Battlefield Korea

Battle of Hwangsuwon Airbase

After ODA 1110’s initial strike against the KPA’s mobile ballistic missile launchers a couple of days ago, CW4 Charles Lee (call sign “Chucky”) moved his team to Hilltop 079, overlooking the Hwangsuwon Airbase. Their new over watch position sat above a small reservoir and dam that also gave them a view of not just the base below (which had already been bombed multiple times) but also the main highway that ran from north to south across the country. The Chinese army would have to move through this path if they were going to secure the lower half of the Korean peninsula and prevent the Marines from establishing a solid foothold behind the KPA frontlines. ODA 1110’s new mission was to continually monitor the traffic on the road and call in airstrikes as often as possible.

Sergeant First Class Mark Wilson (call sign “Maverick”) placed his small utility shovel down on the small dirt mound in front of him and took a long drink of water. Since arriving at their hilltop observation point a day ago, they had been hastily digging in and creating a defensive perimeter. While they had no plans to stand and fight against a larger force should they be discovered, it would have been foolish to not prepare some fighting positions in case it became necessary.

Technical Sergeant Jordan Mitchel (“Jordy”) moved over to Chucky and announced, “I just received a situation report from Henhouse. They said we have a large formation of Chinese soldiers heading towards the airbase. They want to know if we can be ready to call in a series of airstrikes as they start to arrive.”

Chucky nodded. “Tell them we’ll be ready. Make sure you get a good idea on what strike packages we have on hand. Also, find out from Henhouse if we need extraction, what’s the plan? I don’t like not having an exit strategy this deep behind enemy lines,” he said, speaking in a low enough voice that only he and Jordy could hear.

A couple of hours went by, and then they spotted the first columns of Chinese soldiers. It looked to be a mechanized unit of some sorts; they had armored personnel carriers, a myriad of air defense vehicles, tanks, and other troop transport vehicles. It looked to be at least a battalion in size, maybe more.

Chucky turned to Jordy, signaling him silently with his hands, and asking if he had a good grid on the targets for an airstrike. Jordy just smiled and nodded in reply. Chucky then indicated he should go ahead and call in the strike. The entire ODA team had gone silent and was only communicating with hand signals at this point, and if necessary, very quietly through their throat mics.

“Henhouse, Watchman Five. We have positive ID on a Chinese armored column at grid November Kilo 764 576 on main road heading towards destroyed DPRK airbase, Break…. We observe multiple IFVs, MBTs, and anti-aircraft and anti-aircraft artillery vehicles. How copy, over?” Jordy said over his mic.

Roughly ten agonizing seconds later, Henhouse came back over the radio, “Watchman Five, that is a good copy. Can you give us a better description on the air defense vehicles over?”

Chucky crawled closer to Jordy at this point and pulled out his binoculars. He began to scan the enemy vehicles, attempting to identify the specific air defense vehicles traveling with the column. Speaking softly into the mic, he described, “They look like SA-22s and SA-19s, so be advised they have air defense support with the column,” he said to whoever it was on the other side of the radio that was asking. He didn’t resent them for wanting more information, it was only fair to pass along as much of information as possible to the pilots who would have to fly in for this mission.

Their command acknowledged and told them to standby while a strike package was put together.

Three minutes later, Henhouse came back over the radio, informing them that a pair of Vipers would fly in to suppress the enemy air defense while a couple of pairs of Marine F/A-18 Hornets brought the pain. Jordy and Chucky exchanged smiles knowing what was heading towards that Chinese column, and then they passed the word down to the others to be ready. So far, they had not spotted any enemy soldiers near them or looking for them, but that might change if the Chinese believed their positions were being monitored from the hills above them.

Fifteen minutes later, as they continued to observe the vehicles arrive at the destroyed DPRK airbase, a flurry of activity began. The men manning the air defense vehicles began to get them ready to engage an unseen enemy. The other armored vehicles and tanks in the group began to scatter to different portions of the airbase while the infantry soldiers began to run to various dugout shelters.

The few remaining North Korean forces at the base waved in the direction the air attack would most likely come from. The SA-22, which had both missiles and twin 30mm cannons, turned and swung its weapons in that direction. In seconds, the two cannons immediately began to open fire, throwing hundreds of projectiles in the direction of the American aircraft. These were quickly followed by several SAMs being launched at the incoming threats. A few seconds later, an American missile streaked across the sky and plowed into the vehicle, exploding it into a million little pieces.

The second SA-22 and the SA-19 Grison both opened up with their 30mm auto-cannons and their own anti-air missiles. A second American missile plowed into the Grison, shattering it in spectacular fashion. At this point, the remaining SA-22 had turned off his radar and moved his vehicle back several hundred feet at high speed. Another American missile plowed into the dirt where it had just been. In seconds, the SA-22 turned its search radar back on and fired off four anti-air missiles at the incoming F/A-18s and the Vipers still trying to kill them.

As Chucky and Jordy observed the fighting going on below them, they couldn’t help but marvel at the skill of the men on both sides trying to leverage their technology and weapon systems in an effort to defeat each other. When the SA-22 fired off four anti-air missiles, they watched as one of them zeroed in on an F-16. The missile exploded below and just behind the aircraft, though it was clear to see the fighter had sustained heavy damage. The F16 began trailing smoke and tried to maneuver back towards friendly lines.

