‘’BRAVO! BRAVO! YOU’RE THE BEST, GIRLS!’
Thunderous applauses and cheers from the nearly 2,900 paratroopers and aviation personnel occupying the parade grounds next to the main cafeteria’s tent complex greeted Nancy and her band as they bowed to their spectators after playing an encore of their interpretation of ‘Knocking on Heaven’s Door’. Happy with the success of her concert tonight, Nancy used her microphone to speak to the crowd of American soldiers and aviators.
‘’Thank you, thank you my friends! It is a true pleasure for me and my band to be able to entertain brave men and women like you right here in Afghanistan. You are fighting to defend freedom and our country from terrorism and the nation owes you big for that. This tour of ours is our way to start repaying the debt of gratitude owed to you by our country. You can tell your friends and comrades who couldn’t make it here tonight that we will be giving another concert here tomorrow evening, at the same time
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as today. Then, my band will visit your comrades manning the more isolated posts in this region, so that no one will feel forgotten. Thank you for your service, all of you!’
Loud cheers rose as Nancy bowed again at the end of her speech and then walked off the improvised stage with her band members. They were met at the foot of the stage by the commander of the 82nd Airborne Division, Major General Mark Meany, who enthusiastically shook their hands.
‘’That was a truly great show, ladies. I can’t thank you enough for having come here to help entertain my troops and to support their morale.’
Meany then looked directly at Nancy, with his expression changing from enthusiastic to grateful.
‘’I must especially thank you for having healed my wounded soldiers in our infirmary this morning, Miss Dows. If anyone in the camp doubted that you were not an angel, you have now proven to be a true godsend and a most compassionate young woman.’
‘’It was the least I could do, General Meany. I don’t make a secret of who I am and to help suffering souls is part of my purpose in life. May I ask a favor from you in order to help further the morale of your troops?’
‘’Anything you ask, Miss Dows.’
‘’I would like your permission and support for me and my band to travel to your outpost in Spin Boldak tomorrow morning, so that we could go entertain your sub-unit holding that border post.’
That request made Meany’s smile fade, to be replaced by a concerned look.
‘’Uh, you should know that our Spin Boldak outpost is situated in a Taliban high-activity area and is next to the Pakistani border, where more Taliban fighters are hiding.
Also, the road between here and Spin Boldak is the scene of frequent ambushes and attacks against our resupply convoys. Such a trip would represent a big risk to your band. As well, as a group of female musicians performing in public, you represent evil personified for the Taliban and may be specifically targeted by them. I would strongly counsel you not to go there, for your own safety.’
Nancy’s answer to that was then made in a calm but firm tone.
‘’General, we came here to support your troops and are ready to run the same risks as them while in Afghanistan. If your truck drivers are ready to run risks to bring supplies to your troopers, then we are ready to run the same risks as them in order to go help the morale of your soldiers.’
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‘’But, you are not soldiers and you are not even armed, miss.’
‘’Wrong on both counts, General! We may not be soldiers in this lifetime but me and my band members all were soldiers and warriors at least once during previous incarnations of ours. As for weapons, we each brought a personal handgun for self-defense and the Space Corps, thanks to my mother’s influence, loaned us assault rifles for the duration of our tour in Afghanistan. As for if we are trained on those weapons, the answer is ‘yes’. My mother, retired General of the Army Ingrid Dows, has been training us in pistol and rifle shooting for the last four years, both at an indoor pistol range which is part of our Washington D.C. mansion and at a Virginia shooting club. We are at least as proficient with firearms as your logistician truck drivers are, General. And if these weapons are not enough to get us out of possible trouble, I still have this.’
Major General Meany, along with the members of his staff who were close by, instinctively took a step back while staring with disbelieving eyes at the crackling blue energy ball that had just appeared in Nancy’s raised right palm.
06:32 (Afghanistan Time)
Sunday, August 26, 2001 ‘C’
When the two pickup trucks carrying the band, Christiane Amanpour and her cameraman stopped at the tail end of the small convoy of military trucks due to transport supplies to the American outpost at the Spin Boldak border post, a sergeant first class from the 82nd Airborne Division came to speak with Lieutenant Kyle and Nancy.
‘’Good morning Lieutenant, ladies! I am Sergeant First Class John Pierce, in charge of the escort for this convoy. I just wanted to advise you to stay alert during this trip to Spin Boldak: a number of our resupply convoys were attacked during the last month by the Taliban and we lost a few trucks and people in the process. If we get fired at, we will then speed up and try to leave the ambush zone as quickly as possible. Keep a safe distance between vehicles but be ready to react quickly to anything. Lieutenant, the radio frequency for our convoy is 76.4 megahertz and my callsign is Zebra Two.
Your callsign is Zebra Two Five. Our Higher is Zebra Control. Any question, sir?’
‘’No, Sergeant!’
‘’Then we will leave now. I’ll see you again at our forward operating base in Spin Boldak, FOB BLACKHAWK.’
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Pierce then walked back to the head of the convoy and climbed aboard a four-wheeled armored troop carrier called a MAW-PV, for Medium Armored Wheeled Patrol Vehicle.
Once in, he made a sign with his right arm sticking out of his still opened door, then closed his door as his vehicle started rolling. The band’s two pickup trucks followed behind the four six-by-six five-ton trucks of the convoy, which were carrying various supplies, as they also started rolling. The small convoy first rolled through the vast tent camp of the division next to the airport terminal, then started driving down through Kandahar City, to eventually get on the main Kandahar – Spin Boldak road. As a main border crossing point with Pakistan, Spin Boldak had to be closely watched, in order to prevent the Taliban and Al-Qaeda elements from entering Afghanistan and also to stop any attempts at resupplying or reinforcing such elements still in Afghanistan. As the small convoy rolled through Kandahar, one Afghan ‘civilian’ discretely made a call from inside a small local shop.
‘’Hello, Ahmed? This is Abdul! A small American convoy just left the airport, heading towards Spin Boldak. One armored car is in the lead, followed by four loaded heavy trucks and two pickup trucks... No, the escort is apparently limited to the leading armored car. I saw civilian women in the two pickup trucks... very well: I will keep watch for any other possible escort elements. May Allah be with you and your men.’
