Chapter 8

Chris continues her Narrative:

The following new character appears in this chapter and the next:

Cathleen McCulloch (Cat)

Ranger student recycled because of injury, Sergeant, MP, 5'-9'' tall, 140 pounds, 34B-23-32, 24 years old, short light red hair, blue eyes

The RI soon had all of us in separate formations, and that was when the Chief Ranger Instructor arrived in a HUMVEE along with a Captain who identified himself as the Operations Officer for the 5th Ranger Training Battalion. The Captain took the OpFor people aside to speak to them. It appeared that he had a few choice words for them, as they didn't look so cocky when the truck arrived to take them back to camp or to their next operation. Meanwhile, the Chief Ranger Instructor addressed the platoon that I had been leading.

"You all did well on this exercise, but your platoon is still in last place," he told them to crestfallen looks from the men of the platoon. "However, you now have enough points so that most of you will be able to continue on to the third phase. Congratulations on a well-executed assignment," he finished. Many of the men had regained their confidence on hearing these words, but their RI had something for them also.

"You still have one more day on this FTX, so don't allow this accomplishment to keep you from going one hundred percent on the remaining exercises," he told them. Following that, the RI took Lieutenant Linn and Sergeant Ward aside to counsel them on their performance during the exercise. The Chief Ranger Instructor took me aside to speak to me alone also.

"So Agent Kincade, you have me out in the field again. I seldom need to speak to people twice during their time here. You and your sister seem to be the exception. The RI tells me that you did a very good job of leading those men on this raid. You are to be congratulated," he told me and offered me his hand which I quickly took.

I was the next one to be counseled by the RI, and he wasn't quite as happy with me.

"I understand that your Agency trains you to lead indigenous troops, but I don't like the idea of U.S. Army personnel being considered in that roll," he started rather indignantly before continuing, "however, you did a good job leading them. It was very ingenious splitting them up so you could spring your ambush on the OpFor people, and also the way that you treated the threat of booby-traps. It showed a level of sophistication well beyond what one would expect from just looking at you.

"However, I was unhappy with your actions when you undertook the reconnaissance of the objective yourself," he informed me with a frown.

"Who could I have sent on the reconnaissance? By their own admission, they are all city boys. I even needed to stop on the way here to give them a class on how to move in the forest. None of them were qualified to do the job, and they would have never detected the presence of the ambush. I was the only one qualified, and I left them under the command of their recognized leaders," I told him.

"Just as you were trained to do by your Agency!" he replied in a sharp voice.

"No, Sergeant, just as I was trained to do by my father who was in Recon before joining the Agency as a Field Operative," I told him.

"And just when did this training by your father start?" the RI asked in a snide voice.

"When my sister and I were five years old," I told him to a stunned look from him.

"No wonder you're so good! You have basically been doing this kind of thing all of your life, but why?" he asked.

"Our parents are very security conscious and believe in being prepared," I told him, but didn't go into details.

"Well, you definitely got a 'GO' on this exercise," he told me, before adding, "The Chief RI doesn't shake hands with many people and never with a student, at least not until now," he finished a bit flustered.

A jeep arrived shortly after that to take me back to the Agency platoon. I only had a few short minutes to say goodbye to those I had been working with on this operation. The ride back to my own platoon wasn't that long since they were only a few ridges away.

I reached them just in time to move out with them on their next exercise. Chuck was the leader for this one, and I didn't get to talk to Carry until much later when we had stopped. Some of the others in the platoon had been tasked to do the recon on this exercise.

"Sorry," Chuck told us, while we waited for those doing the recon to return. "You two looked beat, and have done nearly all of the recons. I thought that you could use some rest," he finished before leaving to check on the remainder of the platoon.

"How did you do?" Carry asked when we were alone again.

"Okay," I answered before explaining what had occurred.

"How did you do?" I asked her when I finished.

"It was a piece of cake," she said before explaining what had gone on. I wished that she hadn't said 'Cake', as I was hungry and it got my attention for several seconds.

"We surprised them by going over the mountains this time. It turned out that the OpFor people had been alerted about us using the ridges to move, and they had booby-trapped both ridges on the approach to the mortar site.

"I left the platoon in the valley before the one the mortar site was in and took Jim with me on the recon. We circled around and approached it from the opposite direction to what they were expecting us to use. We spotted their outposts, and figured out where they were hiding. On returning to the platoon, I explained what we had found before leading them further down the valley that we were in. It ended in a trail that we could use to get behind the ridge where the OpFor people had set up their ambush position. We hit them from behind and on their left flank, and drove them into their own booby-traps before finally securing the mortar site," she finished with a smile.

It was darn cold that night, and we really appreciated the extra camouflage shirts that our Agency Trainers had issued us. The Army guys with us were really cold since they didn't have this extra protection, and the RIs hadn't allowed them to bring field jackets.

We finished our final operation on Wednesday afternoon and were back in our barracks by Wednesday night. It was a good thing too since it rained hard all of Wednesday night and most of Thursday. Maybe the drought was over for now.

