Going to War II (AU,CC,Mature)Complete 11 Apr

[thumper1942]

Needless to say. Very AU. No Aliens. CC, but only in passing. This is M/L all the way. You might want to read the first chapter for all the background. Katims thought them up but abused them. I am just doing this for fun and revenge on him. For those not familiar with the military this site will help you with military acronyms and abbreviations
http://www.all-acronyms.com/cat/2






Liz found that the only place she could really get away from the facts of her life were in the air and at home. Outside of those two areas, her reputation and fame tended to get in the way. Her new copilot was fresh from Flight School, WO1 Roger Sikes. He was a real newbie; fresh from WO school right to Flight school. He had one tour of Iraq with the 10th Mountain as a regular ground pounder. But he had been pretty lucky and had been in a quiet area. So he had not seen much action. He was also in serious awe of Liz. It was sweet in some ways but annoying in others. She could not deny that being treated like someone really special did feed her ego or make her feel better when other things dragged her down. But it was a bit much and from a cold practical point of view was a problem

Ted had been willing to argue with her; and was not afraid to point out when she made a mistake. Which is one of the primary functions of a copilot. Roger was too intimidated and too unsure as a pilot to say as much as boo to her.

She decided to talk to Scooter Winston, the Battalion XO about this. He still commanded C company, so he was still a regular flyer. How long that would stay that way no one knew. Usually the paperwork and the rest gradually pried someone out of the cockpit.

“Jim, I really worry about Roger as my copilot. He is so in awe of me that he is afraid to even point out mistakes I make. And you know how dangerous that can get.”

Jim leaned back with a sigh. He could see her point of view; but he also was not really willing to push for the kids reassignment. Hah. The Kid. He was actually only a year younger than Liz was. But in this world he was a kid.

“Liz, you need to give him some more time. He has only been your copilot for a few weeks. Outside of the hero worship, do you have any other problems with him?”

“Outside of him being really green, not really. Any deficiencies he has right now will probably disappear after more time and training. I just worry if he has the assertiveness you need to be a pilot. Or even a copilot. The ability to make snap judgments and decisions fast; to see how the situation is going soon enough to be able to react and respond.”

“And that should come with time.”

“I hope.”

Luckily, Liz’s guardian angel was once again at work.

Ted had been noticing that Liz was a little put out by her copilot; as her wingman he was in a position to see more than most. And knowing her helped as well. So one day he was in the mess hall and noticed her copilot by himself, studying a flight manual. He decided the kid needed some help.

Roger looked up as Ted sat down. Ted looked at the manual.
“Roger, you do not have to study 24/7. You are allowed to eat without it.”

He blushed. Ted sighed inside. This kid was so young.
“I know, but I still have so much to learn. And I don’t want to disappoint Liz. She deserves the best copilot she can get.”

Ted blinked. Now he began to see the problem.
“Every pilot deserves the best copilot he can get, Roger.”

“But Liz deserves better than me.”

“Do you really think that Liz went right into flight school and started tooling her Apache around like she does now?”

“But she is so good. She is better than my instructor was at Flight School and he had 10 years as an Apache Pilot. Liz is much better and she has only a little over 2 years.”

“Liz had problems early on; we talked about it. She had to work real hard to make it; and even harder to get to where she is now. She was not a natural pilot; she had to learn it all. Combat really teaches you a lot; I was lucky in that because of various things I got a fair amount of time as a pilot over there in combat conditions. So when I was formally promoted I had a big edge over most copilots. And of course watching Liz helped. But I was her copilot from day one; and I saw a very good pilot with rough edges. Who worked like her call sign to file them down. And who kept getting better because of how hard she worked. BUT it takes time and you will not learn as fast when not in combat. You need to take a deep breath and relax a little. And talk to Liz about it.”

At that his eyes got big then he dropped them. “I don’t want to disappoint her.”

“She will understand. More than most will because of who she is. You do know that she hates all the attention she gets, right?”

“Yeah it’s kind of hard to miss. When I was told I was going to be Captain Parker’s copilot the guys told me I was lucky but that I would be in a tough place. I am figuring out what that meant now. I feel like I have to run as fast as I can to just stay in the same place.”

Ted slowly nodded. Yeah this kid and Liz needed to talk.
“Well when you are finished I will scare up Liz and you two will talk. You both need to hear each other.”

As a company Commander Liz got her own office; it was not big but it was hers and she liked being able to shut the door.

So when someone knocked she was a little bit annoyed; but at the same time interrupting paperwork was rarely a bad thing.
“IN.” she had seen that in a movie and had liked it.

Ted stuck his head in the door.
“You got some time?”

Liz grinned at him. “For you always.”

“Well not for me.” He then reached out of sight and dragged her copilot in and plunked him down in the chair in front of her desk to her raised eyebrows.
“You and Roger need to talk before the kid burns himself out. He does not realize that we were all newbies at one time.”

Liz sat back with a sigh as Ted left and closed the door behind him. She looked at Roger. This needed to get done, she knew that.
“Roger, If I have shown impatience with you then I should not have and I apologize. Ted was right; all of us were newbies at one time. None of us sprouted from flight school as master pilots. We all have to work at it all the time.”

Roger screwed up his courage.
“Liz, I just want to be the copilot you deserve.”

Liz sat for a moment trying to figure out how to do this.
“You are doing pretty good for being as green as you are. And there is no quick fix for that; just time and flight time. You know the basics; you know the foundation of what you need to learn. You just have to build on it. And a lot of that is my responsibility. I was spoiled having Ted; he was already an experienced copilot when I got him. But I bet he told you I was nowhere near as good when I first arrived in Campbell as I am now. And I had a diversion while I was first here that took a couple of months of flight time away from me and I had to catch up. And Ted helped there. So I need to make sure that you are learning while I am polishing; you see that is the difference between us. I have the time and the combat time in the Apache under tough conditions so that I had to learn quick or die. That is one HELL of a motivator. You have not had that. There is no way you will be able to learn things like I learned in Combat here. Just not possible. So clear your mind of the feeling you have to be great. You are learning. All Pilots continue to learn for their entire career; if they do not then sooner or later that will catch up with them. I am at probably 90% of what I can learn in the apache and maybe higher. You are about 50%. You just keep learning and working and you will catch up. I can only get slightly better in comparison. So you will make up the distance.”

Roger took a deep breath, and felt some of the tension that he had been feeling ever since becoming her copilot leaving. He looked at her.
“Thanks, Liz.”

“I should have had this talk with you without Ted having to force it. That was my failing. I should have noticed that you were scrambling. But it is also the duty of the copilot to tell the pilot that he is having trouble and he needs help. So we both screwed up. I just have less of an excuse. Now I am always happy to ignore paperwork but we have reason. So let’s head out to the bird.”

They spent the next several days working together and Roger did begin to make up the ground.
Both Ted and Jim Winston watched with satisfaction.

Liz found that being company commander added lots of other ‘little’ duties that when put together sucked up the time. But she made a point of working with Roger as much as she could; and getting more flight time. Rather evilly she started palming off some of that to Lt Rivers. Who was not appreciative.
“Come on Liz, this is BS.”

“Of course it is, Sam. But it’s BS that has to get done and since there is too much for me you get your share. Comes with being the Company XO.”

One other thing Liz did not like about being company commander was that she had to evaluate everyone in the company from pilots to the ground crews. And also if anyone screwed up it landed on her desk first.

So when a tech on a ground crew got himself drunk and arrested for it, she was the first one called. So she went by Security and the base clink and proceeded to rip him a new one. Which was OK in one way as it allowed her to let off some steam. However it highly entertained a number of people in Security.

“It was funny as hell. He had to be easily a foot taller and 100 lbs heavier and she just ate him up and spit him out.”

“Yeah, I heard her call sign is Doberman.”

“I believe it now.”

Liz then proceeded to convince the JAG to let it go as company punishment. Then had him do every dirty detail for a whole month straight. And she got very creative about dirty details. Which had the whole Battalion talking.

“I heard he just about begged to be sent back for Court-martial.”

“Gotta admit I never saw that done by hand; can see why now.”

It got to the point where his crew chief talked to Grunt.
“Man, is there any way you can get her to let up on the poor jerk. I ain’t never seen anyone that miserable in 11 years in the Army.”

“He survives this and it does not go on his record. Seems pretty fair to me.”

But it was noticeable that little incidents tended to not happen to those in A company after that.

“What unit you with?”

“Company A, 1st Battalion, Aviation Brigade”

“Wow. I heard you have Doberman Parker as your CO.”

“You heard right and that is why you can go drinking on your own. I saw what she did to the last guy caught drunk and it ain’t gonna happen to me.”

Max had started his job, which while not exactly challenging did have him around the flight line most days. So they got to eat lunch together most of the time.

Aliya was dropped off at the MWR Children’s center where she would be spending her days during the summer until school began. At first there were not many around as everyone else was in school; but she was busy as Liz had talked to the center personnel about her unique needs to become more familiar with life in the US. So some at the center took her in hand and worked so that she learned English and other facets of modern life.

The fact that Aliya had been adopted by Liz flew under the radar for quite a while; it was not until they had been at Campbell for over 3 months that the media twigged on that.

For some time the Army just flat out would not say where she was. When the media began to get very persistent they were then told she was in the US. But not where. Finally some reporters put two and two together and began to visit Campbell. It took them several more weeks to finally spot Aliya at the MWR Children’s center. It was the middle of June and school had just gotten out. So Aliya got to meet more of the children. She had met some from the immediate housing area, but right around where she lived there were not many of her age. Liz had gotten a rather good place and the officers around her were somewhat older; and those that had children were mostly older than Aliya; or younger.

The two reporters, from newspapers out east, had agreed to work together so as to cover more ground. It had mostly been a hunch when they came to Campbell. Since this was where Captain Parker was, they were acting on rumors of how close she had gotten to the little girl whose life she had saved. One day they went to the Children Center since just about any kids of her age would be there and they spotted her.

Aliya was shy; but luckily for her she happened to meet some girls who were not as shy and very friendly. The girls were still too young to really understand her situation. Aliya just told them she came from Afghanistan and had been adopted. Her English was not too bad; and the 3 girls who she got to be friendly with thought she sounded interesting. So they began to pump her for details about her life in Afghanistan. She stayed away from talking about what had happened to her. She just told them she had been adopted by her new mother and she had married a man so she had a new father as well.

The two reporters were not allowed to speak to any of the children nor take pictures which was frustrating. Captain Parker was still a pretty hot news item. She had gotten the Presidential Medal of Freedom only a month earlier. And she had refused hundreds of requests to speak to the media and the Army made it clear they would not order her to.

However they were very sure that that little girl was Aliya. And that Captain Elizabeth Parker had adopted her. Which made the story even juicier. But they had to confirm it.

The Division PR officer was an old hand at dodging questions and giving answers that said nothing at all. But when two reporters have the facts and then dare you to deny them there is nothing a good PR officer can do but try and fall back on the old chestnut, “NO COMMENT.” Which as all PR officers know is admitting that the reporters have the story correct.

So the very next day headlines in two midsized Newspapers in the Eastern US have front page stories about the fate of Aliya. The story was identical in both papers; just which reporter listed first changed.


“Over the last several months there has been a great deal of speculation over the fate of Aliya, the young Afghan girl that most of the world saw shot by a Taliban official. For some time the US Military has refused to give her location. Finally they did confirm she was no longer in Afghanistan. After more delays it was admitted she was in the US. It was thought that she had been adopted somewhere in the US. And it turns out that was true. What these reporters have been able to find out is that Aliya was adopted by Captain Elizabeth Parker, the Apache pilot that rescued her, currently stationed in FT Campbell, Kentucky as commander of A Company, 1 St Battalion of the 101st Aviation Brigade. Captain Parker, who was recently married to a former Marine that had been working at the Air Field at Bagram, apparently adopted the child soon after she was released from the base hospital. We have been able to ascertain that after leaving the base hospital she stayed with Captain Parker in her quarters; then left Afghanistan with her adoptive mother when Captain Parker redeployed back to the US in March of this year. Aliya Parker is now just one of the young girls that live on Ft Campbell with their parents. She seems to be fitting in very well.”

The story went on to talk in detail about how apparently the President had made a personal request of the President of Afghanistan and that it had all been carefully kept quiet.

Liz got a call early the next morning. It was the Division PR officer.
“Captain Parker, I am sorry to tell you that the media found out about you adopting Aliya. And the story is in the newspapers out East. I am sure the networks will pick it up quickly. You still refusing to meet with them?”

Liz sighed. “Yes.”

“They are not going to quit.”

“They are not allowed to take pictures of dependents, right?”

“No they are not.”

“Then let them squawk. Another story will come along. I am not feeding that monster.”

She hung up and then called Max.
“Max. The media has printed a story about Aliya being here and adopted by me. Could you get off work and go get her and take her home?”

“No problem, Liz. At least it’s a Friday. That gives them a whole weekend to get tired of it.”

“True. Thanks, Max.”

“Why thank me? She is my daughter too.”

Max stopped by the center and saw that Aliya was with three other girls and seemed to be talking and seemed comfortable. He decided to wait; and went to one of the workers. She was one that knew about Aliya. Max figured a whole lot of people on Campbell knew; but none of them had said anything.
“A couple of newspapers have printed a story talking about Aliya being her and being adopted by Liz. I was going to take her home just in case but she seems to be getting along well.
“We keep an eye on her; and yes she appears to be making friends. She is learning English very quickly; and beginning to fit in.”

“Liz and I work on her English every day at home; so I guess it’s no surprise. She is a smart girl.”

“Yes she is. And the more she interacts with other children, the better it will be for her in the fall when she starts school.”

Max went off to the side where he could watch her without being seen and called Liz.
“Good news. It is looking like she is already making friends and right this moment is talking with three girls about the same age. I am just going to wait here until they leave then take her home.”
Liz smiled. That was the best of all possible things; Aliya making friends with other young girls her age.

As it turned out Liz was able to get free a little early and headed for the Center. Nice thing being a Company CO you could do that. She came into the center and looked around. Aliya saw her and immediately ran to her and Liz picked her up and swung her around.
“Honey. How are you doing?”

“made friends, Mommy. Come see.” And Aliya dragged her over to meet her new friends.
Max had started to go over and decided to wait as at almost the same time 3 women headed for the same spot.

Becky Jackson was the wife of a Sergeant in the 1st Brigade, her daughter was Sandy; Ruth Winston was the wife of a sergeant in the 2nd Brigade, and her daughter was Ann; Susan Willis was the wife of a sergeant in the 2nd brigade and her daughter was Nancy. They immediately knew who Liz was.

Aliya quickly introduced her friends, who were a little awed by Liz as they recognized officers by now. The three mothers then moved in and introduced themselves. Liz smiled at them.
“I am so glad that Aliya is making friends. That will help her so much.”

Since their daughters had known each other for years, the three wives had become good friends as well. Susan was the most direct and outgoing of the three and she started things off.
“It was an incredible thing you did for her. And then adopting her? It’s like out of a Hollywood movie. Our three have been friends since they started school here; we all got here just over 3 years ago. So if they want Aliya as a friend, which means something. Liz, we know how tough being a mother is. And you are brand new at it. So if you have any problems at all call one of us.”
“Thank you all so much. It is different being a parent out of the blue; but I love her so much. And to have good friends is another great thing. Especially if their mothers don’t mind a phone call now and then asking stupid questions.”

“What may sound like a stupid question to you won’t be to us. Don’t worry about it.”

Liz then spotted Max hovering and called him over. The three mothers had an appreciative eye for Max. Liz saw that and grinned evilly.
“Ya, he is good eye candy, isn’t he?”

They grinned and Max felt himself start to blush which had Liz peeling with laughter.
“OOhh, Maxy is very red.”

They all then headed to their cars and Liz promising that she would indeed call.

Later that evening the three wives were talking to their respective husbands.
Susan: “Met Liz Parker today; her daughter Aliya is becoming friends with Nancy and the others. I guess the media has the story now on where Aliya is and that Liz adopted her. “
Her husband, Ralph, cocked his eye at her. “So the POSSE has decided to get to know her?”
She gave him the evil eye which got a smirk from him.

Becky: “Met Liz Parker today. Aliya is becoming friends with Sandy and the others.”
Her husband, Sam, nodded. “Having friends will certainly help her get used to things here.”

Ruth: “Ran into Liz Parker at the center; I guess Aliya is becoming friends with Ann and the others.”
Her husband, Joe, grinned. “So you guys are going to make Liz Parker into a stepford mom?” And ducked the roll thrown at him.

Liz went home with Aliya and Max and had a good evening. The next morning she was wondering what they would do that weekend. She got a call at around 9AM from Susan.
“Liz, this is Susan Willis. Our girls really want to see Aliya. I guess curiosity has taken over. “
“Well that is great. Where and when?”

“We were thinking of having a get together at Wilkes Park. Everyone brink pot luck around noon. Spend the afternoon since today is supposed to be good weather.”

“Even better. Just tell me what I need to bring besides Aliya and the ball and chain.”

Susan laughed hard. “Oh, I got to tell the girls that. Grab drinks. There will probably be about a dozen of us all together including our worst halves.”

“No problem. We will be there.”

Then Liz had a thought and called the Crew.
Vicki answered at their apartment; they had decided they needed more and went for outside the base housing.
“Vicki, this is Liz. You guys doing anything today?”

“Not really – this week was kind of hard and we are looking at kicking back.”

“Well I just got invited to Wilkes Park at noon; some of the mothers of some girls that Aliya has become friends with; and their husbands. Its Pot luck. But their hubbies are all ground pounders and I think Aviation needs reinforcement. Waddya Think?”

“Let me see what the other two are thinking.”

A minute later.

“They are game. What should we bring?”

“Snack stuff.”

“Gotcha.

“See Ya there.”

Aliya was intrigued at the idea of a picnic. Max was happy to be with Liz anywhere so he was in. They swung by the Commissary and brought a batch of drinks and a couple of coolers and Ice. It would be in the upper 70’s.

Max blinked as he saw Liz in shorts and tank top. And sandals. She looked like she was barely 21. With a baseball cap on she was the cutest thing he had ever seen.

They got there about 1145 and Susan and her family were already there. Just behind them Liz spotted Becky. They greeted each other as they parked their SUV and began to unload. About 5 minutes later came Ruth and hers. And dead on at noon came the Crew. Liz greeted them and they all proceeded to spread out the food and dived in.
They had barely finished eating when the girls wanted to go out and talk. Indulgently the mothers and Liz let them go. Becky had a two year old boy and Susan had a one year old that they put in porta cribs and they proceeded to sleep.

Meanwhile Max and the guys started talking NASCAR and Baseball while Liz and the Crew and the mothers proceeded to girl talk. They were all about the same age, with Liz being just slightly the youngest and Susan the oldest by a year.

Liz looked around a while later and realized just how comfortable she felt. This was life. It was a good two hours later that the talk seemed to inevitably turn to the war and deployments. The mothers had had to stay at home and worry while their husbands had been in Iraq twice.

Liz sensed that Ruth was the most worried of them, just by nature. So she made a special effort to emphasize to her that with the current situation, Iraq would be breeze for the next deployment, scheduled for spring of the next year.
“Way things are, we may be doing very little the next deployment. For us Aviation types it might be a little more busy. For me odds are not much at all. Probably not all that much of a demand for air support.”

Vicki chimed in. “Yeah we might still be busy, but the ground pounders and Liz might be bored to tears. Of course Liz seems to be able to find situations that are downright hairy but that is just her.”

“Hey. I am not that bad.”

Jesse and Ellen rolled their eyes. The mothers grinned. Liz then noticed that Ruth seemed to want to ask a question but was shy about it. Liz reached over and touched her arm.
“Ask us anything, Ruth. It won’t bother us.”

“It is something that I always wanted to know. You said in that press conference that you were going after Aliya no matter what. Weren’t you worried at all about getting in trouble?”

Liz got quiet, and then shook her head. “Did not even occur to me. When I got the first report about that POS locking her in that shed, I knew for certain she was in danger. The Spec Ops guys knew me pretty well by then; they did not hesitate and one of the Crew there was not worried either. When I was close and heard they were beating her, If I had to level half that village I would have done it. I was looking through the 30MM sight when I saw that bastard shoot her. My only regret was that he didn’t suffer enough; though I believe he is roasting nicely in hell. I remember holding her as Ted redlined our bird towards the medcenter. Praying she would make it. Then sitting in that waiting room. The next morning when I saw her in that bed, so thin and pale and hooked up to all the machines, I think at that moment somehow inside me the decision to adopt her was already made. She was my child now. And now she is.”

The guys had come up just in time to hear that and Max sat next to Liz and put his arm around her.
“My warrior Princess.”

Ralph, deciding things were much too serious, proceeded to put an ice cube down Susan’s neck which earned a squeal and a can of coke poured down his shirt. That definitely broke the atmosphere. And the talk became general again.

Late that night as Liz curled up with Max in bed, she smiled thinking back on the day.
“I think Aliya is going to be fine now that she has made some friends.”

“So have you; getting to know some other mothers is good for you.”

The next few weeks things went pretty well; the media was not allowed to bother them and things gradually settled down. The group began to almost every Saturday gather there and get together. Liz noticed that the Crew were regular attendees as well. She began to notice a few other unmarried soldiers seemed to start showing up as well with the Crew in their sights. OR they were in the Crew’s sights; it was hard to tell. But fun to watch.

Aliya blossomed with the close friendships that she was making with the three girls. Her English seemed to get better by the day and she was acting more and more like a typical American pre-teen girl.

Roger was steadily improving both in his skills and his maturity; he began to question Liz on things that reassured her that he would make a good copilot.

The relaxed times ended in early August when word came they were going back to Afghanistan; this time to the south to Kandahar Airbase. The entire division would be there; though some would get there before others. The 101st aviation brigade would deploy in March of 2010. The good news, such as it was, was that the deployment would be only 12 months not 15. Liz got the news at a briefing for the Brigade before most others knew. The Brigade Commander made a point of talking to her right after.
“Captain Parker, you should know that there was some talk about not deploying you for obvious reasons. I made the call and put it to the Division commander who took it upstairs. The final decision has not been made.”

Liz nodded then set herself. “Thank you sir. I belong with my company and my battalion. Wherever they go.”

He nodded. “I knew that would be your response. We should know in the next few days.”

Liz left the meeting and headed back to her office where she made a phone call.

“Captain Elizabeth Parker; I would like to talk to the Congressman.”

Not a minute later he was on the phone.
“Liz, I am guessing something has happened.”

“They are sending my unit to Afghanistan. South this time to Kandahar. There is talk they will not send me. I go with my company and my battalion. Sir I am calling in that favor.”
The congressman sat back. Calling in a favor to GO to war; that was a new one. But not surprising considering who he was talking to.
“I will get right on it Liz.”

He looked at his aide. “I need to talk to the SECDEF.”

CENTCOM was looking at his XO. “This is getting up here? That is a decision at Division Level.”

“Yes sir. Apparently the Brigade wants her to go; the Division does not.”

“So I get to be the tie breaker?”

“Basically.”

“Congressman, I sense there is something urgent here.”

“Somewhat MR Secretary. A officer I admire very much has been told she might be left behind when the 101st Aviation Brigade is deployed to Kandahar. She is not happy about that; she is very clear that she belongs with her company and her battalion.”

SECDEF did not need to ask who this was about.
“Normally I leave that to the unit commanders, Congressman.”

“Who would not usually bow to political pressure or appearances.”

SECDEF got the message.

“I am sure that Captain Parker will be with her unit. May I ask if she called you to make sure she went with her unit?”

“About five minutes after she was told she might not go.”

SECDEF smiled. “That is definitely in her character. We need more like her.”

“That we do. And they belong leading in the field; or in this case above it.”

“That they do. You can assure her that she will be going.”


CENTCOM was wondering in this case whether he might have to take it higher; when he was told the SECDEF was calling.
“Mr Secretary. Is there a problem?”

“Not as long as Captain Parker is going with her unit to Kandahar.”

“Sir I was going that way but with all due honesty I was going to call you about it.”

“She is most adamant about going and we need leaders like that.”

“I certainly agree.”

The Brigade commander answered the phone.
“I am guessing Captain Parker used her pull as I was told by CENTCOM that the SECDEF expected her to get her wish.”

The Brigade commander nodded. “That did not take her long. It is a very different thing when someone uses their pull to go INTO combat.”

“I am told that that happened a lot more in the past then it does now. Which is sad.”

“I guess it is. Thank you for acting quickly, sir.”

The Battalion commander answered his phone.
“This came from VERY high up. Captain Parker goes with her unit.”

“Thank you sir.”

“Captain Parker.”

“Captain, you are going. This came from HIGH up.”

“Thank you sir.”

Liz then emailed the congressman.
“Thank You.”

Liz then went home after making sure her whole Company knew the score.
After she left Ted looked at Grunt.
“I was worried they would not let her go. If they had done that her resignation would have been on the Battalion commanders desk 15 minutes later.”

“Would not have taken that long. I think she keeps a resignation letter that is not dated or signed in her desk.”

Liz dreaded telling Aliya and Max; who would have to stay behind. She knew if they did not have Aliya Max would find a way to go there.

Max had picked up Aliya at school and as they came through the door they saw Liz sitting on the sofa looking at them soberly. They both knew right away that something had happened. Max sat on one side and Aliya on the other. Liz put an arm around each.
“Afghanistan, Kandahar, in March for a year.”

Aliya moved closer to Liz who tightened her grip on her.

Max sighed. “I had hoped for Iraq which is pretty quiet.”

Liz nodded. “We go where it is hottest; and that is Afghanistan now.”

Aliya softly said “As long as you come back.”

Liz cuddled her daughter and smiled. “That is a big 10-4.”

The next gathering at the park was quieter and less joyous. Liz knew the wives had been counting on Iraq and a less stressful deployment.

Ruth was very quiet and Liz once again made a special effort to reassure her.
“This is the best unit in the US Army ground forces; you have to remember that. And me and my company and the other Apache’s will be there as well. And the Crew and the others will make sure they get there and back.”

Ruth nodded. “I know, Liz. But it is still war. I am going to try and talk Joe into going into recruiting. That is a three year assignment and hopefully when that is over with this will all be over.”

Liz sighed. Actually she thought that Joe would be good at recruiting, but doubted he wanted to be one. And he would not walk away from this next deployment.

A little later the three wives got Liz off to talk to her away from the others. Liz suspected that they had recruited the crew to distract their husbands by having their boyfriends get a serious NASCAR debate going.
As usual Susan took the lead.
“Liz, you know Afghanistan. What are we looking at?”

“Well I was up north at Bagram. But we did talk about Kandahar while I was there so I do know a few things. The Country is lower; the mountains are to the north and most of the fighting will be to the south. Kandahar city will be mostly the Special Forces area; I doubt regulars will be used much. So I am figuring that the ground pounders will be mostly doing garrison duty with some units taking part in attacks to clear areas. Those units will rotate the duties. Even now the Taliban does not like to actually fight our forces because they lose. And they know it. Realistically the biggest threats will be IEDs and bombs. Most of the toughest fighting will be done by special forces. That is pretty much as it is right now; though that could change in the 7 months to go before we deploy.”

Becky and the others nodded.
“Thank you for giving it to us straight Liz. The guys will try and sugar coat it to try and make it easier for us.”

“I know it is dumb but that is what guys do that love their women. We kick their asses for it but it’s in their DNA.”

The three smiled at that and agreed. Liz hoped that she had helped.

Interestingly not long after that the Guys cornered Liz and asked her if the girls had wanted details about Afghanistan.
“Yes they did and I gave it to them straight. Anytime they ask they will get the truth. They know you guys will try and make light of it if you can.”

Which left the guys with nothing to say.

The Crew was sitting with their boyfriends, all grunts from the 1st and 2nd Brigades. Jesse and Vicki and Ellen pulled Liz down and surrounded her.
Liz looked around and muttered
“It is so nice to be popular.”

Jesse grinned some but the smile slid away.
“Liz, we know this deployment will be different than Bagram. Everything we have heard says it will be harder and more dangerous.”

Solemnly Liz nodded. “Yes it will be. But honestly I think overall you guys might be in the most dangerous positions.”

Vicki and Ellen blinked and Jesse cocked her head.
“What do you mean?”

“The Taliban and everyone else don’t even try and ambush apache’s anymore. Even their dumbest know better than that. The ground pounders are realistically going to be somewhat limited in their missions. More security and guard and garrison duties than anything else. Probably not that many missions where they will really be in a hairy situation. BUT because of how tough it is to run anything on the roads anymore because of IEDs, more and more resupply is done by helicopter. And most assaults are done the same way. And hawks are the easiest target to be had. So in a lot of ways it’s you guys that will be in the crosshairs more than anyone else.”

They all considered this and Liz noticed that their guys had all pulled them in a little closer. Jesse looked at hers.
“You agree?”

He nodded. And so did the rest of them.

Liz sat for a moment. She then looked around. “I promise you guys that A Company will not fall down on the job. We WILL be there if called. As a matter of fact the whole 1st Battalion will be there as well. We got good pilots and good commanders, modesty aside. You guys call and we will get it done. Take that to the bank.”

Liz was not aware of how she appeared. The smallest adult present, in shorts and tank top, sandals, looking barely old enough to vote let along take a drink. But suddenly she stood very tall.

The training regimen began to speed up and intensify. They still had 6 months, but they figured that by the end of January their birds would be in the process of being packed; early February at the latest. And there would be Christmas Leave to factor in. So most of the training had to be done before Christmas. They could do some after but it would not be all that much. Ft Carson training would come in October. While the likelihood was that they would do a lot less mountain flying in the South versus the North as last time, the newbies still needed that training. There had been some discussion about doing that training in January, which would have probably been better, but in the end it stayed in October.

Liz was not very happy about leaving Max and Aliya; she had wanted more time with them to bond as a family. But what was was. So she made it a point of trying to spend as much time with them as she could.

A Company, even to Liz’s somewhat jaundiced eyes, was doing well. Sam Rivers was a good XO and leader of 2nd Platoon. He had experience in Afghanistan as well. Liz had made a point of pulling out maps for the area around Kandahar province and having all the pilots and copilots study them until they were familiar. Then every chance she got she would throw scenarios at them; various possibilities of missions. What do you do under this situation in this area; and so on.
The Battalion Commander was talking to his XO, Ed Griffith on the companies.
“So how do they look to you?”

“Pretty good. C Company is still a little rough, but then they also had the highest turnover. They are coming along. B Company is solid; Scooter Winston has them well in hand. A Company is doing very well; Liz is pushing them hard. She has them constantly working on scenarios. Which is something we need to have all the Companies doing.”

“Still wish you were flying?”

“Of course; but the reality is anymore that neither one of us can spend the necessary time staying sharp with all the administrative crap we have to do. And it is stupid and selfish to try and fly when you have not put in the time staying ready.”

“Glad you think that way. It took me a while to admit that. When you reach our level it has to be what is best for the mission and the unit, not what we want.”

Ed cocked his eye. “Why do I feel there is something else in that?”

“Because I got early word that my promotion to Brigade XO will probably happen some time after we deploy. Which is lousy timing. That means that you will probably get a quicker promotion than you might have expected. Which is what happens in wartime. Scooter will probably become your XO. I know we try and keep pilots in these slots but sometimes that is not possible. Scooter Winston is too junior to get bumped up into Major but that is the way it could be.

Ed grimaced. “Well the extra pay is nice and making light colonel is good; but otherwise that sucks. I see how much administrative shit you deal with and I do not want it.”

“Suck it up.”

The other companies started doing more complex scenarios as well; Scooter kicking himself for not thinking of it sooner.

It seemed time flew and they were heading to Ft Carson. Luckily that was uneventful. The training was tougher this time because they all were pushing harder. Just about every prior veteran from Afghanistan seemed realize that this would be a rougher deployment. Liz had her people simulate battle damage and practice auto rotations at higher altitudes; it got hairy a couple of times.

Sam was talking to his copilot.
“Liz is really pushing hard. It is like she has an idea of what is coming.”

“Ted was telling me that at the start of that mission she did the barrel role on, she had a feeling something bad was coming. She never said anything like that again. And that was by far the closest they came to getting splattered. So maybe she has a hunch again.”

Liz was addressing the company after the last training flight in Ft Carson.
“OK, people, I think we are about as ready for the mountains as we could get”

She looked at her people and felt very proud. She knew they were sharp and ready. “Hustler” Rivers, “Whistler” Logan, “Stomper” Simpson, “Lobo” Dugan, “Slinger” Wilson, “Hammer” Jones, “Pug” Terrel. She had in her platoon Whistler, Lobo and Pug.

She had decided after the Christmas break that they would try and get as much flight time as they could for the Copilots. They were all pretty green.

November went by and the Christmas season came close. Nancy and Ed would be coming to visit. She had also been determined to visit Maria, Tess and Isabelle. They, interestingly, all settled in Savanna. Liz was amazed that everyone was able to get jobs there considering the state of the economy but all three families were doing well. Liz, Max and Aliya would be visiting them for a few days between Christmas and New Years. The three women had all gone into the reserves to finish out the rest of their enlistment.

Aliya was very wide eyed at her first Christmas. Liz loved showing her the holiday season for the first time. She was truly a joy. And she and the three girls had become as thick as thieves; one of the reasons Liz figured Aliya was doing so well in her first real school. She had adapted very well to life in America.

“So, Chica, how do you feel about this deployment?”
As usual Maria cut to the chase. Liz and her family had just gotten into town; they were all gathered at Maria’s house, since she had gotten ambitious and found a big older home that needed work. One lucky thing about the bad economy was that homes were cheaper than ever. All three had found good ones. The home had been built in the early 20’s, and was three stories high and had been modernized some in the 80’s. Maria was just looking at finishing it. Michael had his own studio so he was happy. It had 7 bedrooms and 4 bathrooms. Liz looked at it and cocked her eye at her friend.
“So just how many kids are you two planning on?”
Maria’s blush said it all.

But the good news is that there was plenty of room for Liz and her family, and Maria’s mom as well was there. Diane and Phillip were staying with Isabelle and Alex; and Kyle’s father was staying with him and Tess.

“It is going to be tougher than my last one; I just know it. I can feel it.”

Maria nodded; they had all gotten used to Liz just “knowing” things.

The girls made a point of spoiling Aliya rotten; which Liz loved to see.

The second night the men had all been exiled elsewhere and the ladies were in the massive living room of Maria’s mansion, as they had all taken to calling it.

Aliya had been worn out with all the shopping and was safely asleep on the third floor. So that left Liz and her three friends and Diane and Amy. Diane kept thanking Liz for getting Max to settle down. Much to the eye rolls of everyone else.

Amy voiced the main concern everyone there had.
“Just how dangerous will this time be, Liz?”

Liz considered the question.
“More dangerous for me? Probably not. This is a lower altitude area; most of the fighting is down on the plains. Kandahar City is not where Apache’s will be doing much if anything. Part of what made the northern area dangerous was we were at a higher altitude; which for helicopters is not a good thing. The Taliban has pretty much learned trying to shoot down Apache’s is not a smart thing. They have just about given up on that. Now they try and target the Blackhawks and the Chinooks. So for them it will be more dangerous. The only mountain fighting going on is pretty much done by Special Forces, and they usually have their own lighter and smaller attack helicopters. The reason we spent so much time escorting the Special Ops guys last time was that the range of the operations made it hard to use those smaller ones. And one of their Aviation battalions had been assigned to help others, actually down where we will be this time. I doubt we will be helping them out nearly as much. And most of the most hairy missions last time involved Special Ops. So for me personally overall it is probably not going to be as dangerous.”

Tess was shaking her head and Diane looked at her.
“What is it Tess?”

“What Liz is NOT saying is that since the Blackhawks and others will be under a greater threat, she will be taking her Apache’s in lower and slower to protect them.”

They all looked at Liz who proceeded to blush. Maria whacked her with a pillow.
“Chica, we expect the straight dope from you. No sugar coating.”

Liz sighed. “Guys, I guess it is no surprise to you that I already know this will be a hairy deployment. The only good thing about it is that it will be only a 12 month one, not 15 month. Apache’s are the big guns of the Aviation Brigade; it is up to us to protect the others and give support to the grunts. It goes with the territory.”

Diane decided to ask another question that she had asked Max, but he had not really known the answer.
“Liz, after what happened the last time, it was a pretty sure thing that you would not be going back to Afghanistan due to the fact that you had become the Taliban’s Public enemy #1. What happened?”

Liz blushed and Isabelle snorted.
“Liz used her pull with that congressman to make sure she got sent.”

Amy and Diane stared at Liz in shock.

Maria shook her head. “Liz has a very overdeveloped sense of responsibility. As Company Commander she was not going to have her people go in without her.”
Liz grimaced. “It is not just that. I am a very good Apache Driver. I have experience there. There is no excuse for me staying. I signed up with eyes wide open. I will not back out. That is not me. If I had stayed behind I would have resigned from the Army. I guess I could have requested assignment as an Instructor; and I might do that after this deployment. But I was not going to be forced into that decision.”

Amy shook her head. “I guess maybe you really are a warrior. Jim has said that a couple of times.”

Deciding she was getting too much attention, Liz then grinned at Amy.
“So how is the courting going, Amy? I hear Jim is getting pretty persistent.”

Maria glared at Liz. “I do NOT want to hear about this. Kyle as my step brother is a thought that does not BEAR to be considered.”

Tess protested. “Maria he is not as bad as he was. I have been working hard on civilizing him. He only burps at the table now and then and he has remembered to put the toilet seat down for several months now.”

They all laughed at that. And things eased up.

Diane was interested in how Aliya was doing.
“Aliya seems to be adapting well to life here.”

Liz smiled brightly at that.
“Ya. She really has. Making friends like she did early on has made a huge difference. She is no longer as shy or as timid. She is growing up and getting more confident. I just wish I had had more time with her before deploying again. But Max will be there for her.”

Diane shook her head. “Max told me that otherwise he would have found a way to find work with a contractor there. I am glad that he is staying here.”

“I will miss having him close. But I will also be happier with him here taking care of Aliya.”

Maria shook her head. “Enough depressing crap. Now for the good news.”
She blushed slightly. “I am pregnant.”

And that took care of depressing subjects for the rest of the night.

Going back to the base and preparing for the deployment was not the most cheerful thing to do, but as always Liz did what she needed to do.
True to her plan, the company spent a lot of time during the remaining month they had their birds getting as much flight time for the Copilots as they could. And practicing shooting everything. While 2.75 rockets were being used less and less Liz insisted that everyone keep practicing with them. She pushed for more live Hellfire shooting as well.

Finally they saw their choppers taken off of flight status and starting the process of preparing them for shipment. That left them with working on all the other details of preparing for a combat deployment. One thing that Liz had to do that she had not done much with last time was prepare a will. Before it would not have mattered as everything would have gone to her mother. But now with a husband and child things were much more complicated and she did a proper will.

One night Liz and Max lay in bed and Max realized that Liz had something to talk about. So he spooned her and whispered in her ear.
“Come on, Liz. Just get it out.”

“Max, if I don’t come back…”

“Liz, please…”

“No Max we have to talk about this. We need to make contingency plans just in case. I know for instance that you do not think much of your job. So you will quit it and find something you like. I think it would be best to try and stay in this area; Aliya needs continuity if that happens. And her friends are here. Between my savings and your savings and the increased Life Insurance I have taken out, there will not be any hurry for you to find something. So take your time. If you can stand it, I would like you to think about moving to Savanna where all my friends are and they would help take care of Aliya. After a year or so. I would hate for Aliya to lose her friends, but it might be better for her to go elsewhere where she would not be reminded so much. I know that kind of conflicts with Savanna but it will be your call. And you will not become a monk or hermit. You will give yourself time to grieve and then you will find someone else who can be a mother to Aliya and to give you children of your own. I want Aliya to have brothers and sisters if possible.”

Max was silent for a long time.

“Liz you cannot think you are so replaceable. I never really loved a woman until you.”

“Everyone is replaceable in one way or another. People remarry all the time. Just give yourself a chance. And think of Aliya as well.”

“OK. I promise I will try. Just please do not give me a reason.”

“I will try my hardest to make it back to you and Aliya, Max. You know that.”

This was a very different leave taking; before there was no one waiting for her back at the base; and that made it so much harder. Liz realized that now she had so much more to lose than just her life. She hoped that that realization would not affect how she led her company and fought her Apache.

Flying into Kandahar was much different than Bagram; Kandahar was so much more built up and busy. There was only one runway which was insane; although apparently another was in the works. One good thing was that the barracks and quarters were better than Bagram. They actually had some other amenities as well; though the current commander had run a bunch of the fast food places out of town so to speak. His name was taken in vain quite often.

Liz had quietly politicked to get quarters with the Crew, even though as a Captain she actually rated something a little better. As it turned out in their particular quarters she was the senior officer. Once again four to a room, and there were 12 rooms in the two floors of that building. It was built like a cheap hotel, though the rooms were better than that. Each room had its own shower and bath and a small kitchenette.

Rocket attacks and small arms fire at the perimeter were fairly common, and they were told most just sat them out rather than going to shelters. Liz told everyone that it was up to them; she would not order them to go to shelters.

While there was definitely a threat from the outside, Kandahar still offered far more than Bagram did. Jesse summed it up well: more risk and more reward.

The bubble idea had spread from Bagram and the hangers at Kandahar were full of them. Their helicopters had arrived just the day before and it would be at least a week before they were flyable. Then the Brigade would take several weeks to get a feel of things before they took over the duties of the Aviation Brigade about to leave. There were more facilities and better facilities that had just been built than Bagram had, so from that point of view things were better.

They took over the offices of the outgoing brigade, who were still operational, but who had moved temporarily so as to let the new brigade get up and running as soon as possible. Liz found that as a company commander she ended up at more meetings than she had before. Which was one more pull on her time. She was very grateful that Sergeant Alexander Roberts was still the E8, the First Sergeant, and was to her the unsung hero of any aviation company. He was the direct commander of the crew chiefs; he was technically a crew chief himself but rarely had the time to get his hands dirty.

In the so called glamorous world of Army Aviation, not much was ever said about the support units. Which sucked in Liz’s view because without them the helicopters became massive paper weights. The complexity of an Apache is staggering once you take a close look at it. Avionics (Aviation Electronics) for an Apache is the equivalent of any modern Airliner; with extra things like computers to keep track of multiple targets for Hellfire Missiles and the like. Encrypted communications; hardened for combat. And so on. That takes a lot of work to keep it running in friendly climates; for hot, dry, dusty Afghanistan it’s much harder.

One of the briefings early on consisted of a no holds barred dead straight evaluation of the current situation in Kandahar city and Province. To be blunt, it was not good. Sympathy for the opponents of the National Government (more honest then claiming they were supporters of the Taliban) was high. The National Government was not trusted. Neither was the military or the National Police. Part of that was due to tribal feuds and differences; but a lot of it was due to the plain fact that they were both incompetent and corrupt in all too many cases. Kandahar City was especially hostile. Outside of the City it was a little better. The current overall commander in Afghanistan had been pushing night raids that while better for the troops going in tended to cause more civilian casualties and overall was questionable in its value. What Liz got from all this was that basically the overall plan was just to wear down the enemy over time. And the 101st Aviation Brigade was going to be one of the primary parts of that wearing down; between moving the troops to and from and the Apache’s covering them.

Things began to accelerate as the choppers were made flight ready; vs combat ready. First they were flown to make sure that they had not broken anything on the way; then all their systems were tested; then practice at maneuvering, and firing. Weapon’s practice was a fair amount of fun. This took about three weeks before they were considered combat ready. So right at the beginning April, 2010, the 101st Aviation Brigade took over the aviation mission for the Kandahar Province. Now the Special Ops crews had their own aviation section that supported most of their efforts, but they just did not have enough assets to spread over all the areas that Special Ops covered in Afghanistan, which for all intents and purposes was the entire country of Afghanistan. So on occasion the 101st would be supporting them. Liz had a very good relationship with the SF in general, and had found out that Captain Forrest had ended up down here for his current tour. She had supported his teams on several fairly hairy operations. And then he came by shortly after they became operational. His visit was not by chance and had come from a meeting with the area commander of Special Ops.

“This is not any news to you I am sure.”

“Well, sir, I would have to have been dumb deaf and blind not to notice that we just do not have the organic aviation support necessary to perform all of our missions.”

“Very well put. Down here in this part of the country especially. There are plans to increase the 160th, but that is in the future. Now the good news is that the 101st Aviation Brigade is about to take over. And we have some friends there already, and most of their people worked with us in Bagram on their last tour. Now the real problem is that our friends in the Company pretty much trashed their reputation with the last Brigade here.”

“I was never aware the Company had a reputation that could be trashed.”

“Well that is the semi official story anyway. The problem was that the company nitwits in their typical way managed to screw some people in that brigade and from that point on no one wanted anything to do with them. Now I do not blame them at all; in their shoes I would have done the same. The problem is that I have no doubt that the new guys were very explicitly warned about doing anything for anyone from the company. So I will need someone from Special Operations to serve as the go between. So in addition to your regular duties when the company needs to get something done and neither it nor the units of the 160th here can do it, you will need to talk to them.”

“Well I can guess what kind of rep I will get after a couple of those missions.”

“We all have to make sacrifices, Captain.”

“Well, Captain Parker now has Company A of their Apache Battalion and I know her fairly well. Though I was really surprised they sent her back here, considering the size of the Bullseye the Taliban will have on her.”

“The word I got was that she had her tame congressman call the SECDEF and demand she go along with her unit.”

“You don’t see much of that anymore.”

“You don’t see ANY of that anymore is the factual answer.”

“Well then I guess I will have a talk with her and clue her in. Then ask her to talk to the Battalion Commander. That is probably the best we can do as regards having some Apache Drivers on our side.”

“Good Idea. Now to be brutally honest, Captain, I would prefer any favors asked to be for our people and not the company.”

“And if they say no to the Company that is the Company’s problem.”

“Now you get it, Captain.”

So when Captain Forrest stuck his head his head in her door Liz was quite happy to talk to him.

“So, Joe how goes the snake eating?”

“Try rattlesnake sometime; tastes like chicken.”

“I will take your word for it.”

He then got up and after a quick look down the hall closed her door and sat down in front of her desk. Liz raised an eyebrow.

“OK, so this is not just a meet and greet. I was there with you on more than a couple of interesting missions, Joe, so just give it to me straight.”

“Liz, this is a request from my area Commander. It’s not about any particular mission; what it is about is that in addition to all the other fun things I am doing here I am also now saddled with seeing to it that important missions for the CIA get support when our own or their own people are not available.”

Liz looked at him. “The outgoing brigade was very informative about CIA missions and their people.”

He snorted. “I bet they were. And they were right. The Company will screw anyone anytime anywhere. As they proved once again to the people in that brigade. I have no doubt that the 101st Brigade commander will refuse to have anything to do with them subject to a direct order from higher up. And then will do his best to delay obeying until nothing can be done. I do not blame him a bit and neither does my CO. But there are occasions when they actually do have good reasons to do something. What I am here asking is if you are willing to talk to your Battalion commander and agree to listen. I will be the point man – they will not come to you directly. So technically you will be responding to Special Operations requests for assistance. But you will know who really is involved. I can promise you right here and now that you will get the straight dope from me on any mission they are part of.”

Liz sat back and thought about it. Then looked at him.
“That is of course if they tell you the whole story.”

He grinned; no flies on Liz.
“There is always that possibility, but we have our ways of finding out things as well. Anything they come up with that really smells I will let you know. And give you the high sign if I think it’s a good time to have serious maintenance problems with your birds.”

Liz slowly nodded. Captain Forrest had always been straight with her.
“OK. Let us go have a talk with the Battalion CO and his XO, who used to be my Company Commander.”

The Battalion commander and Ed Griffith looked at Liz then at the SF Captain as they came into his office.

Ed shook his head. “Liz, I thought I taught you better about who to hang out with.”

Liz grinned. “Hey, what is a little conspiracy among friends?”

The Battalion commander rolled his eyes and signaled the Captain to close the door.
“I probably officially do not want to know but tell me anyway.”

Liz began. “Captain Forrest was always straight with me the last time I was in Afghanistan. I agreed to forward his request. You are on Joe.”

Joe then made his pitch. Ed just grunted and the Battalion Commander sighed.
“I understand your situation. But do you really understand the problems the Company caused for the last brigade here?”

“Yes sir I do. They got screwed royally. But then they should not have taken it personally; the Company will always screw everyone. It is not personal; it is just the way they are. I promised Liz that if I had any suspicion that they were pulling something I would let her know and she could find out that suddenly none of her birds were flight capable for various reasons. I agreed to be the go between. I will not, and I give you my word on that, screw you. If the Company finds out that they are not going to get anything that is their problem. It is not like they can complain to anyone that gives a damn.”

The Battalion commander slowly nodded. Then looked at Liz. “So you get to be the designated Liaison to Special Operations Command. That is the only way I can sell it to Brigade. Joe asks Liz who then decides if we need to get involved. If She says no that is final.”

Captain Forrest nodded. That was a pretty good deal and frankly better than he had hoped for. He figured Liz vouching for him counted a lot. And that is what he told his CO.

“Well, considering her reputation maybe that is not surprising. But it is also something to remember. If she thinks we screwed her or her people, I would not be surprised if she dropped a dime on us to her tame congressman. Who could really make us regret it.”

“I will just have to make sure that it was the Company and not us. I have never done it and will never do it knowingly.”

