Re: Moving to Peace (AU,CC,Mature) Part 10 19 Apr
Posted: Wed Apr 20, 2011 12:52 pm
There was some down time after the Cyprus exercise; it had been pretty intense and everyone was tired; and the Choppers needed maintenance.
One of Jim Harkness’s duties was to keep his ears open and to prod SOCOM G2 for information on anything that looked likely to involve the Regiment. In other words, where things might be getting hot any time soon. Luckily SOCOM had made it plain for a long time that the SOAR regiment got tuned in to anything that looked likely; any warning was a good thing.
Not all the news was bad when it came in; sometimes good news was shared as well. With the all but formal treaty with the Taliban by the Afghan government, official anti-Taliban operations were stopped. Now that did not mean covert operations ended. BUT since SF was forbidden by law from covert activities, they and the SOAR regiments were no longer to be deployed. What actually happened was that the CIA and their covert section –with assistance from SF personnel that were attached to them- a very gray area indeed (legally speaking) would now continue the anti Al Queda operations in Afghanistan and the tribal regions of Pakistan. Rumors were increasing that Osama Ben Laden had been dead for a while- his so called statements were pretty much figured to be old ones recycled-and what was left of the Al Queda leadership was in hiding and still a target. But it was no longer as important as it had been. SO baring something changing the 161st would not be sending any units there. However since the 161st was now the only aviation brigade outside the US, except for the one in Korea which was firmly dedicated there, it would be expected to support any US missions in its assigned area.
The bottom line was that SOCOM would no longer be the sole boss of the 161st; the technical line of command still went through there. But now CENTCOM, EUCOM, AFRICOM all could call on the 161st to support any mission. That had been intimated publicly before but it had been more of a smoke screen. Now it was not. And the tightened budgets everywhere meant a lot of people were looking for ways to stretch their operational and training budgets. While not exactly a gun for hire, in practical terms that might not be far off for the 161st. Since they were already closer than any US Aviation brigade, they would be called first on anything concerning Europe, the Middle East, Southwest Asia, and Africa.
Liz accepted this as the reality of the world; no use complaining. One rumble that she did not like was the one that suggested one of her Battalions be stationed at Ramstein, in order to be closer to any place of expected need; and right with transport assets. Liz was determined to fight this one tooth and nail; a battalion by itself could go rogue, so to speak. And they could not train in Germany like they could in Scotland; too congested in both ground training areas and air space. So far it had only been some muttering that did not seem to have the support to be pushed through; but she knew that it had to be watched. There had been talk of giving her another assault/transport battalion of Black Hawks and Chinooks; but she knew that then the pressure to put it at Ramstein would be very hard to resist. The only way to keep their training up and also prevent them getting too independent would be to rotate a battalion there every six months or so; but that would be lousy for families.
SOCOM was quite aware of the rumblings and had decided that he needed to talk things over with his new command; so he quietly came over for a quick conference the week after the Cyprus operation finished. He landed at night and left the next evening; so no one really knew he was there. It was a little cloak and dagger but he did enjoy stirring things up. He stayed in the VIP quarters and thus no one really saw him. Liz and Colonel Harkness visited him there. He started things off.
“First let me congratulate you on that training operation; it went very well and you will get credit for most of it. Frankly, a lot of people are not very happy at how well it went. You planned it minimally; quickly; and cheaply. All things that are not supposed to work well. So now there will be a lot of pressure by the bean counters for others to do the same. Those that like their major training exercises planned a year in advance with many expensive meetings and strictly choreographed are going to be forced to do more with less. Which is a good thing in my book; it was getting ridiculous.”
Liz blushed slightly. “Thank you, Sir.”
“It is well deserved and enough of that. Now for the rumblings about Ramstein; this has been tossed around by EUCOM; but at the moment it has insufficient support to go anywhere. I agree with your reasons for opposing it. The trouble that the 160th had with their battalion at McCord Lewis just underlines the fact that your worry is not unfounded. It will almost certainly be moved back to Campbell as the battalion from Georgia will as well. The pressure to give you a fourth battalion is increasing; especially since many think that you already have too much of the hot spots and potential hot spots in your area of responsibility. Needless to say, once you get a fourth; and I think that it will happen; fighting that move will be a lot harder. The GOOD news there is that the germans are getting more restrictive about their airspace and what you can do there; so your training worries will be easier to substantiate. So with any luck at all in a year or so when you get that fourth you should be able to keep it with the other 3.”
“That is good news sir. We have the room here; one of the design parameters was in case we got a fourth battalion.”
“Sometimes we get lucky. Enough of that as well. Now as regards the potential for being tasked by the other three commands: it will happen, there is no doubt of that. What will be will be. BUT the good news there is that we can tap them for funds for training; in addition to your normal budget. The BAD news is that they will expect you to do more training in Europe and elsewhere.”
“Actually Sir, that is not so bad. The weather was great in Cyprus.”
“Well training in the Sahara in mid-summer or the Balkans in winter will not be as nice.”
“Granted; but I think the more different areas and more different units and nationalities we train with the easier it will be to keep my command sharp and not let it get complacent.”
SOCOM nodded; he really expected no less of her.
“Fair enough. Now I know that you have Colonel Harkness here constantly on my G2 to warn of anything suspected of coming your way; and that is a good thing. But of course a lot of the time something comes up with little or no warning at all. So I hope you do not count too heavily on what you hear.”
