[Matt Wiser]

A mission concept is born....set during Major Gen. Robin Olds' visit to the 335th TFS:



Genesis of a Mission




335th Tactical Fighter Squadron HQ, Sheppard AFB, TX: 7 November, 1987; 1325 Hours Central War Time:


Major Matt Wiser, the CO of the 335th, was in his office. The remnants of lunch sat on his desk in a styrofoam container, while he went over some planning material. He glanced up from a TPC chart to look at his Weapons Systems Officer, 1st Lt. Lisa “Goalie” Eichhorn, and wondered aloud, “When's the last time we planned a mission on our own?”

She looked back at him, and nodded. “Probably that mission we can't talk about.” She was referring to a strike they had flown two days prior to PRAIRIE FIRE, and that had been highly classified. “But at least they gave us everything we needed. Here...”

“Here, we've got diddly shit,” the CO noted. “All we've got now is some maps, a few photos that Sin Licon got for me this morning, and some educated guesswork.” Captain Darren “Sin” Licon was the Squadron's Intelligence Officer, and had gotten the CO some of what he needed. “But it was enough.”

“Enough for Colonel Brady,” Goalie noted. “And he was impressed enough to take it up with General Olds.” Marine Colonel Allen Brady was the CO of Marine Air Group 11, to which the 335th was serving under Marine OPCON. And Major General Robin Olds happened to be a living, breathing Air Force legend, an ace in both World War II and in Southeast Asia, who was visiting the base for a few days, getting a feel for how the new generation of fighter pilots-including women, was doing in a war that hardly anyone had anticipated. A saying that was common in the U.S. Military was “The next guy who says he expected to fight the Russians on our soil will be the first.”

Major Wiser nodded. “And now to see if General Olds will buy this. If he does...”

“If he does, we get the intel. After he runs it by General Tanner,” replied Goalie. “Then we fly this.”
She was referring to Major General Robert Tanner, the commander of Tenth Air Force.

“We do,” the CO said. Then there was a knock on the office door. “Yeah? Show yourself and come on in!”

The door opened, and Captain Don Van Loan, the 335's Operations Officer, came in. “Guru, got two things for you.”

“Yeah?” That was Major Wiser's call sign. “Lay 'em out.”

“Okay, you've got a mission brief in fifteen minutes. Kara's putting the stuff together right now.” Capt. Kara “Starbuck” Thrace was Guru's wingmate and deputy Ops Officer. “Second? General Olds is on his way over. He said something about you wanting to see him.”

“You got that right, Don,” Guru said. “Push that mission brief back another fifteen-no, make that twenty-minutes. This might take a while.”

“That mission you and Goalie cooking up?” Van Loan asked. Seeing both CO and GIB nod, he added, “What'd Colonel Brady say?”

“He approved it,” Guru said. “And he said if we needed Marine assets for the mission, he'd give them to us.”

Van Loan nodded. “Marine Hornets for flak and SAM suppression, for starters.”

“You got it,” Guru replied. “And if we do this? I'll be leading, Mark will be right behind me, and you'll be behind Mark.” Capt. Mark Ellis was the 335's Exec. “And every element lead is going to be involved in planning this. The people who plan it are going to fly it.”

“Sweet, Boss,” the Ops Officer said. “Just like BOLO back in '67.”

Goalie nodded, then she got up off the office couch and looked out into the squadron office. She saw a familiar figure coming in. “Guys? General Olds at Twelve O'clock. And he's coming this way.”

“Okay,” the CO said. “Don? Tell Kara we'll be there as soon as we can. Have her round up the rest of my flight and tell 'em the same thing.”

“Will do,” Van Loan nodded. “And Boss?”

“Yeah?”

“Good luck with the General.”

The CO looked at his Ops Officer. “Thanks, Don.”

Van Loan nodded, then headed on out. On his way back to the Ops Office, he ran into General Olds. “General,” he said.

“Captain,” Olds said. “I see you've come out of seeing the CO.” He gestured to the CO's office.

“Yes, sir,” Van Loan replied. “They're waiting for you.”

“Good. I'd like to hear what he's got in mind. He said earlier that he had a mission concept that he wanted to talk about.”

“He said that to me as well, sir.”

“Then I'd best see what he and his GIB are up to,” Olds said. “You have a good rest of the day, Captain. And good luck in the air.”

“Yes, sir, and thank you.” Van Loan said. He then headed on to brief his own flight.


General Olds nodded, then went to the CO's office.

Guru and Goalie saw him coming, and when the door opened, they both came to attention. Habit, they knew, and they both remembered General Tanner's remarks about unnecessary spit and polish. But still....”General,” Guru said.