One of the F/A-18s that had dove in on the airfield to attack the armored column flew in fast, releasing a series of 500 lbs. bombs, ripping multiple vehicles apart in their destructive wake. As the Hornet angled skyward to gain altitude, the lone remaining SA-22 was tracking it and fired a string of 30mm cannon fire in its direction. The American aircraft jinked hard from one side to another in an attempt to dodge the incoming enemy rounds.

The first F/A-18 was lucky and gained enough altitude to escape the enemy fire; however, his partner flew right into it. The second F/A-18 was blown apart in a million little pieces before it was able to release its ordinance. The pilot was able to eject, and as chance would have it, the aircraft came apart as it flew over ODA 1110’s observation point. When the pilot ejected, he was nearly on top of them. As his chute opened and descended, several members from Chucky’s team were there to greet him and keep him silent. They brought him into their lines, along with the other pilot they had rescued earlier.

Chucky walked up to the Marine aviator and held his hand out, “I’m Chief Warrant Officer 4, Charles Lee. I’m in charge of this Special Forces A-Team you dropped into. Until we are relieved or extracted, you are now going to operate under my control. Is that understood Major… Woods?”

Major Woods wasn’t sure what to make of the men in green faces that had just rescued him. He had practically been on top of them when he ejected from his aircraft. Ultimately, he was just glad they had found him and not the Chinese or the North Koreans.

Woods chuckled quietly and then smiled. “It sounds like you have a deal, Chief. I can’t thank you guys enough for recovering me. I thought for certain I’d be captured,” he said as he shook Chucky’s hand. Chucky led the two of them to the center of their perimeter so they could talk a little more freely for a few minutes.

Turning to look at the Marine aviator, Chucky explained, “Listen, we’ve been deep behind enemy lines since before the start of the war. So far, we haven’t been spotted, but it’s only a matter of time. If the Marines establish a beachhead, do you think you could speak to them and have them bail us out?” he asked. They had not gotten any sort of confirmation from Henhouse on their extraction, but with them recovering this second downed pilot, the likelihood of them needing an extraction was increasing by the hour. It would not take the Chinese or KPA long before they sent a search party in this direction.

Woods thought about this question for a minute, not sure how much information he should disclose. Seeing that his own life may depend on the answer, he decided to be direct and give them the truth. “The Marines have already secured a beachhead. They’ve pushed about ten miles inland, so believe it or not, they are only around ninety miles from this position. The fact that the PLA is moving a lot of units here is not good. It means they are going to try and push our Marines back into the ocean. As for an extraction, I’m not sure. As you just saw, the enemy air defense capability around here is pretty strong. I’m not sure our helicopters would survive. If the Air Force can get a few more Viper missions to suppress them then yeah, I think it’s possible.”

The two of them talked for a few minutes longer before they gave the Major a commandeered AK-47 and about a dozen magazines. They placed him in a fighter hole near one of the other SF soldiers on the perimeter, and told him to stay silent and watch while they reported their position to higher headquarters and asked for an extraction.

For the next ten minutes, they went back and forth with Henhouse on the details. It was determined that the Air Force would have to conduct additional wild weasel missions. Once the enemy had been thinned out, then they could try for an extraction.

Brigadier General Cho was not happy. His division had been getting harassed from the air for the past several days by the Americans and Japanese, greatly slowing down his progress. He should have arrived at this DPRK airbase two days ago, so they could get it operational for the People’s Liberation Army Air Force. However, just as his lead battalion arrived at the base, they came under additional air attacks by American F-16s and F/A-18s.

“Colonel Fang, I need you to keep these Yankee aircraft off our backs! How soon until the rest of your air defense brigade is able to setup a perimeter at the DPRK airbase and stop these attacks?!” Cho demanded angrily.

Colonel Fang had been doing his best to provide air defense for the 39^th Army, but it had been nearly impossible to keep the Americans from getting through. Between their stealth aircraft and electronic jamming, his air defense systems were having a hard time suppressing the American air superiority.

“I know what the problem is General Cho, and we are working on solving it. I just lost two of the three SAM systems I sent to the airbase earlier today. The air force is supposed to start providing us with more fighter support. That should help the situation until I can get additional SA-21 systems set up,” he responded. The accusation that his brigade was not doing the best they could made him hot under the collar. He had been getting yelled at by nearly every division and brigade commander since their army group had crossed into North Korea at the start of the war.

Walking over to Colonel Fang, General Cho leaned in and said in a low voice, “Look, the American Marines are less than ninety miles from the Hwangsuwon Airbase. Once they land enough forces, they are going to make a concerted push in this direction. With the North Koreans having just surrendered to the allies, we have to secure as much of the country as possible. What can you do to establish some sort of air defense corridor to allow us to marshal enough forces to push them back into the sea?” he asked in a much calmer tone.

“Sometimes the best way to get what you want is to apply honey when the vinegar has clearly not worked,” Cho remembered.

The sudden surrender of the North Koreans had caught the Chinese army off guard, and certainly made things a bit more complicated. The PLA now had to secure as much of the country as possible. Pausing for a minute before responding, Colonel Fang replied, “I need you to secure the surrounding hills and ridges around the airbase. We need to make sure there are no enemy soldiers nearby calling in airstrikes on us. From the reports I read from one of my units at the base, they came under air attack almost as soon as they arrived at the base. Clearly an enemy force is operating in the area. Find and destroy them, and I will get you an air defense corridor.”

General Cho nodded. “I will have my division start to clear the surrounding hills and ensure there are no Americans observing the base. In the meantime, please move additional air defense vehicles to the base. My infantry forces will work with your men to identify new positions to locate the SAMs and anti-aircraft guns to best protect the base.”