“No sir. But I figure any information on anything is better than nothing.”
“OK, I buy that. One thing there is a greater possibility of you being tasked with is more humanitarian operations. There is a push now from the DOD for us to show our kinder and gentler natures; and I guess I do not have too much against that in this case. Just that you train your people to search and destroy; and not act as peace keepers. But since you will be strictly transport and escort that should not be too much of a problem. Those that you put on the ground will have most of the responsibility. But it might be something that you keep in mind for training your attack units.”
Liz sighed but nodded. She really did not want to go down that road but orders were orders and she knew it was a possibility. She made a mental note to discuss this with her battalion commanders.
“Now I do not have anything like a crystal ball; but I think the most likely areas you will end up sending your people into are still the usual suspects; the middle east and southwest asia. But I also think that the likelihood is less than it has been in a long time. Things are still unstable in Morocco, Libya, Egypt and Yemen. But the probability is that you will not go there. Iraq is also unlikely; and Afghanistan seems stable enough that you will not have to worry about it. Pakistan seems to be doing better and that is good. Though Ultimate Checkmate is still something to keep in mind.”
Liz shivered a little at that very secret and dire potential operation. It was the seizure by force of the Pakistani nuclear arsenal if it looked like Pakistan would come apart or a fundamentalist government came into power. She had been briefed on it when she went to Afghanistan the last time with her Super Apaches. That was one she hoped never saw the light of day.
“Now for the areas that are more possible. The Balkans are still a mess; but the Europeans are determined to prove that they can handle it. But the possibility is that you would have to support them. So keep it in mind. I will not bother talking about the Russians; if they start anything they first pretty much have to take out the Ukraine and that will take them a while; long enough for us to move real force into Europe. So let us just skip by them. To be brutally honest I would be more worried about the situations in Western Europe than Russia: with all their economies still not recovered from the debt crisis and the near fall of the Euro, and more of their native populations disliking the immigrants more and more, adding to that the muslim sections becoming more militant; things could happen in France, Denmark, Belgium, Spain or Italy. Eastern Europe is in better shape. Of course you getting involved in any of those areas would be a case of pulling our citizens out then anything else. Once again the humanitarian part. The rather constant rumblings from some of the old soviet republics are once again something you need to look at more in the case of pulling our people out; and our friends as well. Turkey seems ok; the Kurds are not doing anything more than usual and the near autonomous area they have in northern Iraq has taken a good part of the steam out of the separatists. Africa once again is more a get our people out worry; we are not getting involved in Somalia again and there is nothing else really we care about down there. South Africa since the African National Congress lost power has settled down more than we had hoped.”
Liz looked at him as he paused, eyebrow up. He smiled slightly.
“OK. Our number one worry of course has been for a while and will continue to be Iran. While their nuclear program is still stalled due to our little monkey wrenches, they still seem bent on getting some. Now the ability to miniaturize them to the point of being able to get them on a missile would be some years after they get a bomb, but we still are more than likely going to try and take it out. The popular protests have been stamped on; but as usual that just makes them more harder and meaner. Does not end it. The Israelis are absolutely determined that they never get a bomb and I do not blame them; even with the wack job no longer the President it is clear the Mullahs still have the power. It is more than likely we will help them get it done but at the same time we still have the contingency plans to help them out. Which in the end would mean putting people on the ground to make sure that the centers are toast. We would parachute them in but getting them out would be your job. Needless to say it would not be easy. The other part is if there is a civil war; unless they are close to getting bombs we would stay out of it in all probability. At least I hope we do. They are still trying to finance various trouble makers but that is the Company’s problem not ours.”
Liz nodded; staying out of any civil war is always the best idea.
“So there you pretty much have it. That is the situation as it is at the moment; which means it could change tomorrow. Anyway, you will undoubtedly start getting more requests for training with more of the European militaries; and some of the Middle Eastern ones as well. Turkey really liked what you set up last time and will want to do it again. Saudi Arabia and Kuwait and the gulf states will probably want some as well but I am looking at sending some of the 160th to do that; they have very little to do and less reason to train hard.”
Liz blinked a little at that; and then cocked her head and looked at SOCOM.
“This goes nowhere but this room; is that clear?”
Liz and Jim nodded.
“The new commander of the 160th as you know is very raw to the SOAR; losing the last one we did to that accident that put him out of the army really hurt; we had no one to replace him. And unfortunately I am coming to the opinion that he might not be up to the job; he has decreased the training frequency to a point I do not like. So that is why I am going to send part of his people to the middle east. I am looking for a replacement and I want to see if any of his battalion commanders look like they can get it done.”
Liz sat back and thought about that. Right before Christmas the 160th Commander had been hit by a drunk driver and the injuries had put him out of the military; his XO took over but he was brand new to SOAR. And if early word was any indication, backed by what SOCOM had just said, he would not be there long. Problem was that they just did not have many senior enough people in SOAR. A situation that had given her problems as well. There usually were not all that many officers above the rank of captain in the SOAR. Either one. Now there were former SOAR officers here and there at a higher rank, but usually they had left for their own reasons. So she imagined that SOCOM was looking hard at them to see if he could get one back. But that would not necessarily work. It took a certain kind of officer to run a SOAR; she knew that now. And it was now clear to her that she had been groomed for a couple of years to take the 161st. But there were no relief pitchers in the bullpen. She did not envy SOCOM. Those that had commanded the SOAR in the past were either out of the military or now too senior to take it over. She looked at SOCOM.
