Hellfire & Damnation
through wound to Murphy's leg that they didn't even evac him for. Much of the heavy whacking was done by
the many aircraft kept swarming above and their ability to lay a big pile of boom just about anywhere they
asked. One day Bluto answered a radio call and when done informed the team:
"Listen up fuckers, We have some CIA types headed our way. They have intel that a high value target (HVT) is
in one of the vills down there. These guys have the ground station for a Predator drone and we are gonna
help them spy on the vill. Anyone ever worked with a drone?"
"What the fuck is a drone Bluto?" Dirk asked.
"You really are a simple son of a bitch Thorskillen aren't you?" flapped Jr. Commo Michael Moore.
"Simple enough to snap your head off one-handed, fuckstick!" Dirk shot back.
"C'mon ladies can we at least figure out what we need to do before you two go take care of your man love
issues, Christ!" Bluto spat. " Now shut the fuck up and listen. The drone is a big ass remote control plane with
cameras and shit on board to spy with. It shoots pictures back to these idiots on the ground and there you go
"eyes on the fucking target", everybody's wet dream. Some of these fuckin' things can hang Hellfire missiles on
their wings so you can whack somebody from your fucking base camp."
CPT Hanson piped up " I have run security for a Predator team and other than making sure they don't get
scarfed up while they're playing their video game, they just need air and opportunity. I imagine if the bird is
weaponized, their command authority will have go/no go calls for shooting. If they decide to use fast movers
then we will probably call the fire missions in for them. I doubt we will try to snatch somebody given current
conditions, but you never know, so take a look at your basic loads and make sure we can move out if we have
to."
"Roger that sir" Bluto answered and all began rustling through assault vests and rucksacks to ensure all the
implements of war were properly stowed and accesible as needed.
CPT Hanson sat down with the map and began thinking about possibilities for a raid/snatch mission on the vill.
It was fairly simple as there were two approaches either of which would enable them to place 12.7mm DiSHKa
Soviet machine guns for covering fire. Adding the Predator greatly simplified the next problem which is locating
which of the 20 some huts and buildings actually held the target. If they could pin point that then life got much
better, although any raid was dicey. Hanson hoped the decision would be to whack the mole with ordnance.
The 4 man CIA team arrived a couple hours later, with one Predator base station tech, an interpreter and two
operators. Hands were shook and backs were slapped, then the two operators sat down with 024.
"Bob" began the story " We have excellent intel that Mullah Omar moved into this vill last night. We have had
continuous surveillance since then and no one has been in or out. The mission is to identify which building
Omar is in and on call destroy it, or if they begin to move to target the convoy." If we hit the vill with ordnance
we will need your team to do a damage assessment and hopefully some body ID for us Captain."
"No problem" Hanson replied, silently relieved that their mission was rubble rather than raid "We are already
prepped and can move out as needed."
The tech and "John" the other operator had the base station set up and invited the team over for a look at the
target from 5,000 ft. up.
"We have UAV and fast movers on call for the next 12 hours, Omar hasn't spent more than a day anywhere
since this started so we either ID him soon or he should be rollin' by dark." "John" informed. "Our interpreter is
talking to the NA trops to see if any have ever been here and if so we will have them help figure out which
building is which. As you can see we have a decent view of the vill. This unit only gets the live video feed, we
don't control the bird that comes from a trailer elsewhere, but I have commo with them so we can tell them what
we need the bird to do. For now we are just waiting for somebody to move."
The interpreter did find one NA soldier who had visited the vill and with his help they eliminated more than half
of the building as barns and sheds, but they still had 8 possible residences. The village had a central square
and Omar's 4 Land Cruisers were parked there giving no clue as to which building. They had a couple of false
alarms with kids, women and dogs coming out of several different target buildings but no men, no guns, and no
Omar so far. The afternoon wore on and "John" and "Bob" conferred with their command, hearing they were to
prepare to hit the probable dusk convoy.
They spoke with CPT Hanson and he called the team together.
"OK the bird they have up for another four hours has a Hellfire on board and can laser designate the target
itself, which is nice beacuse otherwise we'd have to. We will set up on both avenues of approach to move down
and when the bad guys decide which way they are going these guys introduce them to modern warfare. Once
they whack 'em we will need to put eyes on the objective so whatever team's road they ride be ready to go see
who or what we got, Dirk stick with the spooks and handle that. Bluto you take two and I'll take two, lets move
and overwatch those roads."
Dirk headed back to the base station and set up his commo, ensuring the controller knew their game, their
position and where both overwatch positions were. Once all the don't drop a bomb on me zones were
established Dirk kicked back and watched that fuck knuckle Moore trying to set up a long wire antenna. He had
one of those Bluto-like instant hatreds for Moore and it hadn't gotten better with time, eventually dumbass was
gonna run his mouth once too often when Dirk had a buzz on and he would knock him cuckoo. Moore was just
one of those over-educated douchbags who have barely enough common sense to come in from the rain. Dirk
couldn't count the number of times the shit head would make someone yell "Jesus Christ Moore put that fuckin'
thing down before you kill us all" as the moron grabbed an anti-tank mine or somethng else he had no
business fucking with.