Abdul then put down his telephone receiver, satisfied that this American convoy was going to get the kind of reception it deserved.
As the convoy started rolling on the main road to Spin Boldak and across mostly flat and arid terrain, Nancy and her band members, wearing the Marine Corps armored vests and helmets loaned to them before they had left the United States, along with a similarly clad Christiane Amanpour and her cameraman, who wore CNN black vests marked ‘PRESS’, started looking around their trucks, watching for possible trouble. The first sign that their trip was not exactly a safe one came up half a hour later, when the convoy passed by the twisted and blackened
remains of an American military vehicle lying on
one side of the road. Nancy and her band members looked at it with closed expressions but didn’t say a word then, while Paul Swenson
filmed the wreck for a few seconds before lowering his video camera. Another three miles away, they passed by the carcasses of three American trucks, making Sarah and
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Carmen exchange looks. The silence in their vehicle became nearly oppressive afterwards, with the female musicians instinctively tightening their grip on the barrels of their rifles, held at the vertical between their legs.
The small convoy was less than twenty kilometers from the Pakistani border when, to the shock of all, a powerful explosion sent the head vehicle of the convoy, the armored vehicle carrying Sergeant Pierce and his squad of soldiers, flying in the air and flip over before crashing back down on the right side of the road. Lieutenant Kyle paled on seeing the MAW-PV fly up in the air and crash down, to then burst in flames: nobody could possibly survive this.
‘’SHIT! OUR ESCORT IS GONE! WE ARE BEING AMBUSHED! STEP ON IT, CORPORAL!’
His driver did try to accelerate then, in order to flee the ambush zone, but dense automatic fire then started hitting the trucks of the convoy. The first of the four loaded five-ton trucks was quickly hit hard by machine gun fire and veered off the road before crashing into the roadside ditch and tipping on its right side. The other three heavy trucks had to zigzag to avoid it and continued at full speed while pursued by automatic fire. Nancy’s driver was about to also speed past the upset truck when Nancy shouted to him.
‘’STOP! STOP, CORPORAL! THE DRIVER OF THIS TRUCK IS STILL
MOVING. WE CAN’T LEAVE HIM IN THE HANDS OF THE TALIBAN. I SAID STOP!’
‘’DO IT, CORPORAL!’ ordered Kyle, obeying one of the key mottos of the Marine Corps: to leave no man behind. Despite wanting desperately to get out of here in a hurry, the driver obeyed and stepped on his brake pedal, making his pickup truck stop in a noise of screeching tires and also forcing the pickup truck carrying Erika, Sarah, Carmen and Lucy to also brake to avoid rear-ending it. Her truck was still not completely stopped when Nancy threw her door open and jumped out, her rifle in hand, and performed a roll as she hit the roadside ditch. As soon as she was back up, she sprinted towards the truck lying on its side while at the same time shouting to her band members.
‘’GET OUT AND GIVE ME COVERING FIRE WHILE I GET THAT DRIVER!’
To Lieutenant Kyle’s shock and that of Christiane Amanpour, the four other musician girls jumped out at once from their truck, their rifles at the ready, and ran into the ditch before throwing themselve on their bellies and starting to shoot in the direction from which the enemy fire came. Christiane Amanpour and Peter Swenson then jumped out
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as well, with the reporter pointing at the band members as she got out of the pickup truck.
‘’PAUL, LET’S GET INTO THIS DITCH, THEN START FILMING THE ACTION!’
Seeing that gave no option to Kyle but to also step out and do his part, joining the four young women in the ditch and also starting to fire his rifle. After a machine gun burst of fire forced him to temporarily lower his head, he looked towards the tipped over truck and saw that Nancy was already on top of the cab’s left side and opening the driver’s door.
‘’Gee! The courage of this girl is incredible.’
He then concentrated back his attention on his rifle firing. His firing and that of the four girls apparently was enough to make the enemy machine gun fire slacken noticeably, proving that their fire was at least partly effective. They were helped in this by the fact that the American assault rifles had more accuracy and range than the Kalashnikov rifles commonly used by the Taliban and Al-Qaeda. However, the situation worsened when a light whistle was heard by him, coming from above.
‘’INCOMING MORTAR FIRE!’
Less than a second after he shouted his warning, a mortar bomb of small caliber exploded some thirty meters from Kyle, in the dirt of the field boarding the road. A second mortar bomb then exploded, this time close enough to make dust and debris rain on the Americans. Christiane was thinking that this was definitely going to end badly when luck smiled to them. A pair of American attack helicopters on patrol near Spin Boldak saw the initial explosion which had destroyed Sergeant Pierce’s vehicle and had then changed heading at once while going to full power. Shortly after the explosion of the second mortar bomb, the distant low ridge from which the Taliban fire was coming from suddenly disappeared in a shower of explosions from salvoes of unguided rockets.
That rocket fire was then followed by gatling gun fire as the two attack helicopters overflew the Americans lying in the roadside ditch, making the latter scream with joy.
‘’YEAH! THE CAVALRY IS HERE, GIRLS!’ shouted Erika before looking around to see where Nancy was. She saw that Nancy was now down in the ditch and helping the truck driver whom she had rescued, who seemed seriously hurt, to get to their two pickup trucks. As for the surviving heavy trucks of the convoy, they were already far in the distance, speeding towards Spin Boldak. In that, Erika could understand their drivers: those trucks were little more than big targets in such an ambush situation.
Getting up and running towards Nancy, Erika then helped her support and carry the
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wounded truck driver, a young woman who was bleeding from her forehead. Together, then soon got the unfortunate woman inside the second pickup truck just as Lieutenant Kyle shouted an order to everyone in their group.
‘’TIME TO GET BACK IN THE TRUCKS AND GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE
WHILE THOSE HELICOPTERS ARE KEEPING THOSE TALIBAN BUSY, GIRLS!’