“Really your only short term option is to give it to your Aviation Chief until a new one is trained up and ready.”
SOCOM nodded. He was not surprised that she had quickly figured out the only real option he had.
There were some other minor details to discuss but that was the meat of the meeting. He talked to Liz about the Cyprus and Turkey training and gave her a copy of the Predator tapes. She would find that useful in the future as regards rating her Battalion commanders. Also it would help her plan future training operations.
Over the next few weeks Liz fielded training requests from several more British regiments; and was looking at arranging another fairly large one in the UK early in the spring to take care of them. And she started to get some requests from Spain and other mainland countries. Greece being one; which was no surprise; since she had trained with the Turks the Greeks wanted equal treatment; and she knew that it was a must. An evil idea occurred to her and she sent a quiet Email to SOCOM about it; pushing EUCOM into funding it. Take some of the regiments from England and go to Greece. Take some others and go to Spain. SOCOM sent back that she should make a formal request for multiple Major Command support for them. Which meant he would support her. So she got Jim and they worked the next two days, calling the various British Regiments and giving them a general time frame- she was looking at late March. Jim contacted the Spanish and they agreed with the place proposed. The treaty to return Gibraltar to Spanish control while maintaining a British base there had eased things between the two countries. It would be the start of that operation that would be interesting; the 161st would pick up a Battalion of British troops and their equipment and then launch an assault on a position held by Spanish troops. Then they would do it the other way. Meanwhile the Spanish helicopters would be working with the 161st on training on rapid assaults on various types of terrain. The whole exercise would involve 3 British regiments and 3 Spanish regiments and their Air Assault units. As was being usually done the US would transport the British troops; the 161st would do that in two days. A POL point would established to fuel all helicopters.
The exercises went off well; once again Liz got with the commanders for both sides and they agreed on a very unstructured operation. The Apache’s and Little Birds did not have much to do; and Liz felt it was time to work them hard; so with permission from the Spanish, they used a Air Force bombing range to live fire all weapons. Liz had them at it for two days and they shot off a lot of ordnance. The Tiger attach helicopters of the Spanish forces also participated; they had become operational not long ago and were green. So Liz in her Super Apache led platoons of them in maneuvers and firing on the go; that lasted two more days. Liz would fire at a target and they raced to hit the same target; forcing them to move and shoot fast. They were ragged the first few hours; but after the second day Liz took them out for some night shooting and they did very well. The Spanish general in charge extravagantly thanked Liz for showing them how it was done. By not telling them what she was going to do, she forced them to read and react; a different way than they had been training. General Morales flat out told his training officer he was not doing it right and relieved him the first day. Liz ended up staying three extra days after the 161st left to help the Spanish re write their attack helicopter training program.
Two months later she got a very nice thank you from General Morales; they had just had a exercise witnessed by the King and the Attach Helicopters had surprised the Army unit by their ability to move fast and shoot fast and hit their targets; the army expected them to hover when firing and were unable to respond effectively. The King complimented the General and he straight out told the King that she had made it possible. A letter of Appreciation was hand delivered to Liz by the Spanish Ambassador to England. As well as an invitation to a formal Royal dinner celebrating the Spanish Military later that year. Liz accepted; one more time in the Mess Dress.
The NATO training missions began to add up; Italy, Romania, Bulgaria and Hungary sent in requests. The Greek Operation would be first; in early May. Then Liz was looking at doing the three Balkan countries in one go. Italy next.
The Greek training mission was solely with Greek forces; their Army air assault units, their Marines and two chosen Army battalions. Once again it was the case of the 161st training them up. The exercise lasted three days and all were satisfied. The Greek general in command wanted to see what the Little Birds could do and with the Greek Commandos they did; they captured his HQ that night. In some ways it was very relaxing for Liz.
Things changed in the combined Balkan training mission; Hungary asked to be done separately. Liz was informed by SOCOM G2 that their budget was a problem and they did not want to look bad in front of the Romanians and Bulgarians. So Liz took the 161st to Hungary first and three days later to Bulgaria where they trained with both Army and transport units.
Hungary did have problems; Liz was at her diplomatic best and managed to get things done anyway. They spent 3 full days working with just about their entire Army; assaults and movements and all sorts of things. They were noticeably more able when the 161st left.
Romania and Bugaria were easy in comparison; they still had things to learn but their budgets allowed more training so the basics did not have to be relearned.
Italy was next; in July; but it was in the mountains so it was not so bad. Italy had a very well trained military and the exercises were less about teaching then trying to stretch each other. When they got back from the 5 days there; Liz told the unit to get some rest. The near constant training over the last 6 months had worn them down; so Liz had blocked out all of August for basically rest and relaxation.
She got back from Italy to be told the fourth battalion would stand up in October; the equipment was transferred in from one of the Aviation Brigades that had been disbanded. The Personnel were in training with the SOAR training battalion at Campbell; they had been working on the people since March.
She looked over the personnel files of the officers she would get; luckily the Battalion commander came from the 160th where he had been an XO. But only a handful of the rest were already SOAR. It would be a green battalion. But so be it.
