flight had made its way across the Pacific Ocean often just above the wave tops to evade radar detection, Stevens followed its progress via the moving map display in his Ridgway Wiesel.

Stevens' glider pilot called down to him; "Sir its 10 minutes out from the drop..."

Everyone manned their positions and fastened 3 point seat belts. Their glider pod pilot sat above them for a better view and in event their vehicle lashings failed, they would travel foward through the nose without killing him, a lesson learned from the Army's experiences with gliders in WWII. But the beauty of this glider is it isn't towed behind using a rope that can break, its a pod built to fit tightly against the Future Tactical Rotorcraft body using the "power sled" principle. This latest generation FTR was turbofan engined for fixed-wing flight with modular special mission pods....

"1 minute to drop!"

Everyone held their breath.....

SWOOSH!

They were free now from their FTRs that had popped up to a medium altitude to give the gliders potential energy and upwing advantage for the flight into Formosa. Built entirely of non-metallics the SMP gliders were radar invisible.......

Meanwhile powerful radars had detected a large "blip" appear then disappear off the coast of Formosa....the CHICOM radar operators determined it was some sort of glitch....

In the dark, following thermal imagery, their pilot, Staff Sergeant James Meadows lead the rest of the gliders straight in, silently to their target----the offset area to the left of the road to the province capital 1 mile south of where the debacle at LZ Scarecrow had took place....like their German forebears did to fortress Eban Emael or their British counterparts at Pegasus Bridge on D-Day, they would come from an unexpected direction and take their targets...

After coordinating their landings and skidding to a halt slowed by a tail ribbon parachute, Stevens' Geronimos poped open their glider pod noses and drove out to secure the perimeter of their Assault Zone.....

The 1st Brigade of the Tropic Lightnings was already inbound with their Gavin Battalion inside their FTRs , to maintain secrecy they landed at Guam, switched on their main rotors and were enroute in compound helicopter mode.....so far so good....

As their heavy rotors approached..all hell broke loose around the perimeter....

CPT Clark heard the noise..."They are coming for us!"...He dispatched a 2 man team to go find out who it was and to lead them back to the farm house....giving them the second AKM and half the ammo he bide them well...

The tracers cut into the Ridgway Wiesels' armored bodies bouncing off as they poured 30mm ASP cannon fire, explosive rounds exploding and tearing the narco-terrorists who were asleep...their orgy was over as the RSTA troops gunned them down as the Tropic Lightnings' FTRs flared in for landings, releasing their pods....and taking off again....

Stevens got out of his Ridgway Wiesel and talked through his integrated helmet system to Colonel Charles Simpkin, his pal leading the 1st BDE as it moved in....

"Lighting-6, this is Geronimo-6, over!"

"Glad to hear you, Dave."

"We have the LZ secure, ready to execute Cobra".

One by one, the mighty Gavin MAVs rumbled out of their pods, and formed up for the rush x-country to LZ Scarecrow. The FTRs flew over to the ultra-secret glider SMPs and picked them up, whisking them away to Guam.

As they drove off into destiny, an ominous evil was taking place in Temoy....

American Embassy Designated Assembly Site: office building

Just as the narco-guerrillas were ready to seize the American nationals "role playing" as themselves, an alert SF Sergeant Jones assigned to the embassy noticed they were wearing their MILES gear all wrong. All of their yellow keys were inserted in their weapons transmitors and they had AKMs slung across their backs...they also had removed their Blank Firing Attachments....when he saw the "property U.S. Government" stenciled on their M16A2 lower receivers he knew something was horribly wrong...

Without drawing attention he made up a "meeting" for all the assembled American role players and got them into the office building before the shooting began!

The narco-terrorists opened fire with their captured M16A2s and began killing everyone in the general are....SGT Jones linked up with the marines security guards assigned to the exercise and decided to go to the roof and barricade the top floor...perhaps they could be rescued by helicopter..it was their only chance....If they just had some live ammunition....

