Chapter 17
I got the okay to have Captain Larson and Lieutenant Smith pull together recon units, which of course meant they would need to talk to the men they selected and I would need to talk to the officers whose companies those men belonged to and hope they would be willing to take my word that I had Jason's permission to build these recon units.
“Captain Larson have you selected your men yet?” I asked.
“I have, but some of them are out on missions right now and aren't expected back for a week or more,” he said.
“You were supposed to be choosing from the men on base right now. We need these units ready to go tomorrow, or the day after at the latest, that means anyone not on base right now is not available,” I said.
“This is for real isn't it Captain Waters? You really expect me to pull together a unit like White Rose that fast?” he asked.
“One like White Rose? No Captain Larson I don't expect you to be able to pull together a unit like mine. I hope you don't even try, since if you were able to manage, it would then be my unit not yours. Captain the men you choose will become your men, they will look to you for their orders. It will be your job to do everything you can to insure those men will make it home to their families when this is over. If the bond you develop with your men is as close as the one I have with mine every time you have to order them into a life or death situation it will tear you apart, but you'll still do it because if you didn't, they would lose their respect for you. I asked my men to help you select the men because they know several of the men and can help you get the best for the job,” I said.
“Captain are you saying we are a go on building recon units to accompany you and your men on this mission?” Captain Larson asked.
“Not exactly Captain. You'll each receive a list of targets that will be your responsibility to take out. You'll be given general orders that will give you a time table for accomplishing those targets. It will then be up to you to come up with a way of carrying out those orders with the men under your command. Captain those men are your responsibility, their lives will be in your hands, try not to get them killed,” I said.
Lieutenant Smith had chosen men who were on base, the list he had of men who weren't, was more a wish list than an actual list. I looked over the list of men both had chosen and sighed. Some of the commanders weren't going to like losing these men while some would be happy to lose them.
“Major, General Talbot has asked me to get two more recon units together and some of the men chosen for those units are in your company,” I said.
“Captain Waters unless General Talbot tells me I have to give up men from my company...” the Major started.
“He'll be back in the morning Major and if I must I will call him so he can tell you now. Unfortunately we don't have a lot of time to get these units together, or I can assure you I wouldn't be the one talking to you about this, I would have waited until General Talbot was back before approaching you,” I said cutting him off.
“What men, Captain?” he asked.
I handed him the list of men from his company and stood there while he read it.
“Captain, these men are misfits. They shouldn't even be in the military, let alone in special forces,” he said.
“Captain Larson and Lieutenant Smith disagree Major. Do I still need to get orders from General Talbot, or are you willing to have them report to their new commanders and get the orders when General Talbot gets back?” I asked.
“I'll have my clerk tell them to report right away. I just hope they work out in these recon units, but even if they don't I don't want them back,” he said.
I got much the same response from all the commanders of the companies stationed on the base until they saw who it was we were asking for then they were only to glad to let them go if it meant they wouldn't be coming back.
I had to start wondering if all these men were trouble makers of just didn't do well in larger groups. I knew if they were discipline problems, they were never going to make it in recon. The last thing we needed were people who couldn't do their job without giving back lip. Out in the field orders were given and you either followed those orders, or someone was likely to get killed.
As I approached the parade ground I saw not all the men had arrived yet, but those who had were already divided into the recon unit they had been chosen for. I heard running feet coming up behind me and turned to see two enlisted men come to an abrupt stop and start walking as though they were in no hurry.
I could see these two were not going to like being split up into different units. I cleared my throat as they got close enough to read the name on my uniform, and watched as panic set in that they had taken so long.
“I'm glad to see you gentlemen could join us, perhaps I should just send you back to the companies you came from and pick a couple of alternates we have on the list,” I said.
They hurried to join the formation.
“I want each of you to line up behind either Lieutenant Smith, or Captain Larson as your name is called. If you don't like the unit you're being assigned to perhaps you'll enjoy going back to the companies you came from and explaining to the commander that you want to rejoin his company. Before you do however let me tell you what each of the company commanders told me on seeing your names on the list presented to them requesting you. I'll try to get this right just so you have a good idea how welcome you'll be in going back to your old company. Captain Waters, without written orders from General Talbot none of the men in my company are available. At that point I handed them the list with your names on it. But under the circumstances I have no problem letting you have these men, on one condition. I don't want them back,” I said.
I looked around at the men standing there and noticed all of them now understood they wouldn't be welcome back in the companies they had just come from.
“Gentlemen, you aren't going to have much time to learn to work together, and you will not be joining my White Rose. You will be forming separate units under the command of Captain Larson and Lieutenant Smith. Since Captain Larson and Lieutenant Smith will be your commanding officers they will be calling out your names so listen up and as soon as your name is called line up behind which ever one calls your name,” I said.