The two men talked for a few more minutes and then went their separate ways to get things moving.

General Cho waved to his executive officer for him to come over to him. Cho unfolded his map on the side of his command ZBD-04A infantry fighting vehicle and spit the piece of gum he had been chewing into his hand. Then he applied it to both corners of the map, and pressed them against the side armor of the vehicle.

“You didn’t want to use one of the tables?” his XO said in a slight chuckle as he approached his commander.

Smiling and then laughing at what he had just done, “Sometimes when you have an idea, you just have to run with it before it fades away. Come here and look at the map of the DPRK airbase. I just got done talking with Colonel Fang from our air defense brigade. He insisted that there must be an American, ROK, or Japanese unit operating on one of these ridges or hilltops near the airbase, calling in airstrikes. He has asked if we could help clear these areas, so he can bring in additional air defense systems. Then the engineers can work on getting the airfield operational again for the air force.”

General Cho showed his XO multiple hilltops and ridgelines in the vicinity of the airbase. “Colonel Fang also said they had shot down two aircraft. One of the pilots was able to eject in the vicinity of this hilltop, roughly a mile and a half from the airbase, but no one has gone looking for the pilot yet.”

The XO gave a puzzled look. “Why didn’t anyone send a search party?” he wondered. “Seems like someone isn’t doing their job…”

“I am going to call fifth brigade and find out why they have not secured that downed pilot yet. They should have,” he replied. “We have a Special Forces battalion we can call and see if they will support us in trying to ferret out this enemy force in the area. Would you like me to give them a call and see if they can spare any units?” his XO offered. He knew his commander was under a lot of pressure to secure the airbase and then move to the coast to make contact with the American Marines.

General Cho nodded and signaled that it was time for them to get back on the road. “Have the rest of the division continue to move towards the airbase. We need to get it secured and back operational within the next 24 hours, if possible.”

Maverick signaled Chunk, their demolition expert, to crawl over to his position. Sighing, Chunk slowly crawled out of his fighting position and made his way over to Maverick’s little foxhole, which was fifteen yards away from his own. “This had better be good-I just opened my tortellini and cheese, and they are going to get cold,” he said in reference to his MRE, snickering.

Maverick ignored the joke and handed him his spotting lens. “What do you see down there at the base of the hill?”

Chunk grudgingly took the glasses from Maverick and began to scan down below. The bottom of the hill was roughly 4,000 yards below them and had a fairly steep elevation. A soldier on foot could easily scale it, but not a tracked vehicle. As he peered through the trees towards the clearing at the bottom of the hill, his eyes spotted something. At first, it was just a couple of what appeared to be Chinese soldiers. But as he scanned the area, he spotted dozens of infantrymen, all heading up the hill towards their position.

“I see we have company joining us for lunch,” he replied as he handed the binoculars back. “You better tell Chucky.”

Keying his mic, Maverick said, “Chucky, we have company heading our direction from the base of the hill. Chunk and I spotted at least a couple dozen infantrymen. How do you want us to proceed?”

CW4 Lee was hoping they could stay undetected for a little while longer, but with the downing of the Hornet pilot, he knew that was becoming less and less likely.

“This is going to get ugly fast,” he thought.

Keying his own mic, Chucky responded, “Standby and monitor them. I’m going to raise Henhouse and advise them of our situation.”

“Henhouse, this is Watchman Five. We have enemy soldiers heading towards our position. What is the likelihood of us being able to get an extraction?” he asked for probably the tenth time in the last three hours.

A couple of minutes went by before they heard the familiar voice of Henhouse. “The Air Force is going to vector in two pairs of wild weasels to your position. Depending on their success, we may be able to arrange for an extraction on the back side of Hill 079, roughly 2,000 yards from your current position. How copy?”

CW4 Lee smiled at that news. They had been going around and around trying to get an extraction. “That’s a good copy, Henhouse. How soon until the Vipers show up?”

The radio came back to life quickly in response. “They should be in bound in less than five mikes. Standby and report back on any battle damage assessments.”

As the enemy soldiers slowly began to climb up the hill they were dug in on, additional armored troop carriers and tanks fanned out around the airbase. Several pieces of construction equipment showed up as well; two bulldozers and a couple of graders had begun the process of filling in the craters on the runways and taxiways. Two more SA-22s had also shown up and it looked like an SA-10 was being set up not far from the dam and the edge of the reservoir. Then, they heard the unmistakable sound of jet engines.

Once the jets could be heard, the SA-22s and SA-20s immediately began to fill the sky with surface-to-air missiles, intermixed with their 30mm anti-aircraft guns. Several PGZ95 Chinese self-propelled anti-aircraft vehicles also opened up with their quad 25mm autocannons, filling the sky with green tracers and SAMs. The overwhelming rumble of war was incredible; the thunderous booms of hundreds of 30mm and 25mm autocannon rounds echoed throughout the valley and filled the sky. Then Chucky and the rest of his team saw several missiles impact against the body of two PGZ95s, which blew up violently, throwing flames and shrapnel in all directions.

Then, one of the SA-20s exploded in spectacular fashion, just as the others had earlier in the day. Only this time, they saw one of the F-16s explode in mid-air as one of the SAMs collided with it. As more SAMs flew after the F-16s and additional anti-aircraft fire continued to light up the sky, another Viper pilot was hit, though he managed to limp his aircraft away. Fortunately, before he had to leave the battle, he managed to shoot down two more of the anti-aircraft vehicles.

