A Tan Beret Goes to Nellis

[jemhouston]

Message in three parts:

Word one: Smite

Word two: Survive

Word three: Party

[Wolfman]

Bravo Zulu, Sir.

[Matryoshka]

Gotta give that ’Vark crew a salute for following through. A lot of people would’ve said “That was the heat of the moment; now that I’ve had a chance to think, my common sense got a word in edgewise”, but those two were like “I said it, I made the commitment, and dammit, I cheated Death Himself, so I’m gonna celebrate!”
(Though one hopes LT. Kearney is gentleman enough to ensure LT. MacKenzie has just as much fun as he does during their time together.)

[Matt Wiser]

Well done! Won't be long until Sophie shows up at Sheppard.

That Vark crew might wind up getting some time off: the F-111 attrition has been such that the AF is buying A-6s as an off-the-shelf replacement until the F-15E becomes available (and the fight between the F-4 and F-111 communities over who gets first crack at the transition).

Bev Lynne is the OINC for her Det from the 305th Rescue Squadron, it should be noted. Normally, they are in 9th AF's AO, but with the anti-TBM campaign, she got shifted over into 10th AF. Their normal providers of RESCAP? The 8-229 AVN (ATK). Yep, the Cobra Chicks.

[jemhouston]

I'd say the F-111 community needs to be first. The night / all-weather strikes they provide is critical.

[Wolfman]

And, ISTR that at least the 48th TFW was shot out of the F-111, hence the Intruders…

[Poohbah]

27 December 1987
10th Air Force HQ
Nellis Air Force Base
Las Vegas, NV

Sophie looked over the TACSTRIKE data and said, "They weren't expecting that, not at all, and we caught them flat-footed. Figure we'll lose 50% effectiveness tonight as everyone gets reminded to double-check their camo and light discipline, and they'll start pulling launchers back from the FEBA and push decoys forward."

Decker nodded. "One thing we did after New Mexico: we tasked the resistance to report any instances of military surveying parties at work, with as precise location detail as they could manage. They'd learned using USGS geodetic survey benchmarks wasn't a good idea, so we started looking for their pre-surveyed launch points. So we have an idea where they planned to go to ground, and they're probably stiffening up their air defenses around those sites. So, there's more SEAD missions laid on for tonight. Action, reaction, counteraction . . . we all know the same dance steps at this point. We just have to play them out."

* * *

Ginger Lynn's Apartment
Las Vegas, NV

Dinner had been a simple affair with chicken stew and grilled cheese sandwiches. Now the two women were on the couch, sipping wine. Sophie could sense tension behind Ginger's attempt at light-hearted banter.

"Ginger . . . what's bothering you?"

Ginger gave Sophie a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes. "It's nothing, really. Look, I don't think you realize just how much all five of us love you."

"Seriously?"

Ginger set her glass down on the coffee table and shifted so that she was sitting in Sophie's lap and straddling her hips. She kissed Sophie with a fervor and passion that took Sophie's breath away.

"Oh, Sophie. You don't judge us. You don't look down on us as whores, you've helped us face our fears. You've given us tenderness and compassion--"

Sophie gently placed a finger on Ginger's lips.

"Ginger . . . you've all given me the same tenderness and compassion, and God knows I need it, too. I'm every bit as flawed as anyone else is. And I have no claim whatsoever to moral superiority over anyone. It's bad enough that I've killed people in job quantity lots. Let's add that I take pride in my ability to visit death onto the enemies of my country, I've taken particular glee in killing the worst of the bunch, and that I've lusted for battle . . . all the things 'good people' aren't supposed to do."

Ginger nodded, and Sophie watched the blonde's eyes well with tears. "It's . . . it's the war. Everyone's a little crazy." Ginger paused, then said, "Sophie . . . every night now, I pray. Not to get anything for myself. I need nothing. I've got a good living, I'm saving money for my retirement, I'm healthy, and I have emotional support--the biz is like a big family sometimes, we've all got each other's backs. I pray for you to make it home safe. I'm praying for your boyfriend, that he comes home, because I want you to have a happy life after the war. You've more than earned it."

