Team Yankee: A Novel of World War III (Revised & Expanded Edition)

CHAPTER 1 STAND-TO

The noise and the metallic voice sounded as if they came from the far end of a long, dark corridor. There were no other feelings or sensations as he drifted from a dead sleep through that transitional period of half-asleep, half-awake. An inner, soothing voice on the near end of the corridor whispered, “It’s not important, go back to sleep.” But the radio whined back to life again and the metallic voice called out unanswered.

“BRAVO 3 ROMEO 56 — THIS IS KILO 8 MIKE 77. RADIO CHECK, OVER.” The inner voice was silent this time. Duty called and sleep had to be abandoned.

As Captain Bannon began the grim process of waking up, other senses began to enter play. First came the aches, pains, and muscle spasms, the result of sleeping on an uneven bed of personal gear, vehicular equipment, ration boxes, ammo boxes, and other odds and ends that tend to clutter the interior of a combat vehicle. A tumbled and distorted bed made up of paraphernalia ranging from soft, to not-so-soft, to downright hard does cruel things to the human body. Only exhaustion and the desire to be near the radios whenever possible allowed Bannon to survive the ordeal of sleeping like that.

While still sorting out the waves of pains and spasms, he opened his eyes and began to search the interior of the armored personnel carrier in an effort to reestablish his orientation. The personnel carrier, or PC, was dimly lit by a dome light just above his head. It bathed everything in an eerie blue green light that reminded him of a scene from a Spielberg movie.

First Lieutenant Robert Uleski, the company executive officer, or XO, was sitting in the center of the crew compartment on a box of field rations, staring at the radio with an intense expression on his face as if he were daring it to speak to him again. Cattycorner from where Bannon was perched was the PC’s driver, Sp4 James Hurly, huddled up and asleep in the driver’s compartment. For a moment Bannon stared at Hurly, wondering how the boy could sleep in such a god-awful position. A twinge and a spasm from one of his contorted back muscles reminded him of his own accommodations. Perhaps, he thought, the driver wasn’t in such a bad spot after all.

A static crackle, a bright orange light on the face of the radio, and the accelerating whine of a small cooling fan heralded the beginning of another incoming radio call. “BRAVO 3 ROMEO 56 — BRAVO 3 ROMEO 56, THIS IS KILO 8 MIKE 77. RADIO CHECK, OVER.” Without changing his expression or moving any other part of his body except his right arm and hand which held the radio hand mike, Uleski raised the mike to within an inch of his mouth, pressed the push-to-talk button, and waited a couple of seconds. The little cooling fan in the radio whined to life. When the fan reached a steady speed, he began to speak, still facing the radio without changing expression.

“KILO 8 MIKE 77, THIS IS BRAVO 3 MIKE 56. STAY OFF THE AIR. I SAY AGAIN, STAY OFF THE AIR. OUT.” Releasing the push-to-talk button, Uleski allowed his hand to fall slowly back into his lap. He continued to stare at the now silent radio as if he would pounce and attack it if it dared to come to life again. But it didn’t.

Bannon’s first effort to speak ended in an incoherent grunt due to a dry mouth and a parched throat. After summoning up what saliva he could, his second effort was slightly more successful. “Is that 3rd Platoon again?”

Still staring at the radio with the same expression, Uleski provided a short, functional, “Yes, Sir.”

“What time is it?”

Uleski raised his left arm in the same slow, mechanical manner as he had used when answering the radio. Looking at his watch, he considered for a moment what he was looking at before responding in the same monotone voice, “0234 hours.”

It wasn’t that Lieutenant Uleski was an expressionless automaton without feelings. On the contrary, “Ski”, or Lieutenant U as the enlisted men called him, was a very personable man with a good sense of humor, a sharp wit, and an enormous capacity to absorb Polish jokes and retaliate with appropriate ethnic jokes aimed at his tormentor. It’s just that in the very early morning everyone tends to fall into a zombie-like state. The requirement to sit on a hard surface for hours on end, in a small, cold aluminum armored box called a PC, with two sleeping bodies as your only company with nothing better to do than stare at a radio that you did not expect, or want, to come to life only added to one’s tiredness. Uleski was not an exception. Nor was Bannon.

Considering for a moment the information his XO had given him, Bannon plotted his next move. The PC was quiet, and Uleski had gone back to his silent vigil. Slowly, as his mind began to come alive, it became apparent that sitting there, watching Uleski watching the radios was definitely nonproductive. Besides, Bannon was now in too much pain to go back to sleep and movement was the only way he was going to stop the aches and spasms. It was time to make the supreme effort and get up. Besides, the Team would be having stand-to within the hour and he needed some time to get himself together. While it was permissible for everyone else to look like he had just rolled out of bed at stand-to, the Team commander, at least, had to give the appearance that he was wide awake and ready to deal with the world. The night, if four hours of sleep on a pile of assorted junk could be called a night, was over. It was time to greet a new day, another dawn, the fourth since Team Yankee had rolled out of garrison and headed for the border.

Long before the tanks rolled out of the back gate toward the border, Patricia Bannon knew Sean was involved in more than another exercise. After eight years of marriage and life in the Army, Pat could read her husband’s moods like a book. At first there was little change in his daily routine. The sinking of the oil tankers in the Persian Gulf by perpetually warring nations was just another story on the Armed Forces Network evening news. Life in the military community continued as usual, as did Sean’s comings and goings.

It was the closing of the Straits of Hormuz and the commitment of a US carrier battle group to the area that heralded the change. The husbands began to spend more time at their units. The normal twelve-hour day that commanders and staff officers put in stretched into fourteen and fifteen hours. They tried to shrug off the extra hours as prep for an upcoming field exercise. But the wives who had been around the service for a while knew something was in the offing.

