Episode 43

Pacific Command HQ

Joint Base Hickam Pearl Harbor, Hawaii

General Braverman looked out the window in the Admiral’s office. Pearl Harbor was beautiful in the late afternoon sun. It was hard to believe that Americans were fighting and dying on the other side of the Pacific. Braverman was not used to sitting back and waiting. He hated waiting but he was getting used to it. Two years in a joint theater command slot had given him plenty of practice. Careful son, next thing you know you’ll be one of those REMFs the troops are bitching about.

The Admiral came into the room in his usual rushed manner and waved Braverman to a seat in front of his desk.

“Thank you for waiting, Tom. Is Andersen as bad as we thought?”

“Good afternoon Admiral. Yes and no. The base is a total write off. Most of the buildings are damaged, probably beyond repair. The tank farm is completely gone. Over one thousand personnel are missing or dead. Another fifteen hundred civilians are missing or dead. Five thousand total casualties in the attack. So, yeah, it’s pretty bad.”

The Admiral slammed his fist on the desk. “Damn. Tell me there is some good news.” Everyone hated losing men and women under their command, but the Admiral took it particularly hard. The good ones usually did.

“The good news is that they didn’t breach containment on the nuclear weapons depot.”

“OK, that is good news. And I suppose the rest of the munitions depot is also safe?” Braverman just nodded. The Admiral leaned back in his chair and ran his fingers through his short cropped blond hair. “Well, I expected this. Surprised it took them so long.”

Now it was Braverman’s chance to sit back and run his fingers through his hair. He hoped he didn’t have a completely stunned expression on his face. “You expected this?”

“Of course, why do you think they were on alert? The Chinese have been talking about missile attacks on Guam for the past five years.” Braverman was used to the Admiral thinking three steps ahead, but predicting Chinese actions thus far had proven problematic. This would be the first Chinese attack which had actually been predicted.

A thought struck Braverman about what SHOULD have happened if Guam was fully on alert. “Then what the hell happened to the THAAD battery?”

“That is why I was late. Just got done with a video call with the battery commander and his commanding officer. There was some yelling involved. Mostly by me.” The Admiral still looked angry. Must have been a hell of a call.

“That bad, huh?”

“Yeah, he decided that he should conduct his routine maintenance on schedule. Felt that ‘early warning birds would give him enough notice to put the battery back online.'”

“Until they didn’t.” Braverman just shook his head. It was war time for Christ’s sake!

“Exactly. We lost a total of eleven satellites in a period of only fifteen minutes. Which was also in the contingency plan which he apparently failed to read.” While lower flying recon satellites were known to be in danger from anti-satellite missiles, the higher flying geosynchronous birds like the UFO system (UHF Follow On) were supposed to be immune from ground based interceptors. Someone had apparently forgotten to tell the Chinese this, they had managed to take out two in the attack. “I don’t care if he thought that the UFOs were immune! It was in there for a reason! He wanted to keep his perfect record of all maintenance performed on time. Unbelievable! Does he not know there is a fucking war on? I am having that log book polishing son of a bitch relieved of command and brought up on charges.”

“Did THAAD take down any inbounds?”

“Take them down? They didn’t fire a single interceptor! The Navy got thirty and the Patriots got another twenty. THAAD should have gotten another twenty easy. There wasn’t a single strike inside the Navy yard because Aegis prioritized those closest to the two destroyers. One thing we know for sure, Aegis works.”

“So, do we pull back from the Philippines and Brunei?”

“Hell no! This is our chance. They’ve over played their hand and we have their measure now. This was an attack prompted by fear.”

“How do you mean?” Now Braverman was truly confused. If the Chinese had proven that they could reach out and touch them whenever they wanted, how could the plans to go on the offensive be carried out?

“What’s the Chinese weakness? Fear. Their entire military policy revolves around the century of humiliation. Never again shall a foreign power take their birthright away. They fear western military power and not without cause. They see us invading random countries like Iraq and they think they could be next. This attack assumed we would be fearful also once they showed us their military might. They are assuming we will react the same way they would react to an overwhelming attack.”

“That’s not how Americans respond to attacks.”

“Damn right. What’s the American weakness? Arrogance. We’re too damn stubborn to be afraid. Too many years as the top dog to just walk away. We go around doing whatever we please whenever we please and it pisses us off when someone objects. Honestly, it’s worked for us except when the politicians get extra stupid and put us into unwinnable situations.”

“Careful Admiral, that kind of talk ruins careers.”

“Don’t worry Tom, this is my last command. When you lead an army to war, you are done. If you lose, nobody wants to see you. If you win, everyone’s afraid of you. Why do you think that Schwarzkopf was out of the army within a year of winning the Gulf War?”

“That hardly seems fair.”

“Fair or not, flag rank is a political exercise. Not that much difference between the Navy and the Army. You can’t make general without playing some politics. You should know that.”

“I do. I do indeed.”

“Now, tell me about operation Ball Buster. And please tell me we are keeping that name.”

“Yeah, apparently one of the Growler squadrons on the Stennis came up with the concept and their CAG kicked it upstairs. I have to say, I like it.”

“I think this is our key to unlock Longsword. Time to raise the stakes.” The Admiral nodded knowingly to himself. Braverman wasn’t sure exactly what the Admiral had in mind, but he didn’t think the Chinese would like it one bit.