Flying her Apache was still the most enjoyable thing Liz did with her clothes on; before Max it was #1 period. Early April in Southern Afghanistan was not much different than early April in Northern Afghanistan. Getting hotter, still as dusty and still as dry. But up in the air, 3000 feet above the ground, in her Apache, it was a very different world. This day was the last one before they began to support combat operations. The entire company was flying with her, as they practiced some formation flying. And she got to enjoy one last fairly carefree day in the air.

That afternoon came the briefing for their first mission. Two FOB’s would be resupplied by Chinooks from 6 Battalion; Liz would take 1st platoon and cover one while Hustler took the other platoon for the other mission. The entire Battalion was out covering supply missions this day. Actual assault and combat missions would start pretty quickly.

“Well there you have it. Pretty simple really. At least until the bullets start flying. Targets of opportunity are well known; but you do not leave your area unguarded just to pot shoot a couple of insurgents. They could be doing that specifically to lure you away and leave the Chinooks vulnerable. For you newbies, I will remind you all once again that sacrifice for the hard core Taliban means to them a sure path to paradise. Just like the Japanese Kamikaze’s of WW2. No real difference. Those of you that were here in the last deployment learned that the hard way. We were very fortunate that last tour by not having one single Apache seriously damaged let alone shot down. But they came close as Lobo and I can FORTUNATELY testify to. Do not relax; do not take anything for granted ever. You let down, you relax, you get careless the Gods of War will strike you down. Which will be only SLIGHTLY worse than what I will do to you if you are lucky enough to survive.”

The mission began early, before dawn, which would be the usual pattern; less chance of anyone seeing which direction they have gone and maybe getting out warnings. The FOB was about 40 minutes flying time from Kandahar; the Apache’s had one external fuel tank. One good change in procedure was that now it was up to the Company Commander how much fuel they took on any single mission. No more having to go to Battalion. Liz intended to go with at least one aux tank on every mission; and if it was much longer on this one, two. One hellfire pod and one 2.75 pod would be standard. The number of Hellfires shot in Afghanistan had dropped significantly; more and more work was done by the 30MM, which was the most accurate weapon they had. With so much attention on civilian casualties, the pressure was always on to be more precise.

Liz checked the area as they got close; the FOB reported the area clear; it was just dawn. She took her platoon down low and over flew the landing area before taking station at 1000 feet while the Chinooks landed and began unloading. Liz tended to have her people alternate around, switching places and generally trying to be unpredictable in their movements. It took about an hour for the Chinooks to unload. So far nothing. Liz took them down low and buzzed the area then moved out and hovered; watching as the Chinooks took off. Once the Chinooks got to 2000 feet they took off towards Kandahar and Liz kept her Apache’s flanking them. There was no real need to stay around once the Chinooks got to that height; the Taliban had very few SAM’s and most of them were over age Soviet models that were not very effective. Still it just made everyone feel a little better to stay together. The flight back was happily uneventful.

That days flying had been very much routine; no one had really had to deal with anything bigger than some insurgents trying to pot shoot at ranges far beyond the capability of their AK-47’s.

That afternoon came the briefing for an assault mission on a village about 100 miles from Kandahar, slightly north in the foothills before the mountains. A company from the 1st Brigade would hit it; they would be flown in by 14 Blackhawks of A and B companies, 5th Battalion. 6 Blackhawks would be in reserve, 2 of them Medevac. The Crew would be in the lead choppers. Once again A company would be their escort. Since it was thought that they might have more time on the ground, Liz would have her birds take 2 aux tanks.

The Company commander wanted the ships to land right at Dawn, with no flyover by the Apache’s. He wanted his people in that village before most of them woke up. The Division Commander did not agree with the night raids the Theatre Commander preferred and would go that way until ordered not to. It was a lot harder figuring out the real Taliban from civilians as it was, without throwing the dark into it. Now if someone shot at you, they got bullets right back. No matter whom they were. As usual a unit of the Afghan Army would go with them to interpret and to make it clear that this was not just Americans coming to visit.

0500 and they were in the air; Dawn was about 0630. If they got near the target early they would hover and wait; better too early than too late.

As usual the flight there was uneventful; later on in the tour when the machines began to get worn down by the constant missions, it would not be unusual in an assault this big for one of the choppers to have engine trouble. Which could cause all sorts of problems depending on the severity. If it had to turn back one of the reserves would have to go with it as well as one Apache as escort in case it had to land short of the base. As the machines got more worn down more reserve choppers would be going along.

They did get in the area a little early and hovered for 10 minutes 10 miles out before continuing. Liz had her platoon as low cover while Hustler had his as high.

The 16 Blackhawks swooped in and landed on all four sides of the village and the Troopers poured out and swept in. Liz, listening in, did not hear anything out of the usual and the Blackhawks took off and came back to altitude. The Apache’s stayed at 1000 feet, watching everything in the increasing light.

For the first few minutes not much appeared to be happening; then Pug called out.
“Have six armed firing at troops from wash”

“Can you clearly identify them?”

“Roger. One has RPG.”

“Take them.”

“Roger used 30MM they are took.”
That apparently turned out to be the only armed fighters in the village; and subsequently showed to be the only Taliban there. So using a full company was definitely over kill. The good news was that no civilians were wounded. The only shots fired beyond the Apache’s were a few that tore down a door on a shed that was locked; in it were found arms and ammunition that was probably Taliban. After a hurried conference with the Afghan Military, it was decided to leave them. There were so many AK-47’s and so much ammunition floating around Afghanistan that why bother with a few. Besides that might be the villages only protection against bandits. So only 45 minutes after touchdown the Commander ordered dust off. The Hawks came in and in one hour they were all heading home.

The next day came two smaller assaults on smaller villages; Liz split the company up with 1 platoon for each. Once again there was very little opposition and this time the Apache’s did not fire a shot in either case.

Other units were not so fortunate and there was some heavy fighting. But no one was killed and no choppers were more than slightly damaged.

The next two weeks were pretty much the same; Liz had yet to fire her weapons which really surprised her. Everyone else had. But all the 101st Brigade missions were successful, though not without loss. No choppers had been lost; or pilots or crew killed. But several Troopers were. And some of the flyers were wounded if only slightly.

One month into the combat part of the tour, early in May, came the first mission where it got a little hairy for Liz’s company.

IT was another larger assault; this time half a company in 8 Blackhawks and 4 in reserve with 2 Medevac. This village was not that big but rumor had it that it was fully Taliban. The thinking was that there were probably no civilians in this one; but of course no one could be sure of it. But the predators had been watching it for several days and no children or women had been seen. It was over 150 miles from Kandahar. There were two ways to handle this one; everyone have maximum auxiliary tanks or have a refueling point set up. Just about everyone preferred a refueling point and that was the way it finally went; Liz pushed a little when Battalion was hesitant. They picked an open area about 40 miles from the target and kept a watch on it with UAVs. Then at 0400 they headed to that point; with two Chinooks carrying fuel and a security detail. The landed at that point at 0445 and were refueling at 0500. By 0545 they each had been topped up and they headed for the target. The Apache’s had one external tank; the Blackhawks none.

Like the pattern was at this time, the Blackhawks came in with the Apache’s; this time Liz let Hustler take the low road. They landed on both sides of the village and the troopers poured out and headed in. They started taking fire early on and returned it, steadily pushing in. Due to the previous intelligence, Hustler was cleared to fire on any armed personnel they saw as long as not accompanied by women or children. Unarmed were NOT to be fired on.

Then the troopers started to take RPG fire and Hustler’s platoon moved in close to assist. More and more it appeared this was a Taliban stronghold.

Liz took a careful look around the village in the increasing light and spotted no movement towards it from any direction. With that she brought the rest of the company down; the blackhawks had all pulled back. Then the word came in for MEDEVAC and the first one began to land. Liz and Lobo moved down to cover them; and as it landed several Taliban rose up to fire at it; Liz and Lobo blew them away with their 30MM before they could cause damage to the MEDEVAC. Several injured troopers were carried to the first medevac and it took off immediately. Liz detailed Pug to escort it.

More Taliban popped up and were hosed by the Apache’s. Then word came in for the other Medevac. Command indicated that resistance had just about ended. Liz and the others stayed low and watchful. Then the call for Dustoff came for most of the troopers. The other medevac left and Liz had one of Hustler’s people go and he sent Whistler. The troopers had quickly gone through the village and found some arms and weapons caches and set demo charges on them. Nothing else had been found of interest. They were all in the process of taking off when word came back from the refueling point that they thought some enemy forces might be coming close. Making a quick decision Liz left Hustler with the escort duty and took her two remaining Apache’s with her at full throttle. It took only 20 minutes to get there and they did indeed find some moving in and Liz and the others went down low and hosed them. Fuel reports indicated that everyone could get back comfortably with current fuel load so the refuel point rather quickly packed up and took off. They were only a little behind the rest of the flight and Liz stayed with them.

That was the most action they were to see for a few weeks; the other companies got more.

One day just after a couple of milk runs Captain Forrest stuck his head in Liz’s door. She looked at him and sighed; he came in and closed the door.

“The Company has an operation going and needs some heavy support; everything we have is already committed.”

“What kind of operation and where.”

“They know where a Taliban official is and want to bag him. But they want the Taliban to think he got blown up. So they want to place a body there dressed appropriately and have the building he is in blown up. The Idea is to have the Taliban find traces of the guy and figure he is in many pieces. Now to do this they want an Apache there to use Hellfires; that way the Taliban does not suspect the charges will be set on the ground; you will fire the hellfire and a couple of others and big booms. This place apparently is a bomb making factory so big booms would not be surprising. And this is a full night operation.”

Liz rolled her eyes. “Complicated much?”

“That is their specialty and you are right. But this one is pretty high priority. Liz, I think you ought to take this one yourself; they want as little known about it as possible.”

Liz looked at him. “Like I would send anyone else. So how are we going to do this?”

“You load up and fly out this evening and to one of their bases. About midnight we hit the place. The buildings to be blown will be laser designated by a predator; you just have to make sure the Hellfires are locked on and let them go.”

“Why not use a predator?”

“Because they want to blow up four separate buildings; and if it is done clearly by a helicopter the Taliban will be less suspicious.”

“OK. I will talk to the Battalion commander.”

Right after dark they took off and flew on a precise heading for one hour at near maximum speed. Roger was kind of excited about this; Liz just shook her head and told him he would learn. At one hour they were called and given directions from there. They landed in the middle of what appeared to be a cleared area surrounded by old milvans. After landing and instructions they both got out. Liz told Roger to stick with the bird and she followed a man dressed in civilian clothing into one of the milvans that had been set up as a HQ.
Once inside the door closed and a dim light was switched on. Liz figured it was no coincidence that the only light focused on a map on a table. The faces of everyone was dimly seen at best; almost certainly on purpose. One of the men did all the talking.
“Captain Parker here is the area; you will be here at exactly 1250. At 1300 the operation should be ready and you will wait for the laser designator and then fire four hellfire’s as directed by the lasing. After firing you will fly low over the area and then return to Kandahar. With a full tank from here you should have an excellent margin. You are further directed to not mention this mission to anyone anytime in the future. You will make that clear to your copilot as well. Am I understood?”

Liz calmly looked at him and said. “Yes.”

“Very well you may return to your aircraft and wait; take off will be in approximately 3 hours.”

Liz turned and walked out the opened door and followed the company man back to the chopper. She saw Roger supervising the filling of the one auxiliary tank that they had. After it was done and they had checked that the cap was shut and tight she told him to just sit down and wait. Which they did. Liz nodded off after about half an hour. 30 minutes before taking off Roger woke her up.

Hovering and waiting, Liz waited for the word to drop down to 500 feet where she would fire. The word came at 1305; she lowered from 1000 and took position; the designator buzzed and one by one she fired the Hellfires. 4 very nice explosions. She waited a couple of minutes to let debris settle then flew over the village at about 100 feet. No one would mistake that. At that point she turned the bird on a bearing for Kandahar and took off. She let Roger fly them back to give him some experience in night flight.

Once they got back they just gave blank looks to anyone that asked where they had been. They got back in at 0300. Luckily her company had no missions that morning so she was able to sleep in some; they had a milk run that afternoon, a supply run to two separate FOB’s. Nothing happened. So she was able to get a full nights sleep that night.

The next few weeks were a steady pattern; some milk run resupplies; other escort operations.

There still was the occasional rocket attack, but nothing had ever come close to their building. IT was actually fairly comfortable there compared to the time in Bagram; there was more variety of things to do and get. Liz tried to spend some time in the gym, to stay fit. Vicki and the others were frankly Jealous as Liz seemed to have no problem staying small. They were all comfortable with each other; and that was good. Liz emailed Max and Aliya every day or so, keeping them informed of things. And they emailed back with details of their everyday life that Liz clung to. She was coming to the conclusion that while flying her Apache was the best; the rest of the job was not so great. And she was seeing it more and more as a job. The paperwork and other BS that she as a company commander had to wade through was a real downer.

Liz was seriously thinking that before her next deployment she would request a transfer to the Aviation school as an instructor. With a little luck she could make that assignment last several years. By then she would be a Major and be looking at becoming a Battalion XO. Her active flying days would be about over. Another possibility was to bite the bullet and start taking college courses. But that would inevitably lead to staff positions and the like. She would rather be a flight instructor and then run her string out. Then get out and fly in the civilian world. Without modesty she knew she could just about write her own ticket. She just was not sure how far to take her military career.

It was the beginning of June and the campaigns really began to heat up. Special Ops were all over Kandahar City; that was a real tough nut to crack. The rest of the Division had just about arrived; for the first time in a very long time all the 101st Airborne was deployed in the same place at the same time.

Max picked up Aliya and took her home; Ft Campbell was very empty. Basically only bare bones military left; just dependents mostly. Aliya was doing well; she was worried about Liz of course but the constant emails helped. Liz was usually able to call once a week as well. Max was very lonely without Liz; he began to finally comprehend the feelings of other military men who had left their wives home on deployments. Only for him it was the other way around.

The Special Forces senior command had made the expansion of the 160th SOAR a priority; but that still took time. A new whole unit was being planned as well; many grumbled that this had been obvious for a long time and ignored. Which was true.

Women had been allowed in Special Forces only for staff positions for a long time; but that was gradually changing. They were slowly infiltrating all areas; and aviation was one of the first. Command was actually beginning to consider recruiting them.

One special project was an attack helicopter that was more survivable then the current models. The Direct Action Penetrator version of the Black Hawk had been one. But a tougher more heavily armed helicopter was needed. A new design would take 10-15 years before it could fly. And no one had made any kind of a major breakthrough that would make it worthwhile. So the geeks started to look at taking what was already out there and significantly improving it. They kept coming back to the Apache; but with some modifications. Making the tail rotor a fenestron; more particularly an electric one. With the new generations of electric motors so much more efficient and powerful, you would not need to bleed power from the main engines; the generators on the Apache already had the necessary extra power. And that kind of tail rotor was less vulnerable to enemy fire. With two separate cables to run power to the motor, which would also make it less likely to be damaged. The tail boom could be significantly narrowed; weight savings. Going titanium for the frame and the body while very expensive would save over 1000 lbs and maybe more; using more powerful engines. A complete upgrade of the aircrafts avionics and communications. The engineers went to their computers and figured that they could overall gain 20% on range; and add 15% on speed. Maneuverability would also increase. New glassine based Kevlar armor would give greater protection for less weight. It would be expensive; but it would outclass easily anything else in the world. An extendable air refueling boom. New composition rotors that would be stronger and more rigid. The stub wings would be articulated fully; the pods built into them, which would then allow auxiliary tanks to be added while not losing any firepower. And tied into the control system would allow better high speed maneuverability.

This project had been started in 2007; by 2010 the first model was ready to fly. And the initial flights exceeded expectations. Veteran Apache pilots test flew it and loved the new bird.


It was now late June and there were multiple missions almost every day. All the helicopter crews were being run ragged as the new offensive against the Taliban demanded more and more support. Several Blackhawks had been badly damaged and two had been destroyed; but the 101st Aviation seemed to lead a charmed life as regards no one getting killed. But with the tempo and the demands, that was just a matter of time. So far the Apache’s had escaped with only minor damage on a few occasions.

It was the second mission of the day; and the second mission where the entire company was out on a mission. This was another major assault on a Taliban village over 150 miles from Kandahar. This was considered the limit for various reasons. They would base out of a FOB that was only 50 miles from the target. That meant they had to load up and fly there first; refuel and then hit the target and maybe refuel on the way back. 6 Battalion would supply the Blackhawks; and two full companies were involved. As usual with an assault this big, a full company of Apache’s would accompany them. The first mission had been a resupply that ended at 1200; by 1500 they were heading to the FOB where they would land and refuel and wait until just before dawn the next morning. The FOB was primitive and you were stuck sleeping in a tent; which in the very hot weather of near mid summer was not easy to do. A dinner of MRE’s did not make it better.

Liz and the others got what rest they could; she did manage a few hours of sleep. She had a uneasy feeling about this mission. At 0430 they woke up; at 0515 they were in the air and hit the target right at 0545. 14 Blackhawks from two sides dropped off the company of troops; and then flew off to wait; joining the 2 MEDEVACS and 4 reserves. Liz had her platoon down low this day while Hustler went high. The troops surged into the village; from what Liz could see there was very little if any resistance. She told Roger “this is a little suspicious; no resistance.” “Yeah. Not a good sign for what was supposedly a very serious Taliban village.”

The troops found only a few fighters; and not much else. No arms caches; explosives or much of anything. The village looked just about abandoned.

Liz’s bad feeling got worse.
“Spectre lead to Assault; looks like an empty house.”

“Assault to Spectre Lead. Nobody home. Will be pulling out soon.”

Liz did not like it. “Doberman to Hustler; scout the immediate area.”

“Hustler to Doberman Roger that”

Liz kept her platoon with the Blackhawks, watching everywhere at once.

A few minutes later “Hustler to Doberman; nothing.”

“Roger”

Liz was still worried. When the commander called for Dustoff she ordered everyone down low; 1 platoon to each side, and to keep a sharp eye.

The Blackhawks came in and landed and the troopers poured out of the village and began to board. Liz got tenser; if they were going to do anything it was now.

And sure enough out of concealed areas a group of Taliban popped out. It was clear now that they had kept them going there every night so as to be ready for a dawn assault. And they had gotten lucky in that the 101st had come calling.

The Apache’s jumped right on them pouring 30MM fire and some used Hellfires and 2.75’s. Liz had Roger hose one group with the 30MM and she fired several 2.75 HE’s at another; some of the Taliban were getting hit from multiple Apache’s.

But unfortunately they were not able to get them all in time. An RPG hit the rotor of one Blackhawk just as it was about to take off; it luckily did not explode as the rotor shredded and destroyed the engine in the process. Further in luck no one on the Blackhawk was seriously injured. In an instance of absolute chance another RPG went right through the open doors of another Blackhawk and did not hit anything and kept on going. But their luck ran out as another RPG hit a Blackhawk that had just taken off; it hit the right engine and exploded; the rotor shredded and the Blackhawk fell straight down and over turned, laying on its side. Several others were hit with small arms fire; but only a few were wounded; only one other Blackhawk was damaged enough so that it could not fly. The only Blackhawks left were the three damaged ones.

“Doberman to Hustler; Wipe that village!”

“ROGER THAT!”

2nd platoon proceeded to use up most of its Hellfires and 2.75’s.

The medevacs were already on the ground as were the reserve Blackhawks.

6th Battalions XO had come along to command; he ordered that the damaged blackhawks be assessed. In 10 minutes the word came back that the two hit by RPG’s were just about totaled. The less damaged one could be repaired if they could get a crew to it. He then called base; if a Chinook was handy they would send one; if not they would get a repair crew and parts and bring them in.

Liz considered the situation; this would take hours either way. They had about 2hrs flight time left.
“Doberman to Assault Lead; recommend all undamaged head to FOB; I can have one platoon go with and refuel”

“Assault Lead to all craft; head to FOB. Doberman are you staying?”
“Roger.”

Liz pulled the Apache’s up to 1000 feet and hovered. If fuel looked like it could become a problem she would land and idle. It would not take more than 30 minutes for them to get to the FOB; probably about an hour at most to get refueled. Probably not that long. She had to stretch things.

“Doberman to Whistler and Pug; land and idle down.”

“Roger.”

The medevacs left soon after; the reserve Blackhawks took off as well; no one would be left on the ground. If they were going to repair it the pilots could come back; if the Chinook came they would not need pilots.

Word came back soon that no Chinooks were available; a repair crew would have to come from the base. ETA was 3 hrs.

So they waited; Liz contemplating how this could have happened. Clearly this was an ambush; but how could the Taliban have known this village would be the one hit? Only the mission planners had known; and no one knew which village would be hit when. The Afghan military was not told either. So Liz began to think that they had just had a routine for some time established that they would wake up around an hour before dawn and move to their spider holes. With the level the campaign was at, this village would be hit sooner or later. Liz had seen several come out of holes that had a foot of sand on top of them; there was no way even with infrared they could have been detected prior. Sophisticated Sniffers probably could; but those were very expensive; only the Special Ops had any. And she was not sure that they worked from any distance. She wondered if the really sophisticated infrared could help?

After an hour Liz and Lobo switched out. At the end of the second hour she heard the good word.

“Hustler to Doberman, ETA 15 mikes”

“Roger that Hustler.”

She took off and waited for the others to arrive. When she got to the base it was empty; the rest must have headed back home. She frowned a little at that; it was policy that no group of blackhawks went any distance without attack escort. She landed and got out. She went to the FOB command tent and poked her head in.
“They left without escort?”

The FOB commander was clearly not happy. “Yes. Good news is that the repair crew is inbound. ETA at the target is one hour.”

Liz shook her head and went back to the chopper. They were done refueling in just less than 45 minutes; Liz waited until the repair chopper and the spare coming with it were in sight before taking off. She got to the site and told Hustler to take off and refuel and then head home. She had Whistler and Pug land while they stayed up. It took two hours for the repairs to get done; and the repaired chopper took off with the other two; charges had been set in the totaled Blackhawks to totally destroy them, particularly their electronics. They blew as the rest of them left the scene. They all stopped to refuel one more time before heading home. They got in about 1400. Liz found the Battalion commander waiting for her.
“Were you told about the flight heading back to Kandahar without escort.”

“nope.”

“Well, I am going to the Brigade commander on this; the 6th Battalion CO does not think it is a big deal.”

“I think it was really stupid and an unnecessary risk.”

“That is what I think the Brigade commander will say. I know he has not been happy with the leadership of 6 Battalion.”

Liz was at dinner that evening; she ate in the mess hall a few times a week depending on what was going on.

James Winston and Ed Griffith found her and pulled her into a quiet corner.
“The Brigade commander just relieved the Battalion commander and his XO; they will be on the next plane out.” Came from Winston.

Liz blinked at them. “I am a little surprised he moved that hard and fast.”

Griffith shook his head. “He has been looking for a reason for a while; this way he got both of them at one shot when the Battalion commander said he would have done the same thing.”

“So who is taking over the Battalion and who is his XO?”

“XO of 5 Battalion is going to take it; Scooter is moving to his XO. I will move up to Battalion XO and will get my promotion. One good thing is that the planned move of our Battalion Commander to XO of brigade will not come until after we get back home.”

“So are you going to keep flying, Ed?”

“For as long as I can. That makes you more than likely the senior captain –will have to check for sure.”

Liz sighed. “So I am 3rd now?”

“Probably but I will make sure.”

Two days later weather grounded everyone and the Brigade commander called a senior officer meeting; every captain and above. The reverberations were still coming from the relief of 6 battalions Commander and XO. Liz had talked to the Crew about it.

As usual Jesse was the blunt one. “About time for both of them.”

Vicki nodded and Ellen snorted. “I am surprised that it took this long.”

Liz was a little puzzled. “I know he was not well liked; I certainly did not; but I had not heard he was that bad.”

“Actually neither one of them was really incompetent; they just were assholes and got too fast and loose with things. Good riddance. Our XO is a good Joe; and you said Scooter Winston was a good guy.”

“He is a good guy. Sorry to lose him Scooter will do fine. Bad thing about that is that I am now senior Captain in the battalion- at least among the pilots. The company support captain is senior but he is a non pilot. That inevitably means more work for me. And brings the day closer when I get bumped up to Battalion XO and start getting buried in paperwork.”

The meeting was rather short and to the point.
“Let me make something clear about the actions of the last day. Relief for cause will happen if I am not satisfied with your performance. And I want this to be absolutely clear; no helicopter goes more than 20 miles from this base without escort. No solo runs at all. And the only way there is no Attack or Armed helicopter escort is if there are none available and it’s a critical mission.”

The Kiowa’s had been used for recon and light attack and escort duties; it was decided to prioritize the Apache’s for the most risky and demanding missions. One problem the Kiowa’s had was they were not as capable at higher altitudes as the Apache was; and they did not have external tanks, though they had better internal tank range than the Apache. They would be used almost exclusively for the shorter range missions and especially anything that concerned Kandahar City.

6 Battalion was lucky in that the unflyable weather lasted for 3 days and allowed them time to accept and get used to the command change. The rest of the Brigade did not complain as it was the first real multi day rest they had gotten since April and the start of operations. 3 straight months was a load. This also allowed the ground crews to catch up on maintenance and then catch up on their sleep.

So it was a rested and more ready Brigade that started operations again. Which was a good thing as some hairy missions came fast.

“So the prototype exceeded all expectations and did not have any major bugs. That is pretty rare.”

“Well, most of the individual improvements have been tested elsewhere; the new engines, most of the avionics and communications gear. The air frame is just stronger than it was; the fenestron is well proven as regards tail rotors.”

“True but sometimes when you put all those components together for the first time unexpected things pop up.”

“Apparently not this time. What does the funding look like?”

“We are lucky; Special Operations still gets the special treatment for funding. Though the congressmen winced when told of the $80 million price for each; more than double a regular Apache. So we will probably get at most 2 companies; 48.”

The first day flying again there were 3 separate FOBs that required resupply; and all the Brigades Chinooks were split between the three. They were also over 100 miles from Kandahar. So Liz made sure that they had two auxiliary tanks for their mission. It was partialed out one company for each mission. Possibly overkill but you never knew. And on this day it turned out to be a good idea. After noticing that there were bases that had not been resupplied, the Taliban figured out which ones were most likely to get some the first flyable day and had sent in groups to cause trouble. With the beginning of July it was now at the height of summer and very hot and very dry and very dusty.

At two of the FOB’s, the Taliban were not as stealthy as they thought they were and the personnel there spotted them; warned the Apache’s came in and hosed the area and took them right out of the fight. Liz listened to this over the battalion net; she called ahead to their target. All three resupply missions had left at the same time but the one Liz was covering was the farthest away.

“Spectre Lead to FOB Jakob; any activity noticed? Those people are busy at the other bases.”
“FOB Jakob to Spectre Lead, nothing seen or heard here.”

“Roger.”

Liz had not had any premonitions before this mission as she had before others that had turned hairy. But she decided to take no chances.

“FOB Jakob, just in case we intend to fumigate your perimeter. Will let you know when we are within 5 miks.”

“FOB Jakob to Spectre Lead, Roger that.”

“Doberman to Hustler, take the North side and we will take the south side. Use up your 2.75’s.”

“Roger that.”

“OK People get ready.”

“Spectre Lead to Jakob, 5 miks to a belated July 4”

“FOB Jakob to Spectre Lead; we don’t have any beer or popcorn but we will be watching.”
“Doberman to all units; FIRE!”

In ripples each helicopter fired 19 2.75” rockets, all HE, for a total of 152 that pretty much covered a great deal of the perimeter of the landing area. That raised up a lot of dust that took a few minutes to clear. Then Liz led her people down to 300 feet after it cleared and hovered, waiting to see if anyone else showed up. The Chinooks came in and landed and began to unload; the Apache’s hovered, waiting. But no one showed. The FOB sent out squads to look over the area the Apache’s had hit. Just before the Chinooks were done and about to leave the word came.

“FOB Jakob to Spectre Lead; we did have visitors; and they have been greeted properly. Thanks.”

“Spectre Lead to FOB Jakob, we are an all services included package. Fumigation included.”

At the mission debrief held for all three at the same time, it was bandied about that maybe in the future for resupply runs that the Apaches should pop some at the perimeter all the time. There was some debate about the increased usage of munitions, but overall the sentiment was to shoot first and ask questions later. The Battalion commander took that to Brigade and it was approved; it would be up to the escort to do so on a case by case basis.

Talking with some of the others, Liz thought that using 2.75’s without any reason was probably overkill; so popping some 30MM first to see if that stirred up things was agreed on. And from that time on it became SOP.

The Brigade commander had taken that up to division and it was debated some; but most agreed that using some 30MM to sanitize the perimeter was probably a good idea. Maybe the most dedicated and disciplined Taliban would continue to hide and wait, but most others would not be able to resist doing something.

So from that time on no resupply was done without first treating the area around the LZ to some preventative pest control. And that did have an impact; incidents during resupply runs to FOB’s dropped significantly.

As August began to go by, the pace of combat began to slacken. The new theatre commander changed some tactics and it seemed to help. The Brigade was just happy to have things ease so that they could properly rest and relax between missions, and the maintenance personnel could get their jobs done and still get enough sleep.

But most of the Afghan vets knew that it would pick up again, especially starting in September when things would start to cool off.

Meanwhile Liz was thrilled to hear that Maria had had a baby girl; and accordingly she and the Crew poured over the baby pictures. It was a nice distraction. Then she found out that both Isabelle and Tess were expecting as well.

“The congressman was kind of pointed, wasn’t he?”

“Well he has believed in this for some time and of course what he has seen personally has had an effect.

The SECDEF pondered on this. How much of this was because of that? Not that it mattered why; it was a view that was gaining ground. And personally he had nothing against it.
“Very well, schedule this for the briefing for the President on Wednesday. I am going to have the Joint Chiefs way in on it and present their view to him. Some may consider this a small change, but it is significant.”

The President read the memo and the views of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
“Very well. Make the change.”

“Just got this from SECDEF. Read it.”

“Well, sir that is not a big change.”

“But it is one for us, though some did not know that some of that was already being done.”

“Because we did not exactly advertise. But this does impact some of our other future plans.”

“Yes it does. Well I am going to draft up a memo for the groups. Basically telling them to start looking and examining candidates.”

“They have to apply first.”

“True, but that does not mean we can sound out some we think belong in SF.”

“What about the 160th?”

“I have a feeling, since this was coming from a certain congressman, that it might just have more to do with aviation than anything else.”

“You think that is what this is about?”

“Partially. But can you blame him? And especially for the 160th, it is due.”

“They have women there.”

“Staff positions, though that is rather loosely interpreted there. But no pilots.”

“Do you wonder if she is prodding him?”

“From everything I have heard, no.”

“Our first operational SAH-64 will be ready next year. I am wondering if that figured at all?”

“Well, she certainly would be at the top of my recruit list.”

As September waned, and the temperatures began to cool off; the tempo of Combat started to warm up. While the new ways of starting off resupply missions had helped there, assault missions were still usually way more interesting than anyone wanted them to be.

It was late September. They had only one mission scheduled that day, which was nice. Another pre dawn assault. A big one. A full company from the 3rd Brigade would be hitting a fairly good sized village that was reputed to be mostly Taliban. Once again two full companies of the 5th Battalion, A and B, would be involved. 14 going in, 6 in reserve and due to the size and the way things had been going, 3 MEDEVACS. Liz was happy that this time the Crew would be in the reserve choppers. Still she was starting to get a bad feeling. Considering how accurate that had been, she quietly told Hustler that she was getting bad vibes and the word spread. The whole company by now took her inklings very seriously.

Things seemed normal as they formed up and headed out; the strike headed out with no problems. The target was about 80 miles out. Just 10 minutes in, one of the Blackhawks reported engine problems; it quickly landed and one of the reserve choppers took their troops. The mission commander, 5th Battalion CO, ordered everyone to continue on; another Blackhawk was already on its way to escort the wounded bird, which thought they could make it back to base. Liz felt her foreboding increase. The entire flight had continued on and the backup bird caught up. They made up the time and were on schedule. As usual they were going to hit the village from two sides. It was on the foothills, but the terrain was not that rough. Liz decided to listen to her feelings and had the whole company down low, watching, flanking the Blackhawks as they came in. They hit the ground and the troopers headed for the village. As far as Liz could see, surprise was total. The troops all unloaded and the Blackhawks took off. So far so good. Listening to the troopers, they were meeting increased resistance. Liz, listening to her feelings, had not pulled the Apache’s out yet. Even though procedure was to do so in this kind of situation. They were still very low, at about 300 feet.

“Hustler to Doberman; we have hostiles moving in from the west; am engaging.”

“Roger that, Hustler but leave two behind.”

“Roger”

Looking around she could see nothing. Then
“Pug to Doberman, hostiles coming from the east”

“Doberman to Pug, take Whistler and engage.”

“Roger.”

Liz knew something else was coming. Working on instinct, feeling that the Taliban were trying to divert the Apache’s, she ordered everyone even closer to the village, they were about half a mile out. Looking into the village, the troopers had split it in two and were trying to drive to each end, which would mean they had covered the entire village. The Taliban were resisting fiercely. Then she noticed some buildings that did not look right; if she had not been this close she would have missed them.

“Spectre Lead to Assault Lead, there are concrete bunkers right near your front points. On each end of the village.”

“Roger – will advise.”

The company commander was looking at one. It looked fairly normal until you got right close to it; or saw it close from the air. He noticed that the door looked solid; as did the window. He began to get a bad feeling. He ordered the men there and the ones on the other end to back off; he pulled them back to more than 100 yds away from them and behind some stone buildings.

“Assault Lead to Spectre Lead; have pulled back; take those buildings out.”

“Assault Lead, pull back a little farther please.”

“Roger we are.”

“Doberman to Hustler are you back?”

“Roger.”

“See that strange looking building at the end of that lane?”

“Roger. It does look different.”

“Take it out with a Hellfire- but make sure you are at angels 10.”

“Roger.”

Liz pulled back to 1000 feet and aimed a Hellfire at the building.”

“Doberman to Hustler; FIRE!”

They launched almost together and their missiles hit the buildings- which blew up with considerably more force than empty buildings should have. Even at 1000 feet and probably a quarter mile away linearly, the blast buffeted Liz.

“Spectre Lead to Assault Lead; how are you guys?”

“Assault lead to Spectre lead, a little dusty but no serious injuries. We are pulling out; requesting DUSTOFF.”

The other Taliban fighters had either been killed or had fled or were hiding; the extraction was quick; the CO did not request MEDEVAC so the injuries must have been minor. In 15 minutes everyone was heading home.

At the mission debrief some photographs of the buildings were examined. They had clearly been build specifically to focus the blast outwards; the walls were thin but the roof had been very heavy. It would have acted as a tamping measure, forcing more of the blast and debris outward rather than upwards. Which would have been very deadly for the troops. Clearly the idea was to have let the troops advance until the two buildings were right where the front line was, where most of the troopers would have been close to. Then without a doubt a radio controlled detonation would have occurred. They might have lost half the company.

The Company commander looked at Liz. “What tipped you off?’

She was a little embarrassed. “I had a real bad feeling something was up; then when those forces outside the village started to make trouble something told me that it was a diversion, what could they do, they were fully exposed. So to me it seemed they were trying to keep the Apache’s from getting too close. Because from the air the difference in the buildings was pretty clear. Once you spot them they really stick out.”

“Well I can say without a doubt you saved a lot of Troopers today, Captain Parker.”

The Battalion commander looked at Ed. “Commendation?”

“Definitely. If she had not been so sharp, so paranoid one can say, we could have lost half a company of men today.”

That got around the division fairly quickly. The Crew made it a point of thanking Liz; one of those she might have saved was Ellen’s current boyfriend. In her own quirky way she made her point.
“Gee, Liz, you just kept me being able to get laid. Thank you.”

The Battalion commander noticed that A company was getting more requests to fly escort than any of the other companies. It had been that way somewhat, before; but after the exploding building mission it got very pronounced.

“Liz’s company is getting very popular.”

“Word gets around. Someone figured that no one had yet been killed on any mission that A Company escorted. Either in flight; landing or taking off; or fighting on the ground.”

“I can see why that would get the soldiers attention.”

On the first of October the Brigade held a ceremony and several people got commendations and medals. Liz got another Air Medal. The company that was there that day was in full attendance and made their appreciation well known.

Afterwards the Crew and she were quietly talking in their room. Jesse looked at Liz.
“I did a little checking, Liz. Now maybe some Special Operations type has gotten more, but from what I was able to find you are the most decorated US Army soldier of the last 10 years.”

Liz blinked. “I think you might be wrong. There are some chopper pilots that have gotten seven or eight air medals. I have gotten 3. So odds are that there are others with more.”

Vicki looked thoughtful. “Just counting here; you have the Presidential Medal of Freedom, Presidential Unit Citation, DSC, Legion of Merit, Soldiers Medal, Purple Heart, 3 Air Medals and your other medals. You might not be. But you are not far off either.”

Ellen grinned at a clearly embarrassed Liz. “Suck it up, Hero.

Liz just hoped her luck held; for the rest of the tour anyway.

The word went out to look for that sort of thing again; but no one figured the Taliban would try something that had failed and was now known about again. But the possibility of that happening was mentioned and from that time on no uncleared buildings would be passed by.
October came and things were still pretty warm on the battlefield if starting to really cool off elsewhere. Towards the end of that month Liz got another request from Special Forces; though this time it was for them and not the Company.

“Satellite is pretty sure but the angle is wrong.”

“Predator?”

“Supports the premise.”

“That is pretty high. Nothing can hover at that altitude.”

“Nope. But there are two rock outcrops nearby; just big enough for a Blackhawk.“

“Anyone staying at that altitude, 16,000 feet, would take weeks to acclimatize to that. Even in this country.”

“True, but a great place to hide things. And easy to keep an eye on from below.”

“OK talk to the Rotor heads.”

“Sir, all our birds are too big for that ledge that can get to that altitude. We figure that there is at most 25, maybe 28 feet clearance to the mountain side. Everything that can go that high has a bigger rotor than that.”

“What can?”

“Well an Apache has a rotor that is 5 feet less diameter. That could make it if you have a real good pilot that is nuts.”

“So that is the story sir.”

“OK, let’s have the satellite take real good pictures and get a very precise reading on that one ledge. Make sure it is possible before asking our favorite Apache pilot to try. We would send our guy as the copilot so that he can go in and look.”

When Liz saw the Captain she sighed and motioned him into her office.
“OK, what is it this time?”

“Well it is a special one for sure. We think only an Apache can do it. So we would like you to come by and let us know what you think.”

Later on at the Spec Ops compound in the Commanders office she looked at the proposal.
“You guys are truly nuts. I kept hearing that but until now I really did not believe it. 16,000 feet; have to come up over an 18,000 foot peak and then drop down and land on a ledge that has at most a two to three foot clearance for my rotors. My front seat is occupied by a intelligence weenie who goes in there and looks for something Al Queeda might have hidden there. Then we leave and hope to fly safely down to the valley below.”

They just looked at her. She sighed and looked at the satellite photos.
“They are sure there is rotor clearance?”

“Yes.”

Liz sat for several minutes thinking about it. But part of her could not resist the challenge. And what they might find could be huge. This was thought to possibly be the squirrel hole for the whole organization. This had been rumored about for some years. She shook her head and grinned slightly.
“I guess I am just as crazy. I need to talk to someone with Boeing on this for that kind of altitude.”

“We have a conference call set up for one hour from now.”

Liz rolled her eyes at their confidence.

Liz looked at the numbers. All pods off the aircraft. 100 rds of 30MM her only armament. A half full internal tank and nothing else. It would take over 20 minutes to get over the top of the mountain. But she figured her weight, counting her passenger, would be very light. That should help. The target was over 200 miles away. She would fly to a Spec Ops post that was about 30 miles away. She decided that she needed company and talked them into allowing her to bring one other Apache with her. She chose Lobo of course.

The Battalion commander looked at Liz. “This request came from high up, really high.”

Liz sighed and looked at him. “Cannot say more sir. It is a pretty wild mission.”

“OK. Just come back.”

“Roger that.”

Ted was not happy when Liz gave him some details. But he knew that it had to be very important for her to take such a risk. Roger was not told much; she would drop him off at the base.

It was scheduled for two days later; Liz flew two missions before she left that evening for the Spec Ops base. Grunt was not happy when she told him to unload all but 100 rds and take off all the pods and not put on any auxiliary tanks. It was a long flight and the base was not much. She shut it down and got out. Then they waited. They put just enough fuel in to make a half a tank. She met the weenie, who looked like a staff puke. Glasses and the whole nine yards. It was good that he was not very big. She had a hunch she would be thankful for every pound saved. He seemed friendly enough; Josh Dummel, a captain in Intelligence.

She took off at 0700 and began the climb, holding the chopper on a steady course towards the mountain, climbing to 10,000 and holding till she got close; then she began to climb; as lightly loaded as the Apache was she did well until just over 15,000 when it was clear she was struggling; at that point both she and Joe put on emergency oxygen masks. She pushed it to just over the top of the mountain and started to go down the other side, curving around to maintain as good a forward speed as possible, this was way above what an Apache could do as regards hovering. She spotted the ledge and moved right to it, knowing she could not miss; as she got close to it she could feel the ground effect; and a plus was an updraft; she had hoped for one and that definitely helped. Her altimeter read 16,455 as she closed in on the ledge. Carefully with her telling Joe to watch the top of the rotors she moved closer and closer and then taking her heart in her hand began to set down; and then she was down. Slowing the rotor down carefully, prepared for the bird to start to slip, and she got to idle. She let out her breath in the mask and told him.
“Go for it Joe.”

He gave her the thumbs up and opened up the hatch and carefully made his way to the cave entrance. Liz concentrated on not thinking about things as she waited; 15 minutes, then 20. Then 25. Then she saw him coming lugging some bags of papers; he had thought to bring plastic supermarket bags, he put them in and got in as well and closed the hatch.
“Not sure what I got; but I think it’s going to be valuable.”

Liz then began to add power until she felt the aircraft start to move then she headed over and started to go down; the first few seconds were scary as she was dropping fairly fast but she increased the horizontal speed and that got better and as they passed by 10,000 she was able to take the mask off; she was drenched in sweat. Then she headed for the Base. They got in with about 20 minutes of fuel left. She landed it and shut down and began to shake from the effects of all the adrenaline. She then opened her hatch; Joe had already opened his and there were several Company looking types waiting for him. Roger and Ted came towards her; Ted handed her a cold water bottle that she drained in about 10 seconds.
“I am never doing THAT again.”

SECDEF looked at the report. Then at the president.
“This answers a whole lot of questions we have had over the years. Who started Al Queeda and most importantly who was helping them that we did not know about. Using this as a base of knowledge, we can now trace the organization all the way back; and just as importantly go from there and trace these people mentioned, some of whom were never suspected.”

“I believe another medal is owed to Captain Parker.”

“Yes sir. Though it will have to be a classified one. I agree with the Special Operations recommendation for a Distinguished Flying Cross.”

“It is so approved.”

Captain Forrest was back a week later and right away told Liz
“No mission. Just a little thank you if you can come by tonight.”

“Well in that case OK.”

Liz managed to close her mouth when the Commander of US Special Operations Command pinned the Distinguished Flying Cross to her uniform.
“Congratulations Captain Parker.”

“Thank you sir.”

The local Special Operations commander then told her. “You can wear the medal at ceremonies requiring full dress and decorations; and it will go in your service file but that is all the attention it can get.”

“Understood sir.”

Frankly, Liz was kind of hoping they would forget about her for the rest of the time she was there. While it was an honor they came to her, she really did not think that she liked the rate at which the missions kept getting tougher.

The rest of the month was not as tough as the first part had been; and she was happy things seemed to be slowing down as combat typically did as the weather got colder, especially at night.

Things still got a little tough now and then but the charmed life of A Company and those they escorted continued.

Liz could not help but hope that their luck would continue. Luckily things had settled down in that part of Afghanistan. Even Kandahar City had cooled off.


“When will we be able to go operational with the SAH-64?”

“Rate of production is scheduled for 2 per month starting in December. So realistically in 4 months we could have a company if we stay with the current 8 per company TOE. But it would probably be best until we have 16 for 2 companies and that would be, including time to set everything else up, sometime late in the year. That is of course if there are no delays. Which you usually have.”

“So pencil in the likelihood of not until Jan 2012?”

“That would be a reasonable expectation, sir.”

November started cold in the weather but hot in combat as the Taliban apparently decided to make one more big statement before most combat ended for the winter. However Allied Command also decided that the pressure should be kept up.

Actual Taliban attacks were not very common; outside of Kandahar City. Either pressure was being applied from above or some local commanders decided to try and impress higher command; whatever they did go after some of the Patrol Bases.

This allowed the Apache’s to respond and go after them; and the Taliban were to find out that in colder weather the night vision goggles and infrared sensors of the Apache worked better.

It was actually on the 8th of November, or rather the very early morning of that day, that Liz and Company A got a chance to really do some damage.

Liz groaned as the phone in their quarters rang; Vicki groaned and put her head under a pillow; Jesse kept on sawing logs and Ellen suggested where whoever was calling at 0100 could put that phone. Liz answered.
“mmfh Parker.”

“Captain Parker you have an alert for an immediate combat reaction mission.”

Liz woke up quickly. “Understood.”

She rolled out of bed and quickly dressed. Her roommates were already back to sleep. She got to the operations room in 20 minutes. Beating most of the men in.

“3 Patrol Bases are under attack; One UK and One US Marine and One US Army. “
Liz looked around. “What is available?”

“Your company and the 2nd Platoon of C Company. Right now the rest of the Apache’s are undergoing maintenance.”

She grabbed Hustler and the 2nd Lt that had 2nd Platoon of C company, Gonzo Jones.

“Gonzo, You take the Marine Base –its closest. Hustler you take the Army base And I will take the UK base since its farthest. Let’s rock.”

They were in the air 30 minutes later. Liz firewalled the Apache’s as word came back that the Taliban were really serious.

The Captain of the Welsh Guard had pulled his people back into the inner perimeter of their Patrol Base which was in an abandoned village. He figured he was outnumbered at least 2-1. Maybe more. He hoped those yank choppers got there soon.

“Spectre Lead to Patrol Base, What is your situation?”

“Patrol Base to Spectre Lead-we have pulled back into the inner perimeter; anyone you see running right now or moving is the enemy. I will throw an incendiary outside our center position.”

“Roger that- will be there in 5 Mikes”

“OK People look for the incendiary burning. Outside of that area smoke anyone moving. Pug. You and Whistler take the outer area; Lobo and I will do the inner.”

“Roger that.”

Liz hovered at 200 feet right over the village; she could see the incendiary easily with the night vision goggles. She saw figures farther away moving in and Whistler and Pug started shooting at them. She carefully looked away from the incendiary; the night vision goggles were working well.
“Roger take the stick-I will be shooting.”

“Roger.”

Liz carefully picked her targets; one by one she popped them with 30MM HE; after about 5 minutes and 11 shots she could not see anyone to target.

“Doberman to everyone; what are you seeing?”

“Pug no more targets” “Lobo no more targets” “Whistler no more targets”

“Spectre Lead to Patrol Base, what is your situation now?”

“Patrol Base to Spectre Lead; I think you got them all.”

“Roger That we will stay and look around for a bit. Will let you know when we leave.”

“Roger and Thank You.”

“You are more than welcome. Spectre Lead out.”

The Captain waited until the Yanks left then poked his head out. He saw nothing then ordered a sound off. Every man answered. He decided to wait until light before moving out of the inner perimeter.

Liz checked fuel status; they were more than half full; then called to the other units.

“Doberman to Hustler, what is your status?”

“Headed home”

“Roger that.” “Doberman to Gonzo, what is your status.”

“Gonzo to Doberman, still engaged.”

“Will be there in 15 Mikes.”

“Roger.”

Liz got her platoon moving at speed. C Company had had things a little rough; their Commander was good but the rest of the Company just was not as good as the other Companies in the Battalion. But that was reality.

They got close and saw that the Taliban were still trying; this was a good sized base and they had committed quite a few in the attack. The C Company detachment was working the far end. Liz would have had split them and had the other two elsewhere; it looked like two of the Apache’s were just hovering and watching. Liz shook her head and then ordered her platoon to tackle the far end.

The Taliban were moving towards the base and were easy to see; Liz kept the choppers at 500 feet as they did not need to go lower.

“OK Guys lets line up and start shooting.”

In just a few minutes the Taliban figures were running; which was stupid since that made them all that more obvious. Liz had the three others go after strays and seeing a group of them decided a little more was appropriate; as at the other base she had Roger take over the stick.

She sent a half dozen 2.75 rockets at the group and blew them to pieces. In just a few more minutes no targets were visible. She called out to the other unit.

“Doberman to Gonzo, what is your status?”

“Gonzo to Doberman, no more targets available, Bingo 30MM.”

“Return to Base, Gonzo, we will stay for a bit and then go.”

“Roger, Doberman.”

“Doberman to base; any more business to be had?”

“Base to Doberman; glad you showed up. No more business.”

“We will do a quick patrol of your perimeter; if we find nothing else we will go.”

“Roger and thank you, Doberman.”

They spent 10 more minutes slowly circling the perimeter but found nothing moving. Then they headed home.

