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1600 HOURS LOCAL
THE day's fighting had been unmitigated hell for the SEALs. A total of three mortar barrages had pounded them into near insensibility while the time between the shellings was occupied with fighting off probing attacks by the warlord's infantry. These assaults, though not pressed to completion, ate up valuable ammunition and grenades.
Empty cloth bandoleers littered the fighting positions and those that held full magazines were rapidly becoming fewer. The SEALs, for all their amazing physical conditioning, were close to exhaustion. If the mujahideen kept up the pressure through the night, Brannigan's Brigands would be reduced to a token force barely able to defend themselves. Senior Chief Buford Dawkins, as usual, summed it up with one of his sardonic Alabama country-boy comments that were not meant to be humorous:
"By tomorry morning we're gonna be reduced to throwing rocks at them raghead sumbitches."
But the fighting suddenly came to a halt. Mike Assad in the OP could see the mujahideen withdrawing farther down the slope, then stopping and digging in.
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2215 HOURS LOCAL
THE pressing need for watchfulness made the preparations of MREs an inconvenience. Most of the SEALs turned to the energy bars for nourishment as they went into another 50 percent alert.
Brannigan called Cruiser and the two chief petty officers to join him in the CP. The four spoke quietly, sipping water from their canteens to get some fullness in their stomachs as they munched their snacks.
"Things are going downhill," Brannigan said candidly. "And we've just about struck rock bottom. We've got two KIAs, but at least nobody's been wounded. We won't have to go through the shit of making a choice to leave the WIAs behind or try to carry them with us."
Chief Matt Gunnarson finished off his oatmeal bar. "You're talking like we're getting the fuck out of here, sir."
"That's the next item on our agenda," Bannerman said. "We've got a real hairy operation to pull off tonight. We're tired, relatively low on ammo, and are completely cut off. But we've got to make a withdrawal under the cover of darkness. It's going to be tough sledding, gentlemen, but if we can get off this mountain and into the terrain to the west, we'll have a chance of breaking contact."
"I agree, sir;' Cruiser said. "There's a lot of deep ravines and forested areas for cover and concealment on the other side of the valley."
"Right," Brannigan said. "It also offers us a better chance to put up a fight. We can even set up some ambushes. Or if they give us a hard knock, we can use the terrain features for cover to haul ass. That'll give us enough time and space for a quick counterattack to keep 'em off balance."
Cruiser was thoughtful for a moment before expressing an important concern. "Didn't you say Al-Qaeda could be in that area?"
"Yeah. But we have no other choice," Brannigan said. "It's like we're damned if we do and damned if we don't."
"When do we move out, sir?" Senior Chief Dawkins asked.
"Oh-one-hundred hours," Brannigan answered.
Cruiser checked his watch. "That'll give our guys damn near three hours to rest up for the ordeal."
"Rest up?" Brannigan remarked. "We've got two graves to hide, not to mention digging caches for the mortar and third line equipment. We're hauling ass with little more than weapons and skivvies. You guys turn to and get those items taken care of. If it's done fast enough, the men will maybe have a twenty-or thirty-minute breather to rest up for the withdrawal."
"Luxury!" Cruiser said with a grin. "You're spoiling the platoon, sir."
"Yeah!" Brannigan said with a humorless chuckle. "Who said it was tough in the SEALs?"
Chapter 15
WEST RIDGE BASE CAMP
21 AUGUST
THE task of caching extra gear such as the 60-millimeter mortar system and everyone's third line equipment had taken longer than Wild Bill Brannigan estimated. It was difficult to do the work properly because of having to rely on the night vision system goggles to make sure the excavations were undetectable after being filled in. It was even necessary to eliminate boot prints as much as possible so the mujahideen could not make a ballpark estimate of how many people had occupied the mountaintop. The two chief petty officers made damn sure nothing was left to chance. Everyone's life literally depended on keeping the mujahideen guessing.
The most difficult part of the activity involved the graves of Kevin Albee and Adam Clifford. The idea of abandoning these resting places of their buddies seemed near sacrilege to the SEALs. As if this wasn't bad enough, the knowledge that some miserable raghead would tread over the graves gave Brannigan's Brigands a sense of shame tinged with a deep grief. The fact that it was a tactical necessity did not lessen the emotional pain.
Although the Skipper had ordered the noise of the shoveling be kept to a minimum, he wasn't that concerned about it. If the mujahideen detected the sound of digging, they would only assume the infidels on the ridge top were reinforcing their fighting positions. This would serve well in giving the impression they were staying put. It was of the utmost importance that they conceal the fact that an escape off the mountain was in the offing. But the work took extraordinary effort, and nobody in the platoon was able to get any rest before it was time to abandon West Ridge for the questionable safety of the ravine country to the west.
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0100 HOURS LOCAL
THE entire platoon was stripped down to their combat vests, taking only first and second line equipment, along with extra ammunition bandoleers, the PRC-112 radios, and hand and M-203 grenades. As soon as everyone was checked out, the chiefs formed them up to begin the withdrawal. The order of march was Alpha, Bravo, Delta and Charlie Teams. The point was manned as usual by the intrepid Odd Couple, while Joe Miskoski and Gutsy Olson acted as rear guards. Since the route would be through the deep ravines of the foothills, Brannigan didn't bother to station flankers out on the sides of the column. Security would have been seriously compromised if anyone walking in the open above the deep gullies was spotted by enemy reconnaissance patrols.
Mike Assad and Dave Leibowitz led the way down the ridge slope, moving slowly and carefully as they peered into the darkness through the night vision devices. Behind them, the rest of platoon followed noiselessly, being extra careful to avoid the rattling of equipment and bandoleers of ammunition. They knew the mujahideen would have OPs scattered throughout the area, and the need for total alertness was super critical. A safe withdrawal could only be made if they stayed vigilant and cautious. Fate would not be kind to the careless.
The platoon reached the valley floor, and Mike signaled a halt while Dave went forward a few meters for a quick re-con. He came back and whispered over the LASH. "There's an OP manned by two ragheads approximately twenty-five meters ahead at ten o'clock. There's a way around them, so follow us real careful."
"Carry on," Brannigan whispered back.
The two point men led the way farther to the north for a hundred meters before turning back west toward the foothills. A half hour later the Odd Couple eased back to the original direction, but they hadn't gone far before Joe Miskoski at the rear spoke urgently. "Enemy patrol! Left flank!"
"Everybody down!" Brannigan ordered, thinking about what a relief it would be when they finally reached the concealment of the ravines. There would be constant danger of contact with the enemy until they left this open, flat country.
Within moments a six-man patrol of mujahideen could be discerned moving carefully in the opposite direction. They had no night vision capabilities, but were doing an excellent job of maintaining their course and speed without any unnecessary noise. The only sound came when one grunted slightly after making a misstep on the uneven terrain. A few more nervous moments passed before Joe spoke again. "All clear!"