Captain Todd Brock studied the Predator feed on his laptop. At 30,000 feet, the unmanned aerial vehicle, or UAV, was undetectable but the infrared sensors pierced the night sky. Brock saw no movement on the target. Good, maybe this raid will go smoother. He touched the screen and the image zoomed in, showing greater detail. A square walled compound about 200 meters a side with three towers filled his screen. Why would anyone build a four cornered fortress with only three towers? Then he answered his own question. This was Afghanistan, and Afghanistan was, well, just different.
It was their third raid this month, and each had become progressively tougher. The last raid has been outside Kandahar and he’d lost two men, including his executive officer, Chief Warrant Officer Charlie Hap. Hap was a good soldier and a great friend. Brock never thought he’d lose him - and so suddenly. Even worse, Molly and Hap's wife were good friends. He had the onerous duty of calling Sally and telling her how Charlie had died.
The MH-60L Special Mission Blackhawk hit an air pocket and dropped a few feet. The pilot corrected immediately returning the helicopter to the high speed - low-level flight plan. The sudden dip snapped Brock back to the present. He closed his laptop and mentally reviewed the operations order:
1. Alpha Company, 1st Ranger Battalion provides Combat Support. Conducts a vertical envelopment to establish and hold a perimeter around the target compound without detection. Apprehends all personnel leaving the compound - allows no one in or out.
2. Special Forces Operational Detachment Alpha (ODA) 325 in a Direct Action Support Mission seizes Taliban compound, defeats the towers and guard force. Provide direct support to U.S. Army 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment-Delta (1stSFOD-D) Team 120, in the Primary Mission as required. Seizes all documents and takes such prisoners as transportable without jeopardizing the Primary Mission.
3. 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment-Delta (1stSFOD-D) Team 120, Primary Mission. Apprehends High Value Persons (HVP) associated with Al Qaeda /Taliban Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) development effort. Protects and ex-filtrates HVP to a predetermined undisclosed secure location. Gathers all documents and equipment associated with WMD effort without jeopardizing primary mission..
4. Task Force 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Night Stalkers), Combat Support: Provides one UH-60 Advanced Airborne Command and Control System (A2C2S Archangel) for command and control. Coordinates Air Force AC-130 gun ship fires as required. Provides Close Air Support with four MH-06 Little Birds. Provides two MH-60L for compound air assault, HVP transport, ODA and Operator Team 120 extraction. Provides Four MH-47 Special Mission Chinooks for A Company, 1st Ranger Battalion extraction. Upon friendly force extraction, coordinates fires to deny target to enemy forces.
Brock leaned back satisfied that he knew all aspects of the mission. He closed his eyes and leaned back, exhausted. The team only had time to conduct two rehearsals but each had gone well. Of course, no one had been shooting at them. With only nine of his twelve man ODA surviving, they had to execute the mission flawlessly. With a wry smile Brock recalled two of Colin Powell’s infamous dictums, “The enemy has a vote and no plan survives first contact.”
The pilot’s voice crackled in Brock’s helmet speaker, “Two minutes, Captain Brock!”
“Roger, two minutes, Super Seven.” He switched frequencies and spoke again, “Ranger Six this is Snake Six – send SITREP, over.”
The reply was instantaneous, “Snake Six this is Ranger Six, we are in position and green. We are a go, over.”
“Roger Ranger Six, I copy green and go. Let’s rock and roll! Ninety seconds - out.”
The Blackhawk flared and dropped like a stone into the compound. They landed hard in a vegetable garden, about the only place in this God forsaken country that wasn’t dusty. However, since the Afghanis used human fertilizer, it stank to high heaven.
Brock yelled into his mike, “Go! Go! Go!” and his team spilled out of both sides and made for the southeast tower. The two Blackhawks lifted off into the night to orbit above until the shooting was over.
Staff Sergeant Ralston dropped to a knee, lifted his M-21 sniper rifle to his shoulder, aimed and fired at the tower. An Afghani behind a heavy machine toppled over backward and dropped from sight. Another moved to take his place as SSG Ralston took aim again. The Afghani lost the race as. Ralston's bullet turned the enemy gunner's head into a bloody vapor.
The compound erupted into a cacophony of sound as smoke and dirt filled the air. The combatants had become fully engaged. It was an uneven fight as Brock’s men and Delta’s shooters, all clad in armor, dropped more and more of the opposition. An MH-6 Little Bird flew low over the compound, gating gun blazing, spewing hot shell casings. To Brock’s right three Afghanis went down to Sergeant First Class Atkins’ squad automatic weapon. The SAW barked again as another Afghani dove for cover.
