Guerilla Warfare (2006) s-2

by Jack Terral

  "Good morning, Senior Chief," Brannigan said. "Gather the guys around. I've got a couple of items to pass on to them."

  "Aye, aye, sir!"

  It took Dawkins one more bellow to have the entire platoon assembled within five seconds. Brannigan gave the SEALs permission to make themselves comfortable, and they sat down on racks and footlockers, waiting to learn what the hell was going on.

  "The first thing I want to say is that I'm sorry about everybody's plans for the holidays fizzling out. But I'm afraid it couldn't be helped."

  Frank Gomez, sitting on a footlocker beside his buddy James Bradley, grinned. "You've probably saved the lives of about two dozen turkeys, sir. The humane society should give you an award."

  "It wasn't my idea, believe me," Brannigan said. "Lieutenant Cruiser and I received a preliminary briefing last night. None of it was etched in stone, so we won't get the final word until the N2 and N3 show up with an asset. But right now I have good news, and I have bad news."

  Joe Miskoski stood with a towel around his waist, his face still covered with shaving soap. "Give us the good news first, sir."

  "Sure," Brannigan said. "The good news is that this mission will be carried out with one foot in the water. In other words, it's an old-fashioned SEAL operation with boats. There're evidently some rivers and creeks involved."

  "Excellent!" Connie Concord said. He suddenly sobered. "What's the bad news, sir?"

  "It appears we're going to be in the OA for quite a spell," Brannigan said. "Possibly for much longer than the last operation." On their last mission, the platoon had deployed on what was supposed to have been a quick linkup with a defector in Afghanistan, but the situation quickly deteriorated to the point that they were on the mission a bit over five weeks. Two of the Brigands had been killed in action during the ensuing combat. "And one more very important item. Because of the nature of this upcoming little happening, I'm adding seven more guys to the roster. Two are to replace Kevin Albee and Adam Clifford, of course. The other five are going to flesh out the assault sections."

  "Assault sections?" Gutsy Olson asked. "What's that all about, sir?"

  "It will all be explained later," Brannigan replied. He checked his watch. "All right! Go ahead and finish getting dressed. The briefing is scheduled to start at oh-seven-thirty hours." He nodded to Dawkins. "Take over, Senior Chief."

  "Let's go, people!" Dawkins yelled. "We're gonna have company!"

  The SEALs turned back to dressing. Thanksgiving and Christmas were completely forgotten with this latest news of going back into harm's way. Most wondered where on the globe they would be headed to put their asses on the line this time.

  .

  0730 HOURS LOCAL

  THE Brigands were already occupying the seat/desks in the briefing area when the visitors arrived. There were more than just the usual three-man briefing team; seven SEALs, complete with their personal field gear, also came through the front door. These were the replacements and reinforcements Brannigan had mentioned earlier. Chief Matt Gunnarson directed them to the rear of the briefing area where chairs had been arranged for them. All were known by Brannigan's Brigands from other activities within the SEAL teams at the base. Reacquaintances were accomplished with nods and waves.

  Commander Thomas Carey, the N3, took the floor, positioning himself behind a battered podium that had held many an OPLAN in the past. "Good morning," he said. "I see that Brannigan's Brigands are ready to go." He gestured to his two companions. "You know Commander Berringer, of course:'

  Lieutenant Commander Ernest Berringer, the N2, stood up and nodded to the assembled SEALs.

  "And this other gentleman with us is our asset," Carey continued. "He'll be known as Alfredo for the time being." A husky, balding Latino sitting next to Berringer made no reaction to being introduced. Cary took a few seconds to arrange his notes on the podium. "Well! Shall we begin the briefing? The first item is the situation. A right-wing organization of rebel military officers of the Chilean, Argentine and Bolivian armed forces has occupied an area of southeastern Bolivia known as the Gran Chaco."

  The Brigands began taking notes as Carey explained about the Spanish generalisimo Jose Maria de Castillo y Plato and his Falangist political movement. A question and answer period followed the situation briefing, lasting until all the Brigands were thoroughly familiar with the latest information on their potential enemy.

