Episode 82

ODA 1211, A Co, 2nd Btn, 1st Special Forces Group

“Do you think the kid will help us?”

Captain Peters took his attention off the young DPRK corporal for a moment and turned to Smith. “Not sure. He’s scared.” While they had the stand down codes from their chubby friend, Peters wasn’t completely sure if he could pull off the impersonation of a DPRK radio operator.

“That just means he’s paying attention.” Peters laughed a bit at this and Smith continued. “We should get our ears on. All this crap happening outside should give us enough cover.”

“Can we jack into their antenna farm?”

“Yeah, I have Sparks working on it.”

“Watch this guy.”

Peters walked back into the radio room where they had originally captured the corporal to find Sergeant Guiterrez or “Sparks” as their Eighteen Echo was known as. Not the most creative name for a radio operator, but it had stuck.

“You ready to go there Sparks?”

“Yeah, my Korean’s pretty rusty though. Either we’re about to get a connection to their backup antenna farm or I just got us free HBO on this thing.”

“Well, either way is good for me.”

“I know, right?”

“No emissions.”

“Not my first rodeo, cap.”

“Right. What you got?”

“OK, we have tactical UHF coming up. I am getting stuff from at least a dozen armored units. The spectrum is really lit up.”

“We have h-hour in two, right?”

“Yeah. I think they are marshaling.”

“How about HF, can you get into Link 11?”

“I can, but I would have to radiate to handshake.” Sparks turned away from his console and looked at Peters. “Do you want to do that?”

“We don’t know if the CIA dude made it or not, I don’t want to just sit on my ass here and watch those tankers get chewed up.”

“Your call, just don’t unpack your bags, right?”

“Right. OK. Get the handshake going.” Peters returned to the sid room where Smith was keeping an eye on the young DPRK corporal. “We may have company soon. Check-in with Ramirez and give him the heads up.”

“Gotcha.”

After Smith left the small room, Peters returned his attention back to the North Korean. “You feel like giving us a hand?”

“Why should I? You are the enemy. You will say anything to get me to cooperate.”

“Son, one thing you should know is that we always keep our promises. It’s just bad business not to. It’s in my best interest for you to cooperate with me and be happy.”

“Are you saying that you would take me to America?”

“Yes, if you want.” Smith turned a chair around and sat on it backwards. “Let me tell you about this amazing place called Minnesota. You will love it.”

3rd Battalion, 67th Armor

Camp Humphreys, South Korea

Major Lucas and Lieutenant Colonel Hernandez had been camped out in the command post for hours, waiting for a signal from the Special Forces units they knew were active in North Korea. Hoping for some communications that would tell them if their plan would work.

“Well, that’s it. H hour is in two. We have to get the brigade moving now.”

“So, we abort on Charlie?”

“Yes, I think so. There is no way we can commit to Charlie. Why haven’t those guys checked in?”

“Well, we knew that direct contact was unlikely. Way too dangerous. I was just hoping they’d get a message across the wire.”

“No point in moaning about it now. Mount up and get the troops moving.”

“Yes, sir.” With a crisp salute, Lucas left the command post to begin the process of moving the M-1 Abrams tanks and other vehicles of the Brigade Combat Team moving. The calvary squadron would move first, getting into their pre-assigned positions to provide reconnaissance.

Then the two armored battalions would move. The “iron fist” of a Brigade Armored Combat Team, they would be backed up by mechanized infantry and other units including engineers, specialized bridge laying units, explosive ordnance teams, mine-clearing teams and etc.

The fires battalion with the heavy artillery had deployed hours ago and would be coordinating with the other artillery units to provide interlocking fields of fire. The theory was that between the aerial bombardment provided by the Air Force and Navy, the additional artillery barrage would be enough to allow the tanks to cross the DMZ without significant casualties.

Hernandez gathered up his maps and walked out of the command post to his personal C2V command vehicle. Based on the Bradley, it was a huge upgrade from the M577A2 used by most Army units. Due to cost cuts, only a handful of the more modern vehicles had been produced. The 3rd Battalion was lucky to have the upgrade.

“Signal to all units. Execute plan Bravo. H minus two hours.”