by James Rosone
The other generals at the table nodded their heads in agreement. When the attack did finally start, the North Koreas would chew through enormous amounts of ammunition and fuel. It was imperative that their attack succeed as it would tie down tens of thousands of additional US Forces and pull the Japanese into the conflict.
Chairman Zhang felt he should ask a question, as this was a critical aspect of Operation Red Storm. “What if the North Koreans use their nuclear weapons?” he dared.
The generals at the table turned and looked at Zhang, surprised that he would pose such a question or even think the North Koreans would use their nukes without seeking permission first from China.
General Wei Liu leaned forward in his chair and addressed this question. “Mr. Chairman, we have told the Koreans they are not to use them, that this war is to stay conventional. If, by chance, the Koreans do use their nuclear weapons, then we need to fiercely hope that they succeed in whatever they hit, and it truly hurts the Americans.”
Zhang asked a follow-up question, “What about the American carriers? Don’t they have two of them in Japan with a third on the way right now? They have also deployed nearly 60,000 Marines to Japan.”
The Defense Minister spoke up this time. “Mr. Chairman, I understand that you have been the brains behind Operation Red Storm and coordinating this effort with Russia, but these are military matters. You have given us the political and military goals, and we have developed a series of plans to achieve them. This is a military matter, and we are not going to share all the details of our operations with you as they do not concern you. We will continue to keep you informed of the progress of the objectives you have given us, but we will not go into the minutia of how we are going to execute them.”
This was a rather sharp rebuke the Defense Minister gave to a senior Politburo member, but he felt the need to intervene before this politician thought he had the authority to get involved in their inner workings.
The President saw the exchange play out and was rather amused and happy to see the drama unfold. He supported Zhang, but he also wanted the Chairman to know that his support had limits, and that Zhang’s authority did not include control of the military or the CMC, despite his status with State Security.
Zhang could feel everyone looking at him and knew he had asked too many questions. The President had given him the opportunity to sit in on the secretive military meetings, so he could better coordinate things with the Russians. That did not mean he had any authority to order the generals to do anything they did not want to do. Only the President had that authority. He lowered his head slightly and acknowledged the Defense Minister’s rebuke.
“Go on and gloat, you old goat. When Operation Red Storm succeeds, I’ll become the next President of China,” Zhang thought to himself as his cheeks burned red from the embarrassment of the rebuke.
Xi raised a hand to stop any further discussion. “General Kuang, Chairman Zhang does bring up some valid points about the Koreans’ nuclear weapons; I want it reiterated to them that they are not to use them unless the Americans use them first.”
“The Koreans had better not use the ICBMs at Paektu Mountain, or there will be hell to pay,” thought Xi.
The President continued, “I want you to move forward with the next phase. Get our frontline units out of Vietnam and start moving them to the Formosa sector. Also, get our northern forces ready to intervene in Korea, if needed.” He turned and looked at his admiral, “Move your forces into position, and execute the plan we had discussed.”
That evening, several Shang-class nuclear-powered submarines began to move closer to the American carrier battlegroups in the Pacific, along with ten Yuan-class advanced diesel submarines. America was about to receive a rude awakening.
Trepidation
Washington, DC
Boiling Air Force Base
Defense Intelligence Agency
Angela Peterson had been a Chinese intelligence analyst at the DIA for the past ten years. She joined the DIA after spending her first four years after college working for Lockheed Martin in their aircraft development department. During her time at the DIA, she had seen China increase funding to the PLA at an alarming rate. The introduction of the Chinese J-20, which strongly resembled the American F-22, had caused a lot of people to question if they had obtained the designs of the F-22 and just copied the blueprints.
When China invaded Vietnam, her group observed a series of weapons the Chinese were testing and became quite concerned. Of particular trepidation was the introduction of more advanced versions of the YJ-62 anti-ship cruise missile and the CJ-10 land attack cruise missile; both of these new missiles could cause considerable problems to the US and the allies in the Pacific. The YJ-18 long-range anti-ship cruise missile had a range of 140-340 miles, and could carry a 660 lbs. warhead at an attack speed of between Mach 2.5 to Mach 3 when it began its terminal approach. The cruise missile could also maneuver and evade anti-missile interceptors, which made it significantly deadlier than previous models.
As Angela and her team considered all the implications of these new missiles, they realized that this would push out the distance that the allied carriers needed to be from the shore to keep them out of range of the cruise missiles. This would also bring the carriers out to a point where the aircraft on board would not be as effective, since they would have very limited time over a target before they ran out of fuel. Her group collected all of the applicable data and wrote up their findings.
When the tier one PLA frontline units began to withdraw from Vietnam, another analyst on her team became alarmed.
“Hey, Angela,” said her co-worker Pamela as she rolled over to her cubicle on her desk chair, “The war in Vietnam has not been fully won yet, so why are they pulling their frontline troops out before the job is done?” she asked.