  "I do want to emphasize one very important characteristic of these Falangists," Carey said. "These are not haughty Nazis as you would see in old World War II movies. The leader Castillo is a tried and proven officer in the Spanish Foreign Legion. This is an organization noted for brutal discipline. Castillo is also a modern right-wing fascist who has learned one very important lesson from the Communists. He quickly establishes rapport with the common people in the areas he wishes to control."

  Chad Murchison, in civilian life a wealthy preppy with intellectual leanings, folded his arms across his chest as he thoughtfully scratched his chin. "Is it possible for us to neutralize this relationship he has established with the indigenous people? I am suggesting that this could e managed if we are provided with the means and commodities to launch our own program of goodwill, i. E., food, clothing, medical support and even outright donatives."

  Puglisi looked over at Chad. "Just what the fuck are do-natives?"

  "Gifts," Chad answered.

  Brannigan interrupted, saying, "I've already got that potential under consideration, Murchison. We'll have to play it by ear until we discover the extent of these Falangists' activities in that area."

  "This Castillo fellow," Carey continued, "is in fact striving to establish a nation within the Gran Chaco. This country is to be called the Dictadura Fascista de Falangia. That translates as the Fascist Dictatorship of Falangia. It's evident that he's making no pretense of forming a democratic government. And, by the way, the nation is referred to by its Spanish acronym DFF."

  Joe Miskoski was skeptical. "This all sounds like a bad movie."

  Brannigan again interjected, "It's all real, and you had better take it seriously."

  "Now the mission," Carey said. "You are to enter the OA and locate the Falangists, engage them in battle, and defeat them. By 'defeat' I do not mean driving them from the Gran Chaco. That will not do--I say again--that will not do! They must be killed or captured to break the back of this revolution. If you fail, the result will be one of the bloodiest uprisings in the history of South America. And that's saying a lot:'

  Brannigan looked up from his notes. "Since the three armies of the affected nations cannot be trusted, who will be our backups?"

  "All your support will come through American military and intelligence channels," Carey answered. "And the situation in Iraq puts you on low priority. However, actual deliveries will be made through CIA arrangements. But I'm edging over into Commander Berringer's bailiwick. So I'll turn the intelligence portion of the briefing over to him."

  Berringer, a morose man who spoke in a near monotone, replaced Carey at the podium. "The enemy you face is called the Falangist Army. It is made up of units called banderas that are similar to battalions in our armed forces. These banderas are further divided into three to six destacamentos or companies. Each destacamento consists of four secciones each with four equipos. Naturally these are all conventional in that they have infantry, heavy weapons support, artillery and all the normal organization of military units."

  Brannigan got to his feet. "Hold on! You're talking about battalions here that could have as many as a thousand men each. Take a look around you, Commander. If you count us, you'll see that we number twenty-one. How the hell are we supposed to take on a field army or army corps?"

  "As of this time," Berringer explained," the Falangists are only the cadre of such a unit; that is to say no more than the nucleus or core. The commanders and staff are all that make up these banderas. Without the rank and file the average of these units will be equal to your detachment's strength. You'll find lieutena
nts and sergeants acting as riflemen in squads led by captains and majors."

  "That's good news," Brannigan acknowledged. "But how many banderas are we going up against?"

  "We don't know," Berringer replied.

  "This is getting more and more interesting with each passing moment," Brannigan growled as he sat back down.

  "Sorry I can't give you more information," Berringer said. "But quite frankly there just isn't that much known about this revolutionary army. However, as a side note of interest, in most cases you can tell the nationalities of the hostile force by their last names. Argentines seem to have more Italian names, the Chileans are predominantly German, and Bolivians Spanish."

  Milly Mills raised his hand. "Is there any cultural clashes or prejudices between 'em?"

  "Well," Berringer said, "the Argentines and Chileans think of themselves as Europeans. They have a tendency to look down on the Bolivians as country bumpkins, since many of them are of Indian ancestry like the Mayas and Aztecs." He stuck his notes back in a manila folder. "At this point, I'm going to let Alfredo continue with the intelligence briefing. He has actually been in your impending OA and knows it well." Berringer began passing out packets of maps and satellite photos of the area.

