There was applause again and the President led the way to a table filled with all sorts of interesting snacks. After the congratulations petered out he pulled Hammond aside. “Why don’t you and Perry join me for a minute,” he said under his breath.
A few minutes later and the three men were in the Oval Office. “Roger, you have caused quite a stir in the Pentagon. There are a bunch of guys a little upset that you have stirred the pot, but those are the ones who slow things down. Right now, we have moved four brigades of tanks and all their equipment to France. I have told them not to show themselves much until the time comes. I am sending some planes as well. But what interests me is this stuff you sent over to your research and development center. I got a summary of it. How would you use it?” he asked.
Hammond shrugged his shoulders. “If it’s up to me, I would put it on every plane, ship and large vehicle. If you recall, I mentioned using technology to our advantage. That was why that’s in there. If this works like I expect, we can fly anything over Russia without them being able to see us or track us. We can send a fleet across the ocean undetected by air or sea, and if they do launch missiles, those missiles won’t be able to track in on them.
“But the second thing I would go with is something Claire Richardson told me about. They have gotten with a contractor who makes these small drones. At first, they were used for just recon work, but the contractor said they had initially designed them to carry a weapon. Just think what the Russians might do of a few thousand of these things descended on them at night, killing their tank crews before they could mount an attack. I’d build thousands of the things to not only carry a gun, but maybe even grenades or small land mines that could be dropped just in front of advancing tanks. Things like these could make the difference for us,” he said enthusiastically.
“I agree,” said Perry Johnson, the CNO. “And so do the rest of the joint chiefs. Just to let you know, within a month, we may have about ten thousand of the things. The first shipment will go over when the troops are trained. There’s actually a lot of things happening that I can fill you in on later,” he said.
“What I’d like to know is, if this was your baby, how would you stop the Russians?” asked the President, sitting back on the couch.
Hammond paused a second. His eyes focused for a moment, studying the man before he began. “You remember Shock and Awe, back in Iraq?” he asked.
Both men nodded. “Well, as far as I remember, the United States has not gone all out on any conflict. No one really knows what we can do. In Korea, we did what we could, but it was never everything. Now, our technology is back, our weapons arsenal is full. I would show them that pissing off the United States is the worse idea a country could have,” he said.
They talked for an hour, before the President broke it up. The President walked Hammond to the front door and saw them off, then returned to the Oval Office. General Black was there waiting.
“Did you hear?” the President asked.
“I did.”
“And?”
Black grinned an evil grin. “He’s the one.”
Master Sergeant Dale Ricks looked across the classroom at the young faces of this latest group of selectees. He was only in his twenties, but these guys looked like they should be in middle school. What made it worse was that they all looked up at him as if he were some sort of god. Everyone knew about Master Sergeant Ricks.
Now he was taking on the latest scheme the Army had come up with. These young men and women had just completed a day of playing a video game. Only people who had achieved a certain level had been brought back in today. Now it was time to bring them in on the secret.
“Okay, listen up. You people think you had fun yesterday? Play a few games? Well, I’m afraid it was more than that. Each of you now is in a new part of the service. I say this one more time. If you want to leave, leave now.”
No one moved. Some even smiled and glanced at their friends in anticipation.
Ricks smiled. “Okay, you asked for it. I wonder if this looks a little familiar?” he asked as he walked over to a cloth covered lump in the middle of the lecture table at the front of the hall. Grasping the cloth, he gave it a yank, revealing a black military drone. It had four propellers mounted horizontally on each corner. There was an antenna, some wiring, a camera under the rig and what looked like a sideways turned pistol beneath it. “Oh shit!” exclaimed one of the people in the room. “It looks like the game!” shouted another. People started talking back and forth to each other before Ricks regained control.
“Okay, knock it off. This is an M-32 weaponized drone. It has a range of around five miles out and back and can send back images of what we’re up against, but more importantly, this little thing down here will allow each operator to target and fire this weapon to disable or kill your target. It is operated with this gadget right here. Notice how it looks exactly like your controllers from yesterday, except for this red button right here. That’s what pulls the trigger. The weapon holds seven rounds. The idea is that you go in, select a target and pull the trigger, then repeat it until your magazine is empty. Our job is to hit the enemy before they can get organized or start after us. The more we kill with this thing, the fewer of our guys will get shot at,” Ricks said.
“Tomorrow, we will begin training with these things. I need you up and ready with this within just a week or so. Faster if possible. Your setup is this,” he said pulling the cover off a large display on an easel. It showed a seat with two video monitors. “The top monitor displays where you and the rest of your people are. It also will show generally where you need to go. The second monitor has the image from your drone. Using these, we hope to send you out ahead of our lines to disrupt the enemy and keep them off balance. That will allow ground troops to come in. You will be operating at night mostly, so the camera is set for low light levels or infra-red. Once you have done your job, it’s just like the game. Hit the return to base feature and it will come home to Mama on its own. Once home, it will hover until you take over again and land it. Remember, it’s only good for around five miles out and five miles back, plus some loiter time. So get in and get out as quick as you can. Once the unit is back, it will be rapidly recharged; taking about fifteen minutes. Then you will be taking it back out again. Your job is to kill as many people as you can, just like the game. Any questions?”
Looking around the room, Ricks could tell that this was something some of them had not thought about. A game was one thing, killing a person was another. Ricks eased himself back and perched on the table. “Look people, I know what a lot of you are thinking. I thought the same way when I first came in the Army. They threw a rifle in my hand and it just about knocked me over,” he said. There were some spotty snickers through the room. “But then I found myself getting shot at. I hadn’t done much of anything and all of a sudden people were trying to kill me. The man I was on watch with ended up dead. He was a nice guy. It took my sergeant to shove me into reality. He once told me that we don’t start wars, but often find out we’re in one. When that happens, our job is to make them wish they hadn’t. That means we have to kill more of them, than they kill of us. It also means we have to make a personal decision that this thing we do isn’t what we might consider normal. It’s forced upon us. So we have to step back and not take things personally. As for me, I don’t like to kill anybody. The people we may go up against are just like you and me. They didn’t start this war either, but they’re stuck too. So we do our jobs. We don’t take pleasure in it. But we get the job done. And we hope that someday we won’t ever have to go to war again. The best thing may be to look at what we are doing just like that video game. They are just images on a screen. Whatever it takes, you will have to deal with it because that’s what we are in the Army for. As my sergeant said, those people on the other side would not hesitate to take a bayonet and stick it through your heart, so we do what we do so that maybe, some of our guys will get to go home when it’s over. That’s my take on it. If you want to talk to me about it, send in your chit. But remember, if I can do these things, you can. Now take a few minutes to take a look at this stuff. When I get back, you will be assigned training platoons. Then the real work begins. Carry on,” he said as he turned and left the room. Outside the door was his commanding officer.