LZ Scarecrow 2100 HOURS

As the Tropic Lightnings reached the area they were horrified to find dozens of bodies, stripped of their equipment...most had bled to death in the hot sun that day...Wynn's team had linked up with Colonel simpkin and told him the horrible news which was relayed instantly to the white House situation room by SATLINK digital commo. President Walters saw everything on the Ridgway Wiesel's FLIR turret cam.

That's when the REALLY BAD news hit.

Stevens was getting his men ready to be picked in their SMPs by the returning FTRs which had refueled in flight from AF tankers.

"General Stevens, this is President Walters."

"Good evening, Ms. President."

"General can you go into the provincial capital and rescue our people there?"

Stevens was dumbfounded, he thought that part of the exercise was cancelled. He called to his S-3, Major Mike Marks.

"Mike bring up the street map of Temoy..NOW...do it in a hurry".

"Where are they, Ma'am?"

She explained they were in a oil company skyscraper in the city center.

"We'll get the job done".

The President broke in again.

"More bad news, General Stevens, a few hours ago the North Koreans invaded the South...we think you are fighting off part of a diversionary attack to draw forces away from there..get our people and get out...we need you elsewhere"...

Stevens told the inbound FTRs that there was a "CHANGE OF MISSION".

Stevens conferred with Simpkin. "Chuck, I want you to divide your force. Put your Gavin battalion on the right shoulder of the road to Temoy, draw their attention, don't let them reinforce from the south to north axis...have your infantry on foot follow in trace using their CSVs to carry their rucksacks"

He then turned to his RSTA Squadron Commander, LTC Richard Nelson; "Rich I want your men to fly with me to the north access road into the city, fight our way to the building here...."

After pointing out the exact location on his map display screen in his Ridgway Wiesel, Stevens then capped the operation.

"Once we got them I want the Tropic Lightnings to stop where they are and secure a LZ large enough to land and pull them all out , TONIGHT. We will get only one chance to do this. Intel reports the rebel army many are "peace protestors" are marching on Temoy as we speak..."

"Go make history".

As the Lightnings moved out, enemy fires were received and returned as Stevens called the FTRs in....

He got inside the lead FTR and spoke with the pilot in command...

Then the FTRs lumbered into the air----

As the FTRs landed north of the city, their Ridgway Wiesels rolled out, except for Stevens and an assault team in one, and another assault team in the second FTR...

The Ridgway Wiesels drove into the city at top speed, firing wildly at the gunmen they saw....

Meanwhile overhead, the mighty FTRS banked and the first one spotted the building.....

"I see the rooftop! They are waving for help!"

Stevens in the back pod could see out the bubble window, "LAY SMOKE!"

The first FTR came in and buzzed the building laying smoke....

SGT Jones was miffed! He couldn't see nor could the gunmen outside...

The second FTR with Stevens and the assault team opened the rear pod doors and threw our fast ropes....their rotor downwash blowing away the smoke for them to see the ropes touch the building roof...

Stevens lead them down the ropes, M4 Carbine slung across his back, goggles over his helmet to cover from dust...As they reached the roof, Stevens had the next man hold the rope down for the rest of the team...then the ropes were dropped...

Then the helicopters were gone...

"Where are they?"

SGT Jones replied: "Everyewhere, Sir!" Stevens threw him a clip of 5.56mm ammo for his M4 Carbine...

"WE ARE GETTING YOU OUT OF HERE NOW!"

Stevens had his assault team kick open the door and open fire on the terrorists below...dropping in grenades..

As they worked their way down, killing bad guys with crisp bursts of fire using their M68 reflex sight red dots, they reached the floor, but were pinned down from across the street by enemy fire....

Stevens called to his "cavalry"..

"Geronimo-6, we are 10 minutes inbound your pos, pop smoke...."

Stevens had the men pop smoke on the roof...

"Call the color"

The ground cavalry replied; "Purple".