Some wives became upset and nervous. They didn’t know what was happening but felt that whatever it was, it was not good. Others talked about nothing else, as if it was a challenge to find out what the big dark secret was. During the day they would gather together with the rest of the grapevine and compare notes in order to pool information they had gleaned from their husbands the night before. Pat chose to follow the lead of the older wives in the battalion. Cathy Hill, wife of the battalion commander of 1st Battalion, 4th Armor, went out of her way to carry on as if everything was business as usual. So did Mary Shell, the wife of the battalion’s S-3. Pat and many of the wives followed their lead, not asking questions or nagging. They agreed that whatever was happening, nagging wives would not help the situation.

It was the public announcement that the Soviets were sending a naval battle group to the Persian Gulf to “assist in maintaining peace in the Gulf” that destroyed the last pretense of normalcy. When Pat told Sean the news after he came home from morning PT, he simply replied, “Yeah, I know.” His attitude convinced Pat that he had already known about the incident and probably more. The feeling of dread and foreboding became more pronounced when word spread around the community that the training exercise the battalion had been preparing months for was suddenly canceled. In their two-and-a-half years in Germany, that had never happened before. To make matters worse, cancellation of the exercise did not change the new fourteen-hour day routine.

Over the next few days, every new deterioration in the world situation seemed to be matched with further preparations by the battalion. One night, Sean brought home his field gear and took out his old worn BDUs were replaced with newer sets. The next day, while returning from the commissary, Pat saw trucks with ammo caution signs on them in the motor pool, dropping off boxes at each of the tanks. Even the community dispensary began to pack up. The news that a US and Soviet warship in the Gulf had collided and then exchanged fire silenced the last optimist.

Pat wasn’t ready for this. It suddenly dawned on her that her husband might be going to war. The possibility was always there. After all, Sean was a soldier and soldiers were expected to fight. As Sean would say on occasion, “That’s what I’m paid to do.” Pat knew that someday it might come to that, but had never given it much thought. Now she had to. It was like a great dark abyss. She had no guidelines, no idea of what to do. The Army spent a fortune training and preparing Sean for this moment, but not a penny to prepare her, the wife of a soldier. Pat decided that the only thing she could do was to make this period as comfortable and as trouble free for Sean as possible.

Besides Sean, there were the children. Little Sean, the eldest, already knew something was not right. For a child of six, he was very perceptive and picked up on the tension and fear that both his mother and father were trying to hide. He didn’t talk about it, but would show his concern by asking his father each morning if he was going to come home that night. Little Sean would stay awake until his father did come and then would get out of his bed, run to his father, and hug him with no intention of letting go, leaving the elder Sean no choice but to carry his son to bed, lay him down and talk to him for a while. Kurt, at three, was hell on wheels and just the opposite of his older brother. Their daughter Sarah, at one, was fast growing up by trying to do everything her brothers did. Her busy schedule of exploration and mischief kept her from noticing a break in routine.

The transition from home and family to field and prep for war boggled Bannon’s clouded mind. It was almost as if he had been moved into a different world. Pondering such deep thoughts, however, was getting him nowhere. He had to get moving and live in the present world and hope for the best in the other.

New pains and spasms were Bannon’s reward for placing his body in motion. Slowly, and with great care, he moved each appendage of his body. Once in the sitting position, he stopped, rested, and considered his next move. These things can’t be rushed. Minds work just as slowly as bodies do at 0234 hours.

“Well, I guess it’s time for Garger’s early morning ass chewing,” Bannon declared grimly, more to himself than to Uleski. “You would think that after getting beaten about the head and shoulders for the same damn thing three days in a row he would learn. Lord, save me from second lieutenants.”

For the first time Uleski’s face showed expression as a small grin preceded a chuckle and his retort. “Yeah, especially this one.”

“Don’t be so smug, Ski. The only reason I like you is because I never knew you when you were a second lieutenant.”

Still grinning Uleski glanced over his shoulder at Bannon. “I never was a second lieutenant. Wouldn’t have any part of it and told the ROTC recruiter. Naturally, once they found out who I was, they agreed. So here I am, a full-grown US Army first lieutenant, guarding the frontiers of freedom and making the world safe for democracy.”

Bannon groaned as he shook his head. “God, the sun isn’t even up and already the bull is getting deep in here. I better get out before I drown in it.”

They both chuckled. It’s amazing what soldiers find humorous and amusing at 0234 hours.

“I’m going over to 3rd Platoon first and give Garger his early morning lecture on the meaning of radio listening silence. Then I’m going to swing by the Mech Platoon and see how they’re doing. I expect to be back for stand-to. When was the last time you checked the batteries?”

“About twenty minutes ago. They should be good until stand-to.”

“You better be right. I don’t want to have the track that both the CO and XO occupied be the only one that has to be slaved off in the morning. Bad for the image.”

With a feigned look of surprise on his face, Uleski snorted, “Image? You mean we’re going to start worrying about our image? Do you think the men can take it?”

“At ease there, first lieutenant. XOs as well as platoon leaders can get jacked up in the morning too, you know.”

Hunching his head down between his shoulders and putting his hands up in mock surrender, Uleski feigned whimpering. “Yes, sir, yes, sir, please don’t beat me too hard, sir,” before turning back toward the radio with a grin on his face.