The hair on Angela’s arms suddenly stood up straight. “That just doesn’t seem right,” she thought suspiciously.
“Let’s check through everything else, too,” said Angela, and the two of them began pouring through reams of raw data looking for the one fact that would explain it all.
A couple of hours later, while pouring through the most recent satellite imagery, Angela suddenly called out, “Pamela, come here and check out my screens. Are you seeing what I’m seeing?”
After staring at the screens for a moment, Pamela exclaimed, “My God--all of the Yuan-class diesel submarines have left their ports. They are all headed in the direction of the US Fleet…”
I’d Trade my Kingdom for a Horse
Washington, DC
White House, Situation Room
The United States was reeling from all the body blows being thrown at it. Several NATO members had failed to honor their commitment to the alliance, which forced the American President to demand their expulsion from the organization. That (of course) caused additional rifts and problems within the remaining countries, but something had to be done. NATO had been brutally attacked by Russia, the very country the organization had been created to counter, and now, several members had shown their true colors and failed to meet their obligations when the alliance was attacked.
The discovery of nearly three dozen senior government officials as leakers had rocked the public trust in the government. The realization that members of the media had also been caught in this treasonous web caused Americans to suddenly doubt every news story that they heard.
While the political and domestic front was a disaster, the military front was not going any better. The first ten days of the war had seen NATO Forces suffer one defeat after another. After being pushed several hundred miles west of Kiev, NATO launched a massive counter-attack. However, less than three days later, they had been forced into another disastrous retreat.
Then, the US lost its first aircraft carrier since World War II and nearly two dozen other naval ships. The aircraft and equipment losses during the first four weeks of the war were nothing short of disastrous.
*******
The President was fuming internally, but knew he needed to project some sense of calm and right the ship, just as he had with his many businesses. Gates took a short walk in the Rose Garden to help clear his head a bit and calm himself before he went to the Situation Room for the next round of updates and status reports from the various services.
As he approached the side portico door that would lead him back to the Oval Office, he looked back at the perimeter of the White House and the fence that kept the public at bay. He could see a mix of people, some tourists trying to snap a picture of the White House, others were protestors chanting their disdain for the war.
Gates then opened the outer door and walked into the most powerful office in the world. He was summarily greeted by his Chief of Staff, who had been waiting anxiously for him to return.
Ishaan had been working hard these past few weeks, trying to sift through hundreds of personnel decisions and legislation that needed to be completed despite the war that was raging in Europe and the one that was brewing up in Asia. With the firing of so many government officials, there had been a bit of a void in the government, but the leaks had largely stopped and the officials that remained were finding it a lot easier to get things done when they did not have others who were actively working against them.
“Mr. President, the others are ready in the Situation Room when you are,” he informed the boss.
Gates nodded and began to head down the hall. He walked with a sense of purpose, knowing that each decision made was going to have a profound impact on history and the course of the world.
“This war is quickly spiraling out of control. Something needs to be done to stop it, or at least contain it,” he thought as he walked. “Although part of me just wants to wash my hands of the whole thing and let the world burn down around me while I focus only on the internal needs of our own country…but, in the long run, America would suffer from that tactic, and history would certainly not look kindly upon my presidency if I went that route. I have to defend the people who elected me, even if half of the country wants to surrender.”
The President walked briskly into the Situation Room and signaled for everyone to stay seated as he took his own seat at the head of the table. As per usual with President Gates, he got right down to business, skipping the pleasantries. Looking at Admiral Meyers, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Gates asked “Where do we stand with replacement equipment for the Services?”
Admiral Meyers responded, “We’ve activated the Navy’s reserve fleet, and we’ve begun reactivating nearly 100 additional ships, including the supercarriers we previously mentioned. It will be some months before they are ready for combat, but we have crews working on them 24/7. The Army has also reactivated their various war stocks and equipment reserves. Similarly, it will take time to get all the tanks and other vehicles ready for combat but once they do, they will be ready to outfit several Corps worth of troops. The Air Force has started to reactivate several airwings worth of fighters and cargo aircraft from Davis-Monthan Air Force Base as well.”
“What about replacement equipment?” the President inquired. He was glad the Services maintained a reserve force, but he was concerned about the replacement of the newer equipment.
“We’ve spoken with the CEOs of Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, and others. They are moving to 24-hour shifts, seven days a week and will start rapid production of our F-16, F-15, F-18, and A-10 aircraft, along with our entire suite of air-to-air, air-to-ground and cruise missile systems.”
Admiral Meyer paused for a second to take a drink of water, clearing his throat and then continued. “The aircraft manufacturers need to restart the production lines for the F-22s and the B-2s, so it’s going to be months before they will even be able to start work on any of those aircraft. They are also going to ramp up production of our helicopter force. Unfortunately, all of this is going to take months before they are able to start bringing new aircraft off the assembly line, and then there is the issue of pilot training. We are working out the kinks in the programs and calling back a lot of pilots who had recently retired or separated from the military to active duty.”
