Episode 86

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

Peters looked at Smith. The situation was deteriorating rapidly. Their overwatch team had spotted a column of DPRK armor coming down the valley from the north.

“Do we pull them in and button up or do we make a run for it?”

“I don’t think we can outrun that column.”

“No, but we could go doggo in the woods.”

“Yeah, then we get blown up in an artillery barrage.”

“There is that.”

Peters paced for a few seconds. There were really no good answers. “OK, pull in the overwatch team. We button up and hope for the best. We have support coming up from the south.”

“That won’t be in time. You know that.”

“Yeah.”

As Smith went to call in the members of the team outside the bunker, Peters considered the prospect of his own death. It wasn’t something he thought about often. Normally he as too busy in combat to think about what might happen. Sitting around in a bunker waiting for someone to drop a big enough bomb on him wasn’t a great feeling, all things considered. On the positive side, the DPRK wasn’t known for their focus on prisoner well being. Perhaps getting blown up wasn’t the worst outcome.

As he heard the remaining members of the team enter the bunker, Sparks sat up straighter. Muttering into his microphone, he stood up and waved a handset in Peters’ direction. “Call for you boss.”

“What?” Peters checked that the main door was as closed as they could make it and walked back to the radio room.

“I said, it’s for you. I suggest you take the call.” Peters couldn’t interpret the expression on Spark’s face, but it looked happy for some reason.

Peters spoke into the handset. “Go for Ghostwalker Six.”

“Ghostwalker, this is Bruiser Lead.”

“Go ahead Bruiser”

“Get your people in tight. We are coming in hot. May be danger close.”

Peters wasn’t sure what to say. “Say again? Danger close?”

“You heard me Ghostwalker. Get in close and get your heads down.”

“You got it Bruiser. Watch out, the canyon narrows out to the north.”

“Won’t be a problem. Incoming in twenty seconds.”

Peters put the handset down and ran to the front of the bunker yelling to the team. “INCOMING!! GET DOWN!”

The members of the team were all veterans, they didn’t have to be told twice. Taking his own advice, he got down on the ground and opened his mouth to avoid having his eardrums ruptured due to overpressure. Still counting in his head, he got to twenty.

And not much happened.

“Are those firecrackers?”

“Sounds like it.”

In the distance, he could hear a series of small explosions. A rippling sound like a firecracker or a rippled set of rifle shots. Anything but the gigantic boom he had expected.

“Is that an A-10?”

“Nah, those are more BRRRRT.”

Peters had to agree. He had been very close to A-10’s providing ground support in Afghanistan. This didn’t sound anything like that.

“Cluster bombs.”

“Oh yeah. Jesus, but how many?”

Peters had assumed that he was talking to an A-10 driver or perhaps an F-16. He hadn’t bothered asking who the pilot was. You didn’t really ask too many questions when a pilot told you to get your ass down. You just got your ass down.

“Fuck, is that more?”

“I think so.”

With cluster munitions, it was tough to tell, but by his count, at least ten groups of explosions had gone off so far with no signs of letting off. Just as he was thinking that, another group started.

“That’s eleven.”

“B-52.”

“Yeah, and more than one I’d guess.”

“Jesus.”

Unlike the “carpet bombing” of Vietnam, a fully loaded B-52 could realistically expect to take down an entire column of tanks. A full squadron could take out a battalion or more. The DPRK was about to have a REALLY bad day if they couldn’t get their air defenses online. A dozen B-52s could take down almost all the tanks in the DPRK inventory if they were dumb enough to be caught in the open. The tight formation moving down the valley was tailor-made for smart cluster munitions.

“Twelve.”

“Actually, I counted thirteen.”

“Holy mother of God.”