Episode 2

Pacific Command HQ

Joint Base Hickam Pearl Harbor, Hawaii

The United States Pacific Command (USPACOM) Area of Responsibility (AOR) encompasses about half the earth’s surface, stretching from the waters off the west coast of the U.S. to the western border of India, and from Antarctica to the North Pole. There are few regions as culturally, socially, economically, and geo-politically diverse as the Asia-Pacific. The 36 nations comprising the Asia-Pacific region are home to more than 50% of the world’s population, 3,000 different languages, several of the world’s largest militaries, and five nations allied with the U.S. through mutual defense treaties. Two of the three largest economies are located in the Asia-Pacific along with 10 of the 14th smallest. The AOR includes the most populous nation in the world, the largest democracy, and the largest Muslim-majority nation. More than one third of Asia-Pacific nations are smaller, island nations that include the smallest republic in the world and the smallest nation in Asia.

“Pacific Command, J2 General Braverman’s Office.”  The navy rating was serving as orderly for an Army general in a traditional Marine command.  Such was the nature of “joint” commands like Pacific Command.  The commander of the Pacific Command was responsible for all US Military operations in the Pacific Theater, the largest military command in the world.  J2 is a joint intelligence function and was responsible for coordinating military intelligence functions across all US assets in the Pacific Theater.

The voice on the phone was not happy.  “Get me the General.  We just took a crap in the Philippine Sea and all hell is about to break loose.”

“Who may I say is calling?”

“This is The Admiral.”  While there were many admirals in PacCom, only the boss was referred to as “The Admiral.”  It had become so prevalent that he had even started referring to himself that way in the third person.

“Aye, aye Admiral.” Instead of using the intercom which the general refused to answer, the Chief Petty Officer walked into the general’s office.  He didn’t bother to knock, the general didn’t believe in waiting for things like knocking. “Sir, the Admiral is on the horn.  He sounds pissed off.”

General Braverman was in his mid-fifties and looked like a US Army recruiting poster.  Six foot two and two hundred and fifty pounds of muscle, he still looked like the Army Ranger he used to be.  Two tours in Iraq and one in Afghanistan had convinced the brass that he belonged in the Intelligence side of the house and he eventually wound up as the number one intelligence officer for Pacific Command. A dark-skinned man, his tight salt and pepper afro was trimmed within half an inch and the cigar he chewed was only partially an affectation.  He needed something to do with his mouth and had given up smoking after his last tour in Afghanistan.  He liked the idea of a cigar-chewing general and had one almost all the time when he was working.  His wife found them disgusting so he never brought them home.  He was a warrior and a badass but he wasn’t dumb enough to piss off his wife.   He punched the right button to bring up the scrambled phone line from the Admiral across the base.  “Admiral, it’s Tom.  What’s cooking?”

“We’ve got a situation. The Kidd got herself into a knife fight with a couple of Chinese Frigates.”

Braverman ran his hands through his short cropped hair.  “Shit.  Everyone OK?”

“There are a bunch of dead Chinese sailors, and Kidd lost four sailors but she’s still combat capable. Harris took down one and Loweston on the Charlotte crippled two more.  Kidd is headed to Okinawa and is under friendly air cover now.”

“Jesus.  I am assuming that they had a real reason to shoot.”

“Yes, it was a righteous shoot.  The Chinese panicked and popped an ASROC at the Charlotte.  When Kidd told them to back off, they fired at her too.  I am good with it, but you can be sure there will be hell to pay.”

Braveman took a second to collect his thoughts.  In reality, this was something that they planned for and the response was pre-determined.  “I think that’s the understatement of the year right there, Sir.  It is my recommendation to PacCom that we move to an alert status.  Strongly recommend that the entire Pacific Command be put on a plus 24 alert status and that we surge our submarine assets.  This will give us the best position to respond but minimize our attack surface.  In the meantime, we still have two CSGs that are completely out of action but we have two just coming out of refit and two on ready reserve.  We could have four CSGs in theater within seven days if we give the alert signal now.  Strongly recommend we do that.  We have six ARGs ready to roll, one in Pearl, one at Okinawa, two in the Pacific and two at Coronado.  If we get all six worked up, we can forward deploy four squadrons of F-35B’s with the Marines and still be ready to hit the island bases the Chinese have been building up if we need to.”

“Tom, this is going to have to be cleared with NCA, you know that.”

“Yes, I know, just laying out the recommendation so you can brief the boss.”

“Yeah, thanks for that. OK, shoot over what you got and I’ll get this spooled up in Washington.  We are going to need to brief the boss today.

“We?”

“Yes, we, kemosabe.  You aren’t getting out of this one.”