Part 2. Be advised...Frozen Chosin...I repeat Frozen Chosin...

Note:  This is Part 2 of my little military fiction.  It's not everyone's cup of tea so if it's not just move on.  If it is then hang tight.  Mattis is getting angry and you won't like Chaos 6 when he's angry!

Charlie Company can't make the pain stop...

Johansen reached his personal shatter-point moment.  He could have made the call to "cut and run" but that wasn't part of Marine Corps character.  It wasn't part of the hallmark of being a Marine.

But then again neither was leaving a Company Landing Team dangling on the wrong end of a short branch over 1000 miles away while his support was off playing reindeer games either.

For better or worse he made the call.

He would save what's left of his command...his troops...his brothers.  Damn the second guessers that would inevitably show up to pick apart the engagement.  Fuck his FitRep.  Fuck his chance of promotion. 

He just wanted to see another sunrise.

It was past time to go.  He yelled out to 1stSgt Cooper to gather their Marines.  They were going to make a hasty withdrawal.  There was a small hill feature about 2km to the south.  They'd either grab what UTVs that were still functional and get outta dodge or they'd do it the old fashioned way and beat feet.

Either way they had to move.  The barrage was slowing.  The Chinese gun bunnies were getting into the rhythm of things.  Thankfully this commander was arrogant.  He wanted to bloody the US Marines without having to take any punches in return.  That might give them the window to get out and hopefully for help to arrive.

99th Tactical Recon Wing...with an orbit above Charlie Company...

Oh my fucking God!  Williams couldn't believe what he was seeing.  From his view screen he could see approx 40 Chinese 8x8s.  20 APC models, 10 Mobile Gun Systems along with 10 artillery pieces halted about 10 miles from Charlie Company.  They were in what he knew to be a standard Chinese defense pattern and he could see their artillery raining down death and destruction on the Marines.

From Primma Donna's to brothers needing help in the time it takes a Predator UAV to fly to Ethiopia and this became a mission of urgency.

This shit goes live from this second on.  There will be no "Custer's last stand" on his watch.  He reached for the phone.  Time to bring the Wing Commander and the Action Officer at the Pentagon online now.  Minutes counted a formality was something he couldn't afford.

Time to get those F-15E's spun up.

They had work to do.

Colonel McNeil aboard the USS Wasp still off the coast of Somalia...

Fuck Fuck Fuck!  Those bastards made a run at his boys?  He could feel it in his bones.  McNeil cursed himself for not taking one of his MV-22s and making the trip to Djubiouti so that he could be at the center of this storm...that would be rectified as soon as 45 minutes from now though...he ordered every airplane with a USMC decal (US Navy too) back to the ship.  The ESG commander was already turning the fleet to make recovery of the aircraft quicker by sailing toward them.  The deck was fully manned and all defensive system spun up.  They'd be sailing close to Yemen and didn't need to take a hit from the Houthis while they had bigger fish to fry.

The feed was heartbreaking though.

The pink mist was flying.

Men were crying and he wanted to lead his boys out of that meatgrinder.

The biggest enemy wasn't the Chinese though.  The real enemy was time and distance.  If they could somehow get something there they could easily blunt this attack and even take major league scalps while doing so.

But unfortunately the point had been made.  The Chinese got an easy win because the military...worse, because the USMC believed the propaganda instead of sticking to warrior ways.  Well no more.  These motherfuckers would pay.  Before this day was done Chinese mothers would be wailing over the loss of their boys in God damn Africa.

The Pentagon...Chaos 6 is about to erupt.

Mattis back in the day when he wore a uniform went by the moniker, CHAOS 6.  It fit to a tee.  Many would say that he brought friction with him because of his demands for constant action, being constantly on the attack and never pausing to give the enemy or his troops time to recover.

That's the inside the Marine Corps views of those bold enough to state them...but only around trusted colleagues.

The public persona was that of a take charge leader.  Saint Mattis, patron saint of the Marine Corps...sort of a real life action star Chuck Norris type character is how many in the beltway saw him.

Today he would live up to that public image.

Hey Jim (Mattis and Dunford are of course on a first name basis) what the fuck happened in Africa.  We can all see the monitor and those damn Chinese are kicking the shit out of us.  Do we even have comms with our boys?

