Kombat Kids - 45. They Wore a Yellow Ribbon

The four boys and four men sat in the lounge watching the security monitor. On the monitor the image of the olive drab Chevrolet moved down the driveway towards the main gate.

Matt shook his head in wonder;"How did a pompous ass like Jasper ever make it to Lieutenant Colonel?"

The Gunny thought for a second before answering Matt's question;"People like Jasper always gravitate to positions like he's in; he's probably a really fine PIO, but a real disaster as a combat officer’ all organizations, whether civilian or military need people like him to handle non-technical, non-leadership jobs. He probably gets a hard on just thinking about how much paperwork he generates each day. As long as he can schmooze another bureaucrat or a senior officer, he does a great job. Put him in a position like he was in here, when even a twelve year old boy recognizes him as a, let me see how did Jacky put it, oh yeah, an REMF, he's totally out of his element. He doesn't know how to respond and it would have been worse if he tried to deal with any of us who were his junior in rank. He would have issued an order and expected us to obey him cheerfully and without question."

The Gunny thought a little more before continuing;"People like Jasper are needed, if for nothing else than for their ability to fetch and carry as well as his innate ability to process paperwork. I know of several Marine officers working for Phil Stanton who are just like him, and they would have acted the same way he did if they were tasked with trying to get you to help. That's why General Stanton came here personally, after talking with Bill Martin; he knew exactly what he was dealing with and which approach would assure your help. I'll bet you a beer we won't be bothered by Colonel Jasper again, the next guy will be a real 'operator,' not a bureaucrat."

Matt thought about what the Gunny had said and had to agree with his reasoning. What ever happened, they didn't have time to worry about it then, they had a Marine Recon Team coming out to play on the weekend and they had to be ready.

The week moved on, then on Friday afternoon three olive drab busses with Marine Corps I.D. numbers on the sides and GSA license plates front and back showed up at the Bateman compound. Only one of the buses disgorged people, the first of whom was General Stanton. Walking along side of him was a middle aged man with dark brown hair who looked to be about five eleven, maybe six feet tall and somewhere close to 170 pounds. The man was dressed in blue jeans and a short sleeve shirt and wearing a 'Seahawk' baseball cap. Phil Stanton returned the salutes rendered by the Marines and Unit members alike. Stopping in front of Matt he said;"I'm really glad to hear that James came out of the coma, how's he holding up?"

Matt smiled;"A hell of a lot better than when he first came to, we had a rough stretch ‘til he finally understood that he was still needed and loved. Right now he's busting his ass to get his strength back and master his new 'leg.' Doctor Allyn is still working on his arm, but according to him, it's coming along fine.

The General smiled before saying;"Matt, I'd like to introduce you to Colonel Kevin Dalton U.S. Army, he's in charge of the Army Special Forces here in the State of Washington, Active, Reserve and the National Guard components." Turning to Dalton: "Kevin, this is Matt Bateman, he runs the best non military organization I've ever come in contact with."

The two men shook hands before Colonel Dalton spoke;"First off Mr. Bateman, I want to apologize for Lieutenant Colonel Jasper, my Executive Officer screwed the pooch on that one. I have since counseled him and he understands the error of his ways. Believe me, Colonel Jasper will never bother you or your, 'Squadies?' again."

Matt turned to the Gunny;"Looks like you were right again, I guess I owe you a beer." Turning back to the Colonel, "Master Gunnery Sergeant Mcnaughten told me the next person from the Army would be a real Operator and not a paper pusher. I presume that you're here to see what the members of Unit One can do and maybe ask if some of your 'A' Teams can come over and play?"

Dalton laughed;"You got that right, I've been hearing a lot of rumors around the SpecOps Community about a bunch of civilians over on this side of the mountains who don't take any prisoners. I knew that General Stanton would be right in the middle of whatever was going down over here so after Jasper fucked things up, I went to him and asked for an introduction." Dalton hesitated before continuing;"I don't know what you got over here, but if it's as good as the rumors say it is I want my men to benefit from it."

Matt smiled;"Well why don't you watch what my kids can do and then we'll talk some more afterwards."

