“Let me guess — you have six teams standing by ready to go,” Thorn said.
“Yes, sir,” Luger said. He motioned to Hal Briggs. “Colonel?”
“Thank you, sir,” Hal Briggs began, stepping forward. “Mr. President, Mr. Secretary, Miss Deputy Secretary, I’m Colonel Hal Briggs, commander of the Air Battle Force ground forces. The Air Battle Force concept puts together massive airpower with small, well-equipped, and highly mobile ground forces for its operations. We believe, and we can demonstrate, that this concept will be the primary way in which many conflicts are fought in the foreseeable future. The Air Battle Force concept emphasizes speed, precision striking power, and adaptability to a wide range of conflicts, from small-scale protective and defensive missions such as an embassy emergency, to antiterrorist operations, to military operations in urban terrain, to an all-out air, ground, naval, and space battle.
“In Turkmenistan we intend to field ten strike teams,” Briggs said. “Six teams will take the petro-control stations that General Luger mentioned; two teams will be in charge of securing the airfield at Chärjew, which will become our base of operations; two teams will man the supply aircraft and roam across the battle area, augmenting other teams as necessary.”
“Ten teams? Do you mean ten battalions? Ten brigades?” Defense Secretary Goff asked in surprise. “What do you intend to do? Insert the entire One Hundred and First Airborne Division into Turkmenistan?”
“No, sir. I intend to insert ten Battle Force teams — one hundred men and women,” Hal Briggs replied.
“One hundred? Are you kidding me?” Thorn asked incredulously. “You intend to capture those positions with just one—” And then he saw Chris Wohl, in the Tin Man battle armor with the microhydraulic exoskeleton, step over to Hal Briggs, and he understood. Wohl had put on his helmet during the briefing, so the visitors were getting the absolute full effect of the Tin Man battle armor system. “You’ve got one hundred soldiers with that getup?”
“Not quite, sir,” Briggs explained. “Each Battle Force team consists of five men with complete Tin Man battle-armor systems, plus three men with advanced combat-armor systems, or ACAS, and two conventionally equipped commandos. ACAS provides improved ballistic protection and the same communications and sensor capability — several steps up from standard-issue infantry units, but not as capable as the Tin Man system. Eventually all team members will have Tin Man systems, but we aren’t ramped up to that level yet.
“The principal technologies behind the Air Battle Force teams is high-speed mobility, high-tech precision weapons, and advanced sensor capabilities,” Briggs said. “The Tin Man systems are designed for mobility and hitting power, and we’re relying on them to hold the positions with support from ACAS troops.”
“It still seems pretty unlikely you can cover that entire pipe with one hundred guys, Colonel,” Hershel observed.
“Ma’am, combined with the air-operations force, we can,” Briggs said. “The Battle Force ground teams’ assignment will be to break the grip of the Taliban on the six most vital control stations of the pipeline system, plus Chärjew Airport. The air-operations teams will be above us to take out any Taliban troop concentrations, but we need to be careful not to bomb too closely to the pipelines for fear of causing the very catastrophe we’re trying to prevent.”
“The air-operations force will initially consist of StealthHawk unmanned stealth combat air vehicles flying round-the-clock patrols over eastern Turkmenistan,” David Luger said. “The StealthHawks are launched by EB-52 bombers, EB-1C bombers, and other support aircraft. The unmanned aircraft serve as both reconnaissance and defensive attack platforms to protect the ground forces. If necessary, the patrols will be augmented by manned EB-52 Megafortress and EB-1C Vampire bomber attacks on Turkmen air-defense locations, protected by AL-52 Dragon airborne-laser aircraft. Once we have control of the skies over eastern Turkmenistan, we can withdraw the manned aircraft.”
“Sounds like you’ve got it all worked out,” President Thorn said sourly. “But I know for damned sure that if it sounds too easy, there’s always a catch.” He turned to Patrick McLanahan and asked pointedly, “What’s the catch here, General?”
“The catch, sir, is that the Air Battle Force’s mission is to go in fast and hit hard — we’re not set up to protect or hold territory,” Patrick responded. “We can defend those positions only for so long. Eventually you need to send in Marines or regular-army units to take over until Turkmen forces get reorganized.”
“If there’s even a Turkmen government to command them,” Acting Secretary of State Hershel added.
“Frankly, Miss Hershel, if the Turkmen government doesn’t want to play, we shouldn’t be in there risking American lives to defend them — or TransCal’s oil,” Thorn said. “TransCal can continue to pay protection money, or they can bug out, too. We go in with friendly forces solidly behind us or we don’t go in at all.”
“Roger that, sir,” Patrick McLanahan agreed enthusiastically. “The Gurizev regime is staunchly pro-Russian.”
“Yes, but who speaks for the Turkmen people?” Maureen Hershel asked. “You’ve mentioned a lot about TransCal and the Russians, but what about the people?”
“The people seem to be siding with the Taliban insurgents more and more,” David Luger responded. “In general, the Taliban insurgents have treated the people of Turkmenistan and army conscripts with kindness and generosity, and at the same time they’ve shown how brutal they could be with the professional Turkmen soldiers and the Russians.”
“Sounds like two different people calling the shots to me,” Maureen Hershel said. “Maybe the Taliban leader is the brutal one and the military guy knows better than to alienate the people while occupying their land.”
“I think you’re right, Miss Hershel,” Patrick said. “Sergeant Major Wohl interrogated one of the Taliban commanders on our last mission inside Turkmenistan, and his observations are in line with that.”
“Oh? Mind filling us in, Sergeant Major?” Goff asked.
Chris Wohl removed his Tin Man helmet before he responded. “I spoke with a man who called himself Jalaluddin Turabi, sir. He said his commander’s name is Wakil Mohammad Zarazi. We ran their names through intelligence files. Both men have been trained by foreign countries for military and terrorist operations, but Wakil Zarazi was identified and specially trained as a religious zealot. We don’t know much more about them, except for this: When I interrogated Turabi, he described himself as a jihadi — a holy warrior. He mentioned Zarazi’s rank — a general — but said he himself did not have any rank, although he was clearly the leader of the detachment we encountered. He seemed to indicate that Zarazi was on some kind of quest, some sort of mission — not a jihad, or at least not the same holy war that Turabi thought he was on.”
“We consider this a fairly significant ideological break,” Patrick said. “Taliban soldiers on a jihad are usually tasked with disrupting enemy lines of communication and obtaining money and supplies for their clans. This appears to be what Turabi’s mission is. But Zarazi is obviously doing far more. If politicians like Gurizev and fighters like Turabi can be convinced to side with the West in exchange for a greater share in the oil profits and a greater voice in their government, maybe they can be convinced to accept U.S. military and financial assistance in setting up a representative government.”
Now I understand why this guy is being considered as President Thomas Thorn’s national security adviser, Maureen Hershel thought. That is exactly the kind of half-military, half-political strategic advice Thorn needs — but he rarely gets it because he’s beleaguered with the minutiae of the kind of administration he designed. Thomas Thorn didn’t believe in getting the United States involved with other countries’ problems, so he had no one in his inner circle thinking or studying those problems and how it might benefit the United States to help.