Lieutenant Commander Blake Murdock sat in his small office in the headquarters of SEAL Team Seven, Third Platoon, near the BUDS/S training facility. He could hear the surf breaking less than fifty yards away on the foaming Pacific Ocean.
He studied his personnel roster spread out on his desk and flipped down his pen and rubbed his face. Had he made the right choices? Coming back from the double whammy of the Kuril Islands and then the blowup in Korea had left him with three wounded men and the need to replace three others. Two had suffered wounds that would knock them right off the SEAL platoon, and the third one was in federal prison.
On top of that, his boss, Commander Masciareli, top gun of SEAL Team Seven, had ordered him to get with the T&O and put a SCPO on his platoon. A damned senior chief petty officer, who in effect would be third in command of the platoon right after Lieutenant (j.g.) DeWitt. A SCPO. The man had to be a top SEAL, somebody who Murdock and the rest of the men could get along with. He had to have the respect of the men, and they had to be willing to take orders from him. A hard combo for a chief in any field.
Master Chief Gordon MacKenzie had come up with four suggestions. The commander said anyone in the Seventh was available to him. That could cover maybe ten men. He had interviewed four different SCPOs. One was only twenty-six and on a fast track to Officer Candidate School. At last he had picked SCPO Aviation’s Mate Will Dobler. He was thirty-seven years old, which would give them some maturity at the top.
Murdock picked up the pen and put on the cap. It had been three months since they came home from Korea. Things were shaping up.
J.g. Ed DeWitt was healed up and strong again. Jack Mahanani had agreed to be the platoon’s medic, but he stayed in Bravo Squad. Murdock had to promise him he’d get some time on the big .50-caliber sniper rifle.
Miguel Fernandez had come back well from his chest wound. They picked twelve pieces of lead out of him, but none of it had hit anything vital.
Colt Franklin, who had been knocked out of action in the Islands, was whole and doing the O course faster than before.
That left him still short two men. He’d worked with Master Chief MacKenzie and come up with two good replacements. The first was a mechanic, Machinist Mate First Class Tony Ostercamp. He came from Third Team, was an amateur race car driver who had a car at the El Cajon Speedway, and could tear apart any machine ever made and then put it back together.
For the last man he wanted an armorer, or at least somebody who could repair and work with their weapons. He found him in the pool waiting for an assignment. His name was Paul (Jeff) Jefferson, a black man from Oakland and an aviation’s mate second class.
Murdock looked over his completed roster sheet again:
SEAL TEAM SEVEN
THIRD PLATOON[1]
CORONADO, CALIFORNIA
PLATOON LEADER:
Lieutenant Commander Blake Murdock: 32, 6'2", 210 pounds. Annapolis graduate. Six years in SEALs. Father important congressman from Virginia. Murdock recently promoted. Apartment in Coronado. Has a car and a motorcycle; loves to fish.
WEAPON: H & K MP-5SD submachine gun.
ALPHA SQUAD
Willard “Will” Dobler: Aviation’s Mate Senior Chief Petty Officer. Platoon chief. Third in command. 37, 6'1", 180 pounds. Married. Two kids. Sports nut. Knows dozens of major league records. Competition pistol marksman.
WEAPON: H & K MP-5 submachine gun. Good with the men.
David “Jaybird” Sterling: Machinist Mate Lead Petty Officer. 24, 5’10”, 170 pounds. Quick mind, fine tactician. Single. Drinks too much sometimes. Crack shot with all arms. Helps plan attack operations.
WEAPON: H & K MP-5SD submachine gun.
Ron Holt: Radioman First Class. 22, 6'1", 170 pounds. Plays guitar, had a small band. Likes redheaded girls. Rabid baseball fan. Loves deep-sea fishing, is good at it. Platoon radio operator.
WEAPON: H & K MP-5SD submachine gun.
Bill Bradford: Quartermaster First Class. 24, 6'2", 215 pounds. An artist in spare time. Paints oils. He sells his marine paintings. Single. Quiet. Reads a lot. Has two years of college. Squad sniper.
WEAPON: H & K PSG1 7.62 NATO sniper rifle or McMillan M-87R .50- caliber sniper rifle.
Joe “Ricochet” Lampedusa: Operations Specialist Third Class. 21, 5'11", 175 pounds. Good tracker, quick thinker. Had a year of college. Loves motorcycles. Wants a Hog. Pot smoker on the sly. Picks up plain girls. Platoon scout.
WEAPON: Colt M-4Al with grenade launcher.
Kenneth Ching: Quartermaster’s Mate First Class. Full-blooded Chinese. 25, 6'0", 180 pounds. Platoon translator. Speaks Mandarin Chinese, Japanese, Russian, and Spanish. Bicycling nut. Paid $1,200 for off-road bike. Is trying for Officer Candidate School.
WEAPON: Colt M-4Al rifle with grenade launcher.
Harry “Horse” Ronson: Electrician’s Mate Second Class. 24, 6'4", 240 pounds. Played football two years at college. Wants a ranch where he can raise horses. Good man in a brawl. Has broken his nose twice. Squad machine gunner.
WEAPON: H & K 21-E 7.62 NATO round machine gun.
BRAVO SQUAD
Lieutenant (j.g.) Ed DeWitt: Leader, Bravo Squad. Second in command of the platoon. From Seattle. 30, 6'1", 175 pounds. Wiry. Has serious live-in woman. He’s an Annapolis grad. A career man. Plays a good game of chess on traveling board.
WEAPON: The new H & K G-11 submachine gun.
Al Adams: Gunner’s Mate Third Class. 20, 5'11", 180 pounds. Surfer and triathlete. Finished the Ironman twice. A golfing nut. Binge drinker or teetotaler. Loves the ladies if they play golf. Runs local marathons for training.
WEAPON: Colt M-4A1 with grenade launcher.
Miguel Fernandez: Gunner’s Mate First Class. 26, 6'1", 180 pounds. Has wife, Maria, and child, Linda, age 7, in Coronado. Spends his off time with them. Highly family-oriented. He has family in San Diego. Speaks Spanish, Portuguese. Squad sniper.
WEAPON: H & K PSG1 7.62 NATO sniper rifle.
Colt “Guns” Franklin: Yeoman Second Class. 24, 5'10", 175 pounds. A former gymnast. Powerful arms and shoulders. Expert mountain climber. Has a motorcycle and does hang gliding. Speaks Farsi and Arabic.
WEAPON: Colt M-4A1 with grenade launcher.
Les Quinley: Torpedoman Third Class. 22, 5'9", 160 pounds. A computer and Internet fan. Has his own Web page. Always reading computer magazines. Explosive specialist with extra training.
WEAPON: H & K G-11 caseless rounds, 4.7mm submachine gun with 50-round magazine.
Jack Mahanani: Hospital Corpsman First Class. 25, 6'4", 240 pounds. Platoon medic. Tahitian/Hawaiian. Expert swimmer. Bench-presses 400 pounds. Once married, now divorced. Top surfer. Wants the .50 sniper rifle.
WEAPON: Colt M-4Al with grenade launcher.
Anthony “Tony” Ostercamp: Machinist Mate First Class. 23, 5'10", 180 pounds. Races stock cars in nearby El Cajon weekends. Top auto mechanic. Platoon driver.
WEAPON: H & K 21E 7.62 NATO round machine gun. Second radio operator.
1
Third Platoon assigned exclusively to the Central Intelligence Agency to perform any needed tasks on a covert basis anywhere in the world. All are top-secret assignments. Goes around Navy chain of command. Direct orders from the CIA.