Liz went to the debrief and listened quietly. Gonzo did not seem like a bad pilot or leader; just not a really good one. She remained behind when he left. She looked at the Battalion commander. He shook his head.
“I know. Jackman is pushing but I think it’s just the matter of not having that good a group of pilots. Outside of him and his wingman, that Company is just average.“

“I saw neither good shooting nor good procedures. He had two of his people just hovering when they could have been responding to other attacks on the perimeter.”

“Probably 4 of them will be transferred out of Apache’s.”

“What about their copilots?”

“I think two of them could be good.”

Liz went back and tried to get a couple more hours of sleep. Her ground crews would be busy for a good part of the morning; so they would not be flying anyway.

That morning the commander of the UK fire base called in to commend the Apache support they got; they had found 35 bodies they were pretty sure the Apache’s had taken care of.
The Army base also commended the Apache’s.

The Marine base was not so happy.
“That first group of Apache’s were slow to respond and did not seem to want to spread out and take care of the various threats. The second group, Doberman and her people, really got the job done. That first group was fairly inaccurate as well from what we could see when it got light.”

The Battalion commander prepared his report to Brigade.

Later that morning the Brigade Commander looked at his XO.
“C Company whenever Jackman is not right there just does not perform well.”

“Nothing new; I do not think its Jackmans fault as much as it is we got some Dud Apache drivers there.”

“Get the Battalion Commander and his XO up here.”

The Battalion commander was not surprised at the summons; and Ed Griffith wasn’t either.

The Brigade commander got right to the point.
“2nd Platoon of C company is not good. What can we do to fix it?”
“Do you want to take real action sir?”

“Yes.”

“Then I recommend taking Rivers out of 2nd Platoon of A company and making him head of 2nd Platoon of C company. Demote Richards and Hulman and put them on the ground. Promote Charles and Dixon to pilots; they are certified as ready. We have two former copilots of Apache’s in 6 Battalion, put them back in as copilots for the rest of the tour.”

“Who replaces Rivers?”

“I need to talk to Parker on that.”

“Start the paperwork and talk to her,”

Liz sat in the Battalion Commanders office. She sighed when told. Not that she was terribly surprised; she just hated to lose Rivers. She looked at him.

“Whistler for 2nd Platoon commander, I think he is ready. I take it we get one of the upgraded copilots?”

“Fireman Charles. He is ready.”

“OK.”

“Fireman” Charles was happy to get out of C Company and get an Apache with A company. Going from the worst to the best was good anyway; but everyone knew that Parker just had the touch and best of all was lucky. Liz called him into her office.

“First off welcome to A Company. You will be Pug’s Wingman. We will probably have a mission this afternoon so we will have you sit it out while you and your copilot will get to know each other. You will fly this afternoon. I will need to evaluate you before you become operational. We are lucky in one respect that the weather looks bad for tomorrow and the next day. But we probably could fly local.”

It was just a resupply mission that afternoon, but Liz did not like flying with only 3 in her platoon. Whistler got a milk run to get used to leading 2nd Platoon. Liz sighed; this was not something calculated to reduce stress.

Liz got back in time and then immediately took Fireman and his copilot up to start running them through things.

The weather was bad for the next two days but Liz was able to take up Fireman and start getting him used to things. She worked him hard for the next two days; and Whistler as well getting him used to Platoon command.

The evening of the third day the Battalion commander came to talk with her.
“How are they doing?”

“Whistler is doing well; I think he will be fine. As long as he is not operating on his own on anything really tricky. I can see that he will be fine; he just needs to work on being a leader. Time will be his friend.”

“That is good. How about Charles?”

“I think he will be OK. His copilot is solid and that helps. Pug is a good teacher, I think. So the early signs are good.”

The next couple of weeks were fortunately fairly quiet; Liz was very grateful as she worked to bring her company back to the level it had been. The good news was that C Company was looking better.

Of course after that things heated up again as the Taliban seemed to not want to just fade away during the winter as they usually did. And then more fun came from another source.

Liz had just written up her latest Eval on Fireman; Pug seemed to think he was coming along well and Liz saw no reason to doubt it. Whistler seemed to be picking up command well. So naturally just as she started to relax Captain Forrest stuck his head in her door.
“Liz, I know you have been busy lately reworking your company, but something has come up.” Then he motioned her to follow him back to the Spec Ops compound.
She walked into the Spec Ops head shed and then almost stopped and stared.

Well this was going to be interesting.

“Captain Parker, welcome and take a seat.”
“This is Wing Commander Simmons of the Royal Air Force and Major Rosythe of the 2nd Battalion of the Royal Regiment of Scotland.”

“Pleased to meet you.”

“Pleased to meet you, Captain Parker.” “Good to meet your Captain Parker; and just refer to my Unit as the 2nd Scots.”

“To make this short and sweet there is a special operation going on in Helmand Province. RAF and 2nd Scots will be taking it to a Taliban stronghold. The Problem is that the Apache’s that normally would be supporting them have had some maintenance problems that showed up suddenly. Some parts were faulty and unfortunately they are parts that are unique to the Brit Apache’s. It will be at least a week until they are flying again. Which is a couple of days longer then they think they can delay this operation. It would have gone on in two days. If we can get things going it still will. The SAS will be transporting them and the 2nd Scots will be getting it done. They are used to operating with Apache’s which is why you are being called in.”

Liz nodded. “What base will we be operating out of?”

“Bastion”.


This got sorted out quickly and the very next morning A Company was on its way to Bastion. The RAF had come in and picked up Grunt and the other crews and a batch of spare parts. It was clear that due to the lowered tempo around Kandahar and the upped Tempo in Helmand that they would be there for a while.

Liz had a quiet conversation with the Brigade commander before she left.

“Captain, you were requested by Name for this mission; and it did not originate from Spec Ops but the British. You apparently impressed them a couple weeks ago and also at Jakob earlier. I think there is a good chance you might spend most of the rest of your tour there. With C Company finally shaping up and things slowing down around here, we can probably spare you. And they need you.”

When they got to Bastion and were situated, the RAF Wing commander made it a point to talk to Liz privately in his office.

“Captain, I believe your Brigade Commander informed you of the likelihood that you would be here for more than just this mission?”

“Yes Sir he did.”

“We have lost the Dutch Apache contingent and all the others. So even when our Apache’s are up and running again we will need you. The Marine attack helicopters are very busy supporting other operations; so we need more than the one company of RAF Apache’s. We will get more Apache’s here in 2 months but until then you are stuck here.”

“I am not surprised sir; and it will be different which might be a good thing; we might have been getting a little complacent at Kandahar.”

“Very good to hear, Captain. You are already well known here and trusted. And that is important.”

Needless to Say the quarters were not as good as Kandahar; a tent. But it was a pretty good tent and had a heater which worked. So for this time of year it was not too bad. And they had been good enough to put the entire contingent from Kandahar in the same area. Meals were interesting since there was a real mixture available due to the multinational makeup of Bastion. There seemed to be someone from just about every NATO member and from some that were not. Liz decided that while she was here she would try to sample different things and get to know people from different countries. One of the down sides was that she was unable to email Max and Aliya. She got around that by figuring out how to contact one of the Crew every day or so and have them email her family.
They got put right to work the next day on the operation with the RAF and 2nd Scots. They had a fairly long meeting the night before with the entire company so as to make sure there were no missed communications. Liz noted that at Kandahar and with the US Army units, language had gotten fairly informal. The 2nd Scots and the RAF were more by the book. Which was probably best.

They took off at 0800; no dawn attack. That had been explained that since a dawn attack was expected, hitting a couple hours later had the advantage of surprise. Liz was not totally sure about that, but they might have a point. That was to be seen.

The RAF used Merlins for the assault; pretty good sized. Bigger than Blackhawks and tougher; not as big as Chinooks. 4 of them covered by Liz and her company, which might have been overkill. After talking things over, Liz and 1st Platoon would approach from the west and hover just outside the Village; and then the 2nd Scots would land and move in from the west. It was hoped that everyone would be fixated on the Apache’s. 2nd Platoon would stay with them and flank them as they came in.

It worked like a charm. Liz watched as a number of armed Afghans took positions facing her Apache’s; behind walls. Watching. Liz then slowly brought them in closer. She could see the Merlins land and the Scots move into the camp. Then she could see the moment that the Taliban realized they had been duped and turned towards where the Scots were already in the middle of the village.

“Doberman to 1st Platoon; use your 30MM and pot shoot them.”

Roger had been getting better at shooting so this time he was working the cannon.

Caught between the two fires the fight went out of the Taliban and they tried to run. Which did not help them any. In 15 minutes it was all over.

“Ground Force to Spectre Lead; area secure.”

“Spectre Lead Roger that. We will patrol the perimeter.”

By habit Liz checked her fuel and saw that they were fine; this was only 40 miles from Bastion. By habit they now carried one external tank, so they had more than 2 hrs of flying time left.

Half an hour later they got the word for the Merlins to come in and pick them up. No casualties. Do to the closeness to Bastion, it had been decided not to have a MEDEVAC with the group. And today none was needed.

The mission debrief was indeed brief. The 2nd Scots commander said it all.
“They were so busy watching the Apache’s that they never saw us until we opened fire. Caught between the two of us, it was all over quickly.”

At noon that day Liz went to a mission briefing for that afternoon.
The same RAF unit would be doing this one; but those involved were SAS. Liz had heard that a fair number of the RAF really did not like to have much to do with the Crazy SAS. She could sort of see that there in the meeting. It was very stiff and proper on both sides. Only two Merlins and 2 troops of the SAS would be in this operation. Liz lingered after the meeting to talk to the Wing Commander.
“Forgive me if this is not polite, but I saw some serious tension between the RAF personnel and the SAS.”

The Wing commander paused for a second, and then nodded.
“There have been problems. Both sides are at fault. But I can assure you that they will work together. It will not affect their performance. And you were right to ask.”

“Thank you sir for your honesty.”

This was more of a Recon so Liz took just the 1st Platoon. The 2nd platoon would remain on call.

It turned out to be pretty much a bust; the village they went to was completely empty; Liz and Lobo buzzed it first and saw nothing; then the SAS moved quickly through it and also found nothing. In half an hour they were on the way back to base. As she got close she was told that 2nd Platoon had responded to a call for help from a patrol that had been ambushed. They had taken casualties and a MEDEVAC was about to leave; checking her fuel status Liz told them they would accompany the MEDEVAC.

Whistler was tense; the patrol had taken casualties; they had gotten there in time to catch a large number of the Taliban out in the open and Whistler had let them all use some 2.75’s which took care of the problem. Now they had to cover them. When he heard that Liz and the rest of the Company would be there he relaxed slightly. He was still not comfortable in a command situation.

Liz kept an eye on the fuel, but they were still good when they arrived to wear the Unit was waiting to have their wounded taken out. Whistler sounded glad Liz was there; he was not yet comfortable with command. Liz was going to quietly let him know that it was a danger sign when one became comfortable in command in a combat situation; that bred arrogance and carelessness.

The MEDEVAC took the four wounded and Liz told Whistler to escort them back while she stayed with the Patrol as they headed back to their patrol base.

The LT looked up as the American Apache’s buzzed the area. They had really come in the proverbial nick of time. It was right uncomfortable there for a bit.

Liz was able to stay with the Patrol right to its base before they had to get back to camp. She kept 2 of her people right with them while she and Lobo wandered around the area, looking for anything suspicious. Nothing was seen.

After the debrief Liz made it a point to talk to Whistler.
“If you are worried about when you will become comfortable in command it might take a long time. I have never gotten there. And after talking to some experienced commanders, I have come to the realization that if you are you are more than likely to be in trouble of becoming complacent and careless.”

No more missions were mentioned that afternoon and Liz decided to look around and see what the Camp had to offer. It did not take long for her to realize that the Marines in the camp next to Bastion, called Leatherneck, had it a lot tougher than she had it here. Yes she was in a tent; but there were a lot of amenities around that were not in Leatherneck.

She got back to her tent in time to find a message for her to come to Operations. That was a pretty good sized building that had been completed not too long ago. Up to now everything had been talked about at the tents near the airstrip. She had a feeling this was a more formal meeting. She was proven right when upon being shown the conference room she saw the Camp Commander and several other very high ranks. All British.

The Colonel in command stood up and greeted her.
“Pleased to meet you, Captain Parker. Very glad to have you and your company here.”

She found that the Wing Commander was there along with a Group Captain, who was the overall RAF aviation commander there. And the head of the SAS detachment there, a colonel; and the commander of the 2nd Scots, another colonel. She felt very junior.

The Group captain started it off.
“This is a meeting to formulate an operation to take control of the situation around Pashkar which has deteriorated lately. The intent is to knock the Taliban back on its heels. That is simple to say, less simple to do.”
What came out of that meeting was a plan for multiple attacks on known Taliban strongholds to last about a week, depending on results. The SAS and 2nd Scots would both be involved hitting different targets. Liz would split her company to cover both. The targets had been identified and a tentative schedule agreed on. It would start the following day. A pre dawn strike by SAS at one stronghold followed by a morning strike on another by the 2nd Scots. Then an afternoon hit by the 2nd Scotts and the SAS on separate targets. 12 had been identified; it was decided to try and hit four on the first day and then see what the second day brought; it was thought two at least. A signal by the Group Captain kept Liz behind after everyone else left.
“The Wing Commander informed me that you noticed the problems with the SAS and the RAF. It is not something that will be solved soon, let alone here. Now as the company commander it is us to you to assign your assets as you see fit. But I highly recommend that you accompany the SAS on their strikes.”

“I had already decided to do that, sir. My second platoon commander is new to his command after a situation with another company required some transfers and mine was raided for my XO, who was 2nd platoon commander. He is learning and getting better but he is green. I had already intended to send him with the Scots.”

“Very good. I can see the decision to request your company was the correct one.”

Liz reflected that sometimes it was not altogether healthy to have a reputation.

The next 5 days were extremely busy; it was all Grunt and the others could do to keep their Apache’s up and running. In addition to the 12 missions eventually performed, they had also gone out on four immediate responses for Air Support.
The first day started out well as both assaults had no casualties and did hurt the Taliban some, if not as much as had been hoped. The second attack with the Scots also went well. The second assault that afternoon with the SAS was not so good.

Liz definitely noticed the difference with the SAS; she had heard that the US Marine Recon teams were much the same way. Both thought faster was better in assaults. She noted with interest that the US Army Special Forces did not seem to be as aggressive; more cautious.

The attack on the second target was right at 1400, and they had to fly up a valley some to get to it, between two fairly good sized foothills not far from the Mountains; this was an assault that went out 75 miles so she decided on 2 aux tanks. There had been thought of not taking many hellfire’s; of maybe only having one chopper in each platoon carry any; but Liz had resisted that. Due to the distance a British MEDEVAC had accompanied them; she had a hunch the SAS felt somewhat insulted by that. It was a good thing they had. As usual Liz had brought in Pug and Fireman to buzz the village while she and Lobo accompanied the assault. That had worked initially, but it was clear early on that resistance would be much greater here. All four of the Apache’s did some sniping, but the SAS and Taliban were too close for much else. It looked like a very vicious firefight and it was. The SAS smashed through the Taliban but it cost. Liz was right on top of the fight at the end, and used her 30MM to support the SAS as it finished off the Taliban. The MEDEVAC was called in immediately and took off with 9 wounded out of the 34 SAS that had landed. The rest of the SAS pulled out an hour later. Liz had sent Pug and Fireman back with the MEDEVAC.

Liz was very happy to hear that none of the wounds were life threatening when she got back to the Base. In the debrief she noted that the SAS commander was very blithe.
“They stood up and came right at us; which is much preferred. I am obliged to Captain Parker and her Apache’s for very good close support. It clearly had an effect on them as they tried to watch the sky while at the same time trying to fight us. Did not work too well.”

Personally Liz felt that the SAS had had some unnecessary casualties. She quietly talked to the Wing Commander later.
“Sir, it seemed to me that the SAS was happy to stand and fight with the Taliban.”

He shook his head. “Lately we are getting that too much. I am very obliged as well, Captain Parker, for your ground support. I have no doubt the SAS casualties would have been markedly higher otherwise.”

The responses for immediate air support had been nerve wracking; two of them had come at night; responding to assaults on small forward patrol posts. Liz had taken both of them. They had been a little hairy, especially the second one which had her personally taking out 4 Taliban fighters that has some members of the Welsh Guards pinned down. They had been within 10 feet or so of the Soldiers, who reported that they felt the blasts and were splattered some of the remains.

The other two were handled by Whistler while she was out on other assaults. They had not been as tough, and Whistler had done well. She could see his growing confidence in himself as a commander.

At the end of the 6th day, the weather got bad enough to ground everyone and Liz was able to actually take a breath. She had been glad to see Ellen on the 5th day, who came in with more spare parts for the Apache’s as well as more of Liz’s clothes and other things which she had asked for when finding out she would be there for a while. Of course she had had to take off on another mission after only getting a few minutes to talk with Ellen.

“And on the seventh day HE rested.” Ted grinned at Liz as they sat in the mess hall on the morning of the seventh day; it was raining some and windy and overall not flyable. Apache’s could have if necessary, but no one did anything on days like this; they were so rare. Even the Taliban sat home snug.

“Well I will take it. Being able to sleep in this morning was REALLY nice.”

Ted nodded. He had been a little concerned about Liz; she insisted on taking the night missions while still flying the day missions as well. Grunt was barely able to keep her bird flying. She looked tired, but at least this morning she was looking more rested. He noticed the interesting Looks Liz was getting. There were very few women at this camp; and frankly Liz was clearly the youngest and best looking he had seen. Apparently the rest of the male population agreed.
“So what do they think was the results of the operation?”

Liz shrugged. “Too early to tell. The SAS commander was happy. The others seemed reasonably content.”

Ted shook his head. “You hear how crazy special ops types are supposed to be; but most of the ones I have seen did not appear that way. But these SAS’s here do.”

“Yeah. They are definitely closer to the edge. I have not worked with Marine Recon but I hear they are about the same.”

“They like you though.”

Liz rolled her eyes. Things got around so fast in a war zone, she had found. The SAS had invited her to dinner one night after their mission. From what Liz had gathered that was VERY rare for them to do. It had been interesting; the SAS were not as wild out of a fight as in it, but you could see the edge there even when supposedly relaxing. They had coaxed her into talking about her time in Iraq at the convoy fight. After describing what she had done, the SAS Colonel had nodded approvingly.
“Considering you had truck drivers there, that was very well thought out and done. Letting them lay there and scream was a very good touch. I have no doubt that sapped the resolve of the others and did buy you time.”

As she left she was told by several of them that she would do well with them as a Trooper. She realized that that was high praise from them.

The bad weather lasted for two days and everyone was happy for the rest. Grunt especially. He told Liz that if she tried that many missions in such a short period of time again, her Apache would not hold up. Liz told him she would try and remember that.

When operations resumed after that, the tempo definitely had slowed down. It was the beginning of December, and the weather was very distinctly getting colder. Especially at night.

Liz liked only doing a mission a day; but she did not like so much having to send Hustler off on his own as much as she had to. But so far he had done well. What was not fun was the continuing silent feud between the SAS and the RAF. And it was worse as both at the unit level tried to put Liz and her Apache’s in the middle. Each subtly trying to get her closer to their point of view on operations and thus support them in mission planning. She saw both points of view, and tried to be even handed. It was tiring. She found that at least her efforts were appreciated by all sides. The Wing Commander especially.
“I realize that it is not right that you have to be the mediator, but it is working well. I want you to know that it is very much appreciated here and at the higher levels.”

So Liz sucked it up and played the game. As was her wont, she put together a plan on how to do this. She kept notes on what worked and did not work from each point of view, and then gave serious thought to combining them the best that she could. Within a couple of weeks, those planning sessions became about as choreographed as Kabuki Theatre; or professional wrestling on a good day. The SAS would propose this and the RAF would counter; or vice versa. Liz would then take part of each proposal and combine them as much as possible.

One good thing was that after two weeks, the RAF Apache’s were operational again and that took the load off. In a meeting with the detachments CO, it was agreed that the RAF Apache’s would respond to emergency calls for air support, and only if they were not available would Liz’s people go. In return A Company took most of the daytime missions. The Dutch were due back with their Apache’s in January, so that was figured as the time when A Company could return to Kandahar.

The SAS continued to have the most dangerous missions, but even that had decreased some since Liz had become a buffer. They liked that she was quite willing to take her Apache’s in first and draw the enemy attention. While that tactic had never worked quite as well as it did the first time, it was still quite effective. What they also tried was one group come in and hover and the second come from another direction, and then the real assault came from a third. Misdirection seemed to work well on the Taliban. The SAS commander believed that it came from being inflexible fanatics. Liz thought that had validity.

Since Liz had made it a point to take as many of the SAS missions as she could, Hustler spent more time with the 2nd Scots. And that time allowed them to work well together; Liz was glad to see that his confidence as regarding command continued to increase.

Christmas came, and the camp had a big Christmas Eve party. Which also had a dance. Liz found that there as a grand total of 21 women there and about 1000 guys. She was glad the weather had turned bad for the next day, as she was absolutely worn out from dancing with about 50 different men. It started at 1800 and went to midnight, and 6 hours of dancing will wear anyone out. Ellen had sent Liz a simple black dress that fit her; and would not tell her where she could have possibly found it. Liz looked great in it; which was bad in a way as she found out that she was the only woman in a dress there. She was very definitely the belle of the ball. Ted told her that the MP’s had to break up about a dozen fistfights from guys that wanted to dance with her but got cut out. Liz really thought that was BS but she found out that a little of that at least was true. She saw a couple of black eyes in the next few days.

They did not start flying again until the 27th, and had to make a bunch of resupply runs. Not much happened that day. But on the 28th came another mission that Liz would have as soon avoided.
As per usual it seemed, it was an SAS mission into the foothills. Another believed Taliban stronghold. 4 Merlins, one Medevac and Liz’s company. Since only one mission was scheduled that day Liz decided to keep them all together; plus this had not happened much in the last month or so and she wanted to see firsthand how Whistler was doing as a Platoon commander.

It was very cold; but clear. They left at 0600 and intended to hit the target one hour after dawn. The target was 90 miles away; so Liz had them put on two auxiliary tanks. One pod of 2.75 and one of Hellfires. Liz took her platoon in high and visible; the village was in a sort of crook and could only be approached really from one direction; but after looking at satellite photos and maps, it had been decided that her Apaches and the MEDEVAC would be seen coming from the expected direction; the MEDEVAC definitely behind and safe but visible; while Hustler and the Merlins would come over the hill and hit the village from the rear.

So Liz made it obvious but still came in fast then stopped and hovered at about 500 feet just past the boundary of the village. And that is when it all hit the fan.

Liz was looking to see if any movement could be spotted; and so some people running, some with weapons. At that moment the windshield in front of her cracked and then felt like someone had hit her helmet with a sledgehammer – dazed, she called for Roger to take the stick. Shaking her head her vision cleared as she heard Ted call to her.

“Lobo to Doberman, what is your condition?”

“Doberman to Lobo, windshield hit. Did you get it?”

“Lobo to Doberman. I plastered it with 30MM.”

“Where was it?”

“That slightly taller building on this end of the village; you can see dust rising.”

Liz blinked and while her head was hurting her vision was clear. She identified the building and then told Roger. “Going to take out that building with a Hellfire.”

And she did. Making a nice explosion. Her windshield was cracked all over and had a couple of holes in it. Must have been a 23MM down there; nothing smaller could have done that. It would take several hits from a 12.7MM in the same place to do the same amount of damage a few 23MM would do. She put her hand up to her helmet and found part of it missing and probed with her hand a little and brought it down; it was covered in blood. She pulled off her helmet-and that HURT- and took a cloth scarf she had and quickly tied it over where it hurt the most. Then put her helmet back on, carefully.

“Spectre Lead to Ground Pounders, what is your status?”

“Ground to Spectre Lead, objective almost secured.”

“Doberman to Hustler, what is your status?”

“Hustler to Doberman, no targets left; village looks secure.”

Liz took a deep breath; her head really was hurting. She ought to order Roger to take them back to base; but for the moment she would wait.

Ted was able to get a good look at Liz’s Apache; the pilot’s windshield was a mess. “Lobo to Doberman, how are you?”

“Doberman to Lobo, I think I picked up some glass fragments. My windshield is toast. Otherwise operational.”

“Roger, Doberman.” He was going to keep a sharp eye on her.

“Liz, how are you?” came from Roger.

“I am OK. But as messed up as my windshield is you will be flying back and landing.”

“Roger that.”

“Ground to Spectre Lead, target secured. MEDEVAC requested.”

“Roger, Ground.”

Liz waited as patiently as she could with her head hurting like it did; but it did not seem as bad. She found closing her eyes helped. It was fairly bright and her visor was broken so the sun was annoying. She sent Hustler off with the Medevac. 15 minutes after it left the SAS was ready to go.

The trip back was OK as long as Liz kept her eyes closed. As they got close she called the Base to inform them that they needed to contact her Crew chief so that he could order a new pilots windshield. Liz had figured that she had taken some glass to the side of her head above her right ear. So when base asked her condition she was rather blasé about it.
“The glass took a chunk out of my helmet and gave me a cut to the side of the head. It is not bad, though.”

So when Roger landed and they moved to the normal parking spot, she noticed not only Grunt but some medics there as well. Talk about over reaction. Oh well.

Grunt looked hard as Liz’s Apache came in; the windshield did look like it had been hit several times. No other damage apparent. He was right there as soon as Roger shut down the engine with the British Medic right beside him. He got the hatch open and stood for a moment, stunned.

As soon as roger shut the engine down Liz carefully took off her helmet, and looked at it. Well, need a new flight helmet. The right side about just above the ear was mostly gone in a gouge that was a good 2-3 inches wide. She looked at that and realized that this was a Kevlar helmet; glass could not have done that.

Grunt stared at his pilot who had taken off her helmet; the scarf was tied around her head above her ear and it was blood soaked; it had been a light tan scarf. He quickly stepped forward.
“Liz, this looks bad. Let me help you out.”

“It is probably looking worse than it is; I have a headache but that is all. I can get out on my own.” But Grunt insisted on helping her out. The Medic pounced on her as soon as she was on the ground, examining her.

The other pilots and copilots of her company were crowding around, shocked. Liz looked like something out of an old war movie. There was blood all over her head and the scarf was soaked and there was some on her flight suit as well.

Hustler saw a big box and he and his copilot grabbed it and hustled and forced themselves through the crowd and placed it right next to the Chopper and the medic forced Liz to sit on it while he looked over the wound.

Off to the side a BBC Camera crew had been filming; but this looked much more interesting as they noticed the medic; and then one of them pointed out the Apache with the busted windscreen. They got a good shot of her being helped out of her ship and the two other pilots bringing a big box for her to sit on while the medic checked her out.

Liz kept her eyes closed while the Medic pocked and prodded and asked questions. Liz answered the first ones then said
“Enough about me, Grunt how is my chopper?”
“Liz….”

“Oh, come on this is not bad. How bad is my bird?”

He sighed. “Well until the crowd leaves I cannot see for sure. If it is only the windshield we have spares at Kandahar and they can get one to me in one day. Now the adhesive filler will take one day to cure. So figure two, maybe three days.”

“Well, nuts, I will have to steal one then for the time being. I have to be with my company. I can’t stay on the ground.”

“Well, that is going to keep you on the ground for a couple of days anyway.”

The medic then spoke up. “Yes it will. Now you will be coming to the hospital for XRays and to have that stitched up. We will need to make sure there is no glass in the wound, though I doubt it. You were grazed more likely by a bullet.”

“Yeah, when I saw the helmet I thought that might be the case.”

Grunt reached in and pulled her helmet out. There was a collective gasp as they saw the gouge in its side and the blood on it. The BBC cameraman also caught that and the reporter had gotten close enough to catch almost all the conversation as well.

So Liz was bundled aboard the ambulance and driven to the Hospital.

Ted was about to go when he noticed Roger standing there, shaken. He went to him and pulled him away.
“She said take the stick; then she shot that hellfire and blew that building up. She seemed fine. I did not notice a thing.”

The BBC man caught that as well.

Grunts call to Kandahar went right to the Battalion commander who immediately ordered a spare windshield set to be taken to Bastion that day.

Word spread and Jesse convinced her Battalion commander to let her fly it to Bastion. She was in the air in 3 hours and got to Bastion by noon. She got right to Grunt who was waiting at the strip.

“Liz got a huge chunk taken out of her helmet above the right ear; I found a 23MM rd, TP, embedded in the armor plate right behind her. Funny, if it had been explosive it would have detonated on the windshield and just blown a hole in it. Would have caused a lot less of a problem. It missed taking off the side of Liz’s head by about an inch.”

With nothing else to do but wait Grunt had already gotten the shattered pieces of the windshield off and he and his crew began to replace the windshield.

Meanwhile Liz had been sat down and the wound carefully cleaned and then stitched up after they took an XRAY to make sure there was no other foreign bits in the wound area. Then they made her lie down and rest.

The word spread to Liz’s friends and they all began to try and find out what had happened and how she was. Her new friends at Bastion began to gather at the Hospital. One of the doctors noted this.

“Whoever this yank is she is very popular.”

“You remember a couple of years ago that American pilot saving that young girl that had been shot?”

“That is her?”

“Yes.”

“She is so small!”

Meanwhile the doctor in charge had to give in and allow some of her friends to visit. That consisted of Ted, Roger and Hustler.

Liz was lying there with her eyes closed; seeming very small and vulnerable. They stopped, wondering if she was sleeping.
Liz heard someone come into her room and she opened her eyes; her head was not hurting as much but they had told her that only minor pain medication was indicated for the time being. She spotted them and smiled.

Liz opened her eyes and looked at them and smiled and suddenly the room got a lot brighter. She seemed clear eyed and if not for the bandage around her head she would have looked fine; she was not in a gown but just had her tank top on in the bed with the covers pulled up.
“Hi Guys.”

She got a parade of visitors after that; the SAS and RAF and 2nd Scots.

Then a couple of hours later when the Doctor had said enough visitors Jesse managed to talk her way in.

“Liz; you look comfortable.”

She opened her eyes and smiled at her friend.
“Hey, room service and peace and quiet and a soft bed. This is not so bad.”

The Brigade commander talked to the 1st Battalion Commander.
“Not sure how long she will be out; it will take a day or two to fix her Apache.’

“Knowing her they might have to tie her up to keep her on the ground.”
“The problem would be if they have to do a mission for the whole company; there is no one there who can do it. 2nd Platoon commander is way too green.”

“That is true. I can send Griffith over and if necessary he can take one of the other Apache’s.”

Meanwhile the BBC camera crew and reporter were getting background as fast as they could. Once they realize the injured pilot was Captain Parker, THE Captain Parker, they pulled out all the stops. They got the PR officer of Bastion to ok the story. It got sent to the London studio where it went on the 6PM news.

There the director had scared up a Apache pilot from the RAF to talk about it.

“News from the war in Afghanistan. Now some think that the talk of this war being a coalition war being a put on, should visit Camp Bastion in Helmand Province. American Army Apache’s supporting British RAF and Ground forces. Today, actually just hours ago, we received some very descriptive pictures and sound from that base. To give the background, this morning a SAS troop assaulted a suspected Taliban stronghold; once they attacked they found out that it was not suspected at all; it was true. The American Apache helicopters, from 1st Battalion, 101st Aviation Brigade normally stationed in Kandahar but this company, Company A, has been supporting British troops and the RAF at Bastion for the past two months. This company is commanded by Captain Elizabeth Parker, famed for the saving of that Afghan 8 year old girl shot by a Taliban official in footage seen many times over the last two years. Captain Parker adopted that girl; and she is back in Afghanistan on her second tour. Here is our reporter on the scene.”

“We do not have all the facts but we do have this footage of when Captain Parker returned to this base.”

They then showed the Apache coming to rest, zooming in on the shattered windshield, and then the hatch opening up and Liz getting out of the helicopter, blood stained scarf and blood on her flight suit. They saw two of her fellow pilots manhandle a big box for her to sit on. And then her damaged and bloody helmet. And they heard clearly her conversations.

Then the picture switched back to the studio where a former RAF Apache pilot told the audience what was what.

The American Media was not slow to pick this up and demanded answers. At that particular time there was no American Media at camp Bastion or next door at Leatherneck. So they copied the BBC account and ran with it on the late news and then the morning news.

Nancy Parker got a call from Maria; they got the BBC news on their satellite and had been tipped off by friends about it. Max found out when the PR officer at Campbell called him to inform him that his wife had been wounded but only slightly.

The SAS commander was nudged by Captain Forrest to come by and offer Liz the use of a satellite phone. She called Max; and talked to him and then Aliya; assuring them she was going to be fine. It had been two months since she had been able to talk to them. She then called her mother and reassured her. Then Maria and Isabelle and Tess. Finally done she thanked the SAS commander.

He responded by saying simply “We take care of our own.”

Liz was cheered up first by the visit with Jesse then the phone calls home. She began to pester the doctor about getting out of there and was told if she was ok in the morning she would be let go. She convinced Jesse on her way out to have Grunt come by and tell her the condition of her chopper. He came by and told her that nothing else was busted and that they already had the new windshield in place, just needed 24 hours for the seal adhesive to cure and harden. So she would only miss one day if the docs cleared her. She convinced Ted when he came by later to call Kandahar and tell them she would miss one day and that is it. He grudgingly agreed but only if she promised to stay put and rest that night. That was easy as the Doctor gave her a stronger pain med and she was soon asleep.

The Brigade Commander called the Battalion commander.
“Talked to one of her pilots; her apache will be down for just tomorrow and odds are she will be back flying the next day.”

“Then I will keep Griffith here.”

Liz woke up the next morning, a little confused and still a little woozy from the medication. She lay there slowly remembering things. After a little while a nurse came in and noticed she was awake. She wished her a good morning and told Liz that she would get the doctor. Liz looked for a clock and saw it was around 0700. She had been conked for 11 hours. No wonder she was woozy.

The doctor came in and checked her over.
“Well, you seem very alert and if you have only minor discomfort then we can let you out.”
Liz grinned. “That is good news. I need to check on my company and my chopper.”

About half an hour later Ted showed up with her jacket and took her to the mess hall where she proceeded to eat a huge breakfast. Ted was amazed at what she put away.
“Liz you must have a hollow leg- because there is no place else you could have put that much food.”

“Hey, I ate nothing from a quick MRE yesterday morning until now.”

They then headed down to the flight line; he told Liz that as far as he knew right now there was no mission. The only one he knew about the RAF Apache’s would be covering. They found Grunt checking out her chopper.
“So will it be ready for tomorrow?”

“Yes, in a pinch it would be ready tonight.”

“Well that is good. I guess I can bum around today. It is really nice not being buried in paperwork like I would be at Kandahar.”

Liz found herself talking to a lot of people who seemed to know what happened; finally one of the RAF pilots told her that the BBC had done a bit on her. Liz wondered if there was someone UP THERE that just liked to mess with her; talk about lousy luck.

Going to the mess hall was not a lot of fun; luckily her whole company was with her. She felt like the prize attraction at a zoo.

The Brigade Commander and the 1st Battalion commander were looking at the official report. The Battalion commander shook his head.
“That is about as close to it as you can get and walk away.”

The SAS Commander and the RAF Commander were having a talk.
“She deserves some kind of commendation; she never lost control or command.”

The RAF commander nodded.
“I am going to mention that in the report to the 101st Brigade Commander. And add to that the fact that she has comported herself tremendously her whole time here. Her company has performed at the highest standard possible.”

“I heard something that I checked out; and contacted someone I know in Special Forces to confirm it. Not one allied person has died in any mission that she and her company have been part of. Not one pilot, crewmember, soldier, trooper, anyone.”

The RAF Commander blinked at that.
“And her company from all accounts has been involved in as many if not more operations as any other attack helicopter company.”

“I think that fact needs to be elevated.”

The next day the Brigade Commander looked at the report. Then called in his XO.
“I want this checked.”

Later that day his XO reported to him.
“It is true sir. Remarkable.”

“I think she must be a favorite of the Gods of War.”

The next day came and they had two missions; as usual it seemed one for the SAS and one for the 2nd Scots. As usual Liz took the SAS and Hustler took the 2nd Scots.

It was almost the identical mission as the one she had been wounded on; but Liz forced herself to not think about it. This village was only 50 miles from Bastion, and it was in more open terrain so there were more choices of approach. Liz took her Apache’s around and came from the opposite direction that Bastion was and came in at 1000 feet and obvious. And hovered; just like last time. This time nothing happened except a movement of armed men to that side of the village facing the waiting, hovering Apaches. And the SAS came from the other side and poured into the village. When the armed men began to turn to face the other way and fire, Liz and her platoon cut loose. In 15 minutes the call came.

“Ground to MEDEVAC, respond. Target secured.”

Liz ordered Hustler to send two with the MEDEVAC when it took off.

30 minutes later the call came in for extraction. And they headed back; then Liz got a call from Bastion that a Patrol base needed help about 50 miles away. Liz ordered Hustler to stay with the flight and she took her platoon off to hunt.

The patrol base was almost identical to the one that she had gotten wounded at; and the Taliban were all around it. Liz took Lobo to the right while Pug took Fireman to the left.

“Spectre Lead to Patrol Base, what is your position?”

“Patrol Base to Spectre Lead, we are concentrated in the village center, everyone on the perimeter is unfriendly.”

“Roger that, we will see if we can even up things.”

“Doberman to all, use 2.75’s on perimeter; let’s see if we can run them off”

Liz told roger to lay down 2.75’s along the perimeter while she started pot shooting Taliban. Liz became Nemesis, putting her mark on one after another. In 20 minutes it looked like they had done as much as they could.
“Spectre Lead to Patrol Base; what is your situation? We have thinned out the perimeter.”

“Patrol Base to Spectre, we have no more incoming fire.”

“Roger that, we will patrol the perimeter and look some more”

“OK, people, lets circle the perimeter and look for unfriendlies. Snipe them if you see them.”

After another 15 minutes Liz looked at the fuel situation and knew they had to leave.

“Spectre Lead to Patrol Base; we are at bingo on fuel. Will have to go.”

“Patrol Base to Spectre Lead, we are secure and Thank You.”

“Roger Patrol base, we are gone.”

So they headed back to base. The wound on the side of her head itched and hurt a little, but otherwise Liz felt fine. She had to work some to scrounge up another helmet.

Meanwhile the story about Liz percolated for a couple of days in the US and then would have died if FOX NEWS had not gotten the interesting tidbit about the record of Liz and her company. They never admitted where they got that from but there were suspicions since Fox News had very close ties with Special Forces.

This is Fox News Tonight. Captain Elizabeth Parker, Commander of A company, 1st Battalion, 101st Aviation Brigade, currently stationed at Kandahar Airfield, but at the moment assisting the UK forces at Camp Bastion in Helmand Province, was once again in the news for this time surviving a very near call. This is courtesy of the BBC.” Then they showed the report.
“Captain Parker is someone that seems to be around where the fire is hottest; in Iraq, in Northern Afghanistan, and now Southern Afghanistan. She has been decorated more times for Valor then all the other women in American History combined. She is by some counts the most decorated member of the United States Military since 2001. But one achievement dwarfs all the others: counting the fight defending the convoy, no American or allied soldier, Marine, Airman, anyone, has died while in her command or under the protection of her Company of Apache attack Helicopters. That includes all the missions that she has escorted and all the missions she and her company has responded to for fire support to bases under attack. Including the time she rescued the young girl that she eventually adopted. If she is there, our people do not die.”

The DOD PR chief happened to see that personally; he groaned. That was the universal response that everyone in any PR function had to that report. Fox News on occasion spread it very thick; this one was several feet thick. And yet it was true.

The SECDEF was told this; and groaned. The Congressman was told this; and nodded. CENTCOM groaned; and so on down the chain.

The Brigade commander put down the phone. He sat there and thought. Then he called in his XO and his PR officer.
“Fox News had a little Blurb about Captain Parker. I want this checked out with a fine toothed comb.” And then he told them. His XO looked thoughtful. The Brigade Commander glared at him. He put up both his hands.
“Sir, I heard this bandied around just lately. I thought it was interesting but I was not sure it was true. But the more I thought about it, the more I began to think that it might be true.”
“Well then CONFIRM IT!”

The President was informed of this and demanded the same thing. This order went down the chain of command.

Commander, Bastion, put down his phone. Pondered for a while, then called in his chief of security.
“I want a protection detail assigned to Captain Parker. With the notoriety she is getting, I do not want to take any chances.”

At a hastily called meeting of the Commander of the RAF Regiment there at Bastion, as well as the Commanders of all Ground units and the SAS, he informed them of his directive. At that point both the commanders of both the SAS detachment and the 2nd Scots requested the honor of forming that detail. It was then agreed to trade off; each would take responsibility every other day. The SAS then demanded the honor of the first day, since she was usually working with them. It was agreed.

Liz was finishing up the paperwork that seemed to find her no matter where she was at a borrowed desk in operations when four members of the SAS marched up to her. She looked at them with raised eyebrows then stood and returned their rigid salute.
“Captain Parker, by order of the MOD, we are your protective detail.”

Liz sighed. “Very well. Grab a seat; I should be done in a few minutes; after which I will eat then retire for the evening.”

They did not sit; instead two members were stationed outside the office door and two others were stationed inside.

Liz felt very ridiculous with her detail following her everywhere.

Needless to say, Ted and the others got a kick out of it. Especially when the four members, who were switched out every 4 hours, stationed themselves outside her humble tent.

Of course before long people were taking pictures of it.
The next day was New Years; and there were no missions scheduled. And luckily no requests for support came in. So they had a nice day overall; Liz feeling hunted.

The President read the report. Then looked at SECDEF.
“Remarkable.”

SECDEF nodded. “I had this researched and from what has been found to this point, no other Company matches that record. None appear to come close. Now there have not been that many Apache Companies overall; but starting in Iraq and Afghanistan in 2001, there are still a fair number that have been deployed. Now it is very possible that some deployed in Afghanistan from 2002 on might have the same record; for a while it was pretty quiet there. I have some people checking into that. But that just underscores what A company of the 1st Battalion has accomplished in two tours in Afghanistan combined. Both coming during times of very high intensity warfare. And furthermore, there has not been one instance of anyone claiming that that company has killed an innocent or a civilian. That is certainly possible; but no one has come forward.”

“I want this thoroughly researched.”

“Yes sir.”

That fact about Liz percolated the media for a while longer, while there was some serious digging into reports in more than a few areas to see if possibly anyone else could make such a claim. But several military authorities agreed that accomplishing this during a time of intense combat was nothing short of remarkable.

Maria and the others were talking one day at a get together. Maria was unusually pensive.
“We all felt that Liz was very special. We knew it from just about the first day we met her back in 2001. I think we are just now finding out how special.”

The Crew was quietly contemplating that same thing New Years Day.
Vicki was wondering how this could happen. Ellen was contemplative.
“Of course part of it is luck. No one could say otherwise. But then how much of it is because of how much she cares; and how hard she works?”
Jesse nodded.
“Most of it. She outworks just about anyone I have ever met. And you remember a couple of times that Liz has mentioned the Gods of War. Just maybe those gods have favorites. And they bless their favorites with just a touch of luck. Just enough so that a bullet wounds instead of kills.”

Combat resumed on the 2nd day of 2011. Resupply was the name of that day; and the British Apache’s shared the load with Company A. Three separate resupply missions to FOBs. But very little trouble was found. Liz was quite happy with that.

That night, a call went out for fire support and as per the agreement the RAF Apache’s went out and got it done. That meant that the next day the load fell on A Company. Once again the SAS and 2nd Scots hit villages. As per usual Liz went with the SAS. It was a small village and it ended up virtually empty. Liz was happy about that. The Scots had a more difficult time but still cleaned theirs out without casualties. When Liz got back she picked up her detail and then went to the Debrief; after it the RAF commander spoke to her.
“The Dutch are arriving with 8 Apache’s in a week. And we will probably get some others in a few weeks after that. With the relative quiet period we have at this time due to the weather, you should be able to head back to Kandahar in two weeks.”
“Sir I will be happy to be in a more comfortable place; but I will be sad to leave those I have fought beside here.”

“I can guarantee, Captain Parker, we will miss you.”

And two weeks later Liz and A Company headed back to Kandahar. A very fine party was thrown by the SAS, RAF and 2nd Scots for them. Liz was extremely sad to leave Bastion and the very good friends she had made there. Each of those had made her and her company honorary members.

Those two weeks had been rather sparse in missions; hardly any of the Apache’s had fired anything.

Liz was happy to be back at Kandahar for several reasons: a more comfortable place to sleep; being with the crew; and not having a protective detail. She was quite glad her greeting was low key. She would not have been glad to know what was going on high over her head.

SECDEF looked at his aide.
“This has been confirmed.

“Yes sir, even during the very quiet periods in Afghanistan it did not happen. In both you could find some that lost no Americans on their watch; but allies were lost. In its current tour, A company has not had one single death of anyone that was not an enemy. Not a civilian or innocent that we can find. If you look at the period just operating with the British, they have not lost anyone during that period either, and they had until A Company arrived a rather high casualty count when you looked at the percentage of troops involved. Now this current tour of the 101st Airborne has been remarkably absent of casualties; but they have had some. Every single one happened on someone else’s watch. Special Operations while A Company has been involved had no casualties as regards KIA. Or even killed in accidents. In her last tour Captain Parker was heavily involved with Special Operations Missions; and none were lost there either. It can be put no other way; Captain Parker has the touch of Midas; only instead of gold her gift is life.”

The Battalion commander had called a meeting of his Unit Commanders.
“Combat operations will cease on 15 February, just one month from now. It looks like we should all be home on or about 10 March. At this time there is minimal combat, but we cannot relax or grow complacent. I expect 100% effort and efficiency right through the last combat mission.”

Liz was back to her office very happily and greeted her first sergeant.
“Now I am really glad to be back. I have someone to dump paperwork on.”

He grinned at her. “Paperwork? Never heard of it.”

Liz was a little surprised how easily she slipped back into the swing of things; but she was not going to complain. 17 January and they were back to business as usual; a 2nd Brigade assault on a suspected Taliban stronghold near the mountains. It was big enough that Liz was told to take her whole company. In the mission planning; she asked to do the same as they had been doing at Helmand; using a platoon as a diversion. It was agreed.

5th Battalion had 14 hawks in the assault with 4 in reserve and 2 MEDEVACS; Liz realized that she had gotten used to the lesser resources at Bastion. But she was happy to have them. The Crew was in the assault group so Liz was a little tenser than usual but one would not have known by looking at her. Hustler came in from the west while the rest of the assault came in from the east and it worked very well indeed. There were not a lot of Taliban to begin with and most of them obediently lined up and got themselves taken out by getting caught in the crossfire from the Apache’s and the troopers. There were a few minor casualties but nothing serious.

There were a few supply runs but nothing else for several days. Then Captain Forrest showed up again. Liz looked at him and sighed.
“If I had any sense at all I would just shoot you now.”

“I come in peace.”

“I should send you out in pieces.”

“How about a visit to our compound?”

“Why not? It’s not like I am not in a war zone already.”

She went with him and upon entering was taken to the office of the Commander. Captain Forrest then left, closing the door and the Commander offered her a seat. Liz sat down; wondering what was coming this time.

“No mission, no Company mess, nothing like that.”

“Now I know I should run like hell.”

He handed her a file that was marked TOP SECRET. Liz felt something shift inside of her and she opened the file. Began to read. Then actually felt herself start to drool.

The commander watched all this with satisfaction. He doubted he would need to do much to convince her.

Liz spent 10 minutes reading and memorizing the file then handed it back to the Commander who promptly put it in a safe and locked it. She observed all this.
“Why am I being told? I can guess that this is being built now but VERY quietly.

“It is being built as a black project. And we have been able to keep it very quiet; one reason is that parts of it are being built by people who have no idea what those parts are for. The body and frame parts are basically identical to the standard parts only they are being made out of titanium. Other parts are being made as replacements for current parts. Only the avionics are unique. Even the engines are standard in one respect; they are the same as the WAH models. The first ones will be assembled starting in May. They are making the parts and then will assemble the aircraft. That is another way we are hiding it. The first company will be operational in February of 2012. By the end of that year we will have two battalions. We want you to be not only our first pilot; but the commander of the first company. You only have to ask for transfer to 160th SOAR.”

“I thought that was men only.”

“A new directive came out in September from SECDEF. We have not publicized it yet. Aviators are no longer male only.”

Liz thought about the super Apache. She knew she had to fly it.
“You said Feb of 2012?”

“That is the goal; it probably will slip a few months.”

Liz considered that. She had plans but it might still work. But there was no other decision she could make. She knew she should tell Max first but he would understand. She looked at the commander.

“How do I do this?”

“You are agreeing?”

“Yes. I must fly that chopper.”

“Then you need to do nothing until you redeploy.”

Liz went back to her quarters and lay on her bed and thought. While her decision had been somewhat impulsive, it was also true to herself. Flying was her goal; it was what truly interested her and made her eager to leave her home and family. It made her willing to sacrifice heavily to do it. ‘Find something you love to do and then find a way to get paid doing it’ was something she had read as a child and had always remembered. She had and she had. Taking a deep breath she then headed out to where you could make commercial phone calls; now she wished she had gone ahead an gotten a satellite phone. It took more than an hour, but she was able to get through to Max’s work number and she was in luck as he was at the office.

Max was finishing up some paperwork; this job was not as bad as he had thought it was; not particularly good just not bad. He had been quietly checking around for something better and had some good prospects. Hopefully in six months or so he would have something he liked doing. His phone rang and he answered it.

