Tango Tango Seven you copy? The radio asked. I picked it up and listened to the order. Ok Hans, ready for your first flight over a combat zone? Yeah, he said with mild enthusiasm. I smiled, that’s good. Kurgan stomped down the dirt stairs and into the bunker. He had to hunch to keep his helmet from knocking on the wooden rafters. Is there an attack? Hans asked. Easy killer, Kurgan explained, they just need overwatch for an infil.
Oh, Hans said, slightly deflated, he had his FPV goggles in his hand. I noticed and said, don’t worry you’ll be putting those on soon enough. This job is just as important.
Ten minutes later Hans was looking at a phone-sized screen on a drone controller. The drone was high in the air looking down on two Bradly IFV’s and a Booker light tank as they made their way across the Texan plains. I sat nearby sipping an energy drink and watching the same scene on a tablet.
There, see the trench line? It just came into view. Hans smiled, he flew the drone with ease. He said, this is so tough. I said, nah, you got it. He shot me a funny smile I didn’t quite understand. But I looked back at the screen. He panned the camera and we could clearly see the objective. Look’s empty, Hans observed. Yeah it’s supposed to be. I felt my muscles tensing, I wondered if guided artillery had been sighted in on this position, just waiting for our guys to show up.
I ordered Hans to take the drone lower and zoom in the camera. We could see the radar dish constantly sweeping on the Booker, the small tank stood ready to defend it’s two friends from anything that threatened them. One of the Brads swung around and lined up its rear with the trench, the ramp started to lower.
Hans zoomed the camera closer, we could read the unit number stenciled on top of the Brad. The ramp hit the ground and the first soldier bounded out of the machine. There was a puff of dust as he stepped on a landmine and fell to the ground. He rolled to his side and his boot flopped at the end of his leg as if the fabric was the only thing keeping it attached. Before the dust had blown away the soldier was holding his palm up to the open door of the Brad, signaling the others to stay back. We could see other soldiers on the edge of the ramp reaching for him, but the blast had left him ten feet from the ramp. The fallen soldier pulled a tourniquet from from his pocket and started to apply it high up on his hip.
Hans watched the scene unfold. I saw him blink a few times, and wipe his hand across his eyes.
The soldier finished the tourniquet and dug his rifle butt into the sand to push himself back towards the ramp. It was agonizing to watch him struggle. Dragging his mangled leg, he made it to the ramp and his comrades pulled him into safety. Hans intently watched the rest of the operation. The Bradleys repositioned and unloaded the infantry at a different point. Afterward Hans flew the Mavic quadcopter safely back to the bunker. Hans set the controller down and stepped away from the flight station.
I called into command and reported the situation. Kurgan brought the drone back inside and I pulled the batteries off and set them in the charger. Kurgan went back outside, I looked around the bunker and saw Hans was sitting slumped on his cot. I wondered how badly he had been traumatized by witnessing the brutality of war. Would he be scarred forever, could he continue to fly? I walked over and stood at the edge of the cot, he shifted his legs but kept looking away. I said, Hey man, I know that was a pretty awful thing to see. He didn’t say anything or look at me. I thought he might be crying and embarrassed to show his tears. I tried to find some comforting words.
Look, I began, I know it’s not fair that guys like you have been drawn into a war you didn’t start. But here we are. Why did that guy lose his leg? Could he have been more cautious, or was he just unlucky? You really can’t think about this stuff too much or it will drive you insane. One thing you can do is just accept that death is always out there, death is like our coworker. He comes in everyday and does his job just like the rest of us. Sometimes he’s good at it and sometimes he’s not. It’s our job to just get back out there everyday and fight hard until this war is over.
Hans still didn’t look back, I hoped my speech was sinking in, I was afraid I was starting to ramble. Then I remembered a cool movie quote I had heard. I tried to channel my inner Russel Crowe and do it justice. Death smiles at all of us, all a man can do is smile back.