She kissed Sophie again, tenderly.

"Sophie . . . I'm scared. I love you so much, and yet I have to let you go back to the war, because it's where you belong."

Ginger let out a long, shuddering sigh, then said, "But tonight . . . let's forget about the war. Tonight, I just want to be with you." She kissed Sophie again. "Come to bed. Yeah, it's cover for status. But it's also closeness and hope. And we both need it."

Sophie grabbed Ginger's hips and stood up, causing Ginger to wrap her arms and legs around Sophie.

She gave Sophie a sultry look. "Promises, promises, darling."

Sophie kissed Ginger for a long moment, then whispered into the blonde's ear, "Promises I intend to keep."

She carried Ginger to the bedroom.

[clancyphile]

50% degradation in effectiveness seems high...

[Matt Wiser]

Ivan's going to be tightening up on their camo and movement discipline. They will also be moving a lot more frequently.

[jemhouston]

One can hope they'll run into a resistance group with RPGs.

[Belushi TD]

50% degradation in effectiveness seems high...

Not necessarily.

What happens if your immediate HQ is destroyed? And the HQ above that is wrecked? You've had two links in the chain of command removed.

In the US military, everyone looks around, says "What the FUCK was that?" and looks for a target to hammer.

In the Soviet military, everyone looks around, says "Holy shit, I'm glad we survived. We will wait for orders." and then does nothing except improve their own positions. If they don't get an attack order for a week and change, its not their fault. They sent in their daily reports. "We tried to get confirmation, but we didn't want to break radio silence" and so forth.

Belushi TD

[Poohbah]

A brief update, with a special guest appearance . . .

28 December 1987
10th Air Force HQ
Nellis Air Force Base
Las Vegas, NV

General Bartlett, 10th Air Force's A-2, led Sophie into the conference room.

A fortyish man, wearing a well-worn suit, was standing by the conference table.

Sophie took a quick assessment. Vaguely familiar for some reason. Military bearing. Alert, measuring me. Senior personage, but there's an instinct to be deferential to General Bartlett. He's seen some shit. Vietnam? Definitely combat arms. Probably a straight shooter, so you'd best be one, too.

Bartlett said, "Doctor Ryan, this is Chief Warrant Officer Sophie Henrix, on loan to us from AFSOC Forward. Chief, Doctor John Ryan, Assistant Deputy Director of Intelligence, Central Intelligence Agency."

Sophie walked up and extended her hand. "Pleased to meet you, sir."

Ryan's handshake was firm, but not the macho he-man crap she sometimes got. "Likewise, Gunner."

Marines.

The meeting was quick and productive, and Ryan said at the end, "We'll get some people on the traffic analysis piece once this goes." He glanced at Bartlett, "General, could I borrow a moment of Gunner Henrix's time, please?"

Bartlett took his cue and stepped out.

"First . . . are you, by any chance, related to Doctor Larissa Henrix out at RAND?"

"She's my mother, sir."

Ryan nodded. "She's good people. Maybe a little too good for this line of work . . . especially with her daughter on the sharp end." He paused, then said, "It pays to not have too active an imagination right now. Unfortunately, both Doctor Henrix and myself are burdened with that."

After another pause, Ryan said, "I wanted to meet you, and to get a measure of you beyond what I learned from your personnel file. I'm wondering if you've given any thought to a postwar career. This is first-rate analytical work, and you found it from a very few clues."

"I'm still considering my options, sir. Right now, assuming we both survive, my major postwar goal is to marry my high school sweetheart."

Ryan nodded. "I see. Well, if this work appeals to you, I think you'd be very good at it."

"I'm not so sure, sir."

Ryan raised an eyebrow. "Do tell."

Sophie sighed, then said, "Sir, can you keep a confidence?"

Ryan nodded.