“As you were, both of you,” Olds said firmly. “I know, it's habit, and a good one to have. Major, you've taken General Tanner's words to heart about such things in a war zone, but....”

“Yes, sir,” Guru said. Major General Robert Tanner, the Tenth Air Force Commander, had told his commanders to “forget about the jumping up and down nonsense now that the shooting's started.” “Still, when a two-star comes into a room...”

“Habit, Major,” Olds recognized it at once. “So, let's get to it. You've got a mission concept in mind?” He said, changing the subject.

Guru nodded. “Yes, sir. It's just that right now,” he said. “But....we'd like to put the hurt on Ivan's Su-24 force.”

“Some of them, anyway,” Goalie added. “Uh, sir.”

Olds looked at both of them. “Thinking of going down to San Antonio? That's where Intel thinks they're based.”

“No, sir,” Guru replied. “It's too well defended right now, and it'd be low-level all the way. Three tanks, and that would only give us six Mark-82s or CBUs on each airplane.”

General Olds nodded. He knew what the young major was talking about. “If not the main base or bases, you want to hit their staging base. You do realize that there's two Air Armies in Central and East Texas, and that means three regiments of Fencers?” Olds asked. “Each.”

“Yes, sir,” Guru acknowledged. “The ones in East Texas are Ninth Air Force's to handle. But we can hit their staging fields in this part of the state.”

“Know which ones they're using?” Olds asked.

“No, sir, but we do have some ideas,” Guru replied. “Goalie?”

“General,” she picked it up. And had his attention. “There's three possibilities in this part of Texas. First, it's the old James Connolly AFB northeast of Waco. The Air Force left in the '60s, but SAC had it as a dispersal field, I believe. The second one is Gray AAF at Fort Hood. And the last one is Bergstrom AFB by Austin.”

“These would fit, not just for capacity with the fighters based there, but also for security,” Guru added.

“What about civilian fields?” Olds asked. There was a chance of that, he knew, and wanted to see if these two had taken that into account.

'Yes, sir,” Goalie replied. “Brownwood Regional is a possible, as is Robert Mueller Airport in Austin, but we've hit the former several times, and they may not want to risk sending their deep-strike assets to a place we've hit several times, and could go back at any time.”

“And Robert Mueller?”

“Intel says it's used by fighters and transports, as well as VIP flights for the Quisling Government, sir.” She was referring to the Collaborationist government the Soviets had set up in the Occupied Zone.

General Olds nodded. “And defenses?”

“That, General, we do know,” Guru said, picking up the discussion. “Each of the big fields has an SA-3 site, and there's also SA-2s in the vicinity-Waco, Temple, and Austin. Not to mention Triple-A in quantity, MANPADS, and MiGs. Bergstrom is also the Su-27 base in this part of Texas, and.....”

“And not only would you need Weasels and flak suppressors, but also a dedicated TARCAP or BARCAP,” Olds finished.

“That we would, sir,” Guru said. “Colonel Brady has offered Marine Hornets to do some of both,”

“Good,” Olds nodded. “But you'll need Weasels, and you'll get them. Now, Major, how do you plan to fly this?”

“Low level all the way,” Guru replied. “Three flights of four, and it's fast in, fast out. As for ordnance? Twelve Mark-82s or CBUs, each airplane. Plus four AIM-9s and two AIM-7s, an ECM pod, and full twenty mike-mike.”

Goalie thought for a minute, then looked at both her CO and the General. “General, Major?” She asked formally. “I've got an idea for the third flight.”

Both the General and Guru looked at her. “Go ahead, Lieutenant,” Olds said. “We're listening.”

“The final flight comes in, but the lead element has Durandals. The first two flights catch the Fencers with their pants down, refueling and rearming, but the third's got to close the field for at least a day or two. Preferably three or four. So the lead element has Durandals to make nice, deep craters in the runways.”

“Those are used by F-111s,” Guru pointed out. “Uh, sir,”

“That they are,” General Olds said. “Go on, Lieutenant. I like it so far.”

“Yes, sir. The final element has CBUs, but they're loaded with Gator mines,” Goalie said. “Those put the fear of God into runway repair crews. And causes them to delay actually repairing the runways until....”

“Until they've been cleared,” said Olds. “So far, so good.” He looked at both of them. “Now, Major, what do you do to attract Ivan's attention that he sends a regiment north on a strike?”

The two looked at each other. “Sir,” Guru said. “There's three possibles that we can think of, and maybe more. First, we set up a phony Pershing II battalion. Ivan's still fixated on neutralizing any nuclear assets, and a Pershing unit is something they'd want to take out.”