Glancing at the busses, Matt asked;"It looks like you're going to throw a shit storm at the boy's this weekend, do you think that quantity will make up for quality? That's kind of mean ganging up on my boys, isn't it?"

The General laughed at Matt;"Since when has it not been okay to try to win, the closest we've been able to get has been to get the arms room door to open. Besides after that Op south of Toppenish Ridge last week, you guys are starting to scare my troops."

Matt looked at the General before saying;"How the fuck did you hear about that, I thought we had it walled off so that the details wouldn't become general knowledge?"

The General smiled again. "Buy me a beer sometime and I'll tell you about how your legend has grown."

The Colonel, not knowing what was going on said nothing. As he was trying to piece the Unit One puzzle together, two boys in what looked like Arab costumes made from MarCam patterned cloth came up and saluted the General. One of the boys was a short redheaded kid who couldn't be over thirteen spoke to the General with easy familiarity;"Good afternoon sir, I hope you had a pleasant journey over the mountains and that you're feeling better than the last time we saw you."

The General laughed and said;"What do you want Jap? When you start brown nosing me I know you want something."

Jap got a hurt expression on his face;"Moi?" he said with great dignity;"Sir, I would never try to brown nose you, for you are the leader of many, albeit, poorly trained Marines and I have great respect and admiration for you."

Before Jap could go on, and while everyone was laughing, the General repeated his query;"What do you want Jap, don't make me hurt you."

With a sudden look of terror on his face he moved behind the larger boy and stuck his head to the side to plead;"Please General sir, don't beat me again, I don't know what Bert would do if you beat me again." Jap moved from behind Jacky and said;"Just kidding sir, we were wondering if Lcprl Tilden is one of the drivers and if so, can we borrow him for awhile? Please?"

The General scowled at Jap;"You keep Bert in his rack, or I'll tan your hide." Then he laughed again;"Yes, Tilden drove, I think he's still in the bus, the one on the far right."

Jap looked at where he was pointing and took in the sight of the other two buses. Looking up at the tall general he asked;"Wow, you must really be pissed at us if you got to have two busses to haul your guy's back after the exercise? "You plan on hitting us with a platoon or two or what?"

The General made like he was going to swat Jap and said;"Get outta here before I paddle your ass for you."

Laughing the two boys started running for the bus that Tilden was supposed to be in.

While the General and the Unit members laughed, Colonel Dalton asked;"What's with the kids and where did they get those costumes?"

"Those 'Kids' as you put it, are the Alpha and Beta team snipers in the Unit." The General thought about what he wanted the Colonel to know before speaking;"The little one, Jap, is the Alpha sniper, the taller of the two, is his boyfriend Jacky, he's the Beta sniper. The difference in their shooting abilities is almost negligible, Jap usually comes in first in any shooting competition they have, but not always and the difference is measured in hundredths of an inch."

The Colonel looked a little skeptical, but didn't comment on the flat statement the General had made. Neither did he comment on the fact that the general had called the taller boy Jap's boyfriend. He kept his own council and followed the other men into the house. He didn't know what was going on, but he knew it was going to be an interesting weekend.

The two boys made their way to the bus; just before they arrived Bill Tilden stepped off the MCI Coach. Seeing the boys, he smiled and said;"Hi guys, I see you're ready for the fun and games that are about to happen."

Jap and Jacky shook hands with Tilden, Jap said;"Come on Bill lets go down to the EDF and get something to drink."

Tilden nodded;"Good idea, then you can tell me about the Operation you guys were on last week. I've been hearing all kind of stories about the Unit's involvement in that big drug bust and I want to get the straight skinny on it."

The boys stopped dead in their tracks while Tilden kept moving, when he realized the boys had stopped he turned to them. "What? What's the matter, what'd I say? Come on guys talk to me."

The boys started walking again, but refrained from saying anything. After they got to the EDF and got what they wanted to drink, the boys led Tilden to a corner table and sat down. Jap was the first to speak;"What exactly have you been hearing Bill?"

Tilden shrugged and said;"Just that you guys were part of the drug bust and that some of the bad guys were carried out in body bags, that's all. I figured that if anybody knew what was going on it would be you guys, so what did go down?"

