Chapter 20: Committing to Action

Aboard the MC-130 J Commando II “Bach’s Kar”
2212 Hours (10:12 PM) MST Wednesday March 28^th 2018 (9:12 PM ZPT)

USAF Major Josephine Bach climbed down from the cockpit, and made her way back to the troop compartment/cargo bay. Just behind the cockpit is a Galley area/Latrine/Avionics Bay; on the left side (if you are facing the nose of the aircraft) a companionway connects the cockpit to the cargo bay. Emerging from the companionway, she turned immediately left, and ran smack into a big disgruntled Marine.

Major Bach asked, “is there a problem Colonel?”

Grimacing, Colonel Stanislaus Wojciechowski said, “is this supposed to be coffee? Or did I mistakenly pour an engine oil test sample into this Styrofoam cup? I didn’t expect Death Wish Kona. But I figured you’d at least have Seattle’s Best Coffee, or maybe BRC’s Just Black.”

Fighting a grin, Major Bach said, “nah. Just government grade pre-ground, from the lowest bidder. I avoid drinking it, unless we’ve been in the air at least six hours. I heard of SBC and Death Wish, what is BRC?”

Colonel Wojciechowski said, “Black Rifle Coffee company. They’re new kids on the block, only been in business two or three years. Headed up by a former Operator, who employs some other vets and have put up some amusing viral marketing that’s targeted to vets, and wanna-bees. More importantly the coffee is quite good, at about the same price as Starbucks.”

“Hm, maybe I’ll check it out. Coffee, or tea is essential,” Major Bach said.

“Don’t I know it! Today I was up at Zero Five-Thirty, and only hit the rack after Zero One. I’ve been doing eighteen to twenty hour days for the last couple of weeks.” Colonel Wojciechowski said.

“Sounds like a typical deployment. I guess you and your merry band are basically deployed, aren’t you. At least we get mandatory crew rest. Those regs are pretty strictly followed. Mostly.” Major Bach said, “we are about to cross the border, I am wondering if we have real-time imagery of the DZ and the surrounding AO.”

Colonel Wojciechowski said, “our RPA is approaching the AO now. So far, a whole lot of nothing down there. I am almost suspicious of no activity, however, my S-Two has postulated that many of the locals have Emsheed⁽¹⁾ and the rest are hunkering down. Data feed is much better than I expected.”

⁽¹⁾ (Emshee is Arabic for “Go Away”; it is typical for US Service Members to adopt certain words and phrases into their jargon.)

Major Bach said, “I’m going to look over their shoulders for a bit. We are on auto-pilot, on course for Bogota, my co-pilot and I have been in and out of K-2, Bagram, and Kandahar, plenty of times. He is fully capable of watching the flight deck. We won’t deviate from the international flight plan we filed for some thirty minutes.”

Colonel Wojciechowski nodded, then headed over to chat with Cid Osorio, Sergeant First Class Fernando Valesco, and First Lieutenant Bernardo Suarez, who were reviewing several checklists. The rest of the members of Operation Nightingale were engaged in the last few minutes of fitful slumber; they had all had a hectic day. The days ahead were only going to get worse. Colonel Wojciechowski was trying to form a bond with the leaders of this mission of mercy; in The Shit it is rarely possible to articulate everything necessary. Understanding the folks who are Boots on the Ground is essential.

Hidalgo Task Force Ground Control Station Cannon Air Force Base, near Clovis, New Mexico
2215 Hours (10:15 PM) MST Wednesday March 28^th 2018 (9:15 PM ZPT)

USAF First Lieutenant Marshal Washington, pilot of the only MQ-9 “Reaper” Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA) in service with the Hidalgo Task Force, was triple-checking the telemetry displayed on his primary screen in the prototype Block-50 Ground Control Station (GCS) that had been obtained for the TF. Only occasionally did he bother to glance at the screen displaying the airspace in the vicinity of the RPA; because there was nothing there.

Desolate is the best word to describe northeastern Chihuahua state. There are no paved roads, nor significant settlements east of Carretera Federal 45 (Federal Highway 45) Ciudad Juarez, to the city of Chihuahua, or north of Carretera Federal 16 from the city of Chihuahua to the border town of Ojinaga across the Rio Grande from the town of Presidio, Texas.

