“Hmm,” said Gates, deep in thought.
Secretary Johnson continued. “Moving to the larger member states-the UK has committed their two most capable brigades. They’ve been performing exceptionally well and been a huge help, but even with the activation of their reserves, their forces are just not large enough to be a turning point in the war. The RAF has been a huge help, they are performing better than expected, but again they are limited in the number of aircraft they can provide. The Royal Navy is in even worse shape. Their aircraft carrier is still not operational yet, they lack the aircraft to support it, and they only have three escort ships available for it. We are not sure when their navy will be able to get into the war.”
“As to Germany, the units they have committed have performed exceptionally well, but they have also sustained heavy casualties. Chancellor Schneider has announced a conscription of two million men and women into their military. They have also begun to start a retooling of their industry to start cranking out military equipment. The Germans are no longer sitting on the sidelines militarily. It’ll take time, but the German war machine is once again turned back on and will start to make an impact, but it won’t be apparent until sometime in the spring. Moving to France-like the Germans, they are doubling down on their military. They have sent their best units forward and are currently conscripting two million additional soldiers.”
Johnson then squirmed in his chair for a minute before continuing, “The issue we are having is with Spain, Portugal, Italy, Greece, Turkey and Hungary. They are not wanting to release their militaries to NATO, nor are they mobilizing their army, or doing anything to increase their military capability or defense readiness. I believe that we need to follow the example of what happened to Turkey, and remove any noncontributing nations from NATO.”
Gates looked like he wanted to hit something. Fire was burning in his eyes as he sat there and listened to the failings of NATO. “Look, it’s become pretty clear that NATO is just a boy’s club, not a serious military organization. I propose that we end NATO as an organization and we look to create a new global military alliance force that includes countries like Australia, Japan, and South Korea along with those European countries that are willing to be a part of the new alliance.”
The President paused for a minute, thinking about what he wanted to say next. “I believe we should form a new global alliance-one that can address the threats of the 21st century, and will work together for the common good. For name sake, let’s call it the Global Defense Force or GDF. Like NATO, an attack on one would be considered an attack on all, but unlike NATO, it would be US-led. Participating nations would have to commit 3 % of GDP to military spending and a minimum troop count level. The members would be required to maintain a certain force composition and structure, so they could effectively contribute to the alliance. Thoughts on this?” asked the President, looking for some feedback.
Admiral Meyers was the first to speak, “I believe this could be great. We could integrate new members that are not geographically dependent but willing to be a part of an alliance of mutual defense.”
Secretary Castle was next to speak up. “I have to agree with Admiral Meyers; I say we move forward with this. This conflict has shown us how ineffective NATO has become and we are going to need to think globally and look to integrate new allies that share our same global interests and goals.”
For the next thirty minutes, everyone discussed this new proposition and came to the conclusion that it should be formally developed and created. The President signaled for them to get to work on creating this alliance while he directed the rest of his military leaders to continue to execute the war. The plan in Europe was to slow things down while they waited on the new troops to finish their training and for additional equipment to be produced. It was already mid-November, and winter was starting to set in. It was a good natural time to pause the conflict and consolidate their positions while they rebuilt the military. Meanwhile, the war in Korea would continue to progress as the Chinese tried to secure as much of the country as possible.
Battle of Hwangsuwon Airbase
After ODA 1110’s initial strike against the KPA’s mobile ballistic missile launchers a couple of days ago, CW4 Charles Lee (call sign “Chucky”) moved his team to Hilltop 079, overlooking the Hwangsuwon Airbase. Their new over watch position sat above a small reservoir and dam that also gave them a view of not just the base below (which had already been bombed multiple times) but also the main highway that ran from north to south across the country. The Chinese army would have to move through this path if they were going to secure the lower half of the Korean peninsula and prevent the Marines from establishing a solid foothold behind the KPA frontlines. ODA 1110’s new mission was to continually monitor the traffic on the road and call in airstrikes as often as possible.
Sergeant First Class Mark Wilson (call sign “Maverick”) placed his small utility shovel down on the small dirt mound in front of him and took a long drink of water. Since arriving at their hilltop observation point a day ago, they had been hastily digging in and creating a defensive perimeter. While they had no plans to stand and fight against a larger force should they be discovered, it would have been foolish to not prepare some fighting positions in case it became necessary.
Technical Sergeant Jordan Mitchel (“Jordy”) moved over to Chucky and announced, “I just received a situation report from Henhouse. They said we have a large formation of Chinese soldiers heading towards the airbase. They want to know if we can be ready to call in a series of airstrikes as they start to arrive.”
Chucky nodded. “Tell them we’ll be ready. Make sure you get a good idea on what strike packages we have on hand. Also, find out from Henhouse if we need extraction, what’s the plan? I don’t like not having an exit strategy this deep behind enemy lines,” he said, speaking in a low enough voice that only he and Jordy could hear.
A couple of hours went by, and then they spotted the first columns of Chinese soldiers. It looked to be a mechanized unit of some sorts; they had armored personnel carriers, a myriad of air defense vehicles, tanks, and other troop transport vehicles. It looked to be at least a battalion in size, maybe more.
Chucky turned to Jordy, signaling him silently with his hands, and asking if he had a good grid on the targets for an airstrike. Jordy just smiled and nodded in reply. Chucky then indicated he should go ahead and call in the strike. The entire ODA team had gone silent and was only communicating with hand signals at this point, and if necessary, very quietly through their throat mics.
“Henhouse, Watchman Five. We have positive ID on a Chinese armored column at grid November Kilo 764 576 on main road heading towards destroyed DPRK airbase, Break…. We observe multiple IFVs, MBTs, and anti-aircraft and anti-aircraft artillery vehicles. How copy, over?” Jordy said over his mic.
Roughly ten agonizing seconds later, Henhouse came back over the radio, “Watchman Five, that is a good copy. Can you give us a better description on the air defense vehicles over?”
Chucky crawled closer to Jordy at this point and pulled out his binoculars. He began to scan the enemy vehicles, attempting to identify the specific air defense vehicles traveling with the column. Speaking softly into the mic, he described, “They look like SA-22s and SA-19s, so be advised they have air defense support with the column,” he said to whoever it was on the other side of the radio that was asking. He didn’t resent them for wanting more information, it was only fair to pass along as much of information as possible to the pilots who would have to fly in for this mission.