“And you're talking using fake missile launchers, vehicles, and so on,” Olds noted. “And some false radio traffic.”

“Yes, sir. And the same goes for option two: a GLCM squadron.”

Olds nodded. “It would, Major. And the third?”

“Sir,” Goalie said. “A phony Corps HQ. Same drill as for the Pershings or GLCM. Sir, didn't the Army get a bunch of Hollywood types to handle stuff like this? You know, SFX people?”

“They did,” the General nodded. “Guys like John Dykstra, Stan Winston, Greg Jein.”

“Who's he?” Goalie asked.

“He did some of the SFX work on Close Encounters and 1941,” Guru said.

“Oh,” nodded Goalie.

“Which means we'd have to get the Army involved, but they don't need to know why,” Olds said. 'All right, Major: how many people here know about this?”

“General, apart from the three of us and Colonel Brady?” Guru asked? Seeing General Olds nod, he went on. “My Exec and Ops Officer, plus Captain Thrace and the rest of my flight.”

“They only know something's in the works, but that's it,” Goalie added.

Olds nodded. “Okay, keep it that tight for now. When you get the go-ahead to start real planning, you can expand it. Do you have a SCIF?”

“No, sir.” Guru said. “This used to be an ATC base prewar, and the SAC molehole for dispersal crews?Somebody moved in there not long after we got here, and surrounded the place with concertina wire, armed guards, and K-9s. Lots of SF guys, we think. Folks with berets of varying colors, you get the idea, sir.”

“That I do,” nodded the General. “Okay, find a place where you can plan, and I'll get in touch with General Tanner. Not only to brief him, but also to have OSI watch you all. We're starting to hire civilian employees again, and given the PSD threat, seeing any kind of unusual activity around your squadron might get someone on the other side looking at you.”

Guru knew what the General meant. The Quislings had their own secret police, the Political Security Department, with its own KGB, DGI, and Stasi watchdogs, and a PSD agent had been caught near the base a few days earlier. “Yes, sir.”

“Okay, Major. Once I let General Tanner in on this, don't be surprised if you get a call to go out to Nellis to brief him personally. Just like I did with General Momeyer on Operation BOLO.”

Both CO and GIB gulped. '”Uh, yes, sir.” Guru said.

“I wish I could take your squadron back in time twenty-plus years,” Olds said. “This is the kind of mission we wanted to fly, and catch the North Viet Air Force on the ground. But Landslide Lyndon and the Edsel Mechanic wouldn't let us.”

Guru and Goalie knew what the General Meant. Political restrictions on ROLLING THUNDER had given the men flying into North Vietnam no end of trouble. And the micromanagement from the White House and DOD had been.....frustrating, to say the least. “Well, sir, they were worried that if we did that, some Russian advisor would be scratched by a piece of stray shrapnel, and then we'd have World War III. Or if some Chinese flight instructor got a sprained ankle jumping down from a MiG, it'd be Korea, Mark II.”

“Well, if I was twenty years younger, I'd want to fly on this,” said Olds. “You'll get what you need, Major, then you'll fly this. And when-not if-you do?”

“Sir?”

“You'll have everyone who flew into Pack Six with you in spirit. Do 'em proud.”

“We will, sir. And we'll catch those Su-24s like the Navy did Nagumo's carriers at Midway.”

“I like that. Now, I believe you've got a mission scheduled?” Olds asked.

“We do, sir,” Guru nodded. “And one more after that.”

General Olds nodded. “Then you'd best get going. I'll see you in the Club tonight. And Major? Lieutenant?”

“Sir?”

“Your older brothers and fathers who went to Southeast Asia? You'll do 'em proud. Good brief,” Olds said, shaking both of their hands. “Good luck this afternoon.”

“Thank you, sir.” Guru said, and Goalie echoed him.

Olds headed for the door. “I'll get out of your hair. And bring everyone back today.”

“Do my best, sir,” Guru said.

“All you can do,” General Olds nodded, then he went out the door.

Both Guru and Goalie took a deep breath. “Well?” Guru said as he gathered up his materials and put them in a locked drawer in his desk.

“We're going to do this,” Goalie said. “Don't know when, but we're doing this.”

“That we will,” the CO nodded. “Come on. We've got a mission to brief and fly.”

“Yeah. Once more unto the breach, dear friends,” Goalie said.

“Just as long as we leave out the 'Close the walls up with out dead,' crap.” Guru said. “Let's go.

And both CO and GIB left the office, knowing that their plan had a decent chance of approval. But first, they had strikes to fly.