The others in the room nodded quietly. Some of them like his decisive remarks, but many hoped that this was a bit more bluster than his real intentions.
Gates paused for a second, then he looked at the Marine Commander before he added, “I want the Marines in Japan, ready to move into Korea if it comes to it. I also want additional cruise missiles and heavy ordinance moved to Japan-and move some of our nukes, just in case we end up having to use them. I have a bad feeling that things with China and North Korea are about to go from bad to worse. They think that there is not a lot that we can do to stop them other than bomb them, but I want to try and project as much strength and resolve with them as possible. Perhaps we can get them to think twice and let calmer heads prevail. If not, then I want the option to bloody them badly when the time comes.”
As the meeting concluded, the generals and advisors immediately went to work getting the President’s orders issued, and sending the appropriate guidance to the various field units and commanders. If the Russians thought this was going to be a quick war, they were in for a rude awaking. The President had no intentions of giving into the Russians, and he was bent on making sure the Chinese understood that a war with America would not go well for them either.
The Second Korean War
It was a cool October morning as Lieutenant General (LtGen) Roy Cutter finished his morning run. His command had deployed to Japan two weeks ago, unsure of where they may be headed next. They were just told to be prepared to move when given the order. Then, two days ago, he had been given overall command of all US Marine ground forces in the Korea-China area of operations and told to be prepared to deploy to South Korea.
“I’m glad I got a good run in today,” he thought. “Starting tomorrow, things are going to get really busy.”
Intelligence reports from the National Security Agency and the Defense Intelligence Agency showed a massive transfer of ordinance and fuel from China to North Korea. Surveillance also showed an increase in general military activity across North Korea, with military units leaving their bases and heading to the field. This could only mean one thing; North Korea was gearing up to invade the South and was being given a healthy supply of fuel and munitions prior to the start of hostilities.
With the deployment of the First Marine Expeditionary Force to Okinawa, there were now 68,000 Marines in Japan. Now, it was Cutter’s job to get them to South Korea and ready to repel one of the largest armies in the world. Fortunately, his Marines would not be the only US Forces in Korea. The Army had 28,000 soldiers already in Korea and another 22,000 more in Japan that were also transferring to Korea.
The South Koreans, unlike their European counterparts, maintained a large standing army and reserve force. The South Koreans had 650,000 soldiers and 3,200,000 reserve soldiers. As the US began to deploy additional troops to Korea in preparation of a North Korean invasion, the country started a full activation of their reserves.
LtGen Cutter was intricately involved with the build-up, every hour of every day. His sleep was starting to suffer. He had been on the battlefield before, but this was the first time he had been in a potential nuclear conflict. As he lay awake at night, he couldn’t stop the racing thoughts. “What happens if the North uses their weapons of mass destruction? Will they resort to using a nuclear weapon against the US forces in Korea or Japan? Will they try and launch an ICBM against the United States?”
Despite his restless tossing and turning, Cutter’s run had helped to wake him up a bit. He chugged a thermos of black coffee to help him all the way back to an alert state. “I don’t have time to be tired,” he thought.
Lieutenant General Cutter had flown into Seoul the night before with his staff for an in-person meeting with General John Bennet, the overall commander of US Forces-Korea. This would probably be the last time all of the US and Korean military commanders would meet together in one room prior to any potential conflict. Because this was likely the final meeting before hostilities, it was imperative that the US response to various situations be gone over. General Bennet also wanted to personally meet with the commanders who would be responsible for the defense of South Korea.
As LtGen Cutter and his staff approached the headquarters, they immediately noticed the increase in security. The buildings had been recently reinforced with sandbags and a number of new machine gun positions and other fighting positions; the soldiers on guard around the facility were wearing their full combat loads and had their rifles at the ready. With war a near certainty, General Bennet was not taking any chances on potential saboteurs attempting to take out his command facility before hostilities started.
As they walked towards the entrance, several soldiers snapped to attention, and then proceeded to ask for their IDs. The Marines dutifully handed their identification over to the sergeant of the guard, who began to enter their information into a laptop to verify that they were who they said they were. Once their IDs were verified, they were all asked to scan their biometrics into the computer for one last check. A few seconds later, the system verified that the biometric data matched their identification, and they were allowed inside the facility.
Once they entered the building, an Air Force captain met them in the reception entrance and led them into the facility. After a short walk through a couple of hallways, they finally ended up in the conference room. As Lieutenant General Cutter walked into the briefing room, they took their seats along with their Air Force, Navy and ROK (Republic of Korea) counterparts. A minute later, General Bennett walked in and took his seat at the head of the table.
General John Bennett was a new four-star general, having only pinned on his fourth star just two weeks ago. He was part of the new wave of military generals the President and the SecDef had promoted ahead of some of their peers in a move to advance more aggressive military commanders to frontline commands. After a series of military defeats in Europe, the SecDef and the President had been cleaning house, removing those officers who were placing their careers and political interests above that of the country. Word had it that General Bennet was a hard-charging warrior that liked a good fight. He had a solid reputation from his various commands in Iraq and Afghanistan, though Cutter had personally never worked with him before.
General Bennet was a tough-looking African American man that was an imposing figure at 6’4” and built like a brick house. He looked like the type of guy you wanted on your side in a bar fight, if you had to choose someone. As Bennet surveyed the room of senior military officers from the various branches of service and the South Korean officers, he took a long drink from his coffee mug, which had a picture of a bulldog dressed as a general on it, along with the words, “filled with blood, tears, and whiskey.”
“Oh, I’m going to like this guy,” Cutter thought to himself. “This guy should have been a Marine.”
Bennet cleared his throat and in his harsh gravelly voice he began, “Listen up. I just got done talking with the heads of DIA and NSA. They have actionable intelligence that says the DPRK is going to initiate hostilities within forty-eight hours. The NSA has intercepted direct communications between the Russians and the Chinese about North Korea initiating an imminent attack against the US, Japan, and South Korea, so we know this to be fact. It’s going to happen. Additional messages between the Chinese and the DPRK were just intercepted two days ago; the content of those messages was also about directing North Korea to attack the South.”