Trouble started to brew in Late July. The Euro crisis started up again when Germany flat out said they would not put any more money into the effort; enough was enough. Since they were the main backer, that sent shockwaves everywhere. Interestingly the countries that had all started the problem back in 2008, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Ireland and Greece had more or less shaped up; Greece was still a problem but it was under control. Now it was Belgium, Netherlands, Denmark who were in the worst shape. Un restrained social spending had not been cut as much as needed and they had raised taxes which had caused more capital flight. France was openly pushing their Muslim population to leave; that had gotten ugly but the French Military and Police had so far maintained control. Calls for sanctions against France had mostly fizzled; the interesting part was that France and the US had better relations now then they had had for a long time.
As was to be expected the immigrants were the first to catch the heat; and beatings and demonstrations began to spread just as the continent entered the period of greatest heat. A bad combination.
France’s government; a more hard core and nationalistic one then had been seen in many years; also refused to put more money into the Euro. It called for countries to have austerity budgets and get things under control. Germany had also gone to the right and was saying they were no longer going to bail out the Euro.
The US, which had been pretty quiet in this, mostly played the calming influence as much as possible; even though the immediate effects were better for the US economy, which had had a couple of very good years recently. The more stringent budgets and at last capping spending on Medicare and Welfare, along with the first real cuts in the Federal government, had gone a long way towards removing the deficit. This was the first year that there was real hope that the budget would be balanced by the end of the year. Contrary to many predictions by the more liberal political figures, less government spending had not had the disastrous effect they had hoped would happen. It had been tough on the US Military, but true reforms in spending and heavy cuts in overhead (The Pentagon had been cut in half as regards personnel) had helped a lot. The real problem had been the commercial real estate crisis that had started in 2011 and gone through 2012. It had finally started to ease in 2013 and had helped speed the recovery.
China as usual tried to find a opportunity to expand its influence by offering loans at low rates to the country’s most in trouble. Not that China was doing all that well; the pollution effects had finally forced them to start working hard at controlling it and they were finding out how much that cost. Several natural disasters had also drained their huge savings accounts; added to which millions were demanding better public services. But they as usual saw a chance to get more international influence and made their move. The country’s needed money and looked for it from China; but then found out there were strings attached. They had to grant concessions to Chinese firms. Desperate left wing governments took the money and then found out that their people did not like it. This happened at the beginning of August just in time for another heat wave to hit.
Liz walked to her quarters; it was just after five that Wednesday afternoon. It was unseasonably warm; it was almost 75. Which for this area was a heatwave; much to the amusement of the Americans. But farther south in England it was getting towards 80. And higher in some areas. Which for a country that had very little air conditioning, but lots of humidity, made things very uncomfortable. But it was still not as bad as it was on the Continent. There temps of 85-90 were hitting.
Liz had had Jim keep an eye on things; with the current crisis plus the heat she wanted no surprises. He called her that evening.
“Colonel, sorry to bother you but some Flash traffic just came in.”
“That is OK Jim at least I finished dinner. Poor Max will have to do the dishes.”
Liz went into the Communication room and signed for the Flash Traffic; she then had to use her own decoder for her to read it. This did not happen often; usually it meant an intelligence update; but to use Flash, the highest priority and security, meant it was important.
She took the pages of gibberish and went to her office; opened her safe, took out her code book and since this was the modern Army was able to use her computer to decode and print it out; the program was such that as soon as it printed it was erased in every way from the computer.
It was an intelligence update and made for very worrying reading.
She read it once, then again then sat and thought for a while. Then looked at the clock; it was almost 9 PM. She decided to lock it in her safe and talk to Jim about it the next morning. She went back home and tried to forget it for the evening.
At 0730 the next morning she buzzed Jim to stop by. When he came in she motioned for him to shut the door; she then opened her safe and handed him the message. It was several pages long so it took him awhile to read it all. He finally looked up at her.
“OK, this is not good. Question is how does it affect us?”
“If the EU collapses, which is what they think might happen, then it could get very ugly. England has some edges in that they still have the pound and they are separated from the continent. So our immediate situation is not a problem. BUT the upheaval could get very nasty and guess what: SOCOM warned us about having to evacuate people. The governments that took the Chinese money are incredibly unpopular at the moment; there could be massive rioting in the streets there. France and Germany are probably the only two countries that could be expected to not go up in smoke; France because they already have their military deployed and Germany because their economy is doing OK. Eastern Europe would not see the effects for a while. Greece could be a worry because the unions are still butt hurt about the austerity programs. Belgium, Netherlands and Denmark had the most give aways that have been taken away. The good news is that there are not a lot of weapons there. My question would be what if the military and police just quit as well. If things collapse none of them get paid. And that could spread most places. We could have the whole continent bubbling.
He nodded slowly. “So what do we do?”
“Good news is that there are no training missions currently scheduled; not for a month. And those only relatively local ones with British regiments. So for the moment we will cancel any leaves that have anyone going to the continent; get the word out. And anyone going to the US, warn them they could be next. We might need everyone.”
Liz sat in her office after he left; she put the message in the safe. It had gone into detail why they thought this was possible; and it made sense. But they also figured that the Europeans would do just about anything to keep things from collapsing. So odds were some kind of deal would be made. Liz was not so sure; she had made a point of having the newspapers (in English) delivered from Paris, Berlin, Rome, Brussels, etc. She had been reading them and the message had not surprised her all that much. A lot of people in Germany were very fed up paying the freight for the other countries; and the amount of social spending was too high. ‘Cradle to Grave’ sounded great in a campaign speech; but paying for it was another matter. Add to that the choking regulations that Brussels had cranked out each year to add to the rest.