Digging through the pile of junk that had been his bed, Bannon pulled out his gear and started to get ready. Field jacket, protective mask, web gear with weapon and other assorted attached to it, and, of course, his helmet. It was a ritual that always reminded him of a matador preparing for the arena. All the gear that the well-dressed American soldier was supposed to wear was definitely not designed with the armored vehicle crewman in mind. Bannon was reminded of this when he exited the PC through the small troop door that was part of the PC’s rear ramp. Climbing through this four-foot door was always a challenge. In the dark, with all one’s gear on made it that much more interesting. But at that hour in the morning, the last thing he needed was a challenge.

Once on the ground, it felt good to be able to stand upright and stretch his legs. The chill and early morning mist were refreshing after being in the cramped PC for hours. It reminded Bannon, however, more of an April or early May than August, for German weather in late summer was more like a New England spring.

The chill was not all bad. It not only cleared his mind, it allowed him to focus on matters at hand. Yesterday had been hot and sunny. With a hint of moisture as there was in the air, he expected the valley to the Team’s front would be shrouded in a heavy fog throughout most of the morning. That meant moving a listening post down into it even though the cavalry was still deployed forward. This was the Mech Platoon’s job. And though they would probably do so automatically as soon as they saw the fog rising, Bannon intended to remind them when he got there. The old saying, “The one time you forget to remind someone of something is the one time he forgets and it is the one time it really needed to be done,” kept buzzing through his head.

Ever so slowly Bannon’s eyes became accustomed to the darkness. He could now make out images of other nearby vehicles like the headquarters PC he had just exited pulled into the tree line. One track, an Improved Tow Vehicle or ITV, attached to the Team from the mech battalion to which Team Yankee was attached, sat forward at the edge of the tree line. Its camouflage net was off and the hammerhead-like launcher and sight was erect, peering down into the valley below. This track was one of the Team’s OPs, or observation posts, using its thermal sight to watch the Team’s sector of responsibility through the dark and now gathering fog.

Bannon walked over to the ITV to make sure the crew was awake, stumbling over roots and branches that reached up and grabbed his ankles while low branches swatted him in the face as he went. Stopping for a moment, he pushed the offending branches out of the way before going forward again, remembering this time to pick up his feet to clear the stumps and using his forearm to clear the branches. As he proceeded, Bannon decided that rather than fight the underbrush and roots on his way over to 3rd Platoon, he would skirt the tree line. This was not a good practice, but as it was dark and hostilities had not been declared yet, he decided to do it, one more time.

When he reached the ITV, the launcher’s hammerhead-like turret slowly moved to the right, indicating that the crew was awake and on the job. Knowing that they would have the troop door combat-locked, Bannon took out his buck knife and rapped on the door three times. As he waited for a response, the shuffle of the crewman on duty could be heard as he climbed back over gear and other crewmen to open the door. Struggling with the door handle, the crewman rotated the lever and let the heavy door swing out. Bannon was greeted by a dark figure hanging halfway out the door and a slurred, “Waddaya want?”

“It’s Captain Bannon. Anything going on down in the valley?”

When the ITV crewman realized whom he was talking to, he straightening up as much as the cramped opening he was standing in allowed. “Oh, sorry, sir, I didn’t know it was you, sir. No, we ain’t seen nothin’ all night ’cept some jeeps and a deuce ’n a half going up to the cavalry. Been quiet. We expectin’ somethin’?”

“No, at least not that I’ve heard. The cavalry should give us some warning. But just in case, I need you to stay on your toes. Checked your batteries lately?”

“Yes, sir, ’bout an hour ago we cranked her up and ran it for twenty minutes.”

“Ok. Keep awake and alert. Let the XO over there know if something comes along.”

After a perfunctory “Yes, sir,” the crewman closed his door and locked it as Bannon turned away and walked out to the edge of the tree line. It bothered him that he didn’t know the crewman’s name. He’d only seen that ITV crewman for the first time three days ago after the Team had pulled into its positions. That’s the trouble with attachments. You never know who you’re going to get, and you never get a chance to know them, not like his own people. Except for the fact that he was the CO and the Team headquarters track was parked nearby, the ITV crewman didn’t know much about him either. And yet, very shortly, they might have to take orders from him in combat. Bannon hoped the crew of the ITV trusted his ability to command in battle with the same blind faith that he placing in their ability to kill Russian tanks.

As he trudged over to the 3rd Platoon’s positions, he reviewed the Team’s dispositions and mission. The Team had gone over how it would fight its first battle time and time again using map exercises, terrain walks, battle simulations, and field training exercises, or FTXs, on similar ground. Still, Bannon was not totally satisfied that they were in the best possible positions to meet all eventualities.

Team Yankee was currently deployed on the forward slope of a large hill overlooking a river valley. The forest it was located in came halfway down the slope until it reached a point where it dropped all the way down onto the floor of the valley. That point was the Team’s left flank where Bannon’s 2nd Platoon was positioned. From there the platoon could fire across the face of the slope, into the valley or across the valley, toward the high ground across from them.

In the center was the Team’s headquarters section, consisting of Alpha 66, which was Bannon’s tank, Alpha 55 commanded by the XO’s, and two ITVs from the mech battalion’s antitank company. From there they had a good view of the valley, a small village situated in the valley to the right front, a north-south road on the far side of a minor river, and a second valley that ran west to east and emptied into the larger on to the team’s front. This constituted the limit of the Team’s battle position.

It was on the right that the Team had the greatest concentration of power, the 3rd Platoon and the Mech Platoon. The Mech Platoon attached to the Team was still equipped with M-113 armored personnel carriers and Dragon antitank guided missiles. It had been scheduled to receive Bradley fighting vehicles but, much to the chagrin of its parent battalion commander, Lieutenant Colonel Reynolds of 3rd of the 78th Infantry, that kept getting put off due to a slowed down in the procurement of those powerful fighting vehicles.

