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#241
02-23-2022, 04:02 PM
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February 23, 1997
Nothing in the canon for the day! Unofficially: The small convoy of the Victory ship PVT Fred C Murphy and Coast Guard cutter Resolute arrives in Jacksonville, FL. There is a change of leadership in the Navy in the aftermath of the Kirov sinking. Commander, Task Force 26 (Second Fleet's maritime patrol aircraft commander) is reassigned as the new Superintendent of the Navy War College in Newport, Rhode Island. Task Force 28, the Caribbean Task Force, is split off from Second Fleet and designated Fourth Fleet. Fourth Fleet will be assigned responsibility for the Caribbean and the Atlantic south of the Tropic of Cancer. Col. Tumanski's Spetsnaz team finally spots a GLCM flight on the move in rural Berkshire, England in the early morning hours. The vehicles are out of range of the team's weapons (over 2 km away), and the colonel is alarmed by the firepower displayed by the flight, which outmatches the firepower his team can bring to bear. They are able to locate the general area the flight is hiding in (by observing from a distance with two observation posts). SACEUR approves the prior week's request to support the establishment of so-called Polish Free Legions, armed forces of the Polish Government in Exile. Despite the name and the announcment, the reality is less impressive. The "Free Legions" amount to five company-sized formations composed of first or second-generation Polish immigrants serving in other NATO militaries seconded to the Polish government, augmented by carefully screened volunteers from among Polish POWs captured in the fighting of the past months. Convoy 122 is attacked by two Soviet submarines, the Kilo-class B-459 and the Echo II-class K-131. The quiet diesel boat spots the convoy and relaya its location to the SSGN as well as providing updated inflight guidance to the SS-N-12 missiles K-131 launched, before launching a torpedo attack. The missiles strike the escorting Canadian frigate HMCS Terra Nova and the American freighter Montana Freedom (on its maiden voyage), and the torpedoes sink the Danish-flag Seaboard Sun. The American fast sealift ship Denebola arrives in Emden, Germany carrying the vehicles and heavy equipment of the 151st Field Artillery Brigade (SC National Guard). Like the ships that arrived the day before, the vessel had taken a circuitous route to avoid Soviet raiders. Travelling at 30 knots also helped to avoid enemy attacks! photo The 1st Squadron, 14th Armored Cavalry Regiment (Light) arrives in Saudi Arabia via priority airlift. The Squadron's LAVs and the regiment's M917 ADATS troop are deployed behind the screen established by the 82nd Airborne in northeastern Saudi Arabia, ready to respond to any enemy attacks.
__________________
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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#242
02-23-2022, 04:03 PM
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Adminsitrative note... I'll be out for a long weekend. I'll get caught up on Tuesday!
__________________
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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#244
03-01-2022, 03:33 PM
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Quote:
__________________
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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#245
03-01-2022, 03:34 PM
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Quote:
__________________
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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#246
03-01-2022, 03:35 PM
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February 24, 1997
Nothing official today, but unofficially: A Spetnsaz team of the 16th Independent Spetsnaz Brigade (reporting directly to GRU headquarters in Moscow) crosses into the US over a lightly patrolled section of border in southwestern New Mexico. The Assistant Chief of Staff, N2 (Intelligence) of the Second Fleet in the Atlantic announces his retirement. A two-man patrol from Col Tumanski's Spetsnaz team probes the defenses of the GLCM flight while two other men return to their safehouse to retrieve a light mortar and an AT-4 missile launcher. IX Corps in Korea transitions from supporting the deployment of US troops into the Korean Peninsula to commanding the 7th and 26th Infantry Divisions in combat operations along the DMZ north of Seoul. SACEUR authorizes a major realignment of forces along the nearly 1250 km of active front line in Germany. Second German Army assumes responsibility for the area from the Baltic Coast southward, First German Army takes responsibility for the central portion of the Oder-Niesse line and Third German Army the sector up to the Czech-Polish-German tri-border point. The US 7th Army sector is extended along the Czechoslovak border all the way to Austria. All the armies are multi-national, and the German armies divert significant combat forces to internal security and reconstruction tasks in the former East Germany. NATO commanders in the Kola decide that future attacks along the Litsa are most likely to produce high casualties without territorial gains and call a temporary halt to offensive operations until the strategic situation along the front changes, and both opposing armies begin to dig in and settle down for an extended period. The Soviet Echo II-class cruise missile submarine K-131, its missiles expended, ordered to Bluefields, Nicarauga for replenishment. The landing ship Spiegel Grove, damaged by Soviet bombers off Teriberka, sinks while under tow. The trailing elements of the 82nd Airborne Division arrive in Saudi Arabia. They are accompanied by the AH-1S of the Aviation Squadron, NBC company and Air Defense Battery of the 14th ACR (Light). The 235th Rear Area Protection Division is called up in Artemovsk, Ukraine, falling in on cadre and supplies from the 36th Motor-Rifle Division and begins absorbing reservists and raw conscripts and small-unit (platoon and company) training.