She decided that brooding about it was not helpful and went back to her paper work.
One of Jim Harkness’s duties was to keep his ears open and to prod SOCOM G2 for information on anything that looked likely to involve the Regiment. In other words, where things might be getting hot any time soon. Luckily SOCOM had made it plain for a long time that the SOAR regiment got tuned in to anything that looked likely; any warning was a good thing.
Not all the news was bad when it came in; sometimes good news was shared as well. With the all but formal treaty with the Taliban by the Afghan government, official anti-Taliban operations were stopped. Now that did not mean covert operations ended. BUT since SF was forbidden by law from covert activities, they and the SOAR regiments were no longer to be deployed. What actually happened was that the CIA and their covert section –with assistance from SF personnel that were attached to them- a very gray area indeed (legally speaking) would now continue the anti Al Queda operations in Afghanistan and the tribal regions of Pakistan. Rumors were increasing that Osama Ben Laden had been dead for a while- his so called statements were pretty much figured to be old ones recycled-and what was left of the Al Queda leadership was in hiding and still a target. But it was no longer as important as it had been. SO baring something changing the 161st would not be sending any units there. However since the 161st was now the only aviation brigade outside the US, except for the one in Korea which was firmly dedicated there, it would be expected to support any US missions in its assigned area.
The bottom line was that SOCOM would no longer be the sole boss of the 161st; the technical line of command still went through there. But now CENTCOM, EUCOM, AFRICOM all could call on the 161st to support any mission. That had been intimated publicly before but it had been more of a smoke screen. Now it was not. And the tightened budgets everywhere meant a lot of people were looking for ways to stretch their operational and training budgets. While not exactly a gun for hire, in practical terms that might not be far off for the 161st. Since they were already closer than any US Aviation brigade, they would be called first on anything concerning Europe, the Middle East, Southwest Asia, and Africa.
Liz accepted this as the reality of the world; no use complaining. One rumble that she did not like was the one that suggested one of her Battalions be stationed at Ramstein, in order to be closer to any place of expected need; and right with transport assets. Liz was determined to fight this one tooth and nail; a battalion by itself could go rogue, so to speak. And they could not train in Germany like they could in Scotland; too congested in both ground training areas and air space. So far it had only been some muttering that did not seem to have the support to be pushed through; but she knew that it had to be watched. There had been talk of giving her another assault/transport battalion of Black Hawks and Chinooks; but she knew that then the pressure to put it at Ramstein would be very hard to resist. The only way to keep their training up and also prevent them getting too independent would be to rotate a battalion there every six months or so; but that would be lousy for families.
SOCOM was quite aware of the rumblings and had decided that he needed to talk things over with his new command; so he quietly came over for a quick conference the week after the Cyprus operation finished. He landed at night and left the next evening; so no one really knew he was there. It was a little cloak and dagger but he did enjoy stirring things up. He stayed in the VIP quarters and thus no one really saw him. Liz and Colonel Harkness visited him there. He started things off.
“First let me congratulate you on that training operation; it went very well and you will get credit for most of it. Frankly, a lot of people are not very happy at how well it went. You planned it minimally; quickly; and cheaply. All things that are not supposed to work well. So now there will be a lot of pressure by the bean counters for others to do the same. Those that like their major training exercises planned a year in advance with many expensive meetings and strictly choreographed are going to be forced to do more with less. Which is a good thing in my book; it was getting ridiculous.”
Liz blushed slightly. “Thank you, Sir.”
“It is well deserved and enough of that. Now for the rumblings about Ramstein; this has been tossed around by EUCOM; but at the moment it has insufficient support to go anywhere. I agree with your reasons for opposing it. The trouble that the 160th had with their battalion at McCord Lewis just underlines the fact that your worry is not unfounded. It will almost certainly be moved back to Campbell as the battalion from Georgia will as well. The pressure to give you a fourth battalion is increasing; especially since many think that you already have too much of the hot spots and potential hot spots in your area of responsibility. Needless to say, once you get a fourth; and I think that it will happen; fighting that move will be a lot harder. The GOOD news there is that the germans are getting more restrictive about their airspace and what you can do there; so your training worries will be easier to substantiate. So with any luck at all in a year or so when you get that fourth you should be able to keep it with the other 3.”
“That is good news sir. We have the room here; one of the design parameters was in case we got a fourth battalion.”
“Sometimes we get lucky. Enough of that as well. Now as regards the potential for being tasked by the other three commands: it will happen, there is no doubt of that. What will be will be. BUT the good news there is that we can tap them for funds for training; in addition to your normal budget. The BAD news is that they will expect you to do more training in Europe and elsewhere.”
“Actually Sir, that is not so bad. The weather was great in Cyprus.”
“Well training in the Sahara in mid-summer or the Balkans in winter will not be as nice.”
“Granted; but I think the more different areas and more different units and nationalities we train with the easier it will be to keep my command sharp and not let it get complacent.”
SOCOM nodded; he really expected no less of her.
“Fair enough. Now I know that you have Colonel Harkness here constantly on my G2 to warn of anything suspected of coming your way; and that is a good thing. But of course a lot of the time something comes up with little or no warning at all. So I hope you do not count too heavily on what you hear.”
“No sir. But I figure any information on anything is better than nothing.”