It was boring, and Lieutenant Washington had the MQ-9 on auto-pilot until it arrived in the vicinity of Ojo Laguna, a small town on FR 45 north of Chihuahua, and about 60 miles/100km North-Northeast of the planned DZ. While monitoring the telemetry, Lieutenant Washington was discussing various matters relating to the mission with USN Lieutenant Commander Akira Ellis, the S-2, or Intelligence Officer of the Hidalgo Task Force; who was acting as the Mission Specialist, since Staff Sergeant Eileen Brussels was aboard the MC-130J transporting the volunteers of Operation Nightingale.

SSG Brussels was there to analyze the data from the MQ-9, that was being transmitted to a pair of workstations aboard the special operations aircraft. Although the workstations were not identical to those she used when assigned as a member of a crew of a E-8 J-STARS, her current duties were closer to her Air Force specialization of 1C551D Command & Control Battle Management Operations Senior Weapons Director. She, and another Air Force technician would be able to communicate real-time information to the members of Operation Nightingale during the parachute insertion, and for a short time upon landing.

From the aircraft they could communicate to the troops on the ground for maybe twenty or thirty miles depending upon altitude of the aircraft, and several other matters. From the ground they could only communicate a few miles, perhaps as much as six. There were two satellite radios amongst the gear in the guidable parachute containers, but those would only be dropped to the team if they sent a code, using one of several means of signaling they had quickly reached an accommodation with the Mexican soldiers.

Lieutenant Washington and Commander Ellis would only be able to presume what was occurring based upon what they could see through the sensors of the MQ-9 “Reaper” RPA. Nor would SSG Brussels be able to request they maneuver the RPA, nor target the optics upon something she or Colonel Wojciechowski noticed. OpSec considerations meant that unless the aircraft was going down, they wouldn’t communicate with the Hidalgo TF. Perhaps if they had more time, Master Sergeant Christopher Cooper and the other subject matter experts could have cobbled together a manner of providing secure real-time communications.

Lieutenant Colonel Edgar Martinez entered the GCS and moved to stand behind Washington and Ellis, after about a minute, he asked, “I read the Grid Coordinates, but I don’t yet have the map fixed in my mind yet. So, where is the drone at?”

Lieutenant Washington said, “Sir, the Remotely Piloted Aircraft is approximately 50 kilometers west-northwest of the center of the city of Chihuahua. We are approximately 8 minutes from overflying the primary DZ. Currently the RPA is at an altitude of fifteen thousand, two hundred feet above sea level, which is approximately eleven thousand two hundred feet above ground level.”

Colonel Martinez said, “looks like there’s nothing down there but desert. Are we sure the optics are working properly? Aren’t there ranches, farms, towns, even some of those Ejidos down there?”

Lieutenant Washington said, “Sir, the optics and everything else on the Reaper are in proper working order. We even checked and serviced the weapons hard-points, although we are not authorized to arm our bird. I participated in the inspection and maintenance of our bird. Master Sergeant Cooper, Technical Sergeant Gustafsson, as well as Captain MacElearney and his personnel are all extremely professional and thorough. Sir.”

Colonel Martinez said, “throttle back Lieutenant. I am quite Aware of the extraordinary service the officers, NCOs, and enlisted personnel of the Seven-Twenty-Seventh Special Operations Aircraft Maintenance Squadron, as well as members of our task force, including yourself, have been performing over the last forty hours. Getting our bird up, twice, weeks before we were supposed to be operational. Remember, What Get’s Checked, Get’s Done! As the X-O, I’m the Bastard that Ensures all of those pesky details are nailed down. Foul-ups may result in Our People getting Killed. Make sure You are getting your proper amount of sleep. That is Not a Suggestion.”