There was just one more SA-22 left in the vicinity of the airbase as the last two Viper pilots zoomed in to go after it. They both released a series of snake eye 500 lbs. bombs as they banked hard to the north, lighting up their afterburners and putting as much space as possible between themselves and the bombs they had just released.

The four bombs landed near the SA-22 and several other ZBD infantry fighting vehicles, tearing them apart, killing the crews and the nearby soldiers instantly. As the remaining American aircraft headed out to sea and the relative safety it provided, the carnage they left below was impressive. While they had lost one F-16 in the short engagement, they had also eliminated the remaining SAM and anti-aircraft vehicles near the DPRK airbase. Meanwhile, additional tanks, infantry fighting vehicles and other self-propelled artillery guns continued to arrive with little to no air defense systems left to protect them. It would not be long until additional SAMs were brought in; however, until that happened, Chucky signaled for Jordy to try and call in as much air support as possible on the enemy vehicles marshaling at the base below.

As Jordy was on the radio setting up the airstrikes, a company-size element of Chinese infantry continued to steadily move up the ridge, towards the spot where their team had dug in. CW4 Lee was left with two hard decisions: one, they could give up the tactical advantage they held right now of controlling the top of the hill and being entrenched, or, they could leave the safety of the high ground and try to evade down the backside of the slope. If they chose the second option, they would have to try to set up a new landing zone and hope for the best.

“The problem with escaping is we have these two downed pilots with us,” Chucky thought. “Neither of them have the equipment or training in how to evade to the level that my team can. This will only slow my team down, and in all likelihood, it will give our position away.”

In that moment, he made his decision; they would stand and fight while they waited for their extraction to get close enough for them to bug out.

“Henhouse, this is Watchmen Five. We have good battle damage assessment from the vipers. There is only one SA-22 left at the airbase. However, we are also seeing additional armor, self-propelled artillery, and additional infantry fighting vehicles arriving at the base-looks to be about battalion in size, though that number continues to increase each hour. Requesting immediate extraction at landing zone Papa. How copy, over?” Lee spoke into the mic softly but succinctly.

It took a few minutes before they heard a response, “Watchmen Five, this is Henhouse. That is a good copy. We are dispatching the extraction now. Expect two CH-53K Sea Stallions and four Cobra gunships, courteous of the Marines. ETA ninety minutes.”

“Good copy, we’ll standby. Out.” replied Lee as he then turned to his team’s private net. “Heads up guys. We have an extraction inbound, ETA 90 minutes at LZ Papa.”

Maverick looked down at the enemy troops moving towards them and made the quick calculation in his head that they would arrive before their extraction. Keying his mic, “Chief, those PLA soldiers below us our probably less than fifteen mikes away from making contact. What’s the plan?” he asked, hoping they would make it until their extraction.

Lee sat there next to the log he was using for cover. He craned his neck and looked around the hilltop. About one hundred yards further down the hill, on the opposite side of the Chinese soldiers, the ground leveled out and there were only a few small trees.

“What if we cut those smaller trees down and move the LZ closer to us? he thought. “This way, we don’t give the enemy a chance to take the hilltop just as our rescue helicopters start to arrive.”

Keying his mic, “Chunk, I want you to take your explosives and head down the slope behind us. Roughly a hundred yards away is a plateau with a few smaller trees on it. I want you to rig those trees to be blown down with your C4. We need to create a new LZ closer to us, so we can defend the hilltop for the extraction. How copy?”

Chunk turned to look back to the area Chucky had just mentioned, and sure enough there was a small plateau just large enough for a CH-53K helicopter, pending they removed a few of those trifling trees.

“Yeah, that can work,” he thought as he smiled.

“No problem Chief, I’m on it,” Chunk replied, and then he began to scurry away to get their new LZ ready.

“Henhouse, this is Watchmen Five. We have enemy troops converging on our position. Estimate contact within ten minutes. We are changing the landing zone to grid November Kilo 7657 8684. It’s a small plateau near our existing position. Please advise that this will be a hot extraction. How copy?” he asked.

They acknowledged the change in plans, and informed him that the gunships would lead the way into the area to pick them up.

Lee then turned to Jordy, his Air Force tactical air combat controller and said, “Jordy, see what kind of air support you can raise to hit the base below and provide us with some air support, OK?”

Jordy just nodded his head and smiled, he was already working the air support angle before CW4 Lee had even asked.

The enemy soldiers had now advanced to within 300 yards of their current position. When they had set up their position a couple of days ago, they had placed a series of roughly twelve claymore mines in front of them. Eight of them were roughly 50 yards away, while the remaining four were less than 20 meters away. Lee, however, did not want to let the enemy get that close to them. He hoped to save the claymores for when the helicopters arrived, and they needed to bugout.

When the soldiers got within 250 yards, Chucky keyed his throat mic, “Everyone mark your targets and be ready. When you hear me fire the first shot, open up, and let’s cut these guys down. Our choppers are now 45 minutes away. We need to make sure these guys are not able to interfere with our extraction.”

Everyone was tense. Up to this point, they had not engaged any enemy soldiers since their infiltration. They had managed to stay below the radar, hidden, while they called in relentless airstrikes. But in a few seconds, everyone in the valley below and at the enemy airbase was about to know they were there. Lee looked down his rifle sights and spotted who he believed to be the Chinese officer in charge of the group. He was holding a pistol and yelling, pointing in the different directions where he wanted groups of soldiers to move to. As he aimed at the officer, his right thumb moved ever so slightly to the selector switch and turned it from safe to single shot. He then began to slowly apply pressure to the trigger with his right index finger, until he felt the firing pin slam against the primer igniting the cartridge and sending the 5.56mm projectile 2,841 feet per second down the length of the barrel to impact in the center mass of the Chinese officer he had just been aiming at. The officer immediately clutched at his chest and then collapsed to the ground.

