Chucky knew the enemy soldiers could pose a serious problem for them if they discovered their locations. Their mission was to observe and report, not engage the enemy. There was no possible extraction for them, at least not until the frontlines moved closer to them.
“Copy that, Team Three. Please keep an eye on them and do not engage. Out.”
Maverick turned to look at Chucky. “What do you want to do, Chief?” he asked.
“I wish we could see further into the valley,” thought CW4 Lee. “There could be additional launchers out there, and we have no way of knowing it.”
“We need to wait to see if a second launcher shows up at Team Two’s location,” Chucky directed.
“I sure hope we aren’t missing other launchers deeper in the valley Chief,” Maverick grunted, still mad that they had to abort their original OP. They had chosen that position because it would have given them a view of the entire valley, as opposed to this location, which only gave them a view of roughly half of it.
“Can it, Maverick. We can’t do anything about it,” Chucky retorted.
He then turned to his TACP. “Jordy, make sure Henhouse knows what we have, and the coordinates for this launcher. Let them know we may have a second launcher, but we are waiting for confirmation before we call in the strike package. See if they can direct a satellite to this area and try to look for additional launchers at the top end of the valley. Tell them we are out of position to see that area,” he directed. He wanted to make sure their air support had the targeted grid now, so when they called in for the strike, they wouldn’t have to waste time providing the aircraft with multiple target grids.
Jordy just nodded and lifted his handset to his face, whispering into the receiver exactly what Chuck had just told him.
The F-117 pilot on the other end acknowledged the information and said, “I have enough fuel to stay on standby for another fifty minutes before I need to do another mid-air refueling.”
The team sat there for thirty minutes as the pre-dawn light turned to dawn and the light slowly began to illuminate the trees and valley below them. Had they not jumped with long-range listening devices and extremely high-end night vision and thermal capable spotting scopes, they probably would have missed the mobile launcher moving into the valley. Now, as the sun began to creep into the sky, the light started to reveal more soldiers moving into the valley than they had originally thought were there.
These enemy soldiers and additional military equipment where clearly moving towards the sounds of war, further South towards the DMZ. The Air Force was pounding enemy troop positions deep behind the DMZ, in an effort to destroy them before they could reinforce their comrades at the front. This constant aerial bombardment had its own strange rhythm to it, almost like a base or kettle drummer pounding out a disjointed tune. From time to time, they could hear the roar of jets high above their heads, moving towards some unknown target. Chucky looked down at his watch and saw the war had started a little over four hours ago.
He was just about to reach for the talk button on his mic when a familiar voice came over the radio. “This is Team Two. We have positive visual on a mobile missile launcher. It looks like they are getting the missile readied for launch. Recommend we call in the strike package now before they fire. How, copy?” asked the team leader.
“Maverick, is our launcher being readied to launch? Team Two just said theirs appears like it’s going to be launched soon,” said Chucky, hoping against all hope that they had not waited too long to call in the strike package. They were supposed to destroy the launchers with the missiles still on them.
Maverick leaned back down to the spotting scope and peered through it, “No, it’s still down, although I see some soldiers starting to uncover the camouflage netting around it. They could be getting it readied for launch,” he replied.
Chucky keyed up his mic. “Team Two, send the grid to Jordy. We’ll have them strike your target first. How, copy? Over” he said, wanting to take their missile out first.
A minute passed as the team lead relayed the grid coordinates to their TACP, who typed the information into his targeting computer and transmitted the information to the pilot of the Nighthawk who was loitering somewhere above them. Jordy then came over the net, “Bombs away. Standby.”
Close to two minutes went by with nothing happening, while the SF men laid on their bellies waiting for the final warning before impact. Then, they heard Jordy announce, “The bomb should impact in five seconds.”
It may have only been five seconds, but it felt like an eternity waiting for a 2,000-lbs. laser-guided bomb to hit its target.
Team Two had painted the mobile launcher with their laser designator, and watched as the bomb dropped right on top of its target. The explosion was thunderous, and echoed throughout the valley. Black smoke began to billow upwards as the shockwave expanded outwards, destroying everything within a thousand feet of the impact. Trees around the impacted area were flattened, along with three air defense vehicles that had been meant to protect the launcher from American and ROK aircraft.
The crew manning the mobile launcher Chucky’s team had been monitoring suddenly moved with a lot more purpose as they reacted to the explosion. They quickly pulled and yanked the netting off the launcher as other soldiers began to raise the missile. These guys were not going to wait around for everything to be perfect; they wanted to get their missile launched and then find a way to escape with their lives.
“Jordy, tell your guy to drop his next bomb. That missile is going to launch!” Chucky yelled, hoping that they had not somehow fouled up their chance to take this missile out.
“What if this missile launcher was carrying a nuclear warhead?” thought CW4 Lee in a panic.
“I already did, Chief. The bomb is on the way… should hit in sixty seconds,” he replied, much to Chucky’s relief.
The seconds ticked by, and then they witnessed an epic explosion as the bomb hit the launcher, obliterating it and everything near it. There was chaos on the ground as enemy soldiers were thrown into trees like ragdolls from the blast’s concussion. Flying debris, shrapnel, and flames were injuring many other soldiers, several of whom could be seen running like insane men as their clothes were on fire. Some of their comrades jumped to their aid, throwing them to the ground while they tried to put the fires out.
“We have two inbound fast movers that are going to attack several additional launchers the satellite folks found. Standby for more impacts,” Jordy announced loudly over the mic.
Suddenly, they heard a loud roar of an F-16 as it flew low over their heads into the valley below. Two large objects fell from under the wings of the aircraft. What looked like several cluster bombs detonated over a densely forested area. Two large secondary explosions could be seen billowing upwards, then finally a third fiery blast lit up the skyline as another vehicle exploded.
As the F-16 pulled up from his bombing run to gain altitude, they saw multiple SAMs emerge from the trees, chasing after the aircraft. The F-16 fired off a series of flares and chaff canisters, in an attempt to distract the enemy missiles. Several of the Korean missiles hit the flares, exploding harmlessly as the F-16 continued to gain altitude.
A second F-16 then swooped into the valley from a slightly different angle, gearing up for its own attack run. As the aircraft entered the valley, they saw four SAMs emerge from the treeline, heading straight for the F-16. Before the pilot could even react, two of the missiles slammed into the aircraft, causing it to burst into a fiery comet, which rained down jet fuel and debris in a long, high-velocity trail from the forward motion of the aircraft.