__________________
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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#247
03-01-2022, 03:39 PM
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February 25, 1997
The owners of the airship Columbia begin preparing her for her first long flight, gathering survival supplies-guns, ammo, food concentrates, clothing, camping gear and all of the material necessary to build new airships, including tank after tank of carefully refrigerated liquid helium. Unofficially: The Coast Guard cutter Resolute departs Jacksonville, links up with four freighters and the tanker Overseas Alice transiting the Straits of Florida. The Second Fleet's chief of staff is relieved of duty following a preliminary investigation into the Kirov breakout and pursuit. The two members of Col. Tumanski's team that were attempting to locate the GLCM flight are intercepted by troops of the 2nd Battalion, The Wessex Regiment and detained. The rest of the team sets up the 82mm mortar and fires ten rounds at the area they suspect the flight is hiding in before abandoning it and leaving the area to avoid capture. The Soviet raider Buliny, under the command of Captain 2nd Rank Mikhail Mischenko, arrives in Luanda, Angola and is refuellled and rearmed. The ship's 130mm magazines are fully replenished and a partial load of 5 SS-N-22 missiles are received. The USSR and Greece sign a secret accord, allowing Soviet submarines and their support ships to operate in Greek waters. The 14th ACR (Light)'s support squadron and the lead battalion of the 7th Transportation Brigade arrive in Saudi Arabia.
__________________
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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#248
03-02-2022, 03:34 PM
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February 26, 1997
Nothing in the canon for the day. Unofficially, The Headquarters, XI US Corps completes its intense two-week command post exercise (in which it "fought" a month-long campaign which started as a defense against a Soviet Front and ended with a counteroffensive) and returns to its home station of Ft. Benjamin Harrison, Indiana for equipment issue prior to deploying. The 43rd (Wessex) Brigade dispatches additional companies to the area around the GLCM flight that was attacked (with only a single injury) by Col. Tumanski's Spetsnaz team. The flood of additional troops to the area causes the Soviet colonel to withdraw from the area and seek other targets. (The diversion of troops to the area in itself consumes resources that would otherwise be directed to the front). The old carrier USS Midway and its air group, CVW-16, is declared combat ready in San Diego. It is ordered to patrol the northeast Pacific, the area between the Aleutians, Midway and Puget Sound. CVW-16 fields two F/A-18 squadrons, a squadron of A-7E attack jets and a squadron of A-6 bombers, along with the usual complement of airborne early warning and electronic warfare aircraft and anti-submarine helicopters. The air wing does not have tankers, F-14 interceptors or fixed-wing anti-submarine aircraft. Convoy 208 arrives in Pusan, Korea, bringing with it the 264th Engineer Group, bulk ammunition and containerized supplies for 8th US Army and carrying bagged rice to help sustain the South Korean civilian population. The 151st Field Artillery “Gamecock" Brigade (South Carolina National Guard), with a M109 battalion and a M110 howitzer battalion is reported ready for action in Germany, and is assigned to III Corps. On the Kola Peninsula, units on the front line gradually reduce the portion of troops at the front, withdrawing the rest to prewar buildings in the rear (in the towns of Zaozersk, Kola and Murmansk for the Soviets, Nikel, Luostari and Pechenga for NATO troops). X Corps withdraws 10th Mountain Division, which has suffered the highest losses, back into Norway for rest, refit and to absorb what replacement troops and equipment arrive in Norway. The Norwegian Army rotates brigades off the front line, replacing the most damaged platoons in each battalion with replacement platoons reassigned from units in southern Norway and replacing losses in other units with fresh recruits from the training system, which was working overtime to make up for the casualties of over four months of intense combat. The Dutch marine battalion receives a steady stream of reservists to replace its losses, although the replacements arrive only with small arms. A Soviet raider in the South Atlantic sinks the bulk carrier Merchant Pioneer, carrying 60,000 tons of fertilizer to Lagos, Nigeria. The loss of the cargo will add to the growing food catastrophe in Africa. Convoy 8, under the protection of the escort carrier Shangri-La (and other escorts), arrives in Gibraltar. 2nd Squadron, 14th ACR (Light) and its 919th Engineer Company arrive in Saudi Arabia. The 269th Aviation Battalion (Combat) of the 18th Airborne Corps is deployed as well. The 196th Motor-Rifle Division, a mobilization-only division from the Moscow Mlitary District, is called up in Kursk and assigned to the 2nd Guards Army. It is equipped with T-62 tanks, Second World War-vintage artillery and 160mm mortars instead of howitzers in the regimental artillery batteries.
