Over the North Atlantic, 2220 GMT

Lieutenant Jason Brown, USN, shifted in the uncomfortable seat and reviewed the problem once again. He had been asleep earlier, but in the last several minutes the steady drone of the engines had been replaced by many changes in thrust, and therefore in level and pitch of sound, and he had awakened. Brown surmised the sound changes were the result of maneuvering the giant aircraft into station on the tanker, and of holding position. A few minutes later the word was passed from man to man that they were indeed refueling.

Brown was sitting in a row of red-webbing folding benches on the centerline of the C-141. There were four rows of benches - one on each side of the aircraft facing inboard, and the two rows back-to-back in the center, facing outboard. Brown and three of his unit’s radiotelephone operators were seated near the forward end of the row, which meant that they would go toward the end of the jump. Gunnery Sergeant Billy Bright, USMC, and the other two RTOs sat right behind Brown in the other centerline row, so the whole team should leave the aircraft at approximately the same time.

Brown had been puzzled at the arrangement, because he would have thought the Army would have split his team into two sections, on separate aircraft, in case something went wrong. Just after takeoff from Pope, he had made his way aft to Lieutenant Colonel Bowie, who was aft of the ANGLICO in the same row, and asked about it.

“Lieutenant, airborne operations are by nature high-risk, and normally we do try to balance loads so that the loss of any one aircraft would not be catastrophic,” answered Colonel Bowie. “The XO is on the other bird, with about half the signals people. But the nature of this operation is such that we just can’t provide properly for losses, at least not until we get on the ground and get formed up.”

“You’re saying, in effect, Colonel, that we can’t lose this aircraft.”

“Basically, yes. In addition to your good people, half the Sheridan crews are on this bird, half with the XO. The tank crews will jump with the first elements, even though the Sheridans themselves won’t come until the drop, some ten minutes after we and the troops on the second bird un-ass.”

“Why is that, Colonel, if you don’t mind so many questions?”

“Not at all! I want you to learn as much airborne as possible. Shit, Lieutenant, if this goes the way it usually does in drills, you may end up in command!” The colonel smiled at the thought, but Brown missed the humor.

“Surely it can’t get that fucked up, sir?”

“Oh, it truly can, Lieutenant. You see, the infantry must immediately secure the area around the building where the hostages are, and prevent the Libyans from crashing in. If the infantry fails to do that, the mission fails. The Airborne Armor cowboys have to drop at the head of the stick, because they’ll have to form up into crews and disperse along the runway to be ready to unpack the Sheridans and get them moving as quickly as possible. By that time, we may expect to be under heavy fire, but those Sheridans will have to reach predetermined choke points to fight the enemy’s tanks. One Libyan tank breaks through to the hostages, and once again, we fail.”

“What happens if it works to there?”

“We’ll have to knock out all enemy vehicles and all enemy concentrations near us. You, and the naval air and gunnery operating under its own control, will have to kill off tanks and vehicles farther away, or at least make them keep their heads down, because unless and until you do, the marines will not be able to get in to extract the hostages by helicopter. A helicopter landing or taking off is a mighty big target for a tank, or even a heavy machine gun. Some lucky Libyan pots a helicopter full of hostages fifty feet off the ground, and once again, we go home covered with shit and not with glory.”

The colonel seemed amused by his litany of potential disasters. Brown shook his head. “Not much margin for error, sir.”

“Very little. The people who planned this had to assume the Libyans would be taken by surprise, and wouldn’t fight effectively once they woke up, and they had to assume that Supporting Arms from the fleet - we’re back to you, Lieutenant - will be able to do away with the vast majority of the enemy’s vehicles before they get anywhere near us.”

“The ships will shell the tanks on the beach and the ones lined up south of the big runway just before we land,” said Brown.

“Right, and then they’ll have to lift fire so we can land. Navy and marine corps bombers armed with smart munitions will come in with us, and very shortly thereafter, helicopter gunships. Gunfire won’t be able to come back in until all of our people have gotten off the runway and secured our position, but we’ll have plenty of airborne firepower. If we can deal with the threat that’s closest to us, we’ll be all right.”

“Doesn’t the enemy have surface-to-air missiles, and fighter aircraft on the base?”

“The Navy has assured us that they’ll be taken care of,” said Colonel Bowie, still smiling.