This all happened in less than a second, and it took a moment for the sound of the round being fired to reach the rest of the Chinese soldiers before they reacted. Within that fraction of a second, the eleven other members of ODA 1110 opened fire with their own weapons. The downed pilots also joined in the chorus with the additional rifles the Special Forces guys had given them. As the fourteen Americans began to pour accurate and heavy fire down on the Chinese soldiers, nearly forty of them were killed outright before they even knew what was happening.

The remaining enemy soldiers dropped to the ground and scrambled for cover as they slowly started to return fire back at the Americans. The Chinese soldiers were now desperate to escape the ambush they had mistakenly walked into. As an officer or sergeant was identified by the Americans, they were killed off, leaving the remaining enemy soldiers leaderless at a critical moment. In less than two minutes, the enemy soldiers who were still left alive tried to break contact and began to fall back further down the hill, trying to escape the killing field.

Five minutes after they had opened fire on the Chinese soldiers, the short engagement had ended. Now, all they could hear was the cries of agony from the wounded and the dying that had been left behind by their comrades. They could still hear some of the enemy soldiers further down the hill shouting something in Chinese, but they were unable to make it out.

“Is anyone hurt?” Lee said over the team net, trying to do a quick assessment. Everyone reported back that they were fine, and they had only burned through a couple of magazines of ammunition. The machine gunners reported they had each burned through two 100-round belts, but were otherwise good to go on ammo.

While the team continued to assess their situation, they spotted dozens of vehicles now heading towards the base of the hill they were on. These vehicles were undoubtedly bringing additional reinforcements.

Chucky tried to get in touch with Sergeant First Class Obed Perez (call sign “Eagle Eye”), the ODA’s resident sniper. “Eagle Eye, set up that M82 and see if you can slow down some of those vehicles,” Lee ordered.

“Copy that Chucky. Give me a minute, and I’ll start hitting them,” Perez replied.

He immediately placed his M4 on the ground to the right of his position, and then unpacked and assembled his M82 Barret .50 sniper rifle. As he snapped the optics on, he placed his first 10-round box magazine in the rifle. He pulled the bolt back and chambered the first round, sighting in on the lead truck, which was carrying close to twenty enemy soldiers. He placed the red dot of his sight on the engine and pulled the trigger. The rifled recoiled hard into his shoulder, but no more than what he had expected. The half-inch round reached out nearly a mile in distance, and slammed into the engine block of the truck. A trail of smoke began to emit from the hood as the truck rolled to a stop. The soldiers in it immediately jumped out of the vehicle and started to take cover, not sure if another bullet might be aimed at them next.

A second truck, an infantry fighting vehicle, moved around the now disabled truck and began to head towards Hill 079. The turret gunner turned his 30mm autocannon in their direction and began to fire. Everyone dropped back down behind their cover as the 30mm rounds began to tear through the trees and vegetation around them.

As tree branches and leaves fell on Eagle Eye, he aimed at the turret, hoping he might kill the gunner or vehicle commander with his next shot. He squeezed the trigger and felt the weapon kick as his next round reached out and hit the turret, punching a small hole into it. Then he aimed just slightly to the right of his first round and fired again. He placed two more quick shots into the turret, and it stopped firing at them. He was not sure if he had killed them, but he had stopped them from shooting at his comrades and that was all that mattered.

While he had been focused on that ZBD-04, two more opened fire with their own turrets. One was equipped with a 30mm autocannon like the first one that fired at them, and the second was equipped with a 100mm cannon. As the Chinese began to fire, a tree not more than twenty yards below them exploded. Additional 30mm rounds began to rake their position as well.

While the 30mm gun was causing them problems, the 100mm cannon needed to be taken out first. Eagle Eye aimed at the turret of this ZBD just like he had the first one, and fired several quick rounds into the turret. He dropped the box magazine and replaced it with a fresh one. Just as he took aim at the third infantry fighting vehicle, a Type 99A main battle tank fired its 125mm cannon in his direction, its high explosive round hitting not more than 15 feet away from his position. He felt like multiple sledgehammers were hitting his back, legs and right arm. He momentarily blacked out.

When he opened his eyes, he hurt everywhere. He tried to move his right arm, only it didn’t respond. He turned to look at his right arm and saw that it was barely being held together by some muscles and tendons. With each pulse, he saw more blood squirt out, pooling on the ground around him. “This is Eagle Eye. I’m hit bad. I need help,” he managed to say in a weak voice that was barely audible over the sound of battle.

The team’s medic, Sergeant First Class Rich Tory (“Doc”) came out of nowhere and landed right next to Eagle Eye. “Let me look you over, Buddy,” he said as he immediately began to assess his friend’s wounds.

“Oh, this is bad my friend,” he thought as he saw Eagle Eye’s right arm and his back. His limb was nearly ripped off and he had several deep gashes in his back. Doc pulled a tourniquet out of his bag and immediately tied it off an inch or so above the wound. He began to apply pressure on it until he saw the wound had finally stopped squirting blood. Then he started to apply several bandages on Eagle Eye’s back, pouring some quick clotting powder in an attempt to stop the bleeding. Then he pulled out a bag of plasma and started an IV.