“Max Evans”

“Max, it’s Liz.”

“Liz! Great to hear from you honey! How are things going?”

“Well I have some news for you.”

“Well if it is big I am sitting down.”

“I guess that is good. I had a meeting with the local Special Forces Commander today and he gave me some very interesting information. It made me decide to join the 160th SOAR when I get back from deployment.”

Max was very still for a moment.
“Liz, they deploy a lot. More than anyone else.”

“I know. But what was offered me I could not pass up.”

Max thought hard. What in the world could make Liz jump from the frying pan to the fire?
“Liz you talked about applying to become an instructor so we could start a family.”

“We can still start one when I get back. I went off the pill 6 months ago.”

“But that means if you are pregnant you are grounded; so what is the point of joining the 160th right after you get back?”

“So I am first in line. What I want to be flying won’t be available for a while.”

So that was it- something new. He had not heard about any new Helicopters coming out that would make Liz want to do this. So it had to be something really Black. Well it was Special Ops. And they had made a point of offering it now to Liz. Well that was no surprise; with the reputation she had earned they would be stupid to not do that. Liz loved the Apache; so it had to be something that would blow the Apache away. If that was the case no wonder she had jumped on the offer.
“I think I understand now, Liz. At least you will still be based here. So we will manage. I am so looking forward to you coming home.”

“So am I. To you and Aliya.”

“She is very proud of you and so am I. She is doing well; and staying here will be good for her, too.”

“Love you and give her a kiss for me. Have to go.”

“Love you too Liz.”

Max sat back and thought about things. Then got onto his computer and started to go to some of those forums that speculated about Black Projects. A couple hours later he stopped; even in that most paranoid and conspiracy driven area, there was only a very slight amount of speculation about a new attack helicopter for Black Ops. They had done a real good job of hiding this. And on the regular forums for aviation there was really nothing on a new attack helicopter for the military.

Liz went back to her quarters and once again lay down and thought. She was rather lucky that the Crew was out. She would let Battalion know right after they got home. That would give them time to figure out a replacement for her. She smiled at the thought of ‘working’ on starting a family. She wanted that very much. If she was lucky she would get pregnant quickly. She hoped her guardian angel was listening.

There were less than four weeks to go before they stopped flying. The replacement brigade would be flying in the next week. They would have three weeks to get ready before they relieved the 101st. One of the Brigades, the 2nd, would also be leaving at the same time; the 4th Brigade was already home. The next two brigades would be leaving in the next few months. Liz knew that everyone was beginning to get the short timers attitude; which had its good and bad points. The Bad was that people would try and skate and do as little as possible; the Good was that people would be more cautious and take fewer risks.

The next day there were some supply runs that were uneventful. C Company had really shaped up and was now maybe as good as A company. Liz privately doubted it, though. B Company had always been solid; not inspired but solid. So that area meant things were good. And with it being this time of year the pressure was off on combat anyway. Liz had no doubt there would be a few more assaults but not that many. The 2nd Cavalry’s Kiowa Scouts, attack/recon, handled most of the calls for quick reaction air support. When the fixed wings were not called, anyway. Only when they were not available or the call came from too far away were the Apache’s brought in. There was a lot less pressure here then there was at Bastion. They really needed more attack helicopter support there; what was there was badly stretched. Liz had written a report on operations there and had stressed that in it. It had gone to Brigade; she hoped it went higher.

Just one week before the end of flying came another mission that had the look of not being fun. It was a Special Operations mission, so naturally Liz was contacted. She followed Forrest as usual to the Special Ops compound.

There it was outlined. A good sized village in a mountain pass almost 150 miles north of Kandahar. There were intelligence indications that several mid-level Taliban leaders were there. It would be hairy as due to the height of the mountains, above the level any Apache could make, or any other helicopter for that matter, so they would have to go right up the valley and had to withdraw the same way. This operation clearly had to be a night attack. There was a place 50 miles from target that would be used as a refueling point; 2 Chinooks would go there with a Special Ops security team, and the attack force would refuel and then launch the assault. They would leave at night; arrive there and refuel; and then hit the target. 6 Battalion would be the transport unit; it would be a full company of SF in 6 Blackhawks, with 4 in reserve and 2 Medevacs.

It was speculated that the village could be defended by one or more 23MM AA cannons, like the one that had just about punched Liz’s ticket. However its use at night would be very limited. This was a no moon period so that there would be no light at all; and all the US Helicopters would be very difficult to see as they had been designed for night operations. However anyone could get lucky so they would be watching for it. The only other possible defense that could worry anyone was if someone down there had an operational man portable SAM like a SA-7 or the like. It was possible they had a more modern version as a SA-7 was very ineffective against a modern US helicopter. It had been established that the Taliban had no remaining operational Stingers; the shelf life for all of them and especially for their batteries had expired years ago. There was no realistic chance any of them would work at this date.

So the mission was planned for the Blackhawks to quickly land the Special Forces teams at the outskirts of the village and then quickly move away to stay out of range of any possible AA weapons. It was probable that there would be 12.7MM MGs – but they had a limited effective range.

The Apache’s would move in as cover and watch for anything; and use their 30MM to take out any identifiable threats. They would then quickly move back as well. This operation would succeed or fail on the Special Forces troops.

Liz had no forebodings as they took off at 2000 the next night. But then she had had none when she had been wounded, either. Apparently it only worked when others were under threat. The trip to the refueling point was uneventful; as was the refueling. They took off for the target at 0030 and arrived at 0100 as scheduled. Liz took her entire Company in over the Blackhawks as they landed; this was a lot tougher than it sounds at night. The night Vision Goggles were the latest version but it was still nowhere near as good as daytime. So there was no choice but to go slower than you would have during the day.

It was not long before they began to receive incoming fire; mostly AK 47 but also some 12.7MM Tracer was spotted; but they were quickly silenced as the Apache’s could see them easily once they fired. And they fired at the Apache’s who were mostly impervious to 12.7MM anyway.

Liz was tensely watching; Roger had control of the stick while she was concentrating on the 30MM. She had not yet fired a shot as someone beat her to it when she spotted something worth shooting at. There were 8 of them watching for anything so that was no surprise. In the cold air it was easier to see the figures trying to move and shoot. The IR contrast helped immensely. Then Liz spotted a figure standing on top of a building with what looked like a RPG, or maybe a SAM. Either way she exploded him quickly. Then heavier tracers started to come towards them and they all reacted quickly to what had to be 23MM; two separate ones were each targeted by 2-3 Apache’s and quickly taken out. Then came the word that the Blackhawks had unloaded and were now a safe distance away.
“Doberman to all ships; let’s back away as planned.”

So they all flew backwards about half a mile or so, each watching the other so that no one got too close to anyone else. There they hovered and waited and watched.

In the village the SF teams had a huge advantage as they all had night goggles and the Taliban did not. Still it was not easy and they slowly fought their way from one end to the other. As agreed once they reached the far end of the village they called the escort.

“Ground to Spectre Lead; we have reached objective three.”

Spectre Lead to Ground; understood.”

Then as agreed Liz and 1st Platoon at a height of 1500 feet moved over the village to its far end; there to see if anyone tried to flee. This would be tricky because they did not want to shoot any women or children. Anyone carrying a weapon was considered fair game. But still they wanted to be sure.

Liz looked hard and long through her sight on the 30MM on the trail leading deeper into the valley from the village. It was not long before there were indeed people starting to run up that trail. Liz was more concerned when she noted what appeared to be women among them. But she did not see a single child.
“Doberman to all ships; I will take any shots; no one else shoots. Acknowledge.”

One by one the others acknowledged.

Liz kept watching; then began to drop down closer to get a better look. There were only a couple figures carrying AK 47’s; really not worth a shot probably. Then a bigger group came out of the village and there were 8 men in it; 3 were carrying AK 47’s; one in front and 2 in the rear. She looked closer and two of the figures in the clump of 5 looked better dressed as near as she could tell. Making a decision she fired a burst at them; killing them all. Then more armed figures came running out of the village shooting back towards it. Liz hosed them as well.

“Ground to Spectre Lead; village secured. Have 4 wounded; not badly.”

“Spectre Lead, took down most of the armed subjects leaving village; a group that appears to have targets taken down as well just past the end of the village.”

“Roger Spectre Lead will take a look.”

In a few minutes Liz saw more armed subjects leaving; clearly the Special Forces soldiers. They checked the ones Liz had blown away then looked at the clump. Liz saw the flashes of pictures being taken.

“Doberman to all ships; back up to angels 15.”

15 minutes later the call for Pickup came and the MEDEVACs dropped down as well.

Liz spread out the company looking for any possible attacks and waited; in less than 15 minutes they were away.

And that turned out to be the end of the combat for the Aviation Brigade.

With the end of the combat role and flying, the choppers were taken over by the maintenance crews to prepare them for transport. But that did not mean the pilots had nothing to do; but now all of it was paperwork. Reports right and left for everything and anything. Liz had to do end of deployment evaluations on everyone; and sign off on every report and all the reports of survey for everything lost or expended not previously accounted for.

All that took up the next two weeks; but it was finally MOSTLY done. There was not a lot of personal gear to pack up so that would not take long. So by the beginning of March just about everyone outside of the Company Commanders on up had a fair amount of free time. Which most used to catch up on sleep and relax; since once they got home most would be taking their 30 day leave right away and would want to do things, not rest. Liz and the other commanders had more to do since they were also briefing in the new brigade about everything.

After the final meeting, Liz was talking to Ed and Jim.
“So, guys, what next for you?”

Ed shrugged “I will probably get the Battalion in the next few months when the Battalion commander finally moves up to Brigade XO.”

Jim sighed; “They are talking giving me 5 Battalion as he moves up.”

Liz looked at them. “Neither of you sound joyful about it.”

Ed nodded. “Command is not what it is cracked up to be, as you have already found. But the paperwork at Battalion level is about 5 times what you have at company level.”

Jim winced. “And that might be underestimating it. But worst of all flying is just about done.”

Liz nodded. “That is why I am thinking of instructor.”

They both nodded. “You can stay an instructor for a long time if you want; 5 years or more. But then you are pretty much stuck being a part of the school after that. Your chances at promotion are pretty much gone.” ED stated.

Jim nodded. “Now if you are just wanting to run out the string to retirement at 20, that would work. You would not get a command or anything like it. The Bottom line in the military is keep rising or get out. Even if you are great at what you are currently doing, they will not let you stay there for too long no matter what.”

Ed sighed. “Liz, you are a superb pilot and company commander. If the military had any brains they would leave you alone right at that position. But they cannot do that; or more to the point won’t. It is like an animal that cannot ever not eat; it thinks if it stops feeding for one day it will die. That is where the US Military is today. Instead of transferring people and promoting them every couple of years the smart thing to do was when you found someone outstanding at doing something is leave them there to keep doing it. When you have too many great ones at that position then start promoting them. And gradually you fill from the bottom up. It is not done.”

Nothing of what they said came to Liz as anything like a surprise. It was all things she had seen and thought herself. From two that she very much respected to have said it, just confirmed what she already knew. And that made her decision that much easier. It was either what she had already decided to do or become an instructor; and while that would have meant she could keep flying, it would have been treading water. She did not like the feeling that she was running as fast as she could just to remain in the same place.

So when Liz got on the plane on March 10 to return to the US, she had yet to tell anyone outside of Max what she was going to do.

Coming home this time was so much like it was last time; Max and Aliya and her mom waiting for her; in exactly the same place. And it was just as good. The very next day she got a chance to speak to the Crew where she let them know where she was going; just not why.
They were not as surprised as she thought they would be. Ellen said it best.
“You love flying that Apache, Liz; and not a desk. So flying anything other than a desk is what you should do. And I don’t think you would like being an instructor as much as you might have thought you would. Dealing with so many just wanting to do enough to get by, would have gotten you sooner or later. And having to wash some out that really want to would have made it worse. And we know you too well to think you would like playing all the political games and doing all those courses to get a list checked; so for me its fine.”

Liz told her mom the next day; and she sighed and nodded.
“I have come to terms with the fact that I have a warrior daughter; someone who does not want the picket fence and the safe lifestyle. Whatever you do as long as you want to do it I will always love and support you.”

It was a little different a few days later when they went down to stay with Maria and the others for a week. Isabelle understood the best, then Tess. Maria was silent. Liz looked at her friend.
“It is what I want to do Maria.”

Maria had her head down then slowly raised it up and they all saw the tears.
“Liz, I got the shakes that night I saw you come out of your Apache dripping blood. I am so afraid that sooner or later I am going to get that phone call telling me that finally you pushed it too far or your luck ran out. And flying for Special Operations is even worse than regular combat. But I know you; I have known you for almost 10 years though not as well the last 5. This is who you are. I think you are the finest person I have ever met; and I dread the day you are no longer here. I want it to happen in about 60 or 70 years. Not next year or the year after.”

Tears in her own eyes Liz hugged her friend. There was nothing more to be said.

She and Max had been ‘working’ on what he called their joint project from the first day. They made it a point to ‘work’ on it at least once a day.

Aliya had grown both inwardly and outwardly. Gone was the too skinny child; now 10, she was starting to sprout up. She might end up a fair amount taller than her adoptive mother. And from the shy and timid girl she had first adopted had come the much more open and confident pre-teen that more and more appeared to be the everyday American girl. In one respect Liz saw that anyway that they could stay here longer would be so good for her; she had very close friends and was comfortable and happy. It had been good seeing the Posse as well. Susan had been very blunt.
“Thank you for making sure our men came back to us.” While the 1st Brigade was not yet back, it was done with combat.

Ruth had just hugged her and whispered to her “I knew you would keep your promise.”

Becky had hugged her and told her that Sam had been able to email her and let her know that his unit had just finished their last mission before coming home.

The three of them then took off for 10 days of traveling to several different parts of the country like the Northeast; NY and Boston; then Florida and Disney World. Finally with a week left they came home. And just stayed together; Sam had left his job and the next one would not start for a month. So they got a chance to know each other.

Finally Liz called the number that the Special Forces Commander in Kandahar had given her. She was told to head over to the 160th SOAR HQ in Campbell.

While in a different compound with more security, it did not seem that much different. But going inside the HQ building Liz could feel a difference; an energy that was unlike anything she had seen anywhere else, even the Spec Ops in Afghanistan had. She was directed into an office where a full Colonel waited.

“Captain Parker; I am Colonel Ballard, commander of the 160th SOAR.”

“Pleased to meet you sir.”

“I am pleased to meet you Captain. I am glad you have decided to join us.”

“When I saw that bird, I had to fly her. Just that simple sir.”

“Well you will get that chance. However, the schedule has slipped due to some problems that cropped up. Nothing serious but it will add about 6 months to operational status.”

“Well that is good sir, since I was looking to have a baby before I started flying her.”

He raised an eyebrow then grinned. “I was told you did not mince words, Captain and I am glad that you are being fully honest here. So that is your latest project?”

Liz blushed slightly. “Yes Sir and I am giving full attention to it like anything else that is important.”

He grinned wider. “As any good Special Operations warrior should. Well that will work out well if you can manage to start your project in the next few months. You will have to go through our own special preparation course, but it is nothing that frankly should give you too much trouble. As organized as you are reputed to be.”

Liz smiled at him. “Ya gotta have a plan.”

“You will be going through a special version of that course for the simple reason of your record and accomplishments. Some of the regular parts would be redundant and waste time; you will only be doing what you need. We try to tailor all our prep work that way.”

Liz was already liking this. No cookie cutter crap; no trying to force round pegs into square holes.

“How long would that course take?”

“Probably about 12 weeks.”

“Well sir, If I can get my current project started, how much of what I need to do can I do before I cannot see my feet?”

He laughed out loud at that. “If that is not too the point I do not know what is. I would say about half of it.”

“Sounds like a plan, sir. Where do I sign?”

He reached for a folder on his desk and handed it to her. In about 10 minutes she had signed everything. Most of it had been pre filled out. When she finished it, she looked at him.

“So what next?”

“Inform your command about your intentions. Special Forces has another position they would like you to fill while we are all waiting for the birds to get done.

Liz blinked for a minute then sighed. “Don’t tell me; their ASP.”

He grinned again. “No flies on you. Makes sense; that is the other area you have excelled in. And they are losing their commander next month.”

And that was that. Liz headed back home and let Max know that it was done. The next day she went to the 101st Brigade HQ and talked to the head of personnel there.

“Captain Parker, what can I do for you?”

“Here are my transfer papers to the 160th SOAR.”

She did enjoy the look on his face.

Not two hours later she got a call from her Brigade Commander.
“I don’t suppose there is any way I can talk you into staying, Captain?” Was his statement to her when she came to his office.

“Sir do you know about the new bird they are getting?”

He looked at her and slowly nodded. “So that is why. I guess I cannot blame you. We will be very sorry to lose you Captain.”

“I am sorry to leave sir, but we both know I would not have been in that cockpit for that much longer here.”

“I am not going to BS you so no you would not have. Your promotion is in the works and you would have been Battalion XO fairly soon. You should know that you will be getting another commendation.”

Liz sighed. “Now what?”

He smiled suddenly. “I just got the word today. Company A, 1st Battalion, 101st Aviation Brigade will be awarded the Presidential Unit Citation for actions in Kandahar and Helmand Provinces, Afghanistan from March of 2010 through February of 2011.”

Liz blinked but smiled. “So everyone that served in A Company in that time period is included.”

“Yes.”

“That is very good. I do not mind this one.”

“Thought that would make you a bit happier. I am very sorry to lose you but I do understand why. It has been an honor and pleasure to have you in my command, Captain.”

“Proud to have served in your command, Colonel.”

Liz came back to their house and found Max and Aliya preparing lunch. She smiled at this. She had not eaten much that morning, her stomach had been a little queasy so she was very hungry now and proceeded to devour two large sandwiches. Aliya had wide eyes at that; Liz laughed at her.
“You have seen me eat big meals before.”

“Momma, it always surprises me.”

After lunch Aliya went off to the center; this was her last day off before going back to school. A lot of children had not been in school since the division had come back. The school there was used to it. Max came back after dropping her off and found Liz just sitting and smiling.
“What has you happy?”

“The Brigade Commander informed me that A Company is getting the Presidential Unit Citation.”

“Wow.”

“Yeah this is one I do not mind. Of course it is my second; sometimes I forget about the one I got for being in the 3rd ID during the initial assault on Iraq.”

The next week when the Brigade reported back the Company was given the word; the award would be made within the next few weeks. After that she told them that she would be transferring to the 160th SOAR.

They pretty much all said the same thing; that they were not surprised and that they understood. She knew they were disappointed she was going but that was all.

Liz felt like she was in limbo and really did not know what to do until the transfer was formalized. Then another thought occurred to her that kind of took precedence. She realized she was late and remembered the slight nausea she had had on and off the last week or so. She wasted no time in going into town in civilian clothes and getting a pregnancy test. She came back to the house; glad that Max was looking over his new job; they were working on renovating the main air field and he had gotten a job with the contractor as supervisor of the work crews. She knew he would like that job better than the last. She read the instructions and followed them. Not ten minutes later Max came home and found her smiling again.

“OK, what this time?”

She showed him the test.

They spent the next hour making love. Then talking about things.

Aliya came home from school and was told; she was big eyed and asked a lot of questions. Liz very early on told her that she would be the big sister and thus would have some responsibility.

That evening Liz called her mom, then Maria and the others. Then the Crew, and finally the Posse. The crew and posse called for a party at the park the coming Saturday.

Liz quietly called the commander of the 160th SOAR and told him her news.

“Congratulations on the baby, Captain. Good timing. Very efficient.”

Liz laughed and thanked him.

On Saturday the Posse proceeded to make sure she did various things. Liz loved this time; the Crew were just as happy. And had some announcements. They were all getting married in the next few months.

That of course required much consultation on all matters marriage.

Back home that evening Liz cuddled with Aliya and Max on the sofa. They just sat there and enjoyed being together.

That Monday Liz was notified formally that her transfer had been accepted. And that she would be detached in two weeks to take over the ASP for Special Operations. And that the Presidential Unit Citation would be held in the White House Rose Garden on May 14. She was not pleased when told that the only ones listed were the Copilots, Pilots and Sergeant Rogers. She immediately called Brigade and they told her they were working on it. Liz then emailed her congressman.


“The Presidential Unit Citation currently leaves out the Crew chiefs and crews that kept our choppers flying. That is wrong.”

The reply came back in an hour. “I am on it.”

SECDEF really did not have time for this and proceeded to chew out his Undersecretary for Personnel who was supposed to take care of screw ups like that.

Liz cleaned up her office; then made sure all necessary paperwork was done, and then looked around. Ted came in and proceeded to pull her to where they had put together a going away party for her. Liz would miss them; she had spent more time with them than any other unit and that counted for a lot.

She reported to the 5th Group the following Monday and talked to the Commander.
“Captain Parker, you will find that no one is left from the group you trained over two years ago. So that is why you have been assigned TDY here. The new commander designate has decided to leave the army so it will be a while before we can scare up a replacement. I was informed of your condition and it should be no bar to this assignment. The 160th SOAR will be your PCS move technically even though you remain on the same installation.”

“Understood Sir. I have a fair amount of time before I reach the point where I will be completely desk bound. I see no reason that the ASP cannot be well in gear before I leave.”

Liz headed down to the SF ASP Office and walked in the door and looked around. There was no one there. She walked around and noted that the key cabinet was not secured. There was no one in the office at all. Beginning to get steamed she called up the 5th Group G4.

“Sir, this is Captain Parker. I am down here at the ASP office and there is no one in the building and it is not secure. I thought the Commander was not due to leave yet?”

“He was not as far as I know, Captain. I will send security ASAP.”

Liz went through the building and did not like what she found. A quick look at the SOP’s showed that they had all been last updated one year after she had left; not since. Virtually everything she saw screamed sloppiness and taking short cuts.

Within 10 minutes of her call upstairs, two vehicles loaded with SF Security appeared. The lead sergeant approached Liz.

“Sergeant Gunderson. Was told by Group to report to you on a security breach.”

“That is correct sergeant. You will have half your men secure this building; the rest and you will come with me to the ASP.”

“Yes Maam. Sergeant Wilson, take your team and secure this building.”

“Understood Sergeant.”

“Sergeant Wilson, you will hold anyone that comes in until I return.”

“Yes Maam.”

“Let’s go, Sergeant Gunderson.”

Liz got into the Hummer and the Sergeant took the wheel and they headed towards the ASP.
“Sergeant, I have reason to think I just inherited a cluster fuck. I may need more of your men to do a sweep of the ASP.”

“Understood Captain.”

He then called into HQ for more men.

Meanwhile the G4 had contacted the Group Commander and filled him in.
“Damn, this sounds bad. What about the current Commander?”

“Sir, I have not been able to find a leave slip. He is not due to process out for 2 weeks. His quarters do not answer.”

The Group Commander thought for a moment.
Then the G4’s phone rang, and he answered it.
“Yes it is. What? OK keep me informed.”

“Captain Parker just asked for reinforcements.”

“I want an alert RIGHT NOW. Get the reaction force rolling for the ASP.”

Liz and the Security detachment rolled up to the Group ASP. The gate was open and the guard was not there. Liz got out and looked around- saw a porto potty.
“Sergeant, secure this gate, check that porto. Call HQ and declare a security breach right now.”

“Yes MAAM! Jones and Brandon, check that potty. People we are on alert; weapons locked and loaded and ready to fire; safeties off. Smith, close that gate.”

Liz thought she might be over reacting but she was taking no chances; she wished she had a side arm but then again she had not expected this and had no reason to.

The potty was empty and the two security people unlocked the back of the vehicles weapon storage and produced M4’s. Liz was glad to see they had more and took one and two magazines and quickly readied it for action.

Liz looked around and still saw nothing. She looked at Gunderson.
“Sergeant, any moving vehicle will be stopped one way or another. Deadly force is authorized.”

“Understood, Captain.”

Liz thought for a minute and pulled out her cell phone and punched in a number.

“1st Battalion.”

“Sir, this is Captain Parker. We have a situation at the Group ASP; probable security breach. Possibly worse. Is there anyone immediately available and armed?”

“Negative; only scouts available.”

“Need eyes in the sky, sir.”

“Understood; 10 minutes.”

“Yes sir, have them contact us on Group Security.”

“As soon as we can Captain.”


10 minutes went by and they heard sirens coming from the main area. Then approaching sirens. They could see flashing lights as the security vehicles approached. 4 Hummers approached; 2 with 50’s on mounts and two with flashing lights.

At the same time came from Gunderson’s radio
“6 Battalion, Ferrer, for Captain Parker.”

Liz grabbed the mike “This is Captain Parker; I need a sweep of the Group ASP and tell us what you see.”

“Roger that, Captain.”

The Lead vehicle stopped and a LT came hustling forward. He saluted Liz.
“Told of a security breech; Group has called an alert. Was told to follow your orders, Captain.”

“I want a sweep of the ASP. I have a hawk upstairs looking right now and will give us the situation.”

“Ferrer to Captain Parker; I have four magazines open; one vehicle in front of one magazine; no personnel in sight.”

Liz thought about the layout of the ASP.
“Ferrer which magazines are open?”

“All the magazines on the 3rd row.”

“Where is that vehicle?”

“Third magazine from your right as facing the magazines from the gate.”

“Thank You Ferrer, keep looking and if anything changes sing out.”

“Roger that, Captain.”

Liz looked at the Lt.
“I went to the ASP HQ and the building was empty and unsecured. We got here and the gate was open and nobody present. I want you to move in and check those magazines for intruders or anyone else; detain and secure anyone you find. I checked the planographs for the open magazines and there are no AT weapons in them. The one magazine with the vehicle in front has only small arms ammunition. Deadly Force is authorized.”

“Understood Captain.”

He then gathered his sergeants and quickly briefed them.

Then more sirens and two vehicles approached; one looked like a commanders Hummer and the other was another security Hummer.

Liz looked at the LT. “LT, just in case those are not who they look to be.”

“Yes Sir.”

Then gave orders and the two hummers with 50’s turned to cover the oncoming vehicles. Liz and the others moved behind their hummer and watched.

The two vehicles stopped and out of the second came the 5th Group commander, Colonel Collins.
Everyone relaxed as he quickly came forward.

“Captain, brief me.”

“Sir we arrived 20 minutes ago. The gate was open and unmanned. We secured it; the reaction force arrived. I called the field and they rushed a Blackhawk” she pointed at the hawk hovering at about 2000 feet “and it reported four magazines open and one vehicle in front of one; no personnel in sight. I just ordered the LT to move in and secure the area; to detain and secure anyone found. He was about to do so when you arrived.”

He nodded. “Well done Captain. The ASP commander is missing. Has anyone shown up at the ASP HQ?”

“The Sergeant there has secured the building and will alert us if anyone appears; anyone that does will be detained. We have received no communications from him.”

He thought for a minute then looked at the LT.
“Lt Anderson, are you ready to move in?”

“Yes sir my people are briefed and we are ready.”

“Then do so.”

“Yes sir.”

Liz broke in “Sir, I authorized deadly force if necessary.”

The Colonel nodded. “Per those orders, move in.”

“Yes sir.”

They moved out 2 minutes later, two vehicles going each way to the far end of the rows of magazines in view; there were 4 rows of 4 magazines laid out in a square.

Liz moved back to Gunderson’s vehicle and took the mike. “Captain Parker to Ferrer, any change?”

“Negative, Captain. The security vehicles are approaching the first open bunkers; two troopers are going in to check; with two outside covering; “

A couple of minutes went by.

“first two open magazines are closed now; one unit is checking the third open bunker; the other is waiting.”

Another couple of minutes.

“third magazine closed they are moving towards the magazine with the vehicle.”

“They are going in the magazine.”

“They are pulling out four uniformed personnel out of the magazine and are handcuffing them. They are staggering, barely able to stand.”

“Security to Group Commander, have secured the situation. Have arrested four personnel who are apparently under the influence of drugs.”

Everyone relaxed. Liz shook her head. “Stoned out of their gourds probably.”

The Group commander reached for his phone. “Call off the alert. Contact CID, we will need a full investigation team.”
He looked at Liz. “You reacted correctly, Captain. And it looks like we have a much bigger mess than I ever suspected.”

“Yes sir. Before we left the building, I looked around. The Key cabinet was open and unsecured; everything I saw indicated a very sloppy and careless attitude. The SOPS were all out of date.”

He nodded. “Right now I think a full replacement of all personnel is going to be required.”

Liz looked up as a vehicle approached with flashing lights; it was a command Hummer. It approached and stopped and a Major came out and approached the Colonel and saluted.

“Major Fresnel, Security. IS the situation under control, sir?”

“It is. But I will need this ASP secured and the guard on duty is either missing or is one of the four we have found who are under the influence.”

The Major blinked and nodded.

At that point the Security Force came up to the gate. LT Anderson got out and approached the group and saluted the colonel.

“Four personnel apparently severely under the influence, sir; we could smell a large amount of marijuana smoke in each of the magazines; the one the personnel were in reeked with it. They are so bad they can barely stand and are completely incoherent.”

“Take them straight to the Base Hospital for testing; you know the procedures.”

“Yes Sir.”

Major Fresnel spoke up. “I want 4 personnel here for the immediate future until relieved, Lt Anderson.”

“Understood sir.”

Liz also spoke up. “Did you lock the magazines, Lt.?

“No captain; I was not able to find any locks or keys.”

Liz shook her head. “Will need to get spare locks from the office, and we will need to reset the IDS.” Suddenly she thought of something and looked at the LT.
“Shouldn’t the IDS have gone off; If I recall the system it has to be keyed every hour the door is open or it alarms. I doubt those characters have only been stoned for an hour.”

His eyes widened as did Major Fresnel, who called into his office and wanted to know what his board showed. He paled as he looked at the Group commander.
“The IDS board shows all those magazines as secured; and have not opened today.”

Liz sighed. The others looked at her. “They must have bypassed the IDS so that it never alarms no matter what happens. That is not something easily done.”

Major Fresnel shook his head. “No it’s not.” He looked at the group Commander. “Sir this is very serious.”

The Colonel nodded. “It is getting more serious by the minute.”
He looked at Liz. “Captain, as of right now this ASP is on lockdown. Closed until further notice. You will perform a 100% inventory starting tomorrow morning. In the meantime, we will have security on each row 24/7.”

“Yes sir.” Then Liz headed towards Gunderson’s radio. “Captain Parker to Ferrer; situation secured and thank you. Head for the barn.”

“Roger that Captain Parker.”

The Colonel looked at Liz. “Good thinking there, Captain. Let us proceed to the ASP office and we will discuss this. I will call the G4 and have him come down. I will also call the Base Commander and have the head of his ASP head over as well; we will have to use his people for the inventory.”

They all trooped down to the ASP Office except for the detail going to the base hospital or back to the Barracks. Liz unloaded her weapon and gave it back to the Sergeant to be locked away. The Colonel noted that she was very precise and competent with the weapon.

In the office Liz immediately checked the keys in the Key cabinet. The Colonel and Major noted her frustration.
“Just how bad is this, Captain?”

“Sir this is a mess. We have CAT 1 and 2 keys mixed in with all the others; a major security violation as they must be separated so that no one person can draw both keys…oh hell. IT looks like only one lock on the Cat 1 bunkers. Damn. I see some of the keys are missing. This keeps getting better and better.”

She closed the cabinet that had a combination type lock on it; then stopped and looked in the cabinet next to it and found a key lock still in the box; she took that lock out and locked the cabinet with it and took both keys and placed them in the safe. Then stopped. “Damn. Need to change the combination to this safe.” She looked at the lock. “Well good you can change the combination.” She fiddled with it. Then locked it. She looked at the Major. “Sir, I will give you the combination and I will have the combination and no one else.” She looked at the Colonel and he nodded and stepped away. Liz whispered to the Major “8 4 76”

He nodded. “Got it.”

Liz then looked around and poked at some boxes on the floor. “Jesus. Here are the spare Magazine locks. They are supposed to be secured as well.” She picked them up and opened the safe and checked the lower drawer and dropped 6 locks in it and closed the safe again and put the closed sign on it.

Both the Major and the Colonel shook their heads.

The Group G4 came in and looked around. The Colonel beckoned him over.
“What did the base commander say?”

“The Ordnance Company commander resigned his commission 3 days ago and has already cleared post. The 2 LTs are still on leave. They have been unable to contact them.”

Liz shook her head. “Jesus H Christ. The Ordnance Company was in great shape when I left.”

The G4 shrugged. “All the personnel that you trained are gone. Over a year ago the last one left. Remember, Captain, it was almost 4 years since you left here.”

The Colonel was also shaking his head. “With the increased emphasis that the Ammunition Mission has been getting; since the new SECDEF kept up the pressure the last one had been applying, I cannot believe that it collapsed here.”

The G4 looked uncomfortable. The colonel glared at him. The G4 sighed.
“Sir I had been hearing some things about the ASP on main post; but I had heard nothing about this ASP. The Last inspection conducted before we left, 18 months ago, did not seem to find anything wrong.”

Liz looked at him. “Who did it?”

“The Main post ASP office.”

Liz was quiet for a moment. “How much do you want to bet that the last inspection for THEIR ASP came from THIS ASP.”

The three officers winced. The Colonel sighed. “We are not dumb enough to take that bet.”

He thought for a moment and reached for a desk phone. Dialed a number.
“Colonel Simms. I think you need to have your ASP checked immediately. IT was a disaster here; and the last inspection done 18 months ago was by the main post ASP and there are things here that should have been caught even then. And were not. I am at our ASP office; frankly the only officer on this installation who has an idea how bad it might be is Captain Parker here. She was supposed to take over the ASP and found a Major Security Breech.” “Yes. That Captain Parker; she is TDY for the moment here prior to her joining the 160th SOAR. She will clearly be busy here; and I think we might have to have her take over all the ordnance company functions on this installation. Yes I agree. We will head over in a while; 1300 is a good time for a meeting in your office.”

Liz checked her watch. It was 1130. Only 90 minutes had passed since she left the Group HQ to come here.

The Colonel looked at the officers present. “Meeting at the base commanders office at 1300.” He looked around. “Captain Parker, how many people should be here?”

“Sir, TOE is 1 Captain, 1 LT, 2 Sergeants and 6 specialists. We know the Captain is missing; the LT has transferred out. One of the four was the gate guard who is in security; the other three were 3 of the specialists. So that leaves both sergeants and 3 specialists unaccounted for.”

He looked at Major Fresnel. “I want them found. At this time I want them detained.”

“Yes sir I will send out an alert.” They began to discuss that.

Liz had wandered over to the Captains office and looked inside. She saw an envelope lying on his desk. She went in and picked it up. She brought it out to the main office area where they had been talking.
“Sir this was laying on the captain’s desk. It is labeled for Personnel.”

He took it and opened it. Pulled out some papers. Looked at them. “His resignation effective today. IT is dated last Wednesday.”

Liz shook her head. “Well that explains his absence but not much else.”

The Colonel looked around. “Check all the offices. See if any more like this are around.” They all started to poke around but found nothing but more evidence of an incredibly sloppy operation. Liz did find the keys to the door to the building. The Colonel told them to close the doors and for Liz to secure it.

“Major, I imagine you have quite a report to start on.”

“Yes sir and I need to start on it ASAP.”

“Then go do so.”

He looked at Liz and the G4. “We have time for lunch; we will go to the officers club and we can discuss this over food.” Liz had the keys to the ASP office vehicle that had been brought back from the ASP; she decided to take it instead of the base car she had been using.

After they went to the Officers mess and had taken seats in the senior officer section the Colonel looked at Liz.
“Just how bad do you think it is?”

“Sir this is about one step down from apocalyptic. I have no doubt we will find everything wrong. The Ordnance company mostly did not deploy due to where the 101st was; the ASPs are permanent there and manned by other units. So they stayed here; with very little to do since the whole division was gone. The Special Forces ASP also has had little to do due to how much of 5th Group is deployed and once again not many of them went. The old saying that while the Cat is away the mice will play has been already proven here.”

The G4 shook his head. “You left a trained and competent ASP here and on Main post. But I am willing to bet that the senior people were gone within 2 years at the most; with the others steadily going. We probably got the dregs here from elsewhere; why I do not know but I bet that was what happened. Somehow we became the dumping ground for the bad Ordnance types here. With that increased emphasis on Ammunition, everyone wanted to get rid of their bad apples. Looks like we got more than a few. And since we did not need them, nobody noticed in the past year how bad it had been getting.” His cell phone rang and he took the call. Listened for a bit then told them OK and keep digging.
“That was personnel. Of the 2 sergeants and 3 missing Specialists, it turns out that the three specialists left over 6 months ago and the Captain did not bother to get replacements. One of the sergeants also transferred to the NG two months ago. The remaining sergeant is still unaccounted for. The LT transferred out and his time in ran out last month and he left the military.”

Liz sighed. “So we have one missing sergeant who could very well be out somewhere drunk. I would not be surprised if he had something like that in his record. One of the sergeants offices looked somewhat empty; the other had his trash can full of beer cans.”

The Colonel looked up at the ceiling. “I cannot believe that I did not hear about this from somewhere.”

The G4 also shook his head. “I had heard vague things but had no idea of this goat rope. That is why I wanted Captain Parker to take over here for the time being.”

Liz shook her head. “I have NO one then I can start with. I will need bodies. And if the Main ASP is anything like this, and right now there is no reason to not think so, there might be very few there that I can use.”

The Colonel grunted. “Well, let’s eat. And try and enjoy the meal.”

At 1245 they headed to the Base Commander’s office.

The Base commander, Colonel Sims, the Division G4, Colonel Allen, and the Base Security Commander were waiting in the office. After introductions the Base commander nodded to Colonel Allen to start.
“Ordnance Company. Captain Jenkins resigned. Lt Johnson has had his transfer approved and is on leave in Europe. Lt Dunkin has been found in his quarters passed out drunk. He was supposed to be on leave and apparently was just drinking in his room. 4 sergeants. 2 are transferring in and are not Ordnance qualified; but seem competent from their records. 2 slots were empty and have been for 6 months. The two coming in are due on base next week. They both have families and are in route. 8 specialists for doing paperwork; and the TAMIS system. 4 slots empty. The other slots are filled with personnel that are barely competent. None of them were evaluated at more than satisfactory and that was probably a stretch. Effectively at this time this ordnance section is an empty building.”

Liz was thinking hard and the Group Commander noticed. “What is it Captain?”

“Sir none of them include the personnel that did come with us to Afghanistan.”

He looked at the G4. Who nodded. “Due to the realignment, the Ordnance company is permanent post so that if one or more of the brigades stay they can be taken care of. We do have the people who were deployed. Some sergeants and specialists.”

“So what do we have from them?”

The Colonel pulled out a file and checked it. “4 sergeants, 2 89B’s. 8 specialists, 4 of which are TAMIS qualified. All attached to their various brigades.”

The Base Commander nodded. “Well they will not be needed so we can put them in the Ordnance Company permanent post.”

Liz nodded. “I can also grab the two sergeants extra and I have something to start with at the SF ASP. If we can take two of the specialists, one TAMIS, there is a core to build around. One of those sergeants need to be one of the 89B’s.”

The atmosphere lightened up now that there was some light at the end of the tunnel.

The Base Security commander then interjected. “I think the absolute first thing will be to have a 100% inventory.”

The group nodded and the Base Commander looked at Liz. “Captain Parker, since this will be your responsibility, I think you need to let us all know what you will need first.”

Liz took a deep breath and pulled out her notebook that she had been making notes prior to the meeting.
“As was pointed out, 100% inventory. No records previously used will be considered as anything but unreliable. I will need to talk to the QASAS here. I wonder why they did not say anything; they should have caught this long ago.”

The Division G4 sighed. “One QASAS recently retired; the other just got here last month and has just started duty. The AMMO LAR retired 2 months ago and has not been replaced. The new QASAS is very inexperienced.”

Liz blinked. “We need either an immediate LAR or QASAS that is experienced at Camp or Post.”

The Division G4 nodded. “I will contact the Career Office and request an immediate fill. But that means it will be several months.”

Liz shook her head. “We need QASAS help now; tell them to send some TDY.”

The Group and Base Commander both nodded. Group commander was blunt.” If the Career Office is hesitant, I will have SOCOM demand one ASAP.”

Liz looked at her notebook. “Need to have those brigade sergeants and specialists tomorrow if possible; ASAP anyway. Also I need the authorization to issue ammunition per regulation; need to cancel all previous permissions as well.”

Group nodded. “I will have your authorization to issue by tomorrow NOON.

The Base Commander also nodded. “For the rest of the base tomorrow by NOON as well. Your appointment as Ordnance company commander is already being worked on by my office.”

Liz sighed. “Someone probably needs to let 160th SOAR know about this. I am going to be here a lot longer than originally thought.”

Group nodded. “I will take care of that.”

The Base Commander mused. “I know Captain Parker left the Ordnance Company in very good shape and that was only four years ago. It is remarkable to me that it was allowed to deteriorate like it did, especially in the new climate as regards Ammunition. I only took command 3 months ago, but Colonel Johnson did not seem the sort to allow it to happen.”

Division G4 sighed. “It is more our fault than anyone else’s. With the new organization, technically we should have been keeping a closer watch but we just plain did not.”

Group shrugged. “No point in worrying about blame; but we do need to make sure it does NOT happen again. If Captain Parker had not decided to go looking this morning rather than waiting for tomorrow, that ASP might have been left wide open until nighttime; and we would not have known about the IDS system.”

The Base Commander looked at him. “There is something wrong with the IDS system as well?”

Base Security grimaced. “Technicians are right now looking over the system; their preliminary report I got just before this meeting indicates the SF ASP had over rides placed on the IDS so they would not register as open unless specifically entered in the keyboard on the magazine control board.”

The Base Commander was shocked. “How long?”

“Not known at this time.”

Group sighed. “All involved will be given bad conduct discharges unless we find that there are serious shortages. In which case the CID will have even more to look for. Which is another reason the Inventory must be done ASAP.”

Liz had an ugly thought. “If the Main Post ASP has been working with the SF ASP to cover things up like it looks, is it possible they did the same thing to the Main Post ASP IDS?”

Everyone at the meeting had their jaws drop, fall off, and roll on the floor.

The Base Security chief pulled out his cell phone. “Thompson. I want those techs checking the Main Post ASP IDS ASAP. Yes for the same thing.”

The Base Commander closed his eyes, Group leaned his head back. The Division G4 was very quiet. “It will be next to impossible to keep this from hitting the media.”

Group G4 looked at Liz. “Captain, there is a chance that by this time next week you might be the only one at this meeting with a job.”

The meeting ended not too long after. Liz sat and thought for a while; then picked up her notebooks and headed home for the day. There really was nothing more she could do.

She came in the door and realized that Max was at his job and Aliya was still at school. So she just relaxed. The tension of the day got to her and she dozed off.

Max and Aliya came into the house and saw Liz on the sofa asleep. Max put his fingers to his lips and Aliya tip toed by and up to her room. Max quietly began to prepare dinner.

The smell of food woke Liz. She smiled and stretched and padded to the kitchen and sat at the table watching Max prepare dinner. He was a pretty good cook.

Max looked up and noted Liz at the table.

“Have a nice nap?”

“Ya. Needed it after today.”

“What happened?”

“Remember what I told you about the ASP here when I first came to the Aviation Brigade?”

“Yeah.”

“Today I found both in even worse shape.”

He turned and looked at her and saw that she was very serious. At that point Aliya came in and Liz started to ask her about her day. He saw that she did not want to talk about it and did not bring it up again.

Liz before going to bed dug out all her old Ammunition reference material and packed it ready to take to the base in the morning.

Liz opened up the SF ASP office at 0600. She took a better look around and made notes on what needed to be done. At 0630 she locked it up. Left a sign on the door for anyone to call the number to the main ASP office, which doubled as the Ordnance Company office. She headed there.

Liz walked into the office of the Main Post ASP and found the expected personnel from the Brigades sitting in the break room. She went into the office area and found no one. Went back to the break room and asked those there
“Did any of the regulars from this office show up?”

A sergeant stood up. “No Captain. Security let us in to wait for you.”

She looked at him. Memory niggled. “Sergeant, I think you were in my 89B class.”

“Yes Maam. Jason Engler.”

“Where have you been posted?”

“Ist ID, Ft Riley for 5 years. Then here since.”

“Good. We will need your experience.”

“Who is the other 89B?”

“Here , Captain. Tom Simpson. Took 89B in 2007 and was sent here after.”

“OK here is the deal; one of you will be going to the SF ASP and one will stay here. Do either of you have a preference?”

“I would like to try the SF, Maam.” Came from Engler.

“Very well. Now I want to hear about the rest of you. How much experience each of you have.”

The answers were pretty good; none of them were fresh from training, all had some experience. All had been deployed at least once.

“Here is the situation. I don’t have to tell you that this ASP and the SF ASP are in sad shape or you would not be here. The Ordnance Company at this installation at this time consists of the people in this room. The remaining former members of it are either up on charges or will be transferred for cause. Two more sergeants, not 89B’s, will be in next week as transfers. One will go to SF and one will come here. More specialists will be brought in but you people and the two sergeants will be doing the work. Replacement officers will be brought in but unless I miss my guess none of them will have worked Ammunition. So you will have to train them alongside me. This will be the second time I had to rebuild the Ammunition Mission on this installation in the last 5 years. So I know the route.”
Her official cell phone went off; she had gotten it yesterday.
“Parker.”
“Yes Sir. Understood sir.”
“Ouch. When it rains it pours.”
“Well that is good anyway. We will need them. What about replacements for here?”
“Yes sir. If anymore collapses occur I will inform you.”
Liz sighed. “Well the bad news is that the only QASAS on post resigned suddenly to take a position with a contractor elsewhere. The good news is that he will be replaced by an experienced set of QASAS. For the time being two Senior QASAS will be sent here TDY. So when they show up they will be helping out here; and training everyone. So the technical assistance problem will be taken care of. So there is light at the end of the tunnel and it is not an oncoming train. Officer replacements will be here by next week. But none of them have ammunition experience, just as I figured. The first thing we will be doing is a 100% inventory of both ASP’s. We will start here and then do the SF ASP. I was informed by Group G4 and Division G4 that there will be no critical training scheduled for at least the next few weeks. So any issues that would have to be done will be emergency ones. Which I will do. Any receipts of ammunition coming in we will handle. No shipments are scheduled. So we can concentrate on doing the inventory and getting the system fixed. One major factor will be the SOP’s; they are all out of date. The good news is that they were originally written by me at Ft Stewart then brought here the first time that I had to fix this place. So I know those SOPs. We just have to make sure they are up to date, which should not take long. We will do them right after we complete the inventories.”

At that point several officers came into the ASP. Liz went to meet them, Major Fresnel was with them.
“Captain Parker, this is Captain Jamison of CID. And four of his officers. They will be conducting the investigation. The technicians confirmed that the IDS here was modified the same way the SF ASP IDS was compromised. The Division Commander has insisted that charges be filed on this and anything else serious found. So they and the technicians will be looking at the IDS for every magazine on base; then they will be accompanying you on the Inventory, which will be done as soon as the IDS is examined and any evidence removed. Then the IDS will be returned to its correct configuration.”

Liz nodded. “Very well. Is there an estimate how long that will take before we can begin the inventory?”

“They have been ordered to have it done by 0600 Thursday.”

“So I can expect to start the inventory at 0600 Thursday.”

“If not sooner.”

“Understood sir. Right now I intend all the personnel here to start examining our SOP’s to bring them up to date. We should have them done by Thursday and ready for staffing.”

“Get them started on that and then show the CID people here what the problems were.”

“Yes Sir.”

Liz turned to the 89B’s. “OK, you two split up the SOP’s and start going over them with everyone in two groups. When you are each done with redoing your set, exchange them so that each group can go over the other half of the SOP’s. That way everyone sees all of them.”

She then motioned the CID people to follow her into the main office area.
“We will start with Key Control. Here is the AR 190-11, the parts on it that deal with Keys and Key control.” She had been given the combination to the safe by the Base Security Chief the previous afternoon. She then opened the safe and took out the keys to the key cabinet and opened it. They then counted the keys and found several missing. Liz looked in the cabinet and at the bottom of it inside its ledge were several keys. She found the key list and it was out of date, naturally. It did seem like they had keys to all the locks on the magazines, but would not know until it was checked. One of the CIC Lts had taken the pages Liz had copied and was taking notes on which parts of it the ASP was in violation. The list was growing steadily. None of the CAT 1 bunkers had two locks as it appeared; another major violation. The keys were not separated in two cabinets; one more. Liz looked around the office.
“When I left here 4 years ago there was a second key cabinet for magazines with two locks. It is no longer here- it used to be right next to it.” She showed where it appeared a second cabinet used to be but no longer was. She then went to the safe and opened all the drawers and pulled out 4 spare locks still in their original boxes.

The Main ASP gate was locked and two guards on duty. Liz told them to lock it after they got in and no one was allowed admittance. They then started on each magazine beginning with Mag 1. The first two rows all the mags had locks that opened to keys on the list; but they did not all match up. The 3 CAT 1 Magazines on the second row – containing items like Stingers and AT-4’s- all had only one lock, though that lock was correctly listed. So Liz added a second lock and entered that on a new key list. She was listing the magazines and locks on another key list. The third row was ok until the last one; its lock was not on the list and none of the keys Liz had would open it. She told the CID that a lock smith would have to be called to see if he could open it; if not a welding torch would cut the lock off.

