Keith Douglass
Deathrace
Acknowledgments
Special thanks and acknowledgment to Chet Cunningham for his contribution to this book.
Dedications
To my longtime friend and editor, Tom Colgan, who keeps the wheels turning and the books rolling.
To the writers bunch-Cyndy, Mark, Ken, Lee, Peggy, and Rosie — who have given beneficial criticism, comments, and aid in researching. It would have been a lot harder to write this book without the help of all of you.
Foreword
SEAL stands for SEa-Air-Land. This specialized group of fighting men was created by President John Fitzgerald Kennedy in 1962 to meet special quick-strike needs of the U.S. Navy. Today the Navy SEALs are among the leaders of the elite special-operation forces in the world.
SEALs undergo a six-month training course that is enough to break the back and the will of all but the most dedicated, and the strongest. On average, 60 percent of those who start the SEAL training course drop out.
During the Vietnam War there were only two SEAL teams, One and Two. Each was composed of a number of fourteen-man platoons. Today SEALs function with sixteen- man platoons.
As modern warfare changed, in the eighties, the Navy realized that it had to meet the challenge. Through the Ronald Reagan administration, the Navy lobbied for more SEAL teams, pointing out the greater emphasis on "small wars" and covert operations.
By 1990 there were six SEAL teams. Teams One, Three, and Five were headquartered in Coronado, California, under the direction of the Naval Special Warfare Group One. The plan was to use these units for emergency actions in the Pacific and Far East.
Teams Two, Four, and Six were assigned to Little Creek, Virginia, under the command of NAVSPECWARGRU-TWO. They would be deployed in the Caribbean, the Mediterranean, and the Middle East.
The Navy's special warfare groups are highly security conscious. They give out no press releases on SEAL actions. Most of the SEAL work is never known to the U.S. public, let alone other nations. They work quietly, often deadly, to achieve the purpose of intense national security that has been handed them.
At my latest report, there is no SEAL Team Seven in real life. That makes this series of books more interesting and exciting, since all manner of actions, problems, crises, coups, takeovers, terrorists, and "small wars" can be dealt with by a realistic prototype of an actual SEAL unit.
After the book Seal Team Seven Specter, Team Seven's Third Platoon was assigned for full-time use by the Central Intelligence Agency. They selected the best, highest rated team, and the team with the best in-action record for this task. Now SEAL Team Seven, Platoon Three, is at the top secret whispered call of Don Stroh, its CIA control.
If you have any questions about the SEALs or comments on the books, please drop me a line at Keith Douglass, 8431 Beaver Lake Drive, San Diego, CA 92119. Hope to hear from you.
Keith Douglass
December 1998
SEAL TEAM SEVEN THIRD PLATOON CORONADO, CALIFORNIA
Lieutenant Blake Murdock. WEAPON HK MP-5SD sub-machine gun.
David "Jaybird" Stirling. Machinists Mate Second Class. Platoon Chief. WEAPON HK MP-5SD sub-machine gun.
Ron Holt. Radioman First Class. Platoon radio operator. WEAPONHK MP-5SD sub-machine gun.
Marvin "Magic" Brown. Quartermaster's Mate First Class. Squad sniper. WEAPON HK PSG1 7.62 NATO sniper rifle or McMillan M-87R .50-caliber sniper rifle.
Joe "Ricochet" Lampedusa. Operations Specialist Third Class. Platoon scout. WEAPON Colt M-4A1 with grenade launcher.
Kenneth Ching. Quartermaster's Mate First Class. Platoon translator. Speaks Chinese, Japanese, Russian, Spanish. WeaponColt M-4A1 with grenade launcher.
Harry "Horse" Ronson. Electrician's Mate Second Class. WEAPON HK M-21A1 7.62 NATO round machine gun.
James "Doc" Ellsworth. Hospital Corpsman Second Class. Platoon Corpsman. WEAPON HK MP-5SD or no stock 5-round Mossburg pump shotgun.
Lieutenant (j.g.) Ed DeWitt. Leader Second Squad. Second in Command of the platoon. WEAPON HK G-11 caseless rounds, 4.7 mm automatic rifle.
Al Adams. Gunner's Mate Third Class. WEAPON Colt M-4A1 with grenade launcher.
Miguel Fernandez. Gunner's Mate First Class. Speaks Spanish, Portuguese. Squad Sniper. WEAPON McMillan PSG11 7.62 NATO round sniper rifle.
Colt "Guns" Franklin. Yeoman Second Class. Speaks Farsi and Arabic. WEAPON Colt M-4A1 with grenade launcher.
Les Quinley. Torpedoman's Mate Third Class. Explosives specialist. WEAPON HK G-11 caseless rounds, 4.7 mm automatic rifle.
Rodolfo "RG" GonZalez. Damage Controlman First Class. Speaks Spanish, Italian, and Russian. WEAPON Colt M-4A1 with grenade launcher.
Joe Douglas. Quartermaster First Class. Machine gunner. Second radio operator. WEAPON HK 21A1 7.62 NATO-round machine gun.
Fred Washington. Aviation Technician Second Class. WEAPON HK MP-5SD submachine gun.
Third Platoon assigned exclusively to the Central Intelligence Agency to perform any needed tasks on a covert basis anywhere in the world. A Top Secret classified assignment.
1
Lieutenant Blake Murdock rubbed the stinging sand out of his eyes, and watched the target ahead. Nothing moved. Good. He glanced to his right and saw the first two men in his Third Platoon flat on their bellies in the hot rocks and dirt. Their weapons were up and ready. They both wore full combat gear. Their faces were daubed with black and brown paint.
Their desert cammies showed the grime of a long crawl two hundred yards up to this vantage point. Murdock nodded sharply at the first two men. David "Jaybird" Sterling, Machinist Mate Second Class, and platoon chief, surged off the ground into a crouching run and charged the squat building directly in front, twenty yards away. He held his HK MP-5SD submachine gun ready, his finger on the trigger set for three round bursts. Right behind him, Ron Holt, Radioman First Class and the platoon's communications man, jolted to his feet and charged the low building. He carried a Remington 870 shotgun with no stock, a pistol grip, and virtually no barrel. The pump-action weapon earned five 12-gauge rounds.
Sterling hit the door first, kicked it open, and darted inside. Ron Holt went in right behind him.
From long practice, Sterling took the right-hand side of the room. Two terrorists stood over a woman tied to a chair. Sterling put three-round bursts into each of the terrs, and looked for more.
As he did, Holt dove through the door covering the left-hand side of the room. One terr held a knife, and was about to move toward a captive tied to a table.
One round from the shotgun cut the terr in half.
The sound of the shots in the small room were like 155 howitzers going off in a cave. Both men wore earplugs, but still the sound rattled around in their heads.
"Clear right," Sterling said into his Motorola MX-300 personal communication radio. To his left, Holt heard the words through a small speaker in his left ear.
"Clear left," Holt said. They looked at each other through the dimness of the room, then charged through the door eight feet away, into the second room.
This time Holt went first. He scanned the inside of the room but found no terrorists.
Sterling came right behind him, his submachine gun searching for any terrs in his zone. Suddenly one popped up from behind a table. Sterling riddled him with three rounds, and kept scanning.