While Doc was working on stabilizing Eagle Eye, the rest of the team was doing their best to keep their heads down as the Chinese moved hundreds of soldiers to the base of the hill. The PLA started storming up the hill, firing at the team as they went. Just as the enemy fire was starting to peak (with the armored vehicles and tanks below adding their own fire to the battle), Jordy signaled to Lee that he had a pair of Marine F/A-18s inbound to provide support.

The valley below and the area around the enemy airfield began to light up with anti-aircraft fire, throwing thousands of 25mm and 30mm rounds into the air. Then they heard the unmistakable sound of jet aircraft flying through the valley at high speed. Multiple 500 lbs. bombs began to land among the armored vehicles below, scoring multiple direct hits against the tanks and other armored vehicles. Hundreds of enemy soldiers who had not yet started up the hill were also caught in the bomb’s blast, killing or maiming most of them outright.

The remaining enemy soldiers continued to advance up the hill, firing into the American positions now that they knew where they were. Occasionally, several of the Chinese would pause to launch an RPG at them. One of the downed pilots screamed out in pain after an RPG hit near him. He was yelling for a medic at the top of his lungs, clearly in agony and pain. Doc left Eagle Eye bandaged up with the IV bag of plasma, and ran over to Major Wood’s position.

The Marine aviator had a horrible gash in his abdomen. Part of his intestines were visible, poking through the wound. He was trying to use his hand to push them back inside his own stomach.

Doc immediately grabbed a pressure dressing from his bag and some quick clotting powder. “Woods, I need you to lay down. I know this hurts. I’m going to give you a quick shot of morphine, but I need you to lay back so I can wrap up your wound, OK?”

Major Woods nodded in agreement through gritted teeth. As he laid flat on his back, Doc could better see the wound. He grabbed the intestines and pushed them back into the wound, pouring the quick clot over the wound and then applied the pressure dressing to hold everything in place. Then Doc grabbed the syringe of morphine, biting the cover off with his teeth, exposing the needle, which he immediately stuck it into Major Wood’s right thigh.

He spat out the cap. “Hang in there,” he told his patient. “Our extraction chopper is not that far away.”

Meanwhile, 30mm rounds, RPGs and high-explosive rounds from the various cannons (not to mention bullets from the hundreds of infantrymen coming their way) were filling the air with hot lead and shrapnel. Doc could hear the other members of his team viciously returning fire. They were throwing hundreds of 5.56mm and 7.62mm rounds down the hill at the enemy, in a volume of fire that far exceeded the team’s limited number of personnel. Like most ODA teams, they were punching way above their weight level, and making the enemy pay for each foot of distance they traveled up the hill.

Lee looked over at Jordy. “Can you get us any more air support? We need them to place some bombs danger close, several hundred meters below us!” yelled Chucky to his tactical air combat controller.

Jordy was already on the radio to a flight of Marine F/A-18s, begging for air support. “We have troops in contact-multiple US Forces casualties and in danger of being overrun. Requesting all available air support,” he said frantically over the radio net to any fighter aircraft monitoring this frequency.

A new pair of F/A-18s heard the cries of distress. “We still have two 500 lbs. bombs each, and we will come in hot and heavy on the coordinates you provided.”

Another pair of A-10 Warthogs came over the net, saying, “We have a full load of bombs and we can assist.” Jordy vectored them in towards their position and warned them of the enemy anti-aircraft guns near the enemy airbase.

The F/A-18s came in first, hitting several of the armored vehicles and anti-aircraft vehicles and guns near the enemy airfield. When the A-10s arrived, they dropped a series of cluster bombs across the base of the hill and near their positions, obliterating the enemy soldiers advancing up the hill towards them.

While the A-10s were tearing into the enemy, one of the 25mm anti-aircraft guns stopped firing at the F/A-18s and took aim at the Warthogs. Within seconds, one of the A-10’s engines was riddled with 25mm rounds, causing the engine to explode. Black smoke billowed out of the aircraft as it banked hard to the left, trying to gain altitude and move away from the anti-aircraft gun. The Warthog continued to take hits, until the pilot realized that he would not make it if he stuck around and limped back towards home. The other A-10 did his best to rake the enemy positions with his 30mm chain gun and his remaining bombs before turning to home to escort his wounded comrade back to base.

While these attacks were taking place, they began to hear the familiar sound of helicopter blades beating against the air in their rhythmic thumping. Then, Jordy heard a call over the radio from the Cobra gunship pilots. “We are going to make a few quick passes to hit the enemy positions, so you can have cover to fall back to the LZ,” they told him.

CW4 Lee spoke into his mic. “Chunk-it’s time to blow those charges on the trees in our makeshift LZ.”

Seconds later, he heard a series of smaller explosions. Chunk came over the radio, chuckling. “The alternate landing zone is ready, Sir.”

Then, the pilot in the lead CH-53 came over the net. “We are on our final approach to the LZ,” he announced.

“Maverick, I need you to buy us some time to get the pilots on board the helicopters before you join us at the LZ. I want to blow the claymores if the enemy gets close enough. When I give you the signal to head to the helicopters, blow the claymores whether there’s enemy nearby or not. Got it!?” yelled Chucky as he got up and began to look for the pilots.

He ran over to Major Woods, who had the stomach injury, and began to pull him off the ground. Doc was helping Eagle Eye move to the LZ and a couple more of the wounded were also making their way to the CH-53K, which had settled down on the plateau they just cleared.

As the wind from the rotor wash hit Chucky’s face, he felt a sudden relief as he approached the back ramp with Major Woods on his shoulder. A Navy corpsman ran forward and assisted in taking the wounded pilot from him and began to assess his injuries in the helicopter.

