Dragon Sim-13 Read Online Free PDF

that, but there was no way they could properly camouflage the hole in the dark. Anybody coming by, unless they were blind and stupid, would instantly recognize that something was buried here. They might as well put up a sign: "Parachutes Buried Here!" But Riley would play the game. He'd give Captain Peterson a little more rope to hang himself. That was the only way the man was going to learn.
    The training mission tonight was to move about six kilometers from the drop zone to a power line and simulate destroying it with dummy demolitions that the team carried. The mission had to be completed by 0400 the next morning; at this rate, Riley knew they'd never make it. It was already 2315, and he estimated another two to three hours to finish the burial cache. Riley settled down for the wait as the team members rotated between burial detail and security. Digging in ground laced with roots and rocks, while trying to be as quiet as possible, made for slow progress.
    At 0100 Captain Peterson started getting nervous. Riley figured that Peterson had finally gotten it through his head that they weren't going to make it to the target on time. Peterson came over and whispered to him.
    "Sergeant Riley. I don't think we're going to make the target at this rate. The men don't seem to be digging fast enough. Here's what I want to do. Leave four men here to finish the cache and the rest of us go up and hit the target. We'll link up at the exfiltration point. You pick the men to stay. In fact, I want you to be in charge here. I'll take the other element up to the target."
    Lord give me patience, thought Riley. Sounds like he memorized that little spiel. There's nothing worse than changing a plan in midoperation, especially if contingencies haven't been planned for. The captain's intimation that the team wasn't digging fast enough pushed Riley past his limit. He had had enough of this nonsense. Time for the captain's Special Forces schooling to really begin, Riley thought.
    "With all due respect, sir, would you care for my opinion?" Without waiting for a reply, Riley drove on, speaking in a quiet, biting, forceful tone that the captain had not heard in the week he'd been with the team. The captain stood silent as he watched Riley's dark face in the moonlight.
    "First off, sir, I told you that we'd never get these chutes buried in time. Secondly, we don't even need to cache the damn things because once we blow the power line, under the enemy scenario in this exercise, any so-called enemy with half a brain is going to figure out what happened. If we don't make exfiltration by 0700 it isn't going to matter if we made the parachutes disappear by magic into the fourth dimension, because we're going to be running so fast and hard, we're going to have a lot more important things on our mind. Like staying alive. So forget the parachutes. We leave them here as they are. I'm signed for them. If they get ripped off it's my ass. We hit the target like we planned with all ten team members and we go now!"
    Riley turned from the stunned team leader. With hand signals he let everyone know to put on their rucksacks and move out quickly, then watched with satisfaction as the many hours of drilling paid off. Within a minute they were moving, the team leader sullenly falling into place in the formation.
    The lead man, weapons specialist Sfc. Tom Chong, wore night-vision goggles, as did Riley and the last man. The bulky goggles were a pain to use sometimes, but on night missions like this they were worth their weight in gold. Through the goggles the moon-and starlight was computer enhanced, and everything appeared almost as it would in daylight. The only drawbacks were that all images were in a shade of green, and the viewer lost his sense of depth perception to a large extent. The advantage of being able to see in the dark more than made up for these disadvantages.
    Chong could see like a cat in the dark, even without the aid of the goggles. The point man also had