Jap looked at Jacky who nodded his head. Turning back to Tilden he looked at him for a few seconds before speaking. "First off, you can't tell anyone about anything we tell you, you got to promise us that or we can't tell you."

Tilden nodded;"Okay, I can promise, now tell me what happened."

Jap started the story where Jacky was kidnapped by Delbert, his brother and his brother's friends, every once in a while, Jacky would add a part of the story; mostly he let Jap do the talking. Nearly an hour later, he ended the story with his interrogation by the senior U.S. Marshall. "This guy had me in the conference room upstairs with just my dad; he kept after me to tell him who really took those three Mexicans out. I guess he thought I was trying to protect one of the adults; his whole attitude was that a twelve-year-old kid couldn't shoot like that. The only way I convinced him I was the shooter was to take him out to the range and put twenty rounds of 7.62 in to the bull at a hundred meters."

Tilden shook his head, then looked at Jap and asked;"How're you holdin’ up, I mean I know it's got to wear on you some after popping those assholes."

Jap looked at the tabletop and took a deep breath before replying;"When I first took them down, all I felt was happy. After we got Jacky back and I had time to think about what I had done, I felt kinda bad about it. Dad took me to see Erik Bettus, he's the same councilor Jacky's seeing, we've talked twice since it happened and I'm feeling better about what I did. I still get depressed once in a while, that is until I remember what they woulda done to Jacky and anyone else that got in their way." Jap thought for a minute;"Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you about Mitch. That fucker's got a set of balls on him the size of a basketball. After I put four rounds of AP (Armor Piercing ammunition) in to their engine block, Mitch comes running up with Keener's 60 and pumps twenty or so more rounds through the radiator into the engine block just to make sure they couldn't get away. The first two I popped had just fired him up with three rounds from an MP-5 and one round of double ought buck from a Mossberg pump. Luckily he was wearing Class III's (body armor); otherwise the nine mm would have blown his heart out. The 12 hit him in his left leg and basically destroyed it." Jap and Jacky laughed, then Jacky continued the story;"I didn't hear about this until later, but Mitch was crying when Matt finally got to him. Not because he was hurt, but because his dad had told him to be careful, and also because he thought Doctor Allyn would be pissed about his new leg getting destroyed."

Bill Tilden just shook his head;"Jesus, you guys are really something. After hearing what went down, I can tell you both that Mitch is not the only one with basketball sized balls around here. Thank God I'm only the bus driver, I sure am glad I don't have to come against you guys tonight." Hearing what he had just said, Tilden tried to cover his mistake;"I mean it's not going to be any fun when the Recon Weenies show up here this weekend."

Just as he feared, the boy's expressions showed that they caught the significance of his comment. Sighing he pleaded;"Please guys, keep that information to yourselves, I could really get it stuck in my ass if anyone found out you heard it from me."

Jap nodded his head;"We won't say anything to anyone, we promise. Course, me and Jacky'll be ready, but we won't tell any of the other guys."

"Thanks guys, listen I got to go and finish my checks on the bus and move my gear down to my room. I'll talk to you later when things aren't so hectic." Saying that he put his coffee cup with the other dirty dishes at the scullery and headed up the stairs.

Jacky looked at Jap and smiled;"Let's think about this for awhile, maybe we can figure out what we can do without telling anyone."

The two boys sat at the table for the next fifteen minutes thinking about and discarding several plans to exploit the information they had gotten without causing problems for Bill. When they finally decided on a plan of action, they split up and went looking for the people they needed to carry out their plan to fruition.

Jap found Justin Tannonligua and Tyler English in their room in the berthing compartment. Briefly he explained that he had overheard two of the Marine Observers talking about the exercise and that it was going down tonight. Then he told them how, if they wanted too, they could help. Justin and Tyler looked at each other and got a shit eating grin on their face before turning back to Jap and saying;"We're in, what do you want from us?"

While Jap was explaining the plan, Jacky quickly found the six boys he was looking for. He led them to the pool cavern and told them what was happening and asked them if they wanted in on the Op. All six readily agreed and headed back to their rooms to 'suit up' for the field.