‘’I won’t say no to that.’ quipped Sarah Weissman on hearing that. Soon, everybody was back in the two pickup trucks, which were now more cramped due to the additional presence of the wounded truck driver. The two marine drivers of their group lost no time in accelerating away from the ambush site, with Nancy looking sadly at the overturned and now burning wreck of Sergeant Pierce’s armored car as her pickup truck sped by it.
‘’Eight good men, dead in the middle of this shit hole and at the hands of a bunch of ignorant religious fanatics. We will remember them. Our country will remember them.’
The two pickup trucks ended up catching up with the three surviving supply trucks before arriving at the American fortified border post called FOB BLACKHAWK, where a concerned major was waiting for them. Nancy’s first move there was to hand over the wounded truck driver to two military medics who ran to their pickup trucks as soon as they entered the post’s perimeter. Once the poor woman was in good hands, Nancy exchange knowing looks with the members of her band.
‘’Well, that was one close call, girls. Thankfully, we are all in one piece, although others didn’t make it. I believe that we should go check our musical instruments in the back of our pickup trucks and trailers, to make sure that they didn’t get shot up.’
‘’Oooh, these Taliban assholes better not have shot holes through my drum kit.’
replied Erika before hurrying towards the trailer containing her battery. As Nancy was also going to their two pickup trucks, she saw that Lieutenant Kyle was now talking with the airborne major commanding the outpost: he was probably reporting to him what had happened to the convoy. Christiane Amanpour then came to her, a sober expression on her face.
‘’Nancy, what you and your girls did was incredibly brave, especially when considering that you were not trained soldiers.’
‘’But we ARE trained soldiers, Christiane. We just weren’t trained in this century.’
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Christiane could only roll her eyes at so much bad faith.
‘’Well, still, the video report of this incident that I’m going to send to CNN later today should be prime news back in the United States.’
‘’Do you really need to send your video of that ambush to CNN, Christiane? I would hate to see the spotlight being moved off our brave soldiers and onto my band.’
‘’Me, not sending out my video of this? Do you thing that I am crazy, Nancy?’
protested the veteran journalist.
19:00 (East Coast Time)
Monday, August 27, 2001 ‘C’
Evening news set, CNN studios, Atlanta
Georgia, U.S.A.
‘’Good evening, ladies and gentlemen! This is the evening news with your host, Aaron Brown, and my cohost tonight, Judy Woodruff. It has been another eventful day in Afghanistan, with both good news and sad news. We will start first with a Taliban attack against an American convoy yesterday morning at around seven, Afghanistan Time. A small resupply convoy formed of one armored car, four cargo trucks and two pickup trucks, which was driving down the road between Kandahar and the Pakistani border, was ambushed by Taliban fighters as the convoy was approaching the border.
The Taliban, using a roadside bomb, blew up the armored car escorting the trucks, then started firing on the trucks themselves. One of the trucks, hit hard, then veered off the road and tipped on its side, with its driver ending being wounded. Now, it happened that the pickup trucks which were part of the convoy were carrying our senior international correspondent, Christiane Amanpour, and her cameraman. Those pickup trucks were also carrying the female band ‘The D.C. Five’, which intended to give a concert for the benefit of the American Army unit posted at the border crossing point in Spin Boldak, which is indicated on the map now visible on your television screens. That wounded American Army truck driver would probably have died if not for the incredible courage demonstrated by those five female musicians. Christiane Amanpour and her cameraman were able to witness what happened then. Here is the video taken by our CNN cameraman after he jumped out of his pickup truck and followed Christiane Amanpour and the musician girls into the roadside ditch, in order to escape Taliban machine gun and rifle fire. Already, you can see by the numerous impacts of bullets in
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the dirt around them that the enemy fire was quite intense indeed. The lead singer of The D.C. Five, Nancy Dows, is seen here as she is running towards the tipped-over truck, with the obvious intent of trying to save its driver. You can also see to the right of the video image the two pickup trucks which had been carrying our correspondent and the musician girls backing up on the road, in order to find protection behind the mass of the wrecked truck and also to be nearer to Miss Dows as she climbed on the upset truck in the ditch. We can now see the four other members of the band and the public affairs Marine Corps officer escorting them firing their rifles at the Taliban in order to cover Miss Dows while she is attempting to rescue the wounded driver. Miss Dows is now seen atop the side of the truck, with bullets stricking the truck, and is attempting to open the driver’s door, which seems to be stuck, probably from the impact when it fell into the ditch. She...’
Aaron Brown, who had not previewed the video because of its late arrival at the CNN
studios, then paused, stunned by what he saw next. As for his cohost, Judy Woodruff, she nearly exclaimed herself in shock.
‘’Did she just rip that truck door clean off?’
‘’She certainly did, Judy. Miss Dows is now pulling out of the cab the truck driver, who seems either semi-conscious or dazzed. Another member of the band, Miss Erika Lang, is now sprinting towards the truck in order to help Miss Dows rescue the driver.
The other three members of the band are continuing in the meantime to fire at the Taliban in order to suppress their fire. Miss Dows is now on the ground with the wounded truck driver, a young female soldier, and is joined there by Miss Lang. Both of them then carry the truck driver to the nearest pickup truck. Thankfully for them, a pair of American attack helicopters had seen from a distance the fireball from the destruction of the armored car and arrived in time to chase away the Taliban fighters with rockets and machine gun fire, killing many of them in the process. The band members and our CNN team then used that providential help to get back in their pickup trucks and speed away, continuing to Spin Boldak, where they arrived safely at the American Army outpost.’
Judy Woodruff blew air out in relief as the video, now filmed from the inside of a vehicle, showed the two pickup trucks speeding away from the ambush site.
‘’Talk about a dramatic event, Aaron. The courage shown by those five young musicians was incredible.’
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‘’Indeed, Judy! Just by volunteering to go to Afghanistan in order to help the morale of our troops by playing concerts for them, and this for nearly two weeks already, those ladies have already amply proved both their courage and their sense of patriotism.