__________________
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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#249
03-02-2022, 03:39 PM
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February 27, 1997
Another day with nothing official! The Spetnsaz team that crossed into New Mexico links up with a sympathizer on a remote back road and is driven to safe house in Albuquerque. The cargo ship Racer is returned to service (from reserve) in San Francisco and travels to Suisun Bay to load ammunition from the Concord Naval Weapons Station. A representative of HM Government meets covertly with representatives of the Ulster Defense Association (a Protestant paramilitary group), making known that the government is prepared to implement harsh measures to curtail terrorist activity for the duration of the war. NATO troops in Germany begin a complex dance to reorient into the new sectors identified in the previous days. Engineer units on both sides of the front line in the Kola begin efforts to construct additional roads and river crossings. Bunkers for headquarters are blasted out of the tundra and warm shelter constructed in the rear areas. A SOSUS fixed sonar sensor array east of Bermuda detects the Echo II-class nuclear cruise missile submarine K-131 transiting at speed. P-3 patrol aircraft of VP-49 are vectored to its location and, after a two-hour hunt, sink it with air-dropped torpedoes. The Soviet Black Sea Fleet dispatches a truck convoy carrying supplies, spares and torpedoes, to Varna, Bulgaria for further overland movement to Patros, Greece. Upon arrival there they will support surviving Soviet naval units in the Mediterranean. The 24th Infantry Division (Mechanized) begins loading vehicles and heavy equipment aboard ships in Savannah, Georgia. The 14th ACR (Lt)'s regimental headquarters arrives in Saudi Arabia, accompanied by the advance party of the 18th Field Artillery Brigade. The 82nd Motor-Rifle Division transits to the Don River from its garrisons near Volgograd to load onto ships that will transport the unit to Bulgaria.
__________________
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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#250
03-02-2022, 03:49 PM
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February 28, 1997
The 44th (my 20th) Armored Division's headquarters is formed at Ft Hood, Texas, taking command of the 30th Armored (Tennesse National Guard), 31st Armored (Alabama National Guard) and 218th Infantry (Mechanized) (South Carolina National Guard) brigades. The new division begins training and establishing division-level units (Division Artillery, a composite cavalry squadron and an engineer regiment headquarters, amoung others) from the previously independent brigades' units. Unofficially, The Freedom ship Ohio Freedom is delivered in Galveston, Texas. The 218th Infantry Brigade (Mechanized), South Carolina National Guard, completes Rotation 97-5 at the National Training Center at Ft. Irwin, California and is declared combat ready, the same time falling under command of the new armored division. The 2nd Brigade, 29th ID(L) (Maryland and Virginia National Guards) completes Rotation 97-5 at the Joint Readiness Training Center at Ft. Polk, LA and is declared combat ready. Col. Tumanski is ordered by Moscow Center (the GRU headquarters at Khodinka airfield in Moscow) to maintain survellience of the identified GLCM launch sites but to shift his efforts to disrupting the flow of supplies and reinforcements onto the continent. Convoy 8, under the protection of the escort carrier Shangri-La and other US and allied escorts, departs Gibraltar, heading east through the Mediterranean. Several Soviet ships and submarines from the Mediterranean Squadron remain unaccounted for, despite intense searches for them. The 14th ACR (Light)'s final squadron (the 3rd) arrives in Saudi Arabia, completing the unit's priority airlift. Military Airlift Command shifts some of its aircraft back to supporting the war in Europe and Korea following the deployment of the 82nd and 14th to Saudi Arabia, despite the considerable amount of CENTCOM troops and equipment still ready to go to the Middle East.
__________________
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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#251
03-02-2022, 03:57 PM
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March 1, 1997
The 6th Air Cavalry Combat Brigade is assigned to XVIII Airborne Corps and begins to deploy by air to Saudi Arabia. The 41st Infantry Division becomes operational and begins deployment to Korea by sea. The 43rd Infantry Division becomes operational and begins deployment to Europe by sea. The division's 187th Infantry Brigade (US Army Reserve) is forward deployed to Iceland, requiring sealift planners to identify available ships that can fit into the island nation's harbors and direct them there. Hamadan falls to Soviet troops. The Iranian National Security Force begins recruiting nationalist Iranians, mostly veterans of the Iran-Iraq war, for Operation Shadow, an effort to seed anti-Soviet guerrilla bands in areas likely to be occupied by the Soviets and their Tudeh allies. Unofficially, The US Navy assigns the training carrier Lexington in Pensacola an operational anti-raider role in the Caribbean with a scratch air wing (three squadrons of A-4s from the trainign establishment and some Sea King helicopters) and a small battle group, designated Task Force 40.1. The Freedom-class cargo ship Arizona Freedom is delivered in Pascagoula, Mississippi. The Spetsnaz team in Albuquerque conducts a reconniassance of the Kirtland Air Force Base nuclear weapons storage facility. A Senior MI-5 official meets with a Ulster Volunteer Force leader in Londonderry, Northern Ireland, to convey the same message regarding sectarian terror as was delivered to the UDA in February. He also hints that MI-5 would entertain more extreme measures (beyond indefinate internment without trial, likely assassination of leadership) if the warning was ignored. The Headquarters, 12th Air Force arrives in Orland AB, Norway to provide C3I for USAF units in Norwegian theatre. Guards aboard the Soviet destroyer Buliny, under the command of Captain 2nd Rank Mikhail Mischenko, replenishing and receiving minor repairs in Luanda, Angola, detect swimmers in the harbor nearby and drop grenades in the water. The sailors' quick action disrupted an attack by 4 Reconnaissance Commando, South African Defense Force, who lost three recces in the failed operation. Convoy 10 departs Savannah, with a dozen ships carrying the equipment and vehicles of the 24th Infantry Division (Mechanized).
