Victory Point - Ed Darack [51]
“This is fucking outrageous, Long. Unbelievable. They have us hamstrung. Have you ever heard of such nonsense? All these rules . . . if only we were a MEU, or some type of fucking MAGTF.” The young lieutenant stared blank-faced at Wood. “If we were the BLT [Battalion Landing Team] on a MEU, the Fifty-threes [CH-53E/Ds] would fly no matter what—zero illum. Colonel would say do it and they’d fly,” the major roared.
“Sir, can’t Eggers and his team at least go in with their initial reconnaissance and surveillance team?”
“It’s out! Eggers and his team are already out. They don’t think that our scout/snipers are good enough to lay the tactical groundwork for their main element. And they got the rules on their side. We have to get air support to make this work, and this is the only way. We bring in SOF—and give them the C2 of our op—just to get the hand-me-down use of the air primarily tasked to their teams. What a system. We’re at the mercy of SOCOM rules.”
Wood took a step back and tried to calm himself. “Okay. Basically, they want us to split the C2, they got command and control for our mission for the first part of the op, then we’re supposed to be ‘supported’ by them once they exfil . . .” Wood pondered the March 2002 Operation Anaconda—which he’d studied in depth—where the C2 was virtually nonexistent as was SOF-conventional-forces integration. Wood, who’d been raised as an enlisted grunt and then as an infantry officer to strictly adhere to the concept of unity of command/effort, couldn’t comprehend how such a convoluted structure ever enveloped his battalion. “We got no choice. We do it their way or we don’t do it at all. If we choose the latter, then we might as well be sitting back in Oahu sucking down Mai Tais at Duke’s.”
“Roger, sir.” Long tapped his wrist slowly . . . rhythmically—forebodingly.
“We get the air we need, we get the op done, and they get their rules fulfilled. And hopefully things don’t go haywire like they did in that goat-rope masterpiece Anaconda,” Wood seethed.
“So, sir, do we pitch it to one of the ODAs? The SEALs? Who?”
“We should pitch it to both SF and NAVSOF . . . But since we already have a working relationship with Kristensen and the SEALs, we might as well go with them. It amazes me, Kristensen and the SEALs had no problem falling under our command and control when I asked them. No problem at all.”
Wood contacted Kristensen once again, and although the SEALs had no problem working with ⅔ the way NAVSOF had worked with 3/3 in Spurs and Celtics—even working under ⅔’s command and control—Wood knew he had no vote in the process. The Marines would take the backseat to NAVSOF for the first two phases of the operation, then work the security and stabilization and MEDCAP portions themselves with the Afghan National Army once TF-Blue had completed the direct-action phase of the operation. “We need to get this mission done, and this is the only way,” Wood told Long. “I’m not happy about the split C2, but that’s how it’s gotta go.”
“Roger that. We just keep our fingers crossed that nothing goes wrong when we’re not in control of it,” the young lieutenant stated with unease.
“Yeah, fingers crossed, Long,” Wood said with a sarcastic tone. “Lotta good that always does.” The two Marines shook their heads and laughed nervously.
5
RED WINGS TAKES FLIGHT
Steeling themselves for the rigors