Proud of my solemn and inspirational words, I put my hand on his shoulder and he flinched. Startled, he turned and looked up at me as he pulled one airpod out of his ear. Oh hey, what's up Shade? Feeling utterly dumbfounded, I said, Uh I was just checking on ya’. Can I get you to boil some water for dinner?
He smiled, yeah no problem. He pulled the other airpod out of his ear and put them into the case. Then he said, That was wild when that guy stepped on the mine huh? Poor guy.
.
CHAPTER 8
Kurgan helped me launch our recon drone with a second battery zip tied to the top, doubling the flight time. While I hunted, Kurgan prepped two kamikazee drones. One had a 120mm mortar round attached to the bottom. The other had a fragmentation grenade dipped in epoxy and rolled in ball bearings. Hans paced around pulling on his vape pen. He inspected his FPV goggles and wiped the inside screen with a clean white lens cleaner. Then he inserted a fully charged battery into the controller and swiped the control sticks back and forth. When he was all set I asked. So Han’s, when you saw that guy get his foot blown off. How did that make you feel? He thought for a second, It was really sad, I wished I could do something to help him instead of just watching. Did it make you mad? Kurgan asked. Yeah, Hans nodded. Do you want to do something about it? I asked. Yeah.
Good, because I’ve got two mooks in a side by side, they look like ammo runners. Let’s ruin their day. Kurgan carefully lifted up the anti personel drone and walked up the steps out of the bunker. Outside he powered the drone on, it chimed when it linked to Han’s goggles. Kurgan spoke into his radio headset, palm it. Hans asked, what? Hold the controller in your palms and spread out your fingers. I explained, if you fiddle at all and touch one of those sticks you could kill our frontman. So just sit patiently with the controller in your hand until he says go.
Kurgan double checked the ignitors on the front of the drone. The ignitors were stiff pieces of wire we bent into shape ourselves. One piece was bent into a circle that looped around a straight piece. On impact the outer wire would make contact with the inner and complete the electrical circuit. He pulled the safety pin and set the drone in its launch cradle. The cradle was a crudely built platform that had to be used for any drone that had stuff hanging off the bottom.
Kurgan scooted back from the drone and said, Go. All four rotors spun to full power and the drone rose into the air. Without any wasted motion the drone banked into a turn, straightened out and raced through a small gap between two trees. Kurgan watched it go and nodded with approval. The kid had skills, hopefully he wasn’t a total waste.
Hans followed the wrong road for a few seconds, but quickly recovered and beelined out to my position. I said, always be watching for enemy drones, remember that if we’re in range to hit them, they’re in range to hit us. He nodded.
He found the Chinese-made side by side moving along a dirt road between two cratered fields. Hans caught sight of the tiny machine, inside two soldiers in body armor sat shoulder to shoulder bouncing along in unison. What’s the best way to hit it? he asked. With my drone I could see his drone stop and hover. On soft targets like this or trucks, go for the driver’s door or straight through the driver’s windshield.
I watched his drone speed down the road ahead of the buggy. He spun the drone around and drilled straight down on the oncoming buggy. The view from the drone played into Hans’ goggles and also onto a laptop by my side. The buggy started to fill the screen. Two figures became more clear behind the metal mesh windshield. The passenger can be seen holding his arms in front of his face just as the signal freezes and cuts to snow. From my overhead view the buggy bursts into a fireball and swerves off the road and rolls over onto its side. Dazzling white sparks flared out of the burning wreck like a firework someone might set off in their driveway.
Ha ha. Kurgan said, watching the monitor, I love it when they have white phosphorus grenades. We watched the burning ammunition for another minute. Every few seconds a shell would spiral into the air with a trail of smoke and sparks. We recorded the location and two KIA.
The radio chimed, A voice called out. Shade it’s KC you hear me? Yeah KC go ahead. Hey we just spotted a Scoody Doo traveleing westbound on county road forty four just past the Sawmill creek. I don’t know if we can catch it in time. I opened the map and calculated the distance. I keyed the mic, KC, we got you covered, I should be able to put a bird there in five. Copy that Shade, KC out.