Jap sent Justin and Tyler to the garage to start the pre-checks of GhostRyder 25 in order to be ready to leave when they all assembled there. While Jacky and the others were getting ready, he went in search of Keener Webb. Finding him in the arms room, he told him the cover story he and Jacky had come up with and readied Bert and then Jacky's Barrett (Jacky had named his .50 Gargon). Just as he was finishing his prep of the Barrett's, Jacky, followed by Seth Howell, Doug and Martin James, Rick Hone, Jeff Shields and Mark White entered the room. While they were checking out their AR-10's and 15's Justin Tannonligua walked in and took the M-60 designated for use on GhostRyder 25 down from its rack and quickly inspected it before checking it out. The boys got their ammunition allocation and checked all of the magazines to insure they all had blank ammunition. The Gunny had drummed it into their heads to always check and make sure all they had was blanks. Nobody wanted to hurt or worse yet, kill someone because they fucked up by not insuring that all they had were blanks. Jacky handed Jap his Miles Gear harness and Kevlar before doing a quick check of Gargon. He trusted his lover with his life, but like the Gunny said;"It was his rifle and it was his responsibility to make sure it was ready to use."

Reaching the garage, the ten boys climbed in to GR25 and Tyler the driver hit the remote to open the garage door. Once the door was opened, Justin, using the IC system told Tyler to move the vehicle out of the garage and head for their destination. It took them a little over fifteen minutes to get to the position they had decided on for GR25. Reaching the 'Over Watch Position,' GR25 was shut down and all of the boys de-assed the vehicle. It took the ten boys twenty minutes to place the heat shielding blankets over the engine compartment and set up the camouflage netting. When this was accomplished, the sniper teams and their security units separated and set up their hides. The two teams were about 650 meters apart overlooking the construction site on the south end of the Bateman property. GhostRyder 25 was almost centered between the two teams and on a rise that was slightly higher then the team hides.

After setting up their aiming 'Rocks' the teams hunkered down beneath the Ghilley Blanks they brought with them. Thompson Gettrick had made enough of the blankets so that all of the boys had their own. While they waited for the balloon to go up, they studied the construction site. The light was still good enough that they had no trouble making out the details of the buildings and what looked like a highway running east and west.

All of a sudden it became clear what was being built here, it was a fucking runway and aircraft hangars. Jap thought about what he was seeing, then realized that there were too many buildings for just GhostRyder 15 (Unit One's C47 Gooney Bird). Matt was up to something, and what ever it was it was something that required lots of space.

The late afternoon turned into evening, then just after midnight, the alarm sounded. Bobby Bauer came up on the Unit net to pass the word that the short range Pathfinder radar on the west side of the property had detected a large number of slow moving aircraft incoming. Jap heard Bauer call over the net;"GhostRyder 25, GhostRyder 25, CIC . . . Over"

Justin answered;"CIC, 25, over"

"25, CIC, what's your location and status . . . Over"

"CIC, 25, I'm at map reference Tango 23.5, Alpha 61.94 . . . . I have the Alpha and Bravo teams positioned on the north side of the construction area and are dug in. . . . Over"

After a slight pause Bauer came on line and said;"Roger your last, be advised you have ten in bound helicopters, ETA (Estimated Time of Arrival) three minutes, I say again, three minutes . . . Over"

CIC, 25, roger three minutes, we'll slow them down for you. 25 out."

Jap cursed over the local command frequency they were using;"Fuck, that's close to a hundred troops. All right guys, lets get ready to take out as many as we can. Justin?"

"Yeah Jap?"

"Don't give away your position until they get within 200 meters of us, Jacky and I'll try to take out as many of the leaders as we can." Jap thought for a minute;"All right ladies let's buy the guys some time, get ready to die a glorious death for the Unit, Hoo-Aw."

Laughter and raspberries came over the net and then everyone got their game faces on and it got quiet. They all heard the flukita, flukita sound of the ten helos moving towards the construction sight. The lead aircraft landed and marines in full battle gear started disgorging from the Blackhawks, and setting up a perimeter. As soon as the last Marine was out the door, the pilot pulled pitch and the sleek helicopter lifted off and headed west. Soon all the Marines were on the ground and forming into squads, all in good order with a very minimum of confusion. Jap who was on the east side of the triangle made up of the two sniper teams and GhostRyder 25 started servicing the targets Doug James assigned him. His first one was a Major, and boy did he look pissed when his Miles Gear started alarming. Jacky on the west side of the triangle took out a Lieutenant, then a sergeant. The two snipers took down a total of ten officers, sergeants and corporals before any of the Marines even tried to return fire.

