Battlefield Ukraine

JIOC

Lieutenant General James Cotton walked across the cobblestone pathway from the Headquarters building to the Joint Intelligence Operations Center (JIOC) building on Patch Barracks. He wanted to get the ball rolling on the latest orders from the President and the Pentagon. He had just returned from Kiev less than two weeks ago, so he had a good idea of what things looked like on the ground at the US/NATO airbase.

LTG Cotton had been the Deputy Commander of US European Command (DCOM) for roughly nine months. The DCOM typically ran EUCOM while the actual commander, who also wore the hat of NATO commander, worked out of NATO’s headquarters in Mons, Belgium.

LTG Cotton walked up to the second floor of the JIOC and entered the operations room. It was laid out almost like a college auditorium in that it had several rows of seats and tables that gradually descended to the first floor which had a small stage and podium. The wall, however, was fixed with nearly a dozen 72” TV monitors, showing various images. One of them was displaying a live radar map of the Ukraine and Eastern Europe, which was monitoring all of the military aircraft in the region, both Allied and Russian. Another screen was a video conference image between their room and Major General Richard Mueller, the US/NATO ground commander in Ukraine (he had just arrived on the scene a couple of days earlier as the US began to beef up their presence in the country). On another monitor, the Commander of US Air Force Europe, who was currently located at the Ramstein Air Force base, was joining in on the video conference. On a fourth monitor, they could see the Pentagon Operation Center, which was a buzz of activity. A fifth monitor was transmitting from the Combat Information Center (CIC) of the USS George H.W. Bush carrier battle group, which had just entered the Mediterranean a couple of days ago. A sixth monitor was showing the operations center at Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers, Europe (SHAPE), where the military leaders of NATO were seated.

“Everyone, listen up,” barked General Jack Wheeler, trying to get everyone’s attention. “I just finished speaking with the President, and he has authorized us to move all US and NATO forces to Threat Condition Delta. He has further directed me to take whatever measures are deemed necessary to protect our forces, short of engaging the Russians. We are authorized to defend ourselves if fired upon, but again, but we are not to provoke the Russians.”

Wheeler paused for a moment and surveyed the audience; he definitely had everyone’s attention. “I’m directing the Bush carrier battle group to take up position in the Black Sea. Should the situation calm down, I will redirect the battle group to the eastern Mediterranean to continue with their previous mission.” Should things heat up with the Russians, having the Bush carrier group in the Black Sea would provide NATO with not just additional combat aircraft, but several ships capable of launching Tomahawk missiles. The 3,500 Marines accompanying the battle group would also come in handy should they need additional ground forces.

General Wheeler directed his attention to the US Air Force Europe Commander. “I want the Air Force to immediately start flying Combat Air Patrols (CAP) over our major NATO bases. I want the F-35s armed and on ready alert to go after those SA-10s and SA-21 sites, if we are given the go order. I also want our AWACs up and running around the clock — we need those eyes in the sky. Until we are told otherwise, I want our air force to be on a war footing, ready to respond to any further Russian aggression,” he directed.

General Wheeler then looked at General Cotton and said, “I want the 2nd Cavalry Regiment issued alert orders and ready to deploy as a brigade within 48 hours to Kiev. Tell them that if they are given the order, they will have 24 hours to arrive in country and to plan.” Several of the colonels in the JIOC with General Cotton were taking copious notes as they began to dispatch orders to their subordinates to get things moving.

The meeting went on for another hour as General Wheeler continued to issue orders, bringing NATO and US Forces to the highest state of readiness since the Cold War. Poland, Germany, and the UK all began to scramble their air forces, providing combat air patrols over critical NATO bases and ports.