Executive orders - Tom Clancy [50]
In, Bondarenko said with a sly grin. Somehow the Americans thought Russians were humorless. He had to correct that misimpression before he left.
Diggs counted ten before his deadpan reply: Out.
Ten more seconds: In. Then both started laughing. When first introduced to the favorite base joke, it had taken half a minute for Bondarenko to get it. But the resulting laughter had ended up causing abdominal pain. He recovered control and pointed. This is the way war should be.
It gets pretty tense. Wait and see.
You use our tactics! That was plain from the way the reconnaissance screen deployed across the valley.
Diggs turned. Why not? They worked for me in Iraq.
The scenario for this night-the first engagement for the training rotation-was a tough one: Red Force in the attack, advance-to-contact, and eliminate the Blue Force reconnaissance screen. The Blue Force in this case was a brigade of the 5th Mechanized Division conducting hasty defense. The overall idea was that this was a very fluid tactical situation. The 11th ACR was simulating a division attack on a newly arrived force one third its theoretical size. It was, really, the best way to welcome people to the desert. Let them eat dirt.
Let's get moving. Diggs hopped back into his HMMWV, and the driver moved off to a piece of high ground called the Iron Triangle. A short radio message from his senior OC made the American general growl. God damn it!
Problem?
General Diggs held up a map. That hill is the most important piece of real estate in the valley, but they didn't see it. Well, they're going to pay for that little misjudgment. Happens every time. Already, the OpFor had people racing for the unoccupied summit.
To push that far that fast, is it prudent for Blue?
General, it sure as hell ain't prudent not to, as you will see.
WHY HASN'T HE spoken more, appeared in public more?
The intelligence chief could have said many things. President Ryan was undoubtedly busy. So many things to do. The government of his country was in shambles, and before he could speak, he had to organize it. He had a state funeral to plan. He had to speak to numerous foreign governments, to give them the usual assurances. He had to secure things, not the least of which was his own personal safety. The American Cabinet, the President's principal advisers, was gone and had to be reconstituted but that was not what he wanted to hear.
We have been researching this Ryan, was the answer given. Mainly from newspaper stories-a lot of them-faxed from his government's UN mission. He has made few public speeches before this day, and then only to present the thoughts of his masters. He was an intelligence officer-actually an 'inside' man, an analyst. Evidently a good one, but an inside person.
So, why did Durling elevate him so?
That was in the American papers yesterday. Their government requires a vice-presidential presence. Durling also wanted someone to firm up his international-affairs team, and in this Ryan had some experience. He performed well, remember, in their conflict with Japan.
An assistant then, not a leader.
Correct. He has never aspired to high office. Our information is that he agreed to the second post as a caretaker, for less than a year.
I am not surprised. Daryaei looked at the notes: assistant to Vice Admiral James Greer, the DDI/CIA; briefly the acting DDI; then Deputy Director of Central Intelligence; then National Security Advisor to President Durling; finally he'd accepted the temporary post of Vice President. His impressions of this Ryan person had been correct from the very beginning: a helper. Probably a skilled one, as he himself had skilled assistants, none of whom, however, could assume his own duties. He was not