Chosen Soldier - Dick Couch [172]
Sergeant Barstow’s team and the recon element are not the only teams in the field. Soon after Barstow and company leave camp for the attack on the bridge, Specialist Justin Keller, along with Sergeant Aaron Dunn and two Gs, set out to recon the drop zone for the preplanned aerial resupply the following evening. They’re collected by the auxiliary in yet another old pickup truck and taken to a location several miles from the G base. Keller has a military GPS called a plugger and verifies that they are at the right location. Then they settle in to put eyes-on the vacant field for the next twenty-four hours.
Back at the G base, Sergeant Olin is manning the base-station PRC-119 and receives Dan Barstow’s report that his mission was a success. Captain Santos and Olin immediately send out a satellite transmission on the PSC-5 that the railroad trestle is now unusable and will be for several weeks—mission accomplished. After the recon and action elements return, Sergeant Barstow conducts a quick after-action review. It is now 0300, and his recon element has been up for well over thirty-six hours—the others for more than twenty. The OCE allows that charges, as placed and rigged, would have done the job and offers a few tips on how they could have done it differently or better. Then Captain Childers steps before the group.
“I’ll be brief, and then you guys can get some rest. It’s very important that on a reconnaissance you don’t get detected. The mission will still go if you get no information, but don’t get seen. Have your priority intelligence requirements down pat. What is the information you need from the recon? How safely and far away from the target site can you get this information? Do the job in the safest and most secure way possible. Nice job overall, Sergeant Barstow, but a word about your briefing. In putting together your task organization, you have to address a whole spectrum of ‘what ifs.’ What if there’s no commo? What if the auxiliary doesn’t show? What if the auxiliary’s compromised? What’s your absolute go-to-hell fallback plan at each stage of the operation? Think about and talk about what might be your most dangerous courses of action. See what I’m getting at? Think security, security, security, OK? Again, good job. Now get some rest. It’s already tomorrow, and there’s a lot more coming at you.”
After the after-action review breaks up, Childers takes Captain Santos and First Lieutenant Kwele aside. “I know it’s hard waiting it out in the base camp while your guys are out on a mission. Real world, you’ll have your contingency procedures and your quick-reaction-force procedures in place if needed. But mentally, you almost have to write those men off—think about not seeing them, because you’ll have too much to do to worry about them. You have to trust them to do the job, but make sure you and they have a clear understanding of what you and they will do if things turn to shit. That usually means a total loss of commo, like if they’re in a Humvee and get hit by an IED that blows out all their radios.”
Captain Santos is still worried about the confrontation between himself and Colonel Chissom on their first operation. He wants some resolution on the issue of how to treat enemy dead and wounded. Their discussions around the fire lead Santos to ask permission to brief the Gs on his rules of engagement. Chissom agrees, and the next morning he calls in his guerrillas so Santos can speak with them. Chissom sets him up for success.
“This is a change for us, and I know it’ll be hard for some of you. I believe that maybe we Pinelanders need to rethink how we’ve been doing this. Let’s hear what Captain Santos has to say.”
“First of all,” Santos tells the assembled guerrillas, “let me