The Admiral paused for a second looking at the others in the room before turning back to face the President. “Sir, I’m not going to sugar coat it--the military is depleted and nearly spent. We have been at war in Afghanistan and the Middle East for nearly sixteen years. Our aircraft are old and well past their service life, and so is most of our ground warfare equipment. There has not been a lot of money spent on replacing old and worn out equipment, aircraft, and ships. We are paying for that right now with this unexpected war with Russia. It’s going to take us time to rearm and gear up to win this war.”
No one said anything for a moment, waiting to see how the President would respond. For his part, Gates just sat there thinking, trying to figure out what their options were. He sighed as he formulated his response. “Then we have to accept the fact that we are going to have to rebuild. We will need to stay on defense for the time being, until we are strong enough to win. So, if that is going to be the strategy we need to take, then what does everyone recommend we do with Russia and China?”
The SecDef felt this was a good time to speak up as he leaned forward in his chair. He was a retired Marine and not one to back down from a fight. “Mr. President, we had hoped this would be a quick war, one in which we could use our advantage in technology to overcome our adversaries. That has obviously not worked out the way we thought it should have, but we can’t cry over spilt milk. We have to accept the new reality and deal with it. I have full confidence that we can defeat the Russians, and if necessary, the Chinese. You have given me the troop numbers I’ve requested. You’ve given me the monies I need to buy equipment and streamlined the procurement process, so I can get this equipment to the warfighters in a timely manner. What I need now is enough time to train and equip an Army that can defeat our enemies,” Secretary Castle explained.
The other generals at the table nodded their heads in agreement.
The Secretary of State inquired, “How much time do you need us to buy you?”
Castle calculated for a moment before responding, “I need at least six months to get you the numbers needed to win in Europe. I’ll need at least eighteen months to get the troop and ship numbers we’ll need to win in the Pacific. That theater is going to rely on the Navy a lot more than Europe. Until we get some of our additional aircraft carriers out of mothballs and their supporting fleets ready, we are going to be hard pressed to challenge China.”
The Secretary of State grimaced but did not say anything. He knew the SecDef was doing his best. “You can’t create an army out of thin air overnight,” he realized. “It takes time to draft, train, and equip. Time is unfortunately not on our side.”
The President thought about this for a minute. “The Russians and Chinese really thought this out, didn’t they? They knew we were at our weakest point since Pearl Harbor. They’ve worked feverishly to divide our country and distract us from what their true intentions were…. Well, I’m the wild card in their plan. I’m the one guy they didn’t think would become President, and I intend to use that status to throw them off.”
He turned to face his Secretary of State and Defense with a renewed energy and anger. “Tell Petrov no deal. He either withdraws his forces from Ukraine, or we will continue the war. You tell that piece of trash I will not stop until we have removed him from power or reduced his country to rubble.”
A few of the mouths in the room dropped open in shock.
The President plowed on. “Tell the rest of our alliance members that they will either adhere to their alliance requirements, or they can leave NATO. Make it known to them that nations that are kicked out of NATO for not honoring their pledge will also face severe economic consequences as well. I want a specific war tax placed on all goods and services those nations provide to the US if they withdraw or offer anything less than full support to the alliance. No more free lunches. If
they want to leave the alliance high and dry in its time of need, then they can pay a financial price for it.” As he finished that last thought, he slammed his fist on the table.
“As to the military, I want our Air Force to go after the Russian economy. I want their infrastructure destroyed; then, find a segment of their economy we can thoroughly wreck and take it out. Let them grind to a halt until they are willing to leave Ukraine.”
“In the Pacific, I want you to send a strong message to China. If they attack Taiwan, South Korea, or Japan, there will be severe military and economic consequences. They better think hard about what they would be giving up if they choose to go to war with America. Also, tell that pudgy little dictator in North Korea that if he invades the South, bombs Seoul, or launches his ICBMs at the US, I will burn his country to the ground.”
The others in the room nodded quietly. Some of them like his decisive remarks, but many hoped that this was a bit more bluster than his real intentions.
Gates paused for a second, then he looked at the Marine Commander before he added, “I want the Marines in Japan, ready to move into Korea if it comes to it. I also want additional cruise missiles and heavy ordinance moved to Japan--and move some of our nukes, just in case we end up having to use them. I have a bad feeling that things with China and North Korea are about to go from bad to worse. They think that there is not a lot that we can do to stop them other than bomb them, but I want to try and project as much strength and resolve with them as possible. Perhaps we can get them to think twice and let calmer heads prevail. If not, then I want the option to bloody them badly when the time comes.”
As the meeting concluded, the generals and advisors immediately went to work getting the President’s orders issued, and sending the appropriate guidance to the various field units and commanders. If the Russians thought this was going to be a quick war, they were in for a rude awaking. The President had no intentions of giving into the Russians, and he was bent on making sure the Chinese understood that a war with America would not go well for them either.
