Keith Douglass
War Cry
Dedication
This work of fiction is gratefully dedicated to all those real SEALs who do the covert work we never hear about, those dirty little bits of patch and heal in the world of international politics and day-to-day practical government that make the world a safer place to live in.
Foreword
A reader asks me, "Will there ever be a woman SEAL?" Another reader asks, "Why was a woman along in Death race!" Why? Just seemed like a good idea. The whole principle of fiction is conflict. If you don't have conflict, you don't have a story or a book. That's why Kat was there. What could be more out of phase with a SEAL operation than to have a woman along? Most of the readers I heard from said it worked. Some asked to see Kat again in other books. Two or three said no more women on missions… ever! So it goes.
The gist of it all is I like to hear from you. Hey, like it or knock it or have suggestions, let the cards and letters come. Any more votes on the woman-on-mission question? Get your oar in the water. You can do that by dropping me a line at:
Keith Douglass
Third Platoon [1]
Coronado, California
Lieutenant Commander Blake Murdock. Platoon Leader. 32,67", 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.
David "Jaybird" Sterling. Machinist Mate Second Class. Platoon Chief. 24, 5'10", 170 pounds. Quick mind, fine tactician. Good with men in platoon. Single. Drinks too much sometimes. Crack shot with all arms.
Weapon: H&K MP-5SD submachine gun. Administrator for the platoon.
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-4A1 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-4A1 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.
James "Doc" Ellsworth. Hospital Corpsman First Class. 25, 5'10", 160 pounds. One year pre-med, then he ran out of money. Prefers small dark eyed girls. Single. Competition shooter with pistol. Platoon corpsman.
Weapon: H&K MP-5SD/no-stock, 5-round Mossburg pump shotgun.
Lieutenant (j.g.) Ed DeWitt Leader Second Squad. Second in Command of the platoon. From Seattle. 30, 6'1", 175 pounds. Wiry. Has serious live-in woman. 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, 511", 180 pounds. Surfer and triathlete. Finished 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 a child with a woman in Coronado. Spends his off time with them. Married and is highly family-oriented. Wife: Maria. Daughter Linda, seven. 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. Tahitian/Hawaiian. Expert swimmer. Bench-presses 400 pounds. Once married, divorced. Top surfer. Wants the .50 sniper rifle.
Weapon: Colt M-4A1 with grenade launcher.
(Replacement for Gonzalez after he was shot up in Iraq on the first phase of that mission.)
Joe Douglas. Quartermaster First Class. 24, 6'1", 185 pounds. Expert in hand-to-hand and unarmed combat He's an auto nut Rebuilds classic cars. Working on a 1931 Model A Ford Roadster. Platoon's top driver, mechanic.
Weapon: H&K 21E 7.62 NATO round machine gun. Second radio operator.
Fred Washington. Aviation Technician Second Class. A black man. 24, 6'0", 180 pounds. Is driven to succeed. Taking computer college courses. Doesn't carouse much. Is writing a novel about the SEALs.
Weapon: H&K MP-5SD submachine gun.
(In sick bay on the carrier from wounds suffered in Counterstrike action in the Kuril Islands.)
1
Lieutenant Commander Blake Murdock felt the salt spray in his face from the light chop in the Yellow Sea as the Pegasus class eighty-two-foot insertion boat slammed through the dark water just after midnight. He judged the distance to the Korean shore and signaled the coxswain to drop his speed to three knots. The boat slowed to a crawl as it moved almost silently toward the Korean coast a mile away.
Murdock and his Third Platoon of SEAL Team Seven were on a silent mission to the Korean coast. They crouched low in the slender boat awaiting their time to drop into the sea. His platoon worked with a man short, since Fred Washington lay in sick bay on the aircraft carrier USS Monroe. CVN 81, ten miles at sea behind them. Washington had taken a serious wound in the last mission on the Kuril Islands. There had been no time to get a replacement.
The SEALs wore their full black neoprene wet suits including gloves, boots, flippers, and floppy hats, but no masks or rebreathers. It was a short surface swim. They had their full combat gear and weapons.
When they were a half mile off the breakers, Murdock gave the coxswain a cut signal across his throat, and the soft purr of the engine died.
Murdock whispered last-second instructions. "You know what we have to do. Let's get in and blow it, then shoot and scoot. DeWitt, take your Bravo Squad in first."
The SEALs slid soundlessly into the water, tied their six-foot buddy cords onto their partners, and began a quiet swim the last half mile to shore. Murdock and his Alpha Squad brought up the rear.
It was a simple mission. They would come out of the surf, take down any sentries or beach watch patrols they ran into, penetrate quietly a quarter of a mile inland, and blow up a small building that had been the center of enemy activity. Then they would work their way back to the beach, go in the water, and be picked up by the same boat that had brought them. They had done it a hundred times in training and on hot-fire missions.
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.