Kurgan moved to grab a new one-way drone. OK, Han’s you’re up. I turned back to the monitor and started flying the spotter to the location. Kurgan launched the attack drone, then came back inside to help guide Hans to the strike. My spotter drone found the boxy supply van making its way down a road littered with the burned out husks of other trucks and fighting vehicles. I tracked the van as he guided his FPV into position.
Hans wore his VR goggles and held the controller in his hands working both sticks pinched between his fingers. What did he call the van? Hans asked as he flew. A scubado? I grinned, we call these vans Scooby Doo’s. You’re gonna see a lot of them, the mooks use them for everything from resupply to troop transport.
I see it, Hans said, It’s moving pretty fast now. His view started to deteriorate, wavy horizontal lines expanded and fluctuated across his screen. You’re getting some interference, just slam into the back of it. Hans rammed the drone into the back door of the cargo van and I watched from above as the back half of the van blew open. The burning van rolled to a stop, both front doors opened and two soldiers jumped out. They ran to the woods on the side of the road. Black smoke billowed into the air as the van was engulfed in fire.
Hans lifted his goggles on to his forehead. Why call it a Scooby Doo? Couldn’t you just say cargo van?
I held up a finger to Hans, just a minute, I said. We can use mortars to finish these guys off. I changed channels on the radio as my drone hovered above the burning van. Golf Papa six, this is Shade at Tango Tango seven. Yeah Shade, go ahead. I tapped keys on the laptop. I just sent you guys a locate, think you could drop some hate right there? Yeah, he responded. I just got it, stand by.
We say Scooby Doo because it’s a reference that most of us get. We all know Scooby Doo and his friends rode around in a little van. If you hear us use a reference you don’t understand, just say, I don’t know what that means and we’ll explain it. Hans seemed to accept this solution. Here we go, I said, and motioned to the screen.
Kurgan and Hans leaned in to watch on the big monitor. The two enemy soldiers could hear the drone, so they crouched under some branches. I could see their faces peeking out to look up at me. An explosion ripped the ground twenty meters behind them. I spoke to the mortar team again. That’s close, just walk it twenty meters in. Copy that, he responded. Another explosion went off directly where the soldiers were hiding. Smoke obscured the position, then slowly dissipated. I swung the drone in close and zoomed my camera in on the two lifeless bodies. Nice shot, Golf Papa. That’s two KIA, thanks for the help. Copy that Shade. I looked around for enemy drones then started flying my spotter back to the bunker. My battery indicator dropped to a single blinking bar. When I set the drone down outside, a warning text was flashing across the screen LOW BATTERY LAND NOW.
Kurgan said, I’ll go grab that, what should we send up next? I said, let’s swap it with the other spotter. Kurgan quickly moved through the bunker. He grabbed a new drone and went outside. I stood up, stretched my arms over my head and wiggled my fingers. Hans pulled out his vape pen and blew a huge cloud into the stagnant air of the bunker. I walked over to a tote and pulled out a warm energy drink, you want one? I asked Hans. No thanks, he said, taking a sip from his water bottle. Kurgan came back down the stairs and saw me by the drinks. Oh I’ll take one, he said. I popped both cans and handed him one. We each took a sip of the caffeinated soda. For a brief moment we had a chance to pause and rest. I took off my headset and rubbed my temple.
Hans said, So now what? Kurgan flinched and said, Shhh, you’ll jinx it. I held my breath, hoping I could summon just a few more minutes of quiet. Then I heard a voice calling out from the headset earphones I had in my lap. I shot a side eye look at Hans. Kurgan said, shit, and chugged half the can of Rip It.
