Jim Cruiser looked up from the photographs he was studying. 'Will boats be provided for us down there, or must we bring our own?'
'I've made arrangements with some people I trust in the Argentine Marine Corps la Infanteria de Marina--and you'll be given three rigid raider boats. These are British Royal Navy surplus but are in good shape. They're propelled by one hundred and forty horsepower Johnson outboard motors, and can hit some thirty-five knots. These craft are a little more than five meters long and two meters wide.'
'That sounds all fine and dandy,' Brannigan said grumpily. 'But they're noisy as hell, aren't they?'
'That they are,' Alfredo replied. 'And I've taken that into consideration. There will also be three civilian piragua wooden boats that are propelled by basic poling. As long as you're quiet when you're using them, there'll be no problems when noise discipline is a must. These are three meters long and will also prove more than adequate in the unhappy event you're forced into the swamp.'
'What kind of weather can we expect?' Senior Chief Dawkins asked.
'At this time of year, which by the way is early summer in the Southern Hemisphere, temperatures range from one hundred degrees down to sixty-eight, so it's not all that bad,' Alfredo said. 'But at times it can become hot and humid. And there is also rainfall to consider. You can expect fifty inches to twenty-five inches. So take your ponchos.'
'One foot in the water!' Bruno Puglisi exclaimed. 'We're gonna be in up to our asses!'
James Bradley, the hospital corpsman, raised his hand. 'What about medevac?'
'You will be able to call in medical evacuation,' Alfredo answered. 'Helicopters from the Petroleo Colmo Oil Company will respond. Their call signs are Petrol Uno and Petrol Dos.'
'What the hell is this oil company all about?' James asked.
'Don't worry,' Alfred said. 'They can be trusted. You will also have access to an emergency relay station in Colombia that can send your transmissions farther on if that becomes necessary. Information on this is in the very highly classified SOI that you will keep sealed unless you find yourselves up to your necks in shit.' He looked around the room. 'Any more questions? Fine. Thanks, guys. And good luck.'
Commander Carey retook the floor. 'That's it, gentlemen. It's sketchy, I'll admit, and you can see that reconnaissance will be your first priority when you get into the OA. We'll be back in about forty-eight hours for the brief-back.'
The three-man briefing team made a quick, unceremonious exit. Brannigan went to the front of the room. 'Okay. First things first. Organization. With the new men making us slightly larger, the platoon will be divided as follows. A command element for overall control, communications, reconnaissance and medical; and two assault sections that will consist of two fire teams each. A SAW gunner will stick with the section commanders during ops. Chief has a roster for each of you. Senior Chief Dawkins will make the brief back assignments.'
The senior chief stood up. 'Now hear this! The Skipper and Mr. Cruiser will take care of basic tactics, camp locations and other administrative details. Bradley will cover the medical and sanitation aspects of the operation. Concord takes weapons and fire support, while Gomez is in charge of commo. Me and Chief Gunnarson will handle the individual clothing and equipment.' He paused and scowled. 'Well? What the hell are you waiting for? Get to work!'
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23 NOVEMBER
THE days and/or hours following the briefing were taken up by the creation of an OPLAN for the upcoming mission. The men, having now been assigned specific tasks, wrote up their portions of the plan. Lieutenants Brannigan and Cruiser, along with Chiefs Dawkins and Gunnarson, perused the work handed in. After a careful scrutiny, these were either accepted or handed back for additions, deletions and corrections.
When the work was complete, Brannigan took the whole thing off to a corner by himself for further tweaking and finalization. But even then it wasn't etched in stone. Commanders Carey and Berringer would return to have the OPLAN presented to them in a procedure called the brief-back. If they approved everything, the document became an OPORD and would be considered the bible for the coming operation.
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0645 HOURS LOCAL
the audience, and they settled down in a couple of the desk/chairs ready to listen, take notes, and comment on the briefback presentation.
