3rd Battalion, 67th Armor
Two Miles North of DMZ, DPRK
“Holy mother of God.”
Hernandez wondered who had allowed the expletive to come out until he realized that he himself had spoken aloud.
There was really no way to describe the carnage he was witnessing. As his command track came into the valley, he saw a vast stretch of burned-out vehicles. BMP’s, Tanks, Trucks and other things that he could not identify. He had stopped counting burned-out tanks at thirty.
“Apaches reporting in. We are clear out to ten klicks.”
“OK bring them back by pairs. Get the FARP set up over by that bunker there. I want eyeballs up non-stop. Find me that goddamn DPRK artillery. No way we got them all.”
“Yes, sir.”
Hernandez looked up to the ridgetops where engineering teams were quickly setting up an observation post. “I want AA up there. Stinger teams and an Avenger if you can find one.”
“Bruiser is reporting RTB.”
“I think they have done enough for one day.” The B-52’s of Bruiser flight had already removed what looked like most of a division right in this valley. Hernandez didn’t want to think about how many DPRK soldiers had died today. For some reason, the quote from Wellesley came into his head at that moment. The only thing worse than a battle lost is a battle won. Hernandez gave himself a mental shake. He had work to do.
A captain with the triple tabs of Special Forces, Ranger and Airborne walked up to the command vehicle and offered a lazy salute. SF troops didn’t do spit and polish and they rarely saluted. “Colonel Hernandez?”
“I assume you’re Ghostwalker Six?”
“That’s me.”
“Either I owe you a bottle of Bulleit bourbon or a punch in the mouth.”
“Probably both.”
“Fair enough.” Hernandez had to chuckle. He generally didn’t care for the swagger of SF troops, but this guy had probably just saved the invasion force. “I think you just saved a crap ton of tankers.”
“Well, I’m glad I did it anyway.”
“Right.” Hernandez wasn’t sure how to take the ribbing. The man was a hero but he would probably never admit it. “You know what the reward for doing the impossible is, right?”
“Yes, sir. More of the same.” That was the first sir he had heard from the captain and he assumed it was the only one he’d get.
“Our lead elements got chewed up pretty bad. Your guys are the best recon force I have at the moment.” Peters just nodded. “Come into my office.” Hernandez led Peters into the command track and showed him the maps he had worked out with Major Lucas. They laid out in broad strokes the plan to invade the north.
“You’re bypassing Pyongyang?” Peters pronounced Pyongyang correctly, like a Korean.
“You speak Korean?”
“Yes, but with a Southern accent.”
“Hmm. I guess it makes sense that they sent you in.”
“Well, even the Army does something smart from time to time.”
As Hernandez explained the battle plan, Peters began to offer suggestions based on the intel that they had gathered from the DPRK general.
“Don’t you already know all this?”
“No, why should I?”
“We sent a guy ahead. Our CIA contact took copies of most of this stuff on his way out.”
Hernandez shrugged. “News to me.”
Peters wondered if he would ever see Park again. Or if that was even his name. “I don’t know if we can use the stand down codes trick again, they might have figured out what happened by now.”
“Or they figured your friend the general went over to our side.”
“Either way.”
Hernandez pointed to the map. “My main concern is these bridges. There are several major rivers to cross up north. It would be simple to booby trap them.”
“That’s what I would do.” He looked at the map more closely. “There is no way you get across the Taedong there.” Peters pointed to a bridge outside of Pyongyang. The Taedong was a major river, almost as wide as the Mississipi in some places.
“We have bridging units coming up to cover that span. I’m more worried about the smaller bridges, here and here. Those slopes are too steep for bridging units. We would have to build something. If the North figures out what we are up to, they can stop the whole operation by blowing those bridges.”
Peters examined the map for a moment. “OK. Get a couple of birds down here and we’ll hop up there. Can you spare a couple of gunfighters for high cover?”
Hernandez nodded and turned to his aide. “Get a couple of Apaches down here to the FARP. We have a deep insertion tasking for them. Get the SOAR boys on the horn, I need two of their birds here yesterday.”
“Yes, sir.”
“And find me a Goddamn JTAC!”
“Yessir.”