Each name was called out and I watched closely as the two who had taken their time reporting had their names called out one by Lieutenant Smith and the other by Captain Larson.
“Your old company commanders thought you were the bottom of the barrel, but I dare anyone to find someone on this base that thinks that way of me, or my White Rose. There is no reason each of you can't make your recon unit equal in status to mine, but to do so does mean learning to count on each other and following your commanding officers orders while in the field.” I turned to Mac and nodded.
“For those of you who don't know me I'm Sargent Mac Denvers, I'm second in command of White Rose. Many of you might think Captain Waters is unyielding and very demanding, but I can assure you I've never had a better friend. Captain Waters and I have been together since our special forces training, and I can assure you he hasn't changed much in all that time. I have no doubt that if you will give Captain Larson and Lieutenant Smith a chance you'll find they can either be your best friend or your worst nightmare, I know there are people who think of Captain Waters as a walking talking nightmare,” Mac said.
“Until we deploy each of you will be working with the members of White Rose that does the same job you'll be doing. So take the rest of today to get acquainted with the other members of your new units, that includes the commanders of the units. Tomorrow be ready to ask questions of those of us in White Rose you'll be working with. With any luck we'll be able to answer most of your questions before we deploy. Once we deploy your chance of asking questions is over and you'll be counting on your fellow unit members for survival. One last thing tomorrow starts at zero four hundred hours,” Mac went on to inform the men gathered.
Captain Larson and Lieutenant Smith came over to
me after everyone had been dismissed wanting to know if I was really sure they were up to the task of leading a recon unit.
“I chose you two because I know you're the ones who came up with the plan you all presented to me. While I don't agree with everything you came up with I believe it is a damn good plan. In fact if I hadn't known you didn't see what I've come up with I would have sworn you got it from my plan. I know you haven't seen mine because as is so often the case I haven't written mine out yet, and if I hold with tradition I'm not likely to until I get back from carrying it out,” I said.
“You mean you go without a firm plan?” Lieutenant Smith asked.
“I mean my plans are flexible and to me if I write them out I loose the flexibility in them. Every company commander I've been under has drawn up a plan beforehand and then stuck to their plan, over half of the missions I've been on under someone else in command I've had to assume command to get us out of the mess the company commander got us into. I don't like to assume command because the commander was stupid enough to stick to a written plan that went bad and got them either severely wounded or killed,” I said.
“So you're saying our plan is good, but if something unexpected happens we should be ready to change the plan?” Captain Larson asked.
“With a hard plan everything has to go exactly as planned or you end up with a mess. Keep your options open as long as things are going right according to the plan stick to the plan. If even one small detail goes different than planned leave yourself room to adjust for that change, otherwise down the road you'll end up with something that you can no longer control. As far as I can tell you've each picked good men. If you want them to be great men let them help you make your plans work, let them give input, don't be afraid to acknowledge their contributions to the rest of the unit, but also don't let them run to free when things start getting rough. You're there to keep everything under control. You're the leader and in the field it's your decisions that will either see them through the mission or cost them their lives,” I said.
I had just given them a lot to think about, and was sure they wondered how as young as I am, I was able to command the respect of my men who were all at least two to three years older than me.
“I hope you'll both spend some time with your men tonight so you can get to know them and they you. Like I said your lives will depend on those men and their lives will depend on you. In the field the decisions are yours, and if your men don't know, or trust you chances of coming back are greatly reduced,” I said.
I wanted to go over the plan again so when Jason got back in the morning I'd be prepared. I was starting to get the impression that creating recon units like mine was just what Jason wanted, and when all was said and done he was going to ask me to over see them, decide which unit got what mission.
“Captain don't you think maybe you should get to bed?” Mac asked.
“Mac are you tired of risking your life for something you don't understand?” I asked
“You mean something as stupid as what General Strong is doing here? Sam I know you count on me for lots of things. Hell for all I know you look up to me like I'm your big brother. I doubt anyone else in the unit knows though. I don't think it would matters whether or not I understand as long as I know the plan is yours,” Mac said.
“What if I make a mistake? So far everything has worked out, but what if one of these times I make a mistake that could easily cost us our lives?” I asked.
“That's a chance we take every time we go out. We all know you're doing the best you can. We all believe you'll always do what you think is right even if it might get us killed. We're The White Rose, something from legend,” he said.
“You aren't going to leave until I go to bed are you?” I asked.
“You need to get some sleep,” he said.
“I wish you'd quite mother henning me. I am a big boy you know,” I said.