__________________
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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#252
03-03-2022, 03:38 PM
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March 2, 1997
Nothing official for today! The Freedom-class cargo ship Missouri Freedom is delivered in Pascagoula, MS. An unexplained explosion rocks a remote Sandia National Laboratory site in rural New Mexico. The Spetsnaz team under Col. Mikhail Tumanski lays explosive charges under the rail line exiting the US Army munitions depot at Caerwent, Wales. The Escort Carrier Franklin (a former container ship converted to operate helicopters and Harrier jump jets) returns to San Francisco Bay, ready to escort the convoy carrying 41st Infantry Division to Korea on its first operational mission. The former East German 24th Motorshutzen Division is re-designated the 24th PanzerGrenadier Division but retains its Soviet equipment and motor-rifle division structure. The 2nd and 76th Brigades, 38th Infantry Division arrive in Bremerhaven, Germany with Convoy 122. The brigades have lost a portion of their heavy equipment to raiders on the convoy, and are forced to requisition replacement vehicles from the theater's reserve stocks. The 3rd Brigade, 24th ID (M) loads its forward detachment aboard aircraft at Hunter Army Airfield for transit to Saudi Arabia. Upon arrival they will begin unloading prepositioned equipment from the squadron of ships which had been maintained afloat in Diego Garcia. They will form CENTCOM's first heavy brigade deployed to the region. The 14th ACR (Light) reports it is fully mission capable and moves into postions alongside the Saudi National Guard's 3rd Light Motorized Brigade south of the Kuwaiti border.
__________________
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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#253
03-03-2022, 03:43 PM
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March 3, 1997
As Iranian II Corps' defense of Esfahan continues, 4th Army commits the 31st (my 23rd Guards) Motor-Rifle Division (a Category C unit from the Transcaucasian Military District) to action outside Arak. Unofficially: TF 40.1 (the Lexington battle group) is ordered to patrol the Caribbean Sea, initially the eastern approaches to the Panama Canal and to be prepared to reinforce the New Jersey battlegroup on the Pacific approaches as the battleship is under repair at Roosevelt Roads Naval Station, Puerto Rico following its duel with the Kirov. The Freedom-class cargo ship Colorado Freedom is delivered in San Diego, California. It is ordered to Port Hueneme, California to load cargo for the CENTCOM AOR. An ad-hoc task force from the USAF Pararescue School is formed to assist the FBI in tracking down the suspected Spetsnaz team following yesterday's Sandia attack. Col. Tumanski's Spetsnaz team detonates explosives under a railcar full of flares leaving the US Army munitions dump at Caerwent, Wales. The subsequent fire ignites other railcars carrying explosives and consumes the locomotive. The rail line is out of service, slowing significantly the transfer of the over 400,000 tons of US Army munitions still stored at the site. The 264th Engineer Group (Combat) (Wisconsin National Guard) arrives in Korea, where it is assigned to restore roads, structures and bridges destroyed in December's fighting. Convoy 8, including the escort carrier Shangri-La, splits into two sub-convoys east of Malta. Convoy 8.1 turns north into the Adriatic, headed for Jugoslav ports, while Convoy 8.2 (including the Shangi-La) continues east.
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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... Last edited by chico20854; 03-04-2022 at 04:49 PM.
