by Cliff Deane
Kickoff
19 July 0700
Progressive Field
Cleveland
The four drones hovered outside of the blast area of the 60 mm mortars and delayed the kickoff of Operation Neptune in the damp morning air when their cameras observed large numbers of men entering the mosque for prayer, and at 0705 the stragglers had entered the building. As no women or young children were present, the order to fire was given to the mortar crews. The Cobras were also held off until 0705 hours.
The WASPs had shown that nearly every man entering the building was armed. These were soldiers, making peace with their god prior to battle.
The Snakes opened fire with rockets, collapsing the buildings onto the Jihadis, while mortar shells initially fell short of the target, the cameras of the WASPs allowed the crews to make the minor adjustments necessary for maximum effect.
At 0715 the tanks began rolling toward their target and arrived on site at 0725. As soon as the tanks entered the streets surrounding the Caliphate Center, they began taking small arms fire that served only to chip the paint on the tanks.
Using the bull horn, the hostiles were ordered to surrender, and to their credit, they did not run away nor did they surrender; they should have, but they did not, then, or ever.
The drones quickly pointed to the locations of the shooters, who had anticipated that ground troops would be making the assault. The tank’s main guns made short work of the Caliphate positions.
In each tank the firing commands were;
Gunner, sniper, HE (High Explosive)! (Tank Commander’s (TC) identification of a target, and turned the turret toward that target.)
Identified! (Gunner’s response when he has identified the target. At this point the TC takes his hand off the master turret control, turning control of the turret over to the Gunner.)
Up! (The Loader’s response, immediately following the round closing the breach.”
Fire! (TC’s order to shoot.)
On the Way! (Gunner’s alert to the crew that in one second he would fire.)
Target destroyed! (TC’s confirmation of a hit and he retakes control of the turret.)
These commands were repeated for each target until the enemy fire ended. Normal time spent from Gunner’s identification of a target to the shot averaged around seven seconds.
As the huge tank rocked back as the 120 mm Main Gun fired a High Explosive round into the firing locations of the hostile shooters; the crew pressed their head onto the rubber mounts of the periscopes to avoid injury as the tank violently rocked back from the blast of the main gun. The Loader, however just gets himself out of the way by holding on tight as the main gun recoils and the 120 mm shell casing which comes flying out of the breech to land on the turret’s deck.
The engagement turned into a turkey shoot that ended in less than seven minutes.
Combat is mostly made up of long periods of preparation, waiting, and anxiety, coupled with short periods of rapid and overwhelming fear and violence.
Following the cessation of hostile fire, the WASPs could identify no further targets and then flew to their pre-programmed landing sites.
The Infantry arrived following the completion of the tank’s firing. They quickly examined the site for survivors. There are usually a small number of survivors in most engagements, at least in the short term. The ROA Infantry mercifully ended the suffering of those few survivors.
Even though little fuel had been exhausted, all fuel tanks were topped off and quickly resupplied with fresh munitions, in preparation for the next assault.
Realizing that they were completely out gunned, the Caliphate Forces began to withdraw from Cleveland and began preparations to move to Dearborn.
After Action Report (AAR)
19 July 1900
TOC
Bedford
The Command Staff and the Officers leading the engagements attended the AAR to brief the General.
“Thank you all for coming,” said General Levi Levins, “Well, ladies and gentlemen, today went rather well. We have the Caliphate on the run. However, I did not anticipate that they would so quickly disengage and attempt to flee to Dearborn.
As a result of my own piss poor prior planning, an unknown number of the enemy is preparing to slip away to the west, in the hopes of going around the lake to Dearborn. For this, I apologize, and I assure that little detail shall not be forgotten in the future.
Even though I made an error in planning, the result remains well within the philosophy of Sun Tzu, as he believed in leaving a larger force an avenue of escape. So, I’m claiming Sun Tzu’s approval; that’s my story, and I’m sticking to it.”