Let us show on your screen photos of those five young women: Nancy Dows; Erika Lang; Carmen Estrada; Lucy Dows, who by the way is the sister by adoption of Nancy Dows; and Sarah Weissman. Of special note, I wish to remind our viewers that Miss Nancy Dows, the band leader, is also known as the ‘White Angel’ around New York, where she performed repeated miracles of mass healings there while studying music in Manhattan. Miss Nancy Dows is indeed a very special person: she was born in deep Space, halfway between Jupiter and Saturn, on the United States Space Corps spaceship PROMETHEUS, which was commanded by her famous mother, General Ingrid Dows. Nancy Dows also happens to be what she calls herself a ‘half Celestial’, half Human and half Angel. Her father is said to be no other than Archangel Michael in person. Many still do not believe that and pretend instead that she is in reality a sort of witch, or an envoy of the Devil. However, what we just saw on video was in my opinion an act of pure care and compassion. The D.C. Five are now continuing their tour around our units fighting in Afghanistan but, in order not to attract attacks against the band, its present location and movements will be kept confidential.’
In the lounge of her house in Port Angeles, where she had just returned to after completing her air cargo ferrying contract with the Pentagon, Ingrid had nearly jumped out of her sofa on seeing that Nancy’s band had been stuck in an ambush by the Taliban. Her dread however quickly changed to relief, then jubilation and pride, as she listened to the CNN news on her television set.
‘’Nancy, you would make any mother proud. You also did good, Lucy, along with your three friends.’
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CHAPTER 18 – THE WAR IS WIDENING
Pakistani Army convoy on the move.
13:58 (Washington Time)
Tuesday, August 28, 2001 ‘C’
The Oval Office, The White House
Washington, D.C., U.S.A.
Clearly angered by what he had just read, President George W. Bush threw down on his presidential desk the highly classified intelligence report that was the cause of his ire, then looked up at his CIA director, George Tenet, who was standing in front of his desk.
‘’How certain are we about this, George?’
‘’Quite certain, Mister President. We intercepted multiple cell phone conversations from inside Pakistan and also intercepted and decoded a number of encrypted Pakistani military messages, many of them sent by their military intelligence agency, the ISI. There is no doubt in my mind that the Pakistani, on top of secretly providing weapons and ammunition to the Taliban and Al-Qaeda, are also sheltering and hiding Al-Qaeda surviving leaders from us. The ISI in particular has a heavy hand in this.’
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‘’And why would the Pakistanis play such a game?’
‘’Basically, to ensure that Pakistan’s influence prevails in Afghanistan and also to shut India out of that country. There is also the fact that a large part of the Pakistani border with Afghanistan is inhabited by Pashto tribes sympathetic to the Taliban.’
‘’The double-faced bastards!’ raged Bush, who took some time to calm down before looking back at Tenet.
‘’Assemble a dossier able to convince my cabinet and, eventually, Congress, that the Pakistanis are betraying our trust about this. I will present your dossier first at a meeting of the NSC, where I will decide what to do about this.’
‘’Understoon, Mister President. I will get my analysts on this right away.’
Bush sat back in his chair, his mind in turmoil, as Tenet walked out of the Oval Office.
He just could not let this treachery from the Pakistanis fly. On the other hand, Pakistan owned a nuclear arsenal estimated to number at the least fifty warheads, delivered by both aircraft bombs and ballistic missiles. The potential here for a disastrous geopolitical and military crisis was very real. However, he would be damned if that would prevent him from punishing the terrorists who had murdered over 3,500 American citizens. If the Pakistanis chose to be against the United States in this, then they were going to quickly regret it.
11:06 (Afghanistan Time)
Monday, September 03, 2001 ‘C’
Afghan-side border point at the western entrance of the Khyber Pass Nangarhar Province, Afghanistan
‘’LIEUTENANT, WE HAVE A LARGE PAKISTANI ARMY COLUMN
APPROACHING THE PAKISTANI BORDER POST.’
Greta, who was about to heat up a field ration for her lunch in the tent used by her platoon as a field kitchen, put back down her ration and, grabbing her rifle, ran out of the tent and towards the border chicane, some sixty meters away. Looking towards the Pakistani border post, she saw a convoy of at least twelve vehicles, a mix of armed pickup trucks and of heavier trucks, all carrying Pakistani Army soldiers. A Pakistani flag flying from one of the leading trucks confirmed to her the identity of those soldiers approaching: the Taliban always used their own flags covered with Islamic writings,
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never the Pakistani flag. She estimated that this Pakistani column carried at least 180
soldiers.
‘’STAND TO, MARINES! TAKE YOUR DEFENSIVE POSITIONS AND BE
READY FOR COMBAT BUT DON’T FIRE UNLESS I SAY SO! ALL CIVILIAN TRAFFIC
THROUGH OUR CHECKPOINT IS TO STOP AT ONCE!’
Next, while still running, she activated the microphone of her small radio tuned to her company’s frequency and spoke in an urgent tone.
‘’Bravo Six, this is Blue Bravo Six: urgent message, over!’
She was crouching down at her prepared defensive position, made of sandbags piled against one extremity of the chicane of steel drums full of dirt and stones, when she got a reply from her company commander, Captain Kenneth Gomer.
‘’This is Bravo Six: send, over!’
‘’Bravo Six, a Pakistani convoy is arriving at the Pakistani border post facing my position. I count a mix of twelve, no, thirteen trucks and pickup trucks, some armed with machine guns, carrying at least 180 soldiers in that column. That convoy is now decelerating and seems intent to drop off its troops at the Pakistani border post, over.’
‘’Blue Bravo Six, are there any armored vehicles in that convoy, over?’
‘’Negative, Bravo Six! However, a number of pickup trucks are mounting heavy machine guns and...wait! I see more vehicles turning the bend of the road, coming from the Khyber Pass. I’m going to look at them now, over.’
Using the 4X scope mounted on her rifle, Greta looked at the new vehicles approaching from the pass. It took her only a few seconds to identify the four large dark masses, prompting her to speak again on her radio.
‘’Bravo Six, from Blue Bravo Six: I have four medium tanks approaching the border. I identify the tank type as either Soviet-made T-54 or Chinese-produced Type 59, over.’