Chucky sent the final message to Maverick. “It’s time. Blow the charges and beat feet back to the LZ!”

CW4 Lee couldn’t hear the claymores going off, but he saw a small cloud of smoke rise from their old positions, so he knew they must have gone off. Then, he saw Maverick come running over the hilltop towards them. The second CH-53K was still in a low hover a couple of hundred meters behind them; the door gunner opened fire on something he saw.

One of the Super Cobras flew in low and fast, firing off several 70mm anti-personnel rockets and using his nose gun on something. As Maverick made his way into the helicopter, the tail gunner let the pilots know they had everyone on board. The chopper immediately began to lift off and turn away from the Chinese positions and down the opposite valley.

The Cobras stayed behind for a few minutes longer, tearing into the enemy vehicles and positions below before a pair of Chengdu J-10s flew in and blew three of the four Cobras out of the sky. Before the J-10s could go hunting for the two CH-53Ks and the remaining Cobra, a pair of F/A-18s joined the fray, and the fighters took their fight high in the sky, allowing the rescue helicopters to escape.

Chief Lee took his helmet off and rubbed his hand through his sweaty, greasy hair with his right hand, still in a bit of disbelief that they had made it out. He was completely unaware of the enemy fighters in the area or the fact that three of the four Cobra’s had just been shot down. All he knew was that everyone in his team and the two downed pilots appeared like they were going to make it. They had been hidden behind enemy lines now for twenty days and accomplished multiple missions given to them. Now it was time to recover, rearm, and get ready for the next mission.

An hour later, their helicopter flew over the beachhead and they got a good glimpse of what was going on down on the ground. They could see the city had been hit hard during the fighting. It looked like the military officially had the logistics “gravy train” fully up and running. Ships were now docked and offloading heavy armor and other equipment, along with thousands of additional Marines. Their helicopter continued out to sea, until they arrived at the USS Iwo Jima. The chopper slowly hovered and then settled down on the deck. Several Navy members ran up to the ramp of the helicopter, along with several corpsman and stretchers for the wounded.

A Marine officer approached Chucky. “I’m Major George,” he said, extending his hand. “Are you Chief Warrant Officer Lee?”

He nodded. The Major guided him away from the helicopter to the tower and opened a hatch. Once they were inside, he turned and said, “Chief, Colonel Bigsby wants to speak with you in the operations room.”

“What about the rest of my team?” Lee asked, wanting to make sure they were taken care of.

“They are being escorted below to one of the SEAL team rooms. They can rest up in there for the time being,” Major George replied as he continued to lead Lee through the winding corridors of the ship.

When they entered the operations room, Lee could see they had a lot of maps up on the walls with the disposition of various enemy and friendly troops. Lee was still wearing his body armor and weapons when he walked in, so he looked a bit intimidating. He also had a three-week beard going and hadn’t showered in that time either, so he was sure he stunk to high heaven.

Colonel Bigsby walked towards Lee and extended his hand. “Well done out there, Chief. Your team did a bang-up job. I’ve been reading over your contact reports. Impressive. The Air Force was able to destroy a number of those mobile ballistic missile launchers before they could fire their missiles. Then you guys directed a number of airstrikes that prevented the KPA (and later the Chinese) from pushing my Marines off the beach into the sea. You guys saved a lot of lives,” he said, with genuine conviction and gratitude.

“Here, let’s walk over to the map board,” directed Bigsby. He pointed at Hill 079, where they had just come from. “Our latest signal intercepts place an entire Chinese division moving down this road heading towards the airbase you were over-watching and our beachhead. The Air Force is going to order in an arc light mission to carpet bomb the entire valley, stretching from the airbase to this point here,” he explained, pointing to a spot on the map several miles further north. “If we are lucky, we are going to obliterate a lot of that division tonight when the strike happens,” he concluded with a smile.

“Sir, I appreciate the congratulations and giving me the big picture of what’s going on and what we accomplished. I’ll pass it on to the rest of my team… but once we’ve had the chance to clean up, sleep, and rearm, where are we needed?” CW4 Lee asked, wanting to get right down to business.

The Colonel just smiled. “I like you snake eaters, all business. You just want to get right back to the business of killing the enemy-just like Marines,” he said jokingly. “Now that you’ve made it to the ship safely, I’ve got to let your command know and find out where they want me to send you guys. You may head back to Korea or maybe Japan. I’m not sure if you guys had heard, but the Chinese just invaded Taiwan. I’m not aware of us sending any forces down to support Taiwan, but I suspect if they did, it would be snake eaters like yourselves and some of our SEAL teams.”

This certainly was news to him. He knew the Chinese had joined the war once they started to see PLA soldiers, but he was completely unaware Taiwan had been invaded.

“This war really is starting to spill over into a lot of countries. If this isn’t the start of World War III, then I don’t know what is,” Lee thought to himself.

Looking back to the Colonel, CW4 Lee replied, “Thank you again, Sir, for pulling our butts out of the fire on this one. We owe you guys big time. If it’s all right with you, I’m going to go get a hot shower and try and get some sleep for the next few days before they throw us back into the meat grinder.” He spoke with a devilish grin on his face. Lee was tired, sore, and hungry, but he was ready to go another round with the enemy, if needed.

Later that evening, an hour or so after evening chow, Bigsby passed him a note. “You are going to be flown to Seoul for further orders from First Group.”

The following morning, ODA 1110 boarded a V-22 Osprey, along with a number of other sailors and Marines and they began the trek to Seoul and an uncertain future.