I pulled the headset on and spoke with a recon team two miles away. They had found an enemy tank in their sector and were requesting help to take it out. I told them to stand by. Ok Hans, I said, here’s your chance to do some real damage. Kurgan walked over to our drone supply and picked up my spotter drone. What do you want to send for a one way? Kurgan asked. He took another sip of soda as he looked at the available ordinance. I sat down at the flight station and turned on the lap tops. Uhh, do we still have that RPG? That would be a good one for the kid.
Kurgan opened a plastic tote and pulled out a quadcopter drone with a rocket propelled grenade attached to the bottom. Here it is, he said. Give me a minute. I watched our frontman carry the two drones through the chain curtain and up into the sunlight.
I held down the link button on my controller and heard it chime when it found the spotter drone. I looked down at the controller screen and saw a ground level view of Kurgan walking away from the drone. I throttled up and the drone lifted into the air. I started heading to the coordinates that I had been given and Hans pulled his goggles down and waited for his drone to link. I found the tank quickly. It was a Russian T-90 the Indians had incorporated into their forces. I didn’t appear to have any sort of jammer, this should be an easy kill.
As Hans got closer, I said, put it right into the side of the turret. That shaped charge will burn a hole right through that armor and spall the crew. Han’s sounded a little too cocky when he said, yeah I got this. I looked away from my controller and watched the live feed from his drone displayed on the laptop. He came in fast and bobbed up and down a bit as he tried to line up on the moving tank. I said, take your time, make it count. He dismissed my advice saying, yeah I know. Then he dove straight towards the side of the turret and I watched the screen with the first person view from his drone. The tank grew larger until it filled the screen and the feed cut out when the drone was blown to pieces. I shifted my eyes back to the view from my spotter drone hovering in the air. Flames licked off the top of the tank trailing greasy black smoke. Hans lifted his goggles and pulled a hit from his vape pen. He exhaled, filling our workspace with thick nicotine smoke and said smugly, told you I’d hit it.
I kept my expression neutral and replied, but you didn’t. One side of his mouth curled up in disbelief and he asked, what do you mean? I pointed to the scene on my laptop. As my drone hovered over the tank it showed the tank continuing along the dirt road, the flames still burned off the top of the turret and down the side of the tank, but there was less fire than before.
Hans said, just give it a minute, it’ll blow up.
I said, this is the first time you’ve ever attacked a tank, where is this unjustified overconfidence coming from?
He answered, I hit it right where you said.
I said, no, you hit a fuel can that was strapped to the side of the turret. Hans scoffed and said, no way. I keyed my mic and said, Hey Kurg, come on in, we gotta launch another. Then I gestured to the laptop as I said to Hans, rewind the footage, you’ll see.
While he opened the video file I started to explain, a shaped charge uses a jet of plasma as thick as a pencil to burn through the armor and spray the inside. When you hit the jerry can the plasma had to go through six inches of diesel fuel then out the other side to even reach the armor. He clicked through the final frames of the video, the tank grew larger and larger, then a rectangular fuel can became clearly visible as the drone slammed into it.
Kurgan came down the stairs and opened up the tote again, what happened? Signal get jammed? I grumbled, something like that, do we have another rpg? He lifted a drone out of the tote and shook it at me. Then he turned and went back outside.
I glanced at the laptop screen, oh what’s he doing now? The tank had left the road and was bumping along through a field leaving two dark tracks in the dirt behind it. The flames had almost completely died away. I looked at Hans, he was watching the tank and looked pissed off. He said, you didn’t tell me there was a fuel tank, you just said hit the turret.
I sighed and said, yep it’s my fault. You remember how to get out here? He nodded and pulled his goggles down as the drone activated. I continued to follow the tank as it lumbered across the field while Hans flew out to meet it. A few minutes later his drone came into view and I watched as he lined up on the turret again. This time it was a clean strike, the warhead pierced through to the interior of the tank. The crew was incinerated and soon the ammo inside detonated blowing the turret off the chassis in a massive explosion. Hans watched with glee as he pulled from his vape pen and bathed in his own self satisfaction.
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