At the other end of the radio transmission, Captain Kenneth Gomer paused on receiving that information. While the T-54 tank and its Type-59 derivative were old and dated, they still mounted a 100mm main gun, plus two to three machine guns, depending on the variant. Also, sending main battle tanks to a border post was definitely not a common practice and could only demonstrate a hostile intent on the part of the Pakistanis.
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‘’Blue Bravo Six, observe that Pakistani force and report any significant activity on its part. I am going to advise higher of this and request both air and artillery support for your position, over.’
‘’Acknowledged, Bravo Six. The Pakistani infantry is now getting out of their trucks and taking positions along their own chicane and border line. The pickups mounting machine guns are presently forming an extended, dispersed line behind the Pakistani chicane and have their weapons pointed at me. The four tanks are still some 300 meters behind the Pakistani border post and approaching, over.’
‘’Blue Bravo Six, hold your ground! If the Pakistani fire on you or cross the border and rush towards your position, then you are free to engage them at will. Over and out to you!’
Gomer silently swore to himself as he reached for his battalion net radio set: it looked like what was up to now a war against a guerrila force may well turn into a clash with a mechanized army and against an opponent possessing nuclear weapons.
After talking with Captain Gomer on the radio, Greta quickly walked down at a crouch along the road chicane and the line of foxholes occupied by her marines, passing to her men the directives from Gomer. She also sent her two anti-tank launchers, which she had been keeping in reserve up to now, take protected positions behind separate large rocks, from where they had a direct view of the road and of the Pakistani border post. Last of all, she went to speak to the corporal leading her 60mm light mortar team, who were now preparing a number of mortar bombs for firing.
‘’Corporal Mattingly, I will want your mortar to target in priority those light trucks mounting machine guns and lined behind the Pakistani chicane. However, don’t fire until I give you the order to do so. This could easily enough turn into an accidental shit pit.’
‘’Understood, Lieutenant! We will set our HE-FRAG bombs on superquick fuze settings, so that we get the maximum spread of shrapnell on impact.’
‘’Excellent! With luck, we will not have to fire on those Pakistanis today...or ever.’
‘’You really believe that they won’t attack us, Lieutenant? Bringing tanks up to the border sounds pretty aggressive to me.’
‘’And you are right about that, Mattingly. However, we still have the right to dream.’
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On that sarcastic remark, Greta then walked back, still at a crouch, to her personal position at the chicane, and used her binoculars to observe what the Pakistanis were doing now. She saw the original Pakistani Border Corps guards assemble their kits and leave aboard their lone truck, something that alarmed Greta: the Pakistani border post could not be considered as such anymore but was now to be considered a Pakistani battle position. She reported that by radio to Captain Gomer, who replied with a piece of news that pleased her.
‘’Blue Bravo Six, from Bravo Six: know that you now have a howitzer battery ready to support you. Our gunners have the exact locations of both your border post and of the Pakistani border post. That battery’s callsign is Red Archer and it will monitor my present frequency. If the Pakistani attack, then you are authorized to contact Red Archer directly to ask for fire support, over.’
‘’That’s great news, Bravo Six. Be advise that I am going to cross to the Pakistani border post in order to ask for their intention. I will then inform you about their response, over.’
‘’Uh, understood, Blue Bravo Six, but please be careful, over.’
‘’I will be, Bravo Six, out!’
Straightening up, Greta then spoke to Sergeant Joshua Stern, who was in charge of the squad directly defending the chicane.
‘’Josh, I’m going forward to the Pakistani border post in order to see what are the intentions of these assholes. If I get shot or taken prisoner, then assume command of the platoon and defend our position.’
Joshua, who had more than a passing crush on Greta, eyed her with clear misgivings.
‘’Are you sure that you really want to do that, Greta?’
‘’Hey, those guys are supposed to be disciplined soldiers and not terrorist thugs.
I should be okay.’
On those words, Greta slung her rifle across her chest and walked around the chicane and towards the Pakistani border post. She kept her pace at a medium speed while looking as calm and confident as possible. Nearly all the Pakistani rifles and machine guns instantly pointed at her, causing her heart to jump for a second in her chest, but she kept a straight face and a steady pace. Thankfully, nobody fired at her...yet.’
Covering the 300 meters between the two border posts took her a couple of minutes, at the end of which she stopped on the road once she arrived at a distance of ten meters
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from the Pakistani chicane. There, she spoke up in English while looking directly at the nearest Pakistani soldiers facing her.
‘’I NEED TO SPEAK TO YOUR OFFICER!’
A man in Pakistani Army combat uniform responded to her by walking out of the border hut, where he had been standing in its opened door frame. As he walked towards her, Greta could see that the man wore the rank insignias of a major. She thus came to attention and saluted the Pakistani when the latter stopped three paces from her. That seemingly pleased the Pakistani, who then saluted her back. Greta then spoke to the man.
‘’I am Lieutenant Greta Visby, commanding the unit holding the Afghan border post. I came to inquire about your intentions, Major.’
The Pakistani, clearly surprised and taken somewhat aback by the fact that a woman commanded the Afghan border post, took a moment before replying to her.
‘’I am Major Ismail Khorkan, of the Pakistani Army. My unit was sent here with a simple goal: to force you away from this border crossing. The Taliban were the legitimate government of Afghanistan and is still considered as such by my government, while the United States has invaded Afghanistan, a state of affair that Pakistan cannot tolerate for much longer. You can either withdraw peacefully from this border or I will have to chase you away, Lieutenant. The choice is yours.’
Greta gave him an unimpressed look while shaking her head twice.
‘’I have no intentions to withdraw my unit from the Afghan-side border point, Major. My orders are to filter those passing the border and to stop or apprehend any Taliban fighter or Al-Qaeda terrorist we will encounter, on top of preventing the entry of arms and ammunition into Afghanistan. Our intervention was made following a horrific terrorist attack by Al-Qaeda which cost the lives of over 3,500 innocent American civilians. The Taliban refused to hand over to us the Al-Qaeda members operating in Afghanistan and even pledged to support and defend those terrorists, thus giving my country no choice but to come here and chase after those Al-Qaeda members. By siding with the Taliban, Pakistan is committing what the United States considers as a hostile move. If you attack my unit, then this will be considered by the United States as an act of war and will attract an appropriate and forceful response on our part. Think well before you decide to attack us, Major.’