Once the shooting started, the Marines tried to disperse and go to ground on the north side of the runway; all that did was bring them closer to the snipers. After the first orgy of sniper fire, the targets became harder to find. But Jap and Jacky ran up an impressive 'Body Count,' the two boys were responsible for taking out 23 Marines before they were flanked and rendered ineffective. After the two sniper positions were overrun, 25 hosed down the remaining members of the western assault team and part of the eastern one before they were knocked out by a LAW. By the time the Marines moved out to assault the house, their force was down by thirty four percent. They had taken out all of the senior officers and NCOs and most of the junior officers. They had also given the Unit time to activate their own response and position themselves to provide a more than adequate defense.

After the Marine effectives moved on the House, the ineffective's started to walk over to the Unit positions. Jap and Jacky were sitting side by side in front of 25 with Bert and Gargon along side of them. When the Marines arrived, the boys all stood and saluted the Major leading them, Jap took the lead and said;"Good morning sir, welcome to Unit One."

The Major hesitated for only a second before returning the salute and saying;"Thank you son, and who might you be?"

Jap smiled;"I'm Joshua Peterson and this is Jacky Hoffman." Jap introduced all the members of Unit present." He hesitated for a second before asking;"Sir, may I ask the Major's name?"

The Major nodded;"I'm Major Courson, First Battalion, Third Marine Regiment. Which one of you are the operators for these Barrettes?"

Jacky spoke up;"I'm one of them and Jap here, he works the other one, he's the one who took you out at the start of the exercise."

The Major looked at Jap and then shook his head;"I heard rumors about you, but I didn't believe them." Shaking his head he pulled out a pack of cigarettes and lit up. After drawing in a lung full of smoke and exhaling it he asked;"Where'd you learn to shoot like that, I know you got a really fine rifle, but it takes more than good equipment to allow someone to hit at the range you shot from."

Jap blushed;"My dad taught me originally, then Master Gunnery Sergeant Mcnaughten took over. I also got some help from some other Marines and Navy snipers."

Shaking his head again, the Major let out a short bark of laughter;"Might of known Mcnaughten was involved, how's he holdin up?"

Jap thought about the question for a while before saying;"He's going to miss the Corps, but now that he's got a job with the Bateman's running the place, he's doing okay."

The Major looked confused;"What do you mean he's going to miss the Corps, Hell he's not that much older than I am."

Jap looked worried;"Sir, maybe you ought to talk to the Gunny, I may have spoken out of turn here. He's down at the house now; I'd appreciate it if you ask him about what's going on, sorry sir."

The Major shook his head and then smiled;"Okay son, I'll do that as soon as the exercise is over. I think we should be heading on down to your headquarters; this thing should be over by the time we get there.

Tyler spoke for the first time;"Sir if you like, you can ride back in 25 here, we got plenty of room."

The Major didn't hesitate before answering;"Thank you son, but I think I'll walk with my men."

When the boys started to dismantle the camouflage netting, several of the marines lent them a hand. Everything was secured and stored in less than ten minutes and Justin and Tyler started the LAV and led the procession of Marines and Unit one Squadies to the house. Half way back to the house, Matt came over the Unit net and announced the end of the exercise.

As they approached the garage entrance, Tyler hit the remote door opener and the armored doors started sliding open. Everyone in the group saw General Stanton, Matt, the Gunny and several of the observers waiting just inside the doors.

The Major, as the senior member of the group saluted the General. "Good morning sir, I hope the rest of my men did better than I did?"

The General shook his head and laughed;"That's usually the last thing I'd expect to hear you say Bob. These guys have changed my way of thinking about things, and, they've been doing it to a lot of other people also so don't feel too bad. Why don't you take your guys down to the Cavern and get some coffee or something, the de-briefing will be in about an hour."