After some discussion it was decided to do the same with the SF ASP, so they went back to the ASP office and Liz locked the cabinet and the safe. They then headed over to the other ASP office. Liz opened the building and went to the safe, opened it and pulled out the key to the key cabinet. She turned to the CID officers.
“Yesterday this was open; I changed the lock and the combination to the safe; only myself and Major Fresnel know it.” There was a key list in the safe; it did not seem to follow what was listed on the hooks on the cabinet. There were keys on the bottom of the cabinet that Liz took as well. There were 2 Cat 1 bunkers; and like at the main ASP there appeared to be only one lock. There was also no second key list or second cabinet for a Cat 1 set of keys. Liz looked in the safe and took out the 6 new locks she had put in there the previous afternoon. She got a new key list and put it on another clipboard. They then headed out to the SF ASP. The gate was open but guarded by two guards; they informed Liz that the technicians were working on the IDS systems. Liz took the crew and they began to check the magazines. The first 4 were correctly listed; the next row 2 of 4 were listed; the other two were not correct and the keys on the hooks did not work; but fortunately two of the keys on the bottom did work. The third row, with the magazines without locks, was where the technicians were working on the IDS. They told Liz that simple jumper clips had been put on the terminals inside the box to bypass the IDS sensor on the door. They could not explain how this was done without Security finding out. Captain Jamison closely questioned him on it and was clearly not happy with the explanation. After they left that magazine he told Liz that it should not have been that easy. She agreed. She suggested that maybe they better call in some techs from another company and double check all this; he agreed and called up the Base Security commander who also agreed and would get on it. They did put a lock on each door so that now basic security was restored. The final row had the same problem as the second row; but Liz was able to find keys to unlock them. They then went back to the SF ASP office.

Captain Jamison looked at the list one of the LTs had been making at where the violations were in the AR 190-11. He looked at Liz.
“8 Major Violations and 6 minor ones. Not counting the IDS. Pretty evenly split between the two ASP’s. I have never seen nor heard of anything this bad ever.”

Liz nodded. “Neither have I. But the Brass are going to have to decide whether to prosecute and thus make it much more likely the media gets a hold of this, or try and keep it quiet.”

They then headed back to the main ASP office and locked up the SF ASP office.
There Captain Jamison told Liz they would be writing up their preliminary report and would be waiting for her to start the Inventory.

Liz then went into the office for the commander and called first the Division G4 then the Group G4 and gave them the latest. She was told a meeting with the Division Commander was set for Weds at 1300 when he arrived back from DC where he had been at a Commanders conference.

Liz checked on the SOP progress and saw that it was good. Then she got a call from Base Security; the missing Sergeant had been found; he was in the drunk tank at a nearby town. He would be taken care of by the Base and would not be a problem for her. She thanked them for taking something off of her back.

Liz sat down at the desk and thought about things. It amazed her that it got this bad here and that no one had noticed; and this was something that had not happened overnight; it had taken at least a year and probably two of steady deterioration. How all the signs had been missed was nothing short of incredible; and then she started to think about the interesting coincidence that both the ASP officers in charge had resigned from the military only days apart. Then she looked up as Major Fresnel came in and close the door behind him. She looked at him with a raised eyebrow. He did not look happy.
“Captain Buchanan, the SF ASP commander, was not SF. Just regular Army. His quarters were checked and they are empty; all his personal effects are gone. His personal cell phone has been canceled; supposedly none of his personal contacts know anything about him leaving the service or where he is. Captain Sanders, the Main Post Ordnance commander, cleared post on Friday. Just one week after resigning. He also seems to have vanished. Captain Jamison is of the opinion that this is all too coincidental and I have to agree.”

“I was just thinking about that. For them to up and disappear that fast, tells me that they knew the jig was up; might have gotten a hint of someone starting to check up on things. Now they could be counting on the Army not wanting publicity and just letting them go; or it could be something else. They had to know they were facing court martial and time in Leavenworth. Maybe they were doing more than just doing as little as they could and ignoring anything that would have made them actually work. I have a nasty feeling that we might find a fair amount of inventory missing and no paperwork describing where it went. I hate to suggest this, we might need to contact the FBI and ATF and see if there were any large amounts of military ammunition suddenly showing up in the black market.”

Major Fresnel had gotten a little paler as Liz described her worry. He then pulled out his cell phone.
“Sir, have you been told about the two Captains missing and no one being able to contact them? Captain Parker is thinking that we might have to start thinking of a worse possibility then what we have so far been looking at; that those two might have been selling ammunition. Yes sir. If anything more comes up I will let you know.”

Liz had been going further down that dark road. When he hung up she quietly asked him about the LT that had transferred out and was supposedly in Europe and the Lt that had left the military one month ago.
“Maybe all of this is just making me paranoid, but what if all four of them were working together?”

“I keep wondering how this can get worse. I need to stop doing that. We need to get that Inventory done ASAP.” He then left the office and Liz began to start digging into the files for Receipts and also for inventory records and a stock count showing what was supposed to be in storage.

She went out and got a quick lunch and was back in the office digging into things. Then she went to the SF ASP Office and did the same. Finally getting back to the MAIN ASP office she looked at the stock accounts and began to see if she could find anything noticeably wrong. That did not take long. At 1500 her phone rang.
“Parker.”

“Captain Parker, this is Captain Jamison. I just got off the phone with CID HQ in FT Belvoir and they do not like what it is beginning to look like. Col Green, the Chief here at Campbell, just got back from Leave and wants a full briefing. I would like you to be there; he just got in and is looking over what we have so far. Could you come down to the Office?”

“Yes, I have been looking at some records and stock reports and there are indications that it might have been happening. I can be there in about 20 minutes.”

Jamison hung up the phone and looked at his CO. “She said she would be up here in about 20 minutes and that from looking at the records so far there are indications that it may have happened.”

Col Green shook his head. “Captain Parker; THE Captain Parker?”

“Yes sir.”

“She does seem to find the sticky end of things all too often for one person.”

“Yes sir, but on the other hand she is extremely competent.”

Liz got her paperwork into a folder and headed out to the office area where they were all still going at it on the SOP’s.
“I am going to a meeting at CID. If I am not back by 1800 close up and send everyone home for the night. But have everyone back at 0600 tomorrow” to Sergeant Engler.

“Yes Maam.”

Liz got to CID HQ and was directed to the CO’s Office. She went in and was introduced to Col Green by Captain Jamison.

Col Green got right down to it.
“This whole thing reads like a damn conspiracy nuts book. So far we have been unable to track down either captain or the two Lts that have also slipped from sight. The one in Europe has not followed the itinerary that he provided when he went on leave. He was supposed to go to England and then Germany; he went to England but the trail ends there. He was scheduled to pick up a rental car two days ago and then drive to Germany and then back a week later. He never showed up for the car. All efforts so far to find the other officers have come up empty. The LT drunk here says he knows nothing; his record shows alcohol problems but he was requested by Captain Sanders and was transferred here 18 months ago. My suspicion is that Captain Sanders wanted a drunk at that position so that he would not notice anything. We just have been able to get permission to check their bank accounts and nothing suspicious showed up on any of the four.”

Liz opened her folder. “Sir, a large amount of 7.62 X 39 ammunition was in the SF account to be used for various purposes including training on AK 47’s for covert operations. I was able to find old files going back 5 years. The usage went up drastically about 14 months ago; just about the time the 5th Group sent out a lot of their personnel for deployment. Which on one hand would make sense; issue to take with and to use in training before they left. However the usage remained constant for the next 12 months only dropping off a month ago; just when many of the units got home. A large amount of the same ammunition was transferred to the SF account on paper and not online where it can be traced by higher HQ. JMC and the WARS report each show a much higher amount of that ammunition here at Campbell then the latest stock report –once again not the online official report-shows. If what I think is correct 500,000 rds is missing.”

Col Green sighed and nodded. “Captain Parker, from your experience in Ammunition operations, how hard would that be to hide?”

“Sir I am willing to bet that we will find few if any documents for that ammo; and those that we do will only have the signatures of those four officers on them. SF is known for doing strange things; SOCOM is basically its own world; so it would be easy to claim that it is because of that that that the ammo use is not unusual for THEM. If they were halfway careful, no one would notice. Especially if they kept it constant and steady so that it seems normal after a while. And since those four officers did the entire so called inventory for the SF ASP as both inspectors and checkers, no one else would know.”

“What about CAT 1 items and CAT 2 items such as demolition charges?”

“Sir I checked them first; it is very hard to do anything with CAT 1 items due to the monthly inventory requirement and constant worldwide over sight. Nothing looks suspicious there. Same with those CAT 2 items. Any change is very visible. But once again if all 4 were in on this; and the only other one a drunk everyone ignores and probably never sees, it could be possible. If something was done there they just put them in a truck and haul them out. No issue documents at all. One of the sergeants was a drunk as well. Would not be hard to forge his signature on inventory records as well. Or Catch him when he is hung over and just have him sign something he does not even remember signing. Same with the drunk Lt.”

Col Green was quiet for a minute then picked up his phone. “Colonel Sims, this is Colonel Green CID. I am here talking with Captain Parker and what she has already dug up indicates that selling ammunition was almost certainly happening. Clear signs of small arms ammunition. But what worries me is that from the way the system is designed, if all 4 of our missing officers were in on it, we could also be seeing CAT 1 and CAT 2 items gone as well. Yes sir. I agree.” He hung up.
“He wants a meeting now at Divisional HQ. The General just got in; he like I think this cannot be put off.”
Liz got her papers together. “Sir, is the 5th Group Commander in on this?”

“He did not say. You better call him.”

Liz pulled out her official phone. “Colonel Collins, this is Captain Parker. Sir that apocalyptic possibility I mentioned yesterday? It is looking more and more like that might have happened. There is a meeting with the Base Commander and Col Green of CID and the Division Commander who just got back that will happen basically as soon as everyone gets there. I would say 20 minutes.”

Col Green and Captain Jamison were looking at her. Col Green spoke first.
“Apocalyptic?”

“Sir at that time I was being slightly facetious. But I mentioned the possibility.”

“It is not a joke or even close to one now.”

“No sir.”

Liz got in her vehicle and they got in the Colonels vehicle and headed to Divisional HQ.

Liz was thinking as she drove; could they have been selling Stingers? She had heard rumors that some had hit the black market; but that had always been thought to have come from somewhere other than the US. Maybe they had come from here.

They all headed to the HQ building and as they pulled up the 5 Group Commander and his G4 arrived at the same time. They all headed into the building and to the Divisional HQ office. They were shown right into the office where the Base commander and Divisional G4, as well as Major Fresnel and the Base Security Commander were already present. Introductions were made and everyone sat down; the Divisional commander indicated that Liz sit beside him at the table in the conference room adjoining the office. He started off.
“I came in early after I got the initial report yesterday. I get here and the story gets worse by the hour. Colonel Green, start off.”

He described the situation as they had talked earlier. The Divisional commander sat with a stone face then looked at Liz.
“Captain Parker, I want you to do an inventory on all CAT 1 and 2 items ASAP. As soon as this meeting is over I want that started. Who do you need?”

Liz had been thinking about it. “The 2 89B’s and one specialist with TAMIS experience. We should be able to get a count very fast and I can compare it with the WARS report. That can probably be done for the 4 MAGS in the MAIN ASP and the 3 MAGs in the SF ASP in about 20-30 minutes each. A total of 4-5 hours.”
“Very well. I want this done tonight.” Liz nodded and pulled out her cell phone and called the ASP. “This is Captain Parker; I need Sergeant Engler.”
“Sergeant Engler, I have been ordered to do an immediate Inventory on CAT 1 and CAT 2 Items tonight. I am at a meeting and will be down soon as it is over. You and Sergeant Simpson as well as one of the TAMIS specialists. Pick one. Send everyone else home and wait there for me.”

The General looked around the room. “People we have to face the facts that we are all going to have to carry part of this can. No one here will be considered not partly to blame except Captain Parker. Myself because I am senior here; Base and Group commanders because of their commands. G4’s as this is supply. Security and CID for not finding out something was going wrong for quite a while. All we can do is make it right as best we can and accept the consequences. I am going to call the SECDEF and let him know the situation; so this will be going to the White House. I have no doubt it is a matter of time before the media twigs on this overturned garbage can stinking up the base. Captain Parker, what do you see missing at this point?”

“Sir right now I am fairly sure of 500,000 rds of 7.62 X 39. It is more than likely that is the bulk of the problem unless we find CAT 1 or 2 Material missing.”

He then looked at Col Green. “IF a Stinger is missing, how much could one sell that for on the black market?”

“Sir, one would have to have contacts for that to get any real money. But if you could reach someone, the price could be anywhere from $100,000 to a million each.”

“So that is the worst possibility?”

“Yes sir a missing stinger would be the worst possibility.”

“Then we find that out first. Captain Parker, get started on it. I want to know the minute you suspect a Stinger is gone.”

“Yes Sir.” Liz picked up her folder and left the room and got to the Office in 15 minutes to find the three waiting for her.
After she left the general looked at Col Green. “Send CID with her.”
“Yes sir” and he looked at Captain Jamison who nodded and left.

Liz motioned them to follow her. She went into the office and opened the safe, then the key cabinet and pulled out the keys to the CAT 1 and 2 magazines. She then closed the cabinet and then the safe. The three had clipboards and the TAMIS clerk had a copy of the latest WARS report. They were just leaving when Captain Jamison drove up and poked his head out of his hummer.
“I get to watch.”

Liz nodded and headed to the ASP. They got to the first magazine which had CAT 2 items in it. They opened it up and quickly started to count. After 20 minutes they looked at the count and the latest planograph report and it matched. The clerk was keeping a running count on the items found. They went to the next magazine that had AT-4’s and other AT missiles. Once again the count was good. Then they went to the next magazine that had Stingers in it.
Liz noticed that none of the stinger boxes were strapped to their pallets. She looked at Sgt Engler. “I have not been in a Stinger Mag for years; but I remember that usually they were strapped down.”

He nodded. “Yes Maam.”

Liz went to the first one and tried to lift it; the weight felt right. She looked at the two sergeants and they checked every box in the magazine. All appeared to be of the right weight. Liz then had them check the seals on the boxes. All appeared intact. She checked the count on the planograph and it matched. She looked around and saw nothing suspicious. Then motioned them to go out.
As they locked the door she looked at Engler. “We will band them to pallets later.”

“Yes Maam.”

The next magazine had Stingers as well and it also looked good though it also had none of them banded to pallets.

That finished the MAIN ASP. They went back to the office and put the keys away. It was 1900 and getting dark. They headed over to the SF ASP. Got to the office and opened it up. Liz went through the routine and got the keys. They headed to the SF ASP. They went to the one CAT 2 magazine first and checked it; it looked good. Liz then went to the TAMIS clerk and checked the running accounts.
“Looks like CAT 2 lines up with the WARS report.”

“Yes MAAM.”

Then they went to the CAT 1 MAG, Stingers and AT-4’s. They found the same there; not banded but looking good with seals and the weights were right as regards trying the boxes. The AT-4’s were properly banded and sealed and looked good; the count matched. So they locked up the mag and headed to the last. By now they were more relaxed as it looked as if the worst possibility was not going to happen.
The last Magazine was a mixture of US and foreign CAT 1 missiles. They first did the AT missiles; some us AT-4’s and some Russian ones. The count looked good. There were a dozen Stingers; they were banded to pallets at 4 to a pallet. The seals on the boxes looked good. Then there were some Russian SA-7’s; banded and sealed. Then there were some Russian SA-14’s. In loose boxes. Liz looked at them and the seals seemed good; she lifted a corner on one and the box came up easily.
Too easily.

She took a deep breath and looked at Sgt Engler. “Get those tools; we are opening this up.” He nodded and went out to the truck that Liz had been using; it had some basic banding tools and other tools that could be used to open boxes and containers. Meanwhile Liz went to the pallet of Stingers and pushed at it; it seemed heavy enough. Captain Jamison came over and gave it a push as well and it still seemed heavy enough. They went over to the SA-7’s and it also seemed heavy enough. Meanwhile Engler came back in and he and Simpson began to open the box. It took about 5 minutes and they pulled it open and all five of them looked inside.

At an empty box.
Liz then looked at them; “ALL of them now.” Then she went outside the magazine and called the General.

“General we have an empty SA-14 box right now; we are opening the others. All the Stingers look good and the SA-7’s as well.”

“Call me as soon as you have opened all of them.”

Liz looked at the TAMIS clerk. “Use that camera; take pictures of each box that we find empty.”

Captain Jamison had been making a call as well. He finished and looked at her.
“Now what?”

“We see how many are gone. There are supposed to be 8; they each have everything in the box to fire; missile, control and BCU.”

In 20 minutes they were all open; all were empty. Liz made the call.

“General we have 8 SA-14’s missing from boxes that were sealed. There is no indication anything else CAT 1 or 2 are missing.”

“That is enough. Did they have everything to fire?”

“Yes sir. These are fairly new ones, so the life of the BCU will probably be good for several more years.”

Liz was thinking about things as they left the Magazine and closed it up for the night. She talked to Captain Jamison.

“They did this probably on a weekend when no one was around. I would bet that they had been selling the small arms steadily in a way no one would notice; this would be their big score. I imagine they could get $100,000 or more for each one. They probably bundled them out in the back of this truck under a tarp. Then transferred them to one of their vehicles. Then crated them up and somehow shipped them to Europe where that LT is right now. And where I bet all the others are by now as well.”

“Two places in Europe; one Spain and sell to the Basque Separatists but that is tough to do so I doubt it. The other is the former Yugoslavia; somewhere down there. Then there is the possibility of trying to sell them to the Chechnyans for use against the Russians.”

“Or farther to Turkey to sell to the Kurdish separatists.”

“True. But every case there they would have to make contact with someone in each group.”

“Which would be very risky; I bet they managed to find an arms dealer and they sold them to him for resale later to the highest bidder.”

“I agree.”

“The AK ammo could have been sold at Gun Shows and the like; so much of that around and a lot of it are sold in the original Russian boxes. So it would not be noticed. Probably get $500 a box. That would be 200 boxes or $100,000. I would not be surprised to find out more of other types are gone as well. Probably been doing this for the last year and a half. I think Buchanan panicked and took off; he probably felt and rightly so he would be arrested for all of this before we even found the shortages.”

“There is already a worldwide alert for all four of them on Interpol.”

“If one is going to mess up my money is on Buchanan; the others had time to make arrangements. He had to move fast.”

“He is the one we have the best chance of finding.”

It was 2000 and another meeting was being held at the Divisional HQ.

“I have talked to the SECDEF and he is not happy to say the least. He wants all the CAT 1 containers opened up so that we can visually confirm they are there. How long would that take, Captain?”

“If we have some help, forklifts and other support, and personnel to do the banding and rebanding and the like, multiple crews can get it done in one day easily.”

“Make a list and you will get it.”

“Yes sir.”

“I want this started at 0600 tomorrow morning.”

“I have some good news sir.”

“Well I need some what is it?”

“The IDS systems have all been restored; turns out there was a fundamental flaw in the design that allowed a simple bypass to work. Every IDS system of this design worldwide will have to be modified to prevent this. We would not have found that out otherwise.”

“Small comfort, Captain Jamison.”

“Yes sir.”

“No point in extending this meeting any farther; we might as well all go home and start working on our resumes for our next jobs. As you pointed out, Captain Parker in a month will be the only one with a job with the US Army.”

Liz thought about that as she went home. Some would call that unfair; but they had been here while it was happening. Even the 101st people had been there before deployment. The Base Personnel though would catch it the worst.

Liz got in and found Max waiting for her. He went into the kitchen and started to warm up something for her. She had not eaten anything since lunch and was very hungry.
“How bad?”

Liz debated for a moment and then figured it would get out sooner or later.
“At least half a million rds for AK-47’s and 8 SA-14’s.”

“Holy shit.”

“Yeah.”

Liz had given the G4 the list for the next day; 8 forklift operators 4 each for 2 Crews, 6 people for banding and unbanding for each crew; she would have one TAMIS specialist and one of the 89B’s on each crew.

The next morning Liz got up early and was at the Main ASP at 0530. Getting ready. The people started coming in before 0600. After thinking about it some more she left both 89B’s with the MAIN ASP crew and took the SF crew herself.

The Main ASP crew was opening magazines at 0700. Actually Liz opened all 4 of them and left the keys with them. She then headed to the SF ASP. By 0800 they were at it there. IT went faster than Liz had hopped; each box was opened and the SN verified with what was on record and on the box. By 1400 they were done and nothing wrong was found.

The worldwide alert worked; in Paris the French spotted Buchanan. He was using his civilian Passport. He had flown to England on Friday and had rented a small car and had driven to Paris where he had gotten there on Sunday. Wednesday morning the French got lucky as he rented another vehicle and had to use his Passport for identification and that rang bells. They followed him as he left Paris and drove south then East and entered Switzerland. There the Swiss took over as he kept going East into Austria and then into Hungary where he stopped in Budapest. The Hungarians had him and watched him as he met with three other men. They were identified as the ones most wanted. They tracked them to a meeting with an arms dealer and bagged the whole lot Thursday afternoon. Faced with prison in Hungary they gave up the location of the missiles; a crate shipped to France two weeks earlier. The Arms dealer had assisted them in doing it; he had met Captain Sanders when he had been in Germany on a tour the year before he was sent to the 101st. All four of them would be shipped back to the US for trial.

Liz got the news that they had been caught and the missiles found just as she gave the report to the General.
“Well, did they ask about the small arms?”

“Yes. They had been, as you surmised, selling it box by box at gun shows steadily for over a year. We got a list of what they sold; some US ammo as well; but mostly that AK ammo and other Russian Ammo.”

“We will still need to do a full inventory just to make sure the records are straight.”

“Get started on that on Monday. You did say you wanted the SOP’s done.”

“True. We can get those done on Friday.”

The SECDEF was giving the good news to the President.
“This could have been a lot worse, sir. This is the worst incident of this kind in almost 40 years.”

“And again Captain Parker was instrumental?”

“Yes sir. By starting to check the ASP when she did the whole ball started rolling. Otherwise it would have been at least 12 hours later before we knew anything was wrong. Captain Sanders had recruited most of the people specifically because they were drunks and drug users and unmotivated and unreliable. That in the end is what caught them. And if Captain Parker had not mentioned the possibility of the CAT 1 and 2 problem, that inventory would not have happened that day. If she had not thought to check the boxes for weight, it would not have been found as they were all properly sealed. I believe the French would not have pushed so hard if we had not told them the SA14’s were missing. One more day and the deal would have been done and they would have been gone to who knows where.”

“It seems like an almost monthly occurrence that she does something.”

“Does seem that way sir.”

“I take it she will get recognition for this?”

“I believe her promotion to Major would be coming this year anyway with her record.”

“See to it she has that promotion by the day she and her unit are recognized at the White House.”

“Yes sir.”

“I can expect a report and recommendations on how this can be prevented in the future when?”

“Within the month sir. Though I would say the chances of this being pulled off again are very remote.”

“Still it did happen once.”

“Yes sir.”

That Friday they did manage to get the SOP’s done by the end of the day and Liz sent them out to be staffed after she read each one.

The Saturday Liz thought about resting but the weather was beautiful and she and the rest of the Posse and the Crew had their usual twice a month Saturday picnic.

Liz was buttonholed right away after eating and the children were running around.
Ellen started it off.
“OK, Liz. Spill. Something happened; half the installation is buzzing. Everyone knows that the ASP’s are all screwed up and you have to fix it. But it is more than that, isn’t it?”

“Yes something happened and No I am not talking about it.”
And they got nothing else despite every trick and entreaty tried. Max also refused to say a word.

Starting the Next week Liz got in 2 LTs for the Main ASP and 1 LT for the SF ASP. The two sergeants processed in. Some more specialists were made available and except for the two commanding officers the TOE was full. 3 more 89B specialists from the next class would be sent in June. So Liz was confident that by July or August at the latest the Ordnance Company and both ASP’s would be fine. On Friday she was summoned to the Division HQ for a meeting with the General.

“How are things going, Captain?”

“Except for the new 89B’s arriving next month and the new commanding officers, we are complete as regards TOE. I have good personnel who just have to learn the ropes. We will be starting the 100% inventory on Monday and hope to have both ASP’s done by Friday.”

“Excellent. By the way you will need these to add to your class A’s.” And proceeded to take off her Captain’s Bars and replace it with the gold Oak Leaf signifying a Major.

Liz blinked. He smiled. “You would have gotten that this fall but it was accelerated by order of the President so that when he gives you your Presidential Unit Citation, you will be wearing them. Now head down to Personnel to finish the paperwork. Good day, Major.”

“Thank You, sir.” Said a slightly dazed Liz.

She was smiling as she got home. She wondered how long Max would take to recognize it. It turned out that Aliya beat him to it. When she got home from school she hugged Liz as usual then stopped and stared at her.
“What is it honey?”

“When did you get promoted?”

They had fun that weekend just staying home and being a family. Even though Liz still had almost 7 more months to go Aliya wanted to start looking at baby names.

It was interesting Monday when Liz came to the Main ASP to start the 100% inventory. Everyone was caught off guard by her promotion. She had made it clear they would be starting at 0600 and would be in the first magazine by 0700 and she pushed and prodded to get it done. The CAT 1 magazines had been done already; the CAT 2 magazines were quickly done as it was a matter of making sure that all the MDC’s were updated and the items were correctly palletized and the magazine was orderly. The two TDY QASAS were also present; one of them would be checking each magazine for its semiannual inspection. They also made sure that all condition code tags were correct and noted any packaging that would need to be replaced. Of the 30 magazines, 14 of them were done by the end of the day. By the end of Tuesday 22 were done. The rest were done Wednesday. Thursday they started the SF ASP and 10 of them were done on that day. By 1400 Friday they were all done. Most of the MDC’s had to be updated or replaced; but the overall counts were not far off. The missing small arms correlated to what had been admitted by the felons. Liz would spend the next week writing up the reports and making sure all the quantities were correct on the WARS report.

Liz made the first report to the General, G4 and Base Commander; the second for the SF to the Group Commander and the group G4. At 1800 a C-40 landed at Campbell and picked up A Company and related personnel and family members; around 110 total to take them to DC for the award ceremony. Liz was happy to be with the pilots and ground crew; they were happy to see her promotion; and they like everyone else tried to get her to talk about what really had happened at the ASP. Everyone knew about the stoned incident; and that something else had happened that was big. But the details had not gotten out which had surprised Liz; the two sergeants and the specialist had kept their mouths shut.

Nancy and Ted had scheduled a vacation in the NE at that time so they would be there as well; Liz made sure they got their invitations. Nancy had surprised Liz with a quick marriage to Ted that previous Christmas; Liz had wanted to be there but Nancy told her it was a spur of the moment thing. Liz was glad her mother was no longer alone and she liked Ted.

When Liz had checked her Class A uniform, making sure everything looked right and all her ribbons were correctly done, Max had been very quiet. She had just made sure her gold flight wings were correct when she noticed Max had not said anything. She turned towards him and noticed a look on his face she had never seen before.
“What is it Max?”

He got up and pulled her to him and sat down on the bed with her on his lap. Then he very quietly said
“It just hit me as I saw you there with all those ribbons and I realized that I have never told you just how proud I am to be your husband. You are just coming up on 10 years in uniform and you have easily twice the ribbons I got in 20. And you earned every one. There are full generals who do not have as many. And very few have the ones you do; Presidential Medal of Freedom, DSC, DSF, 2 Presidential Unit Citations, Legion of Merit, Purple Heart and all the rest; 20 of them. And every single one of them you absolutely earned by what you did. I love you and I will always be proud to be your husband.”

Liz was a little misty eyed at that. Aliya had looked at her when she showed her uniform and quietly said
“The girls at school said you have more medals than any woman ever has. Are you a hero?”

Max had placed his hand over Liz’s mouth before she could say anything.
“Honey, it is not right for a hero to say it herself. It is for others to say. And yes your mother is a hero.”

Liz was thinking of that. The ceremony would be at 10; then there would be pictures and a quick press conference then the whole crowd of awardees and family would have a formal lunch at the White House. Liz dreaded the press conference but had been told it would be short. IT was all carefully choreographed.

Liz stood back with the unit as she waited for the signal. She would lead them up to the area and then stand at the center while the rest would file in behind her. She took a deep breath and steadied herself. Tripping and falling would just be something to make you want to die.

Then she was signaled and she marched out and went right to the spot that had a very small X on it and stood at attention there. The rest of company A and their crew chiefs and ground crew filled in behind her; 56 in all. The National Anthem was played by the Marine Band.

The President gave a short speech; then stood beside the flag and Liz marched up to him, Saluted and stood at attention. He nodded to her and he gave her the plaque for the Unit. She shook his hand and with it at her side in her left hand took two steps back and saluted again and remained at attention.

“From the period 30 March 2010 through 15 February 2011 Company A, 1st Battalion, 101st Aviation Brigade, United States Army conducted 275 missions in Afghanistan in Kandahar and Helmand provinces. In support of Operation Enduring Freedom, Company A escorted and supported the forces of the United States Army, United States Marine Corps, United States Special Forces, British Army, Royal Air Force, Royal Marines, and Special Air Service. In those 275 missions not one single member of the Allied coalition lost their life. That is a record unmatched in modern History. In those missions they severely damaged the Taliban and Al Queeda. In recognition of that achievement, their Commander, Major Elizabeth Parker, and the Pilots and Copilots of Company A and their ground crews that ensured their Apache Helicopters would fly, are hereby awarded the Presidential Unit Citation for unparalleled achievement during Combat in the face of the Enemy.”

Liz then marched out with the company behind her to the rear of the Rose Garden where they collected. Liz looked around and gave a whistle that got everyone’s attention.
“I think it is more than likely, that we will never again all be together as we are today. Sad but true. You guys were the very best any one could ask for to fight alongside of. I was honored to be your commander. Good luck and god bless all of you.”

Ted Dugan yelled “Three cheers for Doberman!”

And they did. Then Liz made them line up and she saluted, then shook the hand then hugged every single one of them.

Unknown to all of them, this was caught by a FOX News camera crew that managed to wiggle past the normal restrictions.

Then Liz was taken as the official sacrificial lamb to the Press Room for questions and pictures.

Liz made quite a picture; petite and very cute; and ribbons out the yang. There were dozens of flashes.

Then the questions.

“Major Parker, were you surprised that your command managed to make it through all of those missions with the loss of a single life?”

“Of Course. Anyone would be. The worst part of it was at the very end when that got out; the last few missions were very nerve wracking.”

“Major Parker, is it true you have transferred out of the 101st Aviation Brigade?”

“Yes. I asked for and received a transfer to the 160th SOAR.”

“Major Parker, doesn’t that make you the first woman pilot of the 160th SOAR?”

“I believe so.”

“Major Parker, how do you feel about that?”

“Well, someone has to be the first.”

“Major Parker, is it true that you had to force your way back to Afghanistan; that you were originally going to be left behind?”

“There was some discussion of that for various reasons but in the end the US Army realized that a commander should go with her troops into combat.”

At that point much to her relief the questions were cut off and she escaped to the dinner.

As their commander Liz was placed to the right of the President at the long table. Aliya was alongside and Max beside her. She had huge eyes at everything. Liz managed to keep small talk going with the president. Who mentioned something she had not talked about.

“Major, I was very interested in your mission to find those documents. It was explained to me but somehow I do not think they got it right. Exactly what maneuver did you do to land there?”

Liz took a deep breath. “Sir, the place I had to land was on a ledge at just over 16,000 feet. Now many people do not know this but it is just about impossible for a helicopter to hover at much over 10,000 feet. You have to be moving forward or you will drop. The Mountain was 18,000 feet high. I came over the top of the mountain then around it slowly losing altitude till I could land on the ledge. I had about 2-3 feet clearance from the tips of the rotor to the side of the mountain. And taking off was just as interesting since I had to be very careful or it would stall out; and at that altitude you are very vulnerable to any kind of wind. I unloaded everything in it except for 100 rds of 30MM and a main fuel tank at about 60%. That is something I really do not want to do again if I do not have to.”

“I think that would be wise decision.”

Liz did not realize that Max had heard that.

Eventually everything was over and they were able to escape at 1300. The C-40 would pick them up at 1600, so they had a couple of hours or so to make it to Andrews. The rest went in a bus but Liz, Max and Aliya went with Ted and Nancy who had rented a minivan. They went down the mall to the Viet Nam wall; and walked through the area. Finally getting in the van to go to Edwards. Liz was glad to spend some time with her mother. She walked with Aliya between her and Max as they headed over to get on the plane.

C-SPAN covered the ceremony so many on Campbell watched. The Posse instead to going to the park congregated with the Posse and friends at Susan’s house where they watched it. They cheered when Liz marched out leading her company. They were silent when the award was read. Susan looked at Vicki.
“Just how big is that?”

“No one getting killed? Huge. Everyone in the brigade knew Liz’s company was the best. Pretty soon the whole division knew it. You always felt better when A company and Liz were watching over you.”

Susan looked at her husband and he nodded. “Word got out; I know we always felt better when Liz was there. Getting towards the end of the tour I know it got almost to knife fighting for who would get her company as escort. When she spent that time taking care of the British it got us all down; we wanted her with us taking care of her own. When she got back everyone relaxed; you could feel it. Somehow we just all knew it was ok. We only lost a handful of people on that tour anyway; but no one had any doubt a lot more would have died if Liz and her company wasn’t there. B Company was solid and did well but not as good as A company, not close. And until the end of the tour NO one wanted C Company.”

Jesse nodded. “C Company had problems; their commander was good but he had some dud pilots. Finally the word got out that after a mission Liz went to the Battalion Commander and flat out told him that something had to be done. SO they grabbed Liz’s XO and fired a couple of the pilots and the company got a lot better. Some of the pilots felt if Liz had not gone and raised hell nothing would have been done.”

Ellen chimed in. “You could feel it at the mission brief. The first thing we always did was see who was the escort; if it said A company you relaxed. Anyone else and you were tense until you got back from the mission.”

Ruth was quiet. Then she said
“I have convinced Joe to put in for recruiting duty. He expects to get it this fall sometime. He has a shot at getting duty around here so we do not have to leave. Enough is enough. Liz would not have been back even if she had not transferred; and I do not want my husband out there again.”

Becky sighed. “We have been talking about it; if we do not get Iraq for the next deployment he is finding a way out.”

Susan nodded. “Same here.”

Ellen looked at the others. They nodded. “Same with us. We are not going back to Afghanistan a third time.”

In a big house in Savanna, three friends watched the ceremony.
Isabelle blinked at a close up of Liz. “Wait a minute, she has the ribbon for a DFC; when did she get that?”

Maria and Tess looked at each other and shrugged.
Tess looked thoughtful. “She did not have it after the last tour; she did not have it when she got the Medal of Freedom. So it happened on this tour and they do not give that out easily.”

Maria was thinking hard. “Liz said something about having to do a couple of missions for the Company, the CIA. Wanna bet she had to pull some spook out of trouble and that is how she got it?”

Isabelle and Tess nodded. “Probably.” They chorused.

“Liz sure does have a lot of fruit salad. And she will get a lot more when she starts flying for the 160th SOAR.”

By the end of June, Liz felt that the situation with the Ordnance Company and the ASP’s was pretty much taken care of. The two new captains had been selected and while not Ammunition types, were solid officers. The rest of the personnel were doing well. The new 89B’s had arrived and that helped as well. Liz was making sure that all the ammunition personnel were getting training by the new QASAS, who were both very experienced.

SECDEF had ordered a review and a report on the situation; and was looking for suggestions on how to make sure nothing like that could happen again. Liz felt personally that as usual the military was over reacting to a once in a lifetime situation by trying to double lock the barn door long after the horse had been stolen. Also as usual when a team is picked, it is very senior people who have not worked with ammunition or in an ASP for many years if ever. When they showed up at the beginning of June to talk to Liz, she was ready for them.

There was of course a general, a senior QASAS, a senior Ammunition Manager, and a couple of other senior types. They sat in the conference room at Division HQ and asked her for her observations.

Liz looked at them calmly.
“You are mostly not going to like what I have to say.”

The general looked at her. “Major Parker, that is an interesting statement. Care to elaborate?”

“I started out my career as an 89B before that MOS had any respect. I saw how the SENIOR Army leadership treated my MOS and Ammunition in general. Then I went into Aviation but got brought back temporarily to fix this installations Ordnance Company. Then 4 years later I have to do it again. BUT the situations had different causes. The first time was because of the general neglect of the Ammunition Field. The Second time had two reasons; one a once in a lifetime coincidence that had corrupt and dishonest multiple officers in one place. Sent here as a dumping ground. The other was the reorganization for what was either the second or third time in the last 10 years of the supply and support organizations of the Army. I have not bothered to keep track. It created a situation where once again you had permanent party personnel here at the ASP and in Ordnance. And that created the opportunity for the incident. Ammunition has a better situation overall in the US Army and the military then it has had for over 30 years. But of course there are still problems. There always will be. You solve one or two and create one or two more. And one of the biggest problems is right here in this review team. Basically its composition insures that there will be more rules and regulations that are not thought out and the critical input that could help will be ignored.”

The whole room got very still. The General said quietly “Major, are you saying that this review team is part of the problem and not the solution?”

“Yes Sir.”

“And why is that?”

“General, when was the last time you actually worked in an ASP?”

“Never have and you believe recent experience is that important?”

“Yes sir. Has anyone in this room actually worked at an ASP in the last 10-20 years?”

No one said a thing.

The General was silent for a moment, and then sighed.
“I was told that you probably would not respond in a way that we expected. I can now see that was a huge understatement.”

The Senior QASAS then spoke up.
“Major Parker, I am willing to bet that you already have proposals. So why not just tell us what they are?”

“Very well sir. Review teams are not a bad idea; how they are put together is where the failure is. You need less senior people with fairly recent experience at working at ASP’s. Now not saying no senior people but that the majority of the team should be younger and more in touch with how it is done down here and what the real demands and problem are. That will also help them talk to the people there without the intimidation factor. All too often a review team is given a carefully managed picture. Right now review teams are scheduled at least a year in advance. Gives the installation a full year to cover things up and make it look better than it really is. And then they know that it will be a minimum of two years before that team comes back. A perfect breeding ground for problems. I think a page needs to be taken out of the book written by General Curtis Lemay when he formed the Strategic Air Command. No notice inspections that could come at any time. Which was a big factor in why SAC has been shown to have been one of the best and most competent military commands of all time. Now we do not need to go to those extremes. Say a one month notice. Not enough time for the installation to really cover things up as long as a good team is picked.”

There was more silence in the room. Then the General spoke.
“I rather doubt that is all.”

“No sir. As regards something like what happened here, that would do a pretty good job on making sure it did not happen again. But I also recommend that at least once a year an independent inventory team comes to each installation and looks things over. And have the installation QASAS go with them looking as well. If both teams are put together correctly and used intelligently, then that would go a long way towards making sure nothing like this can ever happen again. We do not need a new system, or new regulations. Just a better process to catch problems before they get really bad.”

The senior Ammunition manager spoke up.
“You do not see the need for tightening anything up?”

“No sir. The Regulations are fairly clear; a process needs to be in place to make sure that they are obeyed. I happen to think that the situation in the Ammunition Community is much better than it was; this was a one off that almost certainly will never happen again. It would be foolish to over react to it.”

The General, she noticed, was smiling.
“It is rare that so many senior experts get told they are full of crap. But I cannot honestly disagree with anything you have said.”

The senior QASAS was smiling a little as well.
“I doubt I will see it again. Well, we are here so we might as well head down to the ASP and look things over.”

Liz took them to the Main ASP office first; where they looked at the records and that there was once again two key cabinets, correct procedures and paper work. Then to the ASP itself and the magazines and looked in a couple. Then to the SF ASP and did it all again. The Senior QASAS was looking at the SOP’s.
“Major, these look familiar.”

“They are all versions of the SOP’s I wrote at Ft Stewart when I was there. When I rebuilt the ordnance company the last time I used the ones I had there and just made necessary changes as regards being on a different installation. The basic tenets and regulations and rules are the same everywhere.”

The Ammo manager was looking at one of the reference books Liz had put together years ago. He called the QASAS over to look at it. Liz was showing the general what had been the situation when she showed up that first day.

The Ammo manager and the QASAS looked what Liz considered her Bible over. It was a primer on how to run an ASP; the basic regulations to be used; the basic procedures that had to be followed and what was done at an ASP and why.
“Major Parker, this reference here.”

“Yes Sir, that is something I put together over a period of years while a 89B after talking to some different QASAS and basing the needs on my experiences at a ASP.”

“Would it be possible to have a copy made of this?”

Liz went to a box on the floor and pulled out several similar binders.
“I had a batch of copies made. How many do you need?”

The general observed this and smiled.
After leaving the ASP the Team had a meeting to discuss their report.

The General started it off.
“Gentlemen, I think our report can be fairly concise. Major Parker’s suggestions and comments are so much to the point that I frankly do not feel that we have must of importance to add. Is there any disagreement?”

One by one they all shook their heads. The Senior QASAS mused
“I have rarely seen an Ammunition mission so efficiently organized. Her remarks about when was the last time any of us actually worked in one was brutal, but honest and to the point. We visit, look around at carefully staged operations if they even do any, and then leave and they go back to work as they normally do. She is absolutely correct that that kind of inspection is really of very little worth. And what she considers her bible for ASP operations is the best compilation and guide that I have seen anywhere. I would recommend that it be gone over and then used as just that.”

The SECDEF read the report and smiled slightly. This would be interesting when the various organizations that prided themselves on doing inspections read it.

The Division commander looked at his G4.
“So she basically called them stuffed shirts that would not know a real ASP if they fell over one?”

“Pretty much, sir. Not quite that blunt but not far off. What is astonishing is that they accepted it like schoolboys being chewed out by their teacher.”

“Which in all honesty is exactly what happened.”

“Yes sir. They took copies of her ‘bible’ and if the Senior QASAS has his way, is going to become truly the ASP bible for ASP’s everywhere.”

The General was pensive. “He told me that while he would not ask for my resignation, this would be my last position.”

“The Base Commander and myself were pretty much told the same thing. The Base Security Chief has put in his retirement papers. Have not heard what the story is with 5th Group.”

“SF might be a little more forgiving, but I wonder how hard the SECDEF will push on this?”


At the end of July Liz requested release from her TDY to leave for the 160th SOAR and it was granted. By this time, she was just beginning to show; on her petite figure it was more obvious than those of more ample proportions.

Colonel Ballard welcomed her to his office and she sat down on the chair indicated.
“Well, Major, it is a shame in one respect that you had to clean up that mess as you could have gotten a fair amount of what you will need to learn out of the way. But what is is. You can still do a fair amount before you are unable to do anything but sit behind a desk. I have talked with our Medical Personnel and they have recommended what you can do till after you have your baby. You can observe a lot; and read up on our documents and manuals. Also you can visit the area where they are starting to test the new models. The first production versions came out last month; 6 months behind schedule.”

“I would like that sir. I would also if it is possible to visit the plants making them; I think I could get a better feel for the differences if I did that.”

“The assembly area would be good for that; you can see all the various parts as well as units in the process.”

“Yes sir.”

“I think it would not come to you as any surprise that you are being considered for the command of our first Battalion.”

“Yes sir. The bad thing about that, sir, is that I would not get all that much chance to fly.”

“You might be surprised at how much our battalion commanders fly here in the 160th. But you do have a point. I think Battalion XO would be a better use of your talents. Your record as a company commander was superb and we would be fools not to make use of it. You would retain command of a company while XO.”

“That would be very good sir. I want to be able to fly them a lot; they will be very different than regular Apache’s and I need to understand those differences.”

“An excellent idea. If I may, what is your due date?”

“December 26, sir.”

“Well that is good. We do not believe our first company will be fully equipped until November at the earliest. Personally I think January or February is more likely. How much time will you be requesting off for maternity leave?’

“I intend to work right up to Labor, sir. After that, probably 4-6 weeks.”

“Speaking as a father that is probably about right. Of course that is as a father. My wife might have something different to say.”

“Sir, it will be hard enough to leave my baby and come to my mission. No point in drawing it out. Max has already decided to take a leave of absence starting at birth and going for 2 months. After that we will have to use day care. Not happy about it but that is the way it is.”

“Well that will work fine for us. Command has been aware that it would take some time to get the new units up and running.”

“Sir, I have been able to talk to some of the pilots of the Little Birds. I got a feel of their operations some while in Afghanistan. They are going to have to change if they want to use Apache’s, even the new ones, efficiently. There is no way you can do some of the things Little Birds can do with even a very much improved Apache. It is just too big and too heavy. And I would recommend as part of the training program that if possible any pilots transitioning to the new Apache’s from Little Birds fly and qualify with regular apache’s first. It is a hunch more than anything else but I think a number of them will have a hard time doing so.”

The Commander considered this. He had not flown Little Birds very much and had never flown an Apache. So he really could not say from his own experience how valid her concern might be.
“Well, for the moment you can still fly. I would suggest you get some time in Little Birds to make sure what you suspect is true.”

“Always happy to fly, Sir.”

Liz had been able to sneak some flight time in on Apache’s here and there; enough to keep current. So a chance to fly something different; small and agile was not to be passed up. She was taken to the field by one of the pilots, WO3 Sam Drake, and introduced to the very small helicopter. It had stubby wings on the side where a 4 missile pod of Hellfires or a 7 shot pod of 2.75 could be mounted; also a minigun or even a 30MM could be mounted as well. Used to much larger helicopters, Liz liked the Little Bird. Sam took her up and they tooled around the area; Liz after a while taking the stick.

To call it agile was to say the Pacific Ocean is deep. Comparing them was like comparing a go kart to a sports car. The Sports car is much bigger and faster; but the go kart can do things a sports car could not dream of.

When they landed, she smiled at Sam.
“Now that is a fun bird to fly.”

He agreed. “I have never flown an Apache; but I can guess it is a huge difference.”

“It is.” She gave him the analogy she had come up with and he nodded.

“So these Super Apache’s that are coming, will be like the regular apache except souped up?”

“That is what the specs say. Lighter but more powerful; even more sophisticated avionics. Stronger and tougher and better protected. But it will be hugely different from this.”

When she went back to see the Commander, he immediately noticed she was concerned.
“Were your suspicions correct?”

“I believe so. It is so agile and sensitive; absolutely nothing like a regular Apache. The Apache is a sports car and the Little Bird is a go kart. That would make it a little tough to transition from the Little Bird to a super Apache. So I really think that those that will be making the change need to get time on a regular Apache.”

He nodded. “Well here is your first assignment: write up a training plan for going from a Little Bird to an Apache to a Super Apache. And also work on one for going from a Blackhawk to a super Apache. Get familiar with the various ones we have here.”

“I would like to see the assembly plant first. And what about a simulator?”

[thumper1942]

“We hope to get a simulator for it about the same time the actual birds come.”

It took a week to get authorization for Liz to see the assembly plant; it was at Groom Lake. Which was VERY secretive at the best of times.

“OK, people we have a visitor coming to see what we are doing. A Major Elizabeth Parker from 160th SOAR. I guess they want to look at what they are getting. Probably pissed off that we have slipped 6 months on delivery.”

“Like it’s our fault that factory screwed up and used the wrong drawing?”

“We be the final stop so we get the grief. Goes with the territory, man.”

“So we have to make nice from some broad that got her rank from screwing someone?” Came from a young worker leaning back in his chair with his feet up.

One other worker, older, walked up to him and kicked his chair over. With a yelp he fell to the floor. The older worker stood over him.
“Say anything bad about her again and I will break your legs.”
Then he walked out of the room. The kid on the floor was stunned.
“What the hell was that about?”

One other worker smirked at him.
“She blew away a Taliban that was about to shoot a RPG into the chopper his kid brother was on. That answer your question, stupid?”

Another man was following the older worker as he went outside.
“Come on, Ted, the kid was just being a kid.”

“I know, but if not for her they would have been picking up pieces of my kid brother with a tweezer. He told me that was the one time in the whole tour he was scared shitless. He saw it coming; was sure he was dead; then the turkey blew into pieces when she put a 30MM HE round into him. That dink is lucky my brother wasn’t here; he would already have the broken legs.”

The whole situation going to Groom Lake was amusing to Liz. First a security briefing about how you do not ask questions and do not do this and do not do that. Then being flown into the base in a plane with blacked out windows. It lands and taxis to a hanger. Then you are put on a bus with blacked out windows. Finally you get out of the bus and go into a building and get another security briefing. Finally she was taken into the work area where they were assembling the new Apache’s. The building is huge and filled with parts; but only a relatively small work crew is there. About 10-12 men. Liz is taken around to see various ones at different stages of assembly. As exhibits they have some structural parts alongside some parts from regular Apache’s. Picking them up the difference in weight was huge. The briefer smiled at the look on Liz’s face as she then looked at the Titanium part vs the steel part.
“These parts are made by a new process only recently discovered. It is a titanium alloy with parts of other materials that is classified so highly that I imagine only a few people anywhere now it. It is not just a new alloy of titanium, but the actual manufacture process is different. The highest grades of steel were in certain alloys still a good bit stronger than titanium. But this titanium surpasses all known steel alloys. 2000 lbs of weight is saved using it on the main structural members of the frame and body. It is 20% stronger than any steel; and 60% stronger than the original Apache. Yet its weight is even less than normal titanium alloys used today. And it is also more flexible which means the structure will last longer due to much less metal fatigue.”