Her reply clearly didn’t please the Pakistani, who then hardened his tone of voice.
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‘’I don’t need to think about that, Lieutenant: I have my orders from Islamabad and I will execute them to the letter. I give you one hour to withdraw from this border and leave. After that, I will force you out.’
Seeing that this was going nowhere, Greta stared hard at Khorkan.
‘’I am sorry to hear that, Major. If that is really your choice, then men will die today, including many of your own men.’
Greta then saluted Khorkan again and pivoted on her heels to return to her own border post. While walking, she activated her company-level radio and informed Captain Gomer about the demands from the Pakistanis. Gomer’s answer was a calm but emphatic one.
‘’I will pass this info to Higher, Blue Bravo Six. Keep controlling your present position and resist any attempt by the Pakistanis to force you to withdraw, over.’
‘’Understood, Bravo Six. Blue Bravo Six out!’
Greta felt a bit bad as she returned to her border post, not because she didn’t want to defend the post against the Pakistani but because this could turn into a completely avoidable war, all thanks to the Pakistani intransigence and double dealings.
When the timing of his ultimatum was over, with still no signs of the Americans withdrawing, Major Khorkan repressed the anger building up in him and decided to give those invaders a last chance to leave peacefully. He thus took one soldier with him and walked towards the American positions. To his utter shock and ire, he found the American marines manning the chicane in a variety of relaxed poses, looking unconcerned. As for Greta Visby, she met him at the chicane while holding a warm ration pack in one hand and eating from it.
‘’Good afternoon, Major! Are you hungry? We have some really nice sweet and sour pork field rations available.’
Khorkan stiffened and reddened with rage at her offer: he was certain that she knew that pork was a strictly forbidden food staple for Muslims like him. Her offer was thus a clear and direct insult to him.
‘’You really want to die today, you and your men, Lieutenant?’
‘’No, but I will if need be, and this while killing as many of your men as I can, Major, including you. Think well before triggering a war between your country and mine: yours will not win it, I assure you.’
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Thoroughly angered by her reply, Khorkan then turned back and walked back with his soldier to the Pakistani border post, where he used a tactical radio to call the commander of the tank platoon supporting his rifle company.
‘’Lieutenant Harraf, start up your tanks and start advancing towards the American positions. Maybe that will convince them that we are serious about this.’
‘’Moving out now, Major!’
The engines of the four Type 59 medium tanks soon coughed up to life, throwing up at the same time four plumes of thick smoke from their exhausts. Those plumes were more than enough to tell Greta what was about to happen. She thus gave urgent orders to her marines while crouching behind the chicane.
‘’GET READY, MARINES! THIS IS IT! KEEP YOUR GRENADE LAUNCHERS
FOR ANY PAKISTANI TRUCKS WHICH WILL CROSS THE BORDER AND LEAVE
OUR HGL-105 TO DEAL WITH THOSE TANKS.’
Next, she advised Captain Gomer that the Pakistani tanks were now moving and about to go through their line of the border and requested the howitzer battery supporting her platoon to be ready to fire, giving as target point the border zone just forward of the Pakistani border post’s chicane. Still hoping for good sense to prevail, Greta watched as the four Type 59 tanks rumbled forward and started going around the double line of dirt-filled barrels of the Pakistani chicane. The moment the first tank had passed the chicane and was rolling on the road towards her own positions, she spoke up in her platoon-level radio.
‘’Anti-tank team: start engaging incoming tanks!’
Switching radios quickly, she then talked to the howitzer battery.
‘’Red Archer, this is Blue Bravo Six. We have enemy tanks on the move and coming towards my positions. Fire for effect in the zone immediately west of the Pakistani border post, over.’
‘’Copy that, Blue Bravo Six. First rounds on the way in five seconds.’
Greta, fully ready for combat, then grabbed her rifle and started scanning with its scope the line of positions at the Pakistani border, searching for Major Khorkan. She quickly located him, crouched behind one barrel of his chicane and observing with his binoculars. When two of the Pakistani tanks started rolling past the chicane and towards her platoon positions, Greta calmly aimed her rifle and fired one shot, just before two detonations announced the firing of projectiles by her two HGL-105 gunners. She then
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had the satisfaction of seeing Major Khorkan tumble backward and disappear behind his protective barrel.
‘’Promise made, promise kept! Adios, Major Khorkan!’
Only two seconds after pronouncing those words, the lead Pakistani tank suddenly shuddered and stopped under the impact of a powerful explosion directly against the front of its turrret. That turret then flew high up in the air as the whole tank erupted into a huge ball of fire, and this only a second before the second tank also blew up. The stunned Pakistani soldiers manning the chicane took a couple of seconds to react, then started firing at Greta’s positions. However, they were able to fire only for a few seconds before the scream of incoming artillery shells made them duck down behind their steel barrels and sandbags. Six 105mm shells then impacted in quick succession just in front of their chicane, bracketing the two surviving Pakistani tanks, which were now rushing out past the chicane. One of the shells found its target, impacting the top of the engine compartment of one of the two remaining Type 59 medium tanks. Its kinetic energy was sufficient to penetrate inside the engine compartment before the shell exploded. That tank was engulfed at once in a big fireball, which was quickly followed by secondary explosions as the 100mm shells stored inside the tank also exploded. The last remaining tank, having only a rather primitive fire control system for its main gun, then made the mistake of stopping on the road in order to aim and fire its gun. That gun had time to erupt once before a HGL-105 missile hit the tank, making its internal ammunition explode and sending its turret high in the air. Unfortunately, that lone 100mm tank gun shell directly hit part of the American-held chicane, throwing around four of the steel barrels full of dirt and killing or wounding a number of marines from Sergeant’s Stern squad. Before a second salvo of six 105mm howitzer shells could hit the ground, Greta’s mortar team sent its first 60mm mortar bombs towards the Pakistani chicane itself and the soldiers and vehicles lined behind it.