Everyone in the meeting politely chuckled at the General’s anecdote. While many may not have found that old, “stickin’ to it” joke to be all that funny, everyone was impressed that their General not only took responsibility for his lack of that one detail but that he brought it to everyone’s attention of his own accord. Levi’s stock rose among his soldiers.
Levi smiled and added, “Would you believe that I actually have a plan to take out those escapees?” Again there were polite chuckles. “It’s true that they have begun preps for a withdrawal, but they will not reach their road to perdition until late tomorrow, at the earliest.
Our drones have found their assembly points, but I believe we can do more damage if we allow them to form their convoys and hit the road. Cleveland is a big city, and it will take time for them to organize and begin their movement, and when they do, we will be waiting.
It seems ironic that a minor, missing detail should present such an opportunity to destroy their entire force.
Therefore, beginning tomorrow morning at 0700 hours, an Observation Post will be established along the only road available to the Caliphate Forces, highway 47A. I do, however, anticipate that the enemy will attempt to use darkness as a cover for his movement; bad idea because for our purposes we see as well at night as in the light of day.
Once they reach that road, our OP will radio back to us their location, and the Super Snakes will decimate their column, which I hope is very long. Major Turner, I would not be terribly sad if one or two of the lead vehicles were allowed to escape.
The tale they will tell the Supreme Leader in Dearborn of our huge army, led by hundreds of tanks, and dozens of Helicopter Gunships; an army that cannot be defeated, will have them shaking in their flip flops.
For those not involved in deflowering the escapees, tomorrow will be a day of rest, after all equipment has been cleaned and prepped for combat.
We will begin the march to Dearborn on 23 July at 0900. I anticipate the road march will take anywhere from one to two weeks, at a minimum. I also expect harassing attacks during the last seventy-five miles or so. We’ll keep the WASPs busy identifying those attacks. It is my hope that none of these small unit Caliphate ambushers will live to tell the tale. Let’s keep ‘em guessing.
All right, there you have my guidance; now it’s your job to turn that guidance into a plan for our movement to contact, are there any questions?”
After some celebratory discussion, the meeting was adjourned.
Gus patted Levi on the shoulder and said, “My friend, I am still worried. Once we hit Dearborn, the Caliphate can only run into the rabbit hole known as Detroit. I still think it will be a slugfest, and we can’t expect to win this battle using only three tanks and five Cobras.”
Levi agreed and told Gus, “Yup, Dearborn will be street to street and house to house; boots on the ground with way too many casualties, working our way through the rabbit warrens of Dearborn and Detroit.”
Levi asked, “Wait, Detroit? You think we’ll have to fight through it, too?”
“My friend, Dearborn is a suburb of Detroit, and, at a minimum of one-hundred thousand combatants, then yeah, they will be spread through all of the suburbs of both Dearborn and Detroit proper, especially the south side, along I-295.”
“Holy crap, and what comes next, Chicago? I don’t
see how that will be possible with winter coming on.
Look, I’ve been thinking that we should make a coordinated and concentrated attack to take out the leadership. Then an idea came to me from a comment you made a couple of days ago; remember, you asked if we were biting off more than we could chew. Well, now I believe you were absolutely correct. In fact, I think we should cogitate on a new plan.”
Gus laughed and said, “I know, be flexible, right?”
“Yeah, well, yeah, we can’t afford to be so rigid in a plan that we let it lead us into either huge losses for an impossible victory, or defeat resulting from their superior numbers, so we must remain open to new options and ideas as they present themselves to us. I know we are a hammer, but we have to stop thinking that everything is a nail.”
Gus sighed deeply before saying, “Okay, Boss, you do know you are preaching to the choir, right? Come on; spit it out, what’s on your mind?”
“Damn, Gus, can’t a man have even a touch of drama around you? Okay, here’s what I’ve been thinking. Do you remember the farmers we spoke with saying that the Caliphate tax on food they produced would be 50%?”
“Yeah, sure, so what?”