Looking at the cockpit area, he pointed to the areas where the improved Kevlar armor would better protect the pilot and copilot. Then to the wings which for the first time would be fully integrated with the flight control system; unless locked out for weapon use. Liz noticed that the wings were different as well. The briefer nodded at her question.
“New launch pods for both the 2.75 and the Hellfire have also been designed. They will be rectangular not round for the 2.75 or square for the Hellfire. And for the 2.75 will give you 21 rockets instead of 19. Now this would look like a problem as that spreads them out under the wing. The difference is that the pods will go on top of the wing while the new flatter design auxiliary tanks will go under the wing. And there will be a gap that allows airflow over and under the wings that will give you lift. The wings will be capable of a much greater range of movement; which will allow you to shoot at a 60 degree angle, up or down. That will allow shooting 2.75 rockets at a higher altitude. Or dropping down and shooting them up. More flexibility. You will be able to carry four auxiliary tanks and 4 pods at the same time. Once again made possible by the significantly stronger yet lighter alloys in the wing. But you can use the old pods as well; the fixtures will be there if needed. The rocket and hellfire pods can be attached to the top of the wing or the bottom; and if you choose you can double your weapon load and have 8 pods; 4 on top and 4 on bottom.”

Then he showed her the engines; or mockups anyway.
“They are even more powerful than the current Rolls Royce engines on the Weyland Apache’s. And the system allows the use of all that power. They should also last longer and be less maintenance intensive.”

Then they came to the Fenestron Rotor fan for the tail.
“Once again the new alloys at work. This rotor will be lighter but stronger; and the electric motor will give you more thrust then the mechanical one now used. The tail assembly is as you see much thinner. Titanium conduit and two separate cables to power the motor makes this a much more damage resistant area.”

Then to the landing gear.
“They will fully retract in flight to rest against the belly of the aircraft; lessening wind resistance. In an emergency they have come up with a CO2 powered cartridge that deploy the gear if the rest of the system is out.”

“One of the great complaints over the years was the chin guns jamming due to being exposed to the elements, though various things tried have helped alleviate that problem. They have worked on and have come up with a way to enclose the gun in a fiberglass casing that will give it a greatly increased amount of protection from dust and sand and the like.”

Then he showed her the avionics board for the pilot and copilot.
“This is very different than the current Apache; we had several apache pilots advising on this so as to make it simpler and easier to work with. You will have full infrared spectrum capability that can be adjusted for what you need and will work to compensate for the temperature and conditions. That should make night work much easier; you will have the feed available to you on a screen on the board or it can be fed to your helmet and you can view it on your visor.”

And a few other things.
“Your ECM and ECCM is much improved; and you will have automatic chaff and flare dispensers as missile defense; that system is what is just about to be installed on the F-22 so it is the best there is; the threat computer will identify the threat and automatically dispense them as needed. Your Sidewinders will be tied into the weapon system so as to give you the same anti air capability as any current fighter has. Furthermore you can also carry the AMRAAM as well.”

After all this Liz was a little limp as she made her trip back. This really would be a Super Apache; in some respects able to survive an anti aircraft envelope that up to now only fighters could. She knew that SF operations and thus the 160th SOAR would now and then be in a situation where you would have to worry about that. The weapons capability was also increased; and the capability of the wings to give lift and direction would also make a big difference.

The briefer had really been proud of the new aircraft and for all intents and purposes it would be. Actually very little of the old apache would be in this model. Liz found herself really eager to fly her.

“Well, what does it look like?”

“It is not as great, but in some respects it is like comparing a car made in the 1970’s to one made now. It seems as advanced; which makes sense as the original Apache was designed in the 70’s. They are putting in systems and features only just built. If it all works, this will be a huge improvement over the Apache in every way. We will be able to carry twice the weapons load; and also have auxiliary tanks and still carry a regular weapons load. No more having to mix and match and compromise for long range missions. He did say that the air refueling system will be different then what is used on the Black Hawk but he did not know what it was.”

Colonel Ballard blinked at all this; Liz was certainly glowing with enthusiasm; making her look years younger than 28.

“So does that change your idea about having Little Bird pilots go to the standard Apache first?”

“Actually it emphasizes it. This will be even more complicated to learn and fly; even if they have made some improvements to the cockpit to simplify some things. So going to a Longbow Apache first I would consider an absolute requirement.”

“So do you think they will make their new schedule.”

“Not a chance.”

Now that surprised him.
“I was told last week that they would.”

“BS. They have yet to complete one yet. From what I could see, maybe in a week or two the first one will be done. It will go faster after that as they get more familiar with it; the parts are there. One of the problems is that a couple of components have been delayed for various reasons. And unfortunately they are ones that prevent them from going much farther than half way. I saw about 6 that were in that stage. I am pretty sure they got the final components only a week or so ago. They did not say anything but I have eyes.”

“I was told they had several already completed.”

“I really doubt it unless they have moved them out of the building which I guess is possible. But everything I saw indicated otherwise. Now I think by the end of the month they could have several nearly done. And more next month; but then it will slow down again. I am willing to bet they will not have a full company done until December at the earliest; and then they have to be test flown and checked out and that will probably take a couple of weeks for each one. I would say that they will not send us a company until March or April; maybe later.”

He sighed. “Well, nothing we can do about it. So you might as well get started on that training plan.”

And she did. After looking at the standard training program for SOAR pilots and copilots, she began to cobble together one that would take a Little Bird or Black Hawk pilot from their current chopper to a regular Apache then to the Super Apache. By necessity it had to be vague as regards the Super Apache as she had not flown one yet nor even sat in a finished one’s cockpit. She made it a point to talk to the pilots of both aircraft and then showed them her rough drafts. They had suggestions about some of the steps as regards the Little Birds and Black Hawk. Liz talked to them about the Apache; only the Black Hawk pilots had dealt with anything that sophisticated and even then it was very different than the Apache’s. Liz talked them into letting her ride in a couple Black Hawk as Copilot so she could get a feel of the cockpit; it was very advanced and very interesting. Their descriptions of various missions showed they needed every bit of it to get it done. She was rather surprised that none of them had come from Apache’s; a couple had cadged rides in one but that was all. And those had flown A models, not the much more advanced Longbows.

One thing Liz saw clearly is that 160th SOAR pilots considered anything normal as boring. One of the reasons, of course, that they had gone to the 160th. That made Liz wonder how they flew on missions. She did not think they flew wild or crazy or careless, but she did wonder.

Liz looked at the current training programs and found they were really vague. After talking to the others she found that was standard. New Pilots were taken in hand by old pilots and taught the ropes personally and apparently as they saw fit. Liz did not think much of this idea and thus made certain that her training plan was a lot more specific. She realized that flexibility was the keyword for the 160th; no argument for a unit that did a lot of very bizarre and different missions. But they should come in trained on normal and standard flying, then adjust and adapt from there. They needed a base to start from. She did not doubt that anyone coming in was already experienced, but that did not mean they were doing it right. She was not surprised when Colonel Ballard appointed her as training officer for the new Apache companies. She thought back to that meeting.

“You know Apache’s and how to fight them well. So we need to start there. As the only one in the unit that has flown them in combat, you need to write the parameters. I understand no one really knows what you can do with the Super Apache’s, but at least you have good knowledge of what can be done with a regular one. That will be the baseline until we have experience with the new bird. This is going to be a real learning experience for all of us. Mistakes will be made but as long as we learn from them we will get to where we need to be.”

Liz steadily worked through the next month on the plans; it was going to be a fairly complicated transition.

The beginning of August and Liz was saddened but not surprised to be told that the 5th Group Commander and his G4 and his chief of security would be retiring. She met Major Fresnel by chance and found that he was acting Base Security Commander; a new one would be coming in soon. Liz nodded sadly.
“Your comment about everyone needing new jobs is coming true.”

“I was getting out next year anyway; so for me it’s not too bad. Bottom line is that we all screwed the pooch; that should not have happened and would not have happened if we had been doing our jobs right. There were all sorts of warning signs that we ignored or missed.”

That night Liz was curled up with Max after Aliya had gone to bed.
“In a couple of months almost all of the people that were in those meetings about the ASP’s will be retired or on their way out. They will let the General and the Division G4 serve out the rest of the year and they will be gone as well.”

“Honey, maybe they really did not make too many mistakes but in the end if you are in a situation like they were in and missed what had to be several warning signs that each of them should have seen, then it is not unfair of them to pay for it.”

“True. Still it is depressing.”

“I am still amazed that they have been able to keep this out of the media.”

“The four of them pleaded guilty so no court martial. They are doing time at Leavenworth. No one wants it to get out about the SA-14’s. I would not be surprised if they got reduced sentences by agreeing to keep quiet. The number of people that actually knew about the SA-14’s was pretty small. So maybe it is not that big of a surprise.”

A couple of local reporters had heard rumors about trouble at the ASP’s, but when told that Major Parker was cleaning up the mess as she had done years ago and not hearing anything more, had dropped the story. It was not big news even if Major Parker usually meant big news.

By the end of August Liz had about done the training plan; and the 160th Commander had her then go over and redo all the training plans for all the different types of helicopters. Then look at all the SOP’s and procedures for all aviation operations of the 160th SOAR. Liz realized that this was to keep her busy but still it was a lot. And Liz did think it needed to be done; she had talked to the Group commander on that.

“Sir, do you have a minute?”

“Certainly Major.”

“Sir since you assigned me the task of reviewing all aviation procedures in the group I have gone over all of them and I need to get a decision from you.”

“What is it?”

“Maybe I am over reacting somewhat; I am new to Special Ops. But I happen to think that most of them are too vague and too loose. I understand that improvisation and flexibility is vital to Special Ops; but I think more needs to go into them. I believe before you can throw the book away you need to read it first. Understand the standard ways things are done before you start working on bending them every which way.”

He grinned. “Why do you think I gave this assignment to you? Just to keep you busy until after the baby comes? I have been of that mind ever since I took command last year, but I do not have the time to do it and frankly there is no one in the group that can do it well. I think you can.”

Liz blinked. “Oh. Yes Sir.”

He grinned again. “Really was not expecting that, were you.”

“No sir. So I guess I dive right back in.”

“I would like them done before you go on maternity leave.”

“Yes sir.”

As September began, Liz finally began to noticeably show. Then on her small figure it did not take much. Though she was as of yet the only woman pilot, there were other women in 160th SOAR. Maintenance and staff positions, though others would be opening. She was surprised that they seemed in awe of her, but as she became noticeably pregnant they seemed to finally realize that she was a woman just like them. And that broke the ice. Liz began to eat lunch with them, and talk more with them. Which was good as Liz felt the need to have women around her as her pregnancy progressed. Men were just too uncomfortable with her.

After a few weeks, Liz decided to broach the subject.
“Guys, were you really intimidated by me when I first got here? Because it seemed that way.”

Janice, a crew chief for Black Hawk, laughed.
“Liz, of course we were. You seem to have a hard time realizing that you are one of the most famous women in the world.”

“Oh, come on, that is a little much.”

Delta, a maintenance tech, shook her head.
“Liz, you have a page on Wikipedia. There are websites about you. Just last month you got on the list of 25 most admired American women.”

Liz’s mouth dropped open.
“Really?”

All the women there laughed.

Janice grinned.
“Liz we all like you because you really do not believe all the press that was written about you. Or take it seriously. Which is a big difference from most celebrities; even some of our more famous SF types and the like. Frankly I consider you a true Hero. As we all do. And yes we were intimidated by you when you first came. Until we got to know you. Now you are just one of the guys to us. But we know what you have done; and think it is great you are here with us now.”

October was when the Crew decided to get married; all three of them at once. To say it was a fairly big deal was an understatement. It was held in town at a large church; and Liz was Matron of Honor for all three. She was glad the dress was such that her pregnancy was not made more obvious. It was a lovely ceremony and also a lot of fun with three bouquets and three garters to throw.

The whole division had relaxed when it was disclosed that they would not deploy again for at least another 2 years. With the demands in Iraq all but gone, or at least greatly curtailed, Afghanistan was the only real hot war and it had subsided some to a more simmering nature. With the need down, it was decided that units would deploy as a division once every three years. Now demands for SF and Special Ops were about the same; they were carrying more of the fight in Afghanistan now. Regular units were more into force protection and garrison duty. Ruth was very happy that Joe had got recruiting duty and gotten in locally so they did not have to move. Susan and Becky were also much more relaxed with the extra time and reduced threat. Liz was happy that all her friends there would be around for a good while longer.

November came in as Liz was finally finishing re writing just about everything in the 160th SOAR but how to clean the toilets. At least that was how she felt. As she was beginning her 8th month, it was starting to get difficult to move around. Liz had been very careful to try and keep any hormone induced irascibility to a minimum, locking her office door when she started to feel one coming on. The Commander had put out the word that she was not to be bothered when her door was locked unless it was a critical need. He well remembered what his wife had gotten like at that stage of her pregnancy.

Max had been on the end of her temper a few times and had learned how to fade into the woodwork; for some reason Aliya had the least amount of trouble with Liz. Liz explained it to Max this way
“She just always makes me feel better when I see her.”

Aliya was fascinated by the whole process and yet managed to not bother Liz too much. She was happy when Nancy took time off from work and came to stay with Liz on the 15th of December until at least a couple of weeks after the birth. Nancy and Liz and Aliya spent a lot of time just bonding and talking.

The last week before Christmas Liz was so big that she really found it hard to move around much at all. The Commander finally put his foot down and on the 21st told her to go and not come back.

So Liz began to vegetate as she put it. Unable to get up from a sofa or easy chair without help, it finally began to get to her. Aliya was home for Christmas break and Nancy was there as well. They worked hard to keep her occupied but it was not easy. Christmas day came and Liz was very happy to be able to spend it with her family; but just after noon she began to get cramps. And they persisted. Liz had had a view Braxton-Hicks contractions, but nothing like this. She began to think she was starting labor at around 6 PM. But she managed to hide it from everyone and went to bed at 9 PM. Max had dozed off quickly and she tried but was only able to nap. Luckily they had set the bed up so that she only had to roll off to get up; toilet breaks were fairly common. She was timing the contractions -she knew that is what they were- at 30 minutes apart by 3 AM. She had quietly left the bed to sit in a special chair Max had fixed up in the large master bathroom; the only one in the house that Liz did not need help to get out of.

Max woke up and looked at the clock; it said 5 AM. He noticed Liz was not in bed; he got up and went into the bath room where Liz was sitting in the chair, dozing, it looked like. Then she jerked up and groaned softly, holding her stomach. He went to her.
“Liz, are you OK?”

Liz sighed as the pain eased. “What time is it?”

“Just after 5.”

Liz decided he needed to be told. “I am in labor. The pains are now 20 minutes apart. But my water has not broke.”

“Liz, why didn’t you tell me!”

“No point. And at least you got one last good night’s sleep. That will not happen for a while.”

“I am getting dressed and taking you to the hospital!”

Liz smiled at his semi panic. She had been worried but now strangely she felt calm. She just sat there as Max scrambled around; first getting dressed then waking up Nancy. Who told him to get a grip and calm down. After 15 minutes he came in and asked her what she wanted done.
“Get my bag. After my next contraction I will put something on and we will go.”

Not very long after that another contraction hit and thankfully her water broke. That seemed to panic Max again so Liz sent him out and asked him to bring her mother in.

Nancy was totally unsurprised at how calm Liz was and how rattled Max was. Just seemed natural.
“Honey, how are you doing?”

“OK, mom, outside of thinking we need to bind and gag Max.”

Nancy had to laugh at that.
“We need him to drive the car so there you are.”

Liz thought about that for a moment and reluctantly nodded.
“I guess. Help me get something on and changed and clean this up.”

At this time Aliya poked her head in.
“Momma, is the baby coming?”
“Yes it is honey. Max and I will be going to the hospital; Mom will stay with you. This is not going to happen soon; it might take the rest of the day.”

And it just about did; James Alexander Evans was born at 445 in the afternoon. At 7lbs, 8 oz he was a pretty big baby.

Liz lay there, exhausted but very happy as she held her son and let him nurse for the first time. Max sat and stared in awe as his wife and child.

The next morning, the Crew and Posse showed up followed by the girls from the 160th. It was a constant stream all day. Liz and James went home that afternoon.

A new baby is exhausting as Liz and Max found out. But Nancy was able to stay for 2 weeks and that helped immensely. Maria, Tess, Isabelle came by for a few days each the week after and that helped as well. Finally it was just Max, Liz, James and Aliya. Fortunately after 3 weeks, James started sleeping more than an hour or so and had gotten up to two hours and sometimes three. So the pace slowed down to the point where Liz and Max were able to cope with the help of Aliya, who proved to be a natural at calming James down. Max had to go back to work after 4 weeks, so it became just Liz and James. Which Liz did not mind at all. Her son was a wonder to her.

After 6 weeks Liz had gotten herself back in shape after working very hard at it. The last two weeks she took James with her to work out at the gym; getting him used to other people and places. On the 12th of February Liz took James to day care and then went to work; it was a lot harder than she thought it would be.
She asked the commander about immediately scheduling her necessary training before she could start flying. And he did. The SERE came first; and that would be tough; he wanted her to have another month to get ready for that. There were some other things she could do before that. Then after the SERE would come the Officers Green Platoon which would last 3 weeks. Then came the orientation training with the Little Birds. For Liz some of the normal courses were cut out because she had already done them; such as the Night Vision training; and some of the other Aviation training. She was looking at about 16-18 weeks of training.

Liz had thought she was used to some tough times; but she was wrong; the aviation orientation not for the little bird was what she got done before SERE; that was tough.

This SERE was a lot tougher than the last one. But she gritted her teeth and made it through. But the Green Platoon for Officers was even worse; physically by far the most demanding she had ever even imagined. She dragged herself to her bunk and somehow managed to drag herself out. Day after day. She learned how to knife fight; how to disarm and disable and kill hand to hand at a level far beyond what she had learned years ago. How to survive and make weapons and eat things that would have made her throw up before this.

Then came the course in orientation for the Little Bird; this was heaven after hell for Liz. Even if it meant traveling to several different states for different terrain navigation and the like. The over water part was new; that was the hardest part but it was still flying and that meant everything.

12 weeks after starting it, on the 1st of June, Liz had completed all the training except for aircraft type. In other words the Super Apache.

The one really bad thing was how much time away from home she had been spending. Sometimes several weeks would go by before she could see Max and her family. She was just lucky that James was still too young to really notice. Even at 6 months.

More delays had come and finally the Super Apache’s began to arrive late in May. Since no one had used Apache’s in the 160th before, this was all new. And none of the pilots or copilots except Liz had flown one before except at Aviation school. So none had real experience.

After a week’s leave to get to know her family again, Liz came back and was watching as the contractor signed over the first 8 Super Apache’s. And as senior officer of the new Battalion present, she signed for them. Her Battalion Commander, Jack Del Rio, was taking care of business at the plant by raising hell about the rate of production. Jack, a pretty caustic guy and veteran 160th officer, had made it plain that she would be the one doing most of the heavy lifting as regards flight operations. Which suited Liz fine.

She looked at the other pilots and copilots; only 4 of them were officers, all 2nd Lts fresh out of flight school and OCS. All the other copilots were WO2. The other pilots were WO3. All were experienced pilots but none in attack; all were veterans of Blackhawks. Right now they had twice as many as they had birds. And the ground crews, fresh from their own orientation training in the new super Apache’s, were itching to get their hands dirty. So she talked to them.

“OK, People here is the deal. We will not be getting the next 8 birds for another couple of months. So we will be all sharing these 8. I will make sure that everyone gets the same amount of flight time. Now I am the only one here with operational experience on the Longbow; though all of you have had time in training flying them. I am pulling rank and flying her first. Then we will start slow and figure out what the differences are. Ground crews will also switch off to gain experience. Company A starts things out of course; B Company will be formerly stood up as soon as the next 8 show up. So for the time being we will just have a very large company A.”

Liz had chosen her copilot; she had gotten all of them together and had them get to know each other and then see if they could match up. It had seemed to work OK. Her copilot was WO2 Doug Sanders, a 27 year old who had joined up as a grunt at 18 and then at 23 had gone to WO school then aviation. He had done one tour in Iraq as a Blackhawk pilot then had come here. He had taken the downgrade to Copilot to fly the new bird. Liz was hoping to bump him up to pilot when the last company stood up in about 6-8 months. He was a quiet type, but when he spoke it meant something. He was also good. Liz had managed to work a deal with the 101st and they had let her fly their apache’s and get the others some time on them while waiting for the new ones to arrive.

The Simulator program had had a lot of bugs and they had only gotten it working in the last month. So Liz took Doug and they got into the super bird.

The cockpit was a lot different than a Longbow, but better in Liz’s mind. Simpler and less confusing. She cranked it up and after a few minutes of checking everything, took off. Right away she noticed the increased responsiveness and the extra power and less weight. They spent over an hour flying and trying her out; both of them. Then they landed.

Everyone gathered together to hear it from one of their own.
“It really is a hot bird; take a regular longbow and make it faster, quicker and lighter. You notice all of that as soon as you lift off.”

She continued for a while then had Doug talk as well, orientating towards the copilots. Then one by one they all got a ride. Liz had scheduled the first couple of days as joy riding time so that the pilots could get a feel of the new bird.

There had been discussion about bringing one of the test pilots to teach but Liz had argued against it.

“We all learn together. That way no one has a real edge. Everyone is equal.”

The training plan Liz had come up with took it slow; she did not want to push anyone hard on this. The Super Apache was a very hot ship and she did not want hot rodding.

One of the things that would be new for Liz was the capability of in-flight refueling. The Pave Lows and other larger helicopters had had that capability for a long time. But no Apache had ever had it. This one had the tube located on the belly and it would telescope out 15 feet. Which was different than usual; the other helicopters had a fixed refuel probe. Liz was firm that the crews would have a fair amount of time to get used to the craft before any refueling was attempted.

The first month they took baby steps; then slowly began to do more. They began to maneuver and start to find the limits of what they could do. Liz had everyone at the end of the day come in and talk about what they did and how it seemed to work. Then they began to night fly; and started to work at that. After two months, the beginning of August, Liz told the commander that they were now ready to try the refueling operation.

That was interesting; the AF had specialized C-130 Hercules that had been modified; very extensively modified to MC-130P and more. They were the choice for refueling Helicopters since the low speed of helicopters made any jet a bad risk since the stall speed of regular tankers was too close to the top speed of a helicopter.

The first time Liz tried it, it was a tense situation. There was some turbulence; they were at 8,000 feet at 70% throttle, going about 140 knots. They had found that the top speed of a Super Apache was right at 210 MPH; around 30 MPH faster than a regular Apache. Liz was focusing on the drogue as she maneuvered towards it; the refueling probe telescoped out and she put it right in on the first try; connected and held it for 5 minutes then disengaged and maneuvered away. All these attempts were dry runs; they would each do 10 dry runs before the real thing. This took the 16 pilots 2 days.

The second group of pilots and copilots came during the second month of training. Liz had modified the training program in some areas, finding that she had been cautious and speeded it up.

The first time Liz actually refueled was something to remember; she had run her Super Apache down to 30% and then refueled and the difference was noticeable; that extra weight had to be compensated for. Flying a suddenly much heavier ship required you to adjust in ways not before experienced. She estimated that in a few minutes the aircraft was almost 2000 lbs heavier; which was about 10% of its total weight. She wrote that down in her notes to make sure the others would be ready for it.

The second group of pilots would bring up the strength of the battalion to its TOE limit; and getting them going took more time. She was very busy; especially considering that the Battalion had so few officers compared to the Battalion she was used to. SP OP units traditionally were smaller; fewer staff weenies. But those weenies came in handy to take care of paperwork that flourished in every military unit. Outside of Jack, there was no other officer in the Battalion higher than a captain, and he ran the support company. As a matter of fact he was the only captain in the battalion. Of the 24 pilots, she was by far the most senior; the only Major, no captains, and only 6 Lts, 4 of them 2nd Lts. She had had an interesting discussion with Colonel Ballard and Jack about this.

“You know army regulations require commissioned officers above warrants for some of these duties; yet I hate to burden my pilots with so much of this crap.”

Liz was letting off a little steam and both Colonel Ballard and Jack were very amused.
“I am tempted to just toss them and if someone asks I will say that the officer responsible was transferred and has not been replaced. I can probably get away with that for a couple of years at least.”

At that Jack handed the Colonel a $20 bill. The Colonel grinned at Liz.
“Just won me $20, Liz. I bet you would say that before the end of the second month; he thought it would be the third.”

Liz crossed her arms and glared at them.
“I am glad someone is getting some amusement out of all this.”

Still grinning, Colonel Ballard spoke.
“Don’t worry about it Liz. I know you try real hard to get it done; if it is not done do not let it bother you. They do not try and enforce it with Special Operations because they never get any support from higher command.”

Getting a little more serious, he asked about the status.
“Another month and the first Company will be operational; two months for the second company now that all their birds are here and accepted. The third company – who knows when they get all their Choppers. Probably not until next year.”

The colonel nodded. “That is good because we will have need of them by the end of the year.”

That got Liz’s attention. “Deployment or TDY?”
Spec Ops quite often would do a 2-3 month TDY a couple times a year without a full deployment.

“Since no one knows how things will go, almost certainly TDY the first time or two. The longer range, avionics capability, and fire power of the Super Apache is needed in Afghanistan on Special Operations. And elsewhere.”

Liz understood what that last part meant. It was becoming clear that large numbers of the Taliban’s leadership as well as Al Queeda were hiding in the border areas of Pakistan. The Pakistani government was weak and unable to control that area; the Army was reluctant to get involved and the ISI played both sides against the middle. It was something that Liz had heard about; the idea was growing that the SF was going to have to start playing hardball there. Which meant that longer range escort craft would be needed. And the possibility that they might have to defend themselves against Pakistani protectors of various areas. She also knew that the limitations of the Little Birds and Black Hawk combat versions were the major reasons behind the Super Apache.

“So they want to go as soon as we have two operational companies.”

“Correct. They figure only one is needed at the moment so you can switch them out every few months, reducing the strain on personnel.”

“So looking at deploying say in November through January or February?”

“That is what they would like.”

“A Company could deploy now if they had to, B Company by October.”

“They want to make the move when it gets cold in Northern Afghanistan and the Taliban hole up; they are easier to find.”

Liz sat and thought. Then she looked at them.
“C Company can finish training using B Company’s ships. So when do they want us to leave?”

“End of October, beginning of November. They want to be operational by mid November. I think 90 days will be about right; then B Company can replace A in January or early February. Then C Company can replace them in May. If they still want you there. This in some ways will be a test to see just how useful the Super Apache will be.”

Jack nodded. “There are quite a few that think we spent too much for the difference between Longbows and the new birds. That we should have just gotten Longbows. Maybe modified with new avionics and refuelable. So this will be important.”

Liz was quietly talking with Max that night. Holding James as he slept.
“It will be hard to leave; but three months is not bad. And as long as things do not heat up more we can send one Company at a time. The other Battalion will not be up and running for almost a year. And I have been pretty much told the success of the first couple of deployments might decide whether they will even build the next 24.”

“3 months is a lot better than 12. And you are getting the feeling that you will not be as busy as you were before?’

“Pretty much a given. The Super Apache is their Sunday punch; not going to waste it doing stuff Little Birds are good at. Frankly a lot of the missions we did could have been done by the Kiowas. But everyone got warm fuzzies having Apache’s that we got more calls then we really should have.”

“Liz, face the fact that the reason everyone wanted Apache’s was that you guys were that good. A Company especially but B Company from what I heard was pretty good as well. Only C Company was not but even they did fairly well.”

“One thing I need to push with Jack and Colonel Ballard is that we need to get at least one more senior officer, at least a captain and hopefully a major, in the battalion. Because when B Company replaces A company, they will need someone other than a 1st Lt there.”

“You thinking that they might keep you there even after A Company goes home?”

“It is a possibility.”

Liz took that up with them a few days later.
“I know you do not like staff weenies and neither do I, but we need some more officers here. What happens when I leave with A Company and B company with only a 1st LT as senior officer?”

Colonel Ballard nodded.
“I know Liz, but the fact of the matter that finding aviation Captains and Majors wanting to come to SOAR is rare.”

“Then pull one out of the other battalions. They do not have to be Apache drivers.”

“We do not have that many, Liz, as you have noticed.”

“They got more than we do. So Share the Wealth.”

“Ok, OK. I will call around.”

A week later a Captain from a Black Hawk battalion was transferred in. He had been injured in a training accident and it would be some time before he was certified for flight status. So he could take command of B company and free up Lt Harris to actually fight it. Will Manson was his name and he was a character that Liz liked on sight.

Liz looked up from her desk as a tall Blonde captain walked in her office.
“I am looking for Doberman.”

“You found her. What’s up?”

“I am Captain Will Manson and I just got shanghaied out of my nice comfortable nook and tossed into this mess of snarling vipers. All I was told was to find someone called Doberman.”

Liz cocked her head. Was he for real? She doubted that anyone had not heard her call signs and did not know it was her in the 160th.

“Well, Captain, I told them I needed a slave with railroad tracks and you got the short straw. I hope you like 28 hour days and 8 day weeks. If so then you will fit right in.”

Will then sat down and grinned at her.
“What can I do to get transferred out of this chicken outfit?”

“Get elected President. Nothing else will work. Your ass is mine.”

“So what is the real story why I am here?”

“Actually the first response was not far off. We do not have enough officers in this battalion captain and above. You just raised the number by 33%.”

“I will not be fully recovered for at least 3-4 months; probably 6. My elbow and arm need time to get back its full flexibility and time is the only thing that will work.”
“You can sign your name, right?”

“Yeah.”

“That is all that is required.”

Will was to be a lot of fun in the weeks ahead. Openly questioning what he had done to get sentenced to this punishment detail. Liz kept it up by buying him a dog collar and chain and presenting it to him at a meeting one day. Of course he wore it. Liz then had a sign made up for his office that said ‘Doberman’s Bitch.’”

The countdown to deployment continued through the end of September and into October. Her company A was set; 2nd LT “Slinger” Harris was her second in command and 2nd Platoon commander; she had “Octopus” Johnson as her wingman; “Hammer” Clark , “Hannibal” Lecter as the rest of her platoon; then Slinger had “Romeo” Jones as his wingman and “Chuckee” Smith, “Rhino” Wilson rounding out the company. She had gotten a crew chief almost as good as Grunt in Sam Steed, who was a veteran 160th crewman that had been the top graduate in his class as specializing in the Super Apache. The rest of the support staff was very good, in Liz’s somewhat biased view.

One difference in the way that the new Super Apache’s would operate then the regular SOAR operated was that they tended to have small groups for most operations; Liz was determined to operate on any real serious mission with no less than a platoon. She worked Slinger extra hard to get him ready for command of the platoon without her around. As she had before, she shot all kinds of scenarios at the pilots and copilots, trying to make them think of how to handle the unexpected.

Liz managed to find some time off before going to get to Savanna and visit Maria and her friends there. It was a good few days. Despite their best efforts, the word had gotten out about the Super Apache’s; but the media was stymied in their requests for interviews. SF and the 160th tended to ignore them and they were allowed to by the higher command. So Liz had been able to ignore all requests for interviews. That did not prevent them from speculating.

It just so happened that the second day of the three days that Liz, Max, Aliya and James spent at Maria’s in Savanna they were watching the evening news. The 3rd ID had a brigade in Afghanistan so the local media had fairly extensive coverage of it. It was at the northern part, not far from Bagram where the Super Apache’s would be in a month or so. This is what came on that night.
“In Channel 7’s continuing coverage of the 3rd Brigades tour in Northern Afghanistan, we came upon this bit of information. It is hard to get anything out of Special Forces or Special Operations Command. But we have heard this: an alumni, one of the most famous ones, of the 3rd ID will be making her third tour to Afghanistan soon as a Major commanding a company of New what are called Super Apache’s. Not much is known about them outside of the rumor that they have been seriously upgraded in all ways; hence the name Super Apache. But a lot is known about their commander, Major Elizabeth Parker. IT looks like Major Parker will be leading those Super Apache’s in their inaugural combat tour; the Major transferred from the 101st Aviation Brigade to the 160th SOAR, Special Operations private air force. It can be safely said that quite a few people will be happy with the Major’s return. Her Company A received the Presidential Unit Citation for having a full tour in which not one single allied soldier died while they were on the job escorting them. One hopes that Special Operations will not hog the Major’s talents and allow her to continue her record protecting our troops and taking down America’s enemies.”

Liz sighed. “Oh, jeeze why don’t they just say I can walk on water as well.”

The others all laughed. Tess grinned. “That will be on your next commendation.”
Isabelle agreed. “Give them time, Liz, they will think of it.”

Maria just shook her head. “That is the problem with getting a reputation; you have to continue to live up to it.”

It was very hard to leave Max and Aliya and James; but she was able to console herself with the realization that it was not a year, only 3 months. What was unexpected was the last minute decision to ship 8 new Super Apache’s instead of taking the ones already broken in. Liz was not happy; but the company working them had put in some serious overtime to make up for the short falls and managed to convince the pentagon it was cheaper this way. The Idea was to leave that 8 there and just bring in the people; that way the unit could hit the ground running. Or so the theory went. Liz agreed with the part about leaving them there; she was just not happy to have unfumigated aircraft waiting for them.

They flew in on 15 November to Bagram. This time Liz had her own quarters; one of the improvements there. She would miss her friends but rightly figured she would not have much time for anything else anyway. And that was proven when only a week in she was asked when they could be combat ready. The second day there they had gotten their Apache’s up and flying. As she had feared, some bugs were found. But they turned out to be relatively minor.

So when on 22 November she was asked to fly a mission she agreed. Turned out they wanted to start things with a real bang. They were going to hit a village right on the border up in the foot of the mountains. It was about 150 miles from Bagram. 8 Black Hawks and Liz’s company would make the assault. The village was spread out so that was why the numbers. And it would be a night assault. This was not done much anymore as it had engendered lots of bad publicity. However this was thought to be a wholly Taliban village so it did not matter.

It had been found that with a full combat load and two auxiliary tanks, the Super Apache could make a strike at 150 miles and still have almost two hours of loiter time. A MC-130 tanker was on call if anyone needed more juice. The Black Hawks also had an auxiliary tank and would stay on the ground; a little distance from the village, guarded by one platoon while the other stayed over the target.

The new night vision goggles were a definite improvement, but it had been found that the gun sight tied into the sensors of the Super Apache was better by a good margin. So the pilots would be using that. The method would be for the copilot to take the stick at the target while the pilot used the gun sight for plinking of any Taliban found.

The village would be hit from all four sides at once; overwhelming it. Liz partialed out her company at two to each side. She went with the mission commander coming in from the west. They would hit it at exactly midnight.

It was the Black Hawks that they had to slow down for; wide open they took an hour to make it to the village. There was no pause they went in and hit the village as fast as they could.

Liz looked through her gun site and could see people starting to run around as the Black Hawks landed and the SF surged into the village. Liz and the others began to pot shoot the figures they could see shooting at the SF.

It was surreal; the sites were so much better than the Longbows. But in a way it was bad; you could see the bodies come apart as the 30MM HE round exploded them. Liz turned off the feeling part of her brain and became a machine; she was Nemesis. One after another. Finally the SF was too close and she quit. Then sent Slinger and the 2nd Platoon to watch over the resting black hawks.

Meanwhile they stayed at 300 feet, watching as the SF moved quickly through the village.

One difference with the 160th was that they did not send reserve black hawks; they did not load them to capacity. Though a MEDEVAC was with them.

Only 30 Minutes was needed before the word came in for extraction. Only minor wounds. And so the first mission was done.

Mission debriefs were a little different; if nothing unusual had happened or if no one had any comments it was over quickly.

There were the Direct Action Penetrators, the special version of the MH-60L, at Bagram as well. Liz met some of them and got the impression that they were not happy that Super Apache’s were taking their place. Well that was their problem.

After that first mission they came thick and heavy for the next two weeks before bad weather shut things down. They were all night attacks; and all were successful to varying degrees. Liz considered it a successful mission if no one was killed. That was one record she was determined to keep. None was as big; so Liz split up the company and let Slinger take some on his own; he was developing nicely.

They were grounded for two days and Liz was grateful for the rest. Only one mission a night but they were more stressful than day missions. One big difference she had noted from the last time over 2 years ago that she had been there was that there was less action near Bagram; it was all farther away. Looking at how it was going on elsewhere it was clear the southern command had made good progress and it was under control there. Kandahar was much quieter than it had been. The Aviation unit at Bagram currently was a NG composite unit; and it did not have a very good reputation as regards the attack battalion. They were one of the last units flying AH-64A’s, and it showed. Their readiness was at 50%. Their Apache’s were old and worn out. The light Attack battalion was good, and had been shouldering more of the load. Since the need was not as great as it had been, nothing was being done. Liz did not need a piano falling on her head to read the tea leaves; and neither did the Special Operations commander at Bagram, who had called her in the day after the first mission.
“Major, I am willing to bet you have noticed a few things about the NG Aviation Brigade we have here.”

“If you mean the fact that the Apache Battalion is lucky to have half its craft flying at any one time, I have.”

“The Kiowa Warrior Battalion is quite good; and they have been able to make up the shortfall so far.”

“So far being the operative word.”

“There you have it in a nutshell.”

“How do we do this, sir?”

“If you are out on a mission and a request comes in you do what you can; otherwise I have to authorize it. Now mind you I will unless we have a serious mission in progress.”

“Understood sir.”

Liz quietly let her people know about this; they were not surprised either.
Slinger was blunt: “It’s not just that their Apache’s are old; their maintenance people are not all that either. And I have not heard good things about their leadership at all.”

The rest of them agreed. Hammer put the period on it “Major, we know why we are here. Whether it is supporting SF or someone else. Doesn’t really matter.”

This was a very good unit, Liz knew. Was it as good as her first Company A? She was not sure; but the difference was not that great.

A week later another situation came up. They had done a couple of small missions, nothing much. Then a big one came up; much like the first one only not quite as far away. Liz still went with two auxiliary tanks, and a full combat load. Better to have it and not need it then need it and not have it, was her Mantra.

The mission went well in the respect that there were no casualties, but that was because there were only a few people in the Village. So it was a quick mission; half an hour on the ground and they were heading back.

The call sign for the company had been Hell Dogs; clearly a play on Liz’s call sign. But she did not mind.

“Hell Dog Lead, this is Control. What is your fuel status?”

“Hell Dog Lead to Control. 60% at this time.”

“Hell Dog Lead, we have a situation at hand. Switch to frequency 4.”

“Hell Dog Lead, Roger. Switching to Frequency 4.”

Someone is in trouble. “This is Hell Dog Lead, what is your situation?”
“Hell Dog Lead, we have Delta Alpha Papa’s down at coordinates for Whisky Lima Sierra, need support.”

Liz checked the coordinates; about 50 miles away. “Hell Dog Lead, we are 20 Mikes out.”

“OK, People, heading 235 and balls to the wall!”

Considering they were less than 50 miles from Base, Liz decided to let the Hawks go home alone. So the whole company headed for a rescue mission.

They were all honking right at 200 mph, very nearly the maximum; that used fuel up fairly quick. Liz was considering asking for a tanker run. Then they were almost there and she was calling in.
“Hell Dog Lead to Whiskey Lima Sierra, we are 5 Mikes out, what is your situation?”

“Hell Dog Lead, we have two on the ground with hostiles closing in 5 clicks from you on your present course.”

“Roger that.”

“Doberman to Slinger, once you spot the objective, swing around to cover the other half of the perimeter.”
“Roger that, Doberman.”

Liz brought her platoon in hot, and spotted the two DAP’s on the ground about 100 meters apart. And she spotted moving figures heading their way.
“Doberman to first platoon, spread out. Let’s make sure there are no leaks.”

And they let loose with 2.75’s. With no village in the immediate vicinity, anyone running around at night in this weather was up to no good. And the intimidation factor of all those good sized explosions was not to be over looked as well.

In only a few minutes, there were no moving figures. Liz checked her gauges; then called out for fuel status from everyone. She had taught them from day one to conserve fuel and the habit had taken; no one was much under her numbers. They could stay for about 90 minutes before they had to leave.

“Hell Dog Lead to Whiskey Lima Sierra, what is the ETA on assistance?”

“Hell Dog Lead, pickup help is one hour away.”

Liz groaned. It would take more time than that to head back and refuel.
“Hell Dog Lead to Whiskey Lima Sierra, we have 90 Mikes before bingo status.”

“Roger that, will call for juice patrol.”

And so they waited. Liz did consider landing and idling half for 45 minutes; then the other half. She worked on the numbers and found that that would only buy them another half hour.

“Whiskey Lima Sierra, juice man will arrive in 40 mikes.”

Relieved, Liz smiled. “Roger that.”

“Doberman to Slinger, head for the barn; we will keep watch.”

“Roger that, Doberman.”

Liz then set up the refueling; one by one they would head up to 5000 feet and wait for contact with the tanker. It would pass back and forth over the area while it refueled them. The Apache with the least would head up first. She surveyed the area; it was doubtful anyone would bother them. But they had to keep a sharp eye out. They did not want one to get close with a RPG.

“Tanker Man to Hell Dog Lead, we are open for business.”

“Hell Dog Lead to Tanker Man, we are waiting; give us course and altitude and your first customer will be there.”

One by one they went up and fueled up. When Liz went up, last, she took her up to 5000 feet and accelerated to 140 Knots and spotted the tanker in the light of the half moon, even before infrared picked it up; Radar of course had him.

She moved up behind him and spotted the drogue and maneuvered toward it; it took a few minutes but she connected on her first try. It did not take long and her main tank was full. The only bad part about the system was that they could not fill up the auxiliary tanks. The pumps were only one way. However, that would still give them a full two more hours plus what was left in their auxiliaries; once informed of the tanking Liz had ordered everyone to switch to their main tank and empty it as much as possible. Liz decided in the future to have them use up their main tanks first for just this contingency.

Their mission had been scheduled for 0200; it was now getting close to 0400; about 2 hrs till dawn. The two Chinooks had arrived and they were working on slinging the Black Hawks; it would not take long.

The rest of the mission was smooth as they were out of there by 0500, and since the Chinooks had to go slow, they did not reach the Base until almost dawn.

The debrief for both was short. Liz once again got the impression that the DAP guys were jealous; and now that they had been rescued it was worse.

Liz then pulled her people together to announce a change in procedures.
“From now on we will use our primary tank until it gets to 10% and then we will switch to auxiliary. However, prior to take off we will test all auxiliary tanks to make sure that the system is working.”
With all the extra paperwork and other demands on her time, Liz had very little downtime at all. Mostly to eat and sleep. The one good thing was that time seemed to fly by.

3 Days after the rescue of the DAP’s, they had to do it again. Two DAP’s supporting a SF S & D mission were hit by 12.7MM and crash landed. The NG Apache’s, of which only 10 of 24 were flyable, were fully committed to two other missions. The Range was too far for Little Birds; and the Kiowa warrior Battalion was also fully committed elsewhere; since for once the SF was working the day shift. So Liz had to hustle and get her ready platoon off on short notice. It had been decided to have one platoon fueled and ready to go on short notice; it caused more work for the ground crew but Liz, after consultation with the SF Commander, bearing in mind the situation with the NG Apache Battalion, chose to have them ready to go. If a mission was not scheduled that day or night, one platoon was kept ready anyway. Otherwise they all were.

Liz had them started up and moving within 30 minutes of the message; a new record. The DAP’s were over 125 miles away; so it took them at full throttle 40 minutes to get there. They found the Taliban closing in on both DAP’s which had been able to use their side guns but had been driven out as the Taliban closed in; both DAP’s had taken more hits from RPG’s and were burning. Liz came in low and hot and after quickly identifying where the SF was from the purple smoke, ordered her people to hose the area with 2.75’s. That took care of most of the Taliban that were close and drove the rest back. They were able to locate the 12.7MM MGs and destroy them as well. Then they began to look for any hiding place and put several 30MM rds in it. The two DAP’s had landed and taken off at the same place and the Taliban had been able to move the MGs close and wait for them to come back and pick up the SF. Right behind Liz was 2 MEDEVAC’s and two Black Hawks from the NG. At the moment the SF had nothing else available.

After Liz and the others had sanitized the area, the MEDEVACS and Black Hawks landed. The MEDEVACS soon took off with the wounded and the Black Hawks took the rest. Then the mission commander ordered Liz to completely destroy the DAP’s, that were in pretty bad shape anyway. The SF was unable to get close enough to set demo charges due to the fires. They needed to make sure nothing classified was captured. So Liz set it up for all four to target each DAP in turn and hit it with a Hellfire. Two to concentrate on the engine area and two to concentrate on the cockpit area. 4 Hellfires can do a lot of damage and they virtually obliterated the DAP’s. Then Liz had them do it again on the pieces they could see; using 30MM. After almost half an hour of blasting, there were only very small pieces left and Liz headed them home, escorting the Black Hawks.

At the debrief Liz was closely questioned about the destruction of the DAP’s; the Intelligence officer was satisfied that nothing worthwhile could be left. He congratulated Liz on being thorough. Of the 4 DAP pilots, two had been seriously injured and two slightly injured. Luckily no one had been killed.

Liz was summoned to a meeting to the SF and Aviation chief that afternoon. It was just the three of them in the SF compound in the SF commanders’ office.

The Aviation commander started it off.
“We only had 4 DAP’s here at the moment; so with two gone and two others needing major repairs that will take at least a couple of weeks, we have none. 4 more are going to be moved here but that will take a month; we do not have that many total anyway. So, Major Parker, you will have to cover their missions. We will have to bring in more Black Hawks to compensate, but that will take a couple of weeks. So for the time being we will have to rely on what we can scrape up and what we can borrow from the NG. And their Black Hawks are not set up as ours are; so range will be a problem. We will probably have to set up refueling points, which means using some of our Chinooks or borrowing some of theirs.”

Liz was curious. “What is the story with the NG Brigade? I have not heard of any this bad or even close.”

The SF Aviation chief sighed. “This is not to leave this room, but the CO of that brigade was a political appointee that should never have been approved. His XO is not much better; and they populated the command with buddies and yes men. Already reports have gone up the chain about them; they have only been here about 3 months. They actually have some good pilots, but their maintenance section is also weak and their operational status is pathetic. And with old equipment, which is what they mostly have, that makes things even worse.”

Liz shook her head. “This brigade needs to be relieved.”

“Yes it does. But the brass is unwilling to yet make that move for political reasons.”

Liz left the office thinking hard. This was a disaster waiting to happen; and it was clear that the higher command in Washington was very reluctant to move. The Brigade came from a politically powerful state. Her people were going to be put to risk because of this, and all the other people who depended on that Aviation Brigade to support them. She took a deep breath and tried to decide what to do. She could email her congressman, but the reality was that that might take time to get things moving without a bigger push. So Liz decided to take a personal risk and talk to a reporter. She just had to figure which one.
There were numerous reporters wandering around Bagram; but to pick one that would not out her was the problem. She knew if she was identified that there would be big trouble for her. If she had to she could take it, but she preferred to not be the sacrificial lamb. Then she figured out how to do it. She wrote up a quick brief of the problems and why; then made sure there was no way to identify where it came from and made copies. Then late that evening she slunk by the press room and left them laying there where they would be found in the morning.

By noon of the next day it was all over the base because several of the reporters were trying to get verification. Which was not hard to get as it was pretty obvious once you knew what to look for.

By the time the base commander was fielding questions and the various national news organizations were starting to wake up to a real juicy scandal, Liz was safely off on a fairly routine mission; Slinger taking one and Liz the other in a resupply of some SF advance bases. There was very little action. They got back in mid afternoon to hear that it had made the national news.

And then Liz got a phone call from the congressman. Liz had splurged and bought a satellite cell phone so she could talk to Max and her family when she wanted to. She got the call in her office writing up the report on the mission.

“Liz, this is your favorite Congressman.”

“Good to hear from you sir.”

“You might not think so after this call. We just got the word here of a media storm about a messed up NG Aviation Brigade. Is it true?”

“Yes Sir it is messed up bad.”

“Unable to continue the mission?”

“Sir they have only been here 3 months and just a day ago only 10 out of 24 Apaches were operational. That is only the beginning. It is bad sir.”

“OK. I just wanted to be sure. Take Care, Liz.”

“You as well sir.”

“I am not getting shot at.”

Liz took a deep breath; there was no one around so she relaxed some.

Liz made sure to stay in her office and then her quarters for the rest of that day; luckily no missions came up.

The next morning at 0800 she was told to get to the Base Commanders office.
Liz was a little scared that someone had figured out it had been her, maybe someone had seen something.

She was shown into the main conference room and found several high ranking officers there from the Brits and others of the Multi National force. She began to relax a little at the sight of them.
Then the commanding general of the Afghan theatre in place; not CENTCOM, but the 3 star overseeing the overall campaign in Afghanistan came in along with the Base commander and others including the SF Commander and his Aviation Chief.