Mr Secretary (although on a first name basis, Dunford always showed respect due to the position that his old friend held), we ran into problems.  No we don't have comms the Chinese are jamming us...  CENTCOM bit off more than it could chew (again), the Company Landing Team concept leaves us vulnerable to shit like this and we got no indication that there was even a whiff of aggressiveness coming from our Chinese neighbors in Africa.

Is our base threatened?

Not that we can tell.  They've gone to full alert, the Chinese did the same in response to our actions. We have to consider the possibility that this is a rogue commander. 

Well how far away is the MEU?  About 1000 miles.  It'll take them 3 days of hard steaming to get there.  We can launch our helos but our attack birds are short legged, the F-35s can reach after topping off but fuel will be a concern if we load them up.  For the time being we're stuck depending on Air Force F-15E's to hit and hit hard...hopefully.

Can SOCOM move any forces?  They can but you know as well as I do that SOCOM is a call for fire outfit...big city SWAT in the desert.  This ain't a raid so they ain't gonna be much help.

What we need is armor.  Barring that then we need air cover till we can extract our boys.  The problem is even worse though.  He's taken at least 50% casualties to a small unit.  They're already combat ineffective and on the verge of being wiped out.

Any news coverage?  No.  The media runs with what we tell them.  They won't get a whiff until we start notifying next of kin.  The problem will be the Chinese.  If this is a rogue commander and they back his play because it looks successful then this could spiral.  I've already put in a flash message to PACCOM telling them to increase their status without LOOKING like they're incresing their alert status, but to your issue, the Chinese could tell the world about this before we do which would make this look even more like a stunning victory in the desert.

We just can't be sure whether this is sanctioned or not.  If its a diversion for a move against Taiwan, Korea or some other target we can't imagine.

Ok.  I've heard enough.  Has the Air Force launched yet?  If not then fire the Wing Commander and get me someone with balls.  Oh and tell the MEU CO that he's on a short leash.  He has full authority to protect his boys but that the 10,000 mile screwdriver is real.  We'll be watching and if he ain't aggressive enough, fast enough his ass is through in my Corps.  Meanwhile get the 173rd in Europe spun up.  The Army is bragging about their Airborne Tank?  It might be time to put it to the test.

This is a full fucking regional activation.  Every dick and ovary in Europe, the Middle East and Africa just got a new mission.  They're gonna help our boys in the fucking desert.  I will not have a defeat of this magnitude on my watch.

We either turn this shit around with a quickness or we all resign in failure.  Our nation deserves nothing less.  Now fucking execute Jim.  Make this shit happen.

23rd Tactical Fighter Wing Forward Deployed Djibouti...(Briefing Room)

Colonel Maxwell looked at his young killers and felt nothing but pride.  All the hard training and now they're were about to be put to the test.

Only thing left to do is to give the prep talk after the Wing Intel Officer gave them the down and dirty and then its mount their steeds and do God's work.

As he stood at the podium he paused.  Let the silence fill the room.  He wanted the tone perfect.  His intent clear.  Time to kick the tires and light his boys fires....

Listen up men.

You know the situation.  Once again, we have a group of Marines that have bitten off more than they can chew.  Of course we're not surprised.  Whether it's Marines, Paratroopers, Rangers, SEALs, Special Forces...whatever dumbass with a big knife and too much testosterone that thinks hitting the gym is a sign of real manhood gets into trouble its the USAF they call.  And of course the USAF calls the big dawgs of the pack, the F-15E drivers.

So once again we're gonna save some ground pounder lives, they'll write books and be lauded for their bravery under fire but we all know who the real heroes are.  It's the men and women that can strap on these birds and will fly thru hellfire to pull their bacon out of it.  The men and women that will do the hard thing over and over till the deed is done.  The men and women in this room.

Our job is simple.

We kill Chinese.  We turn the sand red with Chinese blood.  We hit their troops their equipment their weapons and we keep pounding them till they're micro fragmented.  We hit them so hard that their relatives back in China can feel the effects of our laser guided bombs impacting.  We hit them so hard that their mothers scream out in pain knowing that something terrible happened to their little boy.

We hit them so hard that they cry out for someone to make the big mean USAF stop.

And once they've reached that point we hit them again.

Do I make my self clear?

The entire room jumped to its feet and shouted YES SIR!

The F-15E squadron was primed and about to join the big show...