The Mech Platoon was split into two elements. The dismounted element, led by the platoon leader, consisted of most of the infantrymen, two Dragons and three M60 machineguns. This element occupied a walled farmstead in the small valley on the right. The mounted element, led by the platoon sergeant, consisted of the Platoon’s PCs, their crews and two more Dragons teams. They were above the same farm on the slope in the tree line. From their positions the Mech Platoon could block the small valley and keep anyone from exiting the village if and when the other people got in there.

The 3rd Platoon was located a little further behind and higher up on the slope from the Mech Platoon. From its positions there it could fire into the main valley, the small valley to its right, the village, or across the valley at the opposite heights. This platoon would also be responsible for covering the withdrawal of the Mech Platoon if that became necessary.

Bannon was not comfortable with the idea of defending on a forward slope. Should a withdrawal under fire be necessary, all the Team’s vehicles would have to go uphill, at times exposed themselves to observation and fire from the enemy on the other side of the valley. In addition, the only positions from which most of the Team would be able to fire were immediately inside the tree line. This position was so obvious it hurt. Bannon could visualize some Soviet artillery officer plotting likely targets and coming across their hill during his terrain analysis. Glee would light up on the Russian’s face as he told his trusted subordinate. “There, that is where they will defend, in this tree line. Make sure we blanket that area with five, no six, battalions of artillery.” Bannon had gone over his reservations concerning this very point with Colonel Reynolds every time they’d reviewed their go-to-war plans. On this morning, as he stood at the edge of the tree line where his Team was deployed, looking across the valley at the high ground the enemy would occupy, if, by some miracle, war was averted, he resolved he would once more push for a change in the Team’s deployment. But for now he, and Team Yankee, were obliged to fight on the ground where they sat.

As Bannon approached the 3rd Platoon’s position, he heard a slight rustling followed by the two low voices. He had reached the Platoon’s OP/LP.

“Halt, who goes there?” came the challenge in a voice that was a little too loud and sounded surprised.

Bannon had no doubt he’d caught the soldiers manning the OP half-asleep and had startled them. The voice that had issued the challenge sounded like Private Lenard from Alpha 32, a tank commanded by SSG Joelle Blackfoot, a full-blooded Cherokee. The sentry repeated his challenge, “Halt! Who goes there?” It was Lenard.

“Captain Bannon.”

“Oh, okay. You can come on in then.”

While this homey invitation was a refreshing change of pace from the less-than-cheerful thoughts Bannon had been mulling over, it was definitely not the way to do business while on guard. As he approached, he could hear a second soldier telling Lenard that he had screwed up. When he was no more than arm’s distance from them, the two men quietly stood up to face their commanding officer.

As they were just inside the tree line, none of them could see the other’s face. But Bannon was reasonably sure there was a pained expression on Lenard’s face. Not knowing which of the two forms facing him was Lenard, he directed his comments to both. “Is that the proper way to challenge someone?”

“No, sir, it’s not, sir.”

“How are you supposed to challenge someone when they are approaching your position?”

Without hesitation, and as if he were reading it from the soldier’s handbook, Lenard went through the correct challenge and password procedures. With a plaintive voice and a few expletives, Bannon asked him why he hadn’t used the correct procedures. “Because you said you were the CO and I recognized your voice, sir,” came the response.

The answer was honest, but wrong. After Bannon had explained that everyone got the full treatment, Lenard, an honest, if outspoken soldier, replied he didn’t understand the logic in this, but promised that he wouldn’t forget the next time. As Bannon turned away and began to make his away toward 32, he could hear the second soldier berating Lenard as they settled down into their positions again. “See, I told you so.”

Upon reaching Alpha 32, Bannon started climbing up on the right front fender but stopped halfway up when he heard the cocking of a .45 and a low, firm “Halt.” The voice belonged to Blackfoot. Bannon had no doubt that there was a pistol cocked, loaded, and aimed at him. “Who goes there?”

“Captain Bannon.”

“Advance and be recognized.”

Bannon finished climbing up and moved slowly to the edge of the turret until he was able to make out the figure in the cupola with an outstretched arm holding a .45. In a lower voice, just audible to him, Blackfoot gave the challenge, “Wrinkle.”

“Bait,” Bannon’s replied.

Satisfied with the answer, Blackfoot raised his pistol and slowly let the hammer down. “When’s the war going to start, Captain?”

Pulling himself up onto the top of the turret so that he was lying across the length of it with his head near Blackfoot’s, Bannon spoke to him about Lenard’s failure to challenge him properly before asking how things were going with the crew’s preparations for combat.

Being the thorough NCO that he was, Blackfoot informed Bannon he was not happy with the crew drill between himself and his gunner. He explained that his gunner was slow to pick up targets that he, Blackfoot, had acquired and had laid the main gun on. He wanted to spend some time someplace where they could move the tank and practice their crew drill. Bannon explained that for security reasons all vehicular movement had to be kept down to a minimum. Blackfoot, like everyone else in the Team, would just have to do the best he could from a stationary position. Blackfoot replied that he knew that, but he saw no harm in asking.

After getting the weather prediction for the day and his best guess as to when the fog would lift from Blackfoot, Bannon climbed down and proceeded to Alpha 31, Lieutenant Garger’s tank, which was the next in line.

As he approached 31, Bannon began going over the counseling he would use with Garger this morning. All in all, Garger wasn’t a bad lieutenant. In fact, he was no different from any other second lieutenant he’d ever come across known. It took time, training, and a lot of patience to develop a good tank platoon leader. For only having been in the country for three weeks, Garger wasn’t doing half bad. But while half bad was acceptable during a training exercise, it wouldn’t hack it in combat. The time and opportunity to teach the lieutenant everything he needed to know just wasn’t there anymore. The Team was on the cusp of going into combat and Bannon had no faith in Garger’s ability to perform under the stress and strain of battle.