We headed to the barracks and he winked asking if I could manage to get in bed, or if he should tuck me in. I smacked him in the arm and threatened that if he ever said anything like that where anyone else heard it, I'd find the dirtiest nastiest job, the one he hated most and that would be his until he begged forgiveness on his hands and knees, and even then I might not be willing to forgive him.
For the first time in a long time I had no memory of dreaming. I felt better than I had in a very long time, at least until I looked at the clock and saw it was only oh three hundred hours. Why was I up at this ungodly time? I knew getting back to sleep wasn't going to happen so I got out of bed and headed for the chow hall. I got a cup of coffee and found a table well out of the way, as I did so often, so I could sit there and think about what I was doing in this war that made so little sense.
“Mind if I join you Captain?” Chris asked.
He didn't wait for me to answer before sitting down, not that I would have expected him to.
“What am I doing Major? Am I really as good as everyone seems to think I am, or am I just lucky?” I asked.
I finally looked at the man sitting across the table from me.
“You know if you pull this off, they're going to want you to set up several more units like yours,” Chris said.
“I need a forth unit Chris, and right now you're the only officer on base I would trust to be able to do what the forth unit will need to do. I know you just got back in, but would you be willing to pull twelve of your men together for something like this?” I asked.
“Would it have to be twelve?” he asked.
“No not really it's just twelve sounds like a good number. I guess it could be eight or fifteen. I've just always found thirteen to be a lucky number,” I said.
“What is it you need?” he asked.
“I'm not sure yet? I have a feeling the plan has changed and the Marines are going to be ordered to where I suggested which means we'll need to have someone go after the communications center they're setting up about forty clicks from here,” I said.
“Isn't that communications center close to one of the airstrips they're working on?” he asked.
“Not close enough. Chris I have two untried recon units I'm taking out this afternoon to take out three possible airstrips. These units are so new they haven't even had a chance to try working together where they don't have to be worried someone is going to kill them. Neither of the commanders of these units have any real command experience, but they're the best I have available. I'm hoping Colonel Andrews will be back and able to take his recon unit to handle the communications center, now I'm thinking maybe what I really need is for experienced units to accompany these two new units out to show them how we work together, get them at least one mission where they can see how we operate in syncing multiple targets to create confusion in the enemy ranks,” I said.
“This is your last mission isn't it?” he asked.
“I don't know. Have you heard I told General Strong to go fuck himself yet?” I asked.
“I haven't heard much of anything yet, only that you've got two new units you're putting together. I was planning on letting Jason know that indeed they are building airstrips within easy striking distance of us here. When I checked with Carl to find out when would be a good time to talk to Jason he told me what your up to,” he said.
So that was Jason's Lieutenant's name. I never bothered to look at his name tag and almost all the interaction between us was him looking for me because Jason wanted me.
“Jason isn't due back until just before noon, the last I saw him he was at HQ talking with General Strong about this mission to take out the communication center they're building,” I said.
“I take it you were there with him then?” he asked.
“Please, I don't know how I got back here. I told General Strong I thought he was an arrogant ass because he wasn't willing to listen to reason and walking out of the situation room, the next thing I remember is being back here with Mac asking me if I had slept in and missed the flight to HQ,” I said.
“So what is it you
need me to do, Sam?” he asked.
“I was hoping maybe you and your men could assist Captain Larson and if Colonel Andrews is back in time he can still take the communication center and I'll assist Lieutenant Smith and his unit,” I said.
“I take it they do the work and we're just there if they need us?” he asked.
“That's what I'm hoping for. Chris I don't have a clue what it is about you and I, why I feel so drawn to you. I guess what I mean is why I know I can trust you so much, but I've never felt I could trust anyone as much as I do you,” I said.
“I could tell you, but I doubt you'd be willing to accept my explanation,” He said.
“Magic? You know as well as anyone I don't believe in magic,” I said.
“Like I said you wouldn't be willing to accept my explanation,” he said.
“Why don't you go get cleaned up and we can talk after I get everyone in the units I just pulled together started on some training to learn to trust and work together,” I said.
“I'll pull together my best recon men for the job, I'm sure between my men and yours we can give the newbies a hell of a work out and maybe strengthen the bond they'll need to work together,” he said.
I finished my coffee and went for a refill and this time something to eat.
“I'm surprised to see you already moving Sam,” General Long said.
“If I hear one more person tell me that, I just might go back to bed and stay there,” I said.
“I've heard you've had a bit of a problem with authority,” General Long said.
“I don't have a problem with authority. My problem General, is with stupidity,” I said.
“You need to learn to coddle the stupid that out ranks you, or you'll never get anywhere,” General Long said.