"Look, I'm a freak. I could do percentages in my head before I was five. I was doing trigonometry for fun before I was ten, I tested out of AP Calculus 1 through 3 in tenth grade, and I was studying topology my senior year. Math? No problems there, sir." She sighed. "Understanding people? Oh, hell no, that is not in my wheelhouse. Look, this whole damn war started because Ivan couldn't figure out we'd gladly trade them our surplus agricultural bounty for some reductions in the nuclear stockpile. So they could only blow up the world five times over instead of seven after we hit them. But they had to go thinking with their dicks--which probably don't work anyway!"

Ryan nodded.

"I don't have that kind of gift . . . but I got started in economics, and I did pretty damn good at picking stocks for Merrill Lynch after I got medically discharged from the Corps. Later, I studied history--I took a doctorate at Georgetown. I had the same problem: I expected the world to be orderly and rational. My thesis advisor--a Jesuit who, sadly, didn't make it--explained it to me like this: 'Wars are begun by frightened old men.' I've concluded that aggressive warfare is an armed robbery writ large. Nothing more or less than that; it's just that the scale's different. I think you understand people enough. You love someone, and presumably that person loves you back. You're a leader; you understand that you have to be first off of the ramp, that you can't ask your airmen to go where you haven't, and you know right from wrong."

Sophie was quiet for a moment, then asked, "You a praying man, sir?"

Ryan said, "Raised Catholic, attended Catholic school through my PhD. I still believe . . . and I still pray. Maybe not as much as I should."

"Sir . . . I guess I'm a lapsed Methodist. It's easy for me to believe when I'm standing next to a good and Godly person like my mother." She sighed. "It's harder when it's just me."

Ryan said, "It helps to be with others. Man is a social animal. Nobody does it alone, Gunner."

[Matt Wiser]

"Aggressive warfare is an armed robbery writ large." That sums it up right there. Along with "Wars are begun by frightened old men." Well, with a Politburo in 1985 with an average age of 66....There was a whole pack of such people.

[jemhouston]

Not to mention, in the 20th century, every side that started the war lost.




OOC, in the timeline was Jack involved in a shooting in London?

[Poohbah]

Not to mention, in the 20th century, every side that started the war lost.




OOC, in the timeline was Jack involved in a shooting in London?

Yes. Sophie picked up on it.

[jemhouston]

Not to mention, in the 20th century, every side that started the war lost.




OOC, in the timeline was Jack involved in a shooting in London?

Yes. Sophie picked up on it.

I'm also assuming Jack was one of the few people at Langley sounding the alarm about the Soviets in Mexico and looking like they were coming north?

[Jotun]

"Aggressive warfare is an armed robbery writ large." That sums it up right there. Along with "Wars are begun by frightened old men." Well, with a Politburo in 1985 with an average age of 66....There was a whole pack of such people.

That is doubly true for Nazi Germany's attempt to take over Europe...they needed the plunder to keep their economy afloat.

[jemhouston]

"Aggressive warfare is an armed robbery writ large." That sums it up right there. Along with "Wars are begun by frightened old men." Well, with a Politburo in 1985 with an average age of 66....There was a whole pack of such people.

That is doubly true for Nazi Germany's attempt to take over Europe...they needed the plunder to keep their economy afloat.

It wasn't until what, 1943 they even fully mobilized.

[Wolfman]

"Aggressive warfare is an armed robbery writ large." That sums it up right there. Along with "Wars are begun by frightened old men." Well, with a Politburo in 1985 with an average age of 66....There was a whole pack of such people.

That is doubly true for Nazi Germany's attempt to take over Europe...they needed the plunder to keep their economy afloat.

It wasn't until what, 1943 they even fully mobilized.

By which point, it was way too late…

[jemhouston]

That is doubly true for Nazi Germany's attempt to take over Europe...they needed the plunder to keep their economy afloat.

It wasn't until what, 1943 they even fully mobilized.

By which point, it was way too late…

It was too late in 1939. You wonder what would have happened if Germany went Communist and allied with the USSR?