Matt turned to the Squadies;"Guys, go ahead and drop your firearms and ammo off at the arms room, then head down to the EDF." Turning to GhostRyder 25, Matt yelled over to Justin and Tyler;"You guys do your post checks and then drop off your firearms at the arms room before heading down to the EDF."

Justin waved his acknowledgement as he continued to remove the M-60 from its pintle mount on top of 25. Tyler was doing a walk around the LAV checking for any damage that may have occurred while moving through the desert and waved at Matt also.

Thirty minutes later, the ten boys who were in the ambush set up by Jap and Jacky were sitting at a table in the EDF drinking Cokes when the Gunny came to the table. Looking at Jacky, then turning to Jap he shook his head;"If I had to pick the culprit, I'd pick you, ya little redheaded Kamikaze. What the fuck were you guys doing out there with no back up, and how'd you know they'd be using that area as an LZ (Landing Zone)."

Jap turned a deep shade of red before replying;"Aww come on Gunny, why blame me?"

The Gunny scowled;"Hmmmmmmm, let me think. Who was it who fucked with Tilden a while back, then there was the time you terrorized Thompson Gettrick. How bout the time the Sheriff caught you loading up a HUMVEE in preparation for a lynching, then there was the time you superglued Seth Howell's 501s zipper closed . . . ."

"They were Wrangler's not 5 . . . Hey!" yelled Jap;"How the hell did you know about Seth's zipper . . . ."

"Gotcha." Laughed the Gunny;"I rest my case, and you and I will talk about this later. Now all of you, head for the Cavern so we can get the de-brief over with."

During the de-brief, it became apparent that the impromptu ambush set up by Jap and his team was the deciding factor in the Recon platoon's defeat. The fact that so many of the platoon's leadership cadre were taken out in the early part of the exercise allowed the Unit to have more time to respond to the threat. The Marines still came close to breaking through to the arms room, but close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades. Oh yeah, and A-Tom bombs. The question that Jap and Jacky feared the most came toward the end of the de-brief. The Gunny was the one who finally asked it.

Looking at Jap he asked;"Why did you Squadies set up an ambush where and when you did?"

Jap swallowed nervously before answering;"Umm, well I kinda over-heard some of the observers (a blatant lie) talking about the exercise starting some time last night. I talked it over with some of the guys and we thought the aggressors would probably use the construction area as a jump-off point."

The Gunny nodded;"Why did you think that?"

Jap was getting nervous now;"Well . . . Umm . . . You see . . ." Jacky could see his lover was having a hard time justifying his reasoning so he jumped in to the conversation.

"Like Jap said, we talked about it, we figured it was the best place for them to use as a rally point. Our position near the small ridge allowed us to cover three of the approach lanes to the house and still provide us with good cover."

The ambush, the Marine response to it and the subsequent attack on the house were covered in great detail. It was pointed out that the ambush drastically reduced the Marines’ offensive capability. It was also pointed out the loss of both the Unit snipers and GhostRyder 25 greatly decreased the Units ability to repulse the attackers. It took a little over three hours to complete the de-briefing and when it was over, everyone was tuckered out. The Marines and Unit One members were then dismissed and sent to breakfast.

Jap and Jacky got their food and found an empty table away from everyone else. Jap looked at his boyfriend and said softly;"Thanks, thanks for helping out when I got tongue-tied during the briefing."

Jacky reached over and patted Jap's hand;"It's the least I could do for the guy who jumped out of an airplane, put down three guys who wanted to kill me, cleaned my shitty ass and then kept me warm for over an hour. You know I love you, you know I'd do anything for you so let it go, please?"

Jap smiled and nodded his head in the affirmative.

As Jacky was removing his hand from Jap's, the guy in civilian clothes that had been hanging around with General Stanton came to the table. Looking at both the boys in turn, he asked;"Would you mind if I joined you two?"

Jacky shook his head and Jap said: "Please." Then pointed to a chair across from them. The Colonel sat in the indicated chair and stuck out his hand to shake, saying;"Good morning boys, I'm Kevin Dalton."

As he shook the proffered hand, Jap replied;"I'm Jap and this is Jacky Hoffman. Before we go any further, would you please tell us your rank, its Colonel or Brigadier isn't it?"