“If it means good men dying for no reason other than some assholes ego, I'll never be able to do anything other than let them know how I feel about their stupidity. If I'm not mistaken I once told you how stupid I thought you were being,” I said.
“I was being rather stupid wasn't I? I'm curious what you might have come up with to keep Carl off your back?” he asked.
“What if I told you I intend to force the issue and get the Marines to move to where I tried telling him they should go and take out that comm center with one of the recon units from here, the same unit I tried telling General Strong would be a good choice for just such a mission,” I said.
“I have no doubt you'll manage to pull it off, but I would be interested to know how,” he said.
“Join me in our situation room and I'll show you why he won't have a choice but to listen this time. I'll even have you telling him to listen or you'll go over him to the Joint Chiefs if necessary,” I said.
“You really think so? Now I'm curious to see just what this plan of yours is, I can tell it isn't anything like the plan you laid out in his office,” General Long said and smiled.
“I didn't have enough information when I laid out that plan, nor did I have enough motivation. Even when I got back here to our maps and photos I didn't see it until someone else pointed it out to me,” I said.
“So you do miss things once in a while? That food you have looks pretty good mind if I join you for breakfast and then you can show me what you have up your sleeve to get me to pull strings for you,” he said.
I sat back at the same table I was sitting at and General Long joined me with a plate of food twice as full as mine was when I sat down. I was still going over in my head just what might be the best way of going about accomplishing the task of destroying four, possibly five airstrips while at the same time destroying a communications center bigger than the one we had. For that communications center to be that big meant something I couldn't understand, it was like the enemy was moving its entire operation close to the front line. It was the only thing that made sense. Could it be they had more of a presence than we had accounted for? If so where were they hiding?
After eating I headed back over to the situation room and started pulling aerial photos from the last six months, comparing each photo looking for anything that might give me a clue as to what was going on.
All the photos showed was the start of the communication center about the same time I completed the mission before I went on leave last time. Four battalions of enemy troops had come against us, but looking at the photos it was impossible to tell were they came from. Then on that last mission there were another two battalions and still no sign of where they came from.
You can't move that many men that rapidly without some sign of their movement yet there was nothing in any of the photos. I pulled satellite images and started going over the same time frame only this time looking strictly for images that show infrared. And found what I was looking for. All those troops hadn't been moved at once but they hadn't had to go far to join the battles we had engaged in with them, and if what I was seeing held over the course of time I was intending to look at we had a problem no one was ready for and the only way of taking out the communication center was by air and hope like hell they didn't have much in the way of aerial defenses setup already.
“Is something wrong?” General Long asked.
“Wrong General? What could possibly be wrong? If you'll excuse me sir I need to talk to the company commanders here, this is bigger than anything I ever thought possible. General you may want to call General Strong and ask how soon he can have at least ten battalions of Army and Marines here, plus he might want to get all front line aircraft in the air and pulled back to fall back bases. All hell is about to break loose and if I were you sir I wouldn't want to be anywhere near here when it does,” I said.
I headed for Jason's office determined to talk to that smart ass Lieutenant he had and see if he was willing to call all the company commanders together so I could show them what we were facing.
“Lieutenant I don't give a damn what time it is, either you can have them all meet me in the situation room, or I'll have you arrested for treason and shipped out on the first available aircraft in chains,” I said.
“Your threats don't scare me Captain I know you can't do something like that,” he said.
“For this Lieutenant I can, and believe me I will. This isn't a prank, it's life threatening serious, if you can't do your fucking job and I have to ask my men to do it for you, you will find yourself in chains for treason,” I said.
He finally realized I wasn't joking, I guess some of the fear I felt was showing and he jumped out of his bed and got on the base wide PA calling all command grade officers to the situation room.
“Captain if this turns out to be some kind of sick joke...” he started to say.
As soon as the announcement was made I headed back for the situation room.
“Sir what's happening?” Mac asked.
“Mac let Captain Larson and Lieutenant Smith know that page included them, then get all the men together and get started on the practice exercises to help those new units become familiar with working together,” I said.
“Yes sir,” Mac said.
“Captain I don't remember this look of fear on your face during the danger I put my men in. something is up and I want to know what,” General Long said.
“Perhaps if you go tell everyone they need to be here yesterday it will get them to speed up a little, and I can go over what I've found once rather than wasting time going over it multiple times. If I seem scared it's because quite frankly sir, I am, more than I ever thought possible,” I said.
I was in a cold sweat looking at what I found, hopefully they weren't ready to make their move yet, if they were we didn't have near enough men, or equipment, to repel a force the size of what I was seeing massing against us.
