by James Rosone
An hour later, their helicopter flew over the beachhead and they got a good glimpse of what was going on down on the ground. They could see the city had been hit hard during the fighting. It looked like the military officially had the logistics “gravy train” fully up and running. Ships were now docked and offloading heavy armor and other equipment, along with thousands of additional Marines. Their helicopter continued out to sea, until they arrived at the USS Iwo Jima. The chopper slowly hovered and then settled down on the deck. Several Navy members ran up to the ramp of the helicopter, along with several corpsman and stretchers for the wounded.
A Marine officer approached Chucky. “I’m Major George,” he said, extending his hand. “Are you Chief Warrant Officer Lee?”
He nodded. The Major guided him away from the helicopter to the tower and opened a hatch. Once they were inside, he turned and said, “Chief, Colonel Bigsby wants to speak with you in the operations room.”
“What about the rest of my team?” Lee asked, wanting to make sure they were taken care of.
“They are being escorted below to one of the SEAL team rooms. They can rest up in there for the time being,” Major George replied as he continued to lead Lee through the winding corridors of the ship.
When they entered the operations room, Lee could see they had a lot of maps up on the walls with the disposition of various enemy and friendly troops. Lee was still wearing his body armor and weapons when he walked in, so he looked a bit intimidating. He also had a three-week beard going and hadn’t showered in that time either, so he was sure he stunk to high heaven.
Colonel Bigsby walked towards Lee and extended his hand. “Well done out there, Chief. Your team did a bang-up job. I’ve been reading over your contact reports. Impressive. The Air Force was able to destroy a number of those mobile ballistic missile launchers before they could fire their missiles. Then you guys directed a number of airstrikes that prevented the KPA (and later the Chinese) from pushing my Marines off the beach into the sea. You guys saved a lot of lives,” he said, with genuine conviction and gratitude.
“Here, let’s walk over to the map board,” directed Bigsby. He pointed at Hill 079, where they had just come from. “Our latest signal intercepts place an entire Chinese division moving down this road heading towards the airbase you were over-watching and our beachhead. The Air Force is going to order in an arc light mission to carpet bomb the entire valley, stretching from the airbase to this point here,” he explained, pointing to a spot on the map several miles further north. “If we are lucky, we are going to obliterate a lot of that division tonight when the strike happens,” he concluded with a smile.
“Sir, I appreciate the congratulations and giving me the big picture of what’s going on and what we accomplished. I’ll pass it on to the rest of my team…but once we’ve had the chance to clean up, sleep, and rearm, where are we needed?” CW4 Lee asked, wanting to get right down to business.
The Colonel just smiled. “I like you snake eaters, all business. You just want to get right back to the business of killing the enemy--just like Marines,” he said jokingly. “Now that you’ve made it to the ship safely, I’ve got to let your command know and find out where they want me to send you guys. You may head back to Korea or maybe Japan. I’m not sure if you guys had heard, but the Chinese just invaded Taiwan. I’m not aware of us sending any forces down to support Taiwan, but I suspect if they did, it would be snake eaters like yourselves and some of our SEAL teams.”
This certainly was news to him. He knew the Chinese had joined the war once they started to see PLA soldiers, but he was completely unaware Taiwan had been invaded.
“This war really is starting to spill over into a lot of countries. If this isn’t the start of World War III, then I don’t know what is,” Lee thought to himself.
Looking back to the Colonel, CW4 Lee replied, “Thank you again, Sir, for pulling our butts out of the fire on this one. We owe you guys big time. If it’s all right with you, I’m going to go get a hot shower and try and get some sleep for the next few days before they throw us back into the meat grinder.” He spoke with a devilish grin on his face. Lee was tired, sore, and hungry, but he was ready to go another round with the enemy, if needed.
Later that evening, an hour or so after evening chow, Bigsby passed him a note. “You are going to be flown to Seoul for further orders from First Group.”
The following morning, ODA 1110 boarded a V-22 Osprey, along with a number of other sailors and Marines and they began the trek to Seoul and an uncertain future.
*******
Camp Kim
Seoul, South Korea
Four hours later, after two pitstops for fuel, ODA 1110 arrived at Camp Kim, located adjacent to Yongsan Garrison in Seoul, South Korea. Camp Kim was the new home to the Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force-Korea. As the Osprey landed and the back ramp was lowered, Chucky’s team grabbed their gear and headed out the ramp. Lieutenant Colonel Hank Mitchel, their battalion commander, was there to greet them with a warm smile.