Brock called into his mike, “Let’s go men!” and charged the main building. SFC Atkins went down to his left, blood streaming from a leg wound. A grenade exploded to Brock’s right as he swooped down and lifted Atkins to his feet by his web gear. They hobbled over and took cover behind a small wall.
An AK-74 started firing from somewhere over the wall. Brock looked up and saw the green tracers arcing low over the top. Occasionally, one would catch the top of the wall and cover both Brock and Atkins with a fine mud dust. Brock detached a grenade from his web gear, pulled the pin, counted to three and lobbed it over. KRUMP, the firing stopped. Meanwhile, Atkins had slapped a compression dressing over his wound and heaved the SAW onto the wall. He opened up with a long burst sending 5.56 ball and tracer round singing across the courtyard.
Brock thought, Christ, this LZ is hot! Intel said 10 maybe 15 Taliban and perhaps a few Al Qaeda. They’d dropped at least that many and still they came head long into the fight. Where the hell were they coming from? He keyed his mike, “Archangel, Archangel, this is Snake Six, Over.”
“Snake Six, this is Archangel.”
“Archangel, we could use a hand here. Can you drop the south west tower? We’ve got heavy machine gun fire coming from that location and it’s got us pinned, over.”
“Roger, Snake Six, I copy southwest tower. Give me one mike to clear the Little Birds. Are all ground friendlies clear? We’ve got no GLINT tape in the vicinity.”
“All clear Archangel, fire for effect, over.”
In less than a minute, the sky erupted with light as thousands of 20 millimeter round streaked downward and connected with the tower. The power of an AC-130 gunship never ceased to amaze Brock. The tower disintegrated into a pile of dust, timbers and sand bags.
“Target, cease fire Archangel,” Brock said into his mike. Then added, “Good shooting Air Force!” Then he turned to Atkins, “You okay, Johnny?”
“Yeah, boss but I can’t walk. I’ll cover you from here, go get ‘em.”
B
rock nodded his assent, lifted himself up and trotted towards the building. He was determined to secure the compound before any more of his men got hit.
* * *
Master Sergeant George Gentry ducked low against a garden wall. directly across from Brock’s position. A line of heavy machine fire stitched up the dirt in front of him and he dove for cover beside SFC Tom Benton. “Damn, Tom where’d all these bad guys come from?”
SFC Benton said, “Haven’t a clue George.” Then he popped up over the low wall and fired a long burst from his Heckler & Koch MP5A5. Nine millimeter submachine gun bullets riddled two Afghanis . The southeast tower was a good 100 meters away and beyond the effective range of an ordinary marksman. But in most regards, Benton was no ordinary man. He’d been with Regiment for nine years and was one of Delta's better shots.
Benton sighted and fired. The rounds laced up the tower and into the opening at the top, ricocheting off men and machine. The Taliban machine gun stopped firing. The two operators jumped up and sprinted towards the main building, and the heavy wooden door. It was strange that no one inside the building was returning fire, but neither Gentry nor Benton had time to stop to wonder why.
Gentry got there first and placed three small block charges on the door - one on the locking mechanism and two on the exposed hinges. He pulled the primers and ducked aside. Benton stood on the other side of the door, his back to the wall providing covering fire. The charges exploded and the door crashed into the building. Benton and Gentry tossed two FLASH/BANG grenades after it then turned away to shield their night observation devices. The NODs flared monetarily then settled down and provided good visibility. Weapons at ready they entered the building to search for their prey.
* * *
Brock gripped his M-4 carbine between his knees as the MH-60L lifted off from the compound. Ralston lay on the chopper floor with medics hovering over him. He was ashen and covered in blood, but the Doc said he’d pull through. Atkins sat next to Brock clasping his leg and silently shivering. Damn, he thought, two more down. The Team’s no longer combat effective – at least until we get some replacements.
The HVPs sat across from Brock wrapped in blankets and wore Delta Bracelets - PVC plastic handcuffs. They looked dazed and confused. Strangely, they were old, as old has Brock’s Grandparents. The old man looked Japanese and the even older woman was of undermined origin. Once again Brock thought about this strange country and the enigma of its people.
They would have suffered a lot more casualties, if not for this old woman. Brock had seen a great deal in his ten years with the Army SF, but he’d seldom seen anybody kill as ruthlessly as this old woman. He still couldn’t work out why she’d killed her Arab guards and not the Americans.
Brock was starting to realize why the CIA wanted these people - it had to be more than WMDs. Somehow he had survived another raid with only the memories to haunt him. Brock hoped these HVPs were worth the deaths he’d inflicted and the wounds his men had suffered. He looked back at the compound when it erupted in a flash of light and destruction as four JADAMS 2,000 lb bombs obliterated what remained.