Colonel Dalton got a surprised expression on his face, which rapidly disappeared and he said;"Very perceptive, you got it on the first try, I'm a Colonel, Army Special Forces."

The two boys kept watching the Colonel as they ate, waiting to see what the grownup wanted. After starting on his breakfast, the Colonel knew the boys weren't going to offer any information without prodding. Taking a sip of his coffee, he started the conversation off with;"I hear you two didn't think much of Lieutenant Colonel Jasper?"

As the Colonel was taking another sip of coffee, Jap replied;"What's to like, he's an REMF?"

The colonel was able to keep from spraying the table and the two boys, as well as keeping himself from choking only with the utmost self-control. After wiping his mouth with a napkin, he asked;"What .. Ahem ... do you mean, Colonel Jasper is a fine officer."

Jap looked a little irritated as he said;"Look Colonel, I may only be twelve and Jacky might only be fourteen, but neither one of are stupid. You're right Colonel Jasper may be a fine officer, but anyway you look at it, he's still an REMF."

The Colonel studied the two boys as he continued eating, then asked;"Why do you think he's an REMF, did you hear one of the adult Unit members talking about him?"

Jap and Jacky both laughed, Jacky joined the conversation for the first time by saying;"Colonel, I was the one who contacted my dad and Matt and told them Colonel Jasper was here waiting for the Bateman Brothers. To top it off, he didn't even do his homework, if he had; he woulda known that James was still in the hospital. I was the one who first called him an REMF, both my dad and Matt said I shouldn't talk like that about someone I'd just met. The guy’s a paper pusher; he only had tree ribbons on his uniform, no CIB (Combat Infantry Badge) and no qualification badges. Besides that, he talked to me and Jap like we were in the second grade."

The Colonel surrendered;"Okay, I guess I can't fault your reasoning, but I won't agree with your assessment of him. I will say that you won't be . . . ah . . . bothered by him again." Eating a little more of his food, he thought about how he wanted to phrase his next question. Taking another sip of coffee and setting the cup on the table he continued;"I'd be interested in knowing a little about the ambush you guys set up last night. Why'd you put yourself out there, outside of the mutual support envelope of the rest of the Unit's assets?"

Sticking to the cover story, Jacky explained about Jap overhearing two of the observers talking about the exercise starting earlier than they usually did. Jap took over at this point and told how he told Jacky and how they talked to the rest of the boys who were with them. "I guess we did kind of fu . . . I mean mess up." Jap said. "We didn't think about how it would affect the Unit's operations. Not until after me and Jacky got taken out and then 25 bit the big one. We won't do that again, we were just lucky that we were able to thin them out enough to make a difference when they finally made contact with our guys."

The Colonel chuckled;"Saying you 'thinned them out' is s bit of an understatement. You not only took out most of their leadership, you also reduced their total force by 34%, and that can't be attributed to luck either."

Both Jap and Jacky blushed at the left-handed compliment, both of them responded with a, "Thank you sir."

The Colonel and the boys continued talking through breakfast, the more Dalton talked, and more importantly listened to the boys, the more he became enamored with the Unit. If the Bateman's and the other adult members could develop an organization made up of boys like this, what could they do with men? When they finished eating, the boys said they had to go and clean their pieces. As they were dumping their trays and utensils, the Colonel asked: "Would you mind if I came along and observed?"

The boys said they wouldn't and Colonel Dalton followed them up to the arms room. Upon entering, a rather young Marine Staff Sergeant hailed them;"Morning Colonel, Jap, Jacky. You guys gonna clean Bert and Gargon?"

"Yeah we are, Kee . . . I mean Staff Sergeant Webb, then we're gonna hit our tree for about twelve hours straight." Jap replied.

Keener laughed;"Aww are the poor wittle babies tired?

Jacky's face turned pale and he started to sweat. Keener's comment took him back to the Prince Cabin basement when he was being fucked with by Launy, Jordan and Alcorn.

Both Jap and Keener saw it and rushed to his side and both hugged him, Keener saying;"Hey Jacky man, I'm sorry, you're safe now, no ones gonna hurt you. Come over here and sit down for a while, you're okay buddy."