“OK, I buy that. One thing there is a greater possibility of you being tasked with is more humanitarian operations. There is a push now from the DOD for us to show our kinder and gentler natures; and I guess I do not have too much against that in this case. Just that you train your people to search and destroy; and not act as peace keepers. But since you will be strictly transport and escort that should not be too much of a problem. Those that you put on the ground will have most of the responsibility. But it might be something that you keep in mind for training your attack units.”
Liz sighed but nodded. She really did not want to go down that road but orders were orders and she knew it was a possibility. She made a mental note to discuss this with her battalion commanders.
“Now I do not have anything like a crystal ball; but I think the most likely areas you will end up sending your people into are still the usual suspects; the middle east and southwest asia. But I also think that the likelihood is less than it has been in a long time. Things are still unstable in Morocco, Libya, Egypt and Yemen. But the probability is that you will not go there. Iraq is also unlikely; and Afghanistan seems stable enough that you will not have to worry about it. Pakistan seems to be doing better and that is good. Though Ultimate Checkmate is still something to keep in mind.”
Liz shivered a little at that very secret and dire potential operation. It was the seizure by force of the Pakistani nuclear arsenal if it looked like Pakistan would come apart or a fundamentalist government came into power. She had been briefed on it when she went to Afghanistan the last time with her Super Apaches. That was one she hoped never saw the light of day.
“Now for the areas that are more possible. The Balkans are still a mess; but the Europeans are determined to prove that they can handle it. But the possibility is that you would have to support them. So keep it in mind. I will not bother talking about the Russians; if they start anything they first pretty much have to take out the Ukraine and that will take them a while; long enough for us to move real force into Europe. So let us just skip by them. To be brutally honest I would be more worried about the situations in Western Europe than Russia: with all their economies still not recovered from the debt crisis and the near fall of the Euro, and more of their native populations disliking the immigrants more and more, adding to that the muslim sections becoming more militant; things could happen in France, Denmark, Belgium, Spain or Italy. Eastern Europe is in better shape. Of course you getting involved in any of those areas would be a case of pulling our citizens out then anything else. Once again the humanitarian part. The rather constant rumblings from some of the old soviet republics are once again something you need to look at more in the case of pulling our people out; and our friends as well. Turkey seems ok; the Kurds are not doing anything more than usual and the near autonomous area they have in northern Iraq has taken a good part of the steam out of the separatists. Africa once again is more a get our people out worry; we are not getting involved in Somalia again and there is nothing else really we care about down there. South Africa since the African National Congress lost power has settled down more than we had hoped.”
Liz looked at him as he paused, eyebrow up. He smiled slightly.
“OK. Our number one worry of course has been for a while and will continue to be Iran. While their nuclear program is still stalled due to our little monkey wrenches, they still seem bent on getting some. Now the ability to miniaturize them to the point of being able to get them on a missile would be some years after they get a bomb, but we still are more than likely going to try and take it out. The popular protests have been stamped on; but as usual that just makes them more harder and meaner. Does not end it. The Israelis are absolutely determined that they never get a bomb and I do not blame them; even with the wack job no longer the President it is clear the Mullahs still have the power. It is more than likely we will help them get it done but at the same time we still have the contingency plans to help them out. Which in the end would mean putting people on the ground to make sure that the centers are toast. We would parachute them in but getting them out would be your job. Needless to say it would not be easy. The other part is if there is a civil war; unless they are close to getting bombs we would stay out of it in all probability. At least I hope we do. They are still trying to finance various trouble makers but that is the Company’s problem not ours.”
Liz nodded; staying out of any civil war is always the best idea.
“So there you pretty much have it. That is the situation as it is at the moment; which means it could change tomorrow. Anyway, you will undoubtedly start getting more requests for training with more of the European militaries; and some of the Middle Eastern ones as well. Turkey really liked what you set up last time and will want to do it again. Saudi Arabia and Kuwait and the gulf states will probably want some as well but I am looking at sending some of the 160th to do that; they have very little to do and less reason to train hard.”
Liz blinked a little at that; and then cocked her head and looked at SOCOM.
“This goes nowhere but this room; is that clear?”
Liz and Jim nodded.
“The new commander of the 160th as you know is very raw to the SOAR; losing the last one we did to that accident that put him out of the army really hurt; we had no one to replace him. And unfortunately I am coming to the opinion that he might not be up to the job; he has decreased the training frequency to a point I do not like. So that is why I am going to send part of his people to the middle east. I am looking for a replacement and I want to see if any of his battalion commanders look like they can get it done.”
Liz sat back and thought about that. Right before Christmas the 160th Commander had been hit by a drunk driver and the injuries had put him out of the military; his XO took over but he was brand new to SOAR. And if early word was any indication, backed by what SOCOM had just said, he would not be there long. Problem was that they just did not have many senior enough people in SOAR. A situation that had given her problems as well. There usually were not all that many officers above the rank of captain in the SOAR. Either one. Now there were former SOAR officers here and there at a higher rank, but usually they had left for their own reasons. So she imagined that SOCOM was looking hard at them to see if he could get one back. But that would not necessarily work. It took a certain kind of officer to run a SOAR; she knew that now. And it was now clear to her that she had been groomed for a couple of years to take the 161st. But there were no relief pitchers in the bullpen. She did not envy SOCOM. Those that had commanded the SOAR in the past were either out of the military or now too senior to take it over. She looked at SOCOM.