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#254
03-04-2022, 04:47 PM
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March 4, 1997
Kashan and Arak fall to the Soviet 4th Army; the Iranian II Corps continues to defend the approaches to Esfahan. Unofficially: The Freedom-class cargo ship Nebraska Freedom is delivered in Pascagoula, MS. The 55th Brigade, 28th Infantry Division (Pennsylvania National Guard) completes Rotation 97-5 at NTC-2 at the Yakima Training Center and is declared combat ready; as the division's last brigade the entire division is declared combat ready. The first three company-sized Polish Free Legions report to the Grafenwohr training area in Germany for pre-combat training. The units are equipped with HMMWVs provided by the US Army and captured RPGs and Soviet 120mm mortars. The former East German 8th Motor-Rifle Division is re-named the 28th PanzerGrenadier Division, assigned to VI Korps. The 196th Field Artillery Brigade (Tennessee National Guard) arrives at Jacksonville, Florida for loading aboard the transports Oklahoma Freedom, Cape Elgin, Ibn Qutaibah and Symphorine for transit to Saudi Arabia. Naval Spetsnaz teams, covertly deployed through Iraq and sailing through the Persian Gulf in a dhow (a traditional regional sailing vessel), strike two targets. One team sets the supertanker Solt Companion afire, with 2.25 million barrels of crude oil aboard, in the Straits of Hormuz. The other team sinks the smaller tanker Oraholm in the entrance to Bandar Abbas' oil port. F-16As of the 89th TFS (AFRES) launch a mission over the Black Sea to sweep Soviet shipping from the sealane between Burgas and Soviet ports in Crimea and Georgia. They locate three small freighters sailing independently and sink them with gunfire and cluster bombs. Another F-16 unit in Turkey, the 149th Tactical Fighter Group, based in the southeast, launches a decoy air raid on Soviet targets outside Yerevan, Armenia. The American fighters never cross into Soviet airspace - one flight of four aircraft approaches the border, prompting Soviet fire control radars to light up and interceptors to launch, before turning back. A second flight launches anti-radiation missiles at the newly identified radars, while the squadron's remaining aircraft engage the fighters with long-range missiles before turning back. As Soviet fighters pursue the retreating American aircraft, the first flight, which had dropped to low level over the mountainous terrain, pop up and ambushed the surprised Su-15s. Five Soviet aircraft are lost, a SA-10 battalion command post and acquisition radar is destroyed and two SA-2 batteries are neutralized.
__________________
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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#255
03-05-2022, 06:58 AM
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March 5, 1997
Nothing in the canon for the day! Unofficially, NATO heads of state begin another secret session on war strategy. This meeting includes the Jugoslav and Romanian leadership as well as a delegation from the Polish government in exile. USAF and RAF strike aircraft launch a series of attacks on Polish and Soviet supply dumps and fuel depots that have been identified by radar aircraft orbiting over the Inter-German Border. The 39th Infantry Brigade (Air Assault) (Arkansas National Guard) completes Rotation 97-6 at JRTC-2 at Fort Chaffee, AR and declared combat ready. The Iranian 42nd Tactical Fighter Squadron receives its F-20s in Savannah, Georgia, completing the outfitting of the 41st Wing. The squadron flies their new aircraft to Pensacola, Florida for conversion training. (The squadron's personnel are experienced with the F-20s predecessor, the F-5E, so training focuses on the differences between the two models). The eccentric rock star Ted Hendrix calls off his round the world voyage in his yacht the Iron Duke (a carefully reproduced copy of the clipper ship Cutty Sark) due to the world situation. He leaves the ship in Key West, Florida, heading to his ranch in North Dakota for some big game hunting. Two Soviet submarines, the Victor I-class K-367 and the Victor III-class K-251, infiltrate the Japanses naval base at Sasebo and sink the destroyer Haruyuki, the frigates Oyodo and Sendai and the oiler Sagami. The K-367 is sunk as it tries to escape the area. The Soviet raider Buliny, under the command of Captain 2nd Rank Mikhail Mischenko, departs Luanda, Angola at dark. The American heavy cruiser Newport News is detached from the escort of Convoy 124, heading for Scapa Flow, Scotland. Convoy 8.1 arrives in Split, Croatia and begins unloading munitions, light vehicles and supplies to support the Romanian and Jugoslav war effort. Convoy 8.2 splits once again, with six ships heading to Antalya, Turkey while the remaining 12 head southeast towards Israel and the Suez Canal. 3rd Brigade, 24th Infantry Division begins unloading the transports Shugart, Gordon, Yano, Gililand and Soderman in Damman, Saudi Arabia as additional aircraft arrive carrying the brigade's troops. The Soviet 7th Guards Army attacks the Iranian I Corps in the Kermanshah-Hamadan-Bourjes area. The supertanker Solt Companion continues to drift in the Straits of Hormuz; the fires aboard are too intense for salvage crews to board to attach a tow line. US and Allied naval forces in the region begin a frantic effort to locate the naval Spetsnaz teams that were responsible for the attack on the tanker, but there are dozens and dozens of small trading vessels in the region. Ironically, one of the most useful assets in this effort are the over 150 small armed motorboats manned by the Pasdaran, boats that had plagued the Persian Gulf in the 1980s.
__________________
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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#256
03-05-2022, 11:30 AM
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At one point 39th IN BDE was a “Round Up” unit for the 101st. However I haven’t found a source to determine if they organized as an air assault brigade or a standard light infantry brigade. Not sure how you have them aligned. I’d assume with continued defense spending if they weren’t organized as an air assault brigade they would be.
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#257
03-05-2022, 12:21 PM
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Homer,
By the mid (1985) to late 1980's 39INB had a Direct Training Relationship with 101 AAD and it fell under XVIII Corps. However it was scheduled to go to Europe either with XVIII Corps or as follow-on reinforcement with I or III Corps (the TAA-92 Chart has them falling under III Corps). All the SIBs Inf Bns were reorganized from H-Series (HHC, 3xRifle Coys, CSC) to an organization based on Abn/AA Bns (HHC, 3xRifle Coys, TOW Coy) (j or L series?). I know 45 SIB converted its Bns I am not sure if 39SIB converted by 1989.