“Welcome back to the world, gentlemen! Come this way; we have a van ready to take you guys back to the team room. We have a lot to brief you guys up on, but before we do that, I want to congratulate you all on a supremely successful mission. You guys rescued two downed pilots, and your intelligence nearly destroyed an entire PLA division after that arc light mission last night,” the Colonel said as he offered up some praise to his men.
The team members threw their gear into the back of one van and got in another that would take them to their unit’s team room. Their battalion Sergeant Major was also there with LTC Mitchel, and like their commander, he was heaping praise on them for a job well done.
While none of their comrades had been killed, three of them were gravely injured, and the likelihood of them returning to the team was slim. Chief Lee climbed into the passenger seat while Colonel Mitchel drove the van the short distance to their building, so he could find out how his men were. “How are Eagle Eye, Chunk, and Tig doing?” Lee asked.
LTC Mitchel didn’t say anything for a second, “Tig will be fine. He may even be able to come back to the unit in a few months, once he’s recovered. Chunk’s done with the military, and so is Eagle Eye. Chunk’s back got messed up from some of the shrapnel. I talked with someone at the hospital this morning and he has partial feeling in his legs. They are confident it’ll return, but it will take some time. Eagle Eye unfortunately lost his right arm. The damage was too extensive, and they couldn’t save it. The shrapnel in his back and legs didn’t cause any lasting damage, but they’ll medical him out of the Army…I wish I had better news for you Chuck, but that’s what I’ve got,” Mitchel said, knowing this would be hard for everyone to deal with.
Chuck nodded his head before replying, “They are alive. That is all that matters.” The two rode in silence for the last mile of their trip.
An hour after they arrived back at the unit building, CW4 Lee walked down the hall to the operations center, to try and see what all was going on and when his team might be needed again so he could dismiss his guys to get some proper rest and downtime.
“Ah, there you are Chief,” Major Witten said as he motioned for him to come over to his desk. Lee walked over and plopped himself in the chair next to the Major.
“Whatcha got for us, Major?” asked Lee, wanting to see what their intelligence officer had cooking.
“We have a possible mission for you guys. We are still getting all the details, but you guys are going to be on deck for it. You want to know about it?” he asked with a wry grin on his face.
Lee smiled at the grin Major Witten had; it must be a good mission for him to smirk like that.
“Sure, why not,” CW4 Lee replied.
Witten brought up a picture on his screen and turned it towards Lee. “You see this guy? His name is Liang Zhang Wei. He’s a Deputy Minister in State Security, and is the right-hand man to Chairman Zhang Dejiang. Chairman Zhang is the third-ranking member in China,
and believed to be the second-most powerful man in China next to President Xi. If the mission gets approved, it’s going to be a snatch and grab.”
Lee studied the picture of Liang, and then asked, “Why is this guy so important that they want to capture him?”
That was a good question, and honestly something Major Witten was still working on getting the answer to. “I’m not sure why he is so important. I only know that one of those guys with no names, from an agency that doesn’t exist, came in and handed up his information. He said they are still working out the details on where and when, but when they get that locked down, they want a team ready to snatch him immediately. Since you guys just got back from a long mission, they selected you guys for it. Until we get more information, your team should probably rest up and standby.”
Just then LTC Mitchel walked over. “Take the next 24 hours and get some rest. Tell your team to be back here at 1300 hours tomorrow, and we’ll have more information for you guys then.”
As Lee left the operations center, a man in khaki pants and a 511-button down shirt walked over to Mitchel and Witten. “You sure you want to handle this mission? I can see if the SEALs have a snatch team that can do this, if you think your guys need more time to rest and recover,” he offered, giving them the option of backing out of the mission before it materialized.
Both Witten and Mitchel looked at each other and then back to the man (who was most likely CIA). “We’ll be fine,” Mitchel replied. “But since you are here--why is this guy so important?”
The CIA man eyed the two of them suspiciously for a minute before responding, “We have a source within the Chinese government that says Chairman Zhang Dejiang is the mastermind behind the recent attacks by the Chinese. He also says China and Russia planned this entire war out years ago. Chairman Zhang is too heavily guarded, and our source says he spends most of his time in various command bunkers with the President. Liang Zhang Wei, on the other hand, is Zhang’s right-hand man. He handles a lot of the meetings Zhang either can’t make or is too busy to attend. Our plan is to snatch Liang, and then interrogate him and find out what he knows.”
He leaned forward, speaking more quietly. “This whole war seems to have come out of nowhere, but what if this entire war was engineered and planned years in advance? That is what we want to find out and why Liang is important enough to risk one of your teams to capture him,” the CIA man explained.
“Our guys will be ready. Just make sure this isn’t some sort of suicide mission,” LTC Mitchel said as he thought about the mission.