“Really your only short term option is to give it to your Aviation Chief until a new one is trained up and ready.”
SOCOM nodded. He was not surprised that she had quickly figured out the only real option he had.
There were some other minor details to discuss but that was the meat of the meeting. He talked to Liz about the Cyprus and Turkey training and gave her a copy of the Predator tapes. She would find that useful in the future as regards rating her Battalion commanders. Also it would help her plan future training operations.
Over the next few weeks Liz fielded training requests from several more British regiments; and was looking at arranging another fairly large one in the UK early in the spring to take care of them. And she started to get some requests from Spain and other mainland countries. Greece being one; which was no surprise; since she had trained with the Turks the Greeks wanted equal treatment; and she knew that it was a must. An evil idea occurred to her and she sent a quiet Email to SOCOM about it; pushing EUCOM into funding it. Take some of the regiments from England and go to Greece. Take some others and go to Spain. SOCOM sent back that she should make a formal request for multiple Major Command support for them. Which meant he would support her. So she got Jim and they worked the next two days, calling the various British Regiments and giving them a general time frame- she was looking at late March. Jim contacted the Spanish and they agreed with the place proposed. The treaty to return Gibraltar to Spanish control while maintaining a British base there had eased things between the two countries. It would be the start of that operation that would be interesting; the 161st would pick up a Battalion of British troops and their equipment and then launch an assault on a position held by Spanish troops. Then they would do it the other way. Meanwhile the Spanish helicopters would be working with the 161st on training on rapid assaults on various types of terrain. The whole exercise would involve 3 British regiments and 3 Spanish regiments and their Air Assault units. As was being usually done the US would transport the British troops; the 161st would do that in two days. A POL point would established to fuel all helicopters.
The exercises went off well; once again Liz got with the commanders for both sides and they agreed on a very unstructured operation. The Apache’s and Little Birds did not have much to do; and Liz felt it was time to work them hard; so with permission from the Spanish, they used a Air Force bombing range to live fire all weapons. Liz had them at it for two days and they shot off a lot of ordnance. The Tiger attach helicopters of the Spanish forces also participated; they had become operational not long ago and were green. So Liz in her Super Apache led platoons of them in maneuvers and firing on the go; that lasted two more days. Liz would fire at a target and they raced to hit the same target; forcing them to move and shoot fast. They were ragged the first few hours; but after the second day Liz took them out for some night shooting and they did very well. The Spanish general in charge extravagantly thanked Liz for showing them how it was done. By not telling them what she was going to do, she forced them to read and react; a different way than they had been training. General Morales flat out told his training officer he was not doing it right and relieved him the first day. Liz ended up staying three extra days after the 161st left to help the Spanish re write their attack helicopter training program.
Two months later she got a very nice thank you from General Morales; they had just had a exercise witnessed by the King and the Attach Helicopters had surprised the Army unit by their ability to move fast and shoot fast and hit their targets; the army expected them to hover when firing and were unable to respond effectively. The King complimented the General and he straight out told the King that she had made it possible. A letter of Appreciation was hand delivered to Liz by the Spanish Ambassador to England. As well as an invitation to a formal Royal dinner celebrating the Spanish Military later that year. Liz accepted; one more time in the Mess Dress.
The NATO training missions began to add up; Italy, Romania, Bulgaria and Hungary sent in requests. The Greek Operation would be first; in early May. Then Liz was looking at doing the three Balkan countries in one go. Italy next.
The Greek training mission was solely with Greek forces; their Army air assault units, their Marines and two chosen Army battalions. Once again it was the case of the 161st training them up. The exercise lasted three days and all were satisfied. The Greek general in command wanted to see what the Little Birds could do and with the Greek Commandos they did; they captured his HQ that night. In some ways it was very relaxing for Liz.
Things changed in the combined Balkan training mission; Hungary asked to be done separately. Liz was informed by SOCOM G2 that their budget was a problem and they did not want to look bad in front of the Romanians and Bulgarians. So Liz took the 161st to Hungary first and three days later to Bulgaria where they trained with both Army and transport units.
Hungary did have problems; Liz was at her diplomatic best and managed to get things done anyway. They spent 3 full days working with just about their entire Army; assaults and movements and all sorts of things. They were noticeably more able when the 161st left.
Romania and Bugaria were easy in comparison; they still had things to learn but their budgets allowed more training so the basics did not have to be relearned.
Italy was next; in July; but it was in the mountains so it was not so bad. Italy had a very well trained military and the exercises were less about teaching then trying to stretch each other. When they got back from the 5 days there; Liz told the unit to get some rest. The near constant training over the last 6 months had worn them down; so Liz had blocked out all of August for basically rest and relaxation.
She got back from Italy to be told the fourth battalion would stand up in October; the equipment was transferred in from one of the Aviation Brigades that had been disbanded. The Personnel were in training with the SOAR training battalion at Campbell; they had been working on the people since March.
She looked over the personnel files of the officers she would get; luckily the Battalion commander came from the 160th where he had been an XO. But only a handful of the rest were already SOAR. It would be a green battalion. But so be it.