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#259
03-06-2022, 07:13 AM
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March 6, 1997
Sirjan Khorrasani, a veteran of the Iran-Iraq War and rug dealer, is recruited by National Security Force Major Javad Hedayati, formerly of the Pasdaran and an old firend, for Operation Shadow. Khorrasani is to remain in Esfahan if the IPA withdaws from Esfahan, appearing to cooperate with the occupying Tudeh and Soviets, while leading the local Pasdaran resistance band. Unofficially, The head of the Polish Free Congress, Lech Walesa (freed from jail earlier in the war in a daring joint SAS-Delta Force raid) addresses his fellow NATO heads of state, emotionally imploring them to liberate his nation after over 50 years of Soviet occupation. The CIA Director gives an assessment of Soviet military capabilities given the current world situation. A FBI counterintelligence monitoring team radio-locates a Spetsnaz team as they attempt to arrange pickup by their supporting sympathizer. The elite FBI Hostage Rescue Team deploys to Albuquerque. HQ, XI Corps completes its pre-deployment activities and rail loads its vehicles for transit to the load port of Bayonne, New Jersey. The Dutch Red Army fires a RPG at the Rotterdam refinery, starting a small fire and shutting down one of its hydrocracker units for three weeks. A group from the Latvian Free Army, supported by an A-Team of the 10th Special Forces Group, attacks the fuel depot at the Šiauliai air base, setting it ablaze and seizing a dozen weapons from the guard force. A major artillery duel erupts along the Oder-Niesse line. The troops in the bridgeheads retreat to their deep shelters, and American A-10s soon appear overhead, raining cluster bombs on the Polish and Soviet batteries. Three A-10s are lost when 57mm and 100mm flak batteries open up on them. The Whiskey-class diesel submarine S-359 arrives in the North Sea after over two weeks creeping at slow speed along the Norwegian coast. It lays 18 MDM-1 mines on the seabed between British and Dutch channel ports, then turns back for Murmansk. Convoy 8.2.1 is attacked by the Soviet Whiskey-class submarine S-383 northwest of Cyprus, sinking the Turkish freighter Ihlsan. The Solt Companion sinks, leaving behind a massive oil slick.
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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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#260
03-07-2022, 03:44 PM
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March 7, 1997
Nothing official today... The 30th Armored Brigade, 44th (my 20th) Armored Division (Tennessee National Guard) completes Rotation 97-4 at NTC-3 at the Yuma Proving Grounds in Arizona and is declared combat ready. It begins rail loading its vehicles for transit to East Coast load ports. A FBI-USAF team surrounds the Spetsnaz team in New Mexico after it is picked up by a sypathizer. The team is disarmed and handled as POWs, the sympathizer is arrested on treason charges. photo The Spetsnaz team under Col Mikhail Tumanski attacks the fuel depot at Avonmouth near Bristol. The team uses its 82mm mortar to split open some of the massive tanks and fires a pair of AT-4 missiles into the resulting spill to start a massive fire. The 265th Engineer Group (Combat) (Georgia National Guard) enters combat in Korea under command of IX Corps. As part of the unification of the German Army from the prewar NVA and Bundeswehr, the 17th Motor-Rifle Division (a mobilization-only unit) is retitled the 217th PanzerGrenadier Division. The 142nd Field Artillery Brigade (Arkansas National Guard) fires it first shots in anger along the Oder-Niesse line. The Soviet raider Buliny sinks the Liberian-flag bulker Galet, carrying bulk wheat to Capetown. The loss of the cargo further heightens the hunger crisis in Africa. Convoy 8.2.2 arrives at Port Said, Egypt and is officially ended. (Many of the ships will continue on to the Arabian Sea and Persian Gulf under escorts provided by local navies and the US 5th Fleet). Convoy 8.2.1. arrives at the Turkish port of Izmir and begins unloading supplies of food, munitions and light vehicles. The 18th Field Artillery Brigade loads its guns and trucks onto aircraft at Pope Air Force Base, North Carolina for deployment to Saudi Arabia. The Soviet 40th Army, advancing west out of Afghanistan (from marshalling areas near Shindand and Herat) links up with troops of the 45th (my 32nd) Army at Bardaskan, in the harsh desert southwest of Mashad (and cutting off the last overland connection to the isolated Pasdaran garrison).
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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... Last edited by chico20854; 03-08-2022 at 07:35 AM.
