Executive orders - Tom Clancy [178]
I did, didn't I?
Sure as hell. You clobbered that Syrian regiment in forty minutes, as I recall.
And you, at 73 Easting? Eitan responded, grateful for the compliment, even though he knew it was a deliberate effort to calm his temper.
It was no accident that Magruder, Masterman, Sarto, and Mills were here. All four had participated in a vicious combat action in the Persian Gulf War, where three troops of the 2nd Dragoon Cav had stumbled into an elite Iraqi brigade force under very adverse weather conditions-too bad for the regimental aircraft to participate, even to warn of the enemy's presence-and wiped it out over a period of a few hours. The Israelis knew it, and therefore couldn't complain that the Americans were book soldiers playing theoretical games.
Nor was the result of this battle unusual. Eitan was new, only a month in command, and he would learn, as other Israeli officers had learned, that the American training model was more unforgiving than real combat. It was a hard lesson for the Israelis, so hard that nobody really learned it until he'd visited the Negev Training Area, the NTA, and had his head handed to him. If the Israelis had a weakness, it was pride, Colonel Magruder knew. The OpFor's job here, as in California, was to strip that away. A commander's pride got his soldiers dead.
Okay, the senior American OC said. What can we learn from this?
Don't fuck with the Buffalo Soldiers, all three squadron commanders thought, but didn't say. Marion Diggs had reestablished the regiment's gritty reputation in his command tour before moving on to command Fort Irwin. Though the word was still percolating down through the Israeli Defense Forces, the troopers of the 10th had adopted a confident strut when they went out shopping, and for all the grief they caused the Israeli military on the playing fields of the NTA, they were immensely popular. The 10th ACR, along with two squadrons of F-16 fighters, was America's commitment to Israeli security, all the more so that they trained the Jewish state's ground forces to a level of readiness they hadn't known since the Israeli army had nearly lost its soul in the hills and towns of Lebanon. Eitan would learn, and learn fast. By the end of the training rotation he'd give them trouble. Maybe, the three squadron commanders thought. They weren't in the business of giving freebies.
I REMEMBER WHEN you told me how delightful democracy was, Mr. President, Golovko said chirpily, as he walked through the door.
You must have caught me on TV this morning, Ryan managed to reply.
I remember when such comments would have gotten such people shot. Behind the Russian, Andrea Price heard the comment and wondered how this guy had the chutzpah to twist the President's tail.
Well, we don't do that here, Jack responded, taking his seat. That will be all for now, Andrea. Sergey and I are old friends. This was to be a private conversation, not even a secretary present to take notes, though hidden microphones would copy down every word for later transcription. The Russian knew that. The American knew that he knew that, but the symbolism of no other people in the room was a compliment to the visitor, another fact which the American knew the Russian to know as well. Jack wondered how many sets of interlocking wheels he was supposed to keep track of, just for an informal meeting with a foreign representative.
When the door closed behind the agent, Golovko spoke on. Thank you.
Hell, we are old friends, aren't we?
Golovko smiled. What a superb enemy you were.
And now ?
How is your family adjusting?
About as well as I am, Jack admitted, then shifted gears. You had three hours at the embassy to get caught up.
Golovko nodded; as usual, Ryan was well briefed for this meeting, covert though it was. The Russian embassy was only a few blocks up Sixteenth Street, and he'd walked down to the White House, a simple way to avoid notice in a town where official people traveled in official cars. I didn't expect things in Iraq to fall so quickly.
Neither did we. But that's not why