of Vietnam had shown the XO what war could do to people, mentally as well as physically. In his mind, he could not picture Lieutenant Matthews in battle. At home, yes.
Modeling on Madison Avenue, yes. Crawling along a ditch, under fire, in some Godforsaken country, no. Lieutenant Matthews looked up at that moment and met his eyes. The XO felt himself blush, then turned away to continue his check of who was still missing.
Lieutenant Matthews paused for a moment and continued to stare at the XO. She knew what was going on in his mind: Is she good enough to do the job? How well will she hold up when the shit really hits the fan?..
Nothing changed. Every time she came into a unit, from 20 her first day at West Point to her assignments at Fort Hood, she had had to fight the same attitude. At least in the past she had not been the first or the only female officer in the unit. This assignment, however, was different. Since coming down to the brigade, she had been treated with the respect due an officer but not the confidence or trust that was accorded to the other junior staff officers. She had been warned by friends of hers on the staff of the 25th Armored Division that the brigade commander and the S-2 had fought tool and nail against her assignment. They had even stated that it was better to leave the position open rather than put a female in a tactical headquarters that would operate as far forward as the brigade would. In the end, the division commander had told the brigade commander to shut up and accept her. This he did, but reluctantly and with barely concealed hostility.
She had been warned it was not going to be easy. She felt, however, as if she were starting with two strikes against her.
Feeling rage slowly building, Lieutenant Matthews turned her thoughts away from her plight and to the notes she had for the briefing. She knew she was ready, having spent most of the previous night at corps G-2 reviewing every bit of information coming in on Soviet activities and Iranian reactions.
She had rummaged through the files, dragging out every old intelligence report and study on the area that she could find. Her preparation even included a trip to the post library, where she had pulled everything she could find on Iran, from National Geographic articles to area study books.
Maps of Iran were at a premium that day on Fort Hood. Everyone wanted one.
That's where having friends in the right place paid off. The 2nd Brigade was probably the only brigade in the corps that had a full range of maps not only of Iran but of the Gulf states and the southern USSR.
With the XO's announcement 'Gentlemen, the brigade commander,' the briefing began. After being introduced by the XO, Lieutenant Matthews began her briefing with an overview of the topography and demographics of Iran. 'Iran lies on a large plateau bordered in the south by the Persian Gulf, in the north by the Caspian Sea and the Soviet Union, in the west by Turkey and Iraq, and in the east by Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Major terrain features are the Zagros Mountains that start in the northwest and run southwest, parallel with the Iraqi border, to the Persian Gulf. The second major mountain range, the Elburz Mountains, also starts in the northwest but runs almost due east, where it ends just short of Afghanistan.
In the center of the country, between the two mountain ranges, are two large deserts, the Dasht-e-Kavir, or Great Salt Desert, in the north and the Dasht-e-Lut to the south. Dasht is a word used for the gravel slopes that surround the kavir, a salt crust that covers marshes of black mud.
As the crust is easily broken, many parts of these deserts remain unexplored.
Iran's oil reserves are concentrated in the southwest near the Iraqi border, and offshore in the Persian Gulf.
'Less than fourteen percent of the country receives over fifty-two percent of the annual rainfall. This is mostly in the northwest, in the area that runs from Tehran to the Soviet and Turkish borders. Even though the land is quite mountainous, it is in this region, in the valleys, that the majority of the population and agriculture is located. Temperatures range from below the freezing point during the winter to a high of one hundred thirty two degrees in the summer, but there are parts of the Elburz Mountains where snow never disappears.'
Lieutenant Matthews stopped for a moment while her NCO changed maps to show population densities and divisions. She looked at both the brigade commander and the XO to see whether they were tracking the briefing. The XO gave her a nod of approval.
'Last estimates place the population at approximately thirty-five million.
Because of the growth rate and the generally poor quality of the medical care, the population is an extremely young one, with a median age in the low twenties. While the majority of the population in the central region is
Persian with Indo-European origins, there are several minorities. The most important of these are the Turkomans in the northwest, who are interrelated with other members of this group in both Turkey and the Soviet Union; the Kurds in the west, who are related to compatriots in Iraq; and the Baluchis in the southeast, who are related to the Baluchis in
Pakistan. Ninety-eight percent of the population is Muslim. Iran is the only country in the world where the majority of the population is Shiite. Only among the Kurds, Baluchis, Turkomans and Arabs living in the country does the Sunni Muslim belief predominate.'
She paused again while her NCO put up a new map, one showing the symbols of military units. The brigade commander was busily writing notes on small three-by five cards. The XO, with a faint smile of approval, nodded for her to continue.
'The first impression that the current invasion by the Soviets is a bolt out of the blue is incorrect.' She paused for a moment and watched the brigade commander noticeably straighten up with a quizzical look on his face.
'Are you trying to tell me, Lieutenant, that we knew about this?'
Without flinching, Matthews continued, 'Apparently the Central Intelligence
Agency, the National Security Agency and the Defense Intelligence Agency each were collecting data on the modernization and buildup of Soviet forces in the area but passed it off as either routine modernization or preparation for the rotation or reinforcement of forces in Afghanistan. The
Soviets have maintained a normal level of activities in all other areas of the world, especially in Europe, where they have already begun their semiannual rotation of recruits. As a result of this normality, there was an insufficient increase in intelligence indicators to warrant an increase in the Watchcon level.' Again Lieutenant Matthews paused for a moment to let this last bit of information sink in before proceeding.
'The current Soviet offensive appears to be following the same basic plan as its 1941 invasion of Iran, with a few new twists, these primarily being amphibious landings along the Caspian Sea here at Bandar-a Anzali and Astaneh and airborne assaults reported at Khvoy, Tabriz and Rasht. Major ground forces in the northeast include one combined-arms army moving along an axis from Jolia 23 to Tabriz through the Zagros Mountains and a second combined-arms army moving along the coastal plain of the Caspian Sea. A third army of unknown composition is in reserve south of Baku. In the northeast, a corps sized element is moving west along an axis from KizylArvat to Gorgan, with a second corps-sized element moving south from Ashkabad to Quchan. Several other divisions are assembling farther inside the Soviet Union, here at Nebit-Dag and Mary. In the east a single motorized rifle division has been identified moving along an axis west from Herat in Afghanistan to, probably, Mashhad. Current intelligence gathered from several sources, including monitoring of official Iranian news agencies, indicates that the Soviet invasion came as a complete surprise to the Iranians. Only token resistance is being met by the Soviets. With the majority of Iran's forces involved in active fighting against the Iraqis, and in view of the country's lack of mobile reserves, the Soviets will meet little in the way of organized resistance for at least the next five to seven days, maybe longer.'
Lieutenant Matthews paused to allow the commander to study the map showing the activity she had just described. When he was comfortable with the information, he nodded for her to continue.
'A preliminary analysis brings out three major points. The first clearly indicates that Tehran is the offensive's initial objective.
Seizure of the northwest, the coast of the Caspian Sea and Tehran will place the majority of the population, agriculture and industry of Iran under Soviet control.
This would leave only two other worthwhile objectives: the oilfields in the southwest and control of the Strait of Hormuz in the south. The second point is that the USSR is using relatively small forces along established lines of communication. Although it does have a large number of forces in the Transcaucasus region, they are being held in place to serve either as a threat to Turkey or as a second echelon.
There is insufficient information at this time to confirm either theory. This could also mean that the USSR's objectives are limited to the seizure of Tehran or that it is being careful not to shove more forces into the country than can be supplied.