‘’RED ARCHER, THIS IS BLUE BRAVO SIX! ALL FOUR ENEMY TANKS NOW
DESTROYED. ADD FIFTY AND SWITCH YOUR FIRE TO THE BORDER POST
PROPER, OVER.’
‘’Acknowledged, Blue Bravo Six! Switching targets now.’
Looking around her, Greta felt a pang of her heart on seeing a number of her marines down on the ground, some of them moving and screaming in pain and others unmoving.
‘’BIG MAMA, I NEED YOU AT THE CHICANE!’
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‘’ON MY WAY, LIEUTENANT!’ replied the big Navy corpsman, who then jumped onto her ATV with Corporal Kim Lee and a folded stretcher before speeding towards the chicane, ignoring the Pakistani bullets still flying around with the message ‘to whom it may concern’. However, that rain of bullets abruptly stopped when six 105mm shells landed just behind the Pakistani chicane, butchering the Pakistani infantrymen lining it, destroying outright three of the armed pickup truck and peppering with shrapnels four more vehicles and their occupants. To that was now added the fire from Greta’s light mortar, firing one round every three seconds. Greta then decided to add to that volume of fire.
‘’MARINES, AT THE PAKISTANI TRUCKS PARKED BEHIND THE ENEMY
BORDER POST, FIRE ONE 60MM GRENADE EACH WHEN READY.’
Being immobile and also conspicuous by their size, the row of parked Pakistani Army trucks soon saw a rain of 28 60mm High-Explosive - Fragmentation grenades dive down on them. While only a few grenades managed direct hits against the trucks, many other exploded near them, puncturing tyres and chassis and damaging their engines. Some of the trucks also burst out in flames, their fuel tanks hit by hot pieces of shrapnel. The surviving Pakistani infantrymen, seeing their trucks go up in flames and smoke and with their commanding officer killed right at the start of the battle, panicked and started running towards their rear. That was a very bad decision on their part, as the next salvo of 105mm shells struck while they were running in the open, with nothing to shield or protect them from the blasts and shrapnel. Greta was soon able to see that no more than three Pakistani soldiers were still up and running after that salvo, so she called up again the artillery battery.
‘’Red Archer, from Blue Bravo Six: cease fire, cease fire! The enemy is now withdrawing.’
‘’We acknowledge cease fire request, Blue Bravo Six. Glad to have been of help.’
‘’I will owe you guys a beer, Red Archer. Blue Bravo Six, out!’
With her enemy defeated, Greta then turned to checking on her men and went to PO2
Reno and Corporal Kim Lee, who were frantically giving first aid to a badly wounded marine. Greta’s heart sank when she saw that the wounded marine was Joshua Stern.
She tried her best not to show favoritism towards him but still had tears flow to her eyes.
‘’Joshua, not you, please!’
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However, Janet Reno had to give up after a few more seconds, when Joshua breathed one last time and fell still. The female Navy corpsman looked up at Greta, sadness in her eyes.
‘’I’m sorry, Lieutenant: he had massive wounds to his belly and groin areas and ran out of blood.’
Overwhelmed by grief, Greta knelt near the head of her dead squad leader, then bent down and kissed his forehead before straightening up and looking at Janet Reno.
‘’How many casualties did we suffer, P.O.?’
‘’With Sergeant Stern, we suffered a total of five dead, plus three more men wounded. I will need urgent air medevac for those three men if we want to save them.’
‘’I will call for medevac right away.’ said Greta, her voice nearly choking, before getting back up and using her radio to call Captain Gomer and request that an helicopter come to pick up her wounded. Next, she went to see in succession those three wounded marines, both to make sure that they were taken care of and also to reassure and comfort them. With that done, she threw a dark look towards the Pakistani border post, where dead and wounded Pakistani soldiers lay around their destroyed vehicles.
That battle could have been avoided if the Pakistanis had not decided to throw their lot with those Taliban and Al-Qaeda bastards. Unfortunately, more Pakistani troops could show up later, or the Taliban could try their luck at this, in which case she was going to be most happy to send them to Hell.
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CHAPTER 19 – THE CRAZIES ARE IN CHARGE
14:50 (Afghanistan Time)
Wednesday, September 5, 2001 ‘C’
Command conference room, Platform Deck
Battlecarrier U.S.S. NEPTUNE, on station in the Sea of Oman The senior officers sitting around the conference table noticed at once the frustration showing on Vice Admiral Benson’s face when he entered the room, closely followed by a junior officer carrying a pile of classified file folders. As Benson took his seat, the junior officer started distributing the file folders, putting one down in front of each participant to the meeting. Benson waited until all had a file folder before starting to speak.
‘’Ladies and gentlemen, the situation in and around Afghanistan, from being difficult, has now become outright chaotic. For those ship commanders whose role was simply logistical support for our expedition and who had no direct link with our ground forces in Afghanistan, I will resume quickly what has happened in the last two days.
