April 17, 1998
Another day with nothing in canon. Unofficially,
Members of the Ho-Chunk tribe turn back a Wisconsin State Patrol officer sent to investigate rumors of disruption to the area's roads.
The 10th Mountain (my 11th Airborne) Division and 2nd Infantry Brigade (Arctic Recon) send dismounted patrols into the mountains overlooking their positions, seeking a weak point in the Soviet lines.
Only eight Russian mutineers remain, the last survivors of the crew of the Barrikada. They now have adequate clothing (having stripped the dead of theirs) but are short (ironically) of water. The group is discovered by a pack of polar bears, who are driven away by gunfire from the group's pistols.
Having begun to somewhat organize his headquarters, the Jugoslav high command's surviving leader, Colonel General Petar Simatović, orders the creation of regular forces to eject the Soviets, Italians and their Pact allies. The new forces are to be formed from the remnants of the Jugoslav National Army (the pre-war Army and its reserves) and Territorial Defense (local defense forces under command of regional governments), unified under a new name, the Jugoslav Free Army (abbreviated JSA in Serbo-Croatian).
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I love the smell of napalm in the morning. You know, one time we had a hill bombed, for 12 hours. When it was all over, I walked up. We didn't find one of 'em, not one stinkin' body. The smell, you know that gasoline smell, the whole hill. Smelled like... victory. Someday this war's gonna end...
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