Chapter Three - "Now...It's Empty!"

Chapter 3 – "Now; It's Empty…"

CAG Bridge, USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71), 0235 Local

Hoss looked at Animal with a wry expression and shook his head slowly, "I think you just made yourself an enemy, Animal…"

Animal still seething, growled, "I'm quaking in my boots, sir." He didn't care what Rabbit could do or what he thought he could do. His mind was on making sure that his squadron mates came home.

"It's gonna take at least four hours to get an Angel mission planned. Do you think that they have the ability to hold out for another six hours?"

"Sir, I don't know…the area could be crawling with NKPLA…And they've only got their personal sidearms and maybe three clips of 9 millimetre. They're seriously in the shit, sir." He looked at the CAG eye to eye, "The sooner we get them out, the better…sir." Hoss nodded at Animal's estimation.

"We're going to need air-cover to cover Angel flight in and out. I'm sending in three Marine UH-1 Gunships from our Marine Corps attached helo squadron along with Angel Flight. Plus I'm sending up four F-14s as CAP to cover them in and out. We need to go in in daylight to make sure that we positively identify the men and find out if they're still loose and able to escape or whether they're NKs dressed in their gear to fake us out." Animal nodded at Hoss's comment. The North Koreans could be duplicitous and capture them and then try to send out two of their own dressed in the downed aviators's gear to lure them into a trap.

"I'm going to trust that Spaz and Dollar have done things to differentiate themselves from the typical North Korean." Animal said. Hoss nodded.

"I figured so…" Hoss figured that they'd probably covered their skin with paint to make sure they weren't seen. "Were there any identifying insignia on their flight suits?

"Negative, sir, I told them to sanitize their bags before they headed out. If we were to get shot down, I didn't want any identifying marks on us."

"Good call…" CAG got on the 1-MC. "Now Hear This, Now Hear This. Clear the flight deck… Clear the flight deck. All Flight Operations. Recover aircraft in the groove…and get them in. Prep Angel Flight." Snapping off the 1-MC, he turned to DCAG "With three gunships and an Angel Helo heading out, we can't have flight operations happening right now…there's going to be too much activity on the deck. We'll get our currently orbiting Fleet Air Defense Patrols to continue orbit and get a Tanker out of Osan and refuel them by drogue and I'll send four aircraft out of the bunch that are already up as CAP. Any other aircraft we'll recover and clear off the deck. DCAG...make that happen…"

"Roger that sir." The DCAG replied. "I'll check on the maintenance and get them to up the Marine UH-1s and the Angel Helo."

Hill 175, North of Pusan, North Korea 0235 Local

Dollar looked over at Spaz. "There's a grove of trees and low covered bushes over there…is there enough cover there?"

"We can see…" Spaz said. "We'll stay here silent until sunrise and then peek out and see if there's any sign of a helo rescue. If not we may have to dodge patrols and try to make our way across the Yellow River…to the DMZ." He wasn't looking forward to that prospect, but he'd be up to doing it if it came down to no other choice. Unless there was imminent danger of capture, imprisonment and torture, there was no way that he'd make his last stand in North Korea.

The trees and low covered bushes were numerous and plentiful in that grove…and they were able to tuck themselves under a thick grove of them. The overhanging branches of the low bushes practically went to the ground so it concealed them out of sight. If it was that any patrols came along, they would be well hidden. If they stayed well enough still, maybe they would walk right by and not even notice. Hopefully they wouldn't smell enough that they would be immediately captured. "Too bad we didn't have any kim-chi…" Spaz muttered to Dollar. "We eat enough of it; we'll have it seeping out our pores, to the point that they won't be able to tell us apart from them, as long as they don't see us…"

At least their flight-suits were green, which came close to matching the color of the grass and the branches. For naval aviators on missions, there was a rule, no cologne, no perfume (for the females); any scent that could give you away to the enemy was not to be worn on mission. Which meant that you'd come back from a patrol sweaty and smelling pretty rank, but it was nothing that a good hot shower wouldn't fix. And this was the reason why. If you were shot down…you needed

to practically be odorless or the keen noses of the enemy would pick up the scent that was out of the ordinary and hone in on that.

They did have to rest…and they did in shifts; it wasn't much of a sleep since they kept popping awake at every little snap, creak and crunch…it was practically deserted, but that still wasn't a comfort. They were in enemy territory and as of right now, there was no escape. Their weapons were by their sides within easy reach just in case that the NKs got too damned close. But they didn't want to fight their way out of this situation; gunshots would attract too much unwanted attention. So they opted to lie in hiding and hope that anyone that came their way didn't even notice them.

All they could do was hope and pray that rescue would come soon.

USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71), 0555 Local

"Sir, you'll be carrying an M-4 Carbine…and six clips of .225 NATO." The Marine Gunnery Sergeant Chip Enders said. "We got camos for you, sir…and a tin of combat makeup; sir."