Clearing his throat, Akira, Commander Ellis, then said, “Colonel Martinez, I’ve been monitoring Mexican mainstream media, Televisa and Azteca Uno, as well as social media. That is, when I was not involved in assisting the preparations of Operation Nightingale. Nothing of interest on broadcast. In the last eight to ten hours there has been some activity on social media, mostly originating from the city of Chihuahua, about police and military ordering people to evacuate areas west of the city.”

He turned in his seat to look Edgar in the eye, and said, “It doesn’t seem to have officially reached the suburbs. Yet. There are indications that folks are fleeing the suburbs already. There has been some effort to quash the posts, but it’s not like the all-out purge of reports of just a couple of days ago. Nothing official from the Mexican government, nor ours. Yet. We really need our own SCIF. How’s that going?”

Colonel Martinez grinned, then said, “Commander Paul Marshall, his Seabees, and the other folks working with them are the bright spot in my day. They are ahead of schedule, and under budget. I don’t need to ride herd on them, I just get the good word from Paul. I do stick my nose into a few things, but I have yet to find an issue they didn’t tell me about. I try to swing by in the morning, and again just before dark. They are putting in at least twelve to fourteen hours every day.”

After a brief pause to take a sip from a bottle of water, Martinez continued, “all of the planned electrical network is in, running through conduit. Where it is expected that vehicles will travel, or there will be significant ground pressure, the conduit is protected by concrete pipe sections. They’ve put in more capacity than we think we will need. Because there is always more demand. That’s primarily Lieutenant jay-gee Corina Lincoln. She has learned from a lot of other peoples’ prior mistakes.”

Consulting his notebook, flipping through a couple of pages, Colonel Martinez said, “Akira you should consult with the Sea Bees no later than O-Nine Hundred, Monday the Second, about specifications of the SCIF. I know you already did so during several planning sessions. Verify the SCIF will meet our needs, including probable future needs. Parameters are already expanding.”

Martinez got a nod from Akira, before continuing, “they are building from the center out. By the end of next week, the SCIF, Operations Center, Coms shack, Armory, as well as the HQ with Stan’s office and mine will be prepared for occupation.”

Lieutenant Washington said, “the primary DZ is coming into sight.”

Lieutenant Commander Akira Ellis was cycling through “daylight mode” (using ambient moon and starlight), IR, and thermal, adjusting the direction and focus of the feed coming from the RPA, saying as he did so, “practically nobody is home in San Andres, not even a mouse. I think I can perceive some dull glows. Maybe candles, or glow sticks, that somebody might be trying to conceal. There are several other possibilities. No exterior lights. I would venture to speculate there is no electrical power.”

The other two men in the GCS were alert, but didn’t say anything; then Akira continued, “I don’t see any vehicles that are, or have been in operation recently. I don’t even see any people or large animals. The area seems to be deserted.”

Lieutenant Washington said, “up ahead, to the west, there are two, no, I think three vehicles that were operating within the last couple hours. Personnel in the vehicles too.”

Akira said, “there are three vehicles. I agree, the engines were running recently, but not for long. I think. Nine to a dozen personnel, in or on the vehicles. Light trucks, with machineguns in the back. Only one gun is manned. Looks like one of the guys is a couple of meters away ... probably taking a piss. Definitely smoking a cigarette. Looks like two more personnel standing three to five meters west of the vehicles.”

Colonel Martinez said, “looks like wire entanglements ... that’s a good-sized compound. Seems to be the ranch complex that the Mexican Twenty-Fifth Infantry Battalion occupied last night.”

“How can you tell the difference between a farm or a ranch? Heck, that could even be a light industrial site.” Lieutenant Washington said.

That’s the main house, where most of the people are. Looks like ten to a dozen or so. They are doing something, coming and going. Anyway, where those three guys are, that’s what I am sure are quarters for ranch hands. The big building is a barn. Those other buildings are stables, with a couple of paddocks attached. There are no crops, plowed fields, or even fallow ground. That is pasture.” Colone Martinez said.

He leaned forward and pointed at one of Washington’s monitors and said, “There, about two kilometers to the north, and to the south. Those are cattleguards. Metal beams that may be driven over, and with some care, walked over. Cattle and horses, it’s nearly impossible for them to cross. You should be able to make out the barbed wire fence running parallel to the road.”