The 3 Star started it off.
“I am sure you have all heard about the controversy with the NG Aviation Brigade. It got leaked regarding their problems; it was fairly detailed on what was wrong there. The Media is on this like starving wolves on a big fat cow. The facts are that the NG Brigade was failing in its mission and it was only going to get worse. I had already spoken to CENTCOM about taking action; but it was delayed for various reasons. It no longer is now that it is not only National News in the US, but in most of the allied countries as well. So effective as of one hour ago the Brigade commander and his XO have been relieved for cause. All his battalion commanders have also been relieved for cause. This has never happened before. So now we have to pick up the pieces. It is clear that just relieving the commanders are not enough; this Brigade is fairly rotten and its equipment and aircraft are old and dilapidated. It should never have been sent. So another brigade will be sent to take its place but that will take time. At least two months to get one here and get it up and running. We will be diverting one that was about to deploy to Iraq. In the meantime the SF Aviation Chief will be acting commander of what is left of the brigade. We will be bringing officers in to take over the Battalions and leadership of the Brigade; and we will be making available parts and if necessary maintenance personnel to get what is here running as well as possible. One change immediately is that all the Apache’s will be consolidated under the command of Major Parker as a provisional battalion. Major Parker, let me assure you that you have all necessary authority to take what actions are necessary to get more out of them. As an experienced Apache Pilot and commander, you are the best person available. I want to assure all those here as representatives of the Allied Coalition that we will do all we can to clean up this mess.”

The SF Aviation chief motioned for Liz to follow him out of the meeting at that point; Liz was happy to go. They went into another conference room and he closed the door.
“I am going to be pulling one of the XO’s from our Blackhawk Battalion and putting him in charge of their Black Hawks. Their Chinook people are pretty good so I am letting their XO take over for the time being. The XO of their Kiowa Battalion is good as well; that unit was doing decently and should improve with better leadership. Their Apache Battalion was the real overall weak point; that and their Brigade maintenance. I have people flying in for most of those positions. But we need to know how bad it is with the Apache’s right now. So I want you to go down there and take over immediately. And take some of your maintenance people as well to see how bad it is.”

Liz thought for a minute. “We have a couple of people that worked on the Longbow Apache; not sure if we have anyone that worked on the A model. But they can certainly get a good idea of the situation. I will head over and collect them and descend on the NG guys like the wrath of God if I need to.”

He grinned at that. “You have experience at taking over screwed up units; so have at it. Like the general said, anyone you do not think is up to the job relieve him. You have full authority.”

Liz gathered her thoughts as she drove back to the Operations area. She could not complain as she had set this all in motion.

She walked into Operations not at all surprised to see everyone there. Bad news always travels fast. She immediately pulled Sam to her office.
“Sam, does anyone on maintenance have experience with the A model of the Apache?”

He thought for a minute. “Ed Wilson might know something; he worked on them for quite a while before coming to the SOAR in 2008.”

“Would anyone else know anything?”

“I can ask but I don’t think so.”

“Get asking and get Ed here ASAP.”

Liz went back into the main area and held up her hands to forestall more questions.
“OK here it is short and sweet. Because of the media firestorm, the Brigade Commander and XO and all the Battalion commanders were relieved for cause. They will be sending a brigade supposed to go to Iraq here to take its place. But in the meantime everything has to be covered. So they are going to throw all of their apache’s together with ours to make a provisional Battalion with me as Commander. They also relieved the Apache Battalion XO as well. I am about to head over there and give them the word.”

Leaving them to chew on that Liz saw Sam coming with Ed in tow. She signaled them to come into the office. They came in and she closed the door.
“OK, Ed what do you know about A model Apache’s?”

“I worked on them for three years before I transferred here; my unit was just getting the Longbow when I left.”

“Good. You are coming with me when I take over the NG Apache’s. I want you to look them over and their situation. I need to know what we need to get to increase their operational status.”

Wasting no further time Liz got her vehicle and she and Ed headed over to where the NG flight line and hangers were. Arriving Liz looked around; then went into their operations building. The first couple of offices she came to were empty but the lights everywhere were on. Finally they got to the break room area where she could hear some arguments going on. She squared her shoulders and marched in. She signaled Ed and he nodded.
“ATTENTION!” yelled Ed and that shut everyone up as Liz walked in the room.

They were at least soldier enough to go to attention.
“At Ease. I am Major Elizabeth Parker and for the time being I will be your commanding officer by order of General McCafferty, Afghan Theatre Commander. I do not have to tell you why this has happened. So no bitching about that. It is done and get used to it. This battalion will be merged with my unit of the 160th SOAR until a replacement Brigade arrives and becomes operational. That is at least two months off. Now I want to see all of the Officers and Crew chiefs starting by seniority. Sgt Wilson will be checking into the maintenance end of things.” She walked over to a larger office and saw that it was the Commanders office and went inside and sat at the desk. A captain followed her in. “Name and position and experience.”
“Captain Ralph Vinceenes, A Company commander. 3 years, 600 hours.”

Liz started making notes as they came in one by one. Overall they did not look bad and none of them were inexperienced; though to her mind the hours did not line up with the years. But it was NG. She had racked up over 600 hours in her last tour. She had almost 1900 total. The Crew Chiefs did not seem bad at all.

She walked out after the last one and found them all waiting.
“For the moment nothing operational will change. Company and platoon commanders will remain as is. But I want to make this clear: I will roll anyone I do not think is good enough.” She then walked to where Ed was and motioned him into the office. She closed the door and pointed at the chair and he sat.
“OK. What do you think so far?”

“SO far I think the crew chiefs are competent. I think it was more the leadership and the absolute failure of their maintenance section. Every one of the crew chiefs told me that they had a hard time getting spare parts. I think the operational status would improve greatly just having the necessary parts.”

Liz nodded. “OK let’s go to the hangers and have a look.”
Liz came out of the office and looked at the people gathered there.
“At this moment this unit is grounded. So I want everyone here to write a one page suggestion for how things can be improved. If you do not want to sign it that is fine. Get it done and drop it off on the desk in there.”

Then Liz and Ed headed out and went to the hangers. They first went into the offices and Liz confronted the captain that was there.
“I am Major Parker and for the time being I am in command. I want to see your spare parts storage.”

There was not much there. Liz looked at the Captain”Why in HELL is there not more spare parts?”

“Sir, we order but nothing has come in since I got here.”

“Where is the maintenance Commanders office?”

He took them to a locked office. She turned to the Captain. “Who has the keys?”

“Colonel Jones. He always locks it when he leaves at any time.”

She turned to Ed. “Kick it in.” The door was not all that solid and it only took one good kick for it to pop open. They went in and started going through the office; she told the Captain to look in the filing cabinet for those order forms. She told Ed to look over the rest of the office and she started going through his desk.

The members of the battalion were working on that paper Liz had ordered when four SF sergeants came in. “We are looking for Major Parker; where is she?”
“Hanger.” They trooped out.

The Captain had found the orders; they had sat in the file. Ed had found other paperwork just sitting on the table; some of it was several weeks old. Liz, digging through the desk, found letters from the National Guard Bureau requesting information on orders of non military equipment. Liz looked at them and then found a bottom drawer that was locked as well. She looked up at Ed.
“Get a crowbar.”

The SF troopers came in and found Liz. “Major Parker, the Group Commander has assigned us to be your protective detail. He is of the opinion that you might have some resistance to your assumption of command.”

Liz rolled her eyes and then patted the side arm she was never without in Afghanistan. “Sergeant, I am quite capable of shooting someone if I have to.”

Ed came back in with the crowbar and pried the drawer open. Liz reached in and pulled out some order forms for various things. They were on government forms and they were for non military items. Just on one page there was over $5000 for things like a small utility trailer. Liz sat back; that was where all the money had been going.
At that moment a Lt Colonel came barging in.
“Who are you and what reason did you have for breaking into my office!”
Liz stood up slowly. “It is no longer your office by order of the Theatre Commander. You have been relieved for cause. I am Major Parker and you are under arrest. Sergeant, take him into custody and deliver him to security. The charges are theft and misappropriation of government funds.” She then waved the forms to the suddenly pale colonel. The sergeant and one of his men moved to the Colonel. “Sir, you will come with us.” And they marched him out.

Liz then looked at the captain and Ed. “Ed, call security and tell them we need an investigator here ASAP. I don’t know if they have CID but if they don’t whoever has that assignment. Captain, I want you and whoever you need to help you start figuring out what is needed to bring the Battalion back to full operational status.” She then pulled out her cell phone.
“Sir, I just had Colonel Barnes arrested for theft and misappropriation of government funds. I found order forms for civilian items in his desk drawer; the funds came out of the maintenance budget. The amount of spare parts on hand will not last one company more than a week or so of missions. The orders were filled out and filed here in his office. He kept it locked so no one could find out.”

“Yes Sir. I am betting hundreds of thousands of dollars. My question is: would he have been able to sign off on that?”

“I thought so. This might go higher even then brigade. I found letters from the NGB questioning some purchases; they were copy furnished to the state NG Commander.”

“Yes sir, Security has been notified and I have asked for an investigator.”

Liz shut it off and looked at the two of them. “Ed, wait here for the Security detail. Captain, get started on those requests. We will need enough to last at least 60 days and better make it 90 to be safe.”

“Yes sir.”

Liz then headed back to the operations building. Her escort following.

She walked in and checked the office; there was a neat stack of papers; she looked at the people. “Everyone done?” she then picked up the stack.

“I just ordered the arrest of Colonel Barnes for theft and misappropriation of government funds. Those spare parts that you should have got; the money got used for their purposes. They stole from the government, the people and from you; the support you should have gotten. Well that ends now. I will do all I can to make sure you have the parts and support you need. If you show me you are good at your jobs, I will make sure your evaluations show that. Do a job for me and I will have your back.”

She then walked out and went back to her office at the Spec Ops flight line. Once again with escort.

She then went over the papers. Most of them bitched about the lack of support; some of it was about the company commanders but Liz was a little leery of what they said; she would be more likely to suspect them. Overall she did not see anything to really worry about. Well that was good. Then her office phone rang.
“Major, this is Sergeant Wilson. They do have CID here and they are investigating. What do you want me to do now?”

“Check with that Captain and see if he needs help; if not take the rest of the day off.”

“ROGER that sir.”

Liz smiled at that and put down the phone. Then she called the SF Maintenance chief. “Captain Dawson? Major Parker. Doing things our way, how fast can you get parts from the US? We are going to need a lot of A model Apache parts; and I would not be surprised if they also need Kiowa Warrior, Blackhawk and Chinook parts. Some of that we might have; see how much we can let them have and still maintain operations for a while. Talk to Captain Wallace at the NG maintenance section. He is working on the list now for Apache’s, A model.”

She then called the Aviation Commander.
“Sir, spare parts are at the critical level for the Apache. I have a bad feeling it might not be all that much better for the others. I have Captain Dawson working on that problem now and the NG captain working on what they need for the Apache. Yes Sir.”

Meanwhile the SECDEF was getting a phone call from the Theatre commander.
“Sir, Major Parker has already found evidence that the CID is looking at that shows theft on a massive scale. Money for parts diverted for private use. The Spare parts issue comes from that. What makes it worse was that she found enquiries from the NGB about some of those orders on government forms using government money and they were copy furnished to the State NG Commander. Yes Sir it seems to get worse by the hour. I will keep you informed.”

SECDEF sighed and picked up another Phone. “I need to see the President soon; it is serious.”

Liz gathered her company.
“As of now, let’s get all the Apache’s armed and fueled. No telling how long it may take to get the other guys up and running. So for the time being we are it for the heavy hitters. For the time being one platoon will ready for 1 hr response.”

At 1600 Liz got a call for another meeting at HQ. She still had her detail, which now insisted on driving her vehicle.

This time it was the Theatre commander, G4, SF commander, Aviation Commander, CID commander, and Liz.

The theatre commander noticed Liz’s detail and asked the SF commander
“Major Parker seems to have a bigger detail than I do?”
“Sir, all things considered I thought it might not be a bad idea until things settle down.”

“Probably a good idea.”

He then waited until Liz sat down.

“Major Asher of CID will make his preliminary report.”

“Following up on Major Parker’s initial report, after a thorough check of all Maintenance records and offices, substantial evidence of continued and large scale fraud was found. The total will probably reach several million dollars. At this time it is hard to determine when it started, but it has been ongoing now for at least 2 years. It is also likely that officials of the State NG bureau were involved all the way up to and including the state NG Commander.”

The general then nodded to the G4.

“At this time, we are still working on just how much is needed to bring them back into solid operational status. All the units were short on spare parts; the Apache Battalion especially.”

He then gestured to the Aviation Commander.

“The leadership at the top was either incompetent or corrupt. All officers over captain with the exception of XO’s of the Kiowa warrior battalion and the Chinook Battalion have been relieved. They appear competent to assume command at least temporarily. Major Parker will take over consolidating the Apache battalion with her company. I am reassigning one of my XO’s to take over one Black Hawk Battalion. At this time I think consolidating the battalions of the Black Hawks is a reasonable answer.”

He then looked at Liz. “Major Parker, what is your evaluation at this time of the Apache Battalion?”

“Sir, their leadership stank. From what I have seen, I think that the majority are reasonably competent. I am not going to even bother to read the evals of the relieved officers; clearly favoritism and the like were rampant. What I am going to do if there are no calls for support tomorrow is go up in one of their operational Apache’s as the copilot for a check ride of each of their pilots. I should be able to get that done in one day. I will then know just how good their pilots are. The spare parts situation is critical; I have been discussing that with our SF Maintenance personnel to see what they can spare for the other units. I have the Captain from the Apache Maintenance section working on a list for parts needed to last the Battalion for 90 days; he should have that list finished sometime today. We need to get that list off and response as fast as possible.”

The general looked at his G4. “As soon as that list is ready it will be considered a critical national security priority. Have maintenance send us a 90 Day supply of estimated parts needs for the helicopters of that brigade.”

“Yes sir.”
The general adjourned the meeting; the Aviation commander indicated he wanted to speak to the SF commander and the General. He nodded and waited for the others to leave.

“General, this might be a little much but I want to designate Major Parker as the Acting Brigade XO. She has a better grip on the situation than any of us do. And that would give her the authority to get anything fast done that needs to be done.”

“That is putting a lot on her plate, Colonel.”

“Yes sir but on the other hand she has experience at taking disaster areas and shaping them up quickly. She has done it twice before.”

He looked at the SF commander. “Your thoughts?”

“I agree sir. It is a lot but she can handle it and probably better than anyone we can find for the foreseeable future.”

“Very well. Get it done for my signature.”

“Yes sir.”

Liz headed back to her office; she looked around the building and considered some things. They had a lot more room in this building then they used. There had been several SF facilities built since she had been there last. She went out and saw the Maintenance Company commander.
“Captain Dawson, please come into my office.”

He sat down and she closed the door.
“Would we have room if we relocated that Apache Battalion here?”

He blinked then thought about it. “Yes sir. It might get a little cramped but not too much.” Liz nodded and picked up her phone.
“Sir, in the interests of efficiency and frankly to make my life a little easier I would like to relocate the NG Apache Battalion to our facility; we do have room.”

“Thank you sir. OH. Yes sir.” A little dazed she put down the phone.

“Major, what is it?”

“I just got made the acting XO of the NG Brigade.”

“I would say congratulations but I think that that would be in error.”

“yeah.”
“This is a Fox News special report. Scandal in Afghanistan. The theatre Commander, Lt General Mccafferty, has relieved for cause the Commander and most of the senior officers of the NG Brigade from …..”

“This is a Fox News Special report. Scandal in Afghanistan. More information is slowly coming out of Bagram AFB where the NG Brigade from…”

“This is Fox News Tonight. It has been a very interesting day at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan, to say the least. We now have information that the Senior officers of the NG brigade that were relieved this same day have been arrested for what is being called the largest theft and misappropriation of DOD funds in many years. This follows their relief due to the failure of the Brigade to fulfill its mission of supporting the American and Allied forces there. It now seems clear that the failure was due to the diversion of funds that were supposed to purchase spare parts for the Brigades helicopters. Those funds apparently went into the pockets of the Brigades senior officers or were used to purchase items such as TVs and other items for their own personal use. It is rumored that this scandal goes all the way to the office of the State NG Commander, Major General….”

With her new found authority Liz headed to the NG operations building.

She came into the office and whistled which needless to say got their attention.
“I have just been appointed acting Brigade XO. So I am giving this order right now. Pack up everything and move to the SF operations building that my Apache Company has been using. We have the room and it makes it simpler for me. Also your helicopters and maintenance section will move as well. We can tow the helicopters and it’s not like there is much in the way of spare parts to move.”

She saw Captain Wallace. “Captain, as of now you are Acting Battalion Maintenance commander. Is that list done?”

“Yes sir.”

“Take it yourself up to the Theatre G4 at HQ. They are waiting for it. And inform them of your appointment.”

“Yes sir.”

She looked around. “Ok, everyone. CHOP CHOP. Let’s get moving.”

She then headed over to the SF operations building and saw that they were concentrating together and making room. It was not long before the NG people started to arrive. Liz assigned the company’s to various rooms and the Maintenance people to others. It did get a little crowded but not much. She then went out and checked the Hanger; already Apache’s were being pulled into the SF Hanger. By 2000 amazingly it was done. She looked around at everyone.
“OK, people, get something to eat and hit the sack. Tomorrow will be another busy day. I want all people here at 0700.”

Just at that minute, a phone rang. One of the NG officers answered it. Then Looked at Liz. “Sir, a fire base under attack requests support.”

Liz took a deep breath. Then looked at Slinger. “Your platoon was on alert today; looks like you get less sleep. OK your people do not have to report until 0900. Get to work. Everyone not with 2nd Platoon get outta here.”

Liz lingered until they took off 35 Minutes later; the fire base was only 60 miles away; with luck they would be back and done before midnight. Liz then, with her detail, went and got something to eat. She took her detail with her into the senior officer’s part of the Main Mess hall. Ignoring the looks of anyone who dared to glance her way. She was able to relax a little and then hit the sack with her alarm set for 0600. It was 2100.

She woke up at 0535, and instead of trying to get any more sleep she just got up and showered; it was nice having her own bathroom. She got out and headed to the mess hall for breakfast. Her detail was waiting for her. She asked them how long they were stuck with her; the Sergeant grinned.
“Major, this is an easy detail. We do not mind it at all.”

They then got to Operations at 0630. To find most of them already there. She got details on Slinger’s mission; they had gotten back at 2230. No problems. Her platoon was now armed and ready. She thanked Sam who shrugged and told her that it did not take long to arm them; the fuel was already in the tank. She then talked to the three captains commanding the companies; at the moment only 4-5 were operational in each. A total of 13 out of 24. 54%. Not good. She then told them that today they would be doing check rides and she would be riding in the copilot seat. She told them to get one fueled and ready, but not armed.

Then one by one she spent half an hour in the air with each pilot. They started at 0800 and finished at 2100. She did not think any of them were poor. But clearly the lack of spare parts had prevented them from flying as much as they should have been. She had forgotten how old the A Model’s were; compared to hers they were like the Model T Ford. She would have to remember that they had nowhere near the capability at night hers had; but daytime they should be OK.

She was glad to spend the day in the air as things were still settling on the ground. While she waited for it to be refueled a couple of times she kept in touch with things. The word came that the parts request had been sent and was being filled as they spoke. They hoped to have it too them within 72 hours. Liz thought they might be a little optimistic due to the age of the A model. The Aviation commander had told her that they had put off a few missions in order to let things settle down; she told him she was grateful. The Maintenance people thought that the situation with the rest of the NG choppers was manageable for the short term with what they had on hand between them and the SF parts supply.

“This is Fox News tonight. The Continuing Fallout of the Scandal in Afghanistan has now reached the NG HQ of the State Brigade. The Major General in command has resigned; but information has come out that he will be charged as the officers of that brigade already have. The Governor, who appointed the General despite opposition, has claimed he had no knowledge of the purported thefts. But already there are calls for his resignation that are gaining strength at the State Capital; where our reporter….”

Liz’s appointment as Acting Brigade XO had leaked out; and that garnered a fair amount of attention. The additional fact that she had consolidated the NG Apache’s with her company also got out.

At Campbell there was a lot of shaking of heads. Liz had found herself another goat rope to unravel. At their get together, due to the weather inside one of the pavilions, the Crew + Husbands and the Posse + husbands talked about it.
Vicki shrugged. “They always seem to find a way to drop it in her lap.”

Three good friends gathered at Maria’s also shook their heads.
Tess put it best. “She might as well have a shovel in her office at all times.”

The day after the check rides Liz was told that they needed to start flying again; she figured she should be grateful things had been that quiet. There were three missions for that day that required Apache support; one was fairly close and she gave that to the NG A company; they were able to put four in the air and did that one. Liz took the farthest one out that turned out to be the easiest; and Slinger took the third. All were relatively OK. No serious casualties or damage to any helicopters. While flying their check rides, Liz had talked to each pilot, impressing them on how she wanted things done. She had all the pilots working on scenarios and responses to situations. That afternoon a request for support from a UK Royal Commando Patrol Base came through and Liz took that one herself; it got a little hairy as the Taliban had managed to gather together a fairly respectable force. But they were clearly not the top of the line and were easy prey.

The following day things were pretty quiet; the only resupply operations were supported by Kiowa warriors. The SF was quiet for the moment; Little Birds escorting Blackhawks; and they had been able to replace the 2 Destroyed DAP’s with 4 and the other two had been repaired so for the time being they were sufficient. The SF commander had told Liz, though, that they would have some big missions in the next couple of weeks that would need her whole company.

Liz found the paperwork of being the acting XO of a Brigade daunting; so she tried to ignore it as much as she could. She dived right into working on the NG apache battalion to try and shape them up. She got good news on that day as the word came that by virtually grabbing every single spare part from every unit that had any, it was possible to get the necessary bits and pieces that were needed to bring the Apache’s up to code. They would be there the next day. So Liz decided to have all available maintenance people in the entire brigade plus SF to help out when the parts got there; they would work on every Apache. The Aviation Commander agreed and set it in motion.

Liz had the maintenance captain for the 160th plus Captain Wallace in her office and put it to them.
“We will have virtually every maintenance person available. Use the crew chiefs and crews as the primary workers and everyone else helping move the parts and hand the tools and the like. We should be able to put 4-5 people helping each of the birds. When that plane sets down, we have crews with forklifts moving to it right away and pulling the pallets of parts off. Then we will tear the pallets apart and lay them out in groups. We will put all the parts for each apache in one area and those parts will then be moved to their respective copters. Then they start working the Apache’s. We work until they are too tired to do it right; then sleep and then start up until they are all done. If parts are not quite due replace them anyway; I want as close to a complete overhaul as we can get.”

The C-5B landed at 0800 the next morning and they were ready; it was unloaded in one hour and in two more all the pallets had been separated into the parts for 24 Apache’s. Then the spare ones were taken into the Hanger storage area. By noon they were working the Apache’s. Liz was in the air as two resupply missions were scheduled for the morning and two for the afternoon. Thankfully there was very little for them to do. When she landed at 1600 that afternoon and checked on the progress, she was happy to see that the currently operational Apache’s had been redone as requested; and the nonoperational Apache’s were on their way. Her people were busy on their birds and some of the others had to go and work the Chinooks and Blackhawks used on the supply runs but otherwise the ground crews moved fast with the extra work; and as each Apache was done that crew began to help others. Having the extra hands to tear open and unpack boxes made a huge difference. By 2000 that night they were done and exhausted. She told everyone to hit the sack and not report until 0800 the next day.

“Fox News Special Report, the Scandal in Afghanistan. In only 5 days the scandal about the theft of money meant to keep the Helicopters running in Afghanistan has had major consequences in the US. Governor Banker has given notice he will resign; while still claiming no knowledge of the thefts. But the fact that he insisted on nominating the General clearly implicated for head of the State National guard has become too much for his party and he has been forced to hand in his resignation effective in 24 hours. Just yesterday the General was formally charged, bringing the total number of NG officers indicted to 16. Reporter…”

Liz was informed the next day that they wanted to start a campaign the day after. She had the whole Battalion flying that day; and drilled them hard. Then had them out firing all weapons until exhausted. She could see clear progress by the end of the day. The next morning at 0700 she had everyone in.
“OK people, now we get back to work. Today is the beginning of a campaign to hurt the Taliban bad. We will be flying night and day for the next several days to get things done. The A Models will be doing all the day flying and the Super Apache’s will be doing the night flying. There will be 3 large missions each day and two smaller ones at night; all SF. We will do this as long as the machines hold up.”

That day the NG Apache’s headed out and got it done; they had a couple of hairy moments but nothing serious. They did well and had no damage; and outside of a few bullet holes in some Black Hawks there was none to any other ships. A few wounded but not badly on the ground. Liz and Slinger’s missions that night were almost as routine; more shots fired by the Apache’s but only minor wounds to any of the SF.

The next day was a little more hairy for the NG guys; they had a resupply mission that the Taliban tried to interrupt and it got tense for a while but they got it done. That night was also more tense for Liz as the village her group hit shot back with 12.7MM and damaged one of the SF Blackhawks; but not seriously and it was able to limp back to base. Liz personally hosed the area the shots came from and was pretty sure she had evened the score.

The next day was a bellwether for the NG; three big missions attacking larger villages that required solid support. And they got it done. After each mission Liz made sure to give them hard critiques; but to also give praise when it was due. Liz could see their confidence increasing as well as their abilities. They were good flyers; they just needed the leadership and support to get it done. That night two more missions for Liz and Slinger; virtual cake walks.

The batch of missions reached their crescendo on the 4th day when it was decided to hit even more targets. Liz, after being told that there would be no night mission, wanted to get it all done and they did 8 missions in the morning and 8 in the afternoon. One company splitting into its platoons for each mission. SF and the ground pounders got together and hit virtually every target available in the area. Some of them were quickly mounted and virtually every available Black Hawk and Chinook was used. The morning missions took off just before Dawn; and were all done by 1000; the afternoon missions took off at 1300 and got done just after dark. They did not do a mission debrief after the evening one because everyone was dropping. So Liz postponed it until the next morning.

There was a fair amount of shooting by everyone at one time or another that day. The SF fully extended itself using all its Little Birds and DAP’s. At least two dozen targets overall were hit that day; an all-time record for Bagram. And amazingly no chopper was seriously damaged and only a few troopers were more than moderately wounded. This campaign convinced the remaining Taliban to virtually pack it in for the time being.

The next day Liz pulled everyone in for the last debriefing and to talk to them.

After it was over she looked at the assembled personnel; all the pilots, copilots and crews.
“People, we set an all-time record for number of targets hit in one day yesterday. The last four days were also a record. And not one chopper was seriously damaged and only a few troopers were more than moderately wounded, and we did not lost anyone. Meantime we put a serious hurt on the Taliban in this area. So pilots get your reports done and maintenance get your birds done; and as soon as you have finished those tasks, take the rest of the day off. You have fully earned it.”

Liz got her own paperwork done then went to a meeting with the SF commander and Aviation commander.
The SF commander was cheerful.
“All our intelligence says the Taliban have abandoned their forward bases and have slinked back to Pakistan. This offensive really rocked them hard. They took a lot of losses, and there are indications a lot of their mid-level people got taken out. All the more reason for them to go and try and recover in what they think is their safe haven.”

It did not take a piano to fall on Liz’s head to know what was coming next.
“When do we start?”

“We start hitting their refuges in Pakistan tomorrow night. They will have just arrived and will not be moving much; that is their pattern. Predator and other intel tells us that these two moderately sized villages in this area of the tribal regions is where a lot of them are gathering. And we will hit them. The DAP’s will hit two others, not as far away. These three near ones will be hit with Black Hawks and Little Birds. We think if we can clean out those 7 targets, this will hurt them so much they will be unable to do much of anything for several months.”

The Aviation commander then took over.
“The two targets you will be a part of are the farthest into Pakistan; we will hit them right at midnight. We will have four tanker aircraft available tomorrow night for all our operations. One possible concern is that these two targets might have some fairly heavy defensive weapons. That means 23 MM and almost certainly several 12.7MM. It is also possible they might have some Russian SA-7’s. Now they should pose no threat to you; your birds have those automatic systems which so far have been shown to be very effective against hand held systems.”

Liz nodded, soberly. Then asked. “Is one of them supposed to be tougher than the other?”

“Yes. This one is more likely to have any heavy weaponry. I am guessing that is the one you will take.”

“Of course sir. Commander’s privilege and obligation.”

“Another thing about this is that it will be Christmas Eve. So there is a very good chance they might think we will not hit them.”

Liz blinked; she had actually forgotten.

Liz briefed her company that afternoon.
“Slinger will hit this target; 1st platoon will hit this target. Be warned; there will almost certainly be 12.7’s; and probably 23MM. The good news is that it’s a new moon and they will have a very hard time seeing anything. While we have our fancy toys. Now I do want to make this clear; these targets are in Pakistan, so make sure of what you shoot at. There will be a stink about this raid no matter what; but we have to do our best to make sure only those holding a weapon and shooting at us get waxed. That means while we will take a full combat load, we will primarily use our 30MM.”

They took off at 1015; full combat and four auxiliary tanks; the first time they had gone at Max take off load. Liz could tell; the Apache was not happy. But she got off the ground and since they were going at the max speed of the SF Black Hawks, they burned a fair amount of fuel for the target that was 180 miles away. Since the SF birds were also at max fuel, they were a little slow that night. It took almost an hour and a half to get there. Per operating procedure, they had made sure all auxiliaries were working, and then switched over to the main. They used just over 60% getting there.

It had been decided to do it fast and mean; all 12 birds in a group, the Apache’s on the outside and the Black Hawks inside. The Black Hawks swooped down and deposited their troops, and then lifted off and hovered at a slight distance; the Apache’s just hovered. Resistance was light as it did appear they had gotten total surprise. Then some fighters started to appear; they got plinked. Two 12.7’s opened up wildly and got toasted. Then it was virtually still; though they could see weapon flashes in the village; it appeared the SF had them on the run and they were backing off fast. Liz as she had planned then moved to the rear of the village, with Octopus at her side. A stream of people were running from the village; women and children mixed in. There were a few with arms but they were too close to the others and Liz held fire. Then the stream all but stopped; she could still see the flash of weapons fire but it was close to the end of the village. Soon a group, followed by another group was running. Liz zeroed in on the first group; several were armed; but only with pistols. Liz knew that that meant they were almost certainly Taliban. Liz fired 4 rds of 30MM HE right at their feet; they were tossed in the air, several legs flying off separate from the bodies. Then she targeted the second group that was firing into the village and blew them totally away. Right after that she could see SF troops quickly heading towards the two groups, concentrating on the group in front. She saw the flashes of camera’s and then a couple of pistol shots as they made sure these Taliban would bother no one again. Right after that they got the word to withdraw. Liz pulled back and lined up her platoon.
“Doberman to everyone; be ready; if there is anything left they will fire when the hawks land.”

And sure enough a 23MM opened up; Octopus saw it and hosed it; it scored no hits. And that was it. They took off when the Black Hawks did.

They were two thirds the way back when the call came.
“Lulu Baker 23 calling Hell Dog Lead.”

“Hell Dog Lead, go ahead.”

“Hell Dog Lead need some help at Xray Tango Golf 456”

Liz checked her fuel by habit; they had plenty. “Hell Dog Lead, roger that. ETA is 40 minutes.”

The Commander of the strike team told Liz to take everyone; they were close enough. So Liz did; changing course and flooring it. The Apache’s had switched over to the auxiliary one at the village; she ordered them to switch to 2. On the other side which would balance the bird again. They did better than she thought; she called in at the 30 Minute mark.
“Hell Dog Lead to Lulu Baker 23, we are 5 mikes out, what is the situation?”

“Hell dog Lead we have a downed Baker Hotel; recovery is 30 mikes out but we are at Bingo Status; contact them on frequency 3.”

“Roger that.” Liz then changed to that frequency, the others doing the same.

“Hell Dog Lead to Baker Hotel on the floor; how is the view?”
“Baker Hotel to Hell Dog Lead; view is fine now that you are here; nothing to see otherwise.”

“Roger that, we will look around.”

So Liz and the others; once they had pin pointed the downed Black Hawk, then looked over the area carefully; apparently they had been damaged but had been able to move some miles from the target and land in a fairly open area. So it was not hard to keep watch.

Nothing happened and 30 Mins later the Chinook arrived; another 30 minutes and they had the damaged black hawk in a sling and were moving towards the base. Liz escorting all the way home.

Once there she had heard that Slinger had also had to oversee a downed Black Hawk, about the same situation. But it was a mechanical fault; so they sent a repair crew and they got back not long after Liz did. Liz was glad to hear that no one had died and only that black hawk had been downed; some others were a little shot up but were ok. A lot of Taliban had been erased; and almost certainly a fair number of their mid-level leadership for that area. And this would make them retreat deeper into Pakistan, bringing them closer to the area that the Pakistani army operated and perhaps within range. Also it would make it harder for them to move back and forth across the border. Overall a good outcome.

As expected the Pakistani government protested the invasion; the US blandly said they were in hot pursuit of Taliban running from their recent defeat and the border was hard to figure out at night. Both sides knowing what it was all about.
A meeting with the SF commander later that day bore this out.
“The sensible ones in the Pakistani Government understand; but they have to say things for internal consumption. It is becoming clear our recent offensive crippled them and this last one all but finished them off.”

Liz saw the Aviation commander and he was happy how things were going everywhere.
“The brass has made the decision that the NG Brigade will redeploy to Kuwait and await some new officers; then take the Brigades place that is coming here in Iraq. It is much easier duty and they will have time to get their act together. They are looking better all around. The brigade coming is from the 1st Infantry; they will be here January 24 and will be operational Feb 15. So you have about 6 weeks left. And so far the new Super Apache has been all we could ask. This should shut up the critics.”

Liz was cheered up by that; depressed when she got back to her office and saw the piled up paperwork. Deciding to be like Scarlet O’Hara and putting it off for tomorrow, she went to check in with what was going on with the NG. They had on mission that morning; but two that afternoon, supply coverage. She talked to the pilots and then the maintenance people; they were all much more confident and the results were clear. Operational status was at 91%.

Liz headed back to her office and decided to take a whack at her paperwork; she was glad that the SF had withdrawn their detail; it had been embarrassing.

She finally left at 1900, having gotten through a fair amount of it, all the most important anyhow.
The weather went bad late that night, rather unexpectedly, and when she got up she looked out her window and realized no one would be flying that day. So she headed over to operations.
“OK, let’s have a bull session. Talk about anything and everything.”

That went on for over an hour and then Liz told them to take the rest of the day off. She then visited the hangers and talked to the crews and had them talk as well. Then she went and visited the Kiowa’s, Black Hawks and Chinooks. After each she gave them the rest of the day off. So by noon everyone was free. And Liz got a feel on how the Brigade was doing. They were doing pretty well considering. She talked to the other acting Battalion commanders and they seemed ok. She then headed up to talk to the Aviation Commander.

He listened to her and agreed that the Brigade was shaping up. And congratulated her on being a large part of the reason.

He said as much to the Theatre Commander after he gave the daily evening briefing that he had wanted since the whole mess had started.

“So it really was the bad leadership and lack of support?”

“I would say so sir. This is a good brigade if well led and well supported. They have improved tremendously just in the last two weeks. Especially the Apache Battalion.”

“Obviously much of that due to Major Parker.”
“Most of that due to Major Parker. She had the reputation going in; and she immediately assumed command; then showed them she would lead. That getting all the maintenance people in the brigade to help rebuild the Apache’s made a big impression. Then the fact that she led by example. Then stepped back and let the Company Commanders lead. Which gave them confidence. It all fed on itself in a good way. Then having a bunch of successful missions in a row like that. Today she talked to just about everyone in the Brigade, asking for input and letting them all have a gripe session. I do not think there is any doubt that anyone in that brigade would now follow her lead anywhere.”

The theatre commander repeated most of that to CENTCOM in their daily conversation. Who passed it up the ladder to SECDEF.

Continuing a recent tradition, the new president elect had decided to keep his predecessors SECDEF. So he had a briefing and with only a little over three weeks to go before he took office, he wanted to know what was going on there.
“Sir, the situation in Iraq has become mostly a garrison situation; we just hope the next elections stabilize things there so we can complete our pullout. In Afghanistan our recent offensive in the north has all but crippled the Taliban there. In the south they got hurt as well and are probably done for a while until the weather warms up and they can rebuild somewhat. We will take advantage and keep the pressure on.”

“That NG Brigade, how are they doing under new leadership?”

“Very well sir. Their Apache Battalion has improved tremendously.”

“And if rumors are to be believed, most of that is due to Major Parker.”

“Yes sir; she turned that unit around a full 180.”

“She is due to take her company back soon, correct?”

“They are due back mid February. She would have gone sooner but is being held until combat operations conclude for her composite Battalion.”

“A wise decision. I assume a suitable commendation will be forthcoming?”

“We are debating that now sir. She did quite a lot.”

“Yes she did. Make sure that it is commensurate.”

“Yes sir.”

The weather cleared up but things stayed fairly quiet; she had the NG Apache’s up and practicing firing and maneuvering; working the junior officers more. Outside of a few supply missions the next week was quiet.

On the 10th, she was called in for another meeting by the SF commander and Aviation commander.
The SF commander started it off.
“We have good intel that the Taliban senior leadership wants action up here; they do not care about the losses. So they are sending some more leaders here to take over and start things up again. We have a predator keeping track of them pretty well. Now normally they would have been taken out by the Predator putting a Hellfire into their vehicle. But the plan is to let them get to wherever they are going in the Tribal Area, then wait for more of them to gather before hitting them. But this also means that we will have to move fast. Probably only a few hours warning. And we will want to use your whole company. Odds are this will happen in the next 2-3 days. So you will need to have your ships ready each night. Daytime is OK, we will not move then.”

Liz went right to Sam “For the next few days both Platoons will need to be armed and ready with full combat and fuel loads for a possible night mission.”

Meanwhile Liz kept on pushing the NG to do better and they responded; she no longer felt she needed to go along or even push hard in the meetings; she more and more let the Captains do most if not all of it; she found it hard sometimes to take that step back but felt it was necessary. She was also informed that since things had improved so much TDY officers would not be sent and they would remain as it was. While a compliment, she would have been happy to have less work.

Clearly the SF was waiting for the moment to strike and had put off anything else. So for a while Liz really had less to do; so she went to work on the paperwork she had been ignoring. Then every so often she would tour the NG Brigade sections to see what was going on. She had taken to try and do that when she could. Being Brigade XO was a pain most of the time, but it did allow her to make quick decisions. The Aviation Commander had pretty much left the operation of the Brigade in her hands.

On the afternoon of the second day of waiting, Liz got the word that the mission was a go. She immediately started to gather the pilots; letting Sam know that they would be flying that night.
“OK, people we have a night mission. The SF have been keeping track of new Taliban arrivals. The word is that the senior Taliban types have demanded action and have sent some new leadership in to get it started. They will be across the border, of course, and a fair distance at that. So we will be going with max fuel and combat load. And one more thing this time. We will be carrying Sidewinders as well. Almost certainly we will not need them, but just in case.”

At 1800 Liz got the formal briefing from the Intel weenie. The SF commander and aviation commander were the only other ones in the room.
“We have substantiated information that several of the more senior level leadership is being sent. They have been very careful; they are mindful of satellite and Predators. But we have still been able to track two of them to the site. We expect more to show up this evening. The actual meeting will probably be tomorrow during the daytime with them scattering as soon as it gets dark. They have picked a place almost 250 miles from here.”

The Aviation commander then took over.
“We will be using our latest long range ships which means of course the Super Apache’s and everything else. We will refuel as soon as the flights reach Afghan territory again on the way back. If necessary; we will have all four available tankers there. So we would be able to quickly refuel all aircraft.”

Liz decided to broach a sensitive subject.
“I have ordered my Company to Arm with Sidewinders. How likely is their use?”

The Aviation commander considered that.
“The Pakistan Air Force does very limited night work; so frankly the chances are very slim.”

Liz noticed the weenie was not comfortable. She concentrated on him.
“Captain, if there is information we should know spill it now.”

BOTH of the other officers then focused on him. The SF commander spoke first
“Captain, you better not leave out anything no matter what your orders are or I guarantee you YOU will fry.”

He still looked uncertain. Liz decided he needed more motivation; she was NOT going to take her people into a trap.
“Captain, let me make myself VERY clear. If something happens and I even suspect we were not told everything, I will kill you. Is that clear?”
Her voice was very quiet but there was no doubt in this room she meant it.

“Sir, this is not even official.”

“Does not matter- I want the entire story.”
“We have had some indications that a couple of very high ISI officers are going to meet with those Taliban. But we do not know when.”

Liz looked at him hard. “If those officers want to meet with Taliban officials, now would be the time. They will not stay in one place long.”

The Aviation Commander slowly nodded. “The ISI do have some highly trained operators of helicopters that we have equipped, not US made, that can fly at night.”

Liz was thinking very hard. “They would not be meeting with mid level Taliban; only high level.”

The SF Commander nodded. “Higher level then we have identified at this meeting.”

Something was at the back of her mind. Liz thought harder; what had she heard? Then she remembered.
“If those ISI officers are some of the high level ones who have been helping out the Taliban, it would not be surprising if they were BRINGING that High Taliban official to the meeting.”

The Captain looked pole axed, clearly he had not considered that possibility.
The other two were nodding slowly. The SF Commander mused.
“That makes a lot of sense; and why we have heard nothing about a high Taliban official; this area has been pounded and their forces pretty much destroyed; the remaining fighters have to have very low morale. Showing support from the ISI and a visit from a high Taliban official would do a lot to change that.”

They decided to act on that assumption; the mission would move into the area and wait for the Helicopter. The Tankers would move closer, into Pakistan, to respond. Originally the attack was to be made at midnight; but now it was thought to hold it back to around 0200; but to have the forces there, nearby, within the range of the village for a quick move. The SF commander made a call to the Pentagon to have a satellite dedicated for that area; they would have good warning of the helicopter. And they would refuel at the border going in.

10 Black Hawks; 6 assault; 2 reserve and 2 MEDEVAC would be going with Liz’s company. They left at 2200 and got to the border at 2300; then it took an hour to refuel everyone; they then headed to the target. They reached it on time and waited in an area 20 miles away. It was decided to land and idle to save fuel.

It was definitely nerve racking, sitting on the ground in Pakistan over 200 miles from the base. 0100 came and nothing, then at 0130 came the signal; but it was not what was expected.
“Control to Neighborhood Watch; 3 targets at bearing 155 moving on course 245 at 100 knots. ETA 15 minutes.”

The SF Major in command then ordered them to move.
“Neighborhood Watch to Bodyguard; moving in 60 mikes.”

“Bodyguard Roger that 60 MIKES.”
No one had expected the two other helicopters; Liz was betting they were some of the Armies Huey Cobras, they had some night capability. There to escort. Liz then signaled command.
“Bodyguard to Neighborhood Watch; will take out extras after primary done.”

“Neighborhood Watch, Roger That.”

The minutes went by; Liz had already decided if the satellite showed them leaving she would chase them down and take them out.

They then headed out; Liz quickly got the two hovering helicopters on her screen; if they were staying the meeting would not last long. She quickly designated Slinger to take out the Escorts while she would do the transport chopper.

They were going slowly when she noted that the two escorts had stopped hovering and were now circling; she had a hunch that meant the chopper was taking off.

“Bodyguard to backstop; prepare to take your shots.”

“Backstop to Bodyguard, Roger that.”

Then the third helicopter took off. And the three of them started to move off and Liz had to make a decision.
“Bodyguard to Backstop; support Neighborhood Watch; we will get it done.”

“Backstop to Bodyguard, Roger.”

“Octopus, you take right hand escort; Hannibal take left hand; I will take center.”

“Roger” came a chorus.

Liz waited another few minutes; they were still closing on the enemy; now within the envelope of the Sidewinder; now was the time.
“Everyone get lock.”
She then targeted the middle helicopter and got the tone indicating lock on.
“FIRE!”

They all fired at once; it was only seconds and then the three missiles found their targets. Three fireballs. That dropped straight down and hit the ground.
“Let’s get back to business people.”

The SF was in the village and Slinger and company were doing some plinking, but not much. 30 minutes went by and then the world came for extraction.
It went without incident and with no MEDEVAC called in any wounds had to be minor. Liz then checked her fuel gages and figured they would have no trouble making it back. Sitting on the ground for that hour and a half had made the difference. They motored fast to the border and then slowed to cruising speed. They landed at 0530 still dark.

The Debrief consisted of Liz and her pilots and the SF mission commander and two of his officers. He told the debriefers that they had not been able to see the fireballs so none of his people knew about it. They had gotten all the Taliban in the village and Slinger had pot shooted a few escaping.

The next day the SF commander told Liz that Pakistan had reported two high ranking ISI officials dead in a helicopter crash. And two AH-1 Hueys crashed in a separate accident while training. No survivors from any of them. Liz nodded quietly. She was not proud of taking out the Hueys; they had been just ordinary Joes doing their job. Right after landing the Crew Chiefs had removed the Sidewinders; making sure very few people noticed that had been carrying and hopefully no one noticed that three had been fired.

They had only a month left; the replacement Brigade would be arriving the next week; and they would be up and running by the 15th of Feb. B Company would be in the week before. So Liz and Company A would be gone; the crew chiefs and crews as well; the rest of the maintenance people would remain.

As regards the NG Brigade, it would be going to Kuwait for two months and would receive new Senior Officers, then after giving each side to get used to the other, they would then go to Iraq. At least that was the plan. Then it changed.

Liz groaned as she went to another meeting at the head shed (HQ). She wondered what it was this time.
Theatre Commander; Deputy; G4; SF Commander; Aviation Commander. And her. Of course as Acting Brigade XO she would be nominally considered to be representing the Brigade rather than the Aviation commander who was in charge of all units.

The Theatre Commander was quick to the point.
“Due to the firestorm over the scandal, the state’s congressional delegation has weighed in. They think that since the Brigade has been performing well, it should remain and complete the next 7 months of its mission. As a matter of pride. I am sure that a lot of the brigade feel differently, not to mention their families. I do not have to tell you that with the situation politically, with both sides very close to each other in both House and Senate in numbers, that that state has a lot of clout. And all members of the delegation, no matter which party, agree on this. So unless something changes, they will be staying. The brigade that was going to come here will go to Iraq as intended. Needless to say this messes them up pretty good. “

Liz sat there thinking; this probably meant she would stay as well. Which really hurt. Instead of one month away from going home now she would be 7 months away. And it would be a ground command as well; no flying. Well not until her company came back which would be just supposedly as she was going home; so now it meant 10 months. She looked up. The General had finished and was getting up to leave for another meeting. His Deputy stayed. The Aviation Commander looked at Liz.

“Contrary to what you are thinking, Major, you are not going to carry the can. Though I have no doubt the NG Apache Battalion would much rather you stayed in command a regular Apache Battalion commander from another unit will be brought in to take over. The upper echelon turnover will happen before you leave; but you will leave on the 15th as scheduled.”

Liz smiled brightly and it seemed the whole room lit up.
“You are not going to get an argument from me.”

“The captain you were training before you left, Captain Manson, has gotten his promotion to Major and will be coming to take your place as overall commander of the Super Apache’s on base. He will stay until you return later on with A company again; if that is how it is going to happen; depending on how fast the other Battalion mans up.”

Liz left the meeting feeling better in one respect; but less in another. The NG Brigade had been looking forward to getting out; however they would be going back to the states 5 months sooner than they would otherwise. The Aviation commander would call all the officers together in a meeting in the next hour to let them know. Liz decided to make herself scarce.


Liz made sure she got back to her office some time after the announcement. As expected the reactions were mixed. Some were put out but others recognized they would go home as originally scheduled and would not have the stigma of failing a deployment. So she thought things were going to be OK. Not too long later the three captains of the companies asked to see her and she brought them into her office.
“It is your nickel, guys.”

Captain Vinceenes started.
“Some of the guys think otherwise, sir, but I for one would be glad to finish my deployment and get home in 7 months instead of 12. Afghanistan is hotter than Iraq, no question, but frankly for us the risks are minimal. Now the Black Hawk guys will probably see it differently.” The other two nodded.

“Glad you feel that way. And I think it is the right way to look at it. When the General gave us the news, I at first thought I would not only have to stay through your deployment, but possibly another if my company came back again in 6 months. I was looking at another 10 months here. So frankly I am glad to go home.”

Captain Vinceenes nodded. “Sir, I think I can speak for all of us in that we would much rather you stayed as our commanding officer. You have taught us a lot and you gave us a chance to prove ourselves. A lot of others would not have. You backed off in the last few weeks letting us fully command; showing you respected us. That means a great deal to me personally, sir.”

Captain Adams agreed. “I was very close to calling it quits, Sir. But now I will not. And that is because of you. I wish you were staying but you earned going back having to put up with all of that mess to get us back to being a real Unit instead of a bunch of failures in uniform.”

Captain Lawson echoed that. “Sir, I learned more in the last 2 months from you about flying then I learned in the last 3 years. I am a much better pilot and officer due to your teaching and example. I was ashamed to be a member of this unit even before the scandal; now I am not.”

Liz blushed slightly but smiled brightly.
“Thank you all very much. I can assure you that if you keep up your present performance, you will continue to do very well. On a side not, I can also assure you and the other pilots that my evaluations of you will be good to very good. Not one pilot will receive a bad grade, as long as they do not screw up the last month I am in command.”

Captain Vinceenes smiled broadly.
“If I may tell the rest of them that, it will ease a lot of them as regards staying. Of course the new commander will also give us evaluations at the end of the deployment, but it is yours that will carry more weight in the end. No one is going to take anyone else’s word on how good a pilot one is over yours.”

Liz blushed harder. “Sometimes my reputation does come in handy.”

Liz was glad to see that the Apache Battalion was ok with things. Then she visited the others and they were not as happy, but she saw signs that they would be ok. They all agreed that losing her was the worst part of the deal.