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#261
03-08-2022, 03:04 PM
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March 8, 1997
The US 4th (I have the 3rd) Marine Division first enters combat against the North Korean Army. Unofficially: NATO heads of state conclude their conference. After nearly two days of discussion, they order SACEUR to prepare and execute an invasion of Poland to restore the Polish Government in Exile's control of the country, something it has not had since September, 1939. A shipment of M-60 machineguns from the factory in Saco, Maine to the Army ordnance center at Anniston, Albama goes missing while the unmarked truck carrying the weapons was travelling through southwestern Virginia. Over 250 brand new weapons were aboard. The site of the munitions train fire and explosion outside RAF Caerwent in Wales is cleared of unexploded ordnance so railroad workers can begin the task to remove the wreck of the train and rebuild the damaged track underneath it. The carriers Abraham Lincoln, Independence, Constellation and John C. Stennis launch a coordinated series of raids against North Korean targets northwest of Pyongyang. The 28th ANZUK Brigade begins a series of exercises at the Shoalwater Bay Training Area in central Queensland, Australia. This is the first time the formation has had its battalions operate together. 1st Brigade, 9th Infantry Division (Light Motorized) arrives at the port of Tacoma, Washington to load equipment and vehicles for Saudi Arabia. The brigade loads many of its vehicles and supplies into containers so that relatively abundant container ships can be used, speeding the brigade's deployment. The former NVA (East German Army) reserve 6th Motor-Rifle Division is re-named the 26th PanzerGrenadier Division and reorganized, its three motor-rifle and single tank regiments each assigned a even mix of panzergrenadier and panzer battalions. The American heavy cruiser Newport News departs Scapa Flow, Scotland, leading a group consisting of a missile cruiser, a destroyer and three frigates, on convoy escort duty in the Norwegian and Barents Seas and to provide on-call naval gunfire support for NATO troops ashore. The British ferry European Freeway is sunk by a mine (laid by a Soviet submarine just days before) in the North Sea. It was carrying equipment to bring II British Corps up to strength. The 82nd Motor Rifle Division arrives in the Bulgarian port of Varna, assigned to the 58th Army. Convoy 126 forms in Jacksonville, Florida. It includes the vehicles, guns and heavy equipment of the 209th (New York National Guard) and 227th (Florida National Guard) Field Artillery Brigades. The 20th Engineer Brigade (Airborne) loads its heavy equipment aboard transports in Morehead City, North Carolina for deployment to the CENTCOM region. The transports Donald Kowalski (the former Soviet frieghter Donetsk Komsomolets, captured by the Royal Navy in December), the American transport Gulf Farmer and the Panamanian roll-on/roll-off ship Ciudad De Oviedo load the 187th Infantry Brigade (US Army Reserve)'s heavy equipment in Reykjavik, Iceland while 737s carry the brigade's troops to German airports. 3rd Brigade, 24th ID is fully manned and equipped in Saudi Arabia. The transport ships that carried its equipment are released to return to the U.S. for their next mission. Long Range Aviation completes a week-long stand-down following several months of intense operations over the seas adjacent to Soviet territory, China, the Balkans and the Persian Gulf. Half of the force's Tu-16 Badger regiments are disbanded, their remaining aircraft and crews reassigned to the surviving units to bring them up to strength. Despite herculean efforts, the delivery of new Tu-22M4 Backfire bombers (one aircraft a week) is insufficient to replace the Backfire force's losses, and a third of the regiments are left intact but stripped of aircraft and aircrews. (The intent is to equip those regiments with aircraft as they become available). The Tu-22 Blinder force is allowed to continue operations until it fades into irrelevance, while the Tu-160 Blackhjack force is held for long-range nuclear strikes on the UK, Canada and USA and the Tu-95 Bear force continues to launch cruise missiles from over Soviet territory at targets in the NATO (and Japanese) rear.