"Thanks, Gunny." Animal's anger still was boiling under his calm demeanor. Anybody who got in his way when they went down to get his squadron-mates out; was going to find that they were up against one very hostile individual.

"You alright, sir?" Gunny Enders asked.

"Promise me one thing, Gunny, Even if I go down. Get them back home…"

"Sir, Yes, Sir." Gunny Enders looked at his Staff Sergeant second with a look that said. I wouldn't want to be the guy that comes up against him. The Navy Lieutenant Commander looks like he's looking to kill someone today.

Animal was getting into his camouflage; a grim expression still on his face. The Marines had supplied him with their Woodland Camo; they were all sanitized; no identifying marks. Well, he was going in with the Marines this time around; they'd back him up and he'd get his squadron-mates out or die trying. There was no way in hell that he was going to leave Dollar and Spaz out there helpless in Indian Country without doing whatever he could to get them out.

There wasn't much of a briefing; other than discussing ingress, egress; abort procedures and other situations; possible threats, etc, etc. in the area. They would not be ingressing from where the F-14s came in early that morning, but from a point north of it where they would detour around – nape of the earth under the radar coverage and pop up towards where the signals were coming from which on the map looked like it was named Hill 175. They would get as close as they could to the emergency beacons and see if they could spot where they were located… The signals were located in their seats, however as they got closer they would see if the secondary beacons activated. There was a reason why. Two positions; one from their seat, one from the secondary beacon; and the searcher's position could triangulate a rough area of where the downed crew was at. The only problem was that there were North Korean People's Liberation Army guys moving in…towards the beacon…and they could potentially reach them before the Marines were airborne…they needed to go now… "Gunny…how long would it take to reach our destination?"

"Give or take, two hours…we're considerably less speedy than an F-14, sir."

"We lift off now…Grab your gear…We can't wait for Angel to get ready. We're going in… Scooter, ask CAG to send in the F-14 CAP; we're going now.

CAG Bridge, USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71) 0600hrs

"Sir…the Marines are already walking out to their helos…"

The poor abused hatch got slammed open again as Scooter walked in, "Sir…Animal got the feeling that he needed to go in now…or it might be too late…"

"Damnit…he's a goddamned cowboy…" CAG grunted. "I'll send in the CAP…and have them orbit the area."

"Thank you, sir…" Scooter was relieved that he didn't have to convince the CAG to send in CAP; that he already intended to; just that the time table had gotten accelerated due to Animal's decision to go in early.

Navajo 1 (inbound Hill 175) 0810hrs Local

"Sir, we've got the signal from one of the secondary beacons…" Animal was notified by the Marine Captain who was the AC of the Marine helo that was going in; the other two were in the process of being refueled and they weren't able to lift-off at the time of the rescue, but Animal elected to go in with just the one UH-1. Navy F-14s were orbiting over the area making sure that the heads of the North Korean troops were kept down, but they were running low on fuel. Just as they crested the hill before Hill 175, They heard Tophatter Two One Seven call out bingo fuel.

"Tophatter Two One Seven; Tophatter flight" Animal picked up the Mike…"This is Fast Eagle…onboard Navajo 1 RTB. If you're bingo fuel you won't do yourself any good if you splash…Get out of town, Buster…"

"Roger that, Fast Eagle. Good luck…"

"Well, we got no air cover now…" Animal said,

The Marine Captain looked up at Animal, "Your call, sir."

"We're going in…"

Hill 175, North of Pusan, North Korea; 0812 Local

Shouts in guttural Korean sounded down the hill about half a mile away as Spaz and Dollar heard the familiar sound of a UH-1; the chop-chop of the blades was unmistakable. Spaz decided that they needed to activate his secondary beacon. To let them know that they were right on top of him; the helo halted above then started to look for a level spot to hover away from the trees.

"Get me down low enough that I can jump…safely…" Animal shouted. "I'll combat drop and roll." As soon as the helo cleared the trees, it lowered enough about eight feet off the ground so that Animal and the six other Marines that were there could jump out with their weapons. The Marines had brought along some grenades as well.

The Marines spread out, M-16A2s at the ready; Animal had his M-4 Carbine; he was looking for a North Korean head to pop up because he was going to relocate that guy's brain from inside his head to outside splattered across the nearest tree. More guttural shouts in Korean as the North Koreans down the hill started firing up the mountain. Bullets were whizzing past the Marines and past Animal. The six Marines held down the North Koreans with cover fire. And M9 fire joined them. "Spaz…Dollar…get to the helo! NOW!" Animal shouted. The North Koreans decided to charge. Animal ordered the Marines… "Get to the helo…I'll cover…"

Gunny Enders said, "Sir…you're going to get killed,"

"Just do it, Gunny…You can cover me when you get to the helo with the M60…" Animal growled…as he hefted his M4 and started returning fire at the North Koreans, dropping one. "Leave me the bag of grenades! It's pull- one two throw?" Animal yelled as he snapped off three more shots, dropping yet another North Korean.