The platoon sergeant, SFC Gary Pierson, a veteran of Vietnam and an outstanding trooper, had been doing his best to train his lieutenant when Bannon wasn’t. He was also doing all he could to cover for Garger in order to keep the platoon together and functioning properly. But Pierson couldn’t do it all. Either his lieutenant had to perform, or he had to go. At this late stage of the game, Bannon wasn’t about to put lives in the hands of a lieutenant who had, so far, screwed up just about every task given him. With that thought in mind, he decided to talk to the battalion commander about the matter later that day. But first, he needed to tend to the business at hand.

Climbing up onto the right front fender of Alpha 31, he was stopped as he had been on Blackfoot’s tank with a “Halt, who goes there?” Only instead of using a .45 to keep the unknown intruder at bay, the figure in the cupola tried to crank his M2 machinegun down and in Bannon’s direction. As the firing mechanism was part of the gun’s elevation handle and was easily activated, a brief moment of panic swept over Bannon. He considered whether it would be better to jump, scream, or hope for the best. Fortunately, inept handling of the machinegun’s controls frustrated the figure in the cupola, causing him to abandon it and go to his .45 instead. As the figure fumbled for his pistol, Bannon took advantage of this to identify himself and finish climbing up.

Abandoning all hopes of covering the intruder with a weapon, the figure simply called out the challenge in a most dejected and apprehensive tone of voice. Lieutenant Garger was running true to form this morning.

Crawling up onto the turret and stretching out across it, Bannon propped himself up on his elbows until he was less than a foot from Garger. “Well, what shall we talk about this morning, Lieutenant?”

Garger paused for a moment, not knowing if he was expected to answer, or if his team commander’s question was simply a prelude to another ass chewing. Hesitantly, he replied in a half-question, half-statement, “RTO procedures, sir?”

“No, no. Close, but a no-go. How about radio listening silence? You remember our discussion on that subject yesterday morning?”

“Yes, sir.”

“THEN WHY IN THE HELL DID YOU BREAK RADIO LISTENING SILENCE AGAIN TODAY? ARE YOU FUCKING STUPID, OR JUST SOFT IN THE HEAD?”

While waiting for his answer, Bannon did his best to calm down, for he had a tendency to become excited and abusive when dealing with abject stupidity, particularly when an officer was involved. He had told himself time and again in the past that it wouldn’t do to get this cranked up, that he needed to be calm and logical at such times. But habits are hard to break, especially so early in the morning. There would, no doubt, be plenty more reasons for getting excited later in the day.

Falteringly, Garger replied. “No, sir. I just wanted to make sure the radios worked since we changed frequencies.”

With a modicum of composure regained, Bannon continued. “Did your radio work yesterday before I chewed your ass out for breaking radio listening silence?”

“Yes, sir.”

“And did your radio work the day before yesterday just before I chewed your ass out for breaking radio listening silence?”

“Yes, sir”

“Then why did you do it again? I mean, by now even you should be able to figure out that, A, your radio works every time you use it and B, every time you use it I am going to come down and jump in your shit. Do you understand what I’m telling you? I mean, do you really understand?”

“Yes, sir, I do, it’s just that, well, I…”

Exasperated and nearing his wits end, Bannon sighed. “One more time, I swear, one more time…” Then, without finishing, he slid back off the turret and climbed down the same way he had come up. To stay any longer would not do him or his nerves any good. If the point hadn’t been driven home by now, it never would be.

Bannon hadn’t walked ten meters from 31 when Pierson’s low, firm voice startled him. “This is starting to be a regular routine, Captain. I’m going to start setting my watch by you.”

Stopping short, Bannon turned toward the shadowy figure emerging from the darkness behind him. Still riled by his discussion with Garger, Pierson’s sudden appearance had scared the living hell out of him. As he leaned back against a nearby tree and collected his wits, he shook his head. “The sun isn’t even up and it is building up to be a real peachy day,” he thought to himself. Only when he was sure he could speak with a calm and steady voice did Bannon address the dark figure that was now standing before him. “Are you looking to give me a heart attack, or is this some type of leadership reaction course?”

“No, sir, I just wanted to come over and save our favorite lieutenant before the wolves got him. But from the growling I heard a minute ago, I figured I was too late. So I decided to wait for you here.”

“You know, I could charge you with attempted murder.”

“You wouldn’t do that, Captain. I mean, if you did, who would you find to whip this collection of derelicts and criminals you call a tank platoon into shape?”

“You’re right Sergeant Pierson. No sane man would take the job. I guess I’ll have to keep you,” Bannon shot back in a half-hearted attempt at humor. “But I’m not too sure about your lieutenant,” he continued in a voice that informed the NCO he was dead serious. “After stand-to and breakfast I’m going to talk to the Old Man about pulling Garger out. If I give you Williams as a loader, do you have a gunner who can take over 31 and a loader that can move into a gunner’s seat?”

“Sergeant Pauly could handle the tank, and I have a couple of people who are ready to gun. But do you want to start screwing around with crews at this late stage? I mean, the lieutenant may not have all his stuff together yet, but given a little more time, I’m sure he’ll catch on. You know how it was your first time out.”

“Yes, Sergeant Pierson, I know what it was like. If truth be known, I really wasn’t much better than Garger. But this is different. When I screwed up as a fresh face platoon leader, the worst I got was an ass chewing from the CO, a lot of smirks from the men in the platoon, and a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. If the balloon goes up in the next couple of days and Garger blows it, he not only stands a damn good chance of losing his own behind and his crew’s, but a failure on his part could cost me the whole platoon, if not more. I feel sorry for the kid, I really do. I wish I could do more for him. But I have a whole company to look out for. I’m not going to take any chances that I don’t have to.”