The Army students had their evaluations on Thursday. We received ours from a senior RI and our Agency Trainers in our barracks. The Army students received theirs in the headquarters buildings. Ours took a lot less time because there were fewer of us, but we didn't learn how Jim and Ben had done until later.

We got hot food in the mess hall on Wednesday night and all day Thursday. We also made sure that Carol got as much sleep as possible. She was still hanging tough, and the sleep and hot food did her a lot of good.

Friday was spent turning in the equipment that we had been issued here and out-processing following a briefing on the Airborne Operation that we would be participating in tomorrow, Saturday, the second of December. There would be no pass on finishing this phase. We would be parachuted into Camp James E. Rudder (Auxiliary Field #6) at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida. We would finally be getting to Florida, but not the way that we had anticipated.

On Friday night, we finally got to call our folks, as everyone was given ten minutes of phone time. Since there weren't any cell towers out here in the mountains, we had been basically incommunicado since arriving here on 11 November. Carry and I got in line together, so we got twenty minutes to talk to our folks. Jim and Ben had been in line near us, and we also got to talk to them for a while. They had both received a "GO' as had part of their platoons. We all crashed and burned after our phone calls and weren't awakened until 0600 hrs in the morning for a final breakfast here. We fell out for the last formation with our field gear, weapons, and duffel bags a short time later. Those going to Florida were transported to a nearby airfield where those who were Airborne, (most of us) were issued parachutes. Those few who weren't airborne qualified rode in the front of the second plane with the duffel bags. There weren't nearly as many leaving for Florida as had started the class at either Fort Benning or here.

Carry takes over the Narrative again:

We were bused to the Lumpkin County airport a few miles from Dahlonega. It has runways a bit over thirty-two hundred feet in length and can accommodate the C-130. There were two aircraft sitting on the tarmac when we arrived. All of the Airborne students were issued the standard Army T-11 parachutes. The non-Airborne students got to load the duffel bags on the second plane, and they would be landed at Eglin Air Force Base. The remainder of us would parachute into Camp Rudder at Eglin after the flight which would take about two hours. The Jump Masters and their assistants from both planes closely checked all of us and our equipment before we loaded onto the planes.

Chris and I were on the same jump stick, but Marge and Carol wound up on a different stick across the aisle from us but on the same plane. We finally got off the ground just before 1000 hrs, and we were on the way to Florida at last!

The flight to Eglin wasn't bad, but it became rather bumpy as we neared the Florida coast. It became so bumpy that I was wondering if we would be able to jump, but the Jump Masters didn't seem overly concerned. As we neared jump time, he and his assistant were constantly checking out the open side doors of the aircraft.

Finally, the first stick stood up and went through the jump routine that we knew by heart by now. Eventually the green light came on and the first stick went out the doors, then it was our turn. Chris and I were on the end of our stick, while Marge and Carol were the first ones in their stick on the other side of the plane. In what seemed like no time at all, I was at the door, and then out of the plane with Chris right behind me.

The wind was very strong here coming off the Gulf of Mexico, and it was swirling around. We seemed to be going in several different directions on the way to the ground. I saw the wind catch Carol's chute as she neared the ground and it blew her right into a tall pine tree. Marge was caught by the same gust of wind but managed to maneuver between two tall pines and land safely. I formed my bubble and made it large enough that if the wind caught me, I would have some space between me and the tree. Chris and I managed to land near the edge of the drop Zone, but not everyone else was as lucky, and a number of students had encounters with trees or made bad landings.

On hitting the ground and doing a PLF, I quickly hit the release for my harness, and started gathering up the risers and the chute before the wind could drag it and me across the drop zone. Chris also made a good landing, and we proceeded across the drop zone to turn our chutes in.

There were RIs there to greet everyone who had landed safely, and ambulances and medical teams had already gone out to find and treat the unfortunates. Our Agency platoon appeared to have done about average as far as casualties went. We lost Carol and one of the guys in the parachute drop, basically because of the wind. Both of them would be returning to the Agency Training Facility in Virginia to recover from their injuries, and would be allowed to continue their Ranger Training with the next class, once recovered.

Our platoon, which was now down to fourteen people, was bused to another small barracks away from the Army students. Our Agency Trainers arrived shortly after that, accompanied by a truck with our duffel bags. There was a formation for all students a short time after that, and we fell out to be checked by the medical personnel here and were then sent to supply to be issued the equipment necessary here before returning to our barracks well loaded down. At that time our Agency Trainers had a few choice words for us before we were allowed to go to chow.

"Expect to stay wet, have very little to eat, and next to no rest during this phase," Smith, the Chief Agency Trainer told us.

"And don't expect to see a lot of the insides of these barracks either," our other Agency Trainer added.

At chow that evening, we received very controlled portions of food, and we ate every bit of it, and quickly too. We were even allowed to get most of a night's sleep.