"Yes, sir…"

"Now get to the helo; that's a direct order!" The Gunny snapped off a few shots…and then ran back to the helo…while Animal kept up a sustained burst. Then dropped the clip out and slapped another one in, pulling the charging handle to jack another round in… Picking up a grenade with his left hand, he waited till the North Koreans were in throwing range…and then dropped the M-4…and pulled the pin on the grenade. "One…Two…" and then lobbed the grenade as far as he could throw it in the North Koreans' direction. An explosion and a lot of screaming ensued. Animal picked up his M-4 and snapped off several more shots, dropping a few more Koreans that came over the crest of the hill…about 500 feet away…it would cost them every bit of inch… Animal let loose another sustained burst from his M-4 and dropped down beside the bag of grenades. Pulling one more out…he pulled the pin…got to his knees and threw it with a base ball throw. It landed in the knot of Koreans who were trying to scramble up the hill and exploded… "Come and get it! You motherfuckers!" Animal yelled as he pulled his M9 and started firing at any exposed North Korean that popped his face up. Grabbing another grenade while keeping a low profile, pulling the pin and threw the grenade hard. The exploding grenade put about ten of the bastards down. How many of these bastards were there? Picking up his M-4 he dropped the empty clip and slammed in another, pulling the charging handle, he snapped the M4 up and fired three rounds right into the face of a charging North Korean who had noticed a lull in the firing: well he didn't have a face left or…a head... "Fuck you, Kim Chi…" Animal snarled.

The men who got to the helo were looking at each other wondering if they should help. Gunny stopped their cogitating and yelled "load up…Staff Sergeant Helms…M60 Cover fire!"

By this time, Animal had gone through another clip. Three more left. At least he was dropping those damned North Koreans. Aim, fire…aim fire…Korean head…aim fire…good he's down…Fire…There goes another one… Son of a bitch…there's so many of these bastards… He then felt a burning fire in his shoulder and another one; his left arm felt heavy. But he still kept up his rate of fire…drop clip…insert…pull charging handle…fire…aim fire…aim..fire… He saw another one poke his head up snap fire…he went down. Now the North Koreans were directing fire at the helo which took hits. Animal used that momentary distraction to prime another grenade and throw it. The explosion took out five North Koreans who had been firing on the helo. Animal fired more shots from his M4. Damn empty…last two clips…insert… charging handle…aim fire… Another burning sensation right along the side of his head. Fuck 'em… He emptied that clip into the North Koreans. And jammed in his last clip. Now they were right on top of him…only 20 feet away. Firing with his good hand he jammed the muzzle of the M4 into the face of one North Korean who was right on top of him and blew his head off. Pulling his M9 with his other hand with his other hand, he fired that into the face of yet another charging North Korean. Then he saw tracer fire going over his head as North Koreans started falling around him. Two UH-1 Gunships blew past the hill with M60s blazing as the North Koreans who were left took heavy fire. Animal used this opportunity to lob another grenade at the remaining North Koreans. As he grabbed the straps of the bag of grenades and grabbed the M4; damned if he was going to leave the North Koreans a fucking souvenir, he twisted with his free good hand and fired his M9 several more times dropping two more North Koreans. "Guess it's time to decamp…" He said firing several more shots…to try and keep those bastards' heads down. The adrenaline was pumping and he felt nothing…just a warm feeling in his shoulder and to the side of his head. The AK-47 shots were slapping into trees all around him and the helo was fifty meters away. And there were North Koreans charging. Snapping off several shots to keep their heads down he made his way to the helicopter but it was painful meter after painful meter. While the rest of the Helo crew and the rescued waited for him. They were the brave ones. He twisted firing from the hip the last round in his M4, dropping a North Korean who had popped up with an RPG in his hand. Twenty more feet to go… And arms grabbed him…

He barely heard Gunnery Sergeant Enders yell "Cover him…fire…on the North Koreans!" as he was practically hauled back to the helo…by two Marines.

"Jesus Christ, sir…your shoulder's covered in blood…and you're bleeding from the head too."

"It's a crease…if my brains were exposed I wouldn't be here right now." Animal snapped. "Who's manning the other M60?!" As Marines in the helo fired on the North Koreans, Animal grabbed the M60 mount hauling himself up and started pulling the trigger of the side-mounted machine gun, muzzle aimed at the North Koreans who fell when they were hit by the 7.62 NATO bullets.

As the Marines piled in and the Marine Aviator who bravely sat there and waited for Animal's insanity to subside pulled up the cyclic and took off, "Sir, your M4 is empty and your M9 pretty much has one round left in it…you're out of clips for your M9 too…" the Staff Sergeant said as he took stock of the weapon.