Bannon and Pierson stood there in silence, facing each other in the darkness for a minute. Neither was able to see the other’s facial expression. They didn’t need to. Both knew that what the other said was, to a degree, right. Pierson hated to admit defeat, the defeat of not being able to train his new lieutenant. Bannon felt the same. But they also knew that there simply was no time left, that they had to deal with bigger issues than pride. There was always the chance Garger might do well once the shooting started. Unfortunately, there was no way to tell. Bannon didn’t want to take the chance. His mind was set. If he could swing it, Garger would go.

The two men exchanged a few more remarks, mostly about the condition of the platoon’s vehicles, plans to improve the positions, and the training that needed to be done that day. Then they parted, Bannon proceeding around the hill to the Mech Platoon while Pierson started rousing his platoon for stand-to. The war, or at least the preparations for war, went on.

By the time Bannon had worked his way down to the walled farm where the dismounted element of the Mech Platoon was, it was getting light. Not that you could see the sun. In fact, the rising fog made it almost impossible to see anything beyond twenty meters. The Mech Platoon, led by 2nd Lt. William Harding, was already moving into its position and preparing for stand-to. Bannon decided to stay with them until after stand-to.

Harding’s platoon was good. It had an unusually good combination of platoon leader, platoon sergeant, and squad leaders. Not only had Harding and his platoon sergeant, SFC Leslie Polgar, been together for almost a year, they complemented each other. Harding did the thinking, gave the orders, and led the platoon, while Polgar handled its training, which often included copious amounts of motivation and, when called for, unbridled ass kicking, which to Polgar were one and the same.

It was easy to see that Harding’s grunts were well trained and confident in themselves, their weapons, and their leaders, Bannon thought as he watched them occupy their positions. Each and every man moved into them with hardly a word. Once settled in, they checked their weapons, situated themselves to cover their assigned sectors, and prepare to receive the enemy or stand down, whichever came first. By the time Bannon had arrived at the farm, a squad with two Dragons had already gone down into the village in order to establish a listening post, or LP while keeping his other two Dragons with the mounted element.

As he leaned against the farmhouse wall, looking out of the window across from Harding, Bannon kept thinking how worthless he would be here if the other people came boiling out of the fog. Without his sixty-one-ton tank wrapped around him, he wouldn’t be much good to anyone in a firefight armed only with a .45 pistol that was probably older than he was. Not that the .45 was a bad weapon. It’s just that when push came to shove, Bannon wanted to have the ability to reach out and touch someone. Hand-to-hand combat, eyeball-to-eyeball brawls with the enemy might make great war movies, but it simply wasn’t his idea of doing business. At the first opportunity, he resolved to secure himself an M-16 rifle. It might be a pain to carry around, but an M-16 at least provided its owner with a much greater sense of security when stumbling about in the dark alone.

By 0500 it was as light as it was going to get. With no Russians, or anyone else for that matter, in sight, Bannon told Harding to keep the squad in the village until the fog lifted and to stand down the rest of his platoon. He also reminded Harding of the 0730 platoon leaders’ meeting and the weapons inspection for the Mech Platoon at 0900 hours. He knew that by the time he returned to the platoon its weapons would have already been checked for cleanliness, functioning, headspace and timing. Still, not only was it part of the routine that had been established, it gave him a chance to learn more about the men who made up Harding’s platoon as well as provide them a chance to see him. In Bannon’s mind it was important that attachments such as the Mech Platoon know that their commander had high standards when it came to important items like weapons, positions, camouflage, and all those things that separated the quick from the dead.

On his way back, Bannon walked from track to track, greeting each crew as they prepared for breakfast and another day on the border. He made a few corrections, listened to a complaint or two, and generally let himself be seen. Only when he was around Alpha 31 was his presence greeted with a proper, but chilled reception. The other crew members of 31 were in a depressed mood for they, like Pierson, did not want to be branded as failures due to the loss of their lieutenant. But they were far less sanguine than Pierson was about fighting for his retention. The crew knew if Garger screwed up in combat they would be the first to pay for it. Unlike a dismounted infantry squad where every man can go off on his own if something goes south, a tank crew is a joint venture where one’s fate is welded to the actions of the other crew members. The sixty-one tons of steel that enclosed them silently bound their collective fates together. So there is a strong self-serving motivation that causes tankers to work together and ensures that each member of the crew can perform his job. At the moment, pride was running a distant second to survival for the bulk of 31’s crew.

By the time Bannon had finished his morning rounds and returned to where the Team’s headquarters element was, he found Uleski, the tank crews of the two headquarters tank, and the ITV crews were either washing and shaving or squaring away their tracks. The ITV that had been at the edge of the tree line had pulled back into its hide position and was camouflaged. Uleski was squatting next to the PC, stripped down to his waist, washing himself from a small pan of water. Looking up as Bannon approached, he grinned, “I knew you wouldn’t be back by stand-to. I just didn’t know what day. So,” he continued with feigned gravity, “do I need to report a murder together with an emergency requisition for a second lieutenant platoon leader?”

“Come on U, I’m a nice guy. Do you for one moment think that I would bring any harm to that poor young man over in 3rd Platoon? I mean, do I look like a mean person?”

Before answering, the XO straightened up and squinted as he looked Bannon over from head to toe “Oh, sorry. I thought you were my CO, the one who isn’t worth a damn in the morning until he’s eaten a second lieutenant.”