Two days ago, the Pakistani Army tried to forcibly push our soldiers who were holding the two main border crossing points between Afghanistan and Pakistan, namely at the Khyber Pass and at Spin Boldak. It did not hesitate to use tanks to attack our troops
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holding those border posts and, in the case of Spin Boldak, artillery. Thankfully, our troops were able to resist and keep control of those border points while inflicting heavy casualties on the Pakistani units who had attacked them. Following those unprovoked attacks on the part of Pakistan, we reinforced our presence at those border points, while the White House officially protested to the Pakistani government about these acts of aggression. Unfortunately, that was when the Pakistani Army effected a coup and deposed Pakistani Prime Minister Sharif and his whole cabinet, taking effective control of the whole country. It appears now that Prime Minister Sharif had not ordered the strikes against our troops at the border and that the Pakistani Army, nudged on by its intelligence service, the ISI, had acted without authorization from the central government. When Sharif tried to straighten things up, that was when the army did its coup and took power. As of the latest news, the new de facto leader of Pakistan is Lieutenant General Zarqat, who was previously the head of the ISI. This is bad news for us, as Zarqat was the main architect of Pakistan’s support for the Taliban and was also the man who has been stirring shit in Afghanistan for the last few years. He is known to be a strong supporter of Taliban rule in Afghanistan, while his ISI has been providing material and financial support to both Al-Qaeda and the Taliban. The ISI has also given refuge to the Al-Qaeda leaders who survived our initial strikes in Afghanistan. When President Bush called Zarqat yesterday to enjoin him to stop supporting the Taliban and Al-Qaeda, his response was to declare war on the United States. Since then, our surveillance satellites and our electronic intercepts network have detected the start of massive Pakistani troop movements within Pakistan, all involving the shifting of Pakistani mechanized units westward, towards the Afghanistan border. Also yesterday, our fighter patrols on station over Afghanistan had to react and intercept two separate groups of Pakistani fighter-bombers who were apparently intent on striking our units at the Khyber Pass and at Spin Boldak. Thankfully, our fighter aircraft were able to repulse those air attacks, shooting down six Pakistani aircraft in the process. One Pakistani aircraft did release bombs towards our unit holding the Khyber Pass but, being chased at the time by one of our fighters, its aim was poor and its bombs missed our troops, exploding on empty ground. After this, we doubled the number of our fighter aircraft rotating onstation over Afghanistan, in order to be able to respond adequately to further Pakistani air attacks. That however means a heavy workload for our embarked squadrons and also much increased consumption of jet fuel for our carriers. Finally, Pakistan’s military coup and declaration of war against the United States seem to have fired up the worst
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elements around the Middle East, with Saudi Arabia and Qatar in particular declaring their political support for the new Pakistani regime. The latest intelligence reports allude to the possibility that Saudi Arabia could soon declare an oil embargo against the United States, to force us to leave Afghanistan. As you can imagine, that last point did not go down well in Washington.’
‘’So, what is Washington planning to do in response to all that, Admiral?’ asked Captain Joshua Moore, the commander of the carrier U.S.S. WILLIAM F. HALSEY.
‘’What are we expected to do now?’
Benson’s expression hardened at that question as he thought back at his latest exchange with the Pentagon.
‘’I don’t know yet, Captain Moore. When I sent three hours ago a request for updated operational orders concerning our mission, the answer I got half a hour ago was that this was being discussed at the Pentagon.’
‘’Discussed at the Pentagon?’ exclaimed in an indignant tone Captain Sylvia Robertson, the commander of the amphibious landing ship U.S.S. GUADALCANAL.
‘’Wasn’t the rank of General of the Army and the post of Commander of U.S. Combined Forces established in 1993 exactly to avoid these kind of long discussions and delays in command reaction at the Pentagon? What is General Sherman doing? What are his intentions concerning this theatre of operations?’
‘’I don’t know, Captain Robertson, and I suspect that he himself doesn’t know yet what to do. My feeling is that the Pentagon is probably waiting for President Bush to give it new marching orders before starting new operational planning.’
‘’The plan we are presently following, Operation AFGHAN EXORCISM, wasn’t that written by our previous combined arms commander, General Dows?’’
‘’It was indeed! Unfortunately, it seems that General Sherman is no General Dows.’
‘’And how is Lieutenant General Brubaker, our ground force commander in Afghanistan, reacting to all this, Admiral?’ asked Rear Admiral Stuart Reynolds, the skipper of the U.S.S. NEPTUNE. ‘’Has he sent us additional requests for support, or requests for us to hit new targets with our surface-to-surface missiles or with our planes?’
‘’No! The only thing he has done up to now was to reinforce our units at the Pakistani border.’
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What Benson thought but didn’t say was that Lieutenant General Brubaker was proving to be as much of a dud as General Sherman. In fact, Brubaker was known to be a close friend of Sherman and many suspected that he had gotten his Afghanistan command thanks to that friendship, rather than because of any particular strategic or operational competence on his part. This reminded Benson of a similar case of bad choice of operational commander which happened in World War 2, when General George Marshall, the then powerful chief of staff of the U.S. Army, had supported the career of Major General Lloyd Fredendall and had designated him in 1942 as commander of the American component of the Allied force which had landed in North Africa for OPERATION TORCH. Fredendall had then proven to be a complete incompetent, on top of showing cowardice. Fredendall had finally been relieved of command after the disastrous Battle of Kasserine Pass and had then been replaced by Major General Patton. The least he could say about General Brubaker was that he was no Patton, the same as Sherman was no Ingrid Dows.
15:15 (Washington Time) / 24:45 (Afghanistan Time) The D.C. Five’s mansion, Woodland Drive Northwest Washington, D.C., U.S.A.
‘’Thanks for the lift from Andrews Air Force Base, guys!’
All five young women waved goodbye as the Air Force minivan and cargo van drove off the driveway of their mansion after dropping them and helping them to carry their musical instruments and baggages inside. The two young Air Force privates blew kisses back at them, still jubilant about the way the five girls had ‘thanked’ them inside the mansion by going topless and letting them kiss and fondle their breasts. Once the two vans were out of sight, Nancy led her band members back inside their house and went to the main lounge, where they sat down with relief on two sofas.
‘’Hell, that was a lot of time zones we just flew through.’ Said Carmen Estrada.
‘’From Afghanistan to Germany, then to Washington, all on a standard military transport.
So, now that we are home, what now?’
‘’I’m going to call my parents to tell them that we are safely back in Washington.’
replied Sarah Weissman before going for the telephone set in the lounge. The four other girls decided at once to follow her example and went to their respective bedrooms, where they had their own private telephone lines. On top of calling Ingrid and talking
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with her for a good fifteen minutes, Nancy also called her band’s musical agent, to let him know that they were again available for shows and recordings in the United States.
With that done, Nancy went back down to the lounge and switched on the wide flat screen television set and tuning it to the CNN channel, wanting to see what the latest news on Afghanistan were like. What she saw was far from pleasing her.
‘’Those damn Pakistani hyppocrites! I hope that they will get their just rewards for this soon.’
21:44 (West Coast Time)
1402 South McDonald Street, Port Angeles