“Hello, Earth to Gus, without that food the winter will do the dirty work for us, and be much more thorough. We should consider a southern blockade to make sure that no food gets in, and no one gets out, right up to the onset of winter or late fall, and then we just go home.”
Gus looked thunderstruck when he said, “I love it! First, we take out the leadership, and the rest will simply wither on the vine. Once the snow starts falling, they won’t be able even to try to find food.
My God, Levi, we meet our goal and avoid a bloodbath. By spring, they’ll all be dead.”
Levi lips formed a wicked smile as he said, “Yes, we should also be concerned that we don’t really know what weapons they have held back; even worse, we don’t know how many we’re facing.”
“Right,” said Gus, “I admit we don’t have a detailed plan, yet, but Ali has given us some good info on the Headquarters of the Supreme Leader, his Officers, and his Command and Control Centers.
Levi, I don’t think we should wait until we get to Dearborn before we start cutting off the head of the snake.
Now, this is just ballpark, but I’d like to send the Insertion Teams back in Dearborn, with a couple of PRC 77s to verify the locations Ali gave us are still in use.
I also think we should contact Ali’s father and extract the family if they are willing, to abandon the Hijab and the violent portions of the Quran. If they are, then we bring them here and quickly hit the leaders and the Command structure hard with the Cobras.”
Levi thought for a few seconds before saying, “Okay, I like everything but the part about risking the capture of a PRC 77. On the other hand, without commo, what’s the point of risking the Insertion Teams? Okay, get with Ben to formalize a plan, and we’ll run with it.
Oh, talk to Major Guyardo and get confirmation on the availability of Cobras and Crews. I hate to throw brand new pilots into combat, but I have to admit that the pilots we have now did very well. Additional Cobras will give us much greater latitude when it comes to target acquisition; more Cobras, more targets go down.
The more Cobras we have for the initial assault on the leadership and destroying the mosques, the better our chances of killing the leaders along with their Command and Control.”
“I’ll get right on calling Guy, then he and I will put together a plan with equipment requirements to you by tomorrow evening around this time. Roger?”
“Sounds good, partner; it’s been a stressful day, I think I’ll sit with Susan for a bit before going to bed.”
“That’s a good idea, but with one caveat. I took the liberty of arranging for me to sleep in Susan’s bunk tonight so she can be with you.”
Levi said, “Gus, I don’t know if that’s such a good idea; not that I don’t really love the idea, but I don’t want to set a bad precedent for the troops. Thanks, anyway, but we’d better not.”
“All right, but I’ll stay out until around midnight. Do you like that optic better?”
Levi laughed and said, “Well, if you’re going to be working late tonight, anyway…Thanks, Gus, you’re a real pal.”
“Okay, done deal, but you will have to sell the new plan to Susan.
Levi, I might as well tell you something, and I don’t want you to start shooting people, okay?”
“What? Oh, no, is Kate…”
Gus interrupted saying, “No, no, nothing like that, but I hope you will take this as a good thing; I saw her kissing Kevin, nothing serious, just sweet loving kisses.”
“Where’s my gun! No, Gus, relax, I’m just kidding. That was a big step for Kate that she took clear back in DC, and I guess I’m very happy for her, and yeah, for that gigolo Lt. Simms, too,” laughed Levi.
“Well, I’m certainly glad you’re taking this so well, so I guess I can tell you that the second kiss was a hot, passionate, sloppy, groping suck face fest.” Gus cackled as he dodged Levi’s boot, before saying, “You know I’m only kidding, right?”
“You had better be, and yeah, I know. I’ll see ya’ around midnight.
Oh, one more thing, please don’t tell Kate that I know, you know, about the kissing stuff, I mean.”
“Deal, now I gotta go find Ben,” said Gus as he chuckled his way to Ben’s tent.
As Levi arrived at his tent, he found Susan and Kate waiting for him.
“Well, hello,” said Levi, “and how are my two favorite ladies this evening?”