Four hours later, after two pitstops for fuel, ODA 1110 arrived at Camp Kim, located adjacent to Yongsan Garrison in Seoul, South Korea. Camp Kim was the new home to the Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force-Korea. As the Osprey landed and the back ramp was lowered, Chucky’s team grabbed their gear and headed out the ramp. Lieutenant Colonel Hank Mitchel, their battalion commander, was there to greet them with a warm smile.

“Welcome back to the world, gentlemen! Come this way; we have a van ready to take you guys back to the team room. We have a lot to brief you guys up on, but before we do that, I want to congratulate you all on a supremely successful mission. You guys rescued two downed pilots, and your intelligence nearly destroyed an entire PLA division after that arc light mission last night,” the Colonel said as he offered up some praise to his men.

The team members threw their gear into the back of one van and got in another that would take them to their unit’s team room. Their battalion Sergeant Major was also there with LTC Mitchel, and like their commander, he was heaping praise on them for a job well done.

While none of their comrades had been killed, three of them were gravely injured, and the likelihood of them returning to the team was slim. Chief Lee climbed into the passenger seat while Colonel Mitchel drove the van the short distance to their building, so he could find out how his men were. “How are Eagle Eye, Chunk, and Tig doing?” Lee asked.

LTC Mitchel didn’t say anything for a second, “Tig will be fine. He may even be able to come back to the unit in a few months, once he’s recovered. Chunk’s done with the military, and so is Eagle Eye. Chunk’s back got messed up from some of the shrapnel. I talked with someone at the hospital this morning and he has partial feeling in his legs. They are confident it’ll return, but it will take some time. Eagle Eye unfortunately lost his right arm. The damage was too extensive, and they couldn’t save it. The shrapnel in his back and legs didn’t cause any lasting damage, but they’ll medical him out of the Army… I wish I had better news for you Chuck, but that’s what I’ve got,” Mitchel said, knowing this would be hard for everyone to deal with.

Chuck nodded his head before replying, “They are alive. That is all that matters.” The two rode in silence for the last mile of their trip.

An hour after they arrived back at the unit building, CW4 Lee walked down the hall to the operations center, to try and see what all was going on and when his team might be needed again so he could dismiss his guys to get some proper rest and downtime.

“Ah, there you are Chief,” Major Witten said as he motioned for him to come over to his desk. Lee walked over and plopped himself in the chair next to the Major.

“Whatcha got for us, Major?” asked Lee, wanting to see what their intelligence officer had cooking.

“We have a possible mission for you guys. We are still getting all the details, but you guys are going to be on deck for it. You want to know about it?” he asked with a wry grin on his face.

Lee smiled at the grin Major Witten had; it must be a good mission for him to smirk like that.

“Sure, why not,” CW4 Lee replied.

Witten brought up a picture on his screen and turned it towards Lee. “You see this guy? His name is Liang Zhang Wei. He’s a Deputy Minister in State Security, and is the right-hand man to Chairman Zhang Dejiang. Chairman Zhang is the third-ranking member in China, and believed to be the second-most powerful man in China next to President Xi. If the mission gets approved, it’s going to be a snatch and grab.”

Lee studied the picture of Liang, and then asked, “Why is this guy so important that they want to capture him?”

That was a good question, and honestly something Major Witten was still working on getting the answer to. “I’m not sure why he is so important. I only know that one of those guys with no names, from an agency that doesn’t exist, came in and handed up his information. He said they are still working out the details on where and when, but when they get that locked down, they want a team ready to snatch him immediately. Since you guys just got back from a long mission, they selected you guys for it. Until we get more information, your team should probably rest up and standby.”

Just then LTC Mitchel walked over. “Take the next 24 hours and get some rest. Tell your team to be back here at 1300 hours tomorrow, and we’ll have more information for you guys then.”

As Lee left the operations center, a man in khaki pants and a 511-button down shirt walked over to Mitchel and Witten. “You sure you want to handle this mission? I can see if the SEALs have a snatch team that can do this, if you think your guys need more time to rest and recover,” he offered, giving them the option of backing out of the mission before it materialized.

Both Witten and Mitchel looked at each other and then back to the man (who was most likely CIA). “We’ll be fine,” Mitchel replied. “But since you are here-why is this guy so important?”

The CIA man eyed the two of them suspiciously for a minute before responding, “We have a source within the Chinese government that says Chairman Zhang Dejiang is the mastermind behind the recent attacks by the Chinese. He also says China and Russia planned this entire war out years ago. Chairman Zhang is too heavily guarded, and our source says he spends most of his time in various command bunkers with the President. Liang Zhang Wei, on the other hand, is Zhang’s right-hand man. He handles a lot of the meetings Zhang either can’t make or is too busy to attend. Our plan is to snatch Liang, and then interrogate him and find out what he knows.”

He leaned forward, speaking more quietly. “This whole war seems to have come out of nowhere, but what if this entire war was engineered and planned years in advance? That is what we want to find out and why Liang is important enough to risk one of your teams to capture him,” the CIA man explained.

“Our guys will be ready. Just make sure this isn’t some sort of suicide mission,” LTC Mitchel said as he thought about the mission.

“This is a tough one,” he realized. “I hate the idea of passing on a mission, but maybe this would be a better mission for the SEALs or Delta. They specialize in snatch and grab missions, far more than my conventional Special Operations Forces units do. My teams are usually busy conducting deep penetration and reconnaissance raids behind enemy lines, not grabbing political prisoners.”