Reflexive Fire - 01 (47 page)

“Where is Hatchet Force going?”

Hatchet Force was the quick reaction team composed of American SOG commandos leading the Montagnard tribesmen and South Chinese Nung mercenaries that responded whenever the smaller six man recon teams got in over their heads.

“We got two teams inserted over the fence a few hours after yours,” the medic yelled back. “Both are in contact and we're just waiting for the green light from higher. Now, let’s go, we need to get that cut cleaned out.”

The team leader nodded his head, holding the gauze in place over his wound. Grabbing Jim by the collar he screamed over the sound of the helicopters.

“Hey, my boy Vang took a round through his shoulder,” Sean lied. “You better catch up with him and make sure the docs know about it. You know how some of these 'Yards are about shit like that. Sometimes he thinks you can just suck it up or some shit.”

“Fuck yeah,” Jim grunted. “I'll go take care of it. See you up at the aid station, okay?”

“Sure thing,” Sean replied patting the medic on the back as he chased after Vang.

Looking around to see if anyone was watching, Sean quickly tied the combat bandage around his abdomen to hold it in place before buttoning up his spray paint covered OD fatigues. Running over to a water basin next to the airstrip he refilled both of his one quart canteens and secured them on his web harness.

Dashing over to the helicopters, still on standby, he found Rogers, one of the supply sergeants, handing out bandoleers or ammunition. Grabbing two for himself, Sean flung them over his shoulder and jumped on the nearest Huey as the rotors cranked at a higher pitch.

Seconds later, Jim was left wandering the camp looking for the Recon Team leader as the olive drab colored helicopters shot over the camp, heading for Laos at full speed.

Read the conclusion to PROMIS: Vietnam now and look for the forthcoming sequel, PROMIS: Rhodesia in the near future.

Acknowledgments:

   First and foremost I want to thank the very first Deckard fans, Rob, Karl, and Doug.  This book would never have existed if it wasn't for you three spurring me on with encouragement and enthusiasm for a full blown Deckard novel.  I would also like to acknowledge Glenn and Terry at MackBolan.com for hosting the very first Deckard shorts about ten years ago while I was still just a kid.

   I want to thank my awesome proof reader, Gloria for her professionalism and tolerating my misuse of the English language. 

   It goes without saying that Marc Lee did a slamming job with the cover image helping to fully realize what this book is about.  I highly recommend his services, just contact him at “[email protected]”.

   I also want to thank Hank Brown and Jack Badelaire for their feedback and support for this project to include impromptu tech support!

   Last but not least, I want to thank Caterina for putting up with me hiding in my corner of the apartment while I hammered away at this book day and night.  Thanks for understanding honey.

Glossary

.300 WinMag: Sniper rifle chambered for the .300 Winchester Magnum cartridge

1911: .45 Caliber pistol

2REP: Elite airborne unit within the French Foreign Legion

40mm grenade: A grenade fired from a grenade launcher rather than thrown by hand.  Also see: HE and

HEDP for different types of grenades

727: Civilian passenger aircraft

AAR: After Action Review, conducted post-mission to establish what happened and critique mission performance

AC Milan: Italian soccer team

AG: Assistant Gunner, carried ammunition, spare barrels, and tripod for a machine gunner

AH-60L: Black Hawk helicopter outfitted with a machine gun and rocket pods

AK-103: An updated form of the AK-47 rifle that can be fitted with a variety of different optics

AK-47: Avtomat Kalashnikova-1947, following the standard Soviet weapons naming convention. Avtomat meaning the type of rifle: automatic. Kalashnikov comes from the last name of the inventor, Mikhail Kalashnikov and the year 1947 is when the rifle went into production. The AK-47 is the world's most ubiquitous battle rifle, having been used in virtually every conflict since the Cold War.

AN/PSQ-20: Advanced form of night vision goggles that also incorporates thermal heat vision to help detect targets.

Antonov 125: Large Russian-made cargo airplane

AO: Area of Operations

APOBS: Anti-Personnel Obstacle Breaching System

Arystan: Kazakh Anti-Terror unit

Aurora: Allegedly the code name for a classified spy plane

Bilderberg Group: Secretive, yearly roundtable type meeting of the world's most influential leaders in business, politics, and the mass media.

Bohemian Grove: Occult ritual taking place in California once a year and attended my much of the US political and business establishment

BOLD: Blood-Oxygen Level Dependence, used to measure which parts of the brain are active

C130: US Air force military cargo airplane

C17: The C130's big brother, can carry more equipment and personnel

C4: Composition Four, plastic explosives

Camelbak: Plastic bladder used to carry water in, commonly carried on a soldiers back and drank through a long tube that acts as a straw

CDC: Center for Disease Control

CFR:
see Council on Foreign Relations

CO: Commanding Officer

COG: Continuity of Government

College Park:
See Special Collections Service

Council on Foreign Relations:  Has been described as a parallel government.  A think tank that discusses various foreign policy issues.

CZ75: Czech-made 9mm pistol

Delta Force: US Army counter-terrorist unit

Det Chord: Detonation Chord, used to sympathetically detonate larger explosive charges

DevGroup: US Navy SEAL counter-terrorist unit

Dragonov: Russian-made sniper rifle

DShK: Soviet era 12.7 machine gun

EM: Electromagnetic

ETA: Estimated Time of Arrival

EUC: End User Agreement, a legal device that attempts to prevent arms transactions from happening among blacklisted countries or groups. 

