"The President has ordered me to oversee this operation in Peshawar. For me? I'm just glad that I don't have to deal with the politics in Washington D.C right now..."
Those words spoken by the General of the Army, Kennedy Adams, shook both Randall and the rest of the strike team. It would be one thing to have a General overseeing an operation, but usually those command personnel were owned by Joint Special Operations Command, or Army Special Operations Command. To have a five-star General to oversee a small operation rather than a whole campaign was puzzling at best and alarming at worst.
Ever since the United States has begun negotiations with the TIPA, congress ultimately decided there was a need to establish an equivalent rank to the highest ranked officer in the TIPA. Putting it bluntly it was a more discreet version of a gunboat diplomacy. Though being in a state of war with the TIPA didn't help with public reception to this sudden move.
With a light headache, Randall sat silently in the standardized troop transport waiting to get past the Pakistani border. The late evening sun burned over the arid grounds and not far from their position was the city of Lahore. During transit from base, it had been revealed that a team of SEALS had been deployed to investigate a known international terrorist. From what they knew the mission had gone well under the cover of a large storm.
Similar units pulled from JSOC had been deployed across the country. Several Green Beret and Ranger elements were conducting reconnaissance mission across several hot zones where local Pakistani forces engaged hostile opposition.
As he laid in his seat, he felt the pressure of his primary firearms system, the M-5 carbine that shoots 6.5 Advance Purpose Cartridge (6.5 APC). It wasn't until 2063 where the United States caved into the idea of fielding a new weapons system to replace the strong-but aging AR-10 and AR-15 platforms.
Rubbing his gloved hands over his face, Randall once more let out a light yawn as he forced himself awake. He glanced outside and focused his vision on at the checkpoint several men stood at. Captain Thompson, Lieutenant Patterson, and several other Rangers from another squad stood together as they conversed with several Pakistani border guards attempting to make sure the entrance into the "war-torn" country wouldn't get them shot on sight.
He shook his head as he cursed the command structure. Once again, their mission was impeded due to an oversight in both militaries respectively.
Both sides didn't make any troop movements, and when they would happen, clear at all.
Sitting in the truck to his left was Corporal Richard. The boy had once wanted to become EOD, yet due to his behavior his former CO had somehow sent him to RASP, and by some miracle he had passed both that and Ranger school. His former obnoxious behavior had been somewhat subdued, yet in times of high stress he always seemed to act like a jackass to many of the others.
Perhaps it was his way of reliving stress, but to a select group it was too much for such a team centered unit.
Retrieving his canteen full of crisp cold water, Randall uncovered the top and took a swig as Richard had the bright idea to engage in a conversation with the Sergeant.
"Yo Sergeant! It's about half a day for us to arrive near Peshawar, correct?"
Taking a short breath from drinking his water, Randall wiped his mouth with his sleeve before answering, "Something like that. We still have to pass Lahore and hopefully not get shot on the way up."
"Right. Of course, the Chinese could get involved. All this activity is probably making them freak out."
"Corporal?" Randall said while clutching the bridge of his nose.
"Yes?" Richard responded confused.
"Please, shut the fuck up!" Randall said in a strained voice.
"...understood Sergeant."
Only the hum of the truck's engine remained a constant as Richard fell silent. Outside it had seemed the men had reached an agreement. The Pakistani border guards stepped aside and gave the Americans clearance to enter the country unimpeded.
Even with the hiccups made by both parties throughout the country, a constant remained; after both the Secretary of State and Secretary of Defense approached and convincingly argued for western intervention in Pakistan commonly using the argument that nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction were at risk.
What was planned was a blitzkrieg operation that would rival the invasion of Iraq during the First Gulf War.
Three Venom attack helicopters escorted by ten Apache MK2 Gunships breached the border of Pakistan and target known military instillations that were overtaken by several organizations working in tandem to overthrow the Pakistani government. Their mission was to destroy three key communication and radar stations, so that the USAF and Pakistani Air Force would have a clean shot at taking out key instillations supporting the enemy forces.
Tactical Air Communications based in Iran were the first ones to confirm the kills in the new air war. Over twenty Tomahawk cruise missiles launched by the US Navy and ten AGM-90 supersonic missiles launched by eight B-52 strategic bomber aircraft from the US Air Force were both the first shots taken, and the first shots to land kills.
Three coalition strike teams comprised of Pakistani, US, and Indian fighters counting over 350 fixed wing aircraft began to descend on the country to target key insurgent and communication facilities. More than 1200 explosives were used in destroying targets daily, yet over fifteen coalition aircraft were confirmed to be downed during the bombing campaign.
Due to limitations from the international community and pressure from the Pakistani government to limit bombings on strategic targets, many of the US Army's aviation strike teams were on hold until the ground war "began".
A new age of counterterrorism was almost eerily similar to that of Operation Desert Storm and its "shock and awe" tactics.
Though this operation had begun over three weeks ago, and due to weapons being tight for the air force, Special operation units such as Green Berets, Delta Force, Force Recon, and Indian COBRA troops reported that the bombing campaign had mixed results.
Now almost a month later Marine elements have moved from their staging grounds into Pakistan, and two Army Infantry and armored battalions began to sweep through the border of the nation to clear out insurgent strongholds.
With 101st Airborne clearing the way, JSOC had authorized the Navy SEALs to help extract several Green Beret ODAs with actionable intelligence on the location of target "Brutus", furthermore the Task Force Spare to enter the country and move to the city of Peshawar, with the Delta ODAs being dropped in by helicopter with fellow airborne units. Oddly the Ranger teams were directed to establish an inner and outer cordon by ground, perhaps in an effort to cut off main highway routes, though such a job would normally be handled by infantry units from the army.
Sitting silently as the arid fields passed by, Randall only hoped that this conflict would blow over in the coming months.