Trouble started to brew in Late July. The Euro crisis started up again when Germany flat out said they would not put any more money into the effort; enough was enough. Since they were the main backer, that sent shockwaves everywhere. Interestingly the countries that had all started the problem back in 2008, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Ireland and Greece had more or less shaped up; Greece was still a problem but it was under control. Now it was Belgium, Netherlands, Denmark who were in the worst shape. Un restrained social spending had not been cut as much as needed and they had raised taxes which had caused more capital flight. France was openly pushing their Muslim population to leave; that had gotten ugly but the French Military and Police had so far maintained control. Calls for sanctions against France had mostly fizzled; the interesting part was that France and the US had better relations now then they had had for a long time.
As was to be expected the immigrants were the first to catch the heat; and beatings and demonstrations began to spread just as the continent entered the period of greatest heat. A bad combination.
France’s government; a more hard core and nationalistic one then had been seen in many years; also refused to put more money into the Euro. It called for countries to have austerity budgets and get things under control. Germany had also gone to the right and was saying they were no longer going to bail out the Euro.
The US, which had been pretty quiet in this, mostly played the calming influence as much as possible; even though the immediate effects were better for the US economy, which had had a couple of very good years recently. The more stringent budgets and at last capping spending on Medicare and Welfare, along with the first real cuts in the Federal government, had gone a long way towards removing the deficit. This was the first year that there was real hope that the budget would be balanced by the end of the year. Contrary to many predictions by the more liberal political figures, less government spending had not had the disastrous effect they had hoped would happen. It had been tough on the US Military, but true reforms in spending and heavy cuts in overhead (The Pentagon had been cut in half as regards personnel) had helped a lot. The real problem had been the commercial real estate crisis that had started in 2011 and gone through 2012. It had finally started to ease in 2013 and had helped speed the recovery.
China as usual tried to find a opportunity to expand its influence by offering loans at low rates to the country’s most in trouble. Not that China was doing all that well; the pollution effects had finally forced them to start working hard at controlling it and they were finding out how much that cost. Several natural disasters had also drained their huge savings accounts; added to which millions were demanding better public services. But they as usual saw a chance to get more international influence and made their move. The country’s needed money and looked for it from China; but then found out there were strings attached. They had to grant concessions to Chinese firms. Desperate left wing governments took the money and then found out that their people did not like it. This happened at the beginning of August just in time for another heat wave to hit.
Liz walked to her quarters; it was just after five that Wednesday afternoon. It was unseasonably warm; it was almost 75. Which for this area was a heatwave; much to the amusement of the Americans. But farther south in England it was getting towards 80. And higher in some areas. Which for a country that had very little air conditioning, but lots of humidity, made things very uncomfortable. But it was still not as bad as it was on the Continent. There temps of 85-90 were hitting.
Liz had had Jim keep an eye on things; with the current crisis plus the heat she wanted no surprises. He called her that evening.
“Colonel, sorry to bother you but some Flash traffic just came in.”
“That is OK Jim at least I finished dinner. Poor Max will have to do the dishes.”
Liz went into the Communication room and signed for the Flash Traffic; she then had to use her own decoder for her to read it. This did not happen often; usually it meant an intelligence update; but to use Flash, the highest priority and security, meant it was important.
She took the pages of gibberish and went to her office; opened her safe, took out her code book and since this was the modern Army was able to use her computer to decode and print it out; the program was such that as soon as it printed it was erased in every way from the computer.
It was an intelligence update and made for very worrying reading.
She read it once, then again then sat and thought for a while. Then looked at the clock; it was almost 9 PM. She decided to lock it in her safe and talk to Jim about it the next morning. She went back home and tried to forget it for the evening.
At 0730 the next morning she buzzed Jim to stop by. When he came in she motioned for him to shut the door; she then opened her safe and handed him the message. It was several pages long so it took him awhile to read it all. He finally looked up at her.
“OK, this is not good. Question is how does it affect us?”
“If the EU collapses, which is what they think might happen, then it could get very ugly. England has some edges in that they still have the pound and they are separated from the continent. So our immediate situation is not a problem. BUT the upheaval could get very nasty and guess what: SOCOM warned us about having to evacuate people. The governments that took the Chinese money are incredibly unpopular at the moment; there could be massive rioting in the streets there. France and Germany are probably the only two countries that could be expected to not go up in smoke; France because they already have their military deployed and Germany because their economy is doing OK. Eastern Europe would not see the effects for a while. Greece could be a worry because the unions are still butt hurt about the austerity programs. Belgium, Netherlands and Denmark had the most give aways that have been taken away. The good news is that there are not a lot of weapons there. My question would be what if the military and police just quit as well. If things collapse none of them get paid. And that could spread most places. We could have the whole continent bubbling.
He nodded slowly. “So what do we do?”
“Good news is that there are no training missions currently scheduled; not for a month. And those only relatively local ones with British regiments. So for the moment we will cancel any leaves that have anyone going to the continent; get the word out. And anyone going to the US, warn them they could be next. We might need everyone.”
Liz sat in her office after he left; she put the message in the safe. It had gone into detail why they thought this was possible; and it made sense. But they also figured that the Europeans would do just about anything to keep things from collapsing. So odds were some kind of deal would be made. Liz was not so sure; she had made a point of having the newspapers (in English) delivered from Paris, Berlin, Rome, Brussels, etc. She had been reading them and the message had not surprised her all that much. A lot of people in Germany were very fed up paying the freight for the other countries; and the amount of social spending was too high. ‘Cradle to Grave’ sounded great in a campaign speech; but paying for it was another matter. Add to that the choking regulations that Brussels had cranked out each year to add to the rest.
She decided that brooding about it was not helpful and went back to her paper work.