Open Comment Post. 16 June 2018

Be advised...Frozen Chosin...I repeat Frozen Chosin...

Company Landing Team Charlie...Western Desert Of Ethiopia on an Advise & Assist Mission.

It wasn't suppose to happen here and it wasn't suppose to happen now. 

How did the fucking Chinese move a reinforced motorized brigade from Djibouti to Northern Ethiopia without being seen?  How did intel miss this and why is this my fucking problem.

Capt Johansen could only wonder.  A bad day was about to get much much worse.

26th MEU hovering in the Gulf Of Eden on the Northern Tip Of Somalia.

Well ain't this perfect Colonel McNeil thought.  They decide to roll out this distributed MEU concept along with Company Landing Teams and now he has forces spread from here to yonder running all kinds of missions.

Charlie Company was in Ethiopia.  Alpha was running raids into Somalia to kill pirates ... how they flared up again was anyone's guess, and finally he had his aviation element flying support missions for the Saudis who for some unknown reason could put the Houthis down.

Now out of the blue he gets word that the Chinese are making a move against his boys in Ethiopia so he's got to somehow bring back people that are thousands of miles away from each other, reassemble the Expeditionary Strike Group and then hope ESG skipper can have his boys shovel coal fast enough so that they could stop bad shit from happening. 

Flank speed wouldn't be good enough.  Warp speed might be necessary if things get stupid.

Charlie Company catches a glimpse of the charging rhino...

Sgt Johnson called out...Hey skipper you might want to take a look see at this...these bastards are moving with speed and they're headed right for us.

Capt Johansen looked at the view screen provided by his UAV operator.  What he saw chilled him.  Chinese 8x8 were zooming across the desert.  Could this be a land version of a sail by?  Could this be what they considered a demonstration of force?

He ordered Johnson to keep eyes on and then radioed to the MEU that they needed to get coverage fast.  The base at Djibouti should be able to provide support.  The fiction that it was a small base had long disappeared.  The USAF had moved a fighter squadron in and USAF Special Ops was running all kinds of missions too.  That's one of the reasons why the USMC had to leave.  The base was enlarged but still crowded.  With the Chinese just down the street they wanted to keep things tight.

One thing they did have that could help short of shots being fired were predator drones.  If  the Colonel was on his game and if he could wrangle up support then they could get a better indication of what was going on.

99th Tactical Recon Wing, Djibouti...

Major Williams was pissed.  His unit was being tasked beyond belief.  If he was running missions for SOCOM, then it was the CIA, if not the CIA then it was for State, if not for State then the Army...now the Marines want priority just cause they saw a few Chinese?

Fucking Jarheads.

Fucking Prima Donnas.  Its not always about them.

But he did get the order from his higher up, an Air Force General so I guess he must know something he doesn't.  A continuous orbit over one of the many missions being run in Africa?  This shit is getting out of hand.  He'll do it but just barely.  Doesn't anyone realize that UAVs are aircraft?  They need maintenance!  The operators need rest.  We might have almost a thousand of them but to do what they're being asked to do means they need twice that many!

In the end Major Williams decided 'fuck it' ... they made the call.  If they lose another bird due to maintenance then its on them.  He made a note in the log, hoped it would protect his career if one actually did crash and dialed up the mission.

26th MEU...

After a talk with his operations office McNeil was not happy.  It was determined that unless his boys in Northern Ethiopia were actually being harassed then combat operations in support of the Saudis should continue.  Additionally he couldn't even recover his ground combat element because they had inserted by air and now those assets had been diverted to help the Saudis in their latest round of getting curb stomped by the Houthis.

The best he could do is get surveillance from the Air Force in the form of Predator UAVs.  He needed to get eyes on the situation.  His stomach was doing flips and his instincts told him something very bad was coming.  He just couldn't put his finger on Chinese intent.

Charlie Company feels the ground shake from the charging beast...

Johansen was still watching the feed.  He noticed that the Chinese stopped about 10km away from his position.  Maybe it wouldn't be bad.  That 8x8 wheeled artillery did not make him feel any better.  The ATVs that he was using might be big fun back at Lejeune but out here he felt extremely exposed.  UAV coverage was suppose to be on its way but things were starting to look iffy.  Maybe a run for the hills is in order he thought.  Maybe discretion is the best form of valor.  The firepower arrayed against him was beyond awesome.  It was devastating.  Additionally they stopped just short so they must have eyes on him too.  Johansen guessed that they must have a high flying UAV somewhere above him but he was in no position to do anything about it.