"Gimme, Staff Sergeant." Animal said to the Marine. Aiming the M9 with his good right hand at the receding North Koreans…he fired one more shot at them. "Now…it's empty…" he said…as he put it in the bag.

"Oorah, sir…" The Staff Sergeant's eyes were wide and impressed, "You brought the unused grenades back too…sir."

"Would you have preferred I left them as a souvenir for the North Koreans?" Animal asked…"I don't think so…had to leave the magazines, that'll puzzle the fuck out of them for a while; at least the ones who survived."

Dead silence…as the Marine looked like he had nothing to say to that.

As the Marine Helo egressed from the North Korean peninsula back towards the carrier, they saw two more F-14s inbound. One was equipped with a TARPS pod; the backup TARPS bird. They were going in fast and low. Both were VF-41 birds. Animal blinked back the moisture in his eyes as emotion went through him. His squadron; they were going back in to finish the job…"Keep 'em safe…" he whispered.

Fast Eagle 116, TARPS Bird, Over Hill 175 0844hrs Local

"Rattler, will you take a look at that. There're bodies of NKPLA all over the damned ground up on Hill 175. I think there're over 150 of them."

"Rolling footage?"

"Yeah, been rolling since we entered the valley."

"Well, take a few good passes over; Grip, I think we may need that footage to seal the deal. I've never seen this many casualties on the other side before unless it was an even strength battle. I have a feeling whoever's responsible for that carnage is going to get a medal. The one with the capital M."

"Intel's gonna love this…"

Apache 1; Exfil Hill 175 0848hrs

Now that the adrenaline was starting to subside, he was starting to feel the pain…he gritted his teeth, he wasn't about to show weakness. Biting down the pain, he thanked the Marine Non-Coms, "Thank you, Staff Sergeant…Gunny…" The Gunny was looking at him with a great deal of respect. "Don't know if I could've made it the last twenty feet if you hadn't thrown down covering fire."

One of the Marines had a large bandage covered with antibiotics large enough to cover both entry and exit wounds, who came up to him with wide eyes and almost a look of fear, "Sir…I need to make sure that we cover your wound, sir…I don't want it to get infected." He took his Kabar and slowly stripped away the blood-covered shoulder of the fatigues. When he had finished dressing the wound, he pulled out a syringe and said, "Morphine, sir…Gotta hit you with it…cause you're in serious pain…you look like you're fading in and out of consciousness… Looks like the bullets punched in and out straight through; you were lucky, sir…that they didn't fragment or you'd be losing this arm..."

"Damn…" Animal muttered, "Those were nice Woodlands." He looked over at the Gunny who didn't know what to make of that comment.

Dollar and Spaz were looking at their fellow squadron mate with new eyes. "I've never seen anything like it…" Dollar said, "He just went ape-shit on them…"

"Apache 1, Combat, We're exfilling; we have the packages…one rescuer wounded…need litter…"

"I can walk…" mumbled Animal. "I…can…"

"Sir…" Gunny said to Spaz…"Strap him in…to the center seat…he's going to be out of it in a few seconds…" He was right. Animal passed out.

The next time that Animal came to consciousness, they were on the flight deck of the USS Theodore Roosevelt and RDML Pointer was standing crouched over him… "Commander… Commander…can you hear me…"

"Christ, sir…I've got one helluva headache…" he mumbled. "I feel like I got hit in the head with a baseball bat."

"You gotta hard head, son…that bullet evidently bounced off your skull…if it had been angled any sharper…it would have taken the back of your head off."

"Goddamnit…Animal" CAG Cartwright looked over at him from the other side of the litter. "You're a goddamned cowboy…but you got our boys back…but dammit you nearly got yourself killed in the process…Animal?" He had passed out again.

The Hospital Corpsman said, "Sir, He needs to be evac'd to the hospital ship… They need to do surgery on the nerves and tendons in his arm. Otherwise he won't ever fly again and it needs to be done now."

"Get it done, Corpsman," The litter was taken back to the helicopter…and the rotors started up again. The hospital ship was a mile away in the far center of the battle group shielded by several guided missile cruisers and Aegis destroyers who were ready, willing and able to throw up a lot of firepower to defend the ship that was currently not too full of patients who were recuperating or undergoing operations to help them get back to active duty or rehabilitate them enough so that they could be repatriated to the CONUS.

Back on the TR, RDML Pointer looked over at the CAG. "I want all the witnesses interviewed…we need their reports of what they saw. It looks like it may be unanimous. And talk to Dollar and Spaz too." CAG nodded. "You thinking what I'm thinking?"

"Yes, sir…I think we may be looking at the next blue button recipient."

"We need to get JAG out here before Rabbit tries to throw a haymaker in this by throwing shit at him."

"Agreed."