The Taliban that was left in the area kept a very low profile; but farther south the situation in Northern Helmand Province and Northern Kandahar Province had heated up. A sustained campaign at the border had pushed a number of surviving Taliban up north. Kandahar City had improved but it was still a problem. The SF had kept up a continuing fight with them for over two years; they had made things better but it was a tough process. Which necessitated another meeting.

Liz came in the Aviation commander and the SF commander to find the Theatre Commander, His Deputy, and the UK senior officer in the country.

The Theatre Commander got right to the point.
“For the foreseeable future, this area is secured. The Taliban have been shattered. So we need to move the forces where they are needed. That means Kandahar, and Helmand Province. We want to move all the Apache’s and most of the Black Hawks to Bastion. We will leave the Kiowas and two companies of the Black Hawks. That and the SF aircraft will be sufficient. We move in two days. There is an opportunity here to use available air power to take it to the Taliban.”

The Aviation commander then took over.
“I am also delaying the redeployment of your company, Major Parker. The 160th SOAR has agreed to deploy your Company B with its aircraft; since the final company of your Battalion has become operational in the last week, it will stay and see to the standup of Company A of the 2nd Battalion. Two Companies will be kept operational in theatre. But the delay will only be an extra month. When you Leave C Company will take your place. That way there will be one veteran company in place while a new company comes in.”

Liz left the meeting somewhat put out; she made it a point to call the 160th SOAR commander. She had been told none of this and she WAS the Battalion Commander.

He explained to her that the decision caught him by surprise as well. He had been told the day before. He thought that it happened because of C Company becoming operational earlier than expected. The choppers for A company, 6th Battalion, as it was technically known, had finished arriving this week. B company would be arriving with its choppers by air in several C-17’s, next week. B Company had been training both C and A companies in their choppers; then in theirs and C companies. So they were ready. Sam would not arrive until just before Liz left so as to not step on her toes. B Company would go straight to Bastion. B would do 4 months; as they all would. With 6 companies they could keep 2 on and 4 off; deploy for 4 months out of 12.

Liz did not like the decisions forced on them from above, but bowed to the inevitable and headed to tell her people. She went to operations and found most of them waiting; word had spread something was up.

“OK, people change 3. We will move to FOB Bastion in 2 days. I got extended one month and they are bringing in my second company as well. They will be there in 2 days as well, straight from the states. So that makes 5 Companies of Apache’s. Most of the Black Hawks are coming with us. The idea is to take it to the Taliban there like we did here. So Start PACKING NOW.”

It was hectic but they did get there in two days; luckily Bastion had built some real hangers and so they were able to keep the Apache’s in their bubbles, which they brought with them. The Brits came and looked at them as did the Dutch, and began to do the same.

Captain “Donut” Anderson had just gotten his promotion and was commander of Company B. He was a somewhat happy go lucky type and got along with Liz just fine; B Company seemed to be ready to rock; but Liz had them in and put them through the mill to be sure. Their answers were pretty good; and Liz had been sending mission reports back to the 160th SOAR and they had been reading them. Two days after the move they had a meeting with the British Commander of Bastion, with the RAF commander, SAS commander and the ground pounder comanders. They were of course different than the ones that had been there when Liz had been; but were cut of the same cloth. The two main ground units were 5th Battalion, Royal Regiment of Scotland; and 1st Battalion, Royal Irish Regiment; and also the 2nd Battalion of the Parachute Regiment. To Liz, it was simplified to the 5th Scots, 1st Irish, and the 2nd Para’s. The 4th Regiment, Army Air Corp, Apache’s were also present; supposedly 16 of them. If everyone was operational that would make a total of 56 Apache’s. Which was where the real purpose of the meeting was.

The British Commander was straightforward.
“The Taliban have been battered to impotence in the East; and just about everywhere else in the country is on the run or hiding. This area is the last one where they are still fighting. If we can stamp on them NOW, that will be a huge blow they might never recover from; and even if they do it buys the Coalition time to strengthen the Afghan government and security forces. We have an unprecedented amount of aviation firepower at the ground support level; we need to take advantage of that. Since it is a mixed force, the RAF commander will exercise overall command of all forces. The main idea it to hit them is as many places as possible in as short a time as possible. To break them here.”

He went on to sketch out the overall mission. The US Marines and their forces would be taking care of the area to the west; the UK forces would take care of everything North and South; east was mostly pacified. In an area about 200 miles north to south and 50 miles east to west, was concentrated the areas of contention. Targets were shown on a large map; there were over 50. Each represented a village or small town that had a significant Taliban presence. The Goal was to hit all of them in one month; more than once if necessary. They would all be air assaults so as to give the Taliban as little warning as possible. The reinforced Black Hawk and Apache forces would be used to the utmost.

He finished with this:
“It is not likely we will have an opportunity like this again. When the forces and situation are all concentrated in a relatively small area. The aviation situation will be clarified in the meeting following this. The Ground and Para commanders will be meeting to decide the priority of targets. Then the two groups will meet to finalize the campaign plan.”

So they split off into two groups with the Commander leaving.
Liz , the RAF commander and the 4th Regiment commander in one and the SAS and the ground units in the other.

The RAF Commander spoke first.
“Major Parker, since you were designated the Brigade XO and operational commander, the overall US helicopter command coordination is up to you. Your Apache’s and Black Hawks will form the majority of the helicopter assets. I realize that it is a lot for one person, even one with your record. I would recommend that the Major in command of the Black Hawks get together with our Major Alexander who commands our transport assets and they see if they can work things out together.”

Liz nodded. “I have no problem with that; I will be busy enough as it is. Major Harkness is a good man and he should be able to get along with your Major Alexander. If he doesn’t, I will kick him out and let Major Alexander take control.”

The RAF Commander blinked at that. “Well, that is certainly quite fair.”
He then moved on.
“I mean no slight to Major Wilkinson here, but I believe that overall command and coordination of the Apache’s should be yours.”

Clearly this had been discussed before as the Major quickly assented.
“This is my first tour in Afghanistan as a commander. Major Parker’s record is very impressive. And hers will be the majority of the Apache’s here. Command of them clearly belongs in one person, the most qualified person here.”

“Thank you, Major Wilkinson. I will only be here for 2 months, before I leave. At that time I will recommend that you take over coordination as long as the Apache’s are concentrated here. We need continuity if this is to work.”

The RAF Commander was very satisfied with this arrangement and quickly ended the meeting to see if the ground pounders had managed to figure anything out.

Needless to say no real agreement had come; the sides had basically been the Para’s and SAS vs the Ground Regiments. They took time out and Liz got ahold of Major Harkness and had him show up while the RAF Commander had gotten his Major Alexander to come as well. Liz took a moment to talk alone to the RAF Commander.
“Has the tension between the RAF and the SAS gotten any better?”

Ruefully he shook his head. “Not much; they are still like dogs who do not like each other. It is a pain.”

Liz thought for a moment; then looked at him.
“As much as possible let’s put them in our Black Hawks. They are used to SF and the like so they probably will get along with them better without the history those two have with each other.”

“Agreed.”

Majors Harkness and Alexander arrived and were informed of the arrangement and seemed to be willing to get along. Liz looked at the two groups still not agreeing and sighed. She looked at the RAF Commander.
“I can see why the Base Commander made himself scarce.”

“Quite.”

Deciding to see if she could break the deadlock she walked up to the 4 commanders.
“Gentlemen, let us leave who gets what up to chance. We have the targets; let us put the names of all 50 in a hat and have each draw; one after the other; until all the targets are drawn.”

They looked startled, then thoughtful, and then one by one agreed.

Liz went to the board where very conveniently all targets were identified with a four digit character and number and took them off; the RAF Commander had his hat ready and she put them in the hat. She then looked at the four.
“Draw in order of who has been here the longest at Bastion.”

In only 10 minutes it was done. Liz looked at the commander. “Are there any really high priority targets or are they all pretty much similar?”

“Intelligence has not really ranked them in any way that matters; and how important they are could shift over time.”

“OK. So each commander looks at his list and decides the priority on his own. Then we look at each one and decide how much force will be needed. And schedule it accordingly; doing as many each day as we can. And this way there will be no pattern that the Taliban or anyone else will be able to figure out. Of course if new intel comes in making one or another target suddenly important we can adjust.”

The RAF Commander looked at the four. “Any objections?” There were none.
“Very well; then I would say the four of you need to get with your staffs and figure out what you want done and when. Then once you do we will have a big meeting with all concerned parties and plan the campaign in detail.”

Liz decided she wanted to talk to Major Wilkinson more about his two squadrons, and they went off to eat lunch at the Main Mess hall.

“So how long have you been in command?”

“One month before they deployed, their commander was in an automobile accident; he will be laid up for several more months. I was just about to take over the same command in 3 Regiment; so they pulled me here.”

“And the unit has been here how long?”

“2 months.”

“How are they doing?”

“656 Squadron is quite good; 664 not quite as good.”

“What is the problem?”

“Not sure; just possibly some substandard pilots. Their Squadron Commander, Major Williston, believes that do to their green situation, they will get better. But so far I have not seen it.”

“656 is very good, you said?”

“Yes. Their commander, Major Hyde-White, has them working very well. In the cases of the two squadrons here, neither commander is flying. Too much administrative detail.”

“I can sympathize; it is a constant battle to wade through it; though I am lucky in one respect that I am not formally in command so a lot of the paperwork tends to get lost somewhere.”

He grinned. “Your waste can must fill rapidly.”

“ya. Two or three times a day.”

“One thing everyone who has flown an Apache has wondered is just how much of a difference between the Super Apache and the Longbow.”

“Wow. Where to begin? First the airframe is all titanium; so that took a huge amount of weight off. The engines are new; 15% more power than the old ones; which makes them about 10% more powerful than even yours. There are other things that have been done to cut weight, so that allows us to carry a lot more. The new wings; well you have seen them. We can carry four auxiliary tanks that are more aerodynamic while still having a full combat load with the new weapons pods. They are fully articulated with the stick; and can be adjusted to give us advantageous firing angles. The Avionics are like something out of Star Wars; they are that advanced. The Fenestron tail really helps cut down on that weight and air drag. Its electric so it does not bleed off power from the engines. We can air refuel; I could go on but you get the point.”

He looked dazed. “Good lord. We had all heard things but no one really knew; until you actually deployed no one had an idea at all about the new one. It was a very well-kept secret.”

“It was a Black Project; like the initial stealth bomber; like the SR 71 before it. And since it still is technically an AH-64 Apache they were able to bury it as just a Special Ops version of the Apache; like the Pave Low and some others have been. So yeah it did come as a shock when they arrived at Campbell. But once again most just thought it was a special ops version with some changes like a different tail and different avionics. Only those that get a close up look at one realizes just how advanced it is. And till you actually fly it you would not realize what it can do.”

“I think every current and former Apache pilot in the world wants to.”

The media had been slow to realize that the new Apache was so advanced; and really had few details. But they had been able to get some good pictures of them at Kandahar, and by digging and sniffing around had been able to get an idea.

Finally, a CNN reporter decided he had enough to talk about it on air.
“Tonight’s report from Afghanistan focuses on the new so called Super Apache flown by the 160th SOAR, the Army’s special operations aviation Regiment. The first operational company, A company of the 5th Battalion, started operations in Kandahar in November. This squadron, commanded by the famous Major Elizabeth Parker, has as expected distinguished itself. The Army refuses to comment on Special Operations, so they only admit that it is an advanced special Operations version of the AH-64, though experts after having viewed the best photographs available, say it is more than that. The cost is rumored to be twice that of an AH-64D Longbow, the current version fielded by the US Army regular units. The experts are unanimous in saying that it is more than an improved version; several flat out state it is virtually a brand new helicopter. Just how much better is in question. But at the very least they believe it flies faster farther and higher with more weapons than the previous version. Other than that, no one knows as of yet. Many will be interested to see just how good they are.”

Liz called a meeting of the NG Apache’s and both Companies of her battalion. They did it in the hanger as it was about the biggest building they could find that they could secure. All pilots, copilots and crew chiefs, which came to 120 personnel.
“OK. We will start missions tomorrow. At this time it will probably be strictly day operations. However depending on how things look, I might have one of the platoons from A or B company stay ready for night response; we will see. But I can tell you this; it is a virtual certainty that we will be doing multiple missions a day. Might even try and do three a day. We are going to launch a campaign to take the Taliban down hard here; the last place in Afghanistan where they are still openly fighting. Instead of a debrief after every mission, we might only do one a day after all the missions are over. We will have to be flexible people.”

The 4 ground units had been furiously working to get their proposals ready; and by 1600 that afternoon were ready. So another big meeting was held.

Liz brought the three majors with her to this meeting. It had been pretty well established that she would speak for the Aviation side of things at this meeting.

It was decided that the first day they would just do 4 missions; all in the morning; and then that afternoon assess the situation. Then the following day go for more. Liz had looked at the locations and none were more than 125 miles from Bastion; so she would not have to use too many auxiliary fuel tanks. Probably just two. She was looking at using her Apache’s for the longest range missions or the ones that looked the hardest. After some more talk with Major Willkinson, she was of the mind to have the NG Apache’s work mostly with the Scots and Irish; while she and her people took the SAS; and let Major Willkinson and his Apache’s deal with the Para’s. Her people would also tackle night missions that the SAS might be thinking about; and any night responses. After a quick conversation with him that indicated he was OK with it; she put forth that when the mission allotment of Apache’s were brought up.

“The two largest units are the Irish and Scots; so I think the NG Apache’s should work with them. Major Wilkinson indicates he can handle what the Para’s want to do; So the 160th Apache’s will work with the SAS; and we will also take any night missions or responses that come up; we do have the best equipment to work at night. Are there any objections to that?” No one seemed to have a problem with the decision, so they moved on. The first 4 missions would go out; Liz decided that her company would go with the SAS and B company would be that night’s response force. They would switch off each night for that duty. It was also understood that Major Wilkinson’s Apache’s would probably be the one group that would have more assets then needed; while the NG might be stretched; so if that was the case then unless it was a night mission he would take over for which ever mission the 160th might do if they were fully engaged and the relieved platoon would reinforce the NG. As regards transport; it was agreed that the NG Black Hawks would support the Scots and Irish; and the SAS. The rest of the rather thin British transport force would take care of the Para’s; and any resupply needed.

The first missions of both the Irish and the Scots were not far off but fairly large operations; the three captains for the NG Apache’s agreed to split their forces down the middle and give half to each; with one captain playing second fiddle. So that would send 12 Apache’s with each force. The Para’s operation would also be bigger than the SAS operation so one squadron would go with them and the other would handle any responses that day; leaving B company to take care of any night responses. Liz was looking to try and give each company or squadron at least one light day every three or four days if possible; it would give the crew rest and allow the maintenance people to catch up.

Liz’s company was the first to go since the SAS wanted to make a dawn assault. They hit their target just before first light and the SAS were into the village like locusts. Liz had not seen any shooting until they got halfway in; total surprise. It turned into an easy mission with no SAS casualties. They did take a prisoner; they apparently got a mid-level Taliban leader. When Liz got back the other missions were just taking off; all were due to hit about 1000. So she brought her people in for a quick debrief.
The first set of missions went off with no serious casualties and no damage to any choppers. So far so good. The SAS wanted to do another mission that afternoon and Liz agreed; B company wanted to go so they went out at 1400 to do a quick one at one of the smaller villages; it turned out to be a bust as it was deserted except for a few civilians who just huddled down. Liz then agreed to make A company that nights response force. As it turned out they got a good nights sleep. The next morning it was decided to go for a maximum effort and both morning and afternoon missions were scheduled; and since none of that days missions were all that big, they split the Apache’s virtually down the middle so that no one had to fly two missions that day.
B Company took the mornings SAS mission; A company the afternoons and B company would be the response force. The morning missions went well; but the afternoon missions were tougher. The SAS found a hornets nest and Liz found herself right down there with them.

It was a more isolated village than the others; and was thought to possibly be an arms center. And it thus turned out to be. Liz had pushed to let her Apache’s come in as diversions and to draw fire and soften them up, and it was agreed. And there was a fair amount to do.
She brought the whole company down low and right to the village while the SAS hit them from the rear; the Taliban had some 12.7’s set up and they got taken out; a couple of real brave (or stupid ones) stood up to try their luck with RPG’s and got blasted to bits. Liz kept them at about 500 feet which would make any shots from a RPG unlikely to have the power to reach them. She could hear a few plinks as AK bullets hit; they were meaningless. Behind her Slinger was following with 2nd platoon; cleaning up any they missed. The SAS was moving quickly through the village, having the Taliban between two jaws of a vise, ensured that the battle did not last long. 20 minutes after it began, it was over.

No apparent serious wounds for the SAS made it a good mission, Liz thought on the way back.

The days tally was no one killed, no helicopters of any kind with any serious damage, and all 8 targets hit. A very good day, Liz thought. They had enough time to do a good debrief from all commanders and it was agreed that tomorrow they would keep up the pace. Once again it was a quiet night and the SAS wanted another dawn raid the next morning so Liz made sure her A company people hit their tents early.

The next SAS mission was a long range one, or somewhat, being just about 130 miles away. They took off at 0500 and hit it at just after 0600; just like before Liz brought hers in low and got the Taliban looking one way while the SAS took them from the rear. They did not have anything other than a few RPG’s which while they did get a couple off, were totally unable to reach the Apaches hovering at 500 feet and at least 1000 feet from them. None of them lived long enough to fire a second one. And they had none to fire at the SAS as they swept through the village in only 15 minutes. No casualties at all. They made it back to the Base by 0800. Liz got a chance to speak to the NG captains – this time only two of the companies would be going while the third rested. Things seemed to be going well there; they seemed to have a good rapport with the Scots and the Irish.

Intel had theorized that the Taliban, once it became clear a full campaign was ongoing, would try and strike back at some of the patrol camps. So Major Wilkinson had one of his squadrons hold back that day while the other took the mission; one stayed and one went morning and afternoon.

IT was on the fourth day that the Taliban began to try and respond; and Major Wilkinson had the 664 sent out to respond to calls for support. Four separate bases reported attacks; so flights of 2 went to each. B company had gone out that morning; A company staying. Liz listened in the operations building as it was clear the Taliban was trying but not doing very well. 664 seemed to be up to the job.

That afternoon the SAS were a little frustrated as they hit an empty target again. When they got back Liz found Major Wilkinson waiting for her. He took her into his office and closed the door.

“The Irish have a Patrol base about 40 miles out that was attacked this morning; a flight from 664 responded and reported there was very little for them to do. But the commander of the Irish just talked to me; a report from the Patrol Base painted a very different picture; they stood off and threw a few 30MM rds and did very little else. The pilots claimed there were civilians there and the Patrol Base says otherwise. I had a meeting with the 664 Commander and he backs up his people. But the problem is that he was not there and the Patrol Base report is very specific.”

“What do you want me to do?”
“At the moment there is nothing you can do; but I wanted to warn you that this will probably escalate. Frankly, my hunch is that we have some duds in that squadron; the flight that went today has had a couple of times where it was alleged they used the civilians as an excuse to do nothing. I think you should quietly warn your pilots to keep their eyes and ears open. I need more than I have right now to push this.”

Liz sighed; this could get really ugly. “OK, I will let them know. Frankly if it continues and there is nothing you can really do, we can probably switch them out with some of my people or the NG guys. Have 664 do more of the mission support where since it is done by the Squadron or Company, a couple of duds do not make much difference.”

“That has occurred to me; and if any more of this happens I will go along with making sure that 664 does not do any close response missions.”

Liz decided to just bring in the pilots only on this; she held a meeting that evening at the hanger.
“OK, people I want this to be very clear. What I say here goes no farther than the people right here. You do NOT tell your copilots or anyone else. I think probably everyone has heard stories about 664 squadron; that some of them are not exactly motivated. Well I want to know about anything you see or hear. But you tell me and no one else. Are we understood?”

This very serious and very hard Liz was a rare one; but they all knew better than to question her. So they just nodded.

The next day they hit the halfway point on their missions and just over; in 5 days they had hit 28 of the targets. That night the weather got bad and the word came out there would be no flying for the next day; but that it would be clear the day after. So on the 6th day everyone rested and caught up on paperwork. Liz met with each company one at a time for a review and a gripe session if necessary.

B Company had hit the ground running and Liz was glad to see they were doing well. These missions were not very difficult, really, and thus they were being eased into things.

The NG companies were doing very well; they had improved tremendously over the last two months. The A models had some limitations that nothing could be done about, and they were old, but since the maintenance people had gotten the parts they needed, operational status was still over 90%. Very good. They also seemed to get along very well with the Scots and Irish, and that was good, too.

She would have been embarrassed to have heard some of the things discussed, though; when the units had mixed at some times that they had been off duty.

Captain Vinceenes had been talking with a company commander and his LTs after getting back from a mission.

“All we heard is what the reporters said; what really happened?”

“Every single one of our Battalion commanders and all but two of the XO’s were relieved; and the Brigade commander and his XO as well. They have not yet figured out just which ones were in on the thefts; I think only a few actually; the Brigade CO and XO, the Brigade Maintenance Chief and his XO for certain and maybe a couple of others. The rest were buddies and drop cases that were brought in to provide them with cover. Now as regards at home, there were more. The State Commander, his XO, and a good part of his staff. The lack of spare parts hurt us real bad; and the lousy Battalion commanders were another huge factor; and the games they played with buddies and favorites. That sure ended fast when Major Parker took over. Technically she was supposedly just the acting brigade XO, but for all intents and purposes she rebuilt and ran the brigade. She sure fixed things with the Apache’s. Of course this wasn’t the first time she has had to fix busted units. She sure is good at it. As a pilot I have not seen any better; and as an officer the same. She will back you if you are in the right; and she backs down from nobody. Her call sign of Doberman is dead on. Screw with her and she will tear your throat out.”

The next day the pace picked up again. 6 targets were hit; the Irish and Scots hit two targets each and the SAS and Para’s one. And once again no one badly wounded and minor damage to any choppers at best. The next day Liz had another dawn mission with the SAS and they hit a somewhat bigger target; and wanted to hit it as quietly as possible so for once they wanted her to hold back; then appear once they were engaged. Liz found it hard hanging back; but she managed to do as requested. She brought the Apache’s in from the two sides that the SAS had not come in from and in that respect surprised the Taliban some. The typically aggressive SAS tactics had the Taliban quickly retreating; and moving targets are easy to find. So the Apache’s were doing some serious plinking. The SAS got out with only two moderately wounded men and two slightly wounded men; they did deign to call in the MEDEVAC. No choppers were damaged.

They got back at 0900 and found the others about to leave. Liz had a quick conversation with Major Wilkinson; he was because of a couple of maintenance issues having to use 656 for the escort duties with the Para’s that day; 664, down to 4 serviceable ships due to some bad spare parts, would need most of the morning to get back up to full strength. Liz told him she would have her crew chiefs rearm immediately. Liz went to her office and started on some paperwork; and got a lot of it done before eating lunch at noon. She went by the Brits and they were still working on the 4 Apache’s. Probably would not get them done until late in the day. A company had night duty that day anyway. They had been very lucky; only once had they gone out at night and that had been B company; and it had not been a hard mission.

At 1400 she heard some commotion and went out of her office; she could see some of the men of 664 scrambling. Something about that just looked off, she was not sure what it was, maybe that they looked disorganized. She watched at their 4 serviceable Apache’s took off to support two Patrol Bases that were under attack. She went to control and found Wilkinson looking worried. She went up to him.
“How bad?”

“Looks like the Taliban are serious; I think this is something they think they have to do; we have really been tearing them apart the last week.”

Liz nodded slowly. “What if I take up my company just in case?”

He looked relieved and she headed off to get her people in gear. It took half an hour to get them all and another 15 minutes to get into the air. She sent Slinger off to one and she took the other; they were both about 50 miles out. All the other missions had arrived back not long before. As they headed out Liz began to get a bad feeling; she let the rest of them know.
“Doberman to 1st platoon; Guys I am getting a bad feeling; let’s move; balls to the wall!”

“Roger that” came the chorus. They by now knew to take her hunches very seriously.

Moving at full speed, they were at the area in 15 minutes.
Liz changed her frequency to the one the British Apache’s used.
“664, this is Hell Dog Lead. What is your situation?”

“664 to Hell Dog Lead, situation is confused; not able to understand the ground.”

Liz cursed quietly. There had been some problems with the radios some of the units had. One other advanced feature of the Super Apache was a very good radio that could be fine-tuned to a chosen frequency. Liz had had the one used by the local ground units programed into her ship; she now turned it to that frequency. It was the Scots on the ground she called.
“Hell Dog Lead to Patrol base Jonas; what is your situation?”

“Patrol Base Jonas to Hell Dog; we need assistance; 664 is not responding. We have a critical Whiskey India Alpha. Need cover and MEDEVAC.”

“ROGER THAT, Patrol Base Jonas.”

Liz immediately called the base; the bad news was that it would be at least 15 minutes for a MEDEVAC to take off and that meant about 40-50 minutes for them to get there.

Liz just knew that was too long. “Patrol Base Jonas, where are you now?”

“Patrol Base Jonas, one klick bearing 325 from base in a small farm; we are surrounded.”

“Roger, We are on our way.”

Liz took them to the point and recognized the farm; Taliban were all around it for certain.
“Doberman to Hannibal; take the east while we take the west. Lay down some serious fire.”

“Roger That.”

Liz took Octopus and they began to let go of 2.75 rockets and saturated the area about 100 meters from the farm house. After they fired Liz contacted them.
“Hell Dog Lead to Patrol Base Jonas, what is your situation?”

“Patrol Base Jonas to Hell Dog Lead; that took care of most of them. What about MEDEVAC?”
“40 MIKES Patrol Base Jonas.”

“Hell Dog Lead, he does not have that much time.”

Liz thought furiously. This was crazy but…
“Doug, would you like to spend a little time on the ground watching how they do it?”

“Liz you are nuts. But I am game.”

“When I land get in there and tell them I can take the man and a medic if they are squished in the front seat.”

“Doberman to everyone; I am going to land and drop off Doug; then pick up the wounded man and a medic and take him in. Hannibal you stick around and keep an eye on things.”

“Roger that, Doberman”

Liz took her Apache right to the house, only about 50 feet away and landed fast and hard. Doug was out of the bird in a flash running to the house.

Two heavily armed figures met him at the door.
“My pilot can take a medic and the wounded in her front seat while I say behind. Will this work?”

“Christ!” and they ran into the house with Doug on their heels. He was glad to see that the wounded man was not very big and neither was the wounded man. They had him resting on a door they had taken off the hinges.

“This crazy yank wants to take you and Jones in the front seat of the Apache!”

“He will never live if we have to wait for the MEDEVAC. Let’s go!”

Doug picked up one end of the door and one of the other men tossed his rifle to another and picked up the other and they headed out.

The other three Apaches were slowly circling the farmhouse at about 200 feet up; making lots of noise.

It took less than a minute to get the wounded man in the front seat; the Medic scrunched in beside him, holding up a plasma bag. They could not be strapped in so Doug just closed the hatch and signaled Liz.

Liz took off and oriented her Apache for maximum lift and speed; Doug had put his helmet on the medic so he could talk to Liz.

“My name is Alex Harris; Jones here is hit in the stomach; he is bleeding badly. How long to the base?”

“Call me Liz, hang on because I am going to floor it! Probably 15 minutes.”

“That might be fast enough.”

Liz was redlining the Apache, she had her wide open.

“I am going to patch you through to the hospital; give me a minute.”
“Hell Dog Lead to Base; have a wounded Scot and his medic; need to talk to the hospital ASAP”

“Base to Hell Dog Lead; 5 MIKES.”

And indeed 5 minutes later
“This is Doctor Smythe; come in Hell Dog Lead.”

“OK, Alex, go ahead.”

“Dr Smythe, I have a 21 year old man; hit in the left lower quadrant; giving plasma; estimate loss at 30%. It is a through and through. Last BP was 76 over 55 10 minutes ago, pulse 86, respiration 15 and shallow, cyanotic.”

“Got that. Keep squeezing he plasma bag. What is your time to get here?”

“Dr Smythe, this is the pilot. We will be at your front door in 10 minutes; but stay inside I am coming in very hot and there will be a lot of dust flying.”

“We will be waiting.”

True to her word Liz got there in 10 minutes; she came in at a high angle; dumping speed and blowing dust like nobody’s business as she sat the Apache down not 50 feet from the door. Not exactly where MEDEVACS were supposed to land but time was critical and every second counted.

The dust had barely cleared as Liz set her down. She was out in a flash, she just cut the engines, and she had the hatch open before they got out the door. But by the time she had helped the medic get out, holding the plasma bag, there were there. They had him out in 2 seconds and on the gurney going in.

Modern high tech Helicopter engines do not like sudden shut downs; Liz knew this so she was very careful starting them back up. It took her almost 10 minutes then she was back in the air and shooting back to pick up her copilot.

Liz did not push as hard going back so it took almost 25 minutes to get there; she found the rest of her platoon still circling.
“Doberman to Hannibal, what is the situation?”
“Hannibal to Doberman; very quiet. We have checked the perimeter.”

“Roger that.”
“Hell Dog Lead to Patrol Base Jonas. How are things there?”

“Patrol Base Jonas to Hell Dog Lead, you can have him back. We don’t want him.”

“I guess I have to take him then; will be down in 5 mikes.”

And then she picked her Copilot back up.
He gave her the situation.
“This was a 20 man patrol the Taliban tried to take out. They were real lucky to have only one man wounded. They are moving back towards their base; will take about half an hour if we give them cover.”
“We can do that.”

“Hell Dog Lead to Patrol Base Jonas; head for home we will cover you all the way.”

“Patrol Base Jonas to Hell Dog Lead, we are grateful and heading out now.”

As they got out of the farm and to the road, Liz and the rest of her Platoon slowly circled them; diving down to any place that looked suspicious and pulling up; another covering. They darted and moved unexpectedly. Liz had gone over this with all of them on how to keep anyone watching hiding and too scared to do anything.

The Lt leading the patrol watched as the Apache’s dove and swirled and made threatening moves all around them. He turned to his sergeant.
“Those yanks do know how to put on a show.”

“Yes Sir. Don’t think anyone will be bothering with us.”

And 45 minutes later Liz saw them pull into their base; a small village abandoned by its people.

“Hell Dog Lead to Patrol base Jonas, have a nice day.”

“Patrol Base Jonas to Hell Dog Lead, just leave. You make too much noise. We want to get some sleep.”

“Roger that, Hell Dog Lead out.”

Liz on the way back asked Hannibal if they had seen any trace of the 664, and was told not a bit. Liz stewed on that all the way back. Doug was definite.
“They think that 664 bunch are not worth much. They do not buy into the crap about not being able to read them.”

“I agree. But the fact is that the ground has had radio problems; and the Brit Apache’s do not have this shiny radio that can do so many tricks. But they certainly came in clear.”

“And they could hear you clear as well. Five by Five.”

They got back to the base just before dark. Major Wilkinson was waiting for her as was the RAF Commander. They pulled her into the Major’s office. The RAF commander was blunt.
“You had no trouble reading the ground radio.”

“No sir but then this radio is top of the line.”

“I am getting one of their models and we are going to check out the radio on that Apache. If it comes in clear that Pilot is getting relieved now.”

Liz nodded and watched them stride off. She sighed and went to the operations room. The rest of her company was there.
“No word yet from the hospital.”

Liz nodded. “Slinger, how was your end?”

“They needed some help but were working pretty good. Those two seem to be fine.”
Liz nodded. “The two on my end – if that radio checks out then it is very bad.”

Liz decided to head over to the hospital. She got in and found the medic in the waiting room.
“Any word?”

“Nothing so far, Major.”

Liz nodded and sat down beside him. She took a deep breath and looking around, seeing nothing
“The RAF commander is checking out that Apache’s radio right now, they claim they could not read you.”

The medic was quiet for a moment. “My sweet ass they couldn’t. They didn’t want to. This is not the first time that pair has pulled this. Most of that squadron are good cobbers; but there are a few that are right cowards.”

He looked at Liz. “We heard you loud and clear. And you heard us the same.”

“Well, they have a pretty fancy radio on my model. And you guys have had radio problems.”

“At a distance, not close up.”

At that point the door opened and a tired looking doctor came out; Liz and Alex stood up and went to him.
“It was very close; another 10, maybe 15 minutes and we would have lost him. He is still in very serious condition but the bleeding has been stopped and his blood pressure is steady. All vital signs are slowly rising. He should make it.”

Liz sat down slowly and relaxed. Just relaxed for a while. The medic sat down and also just relaxed. Finally Liz got up.
“Going to head over to operations and give that Patrol Base the good news.”

The medic nodded. “I need to find a bunk; then arrange transport back tomorrow."

“We will get you back tomorrow, don’t worry about it. As far as a bunk is concerned that should be no problem either. Come on.”

Liz walked into the radio room and told the controller to contact Patrol Base Jonas and tell them their wounded soldier would make it. Then she took the medic to their tent area and told one of the ground crew to take care of the medic; then headed to her office. On the way there she ran into Major Wilkinson. He looked grim.
“That trooper will make it” Liz said to him. That seemed to cheer him up some.
“Well that is the first bit of good news I have had today. We checked out that radio on the Apache and the ground radio reached it no problem. We got in a vehicle and went almost a klick and no problem; then to the base boundary which is almost 2 and no problem. The RAF Commander is right now talking to the Squadron Commander. He is going to order their relief.”

Liz sighed. “No matter what this will get ugly.”

“Yes it will. But you saved that young soldier; and that is what matters.”

When she got back to their area, the other pilots had gathered. Clearly the word had spread. Liz was quick to stamp on the speculation.
“We do not talk about this. Not to anyone. Nothing good can come of it.”

The RAF Commander was in a tense meeting with the Base Commander. He was not happy.
“You do realize that a RAF officer demanding the relief for cause of an Army Aviation crew is not going to be well received upstairs?”

“Sir, there is no choice. Leaving aside the other charges, the fact that he clearly lied about being able to receive the transmissions of the Patrol Base demands that he be severely disciplined. And the fact that the Ground Forces are going to be making considerable noise about this incident as well makes it mandatory that this be quickly dealt with.”

The Base Commander sat back and grimaced. He was of course correct about the lying charge; and almost certainly at least mostly correct about the rest. And the impact of not relieving that crew was not to be thought of; as well as the other crew that had done nothing at all. He had heard comments about part of the 664; and he had discussed the problem with the RAF commander and the 664’s commander, who had fully supported his crews. That was another part of the problem; 664’s commander had seemed very unwilling to take any action at all. The sad part was that the other half of 664 seemed to be quite good.

“I cannot disagree about action being needed immediately; therefore I am agreeing to their suspension from duty pending a full investigation. Another worry is how is this going to affect the rest of 664? Can we really continue to ask other units to rely on any of them? And then there is the question of the 664’s commander and his unwillingness to do anything, which has certainly contributed to the problem.”

“Sir, there really is no choice; the whole Squadron must be stood down. Fortunately, most of the targets have been hit with very good results; we can take care of the rest of them easily with the forces on hand.”

“Sadly I agree; the 664 is grounded until further notice.”

After the RAF commander left, the Base Commander sighed and made arrangements to speak directly to the MOD. This was going to have far reaching consequences no matter what.

The next day the assault continued; no one talked about the 664 or their absence. The SAS as usual had a dawn assault and as usual Liz took her company with them; the Scots and Irish did theirs, each with a company of the NG; and 656 went with the Para’s. They were all straightforward affairs; once again the Village the SAS hit was virtually empty; as was the one the Para’s hit. When the Scots and Irish both reported less than usual resistance there was a meeting held at 1400.

Once again the Base commander, RAF commander, Liz and Major Wilkinson along with the commanders of the SAS, Para’s, Scots and Irish. The intelligence weenie gave his summation.

“The Taliban have all but abandoned the area over the last few days; they have gone south to Pakistan to hide out. With over 40 targets hit in a week, they have admitted defeat and pulled virtually all their remaining strength out.”

Liz managed NOT to say “duh.”

The consensus was to wait for developments; the base commander would contact the theatre commander and ask for heavy intelligence analysis and assets to determine if there was indeed no reason for more attacks.

So Liz went back and told her people that with the exception of B company that would be on night alert for one more night; it was time to kick back and rest for a bit.

For Liz that meant tackling the paperwork that was never ending. She went into her office and got out the shovel and went to work.

Meanwhile the repercussions were starting; the RAF and Army senior members began to go at one another at the MOD. There was always friction between the three services for one reason or another; from budget fights to doctrinal differences on warfare, to conflicts about who should command where. A RAF commander demanding the relief for cause of Army aviators definitely lit things up. The additional fight between the groups demanding full control of all aviation assets also factored in. The siege guns were brought up and memo’s began to fly.

The Defense Secretary felt he had more than enough on his plate keeping the funding for the services under the current austerity situation; what with the Euro crisis and the remnants of the banking failures still lingering. Anything that put any of the services in a bad light did not help. So far they had been able to keep the media from finding out but it was just a matter of time. The worst outcome would be for the opposition to bring it up at the Prime Ministers question time. That was always heavily publicized. Which meant that he had to warn the PM so that he was not caught unawares. Especially as that weekly event was tomorrow.

The PM sighed as the Defense Secretary outlined the situation. Normally the relief of a few pilots in an army helicopter squadron would not be a matter of concern for the PM. But with the parties very close to being balanced in Parliament, and the opposition continuing to build to any involvement in Afghanistan now that the situation was under control, even what should be considered minor matters could have significant impact.

“They are trying to keep it to the charge that the pilots were lying about being able to contact the patrol base. The much worse charges of rank cowardice would make very meaty fodder for the media. I believe that the idea now is to try and force the pilots and copilots to resign or accept non flying transfers, under the condition they do not speak about it. If they do then court martials would convene. Given that there had been prior complaints about those pilots previously for not being aggressive enough, it would be a true feeding frenzy for the media. The situation with the Squadron Commander is also touchy; it is felt, and frankly rightly so, that he ignored the previous complaints. I would in one respect rather he remains; but all things considered he needs to go as well.”

“It is certain that they deliberately did not act?”

“I cannot see anything else explaining that. While it is true that there has been trouble with the radios, that is at a distance of 5 Kilometers or more in rough terrain. The distance there was less and the helicopters being at an altitude would have been able to hear them. Both radios of the helicopters were inspected and found to be working correctly. While the American Apache did have an improved radio, the fact that they were heard very clearly the whole time leaves very little doubt.”

“It seems to me that Major Parker has been of signal service to Her Majesties military on more than one occasion. I think it might well be time for us to recognize that.”

“I quite agree, Sir. Especially once this gets out to the media.”

There was very little debate about things at Camp Bastion. The Scots, whose man had been saved by Liz, had had bad dealings before with 664. As had the Irish. So as far as they were concerned it was overdue. And to fighting soldiers, cowardice invoked a very visceral emotion. There really was nothing more despised than a coward, unless that person was a traitor. So all in all it was a good thing that the 4 officers were whisked out of Bastion rather quickly.
Meanwhile the commander of the Scots regiment had quietly taken it up the ladder that a commendation was due Major Parker. As the SAS had already pushed that up the ladder, it was the second recommendation for her. The SAS had also in her previous tour mentioned her in dispatches. This was brought to the attention of the DCDS who was also overall in charge of the awards of valor and commendations. He looked over the file and noted the previous recommendations. This came the day after the Question Period.

“Mr Prime Minister, it has come to our attention that a serious situation occurred in Afghanistan where members of her majesties Army Aviation Corps were relieved for cause. We would like details on this.”

“The investigation is ongoing. An incident occurred that required response and the response was deemed inadequate. Therefore the reliefs for cause ensued. At this time I feel it is not one for further comment.”

The PM was rather surprised it was not pushed. He did not have a good feeling about that.

He was right. The next day the story hit the papers that were most in sympathy with the Opposition. The Broadcast Media, somewhat put out that they had not found out about it, pounced.

That day the Defense Secretary met with his DCDS and received the recommendations for an award recognizing the acts by Major Parker. The recommendations were agreed with and forwarded to the PM.

The PM was getting pressure from his own party to make more statements about what was brewing. The impact of the situation was all out of proportion to the actual incident, but that was nothing new in politics. The Best Defense is often offense; or in this case a counter attack. He informed the Defense Secretary that he would appear and respond to further demands for details. Meanwhile he would take the recommendations to Her Majesty. Since this was a foreign officer, she had to be consulted. He brought with him the Chief of the Defense Staff.

The Queen read the recommendation; then asked to see the file and the CDS gave it to her.
“So this is to make up for not recognizing her previous services to our Military?”

“Your majesty, that is substantially correct. She should have been commended before; why it did not reach me I have yet to determine.”

The Queen contemplated the situation.
“The single recent act was more than sufficient for this award, is that correct?”

The CDS answered this one.
“Yes your majesty, it was.”

“More must be done. But this award should be given now. I wish for further recommendations in the immediate future.”

“Yes, your Majesty.”
The Defense Secretary appeared before parliament to answer questions. It had been debated and agreed that the commendation would also be announced at that time. He had also had a quiet conversation with the American SECDEF.

“This is a fairly regular occurrence for Major Parker. She will be walking lopsided before long.”

“Quite. I was astonished at the file you sent me; her record is extraordinary.”

“I have asked if this is true, and I have been told that it is, that she is the single most highly decorated officer of our military since 9/11. Now there are aviators that have a large number of Air Medals who have a few more, but none of them come close to her in the higher ranked area of commendations.”

“Well, then, it is high time Her Majesties government did their share. She has been very helpful and influential in ensuring the situation in Afghanistan has reached the point it has.”

“It is remarkable that an officer at that level has had so much influence.”

The SECDEF found he was no longer surprised at what Major Parker got up to; and he had been contemplating a commendation for her actions regarding the ASP situation. But anything there might stir things up best hidden. Still he made a note that she deserved some honor for getting things fixed there.

The Defense Secretary was able to get through the questions without anything bad happening. The opposition recognized that harping on it would not bring them any real advantage; especially as the government had already taken action. His announcement that Major Elizabeth Parker, US Army, would receive the DFC did indeed make news and successfully sidetracked the situation to the satisfaction of the government.

Liz, blissfully unaware of the events percolating far above, was wading through more paperwork. The evaluations of the NG officers were going to be due as soon as she left so she worked on them. And her position as Brigade XO left her in the position of reviewing all the officer evaluations of the Brigade. Which was a load. Luckily the lull continued with only resupply missions ongoing. There was beginning to be a feeling that maybe this time the Taliban was really on the ropes.

Meanwhile word spread quickly and the RAF Commander felt Liz should receive knowledge of her honor more properly then the mess hall. So he simply called her.

“Major Parker, I am glad to inform you that Her Majesties government has decided to award you the Distinguished Flying Cross for your actions in saving Corporal Jones.”

“Wow. I am honored. Speaking of which, when will that happen?”

“Very soon I believe; the Head of the RAF will be visiting Afghanistan next week so there is a chance it will be done then.”

“Will I need my Class A uniform or will this one due?”

“It is a war zone so your BDU is fine.”

“Good.”


The PM spoke to the Defense Secretary.
“Sir Alex Holmes, Chief of the Royal Air Force, will award several medals including Major Parkers. But I was also contacted by a member of the Queens staff with an interesting question. I believe it is pertinent especially for the Defense Ministry. The question is that since women are now fighting in combat, is it appropriate to honor one with the term Dame? Is it not for those who now stand side by side with men called Knights out of date.”

“It is an interesting question, sir. But one that will grow in importance. I despise the gender neutral term person. It reeks of political correctness. Yet for instance, and I am thinking this question comes because of the idea that has been floated for Major Parker to become a honorary member of the British Empire, calling her a dame seems inappropriate.”

“It is a question we need to research. I am sure this has been discussed at various levels. Women will be reaching higher positions in the armed services.”

“I recall some of the comments when Margaret Thatcher was being honored after leaving office that things needed to be updated. But very little was done.”

“I have been asked to form a committee on that; make sure someone from the MOD is on it.”

“I heard a term used once. Knightress. Perhaps that would work.”

“Interesting. Make sure that the representative is very competent.”

The soldier was unconscious for 3 days, and then woke up. Liz asked to be kept informed and stopped by the day after he woke up.

“Corporal, you have a visitor.”

Liz stuck her head in the door.
“You sure look better than you did. How do you feel corporal?”

“Major, I can feel. And that beats dead anytime. Just wish I could remember what it felt like in that Super Apache. Everyone has been wondering what it would be like in it.”

“Well, if I am still around when they let you out I will take you up for a ride. Deal?”
“Deal, Maam.”

Liz checked the calendar and was startled to see that it was February 5. They had only three weeks left. With the settling down of things, their rotation had been moved up a bit. C Company would be in two weeks to take over the Apache’s of A company. In a way Liz would once again regret leaving, but would be overjoyed to see Max, Aliya and James. And be able to truly relax and rest. And if things kept going like they looked like, she might not be coming back. Iraq was fairly stable and quiet, and if Afghanistan became the same, then there would not be much for her to do. She realized that it would not be long before she got her promotion to Lt Colonel, and her days of flying might be just about over.

She figured she had a shot of staying in the saddle a little longer in the 160th, but the bottom line was that her active flying days were getting short. She would have to think on that when she got home.

The next day was the award ceremony. It was strange being the only American in the formation but it was fairly low key and that suited her.

With the virtual cessation of hostilities more than just a few minor incidents, it was decided to send the NG Apache’s back to Kandahar. After talking to the SF at Kandahar, it was decided to move the Super Apache’s to Bagram. There was still some work there with the SF and the tribal regions in that area. Major Wilkinson told her that 664 was being quietly pulled out and would be replaced by another Squadron if the need was seen. He doubted they would if the situation did not deteriorate badly.

So the next week they all left Bastion. Liz was given a very particular goodbye party by the Scots where they made her an honorary member. She was sad to leave but glad to be one step closer to home.

Bagram had not changed much and Liz was actually fairly comfortable. There was only one week until C Company showed up; but she checked in with the SF to see what was going on.

The office there was the same even if the Commander was different. He remarked on that.
“You got to know this place pretty well.”

“Yep. So any business for us?”

“Does not look like it. In addition to getting the crap kicked out of them, the weather has been worse than usual. So they have pretty much disappeared into Pakistan. Those two senior officers the ISI lost has made a difference; the Pakistan Government promoted a couple of officers known for not liking the Taliban. That will help as well. We are trying to find a target worth going in there for and so far we have come up empty.”

“Well that does not exactly break my heart.”

So the last thing Liz did was do evaluations on all the NG Apache pilots; then Company A and Company B. Company B had shaped up very well; she had no doubt they would see to it that Company C was taught right. Her last acts as Acting Brigade XO were to take care of all the paper work. The New Brigade officers had arrived and were even now working with them. She felt a great deal of satisfaction at seeing how far they had come. She flew down to Kandahar to oversee the command hand over. It amused her a little to see the new officers start to get put to the test by the vets. The ceremony was pretty good. She made a brief speech after the Aviation Commander formally called for her to perform the official change in command.

“There were jokes going around about the brigade. But they soon stopped. Now this brigade can look any other one in the US Military right in the eye and not blink. WELL DONE!”

And the brigade gave a big cheer.

Liz then turned and saluted the new commanding officer.
“Sir, I give you the Brigade. I stand relieved.”

That evening the senior officers of the Brigade made sure Liz knew full well how much she meant to them. Captain Vinceenes got the job.

“I remember when this pint sized Major came into the building and proceeded to jack us right up. Then throw a colonel in the brig not an hour later. Frankly, she scared the shit out of us. No one doubted why she was called Doberman. Then she proceeded to pick us right up out of the gutter and made us into a military unit again. One that got its job done. When we finish this tour, we will do it with heads high. And most of that credit is to Major Parker. God Speed, Major, and may you keep right on getting it done.”
The last day before she handed over her Apache, Liz flew down to Bastion one last time to keep a promise and take Corporal Jones up in a Super Apache. He was almost speechless. His account was on the BBC a few days later.

“One has to remember that Major Parker is really a small woman. You never think that way because she stands real tall all the time. The way she tools that Apache around has to be seen to be believed. That is a great machine; but not as good as the pilot that showed me what it was like to dance in the air.”

Liz got off the Plane at Campbell and formed up Company A. It was not a big group but then this was Special Operations. The crowd waiting was not that big either, but they made up for it with volume. Then she was totally shocked when the SOCOM commander awarded her the Distinguished Service Medal. Then she was able to get herself together in time to form the Company, and then dismiss it.

Then she was in Max’s arms and her family was all around her and nothing else mattered.

The PM informed the Defense Secretary that they needed to contact the DOD. As was usual when an American Military Officer was honored with the OBE.
“And you can inform him that there has been a change in how things are done, as the request of Her Majesty.”

That May, two months after getting home, Liz was called into the 160th SOAR HQ to speak to the commander.
“Major, the SECDEF just called. You will need to be in London on the 10th of June for a Ceremony at Buckingham Palace. You will also need a mess dress Class A uniform.”

Liz was really puzzled. “What is this about?”

“The Brits are honoring you with the award of the Order of the British Empire. Normally a woman getting that honor would be called a Dame. But the Queen apparently felt that soldiers should get something different. So you will be the First Knightress of the Order of the British Empire. From now on any female officer will be called a Knightress. But you will always be the first.”

Elizabeth Parker was left without a word to say. For someone just past their 30th Birthday, it had been a very full life.


The End.