‘Grenade launchers Billy.’ Billy whistles loudly and signals for the men to begin using the grenade launchers slung under their rifles with a tap of his own.
‘Will we be fixing bayonets then Boss?’ Billy grins without humour.
You radio begins to speak, ‘Alpha 9er this is Alpha 4 over.’
You reply instantly, ‘Alpha 9er send over.’
‘Alpha 4. My callsign and Alpha 3 are on top of the hill and can see about a hundred infantry skirmishing towards your position. There are three BTR 80s in close support and three more further back. There’s a huddle of trucks and a mortar group with three tubes about half a click away. Over.’
‘Alpha 9er. Stop those BTRs with the GMGs as soon as you like. Fire on the infantry with small arms and personal grenade launchers. Over.’
‘Alpha 1. Copy out.’
Moments later the slow bursts of automatic fire from the GMGs starts up on the hill. First one then a second, then the third of the closer BTRs bursts into flame. Firing down onto the enemy from the higher position is like shooting fish in a barrel. The infantry advance stalls as the men become reluctant to move forward and their fire lessens as their casualties grow.
‘Alpha 9er, Alpha 4, Switch fire to the distant BTRs, trucks and mortar group over.’
‘Alpha 4 copy out.’
The GMG fire pauses then continues. The mortar fire stops. The infantry begin to retreat at the run, many of them brought down by machine gun and rifle fire from the hill. You call out to your men, ‘Cease fire!’
A Pavehawk swoops in to begin collecting your men, now formed into a protective circle, while Heelo 9er collects the survivors and bodies from the stricken chopper himself. As you pull away a CH-53E Super Stallion, which has been held in reserve to allow for accidents, prepares to recover the smashed Pavehawk airframe.
* HAHO stands for High Altitude High Opening and refers to a means of parachute insertion where the operators jump at high altitude over the enemy radar and then open their square canopies while still at a high, and classified, altitude allowing them to fly undetected for an extended distance in excess of 30 miles to their target, all the while navigating by chest-mounted GPS.
AP
anti-personnel
BSA
Broad Spectrum Antibiotic
civvy
Civilian/Non-military personnel
Cockneys
Londoners, particularly working-class and from the East End of that city
Det Cord
detonation cord used to fire strings of charges
False Flag
Old naval term now used to describe an operation which is made to look like it has been perpetrated by another country’s armed forces
FOB
Forward Operating Base
GPMG
General Purpose Machine Gun
GMG
grenade machine gun
HEAT
High Explosive Anti-Tank
HAHO
High Altitude High Opening
IED
Improvised Explosive Device
IMT
Individual Movement Technique
MEMS
micro-electromechanical systems
NATO
North Atlantic Treaty Organization (also known as the North Atlantic Alliance)
Para(s)
Parachute Regiment or members thereof
PE
plastic explosive
PIAT
Projector, Infantry, Anti-Tank
PMC
Private Military Contractor
R&R
rest and recuperation
RPG
Rocket Propelled Grenade
Sangar
a permannt, fortified, room-sized defensive or observation position
SAS
Special Air Service
SF
Special Forces
SOPs
Standard Operating Procedures
stag
period of sentry duty
Stick
a unit of 4 to 8 infantry or SF
TAB
Tactical Advance into Battle, from the Parachute Regiment concept of landing by parachute some distance from the objective and running to the battle
TNBI
neutron backscatter imaging
Two-way range
combat situation (ie. people are returning fire at you with live ammunition)
UAV
Unmanned Aerial Vehicle
VOD
velocity of detonation used to define the power of an explosive
VP
Voice Procedure, the accepted way to converse over radio
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