Chris came in his hair wet as though he had just gotten out of the shower and started to ask me what was going on about calling every command grade officer to the situation room. Seeing the photos I had laid out on the table I heard him swear and rush out of the room yelling something about getting the lead out.
&n
bsp; It took another five minutes before everyone who needed to be there finally got up enough ambition to show up.
“If I can have everyones attentions please,” I said.
I was standing on the table with the photos laid out so any of these men could look at them if they so desired.
“I didn't call you all here for nothing if you'll take a look at the photos laid out on this table I'm sure you'll see just why I called you here,” I continued.
Chris didn't bother looking, but he had been the first to show up after I called for everyone. I heard some of the commanders start cussing just as Chris had when he saw the photos, others it seemed had no idea what they were looking at and needed the ones cussing to explain to them about the massive force the enemy was mounting against us.
“Captain I'm not exactly sure what I'm seeing here, would you mind explaining,” General Long said.
“General those red spots are heat these satellite photos are infrared. If you look at them closely you'll find the way they are couldn't be caused by anything natural,” I said.
“You're saying those are men. Just how many men are we talking about here?” he asked.
“Enough to over run this base and not even slow down. Every man here would be fighting a thousand to one odds. Even with all our training we wouldn't last long against those odds,” I said.
“So just what are you proposing?” he asked.
“I have no idea General, I can only guess that since that communications center isn't complete yet they are waiting on it so they can coordinate their attack more easily. If we hit that communication center we are likely to bring the attack sooner rather than later. If we can take out these airstrips all at one time we cut them off from air support while maintaining our own air support. Now if we can coordinate it right we should be able to take out all these airstrips and time it so their support for the communication center is trying to figure out what happened there we can hit the communication center and take it out as well creating mass confusion in their ranks. The problem is how to do something like that without losing everyone of the strike teams. I'm certain Major Jacobs team can handle their part and I know my team can handle ours, but that leaves at least four other strike teams I don't know about,” I said.
“You all have the same training don't you?” he asked.
“Yes of course we do, but we don't all have the same level of proficiency in that training. Major Jacobs knows the different strike teams we have here better than I do, so he'll be coming up with who will take which target, while I continue working on a plan of how to hit the targets,” I said.
“I wish Jason were here, I think he would be better able to understand just what you're planning on doing. Captain tell me what you need me to do,” he said.
“Is your plane ready to go?” I asked.
“Yes it is, why?” he asked.
“Let me make a call and see if General Talbot has left there yet, and if not I would like you to fill him in and get his help convincing General Strong to get us the support we need, the support I asked you to get me already. Also, General if you have to threaten to go over his head about this please don't let it be a bluff. All of us here are depending on that help, and him allowing us to do the job we do best,” I said.
“In other words keep him out of your hair,” General Long said.
I smiled that he understood.
“What have you got Sam?” Chris asked.
“You aren't going to like it,” I said.
“I didn't ask if I'd like it. Looking at these photos, you're the only one I know of that can come up with a way of either getting us all out of here, or mounting an attack of our own that will make the numbers of men those red dots indicate meaningless,” Chris said.
“We still need to take out the airstrips and the communication center. The problem is we can't get to any of the targets by air. And my unit and yours are the only two I know that can cover the distance fast enough to effectively have a chance of success,” I said.
“What about your new units?” Chris asked.
“What about them Chris? They've never even practiced together until this morning,” I said.
“Could they keep up with our units?” he asked.
“I don't know. I know given the chance they will be every bit as good as either of our units, but I don't know if this is the time to find out,” I said.
“You want me to pick the strike teams?” he asked.
“If you wouldn't mind. Chris I can come up with a plan but not knowing what everyone can do hampers me being able to judge the success. Whatever we do, we are going to need people who can think on their feet. Anyone who depends on a plan that they can't modify on the fly won't have a chance of success in this. I don't know enough of what things will be when they get to the target to give detailed plans to complete the task,” I said.
“Okay since we're going to have to go in on the ground what about using one or two companies for the communications center?” he asked.
“If they're willing to split up before they get there and come in from different direction that shouldn't be a problem and two would probably work better than one. The problem is I don't want to leave the base unprotected, and I doubt we have time to wait for the Army or Marines to get here,” I said.
“I have an idea for that. I'll handle getting the strike teams you get a plan put together we can use,” he said.
“I still need to call and see if Jason has left yet. I think Captain Larson and Lieutenant Smith could work on a plan and I'll make whatever changes I think will give us a better chance of success,” I said.
Both men looked at me like I was out of my mind. I smiled at them and headed for the closest phone to make the call.
The Hidden Rose Page 63