Exfil: Exfiltration

FDC: Fire Direction Center, used to coordinate mortar fire

FM: Frequency Modulation, a form of radio communication

FMK2: Argentinian made fragmentation grenade

fMRI: functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging

FN P90: 5.7 50 round sub-machine gun manufactured by Fabrique National of Belgium

FNG: Fucking New Guy

Glock: Austrian made brand of pistols

GPS: Global Positioning System

GROM: Polish counter terrorist unit active in the War on Terror

GSG-9: German counter-terrorist unit

GUARD: Global Unconventional Aid, Rescue, and Defense, a US-based Private Military Company

Gulfstream 500: Luxury private jet used by corporations and the wealthy

H&K G3: German-made 7.62 battle rifle

HALO: High Altitude Low Opening, also known as Military Free Fall or MFF

HE: High Explosive

HEDP: High Explosive Dual Purpose

HGH: Human Growth Hormone

HK: Heckler and Koch, German arms manufacturer

HN-5: Chinese copy of Soviet era anti-aircraft missile launcher

HTT:
see Human Terrain Team

Human Terrain Teams: A military project that provides socio-cultural experts to help commanders on the ground understand local cultures.

HVT: High Value Target

IED: Improvised Explosive Device

IFF: Identification Friend or Foe

IMF: International Monetary Fund

Infil: Infiltration

IR: Infrared

IZLID: Infrared Zoom Laser Illuminator Designator

J-10: Chinese fighter jet

Jet Ranger: Civilian helicopter manufactured by Bell

JP-8: Military grade jet fuel

Ka-Bar: Military fighting knife

KIA: Killed In Action

Little Bird: Special Operations helicopter used to insert small teams of operators onto objectives

M203: Under barrel, breach loaded, 40mm grenade launcher

M4: Shortened M16 carbine, commonly carried by US forces

M81: Fuse ignitor

Main Core: Classified US Government computer system

MC-130: Special Operations variety of the C130 cargo transport aircraft

MC-5: Free fall parachute used by Special Forces personnel

MH-47: Special Operations variety of the double rotor CH-47 transport helicopter

Milkor Mk14: Six-shot 40mm grenade launcher

Mosin-Nagant: World War Two era Russian bolt action rifle

Mossad: Israeli Intelligence service

MP5: Heckler and Koch 9mm sub-machine gun

MRUD: A Yugoslavian copy of the US-made Claymore anti-personnel mine

NCO: Non-Commissioned Officer, Sergeants

NSA: National Security Agency, handles signal intercepts

NVG: Night Vision Goggles

O2: Oxygen

OPCEN: Operations Center

Operations Order: Written mission format distributed to combat leaders

PETN: Pentaerythritol tetranitrate, used instead of blasting caps to detonate larger explosive charges

PG-7: Anti-Tank rocket for an RPG-7

PKM: Belt-fed Russian machine gun

PMC: Private Military Company

PRC: People's Republic of China

PsyOps: Psychological Operations

RAF: Royal Air Force

Rangers: US Airborne Light Infantry unit

RDX: Research Developed Explosives, also known as hexogen

Remington 270: Short barrel 12 gauge shotgun used for ballistic breaches

RFID: Radio Frequency Identification

RPD: Russian belt-fed machine gun

RPG: Rocket Propelled Grenade

RPK: Heavy barrel AK-47 with an extended magazine

RV: Rendezvous

S2: Intelligence section of a military unit

SA-7: Russian anti-aircraft missile launcher

SADF: South African Defense Force

Samruk: Kazakhstan based Private Military Company

SATCOM: Satellite Communications

SEAL: SEa Air and Land, naval commandos

SEC: Securities and Exchange Commission

Sergeant Major: Senior ranking Sergeant in a military unit

Short 360: Mid-size passenger aircraft

SIG Blaser Tactical Two: State of the art sniper rifle with interchangeable barrels to allow more than one caliber of bullet to be used by the same platform

SIGINT: Signals Intelligence

SITREP: Situation Report

SOP: Standard Operating Procedure

Special Collections Service: A joint venture between the CIA and NSA that conducts “black bag” operations such as surreptitious entry to plant surveillance and monitoring devices

Special Forces: Also known as Green Berets, specialize in training indigenous forces.  A separate unit from SEALs, Rangers, and Delta Force

Spetsnaz: Russian Special Forces

SPG-9: Russian-made recoiless rifle

SQL injection attack: A type of computer code injection that allows hackers to exploit security flaws in computer systems

Sunkar: Elite Kazakh police force

TNT: Trinitrotoluene explosives

Trilateral Commission: An international off-shoot of the Council on Foreign Relations that fosters cooperation between the US, Europe, and Japan

TRP: Target Reference Point

Type 63 APC: Tracked Chinese Armored Personnel Carrier

UAV: Unmanned Aerial Vehicle, typically used for surveillance

UH-60: US Army general purpose helicopter

Unit 8200: Israeli signals interception unit

UWSA: United Wa State Army, a Burmese narco-militia

VSS rifle: Russian-made rifle with integrated sound suppressor for use by Spetsnaz units during covert operations

WIA: Wounded In Action

World Bank: A private international lending institution

XO: Executive Officer, second in command after Commanding Officer

Yaa baa: Methamphetamine pills

ZSU-23: Twin barreled 23mm anti-aircraft machine gun