9th Reconnaissance Wing
Beale Air Force Base, CA
Master Sergeant Williams had been locked inside the secure area of the operations building for the past ten hours. While their attempts to neutralize all emission sources in the AOR had some effect, they had not achieved their goal of suppressing enemy defenses. The data they needed was there, it was just a matter of processing it properly.
“New BDA sarge. The Ohio dumped a fuck ton of Tomahawks on the ChiComs.”
“A fuck ton? What kind of language is that airman?” Senior Airman Tim Russel had been central to the creation of ARTE but Williams was still working on the crappy way he had been hitting on Langley two weeks before.
“Sorry Sergeant, a Metric Fuck Ton.”
Williams had to laugh a bit at that one. The kid was funny, she had to give him that. “That’s better.”
Williams began to review the data from the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO). The NRO was the agency charged with operating the USA’s “National Technical Means” which were commonly known as spy satellites. They were the lead agency in distributing imagery in support of Battle Damage Assessments or BDA.
“Not good. Look, the radar on Mischief Reef is clearly still there.”
“Yeah, same on Fiery Cross.”
“These guys are still in business.”
While it was obvious that some of the Tomahawks had gotten through, it was also clear that the attack had not been as effective as hoped. Most of the facilities on the two main islands were still intact. This meant that the fighters based there and the SAM sites were probably still operational. This meant that operation Longsword could not begin.
“Tanya, did that contractor check in at the front gate?”
“Yes, I’m on the phone with him now.” Sergeant Langley turned back to the phone handset. “Yes, that’s right. Just turn left at the light there. We are down by the flight line. Yes, left again at the stop sign. It’s a big blue building with the number two on it.”
“Is he by the BX?”
“Yeah.”
“Shouldn’t he have turned left then?”
“What? You’re at a fence? Oh gosh, I think I told you the wrong thing. Can you turn around? Great. Go back to the stop sign and just go the other way. Yeah, that’s right. It’s a big blue building with the number two on it. OK, you see us? Great, park and I’ll come out and get you.” Langley hung up the phone. “Thanks, I got turned around there.”
“Did he go down to the flight line?”
“Yeah, I think so. He was at end end of Avenue A there at the fence.”
“Doesn’t that mean he broke red?”
“Oh, shit!”
“You better go out there and get him before the SF’s arrest him!”
Sergeant Langley ran out of the secure area to retrieve her wayward contractor.
Much later, Langley returned with a slightly stressed out civilian.
“Mister Aikers? I’m Master Sergeant Williams. Thank you so much for coming all the way up here from Palo Alto.” She reached out to shake Aiker’s hand.
“Thank you Sergeant. I have to say, I didn’t expect to get arrested today.”
“Well, you did break red.”
“What does that mean, no parking?”
Williams had to laugh. This guy didn’t know ANYTHING. “No, sir. It means a restricted area. Didn’t you see the sign?”
“I was driving. Didn’t take time to read the four paragraphs.”
“Well, please stay close.”
“Tell me sarge, do the red lines on the ground work on the Russians?”
“Chinese. And I am a Master Sergeant, sir.”
“Whatever. Well, I’m here now. Can we take a look at your ETL job?”
“ETL?”
These military types don’t know ANYTHING. “Extract Transform and Load. I understand you are trying to improve your query performance. That’s why I’m here.”
“Gotcha. Sergeant Langley can you please take this gentleman down to see Senior Airman Russel? He’s going to fix the ARTE report for us.”
I love the book and raced through it. Overall I think the characters are too 1 dimensional. I could deal with some conniving self serving holier than thou characters.
Fair point. I’ll try to make some bastards in there.
I actually based most of the characters on people who I have met in the military, either from my business experience or via family. The vast majority of those I have met are truly good people, trying to do their duty.
Nice!
This is great! Do you have any writing social media accounts that I can follow?
Thanks!! Focused on this project for the moment. Please join the Google Group for updates.
Still a great story! I found it on Quora this morning and I’ve been reading it all day.
1) USAF “Military Police” are referred to as SF for Security Forces. Before that, they were SP’s or Security Police. They haven’t been AP’s or Air Police since about the Vietnam War.
Also, there would be very little delay between the time an unauthorized vehicle “Broke Red” (crossed a painted red line perimeter around a Restricted Area, usually a flight line) and the vehicle occupants proned out on the pavement at gunpoint. Especially in a time of heightened security like war with China!
2) Restricted Area, not Classified Area is the correct term.
Thanks for your comment.
Here’s the deal. This actually happened to me. I “broke red” at Beale when I was a contractor there (I worked for a software company that sold software to the USAF). This part of the story is word for word true. It took them about ten minutes to find me but when they did, I was arrested and put in cuffs.
Fair to say that security would be heightened during a war.
And I’ve mentioned this before, Corporal is not an Air Force rank! Is it a combined unit with other services assigned?
Keep up the good work!
Thanks, fixed.