Leaving Jap to comfort his boyfriend, Keener went to the Colonel and asked;"Sir, we got us a problem here and I'd appreciate it if you would leave. Jacky went through some problems recently and he's kind shaky right now."

The Colonel, not knowing what the problem was agreed and left the arms room. He climbed the stairs to the main level and found General Stanton in the main lounge, talking to Gunny Mcnaughten. When he entered, the Gunny made as if to rise and he waived him back to his seat. The General smiled and asked;"What's the matter Kevin, all this too much for you?"

Dalton smiled back and nodded his head in the affirmative;"Between the exercise and breakfast, I'm truly amazed that I haven't heard more about this place and the Unit."

The Gunny asked;"What happened at breakfast that impressed you?"

The Colonel laughed;"I can sum it up in two words, 'Jap and Jacky.' Although, when I followed them up to the arms room to see how they maintained their weapons, I was asked to leave by the Staff Sergeant running the place."

Both the Gunny and the General frowned, the General asked;"What happened, I hope he wasn't being disrespectful towards you?"

The Colonel shook his head;"No sir, not at all. He made a comment to the boys and the older of them turned white and started to shake and sweat."

The Gunny asked;"What did Keener say?"

The Colonel told the two Marines what the Sergeant had said and the boy's reaction to it.

"Damn!!" The Gunny vehemently responded. "I thought he was over it, I'll have to contact Bettus and tell him about it."

The Colonel looked at the two men quizzically.

Seeing the Colonel's expression, the two men related the story about how the Unit was formed and then about Jacky being kidnapped and abused by some of the same perpetrators of the rape last summer.

The Colonel looked at the Marines with disbelief in his eyes;"You're trying to tell me that, that little redheaded kid took out three men at a hundred meters, in the dark?"

"Yeah I am, and the bad part of it all right now is how Keener must feel." The Gunny said shaking his head. The Gunny went on to explain how Keener had made the initial discovery of where Jacky was being held and then making the initial entry to the basement and the subsequent events that occurred after that entry.

The men talked about the boys, the Unit, the training and many other things for several hours, the biggest surprise was that the Unit was approximately 80% gay. The Colonel thanked the General and the Gunny for all of the information he had received and went to the room that had been assigned to him in the berthing compartment.

That afternoon, Colonel Dalton came across Jap in the garage.
Walking up to him he asked;"Jap, I'd like a few minutes of your time if you can spare them?"

Jap smiled at the man and nodded;"You want to walk or do you want me to check out a FAV?"

The Colonel Smiled;"Let's just walk if you don't mind?"

The man and the boy walked toward the firing range where the sounds of gunfire could be heard. Jap took the initiative;"So Colonel, how may I help you?"

I just wanted to find out how Jacky is, that and if you planned on going into the service when you're old enough."

"Jacky's fine, he just had a flash back to some trouble he had recently." Jap responded and then after thinking for a few seconds continued: "As far as going into the military, well let’s just say they don't want me."

The Colonel smiled down at the boy;"Why? Because you're gay, is that why you think they don't want you?"

Jap blushed and averted his eyes;"Yes sir, Jacky is my boyfriend."

Reaching in to his pocket, the Colonel pulled out two large coins and handed them to Jap. "If you and Jacky decide to join the Army, show these to any recruiter and I guarantee you and Jacky will be signed up immediately."

The Colonel stuck out his hand and Jap shook it. Dalton turned and headed back to the house, leaving a surprised and confused Jap standing by himself. Looking at the brass coins, he saw "First Special Force Group" engraved across the top of the coin, the representation of a ribbon in the center with, Yellow Ribbon, 1981, beneath it and on the bottom "Hearts and Minds." Turning the coin over, there was a bloody skull with a knife sticking through it. On the top of the coin, the number "A66429" was engraved and on the bottom the words;"Grab them by the Balls and their Hearts and Minds will follow" was engraved.

Jap looked up from the coins and watched the Colonel heading for the house and thought;"We'll have to show these to Jacky's dad and ask him about them." After putting the coins in his pocket, Jap turned and headed to the rifle range, thinking how he could fuck with the minds of the Jarheads who were shooting against some of the Unit Squadies. "Who knows?" He thought;"Maybe Bill Tilden's around and we can make some money off them."