  Alfredo had no notes with him. The man, a CIA operative, got to his feet and ambled over to the podium with his hands in his pockets. "Good morning, gentlemen," he said. Rather than speak in a foreign accent as expected, he had the intonation of southern Florida. "First of all, let me give you the lowdown on the Gran Chaco, since it is not a particularly well-known area. It is widespread, covering northern Argentina, northwestern Paraguay and southeastern Bolivia. You, of course, will not be expected to operate across the entire spread of the place. Your OA is in an area called Desolado."

  Dave Leibowitz, one of the platoon scouts, asked, "What's the layout of the terrain?"

  "To the west and south is a swamp called Los Perdidos," Alfredo replied. "It's pretty desolate and forbidding. You aren't going to be able to travel through there on foot. Boats are the only means of transportation. To the east and north are the Lozano Grasslands, which is a prairie of sorts. That's where several colonies of settlers are located. This is cattle country, and those people are struggling to establish themselves. You can be sure the Falangists have made friends with them, so you must approach the civilians with caution. In fact, I suggest you avoid them as much as possible until it is to your advantage that they know of your presence in the area."

  "You haven't said anything about trees," Mike Assad, Leibowitz's partner in scouting, said.

  "There aren't any on the grasslands or in the swamp,"

  Alfredo said. "However, to the southeastis the beginning of the Selva Verde Mountains that stretch into Paraguay. That is jungle country in the truest sense of the word. It's almost as forbidding as the Los Perdidos swamp. And I might add it's a good place to hide out if it becomes necessary."

  "I was told we'd have one foot in the water," Brannigan said. "What about waterways?"

  "All right," Alfredo said. "The biggest river is the Rio Ancho, which flows west to east through the Lozano Grasslands. The smaller Rio Torcido comes down from the Selva Verde Mountains and goes into Los Perdidos Swamp. I might mention there are numerous creeks and tributaries going out of and feeding the two rivers. You can see that in the satellite photos. Unfortunately, not all these are mapped."

  Jim Cruiser looked up from the photographs he was studying. "Will boats be provided for us down there, or must we bring our own?"

  "I've made arrangements with some people I trust in the Argentine Marine Corps la Infanteria de Marina--and you'll be given three rigid raider boats. These are British Royal Navy surplus but are in good shape. They're propelled by one hundred and forty horsepower Johnson outboard motors, and can hit some thirty-five knots. These craft are a little more than five meters long and two meters wide."

  "That sounds all fine and dandy," Brannigan said grumpily. "But they're noisy as hell, aren't they?"

  "That they are," Alfredo replied. "And I've taken that into consideration. There will also be three civilian piragua wooden boats that are propelled by basic poling. As long as you're quiet when you're using them, there'll be no problems when noise discipline is a must. These are three meters long and will also prove more than adequate in the unhappy event you're forced into the swamp."

  "What kind of weather can we expect?" Senior Chief Dawkins asked.

  "At this time of year, which by the way is early summer in the Southern Hemisphere, temperatures range from one hundred degrees down to sixty-eight, so it's not all that bad," Alfredo said. "But at times it can become hot and humid. And there is also rainfall to consider. You can expect fifty inches to twenty-five inches. So take your ponchos."

  "One foot in the water!" Bruno Puglisi exclaimed. "We're gonna be in up to our asses!"

  James Bradley, the hospital corpsman, raised his hand. "What about medevac?"

  "You will be able to call in medical evacuation," Alfredo answered. "Helicopters from the Petroleo Colmo Oil Company will respond. Their call signs are Petrol Uno and Petrol Dos."

  "What the hell is this oil company all about?" James asked.

  "Don't worry," Alfred said. "They can be trusted. You will also have access to an emergency relay station in Colombia that can send your transmissions farther on if that becomes necessary. Information on this is in the very highly classified SOI that you will keep sealed unless you find yourselves up to your necks in shit." He looked around the room. "Any more questions? Fine. Thanks, guys. And good luck."