Susan smiled, but Kate looked worried. Susan said, “Kate and I had a long talk, and she wants to tell you something.”
Levi was almost able to hide his smile, but couldn’t quite pull it off as he said, “Does this have anything to do with that gigolo, 2nd Lt. Kevin Simms?”
Kate looked as if she might faint, but finally stood when she saw Levi trying to hide his smile. She said, “Dad, that was just mean,” laughed Kate. “I hope you are not disappointed in me, but I have to tell you; I’ve been kissing Kevin, a lot.”
Levi opened his arms for Kate to come and get a hug. Once she was in his arms, he said, “Sweetheart, was it your idea, or did that lothario pressure you into it, because my gun is loaded.”
Kate said, “Honest, Dad, Kevin would never do that, in fact, he asked if I was ready and if I really wanted to kiss him.
I know, I can hardly believe it either, but I realized that I was ready for someone who loves me to kiss me, like that I mean, not just force me, and before you ask, yes, I enjoyed it. In fact, we kissed several more times, but that’s all, I promise. I’m also really scared that when I am ready, it will hurt like before, and I won’t be able to do…You know.”
Levi almost broke down at that revelation, but he managed to say, “Sweetie, when you are ready, I’ll bet that everything will work out just like it’s supposed to.”
Susan was so touched and happy with the way this conversation was going that she was near tears, herself.
Levi said, “Katie, I love you, and I also trust you. I know you won’t do anything that would…Uh, would…”
“Oh, stop it, Daddy, we won’t let that happen, but if you still want to tell Kevin about bein’ up all night just cleanin’ your gun, I think it would be a hoot.”
Laughing, Levi said, “Let’s do it, but tomorrow night, okay?”
Kate looked at Susan with a smile, then said, “You know, it would be really cool if we made this a family hug,” and she and Levi opened their arms to welcome Susan into the Levins Clan; now she did cry from joy.”
I’ll probly be up all night, just cleanin’ this gun.
20 July
TOC
Bedford
Levi and Gus spent the morning wandering around the camp speaking to the troopers as they cleaned their weapons and made sure their gear was ready. What they learned from the troops was that they felt good about the coming battles. The veterans of urban w
arfare in Berzerkistan were a bit more reserved in their attitudes. They knew what urban battle was like; still, they were confident, but wary.
As they neared the helicopters, both men stopped to watch as the flight crews checked to ensure the birds were ready to fly. They also saw Tim and Kevin cleaning the Gatling guns and checking the ammunition.
Kate was in the pilot’s seat of her Snake checking whatever there was to check. Gus pointed to the nose of her bird and directed Levi’s attention to the name she had given her Cobra; Daddy’s Girl.
Now they began looking at the other ships and found that each had been given a new name. Susan’s bird was now named Martyr Maker. Gus loved that one.
Levi looked to Gus and said, “Well, they ain’t the Flying Tigers, but you gotta like their esprit de corps.”
Gus just said, “Yup.”
Back in the TOC, they found Ben on the horn to Lejeune listing the equipment needed for the upcoming siege.
The Sgt. Major and 1st Sgt. were discussing the training, and detail schedules.
SSgt. Jones came in with a tin of piping hot muffins saying, “Good morning, sirs, I figured you had some heavy duty thinkin’ to do, so I decided to ask the Baker if he had any fresh muffins. Well, sirs, I’ll tell ya’, this must be my lucky day because he had a huge batch just coming out of the oven. Lucky break, huh?”
The whole TOC started giggling and everyone had to admit that when it came to muffins and recoveries, Jonesy was the best.
Levi just shook his head and asked if there was enough for everyone.
“Of course, sir, why, look at this, I must have miscounted, and I see there is one extra; oh, well, I’ll just have to eat that one,” and again the TOC erupted with laughter.
That evening after the plan for Dearborn was wrapped up, Levi went to Kate’s tent and found both Susan, Kate, Tim, and Kevin discussing flying maneuvers. He knocked on a tent pole and asked if he might enter.
