While it is quite easy for the chair-borne warriors who populate the Pentagon, as well as for the planning staffs, to be cavalier when it comes to placing the soldiers of their armed forces at risk, the commanding officers of the units from which those men and women come are far less sanguine about putting their people in harm's way without a well-defined plan of extraction. The original concept of having the Special Ops teams make their way to undefended rally points on their own after executing their tasks was met with a unanimous outcry from every troop commander as soon as he saw it. General Gerard Rouge, commanding officer of France's Commandement des Operations Speciales, demanded that command-and-control teams be included in the plan. "The days of dropping French soldiers behind enemy lines without a practical means of extracting them," he stated with a firmness that left no doubt that his point was nonnegotiable, "ended with the fall of Dien Bien Phu." Rouge pointed out that these command-and-control elements were necessary to give his soldiers, as well as those being sent by other NATO nations, a fighting chance to survive once their targets had been destroyed. Under his plan, these command-and-control elements would serve as rally points for the teams, coordinate impromptu actions to assist teams that found themselves in trouble, and coordinate the extraction of the teams from their assigned area of operations.
Without exception, this sentiment was echoed by every senior commander tasked to provide troops for Tempest. It was, as were many of the operational details, left to Fretello to come up with a way of satisfying this new requirement without creating a top-heavy command structure. His guidance for tackling this particular change was simple. "Come up with an organization that can get the job done with the fewest possible number of people using the least amount of equipment."
As a practical matter, Fretello recommended that the personnel needed to populate these command-and-control teams be drawn from the staff already gathered at the RAF base in Scotland. This had several advantages that he knew would appeal to his superiors.
First, it would save time, a consideration that was always critical in military operations. Second, it would use people already dedicated to Tempest as support personnel. "Once the strike teams are airborne," Fretello pointed out, "everyone left back on the ground in Scotland is out of a job." That this included himself was not overlooked by the young major or his superiors. This provided the third, and by far the most important, reason to Fretello for using on-hand personnel.
While he didn't expect to have a great deal to do as the executive officer of one of the forward operation's command-and-control teams, or FOCCT's for short, at least he would finally participate in a combat jump. When this matter was brought up by Colonel Hightower, who was serving as both the senior U. S. Army troop commander for Tempest and chief of the combined Special Operations staff, Fretello appealed to his warrior ethics. "For fifteen years, sir, I have accepted every assignment and duty without hesitation or complaint. When I was not tagged to go to the Persian Gulf in ninety-one, I did not despair. When I was told that it was more important for the Army that I stay at Leavenworth and finish my course in advanced military studies while my contemporaries were being rushed off to defend Taiwan, I swallowed my pride and soldiered on. To miss this opportunity to earn my pay as a soldier would be intolerable."
Hightower patiently listened to Fretello's plea. "You realize, Major," the colonel finally replied, "that officially, this operation will never have taken place. If this goes off the way you've planned it, there will be no campaign ribbon for it. No one will be awarded a medal, a citation, or even get credit for his role in Tempest on his next evaluation report. So as far as your career is concerned, this will be little more than a shadow, nothing more."
Though he hoped that this wouldn't be true, Fretello understood what his commanding officer was saying. "If nothing else, sir," he acknowledged, "I'll be able to prove to myself that I have what it takes. Though that may sound selfish, not to mention a tad bit clichéd, it's how I feel."
Having experienced his share of disappointments during his own military career, Hightower nodded. "You understand," the colonel grumbled, "that this new assignment you've managed to create for yourself in no way relieves you of your current duties and responsibilities as the chief plans officer for the operation. You have a final briefing for all group and team commanders in less than two hours. So plan accordingly."
Though he tried hard not to, I'retello found himself smiling. "Yes. sir. Of course, sir." he responded out of habit. "Rest assured, everything is in order and ready to go in regard to the briefing."
In past training exercises, it had been the practice of Hightower to cool the ardor of his subordinates when they made bold claims such as this by responding with a terse comment such as. "It damned well better be." or "We'll see about that. Major." Colonel Hightower. however, was not in the mood for such theatrics at the moment. He would be making what he expected to be his last combat jump. Within a year, he would be relinquishing the command of his Special forces group. After that, his career would forever take him away from the troops he so loved. There would be no more sudden deployments to places unknown. I le would never again have the opportunity. not to mention the thrill and excitement, of pitting his skills and knowledge against impossible situations and wily foes. Though it would be at a much higher level, he would become a staff officer, just like the major before him.
With a simple. "Thai's all. Major." and a salute. Hightower dismissed I'retello. As soon as the anxious young staff officer had closed the door behind him. the colonel picked up the phone and dialed his home phone number. As the hour drew near, the time had come to say his farewell to the only person in the world whom he loved more than he loved the Army in which he served.
When Great Britain's Ministry of Defense was presented with the American plan for neutralizing Perimeter, there had been no question about supporting it. While many in the MoD had argued that their island nation would probably not be a target for the handful of missiles dedicated to the Russian doomsday system, the ramifications of any attack on a NATO nation, as well as the subsequent response by the United States, were clear. "Regardless of our personal feeling about the Americans and their rather unorthodox plan," the British Minister of Defense had pointed out, "we have no choice but to support Tempest. Not to do so would make the NATO charter meaningless at a time when it may be needed to protect Europe from a reenergized Russian bear."
This did not mean that the British accepted Tempest in its original form. Like the French, they had some serious reservations. Following General Gerard Rouge's lead, the British insisted upon changes that fit their national policies. And like their fellow European allies, the British were not ready to commit all of their "best and brightest" to this one operation. "Even if Tempest is a hundred percent successful," the British Chief of Staff pointed out to the Minister of Defense, "we have no way of knowing what will transpire within Russia once all the dust there settles. We may very well need our Special Operations Forces to respond to a renewal of the Cold War."
In light of this opinion, it was decided that only a portion of Britain's Special Operations resources would be committed to Tempest. "Where possible," the Chief of Staff instructed his plans people, "utilize those personnel and elements within the SAS and SBS that are expendable."
When the Chief of the Imperial Staff issued this planning guidance to the officers in the MoD responsible for generating the troop list for Tempest, he did not have Captain Patrick Hogg's name in mind. Senior officers and decision-makers who are part of each nation's Security Council do not think in terms of actual people or personalities. They deal only with "units" or "elements," words that are not tied to faces, or spouses, or children. The commitment of a nation's sons and daughters to combat is hard enough without burdening those initiating the action with actual images of real people. By insulating themselves from the troops who will be sent forth to fight and die for their country, leaders at the national level are thus free to use the word "expendable" without evoking an undue flood of guilt or emotion.