  Commander Carey retook the floor. "That's it, gentlemen. It's sketchy, I'll admit, and you can see that reconnaissance will be your first priority when you get into the OA. We'll be back in about forty-eight hours for the brief-back."

  The three-man briefing team made a quick, unceremonious exit. Brannigan went to the front of the room. "Okay. First things first. Organization. With the new men making us slightly larger, the platoon will be divided as follows. A command element for overall control, communications, reconnaissance and medical; and two assault sections that will consist of two fire teams each. A SAW gunner will stick with the section commanders during ops. Chief has a roster for each of you. Senior Chief Dawkins will make the brief back assignments."

  The senior chief stood up. "Now hear this! The Skipper and Mr. Cruiser will take care of basic tactics, camp locations and other administrative details. Bradley will cover the medical and sanitation aspects of the operation. Concord takes weapons and fire support, while Gomez is in charge of commo. Me and Chief Gunnarson will handle the individual clothing and equipment." He paused and scowled. "Well? What the hell are you waiting for? Get to work!"

  .

  23 NOVEMBER

  THE days and/or hours following the briefing were taken up by the creation of an OPLAN for the upcoming mission. The men, having now been assigned specific tasks, wrote up their portions of the plan. Lieutenants Brannigan and Cruiser, along with Chiefs Dawkins and Gunnarson, perused the work handed in. After a careful scrutiny, these were either accepted or handed back for additions, deletions and corrections.

  When the work was complete, Brannigan took the whole thing off to a corner by himself for further tweaking and finalization. But even then it wasn't etched in stone. Commanders Carey and Berringer would return to have the OPLAN presented to them in a procedure called the brief-back. If they approved everything, the document became an OPORD and would be considered the bible for the coming operation.

  .

  0645 HOURS LOCAL

  the audience, and they settled down in a couple of the desk/chairs ready to listen, take notes, and comment on the briefback presentation.

  Brannigan, as the commanding officer, led the procedure. "Since the first order of business is reconnaissance, that is exactly what we're going to do. Rather than send the whole detachment out at once, I'm going to commit an assault section at a time to scope out the surrounding area. However, our two
scouts Assad and Leibowitz will go on all these patrols. Since the Lozano Grasslands will probably be the scene of most of the action, we'll start there. The sections will take a motorized rigid raider boat, towing the piragua behind it. They will go down the Rio Ancho." He used his laser beam to point at a spot on the enlarged satellite photo mounted on the wall. "It will be the section commander's prerogative which of the creeks extending from the river to explore. They will leave the rigid raider boat hidden, then pole their way along the waterways in the piragua. No contact with the enemy will be made. If such a thing happens, the patrol is to immediately withdraw, engaging the attackers only in self-defense."

  Carey wrote in his notebook as he asked. "How many of these recons do you plan to make, Lieutenant?"

  "As many as it takes to get enough intelligence to launch active ops against the enemy," Brannigan replied. "That sounds simple at this point, but there's every chance things could get very hairy and complicated right off the bat."

  The next speaker was Lieutenant (J. G.) James Cruiser. His topic was the establishment of camps. He swung his laser beam up to a spot on the photograph where the Rio Ancho eased out of the Los Perdidos Swamp. "This will be the location of our base camp for use during the recon phase. If the results of the scouting reveal long distances must be traversed during operations, I plan on having more camps as well as caches for weaponry and equipment. We will need waterproof containers for that. I've already sent in requisitions for a couple of dozen."

  "I've seen the paperwork," Carey said. "It's being taken care of."

  The next speaker was Hospital Corpsman James Bradley. "Due to the high temperatures, humidity and heavy rainfall in the area, I anticipate problems with rashes and possible heat stroke. I have made sure I'm taking plenty of antifungal ointment, and I plan on making sure precautions are taken to avoid heat exhaustion due to the climate."

  "What about mosquitoes, Petty Officer?" Berringer asked.

  "I've arranged for a case of insect repellent that should last for a long time," Bradley said. "I also coordinated with Senior Chief Dawkins on hammocks and headgear with netting. There will be plenty for the detachment."