“Yeah, it’s me alright. Only this morning a second lieutenant wasn’t enough. Now I’m looking for a first lieutenant for dessert.”

Uleski looked to his left, then to his right, using exaggerated movements before turning back to face Bannon. “Ain’t seen any o’ them ’round these parts. Y’all might try over in yonder hill cuntree,” pointing east toward the border.

With the second round of poor humor decided in Uleski’s favor, the Team commander and XO got down to the morning’s business while Uleski finished washing and Bannon dug his shaving gear out and prepared to wash up. Uleski had a long day ahead and Bannon wanted him to get started. There were maintenance problems that needed attention and spare parts that had to be requested, borrowed, or scrounged. After that, a laundry point needed to be located and arrangements made to turn in the company’s laundry. Batteries for field phones and wire to replace some that had been torn out by a cavalry track that had wandered into the Team’s area had to be found. These, and many small but important tasks, were required to keep Team Yankee in business. Once the first sergeant came up to the position with breakfast, he and Uleski would divide up the list of these tasks between them and go about the day’s duties.

Overall, the Team wasn’t in bad shape. The last tank that had fallen out of the line of march during the movement to the border had finally closed in the previous afternoon, giving Team Yankee a total of ten tanks, two ITVs, and five M-113s, one of which was the Team’s commo track where Bannon and Uleski had spent the night and Bannon worked from when not on his own tank, Alpha 66. Two of the tanks had problems with their fire control system, but nothing that would take more than a day to repair. In fact, the vehicles were in better shape than the people were.

Not that they were falling apart. Life in the field, however, wears away at soldiers unless simple creature comforts such as food, clean dry clothes, and other such necessaries are provided. Added to the problems of living in the field was the tension caused by the alert and move to the border, the flurry of almost panicked activity during the first twenty-four hours in position, and three very long days waiting for what one wit in the 2nd Platoon called “The end of Times.” This was made worse by the lack of solid news from the outside world and the concerns of the married personnel, including Bannon himself, about the evacuation of the dependents back to the States. To top it off, a number of the men had not packed extra fatigues in their go-to-war duffle bag. Some hadn’t even brought a change of underwear. After three days of hot weather and hard work, the company was getting funky, which made finding a laundry and bath unit a growing necessity.

As difficult as that would be, given the muddled state of affairs among combat service support units, efforts to secure reliable news from the outside world was even more problematical. Division and Corps rear areas were in a state of panic as German civilians ignored their government’s call to stay in place and instead, took to the roads leading west. The Office of Public Information, in a less than brilliant move, had taken the Armed Forces Network off the air. Censorship of the BBC and German radio only told the men in Team Yankee that NATO forces were mobilizing and deploying, something they already knew, and that negotiations between NATO and Warsaw Pact representatives were still going on at an undisclosed location. So the men were in the dark, not knowing much more than what was going on within their platoon position and unable to find out from anyone whether they were going to go home tomorrow, or be actors in the first act of World War III. The longer this situation lasted, the more it tended to erode the men’s morale.

While there was nothing that Bannon could do about news or settling the dispute that started the whole thing, he and the rest of the Team’s leadership could do something about the physical well-being of the men. The first sergeant, Raymond Harrert, had found a gasthaus where the men could wash up and rinse out some underwear. A schedule and transportation had been set up to rotate everyone through the first sergeant’s comfort station, now being run by the company supply sergeant. The battalion had switched from a steady diet of dehydrated field rations that came in little brown plastic sacks, called MREs, to two hot meals a day, breakfast and dinner, and only one meal of MREs. A work and training schedule, which would allow the Team to improve positions, work out any last-minute crew coordination problems, and rest the men had been instituted. In effect, the leadership was keeping their people as busy as possible doing constructive things without wearing them out. This helped somewhat by keeping their minds off the grim situation they were facing while preparing them to meet it. At the moment, it was about all that could be done.

Just as Bannon finished washing up, the first sergeant arrived with breakfast. His arrival at the headquarters position meant that the rest of the Team had finished breakfast, as headquarters tanks and ITVs were always the last to eat. When the men on the position had been served, Harrert, Uleski, and Bannon took turns serving each other breakfast. It was a ritual that was not only sound from a leadership point of view, it provided them with an opportunity to gather around the hood of Harrert’s jeep and exchange news, update each other on their activities over the past few hours, and coordinate their activities as they ate their cold powdered eggs, rubbery bacon strips, and soggy toast.

Most of the news Harrert had to share with them was bad. The evacuation of dependents, which had started only yesterday, was going slowly. German military and civilian police had set up checkpoints to stem the flow of refugees and clear the autobahns and main roads. The opposite was happening as these check points resulted in monumental traffic jams. Newspapers were scarce, with none making it farther forward than the Division’s rear area. Nor was the delivery of mail of any kind straight yet. Finally, there were no batteries or WD-1 wire to be found anywhere in the brigade.

The good news was limited but welcome. Harrert had located a quartermaster field laundry. At least, he opined, the men would be able to exchange underwear, to which Uleski commented that the Environmental Protection Agency would be glad. The maintenance contact team working for the Team had located a new laser range finder for Alpha 23 and would be up to install it that morning. While only a few problems would be solved, any forward progress was welcomed. The three agreed that, given two more days of peace, the Team would have all the big problems squared away and would be as close to one hundred percent ready as could be expected.

Bannon, Uleski, and Harrert were just finishing up their working breakfast when they were joined by the platoon leaders and the ITV section leader coming up for the 0730 meeting. The group moved over to the PC where Bannon took a seat on the end of the lowered ramp with Harrert and Uleski sitting on either side of him. Without being told, the platoon leaders dropped down on the ground facing the three men, took off their helmets, unbuckled their LBE belts, and pulled out notebooks and pencils. When he saw all were ready, Bannon began.