Akira said, “they’ve really improved that wire barrier around the compound. I’d estimate the north and south sides are eighteen hundred meters, the east and west more like fifteen hundred. They put white engineer tape in or on the wire to mark it. Triple concertina wire coils. I can’t be sure, but from indicators I’m seeing there are booby-traps or trip flares in the wire. Probably both.”

Lieutenant Washington put the RPA into a lazy figure eight some 3,600m (13,500’) above the 25^th Infantry’s Battle Position, while he said, “looks like there is only one entrance and exit to the compound, and those three trucks are blocking it like a cork in a bottle. I can’t see how our guys could possibly sneak in.”

Colonel Martinez said, “that chicane, or S-turn is an ECP or Entry Control Point. This BP looks like it is modeled upon a FOB, but without a berm or Hescos.”

Akira said, “No berm, but it looks like they have dug in pretty good. I count between forty and fifty bunkers or fighting positions. Nearly half of them have overhead cover. Two dozen form a Main Line of Resistance, roughly three hundred meters back from the concertina wire. I count sixteen in the second line, with what looks like shallow trenches between them. Then the beginnings of eight more in a third line, near their trucks. What are those circular pits?”

Colonel Martinez said, “Mortar pits. Four of them, but I only see two that have mortar tubes in them.”

Akira said, “I wonder if those are alternate firing positions, or if they just have not yet set up other mortars.”

Colonel Martinez said, “there is no way to tell. We could speculate endlessly.”

Akira glanced at Lieutenant Colonel Martinez and commented, “sorry Segundo. I tend to speculate out loud. Too often I don’t even realize I am doing that. It’s a bad habit. I don’t do it outside of a SCIF, or other secure area. Mostly. I’d have probably lost my clearance if I did that.”

Colonel Martinez met Akira’s gaze, then looked at Lieutenant Washington, before saying, “we all have our idiosyncrasies. It will take a while for us to get to know each other. I am confident we will get over the little stuff, and jell together.”

2km west of San Andres, Riva Palacio, 45 km ENE of Cuauhtémoc, 55 km West of the city of Chihuahua
2115 Hours local (9:15 PM) ZPT (10:15 PM MST) Wednesday March 28^th 2018
(dialogue is spoken in Spanish, but written in English; some Spanish in italics)

Teniente Coronel Heraldo de Ribera, commander of the 25^/a Batallon de Infanteria, had called his senior officers together to reaffirm their plans, and his orders for tomorrow morning. Stand-to would begin a half an hour before sunrise, and the troops were to be woken up a half an hour before that. ‘By the Book’ at least twenty-five percent of his soldiers fit for duty should be occupying their defensive positions during the hours of darkness. Sometimes it is prudent to throw away the book.

Several hours earlier, while their soldiers were being served supper, their officers conducted an evening briefing, so that all of them were aware of the activities of the whole. More had been achieved today than either Coronel de Ribera or his Executive Officer Mayor Raphael Jiménez had thought possible. The accomplishments were all the more impressive because three of the four company commanders, and all four of his staff officers had been assigned to their current duties after the officers originally assigned those responsibilities became casualties during the Battle of Cuauhtémoc, yesterday.

Logistically they were in a much better situation. Food, ammunition, of various types, as well as engineering supplies, four mortars, two each 81mm and 60mm, were among the most vital supplies that had been delivered this morning. Mayor de la Barca the Zona Militar 5^/a S-3 (Operations Officer) and Assistant Chief of Staff had facilitated the logistics support for the 25^/a Batallon de Infanteria. Perhaps it was because of the personal relationship between Mayor de la Barca Mayor de la Barca and Teniente Coronel de Ribera.

After supper Teniente Leon Mercucio, Platoon Leader of the Cazadores Pelotón (Scout Platoon), and also the acting S-2 (Inteligence Officer); had reported to Coronel de Ribera. Teniente Mercucio, and half of the Cazadores Pelotón, had accompanied one of the three trucks of the Federales, after their relief was several hours late. This was in violation to the orders to both the army and the police. However, now the Federales radios were being jammed; Zona Militar 5^/a had been jamming the military radio frequencies since late this morning.