Brannigan, as the commanding officer, led the procedure. 'Since the first order of business is reconnaissance, that is exactly what we're going to do. Rather than send the whole detachment out at once, I'm going to commit an assault section at a time to scope out the surrounding area. However, our two scouts Assad and Leibowitz will go on all these patrols. Since the Lozano Grasslands will probably be the scene of most of the action, we'll start there. The sections will take a motorized rigid raider boat, towing the piragua behind it. They will go down the Rio Ancho.' He used his laser beam to point at a spot on the enlarged satellite photo mounted on the wall. 'It will be the section commander's prerogative which of the creeks extending from the river to explore. They will leave the rigid raider boat hidden, then pole their way along the waterways in the piragua. No contact with the enemy will be made. If such a thing happens, the patrol is to immediately withdraw, engaging the attackers only in self-defense.'
Carey wrote in his notebook as he asked. 'How many of these recons do you plan to make, Lieutenant?'
'As many as it takes to get enough intelligence to launch active ops against the enemy,' Brannigan replied. 'That sounds simple at this point, but there's every chance things could get very hairy and complicated right off the bat.'
The next speaker was Lieutenant (J. G.) James Cruiser. His topic was the establishment of camps. He swung his laser beam up to a spot on the photograph where the Rio Ancho eased out of the Los Perdidos Swamp. 'This will be the location of our base camp for use during the recon phase. If the results of the scouting reveal long distances must be traversed during operations, I plan on having more camps as well as caches for weaponry and equipment. We will need waterproof containers for that. I've already sent in requisitions for a couple of dozen.'
'I've seen the paperwork,' Carey said. 'It's being taken care of.'
The next speaker was Hospital Corpsman James Bradley. 'Due to the high temperatures, humidity and heavy rainfall in the area, I anticipate problems with rashes and possible heat stroke. I have made sure I'm taking plenty of antifungal ointment, and I plan on making sure precautions are taken to avoid heat exhaustion due to the climate.'
'What about mosquitoes, Petty Officer?' Berringer asked.
'I've arranged for a case of insect repellent that should last for a long time,' Bradley said. 'I also coordinated with Senior Chief Dawkins on hammocks and headgear with netting. There will be plenty for the detachment.'
'Have you taken any other medical problems into consideration?' Carey asked.
'Yes, sir. Each man will have an emergency medical kit to carry in his assault vest. These will include bandages, codeine, morphine, sedatives, stimulants and other medicine for illnesses. I will also have my field surgical kit for major trauma.'
Petty Officer First Class Connie Concord gave a quick report on the weaponry. 'The major new items in our arsenal are a pair of SAWs with one for each assault section. They will provide support fire when needed. I might add that these use the same 5.56-millimeter ammo as our CAR-15s. They are also magazine fed rather than belt fed, and that makes each man a potential ammo bearer. SIG Sauer nine-millimeter automatic pistols will be the hand weapons. We'll also tote some M-67 fragmentation grenades for defensive and ambush situations.'
Frank Gomez, the commo chief, reported he was taking in an AN/PSC-5 Shadowfire radio with a spare for long-range commo. 'All contacts among the Command Element, assault sections and fire teams will be conducted via AN/PRC-126 radios that have handsets. The detachment scouts will also have one. In addition, LASH radio headsets would be employed within the assault sections. That way everyone can transmit to their mates via the throat mike that is capable of making even whispers audible.'
'Call signs?' Berringer asked.
'The Command Element is Brigand,' Frank said. 'The First Assault Section is Brigand One and the Second is Brigand Two. All fire teams will use their phonetic alphabet designations. And we will have that emergency relay station in Colombia. That will only be used as directed by the SOL'
Next Chief Matt Gunnarson presented the personal supply picture. 'The first-line equipment, that is what the guys will wear, will be lightweight tropical BDUs. Everyone will also tote along an emergency compass, matches, a good Swiss Army knife, a couple of PowerBars and condoms. The rubbers are good to keep things dry as well as