He didn’t get much beyond good morning when the first sergeant nudged him and pointed off to the left. “Here comes the Old Man.”

Looking over to where Harrert was pointing, Bannon caught sight of the battalion commander’s jeep coming up along a logging trail that ran behind the Team’s position. One could always tell Lt. Col. George Reynolds’s jeep. Four antennas that were never tied down were whipping wildly as the jeep rolled down the trail. The jeep had no top and a big infantry blue license plate mounted on the front fender displaying the silver oak leaf cluster of a lieutenant colonel with a black “6” superimposed on it. This violated every security measure the Army had, but “Blue 6” didn’t give a damn. He was the battalion commander, and he wanted to make sure everyone knew it.

Having no wish to keep his platoon leaders standing around waiting, Bannon turned the meeting over to Uleski, telling him to find out what the platoons needed as far as fuel and supplies were concerned before sending them back to their units. With that taken care of, he got up, put on his gear, and walked over to the trail to greet Reynolds.

The jeep hadn’t stopped rolling before the colonel jumped out and started heading toward Bannon. They met halfway and exchanged salutes. Instead of “Hi, how are you?” Bannon was greeted with a gruff, “Well Bannon, how are those overpriced rattletraps of yours this morning?”

Ignoring his commanding officer’s comment, Bannon smiled. “They’re ready to kick ass and take names, sir. When are you going to send me some Russians?”

Falling in on the colonel’s left, he and Reynolds walked up to the gathering of platoon leaders despite Bannon’s best efforts to steer him clear so that Uleski could go on with the meeting. Everyone stood up, dropping notebooks and maps before scrambling to put their helmets back on. Salutes, greetings, and some one-sided small talk ate up about five minutes before Bannon could pry the colonel off to the side and let Uleski carry on.

As they walked to the tree line overlooking the valley, Bannon informed Reynolds of his intention to replace Garger. Unfortunately, the colonel took the same position that Pierson had. As war was imminent, he felt it wouldn’t be a good idea to switch platoon leaders. Undeterred, Bannon went over his reasons and justification as they both watched a two-and-a-half-ton truck drive down from the far side of the valley. The fog had cleared by now except along the river. The sun was bright in a cloudless sky and it was getting hot.

The colonel was about to restate his reasons for leaving things as they were when the earsplitting screech of two fast-moving jets flying at treetop level cut him off. Both Bannon and Reynolds turned in the direction of the noise just in time to see two more jets come screaming into the valley from the east, drop lower, and fly up the small valley on the right of the Team’s positions. Bannon couldn’t identify just what type of aircraft they were as aircraft recognition wasn’t one of his strong points. But it wasn’t necessary to identify their exact type. A glimpse of the red star on the fuselage told him everything that he needed to know about the two jets.

The waiting was over. The balloon had gone up. Team Yankee was at war.

Despite his best efforts to give the impression that the current situation was nothing to worry about in the days leading up to his departure for the Inter Zonal Boarder that separated East and West Germany, Sean had quietly begun to make sure that his family’s affairs were in order. He saw to it that Pat had her emergency evacuation kit ready with food, water, and blankets set aside. To this he added an envelope containing important family documents and a listing of such things as bank account numbers, credit card companies, the addresses of family members in the states and, most important of all, a copy of his most current last will and testament. These efforts, while possibly reassuring to Sean, were disquieting to Pat. But she said nothing, listened intently to Sean’s instructions while silently praying that none of what she was hearing was going to be necessary.

Pat had known it would be Sean’s last night home when he came in, for in his eyes she saw a look of disbelief that the unfolding crisis had reached a critical and unavoidable impasse. She saw the same thing in her own eyes every time she looked in the mirror. When little Sean ran up to his father, rather than taking him to bed, Sean carried him over to the sofa, pulled out the family album, and began to leaf slowly through the pages. The two sat there quietly looking at the pictures until little Sean fell asleep. It was with great reluctance that Sean put his son to bed where he lingered for the longest time. When he finally did come out of his children’s room, his eyes were red and moist. For a moment he looked at Pat, then simply said that he was going to go to bed. Pat went with him.

Not long after they had, the phone in the other room rang. Sean was up and out in a flash, as if he had never gone to sleep but had been lying there waiting for the call. When he came back, Pat watched him for a moment in the shadows of the dark bedroom as he gathered up his uniform and boots. When she spoke, she startled him. “Are you going in already?”

“Yes. Gotta. Wouldn’t look good for the CO to be late, would it?”

“Will you be home for breakfast?”

“No.”

“Should I hold supper for you tonight?”

“No.”

With that, Pat knew. And Sean knew Pat knew. After eight years of marriage, it’s hard to hide secrets, and even harder to hide feelings. Sean didn’t even try. Coming over to the bed, he sat next to his wife. “Pat, the battalion is moving to the border in an hour. I don’t know when we’ll be back.”

“Is everyone going?”

“Everyone. The NATO ministers and their governments are mobilizing. Everyone is going, including you.”

“Are they really going to evacuate?”

“Starting this morning at 0900. It’s no great secret. It was going to be announced later today anyway.”

As he finished dressing, Pat also dressed. There was much to do. Sean was in the children’s bedroom by the time she’d finished. Pausing in the door of their bedroom, she watched him for a moment before heading off to the kitchen where she fixed a bag lunch for him. As she was finishing it, all the restraint she had exercised thus far, and all her efforts to see Sean off with a cheery face and smile collapsed. She began to cry. Her husband was going out the door in a minute to fight World War III, and all she could do for him was fix him a bag lunch.