Since Teniente Mercucio had returned more than an hour after the evening officers call had ended, Coronel de Ribera ordered, “Teniente Mercucio as our acting Intelligence Officer, please briefly summarize your conclusions of any likely threats facing us in the next twelve to twenty-four hours.”

With aplomb, Teniente Mercucio said, “I do not believe there are any immediate threats to our battle position for the next twelve hours. I don’t anticipate any significant threats for the next twenty-four hours. However, I believe we should conduct patrolling to the west and south, initiating no later than mid-morning.”

Before Teniente Mercucio could continue, Captain Primero Alberto Guerrero, Commanding Officer of the 1^/a Compania Fusileros 25^/a BdI, and the only Company Commander who held that duty before the Battle of Cuauhtémoc, said, “what facts are the basis for your assumption?”

Teniente Mercucio said, “approximately three kilometers north of the intersection of the road to San Andres with Carretera Federal sixteen, we halted to observe the area. There was a checkpoint manned by what appeared to be four Federales. However, after observing them for fifteen minutes our suspicion increased. It was not one particular thing, but neither I, nor Suboficial Sacasa, the senior Federale, believed they were actual Mexican police.”

“Their checkpoint was to the east of the town of El Mirador, and facing east towards the city of Chihuahua. Again, there was nothing specific about their conduct, although their apparent lack of concern about possible threats to the west, where we know the enemy is, was incriminating.” He said.

Teniente Mercucio continued, “any possible doubts we had were mooted when three trucks approached the town of El Mirador from the west. The trucks were filled with dozens of enemy soldiers. I am certain that one of the trucks was one of those we abandoned yesterday during the retreat. Using binoculars, I was able to detect approximately a dozen trucks. I estimate there are as many as a thousand enemy soldiers in and around El Mirador.”

Concluding his report, Teniente Mercucio said, “just before we were about to depart, a foot patrol of approximately twenty men headed west, about a kilometer north of Carretera Federal sixteen. I am pretty sure there was a similar patrol to the south. Although the patrol seemed a bit lackadaisical, it seemed prudent to wait until they had moved out of sight before we pulled back.”

Captain Primero Rangel, the acting S3 (Operations Officer), asked, “you did not observe any scouts deployed to the north of El Mirador?”

Teniente Mercucio replied, “no sir, we didn’t detect any. However, there is some rough ground between El Mirador and our battle position, it would make it difficult for us to detect them there, although the rough ground might deter less professional troops. After we headed back, we continued past our battle position, heading west on the backroad to Cuauhtémoc, and didn’t detect any significant enemy forces.”

Coronel de Ribera spoke up, “while it is possible that hostile scouts may be in the area, it seems highly unlikely that any significant enemy forces pose an immediate threat to us tonight. Our men worked hard today. They will need to labor hard tomorrow, and possibly the next day to dig the rest of our fighting positions, as well as connecting trenches.”

“Furthermore, I have discussed with Mayor Raphael Jiménez, and Surgeon Capitan Segundo Montiel the possible effects of ‘Combat Stress’ as the Yankees term it. I admit that when I read descriptions of what has happened to many Yankee soldiers, I presumed that it was mostly due to the Gringos being soft. After our battle, I have a different perspective. Medically, eight hours of sleep tonight, will be beneficial. I have deemed the risks acceptable.

Coronel de Ribera concluded, “Teniente Mercucio and his Cazadores, as well as some volunteers from among the walking wounded who should not be performing strenuous labor will be our sentries tonight. Not only the men should get a good night’s sleep, it is vital that we officers are well rested, so that we are better able to make sound decisions. Any questions?”

Gauging the expressions on the faces of several of his officers, it was apparent some of them did have questions. Since none of them were willing to say anything at this time, Coronel de Ribera dismissed them, so that they could issue their orders to their junior officers, NCOs and men. Coronel de Ribera and Mayor Jiménez walked together out the back door. They were going to smoke and chat near the Mobile Kitchen Trailer; but did not want to disturb some young soldiers who were already gathered there.