"Correct. You are now a millionaire. Come collect your prize".

Bullets and cannon shells began impacting the buildings around Stevens.... he radioed to bring the Americans down....

The RSTA Squadron surrounded the building, scouts out as they backed up to the building front...

"Hurry! Put those people INSIDE!!!...we are riding shotgun on top! LET'S GO!!!!"

As the Ridgway Wiesels were loaded, Stevens and his assault team jumped on top and began firing in all directions as a sniper had hit a man in his chest body armor...bullets began to deflect off their M4 Carbine gunshields....

"GO! GO! GO!",/i>

The RSTA Squadron like crazed mad men droze out of the city...

Meanwhile the rebel Army was at the outskirts of the city...THEY HAD TANKS.....T-72s....Stevens called in air strikes from the A-10s orbiting high overhead...

"Angels-6..we have TANGOs north my position...snake and nape, over"

As the A-10s swooped in and incinerated the T-72s with cluster bombs and fuel-air explosives, Stevens swung east then south skirting the city to link up with the Tropic Lightnings....

The jungled woodline opened fire, hitting several men...their Ridgway Wiesels pressed on as Stevens called in 120mm mortar fire on them using his GPS and helmet commo....

"Lightning-6, set up the PZ"

The Tropic Lightnings stopped short of the city and set up a 360 degree defense....using the road center as the landing points....

As Stevens reached the perimeter, he called in his FTRs orbiting high overhead...

"SAM! SAM! SAM!" manpad missiles began arcing into the sky....

Stevens called in his 2-seat pilot/observer A-10 Nimrod 2s to laze the woodline east of their position....

It was then that he realized he was not just fighting Philipinio guerrillas but seasoned troops...probably CHICOMs....

As the missiles were suppressed, the FTRs layed smoke then landed, picking up the Wiesels with the civilians first....

There were not enough helicopters to get everyone out in the first lift...so Stevens had them dig-in....engineer Gavins with dozer blades began digging in vehicle positions for everyone in the perimeter...as the battle raged on into the night....

Slowly, the perimeter grew smaller and smaller until it was just A Troop of the RSTA and Stevens...

That is when the CHICOMs attacked with tanks....

Firing the last of his Javelins at the tanks, setting them on fire, Stevens and the Troop went off road to escape the Chinese copied T-72s....

Stevens radioed his situation....

There were no more FTRs available..but there were some old CH-47Fs that were in the Philipines that were ordered to meet him...

Stevens saw a piece of ground just before reaching the coast he could defend...."Please, hurry"

Steven's Last Stand 5 miles from the coast

Every man was armed and waiting for the inevitable...when it came they opened fire and conserved ammo as best they could... then the Chinooks flew overhead and then began to circle back...as the first Chinook touched down, the first two Wiesels drove in nose first, ramp closed and it took off...then the next pair....

Now it was down to Stevens and his Command Ridgway Wiesel, and a squad of enemy Soldiers that rushed him, he killed them with his ASP-30 cannon which then ran out of ammo..as the last chinook landed....fighting from his top hatch open, a CHICOM Soldier jumped on top as the helo ramp closed nd the chopper took off...he was a big fellow and Stevens was in a death struggle as the helicopter banked and turned bullets rippling through its body...the Crew Chief could not reach him to help...the CHICOM went beserk...he reached for a grenade to commit suicide ith everyone on board....Stevens was sick of it...WHAMMM! he broke his nose with one mighty punch and caught the grenade before it fell...

He then gingerly handed it to the crew chief..."Get rid of this"

It was tossed over the side and exploded .

When he returned to Guam with his CHICOM prisoner there would be no denying the truth of what happened those fateful days on the north of Formosa...he and his men would have no

The Second Day 1130 hours, Col. Burger's TOC overlooking Assault Zone Yankee

"INCOMING!!!"

