April 21, 1998
Another day on which canon is silent. Unofficially.
At its new base in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, the 301st Port Security Unit is completely reorganized and absorbs a large number of personnel from other services, as well as police and federal agents. The reformed unit is flagged the 701st Maritime Rifle Regiment and is tasked as a waterborne military police formation.
Reflecting both the loss of industrial and military capability on the part of Frontal Aviation as well as the near-extinction of NATO interceptor coverage over the front line, a trio of Yak-52 light trainer aircraft, hastily modified with a pair of 57mm rocket pods, attack German positions north of Gorlitz on the Polish border.
The final survivor from the Barrikada, a scared 20-year-old steward from Perm in Siberia, wanders the pack ice of the Arctic. He does not know which direction he should be headed and escaped the polar bear attack without gloves or mittens.
The US Navy formally disbands the crew of the carrier USS America. The ship was abandoned and destroyed in Sicily following irreparable damage and the crew evacuated. After several weeks of indecision, they were brought to Germany to serve as replacements for depleted Army formations. Senior officers are assigned to corps- and army-level headquarters as additional watchstanders and technical experts assigned to 7th TAACOM to help maintain US Army Europe's battered equipment. Sailors that can't be used in their ratings are cycled through 7th Army Training Command's Basic Infantry Substitute Course (BISC), a four-week course to transform experienced servicemen (and women) into infantry replacements. (The training is a far cry from its pre-exchange conversion counterparts, since there is little ammunition, fuel or equipment to be spared for training use). The graduates, referred to as "Bisquicks", are welcomed to the depleted formations of III and V Corps in reserve positions behind the lines.
AWB extremists throughout South Africa rise up against the government in a (vain) attempt to halt the rollback of apartheid policies. Rail and road traffic is disrupted by blockades of heavily armed men (the AWB's right-wing beliefs also include that women should be passive and submissive) and government and military facilities, as well as airports and power stations, come under small arms fire.
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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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