Natesh nodded. “Yes.” He looked around the room. There were three spotless computer terminals. The computers were bulkier than what he was used to. Military grade, he imagined. There was another steel door at the far side of the room. It had a keypad next to it, just like the one on the outside of the building.
Natesh asked, “Does my code work on that door?”
“No.” Replied Lena.
“What’s back there?”
“My living quarters.”
“You need a digital lock on your living quarters?”
She frowned. “We had better head to class.”
They rose and walked outside, Lena shutting the door as they left. Once again they walked next to each other on the gravel path. This time they headed to the second largest of the buildings, the Classroom.
The Classroom sat atop a small hill, which overlooked the runway on one side. A pristine beach of dark grey sand lay just outside its walls on the other. Breaking waves intermingled with the sounds of island gulls hovering overhead.
It was almost eight a.m. Natesh just had to get through this presentation. Then he would have the momentum to get through this first day. Then he would get through the first week. And then… Well, there was a lot of change ahead. Natesh tried not to think of how important his part might be.
As if she could hear his thoughts, Lena said, “Just breathe. We briefed them yesterday on the big picture. They understand what’s at stake here. Remember that. Everyone here wants to help defend the United States. You are a talented man. And our country needs you.” She put her hand on the muscle between his neck and shoulder, giving it a gentle squeeze. “I know you’re absorbing a lot right now. We all are. But you need to relax, Natesh. All of this will work out.”
They stood outside the double glass doors of the Classroom building.
“Thanks,” he replied. There was nothing like a few choice words from an attractive woman to prop up the ego of a doubting man. What’s more, Lena seemed to have a gift for handling people.
Moments later, Natesh stood on the auditorium stage, studying the faces in his audience. His nerves calmed as he shifted into business mode. About half of the seats were filled. The others were funneling in. Most people sipped steaming coffee from Styrofoam cups.
The loud drone of aircraft engines caused most people to look out expansive windows. A large multi-engine propeller plane rolled down the runway. Every other day, that plane was supposed to be bringing in supplies from who knows where. Lena and the Major had told them about it last night during their indoctrination. This was the first drop-off.
They had been told about all of the buildings on the island. They were told where to go to get food and to wash their clothes. There was very little infrastructure. Only a handful of Asian maids and cooks lived in back of the cafeteria. None spoke English, not that it mattered. The Major had warned against speaking with them. They were cleared to work here, but no conversations were to go on within earshot of any of them. There were strict security rules to follow. Lena had explained the rules clearly. Don’t go outside the boundaries of the base fence. It circled the runway and the buildings, but split the island in half, with nothing but mountainous jungle on the other side. Don’t communicate off the island. Natesh wasn’t sure how anyone could have pulled that off anyway. It wasn’t like they had a satellite phone. Lena told them that if anyone had any problems, medical or otherwise, they were to see her as soon as possible. No one had raised any concerns.
Natesh watched the runway scene through the window as men in protective eyewear and helmets jumped down from a retractable ramp on the rear of the aircraft. The men rolled off crates near one of the taxiways and then immediately hopped back on board. Within minutes, the plane had taken off. As soon as it had, the Asian stewards that cooked their food and made up their rooms each day scurried out to the crates and brought them back to the cafeteria building. What was this place?
Everyone was seated. Natesh walked over and stood up in front of the podium. He looked at his watch. 8:01 a.m. “Good morning. I hope you all have been able to sleep better than I have.”
He got a few tired smiles in reply.
“Well… at least we all know why we’re here. Let’s do the best that we possibly can at this. The better job we do at planning out possible Chinese attack strategies and tactics, the better our nation will be able to prepare.”
“Amen.” someone said in the back. There were several nods of approval at that. Most of the group had progressed from the frantic denials and arguments of last night into a patriotic eagerness to contribute.
“So… ” He looked at everyone in the room. He saw Lena in the back of the room, standing by the window. She had an encouraging smile and gave him a polite nod, as if to prod him along.
Natesh cleared his throat. He said, “Let’s look at the facts. We started to examine some of the numbers yesterday. On everyone’s desk is an official report that compares China and the US. It’s a threat assessment conducted jointly by the CIA and the Pentagon last year that essentially does what we’re going to do today. It’s a SWOT analysis. For those of you that aren’t familiar, SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. But what took the CIA and the Pentagon over six months to conclude, I can sum up in two sentences. One: China is really big. And two: the United States has a military technology advantage. Let me ask you all a question. If you all have ten men and I have just one… but my one has a gun where as your ten men have swords… how would you attack me?”
“I’d rush you,” said a young man in the front row.
“Alright. So, rushing the man with a gun, that would be an example of a tactic we could use. We, if we were the Chinese, could gather as many troops as possible and start ramping up production of military assets. We could start massing troops on US beachheads and overcome the American military with overwhelming force. But I can tell you from my experience in business strategy, that this may not be the best tactic to use if it is not accompanied by other strong initiatives. For our strategy must also take into account our long-term goals. Our strategy will help us to identify the best tactical options. We can then make a series of tactical choices with our end goal in mind.”
Natesh looked out at his audience. Several of the military men had looks of skepticism on their faces. They saw a young Indian man trying to teach them about military strategy. That was fine with Natesh. Let them think what they want. He clenched his jaw a few times and focused on Lena, standing in the back of the room. She gave him a thumbs-up. She really was a nice coach.
Natesh’ voice grew stronger. “What can China do better than the United States? And when you think about this, I want you all to keep thinking about the stated objectives that our spy uncovered. We went over them last night. Objective One: Capture and Permanently Occupy the United States. What are the implications of this? How does that limit China’s tactical choices?”
Brooke said, “If China wants long-term control over US territory then they would likely want to do minimal damage. You don’t want to dent up a car before you steal it. That means they’d use non-nuclear tactics to preserve infrastructure.”
David raised his hand, “If they want to be in the US long-term, that also means that they have got to plan to win hearts and minds. Kind of like what we tried to do in Iraq.”
Natesh pointed at them both. “Exactly. Now you’re thinking about this the right way. What advantages does China have that they could leverage?”
People started to shout out ideas. The energy of a high-participation classroom took hold. In a strange way, people were into this. He let the group conversation keep going for a while. He wanted everyone to get comfortable contributing and talking openly. There was a good discussion of several different ways China could capitalize on their size and resources.