The onslaught began, rockets, shells landing all around the 2nd Infantry Division troops with Indian Head patches and the Geronimos! Who had dug furiously all night and sat under overhead cover, waiting for the human waves to attack.

On board the AN-2 Colt biplane skimming the trees, Special Forces Colonel Lee Kim had prepared his whole life for this day...he would land the blow that knocked the cursed Americans from Korea so he could unite his brothers in Communist will-power. Too bad the late Chairman would not see this day come to pass.

Behind him a fleet of planes buzzing like angry bees in a swarm for Assault Zone Yankee.... Meanwhile, back on the ground...

Then they heard planes overhead!

Col Burger looked up, "Damn here come the commie Paras!".

It was four C-130J Hercules aircraft coming in low, faster than he had ever seen!

"Hold your fire! They are friendlies!!!"

The order was passed to hold their fire as the two planes turned sharply over the stretch of highway and then banked right for a hard in approach....

The planes landed in unison, one behind the other....

Their rear ramps went down, then out came a swarm of little itty bitty tracked armored vehicles bristling with anti-aircraft missiles...the Ridgway Ozelots had arrived....

"What the F^&*%$ is that, Sir?"

Burger knew at that moment that the tide had turned.

"Victory".

Despite the shells landing around them, the C-130Js took off safely just as the AN-2 swarm arrived.

The Ridgway Ozelots began firing, missile after missile which hit the leading Colts which crashed into flames. Col Kim's last thought was the searing heat from his flying funeral pyre. And with him all Command and control for the attack. The entire first wave was struck down. Others knocked down by their own barrage. Then Burger ordered his Bradleys and Gavins to open up when in gun range from their armored mounts.

It was a massacre.

Assault Zone Yankee held.

With it, the North Korean invasion was in jeopardy.

As the NG Air-Mech-Strike Brigade was flown in, they began to mount AIRMECHANIZED raids to clear out huge swaths of terrain from the North Koreans, expanding the size of the recon & security area around AZ Yankee, reaching the coast, the giant Wing-In-Ground (WIG) seaplanes could now transport the Brigade Combat Teams at Fort Lewis, Washington to turn the tide of battle... In bitter fighting with their special rifle hand grenades, bayonets, as their Ridgway Wiesel and ATV mounts backed them up with mobile Mk-19 Grenade Machine Gun and 120mm heavy mortar fire, the Ridgway Ozelots even got into the act firing 2.75" Hydra-70 rockets from pods switched out for their Stinger missiles.

The Airhead had expanded and now the 1st Brigade of the 25th Infantry Division and the 3rd Brigade of the 2nd Infantry Division both from Fort Lewis, Washington began to land by every USAF aircraft possible onto tiny Assault Zone Yankee and entire Battalions at a time in giant Army WIG aircraft along the stretch of coast now under 2nd ID control.

In Japan, the 82nd Airborne Division was mounting up in USAF C-17s, C-130s and Army cargo 747s, every aircraft in the inventory to do an "AIRBORNE INCHON", land behind the enemy's lines and secure a port for the Army's pre-positioned afloat Brigade and follow-on forces by giant WIG seaplanes to land and move south to link up with the 25th LID holding Assault Zone Yankee and sever the entire North Korean Army into two.

Within a week of hard fighting, the Gavin MAV and FCSs of the 82nd Airborne's Air-Mech-Strike Brigade Combat Team had linked up with lead ATV and bicycle-scout Dragoons of the 25th LID. The North Korean Army was now cut-off from its alleged homeland.

As thousands of starving NKA troops surrendered, the war was over--again, except this time as a unified Korea free of Communism.

On Formosa, 2 National Guard Enhanced Ready Brigades from the west coast and Hawaii (40th and 29th) were flown in to "stabilize" the tense situation by commercial aircraft as the Formosan Army rounded up the CHICOM diversionary force and sought to restore order in their cities from young peace protestors who sought unilateral surrender to the CHICOMs.

Air-Mech-Strike!

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