down my target, the president of Afghanistan was in the
United States, making speeches about how his govern-
ment and the United States needed to build bridges in
order to unite his people. He argued that not all Taliban
were linked to terrorist groups like al Qaeda and that
many Taliban wanted to lay down their arms and reach
reconciliation with the national government.
That may have been true. But I wanted to know how
you sorted out the friendly Taliban from the ones wiring
themselves with explosives, even as the Afghan president
allied himself with his neighbors: Iran and Pakistan,
nations that served as training grounds and safe havens
for those wanting to destroy the United States.
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Everyone had answers that involved false assump-
tions, sweeping generalizations, and a skewed under-
standing of the complexities, contradictions, and culture
of Afghanistan.
But that was all politics, right? None of my business.
I just needed to capture a Taliban commander. One of
the first things I learned after joining the military was to
focus on my mission and leave the debates to the fat
boys back home. I talked to my colleagues, and it was
the same old story: Officers who got too caught up in
the politics of their missions were, in most cases, not as
successful as those who did not. Success was judged on
whether the mission goals had been achieved and at
what cost.
Lest we be accused of theft instead of borrowing, we
dropped off the pickup trucks at the edge of town and
were met by a driver and Hummer for the ride back to
the FOB.
En route, I made a satellite phone call to Lieutenant
Colonel Gordon, who suggested I speak directly with
General Keating. I tried to restrain myself from explod-
ing as I described the situation to the general. He told
me Harruck had contacted him already. “Sir, the bot-
tom line is, I want the guy’s head on a platter.”
“You guys were very well liked and made a great team
during that Robin Sage.”
“Yes, sir. But I don’t think the captain is playing on
our team anymore.”
“I know you feel that way, but you need to under-
stand something. First, I can’t stop you from lopping off
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85
his head. If you put it in writing, I’ll have to forward the
charge.”
“I’ll have it to you right away.”
“Slow down, son. Our situation is complicated, and
Captain Harruck’s mission further complicates matters.
But that can and should work to our advantage.”
“Excuse me, sir?”
“Mitchell, we can use his mission as a distraction to
keep everyone busy while you hunt down our boy. The
COIN mission is our screen. Harruck’s attempts to win
over the locals will keep the Taliban busy.”
“Sir, how about the same plan, only we let the XO
take over. Lose Harruck.”
The general sighed deeply. “Better the devil we know
than the devil we don’t, Mitchell.”
“Sir, you’ve got to be kidding me.”
“Son, this has already become a huge task manage-
ment problem. We don’t need to make it more difficult.
Go talk to Harruck. Work it out. I know you can.”
I could barely answer. “Yes, sir.”
“I’m counting on you, Mitchell.”
I ended the call before cursing.
Harruck was waiting for me outside his office when the
Hummer pulled up. “You were wrong about Keating,”
he said to me abruptly.
“Oh, yeah?”
“He’s not a soldier. He’s a politician, just like the rest
of them.”
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“Just like you.”
He shook his head. “Come inside.”
I raised an index finger, deciding I was going to make
this bastard suffer a little more for what he’d done. “At
this point, I advise you to speak very carefully, because
you’ve just committed a court-martial offense, and even
worse, an immoral and ethical offense. You’ve not only
disobeyed an order from a superior, you’ve broken the
code of honor by endangering me and my Ghosts.”
“Scott, this is the part where I say I don’t know what
you’re talking about.”
“Look, buddy, I won’t even ask what kind of proof
you have or how you tried to orchestrate this thing to get
yourself off. Point is, without authorization you called in
those birds to abort my mission. And you know, if word
of this gets out, it’ll spread like wildfire. No one will
trust you.”
“I got two merchants who said people tied them up
and stole their trucks. I got chopper pilots telling me
you blew the bridge over the river. Hell, we heard the
thing go up. And now you’re playing angel? Jesus Christ,
Scott . . . you can’t walk in here and take over. I told you
I got eight months in here! EIGHT GODDAMNED
MONTHS!”
As he raised his voice, I grew more calm and para-
phrased regulations, which I knew would spike his pulse.
“By law, you were required to carry out the last order
given to you by your superior officer and only afterward
were you to question that order by going up the chain of
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87
command to my superiors. I’m sure neither Gordon nor
Keating gave you the okay to abort my mission.”
“Don’t stand there and think you can burn me, Scott.
I’ve got a lot on you, too. I’m talking lots of stuff in the
closet, friendly-fire crap that was covered up . . . you
know exactly what I’m talking about.”
Actually, I didn’t because there were too many close
calls, too many missions where collateral damage needed
to be addressed by my superiors, who, for the most part,
kept me and my team out of the loop. Whatever he
thought he had was probably bullshit . . . but then again,
you never knew . . .
He turned and headed into his office. I followed. He
crossed around his desk but remained standing. I kept
near the door and didn’t take a chair, either.
After a deep breath, I said, “Simon, I’m trying to
decide if I should have you removed from command.”
“That’s not your decision.”
“Once I light the fuse, there’s no putting it out.”
“Yeah, you like blowing things up. So why the
bridge?”
“Changing the subject?”
“Do you realize what you’ve done?”
“Yeah, made it harder for them. They’ve been using
the bridge we builtto come over here and attack us.
Now if they want to come, they get to go swimming.”
“That bridge was symbolic of our presence here.”
“Like the school and the police station and the well
you want to drill?”
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GH OS T RE C O N
“Yeah. What’s wrong with that?”
“Man, I would’ve never seen this coming.” I closed
my eyes and took another deep breath. “We can agree to
disagree, but you cannot interfere with my mission.”
“You know your mission is worthless. And it might
mean we have to sacrifice everything—even now when