“This is a tough one,” he realized. “I hate the idea of passing on a mission, but maybe this would be a better mission for the SEALs or Delta. They specialize in snatch and grab missions, far more than my conventional Special Operations Forces units do. My teams are usually busy conducting deep penetration and reconnaissance raids behind enemy lines, not grabbing political prisoners.”
From the Authors
Thank you for reading “Battlefield Korea.” We truly hope you enjoyed this break from reality to sink into the world of fiction. If you appreciated this book, we kindly ask that you leave us a great review on Amazon and Goodreads. These reviews are vital to helping us one day achieve our goal of becoming full-time authors.
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Other books by the authors:
World War III Series:
Prelude to World War III: The Rise of the Islamic Republic and the Rebirth of America (Free if you join our mailing list)
Operation Red Dragon and the Unthinkable
Operation Red Dawn and the Siege of Europe
Cyber Warfare and the New World Order
Thriller/Action:
Traitors Within: A Michael Stone Series Novel
Non-Fiction:
Interview with a Terrorist
Red Storm Series:
1. Battlefield Ukraine
2. Battlefield Korea
3. Battlefield Taiwan (Release date: March 14th, 2018)
4. Battlefield Russia (Tentative release date: June 17th, 2018)
5. Battlefield China (Tentative release date: September 15th, 2018)
Acronym Key
AAV Amphibious Assault Vehicle
AG Attorney General
ASAP As Soon As Possible
ASROC Anti-Submarine Rocket
ASW Anti-submarine Warfare
AWACs Airborne Warning and Control System
BMP Boyevaya Mashina Pekhoty (Russian infantry fighting vehicle)
BTR Bronetransportyor (Russian armored personnel carrier)
CAG Commander Air Group
CIA Central Intelligence Agency
CIC Combat Information Center
CIWS Close-in Weapons System
CJC Chairman of the Joint Chiefs
CMC Central Military Commission
COG Continuity of Government
C-RAM Counter Rocket, Artillery, and Mortar systems
CSM Command Sergeant Major
CW4 Chief Warrant Officer Four
DCM Deputy Chief of Mission
DDos Distributed Denial of Service
DEFCON Defense Readiness Condition
DF-5B Dongfeng-5B
DIA Defense Intelligence Agency
DoD Department of Defense
DMZ Demilitarized Zone
DPRK Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK)
EAM Emergency Alert Message
FSB Federalnaya Sluzhba Bezopasnosti (Russian intelligence agency that came after the
KGB)
GDF Global Defense Force
GDP Gross Domestic Product
GM General Major
G3 Head of Operations Staff
HALO High Altitude-Low Opening (military free fall)
HEAT High-explosive Anti-tank
IBA Individual Body Armor
ICBM Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles
IoT Internet of Things (all network-enabled devices)
JCET Joint Combined Exchange Training
JDAM Joint Direct Attack Munition
KPA Korean People’s Army (North Korea’s Army)
LCAC Landing Craft Air Cushion (hovercraft)
LCDR Lieutenant Commander
LNO Liaison Officer
LT Lieutenant
LTC Lieutenant Colonel
LtGen Lieutenant General
LZ Landing Zone
MAD Mutually Assured Destruction
MANPAD Man Portable Air Defense System (shoulder-launched surface-to-air-missiles)
MIRV Multiple Independently Targetable Reentry Vehicle
MG Major General
NATO North Atlantic Treaty Organization
NORAD North American Aerospace Defense Command
NSA National Security Advisor OR National Security Agency
ODA Operational Detachment Alpha
ODC Office of Defense Cooperation
OP Observation Post
PACOM Pacific Command
PLA People’s Liberation Army
PLAAF People’s Liberation Army Air Force
PLAN People’s Liberation Army Navy
POTUS President of the United States
PSI Pounds Per Square Inch
QRF Quick Reaction Force
ROK Republic of Korea (South Korea)
RORSAT
Radar Ocean Reconnaissance Satellite
RSO Regional Security Officer
SAM Surface-to-Air Missile
SCIF Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility
SDO Senior Defense Official
SecDef Secretary of Defense
SF Special Forces
SFC Sergeant First Class
SSGN Ship, Submersible, Guided Missile, Nuclear
S2 Intelligence Officer
TACP Tactical Air Control Party
THAAD Thermal High-Altitude Area Defense
XO Executive Officer
* * *
[1] http://ww2today.com/16th-june-1941-churchill-addresses-the-u-s-a
[2] http://voicesofdemocracy.umd.edu/reagan-evil-empire-speech-text/