"You need some help with that thing Moore?" Dirk hollered.
"Sure man" Moore replied.
"Yeah well ask one of your fucking friends dickhead." Dirk slammed.
"Real sweet Thorskillen, you're an asshole." Moore answered.
"You inspire me Moore, you are the biggest piece of shit I have had the pleasure to work with." Dirk shot back.
Dirk's radio chirped and it was CPT Hanson announcing they were up on the west road, this was followed
about 15 minutes later with Bluto announcing the South was good also. They had an hour and a half 'til dark
and they were still hoping they could ID a target but nothing moved that wasn't on four legs or under four feet
tall. Almost on demand as dusk was falling two men emerged from the same building and started up all four
trucks.
"Heads up everybody" Bob announced. "looks like convoy time." Dirk shot both the CPT and Bluto a message
and then watched with the CIA guys as they all tried to pick the 6'6" Omar out from the rest. He has to be in
one of the two middle trucks which will be these two from the way they are lined up. We have no playback from
here so we get only one look at this folks. The guys in the trailer can playback, but we just get the live view."
Everyone peered at the screen and then 15 or 20 people all came out at once and shuffled about for just a
couple of seconds before all were in the trucks and rolling."
"Holy Shit! that was fast" Dirk remarked.
"Yeah this is not the first Talibani we have whacked with one of these, they worry any time they are outside, so
they load up quicker than suddenly". John observed. "Anybody have better than a guess on Omar?" He
surveyed getting no takers. He keyed his mic and informed his command the convoy was rolling and that it was
headed South but no clue which vehicle Omar was in.
John looked back at the screen which showed four vehicles headed South and announced "It's my call which
vehicle we take out because we only have one Hellfire and so lucky number three lives. Hit number two" he
informed the command trailer. Because the walls of the mountains were so steep once they left the vill it is
nearly impossible to thread a bomb from a fast mover down into the bottom. but a Predator flying leisurely,
directly above the road can easily track and lase vehicle two and the team saw a flash of light as the Hellfire
seperated from the drone, then all eyes were back on the base station where short seconds later a white
blossom on the screen showed vehicle two obliterated. The screen was useless as the flames burned too
brightly for it to focus, but Bluto called in and announced:
"Vehicle two is toast, other vehicles avoided it and stopped just long enough to look, now all are screaming
Southbound."
"Roger Bluto" Dirk answered.
"Fuck that means he got away" John exclaimed." 'cuz they would have stopped for the fucking body if it was
him, son of a bitch why can't we get some fucking luck?"
Dirk informed the Captain of the situation and he said "Have the NA guys head to the site and Bluto's team can
head down and sweep the vehicle for anything useful."
"Well as much fun as it was to vaporize some of those bastards I wish we could have gotten the one we want.
Anyhow a joy working with you gents, but we gotta boogie and chase these bastards around some more." John
informed as they packed up and headed out.
Dirk monitored the team net and soon Bluto came on "Quite the fucking mess down here, you can tell that
thing's designed to kill tanks. We got four bodies, I'm pretty sure. Doc Sanchez is getting DNA from all the
biggest chunks left and Murph is sorting through the rest for intel. We'll be moving in 10 minutes."
Roger that Bluto, I'll tell the Captain" Dirk answered.
The team had a number of other interesting engagements as they progressed with the Northern Alliance
toward Kabul and the collapse of the Taliban's control of the country. They participated in a lot of mop up
operations attempting to collect weapons from the hundreds of caches all over. It was a game of cat and
mouse as the weapons often left as they pulled up. Eventually their time on the ground was ended and they
returned to their home station Ft. Collins, CO. They all felt great that they came out with everyone who went in
after a year on the ground. There were some medals given out, some reports and paperwork to do, then it was
time for leave for everybody. They spread to the four winds, some rejoining families, some out trying to start
new ones, some just debauching.
Dirk arrived home the after work again the third day they were back, signed out on leave with no
responsibilities for thirty days. He should have been happy as shit, but something was wrong. His wife Terry
just wasn't acting right. She hadn't said anything and he surely got laid, but it wasn't right and tonight she took
her shot.
"Dirk I'm getting a divorce." She told him.
Dirk couldn't even say a word as he felt gut punched. He turned and walked away from her muttering " A
fucking divorce, a mother fucking divorce. I'm home three fucking days and my reward is a fucking divorce" his
tone rising with every repetition. "Jesus fucking Christ you are a piece of work" he informed her "a fucking
divorce. Christ I should have listened to your god damned brother. You know he warned me not to marry you .
He really fucking did, but no I'm smarter than that I can turn you into a good woman. A fucking divorce, God
you are a treacherous fucking whore, three fucking days back and I get this shit. Three fucking days. Well you
better hope your new man will put you up 'cuz you are not sleeping here. Get your shit and get. Three fucking
days. Fuck me!"
After she left Dirk could only wander aimlessly around their house, he began working hard to get drunk
enough to pass out and forget this shit, but mostly he wandered around saying " Three fucking days, that
bloodless cunt wants a fucking divorce, she gets one, Motherfuck me to tears, a fucking divorce."