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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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#263
03-09-2022, 06:13 AM
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March 9, 1997
The Danish army (Slesvig RCT) first enters combat against Warsaw Pact forces. The Danish contingent is involved with a minor attack to drive Czechoslovakian forces back in Bavaria. Unofficially, SACEUR staff brief NORTHAG and CENTAG staff on the political directive to liberate Poland from Soviet occupation. They discuss some concepts of operation and begin planning the offensive. It is assigned the code name Operation Advent Crown. In Framingham, Massachusetts, a small ceremony marks the delivery of the first LAV-25 from the former GM automotive plant, the culmination of a reactivation process that took 15 months. Unfortunately, the Chinese People's Liberation Army, for which the plant was reopened, will not receive any of the factory's production, which instead is directed to US Army and Marine forces fighting around the world. The 329th Engineer Group (US Army Reserve) is declared combat ready at its mobilization station of Camp Edwards, Massachusetts and begins moving its equipment to Boston to load for Germany. Senior leaders of MI5 meet covertly with PIRA leadership in Londonderry, expressing that HM Government would take extreme measures in the event of sectarian violence during the ongoing war in Europe. Frontal Aviation tries a new approach to operations over the front line on the German border. Over a period of three hours in the predawn hours it dispatches trickles of bombers and fighter-bombers in ones and twos at low level; the move forces NATO interceptors to either let the raiders through (possibly being engaged by SAMs) or divert from their patrol stations, requiring the dispatch of additional ready aircraft to take up the station. The Soviets hoped that the supply of ready aircraft would be depleted after five or more sorties, but unfortunately they were not, and 17 aircraft were lost overnight for minimal damage to targets in Germany. The Soviet raider Buliny attacks the US transport ship Hattiesburg Victory (built in World War II but delivered too late to serve, a veteran of the Korean and Vietnam wars) in the South Atlantic. A Soviet submarine sinks the Panamanian freighter Manley Appledore, exporting timber from Finland, as it exits the English Channel. A second Whiskey-class submarine arrives in the North Sea and begins laying mines. The 46th Brigade, 38th Infantry Division arrives in Bremen, Germany with Convoy 124. The 194th Engineer Brigade (Tennessee National Guard) begins loading its vehicles and heavy equipment aboard ships in Charleston, South Carolina for transit to CENTCOM. Turkish troops launch a series of attacks against Greek troops in Thrace, seeking a weak point that can be exploited. Greek artillery fire breaks up the attacks before they can make any significant gains. Meanwhile, the front in Bulgaria has become static as both sides lack the offensive power to advance. First World War-style trench systems are being dug across the mountains and hills to shelter from artillery fire. Chinese commanders have built up a reserve of over 100,000 reasonably trained light infantry, drawn from throughout China and begin moving them into Manchuria. American leadership orders the dispatch of the USS Independence and her battle group to 5th Fleet in the CENTCOM AOR to augment 9th Air Force and resume offensive naval operations against the Soviets and their allies in the Indian Ocean.
__________________
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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#264
03-09-2022, 06:20 AM
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Quote:
__________________
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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#265
03-09-2022, 12:10 PM
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Quote:
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#266
03-09-2022, 10:52 PM
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In my Red Dawn TL, both Salem and Des Moines got Harpoons, CIWS, updated electronics, the "fem mods" (accommodation for female crew), and so on. No Tomahawks.
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Treat everyone you meet with kindness and respect, but always have a plan to kill them. Old USMC Adage
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#267
03-10-2022, 01:48 AM
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In my T2K Universe, I am of the same mind set as Matt, the only difference in my universe was they were scheduled to receive Tomahawks (i.e. late '97 as part of an eventual upgrade), but circumstances "the war" completely changed that plan.
Also in my TL, the Iowa was repaired at great cost, but was used as a jobs program to revitalize the Long Beach Naval Shipyard (i.e. more federal spending, etc.)
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#268
03-10-2022, 05:49 AM
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Wow, that’s some pretty cool stuff. It would be interesting to work a modernized Des Moines class into a Harpoon scenario! Pretty sure if they had the appropriate escorts to deal with missiles, the self loading 8” would work a treat on a raider or a surface target.
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#269
03-10-2022, 04:03 PM
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March 10, 1997
The Headquarters and the 157th Infantry Brigade (Mechanized) of the US 43rd Infantry Division (US Army Reserve) arrives in Europe. Unofficially, The Freedom ship Puerto Rico Freedom is delivered in Galveston, Texas. A group of eight 1950s-era destroyers and fifiteen trawlers sortie from Petropavlovsk into the North Pacific, scattering after storming past the American SSN guarding the harbor exit, the USS Pasadena, which sinks one of the trawlers in the mass of ships rushing past. Equipment and vehicles of the 2nd Brigade, 9th Infantry Division (Light Motorized) arrive at the port of Seattle, Washington to load for Saudi Arabia. The East German 9th Panzer Division is re-named the 29th Panzer Division. A Soviet submarine attacks the Marshall Islands-flag container ship Merkur Rivera in the North Atlantic. The ship is left listing and dead in the water, but the arrival of a British Nimrod maritime patrol aircraft forces the attacker to slink away before it can finish off the hapless freighter. The Soviet Sierra II-class SSN K-336 sinks the American nuclear missile submarine USS Maine off Kings Bay, Georgia. Under command of Captain First Rank Sergei Babenko, the K-336 escapes, sinking the USCG cutter Valiant during the escape. The attack on an American "boomer" raises alarms throughout the chain of command, afraid that it is the opening move of a general campaign to neutralize America's most secure second strike capability. 3rd Brigade, 24th ID is deployed in defensive positions along the coast of the Persian Gulf to protect the region from possible Soviet spoiling attacks on CENTCOM's staging areas in Eastern Saudi Arabia as additional units flow into the theatre. The Soviet Ministry of Agriculture authorizes the release of one quarter of land farmed by collective and state farms from central control to individual farmers. While not publicized, the move transforms Soviet agriculture, more than compensating for the loss of production from the callup of tens of thousands of young, strong healthy young men for military service.
__________________
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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#270
03-10-2022, 04:04 PM
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Quote:
__________________
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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