No worries though.

It was nothing but a train and assist right?  No peer vs peer combat.  This ain't the Pacific so why would they fight here right?

Just as that thought registered in his brain he felt the first incoming round of 152mm artillery fire.

Chinese Motorized Brigade....We do this for CHINA!

Colonel Bence had warned his men to be prepared for a big fight.  They would engage an American unit made up of their vaunted Marines and they will utterly defeat them.  If they didn't then they would not return home.  Primitive thinking?  No.  Chinese thinking.  Defeat was intolerable.  It wasn't some Japanese notion of an honorable death, it was the reality of the new China.  Only success is tolerable, failure isn't.

Having said that he was taking no chances.  Capt Chang had the coordinates of the American Marine unit.  He could have been ordered to target them, they did after all have excellent visibility on them, but this was for show as much as it was a tactical problem to be solved.

Humiliation and destruction was called for.

With that being said Capt Chang was ordered to pulverize the entire grid square the Marines occupied.

The dogs would not die fast.  No.  This would be a slow painful death and would be as much a lesson to the American people as it was to their Marines.

China was the new super power.  American weakness and decadence would finally reap the fruits of what they have sown for so many years.  Yes today they would learn that lesson.

Charlie Company feels the pain...

Cougar 6 to any unit.  I repeat Cougar 6 to any unit.  I am declaring Frozen Chosin.  Repeat Frozen Chosin.

Frozen Chosin was the established code name for a Marine unit in extreme trouble of being decimated or overrun.  It was a play to heroic work done by Marine so many years ago on a much different battlefield.

Johansen never thought one second that he would actually make this call on this deployment but here he was.  Any thought of escape by their light utility vehicles was out of the question.  From what he could see the Chinese had the entire area bracketed.  All they could do is dig hasty fighting positions and somehow hope to come out the other side.

He heard his NCOs and SNCOs barking orders but it was probably already too late.  The hand of fate and Mr Murphy were running things now.

Had he lost his chance to influence the battle by hesitating to leave when the Chinese first showed up on his screen?

The scream of pain, the mist of blood and hearing a grown man call for his mommy made him know that he had....

Sorry about missing ya Army Dawgs!

Sorry for missing ya Army Dawgs!  Happy Birthday Bro!

Politics Talk. One question about the FBI Inspector General Report...

By now everyone has seen or read about the FBI Inspector General Report.

I have one question.

If Comey and elements of the FBI actually had an axe to grind with Trump...If it can be proven that at least one member of the Counter Terror Team actually wanted to stop the Trump presidency...and if it can be shown that other top ranking members of the FBI were involved in various ways with the anti-Trump movement....

Then how can he still be facing obstruction of justice charges?

We've heard nothing about Russian collusion, at least as far as evidence that he acted in concert with them so why is this investigation still going on?

He fired Comey.  Comey had an axe to grind.  Others in the FBI should have been fired, so what's left to investigate????

Open Comment Post. 15 June 2018

Composite Training Unit Exercise (COMPTUEX) ... Pics by Petty Officer 3rd Class Jenna Dobson

Armor Porn. Patria - 6X6 Multi-Functional Armoured Vehicle (Video)

I find this so very interesting.  Patria has a 6x6 version of the AMV ready to go yet they've modernized this old warhorse?  Don't get it...

Unac "RIDER" Special Forces Logistics Vehicle

26th MEU Tank platoon, Polish BMP unit go head-to-head in mechanized assault exercise during BALTOPS....Pics by Staff Sgt. Dengrier Baez

Note.  Oh this should have been good!  I wonder how a MEU would stack up against a Polish motorized unit.  Can't wait to see the pics from the Polish side of this little clash!  Yeah I know it was just a fictional training exercise with LITTLE real world applications but lessons/experience gained about how a MEU would perform against peer mech/motorized units should be invaluable.

This is the one that kills me.  No one defends on the beach and although we have extremely little experience in operating in the defense, even the Japanese learned to concede the shoreline and to take the fight inland.  If any enemy wants to fight us on the beach then we win...and win big.....

Wait...where are the Rosomaks!!!!  I want to see the good stuff lined up against us.