Dragon Sim-13 Read Online Free PDF Page B

an uncanny sense of location and direction. Riley depended on him extensively during night moves. On many previous exercises in rough terrain, even when Riley himself had been confused, Chong had found the way. Riley had worked with some excellent trackers, but he had never seen anyone able to move like Chong.
     
    The other team members referred to Chong jokingly as their resident native. Chong had been born in Korea and spoke the language fluently. He had also attended the Defense Language Institute at Monterey, California, to learn Mandarin Chinese. Chong had helped the team out numerous times with his ability to speak the local language as they roamed the Korean countryside. He also got them better deals when they shopped in the native markets.
    The slim, dark-skinned man in the lead had the azimuth and distance to the target memorized, as did Riley. Using his pace count, Riley figured that they were within a kilometer of the target when the team leader signaled a halt. Riley moved back to the captain to find out what was up. He found the detachment commander crawling under his poncho and making a map check with a red-lens flashlight. In doing so, he was making enough noise to attract the attention of anyone within five hundred meters. Riley figured that Peterson had learned this little trick in Ranger school. He waited until the team leader was done.
    "We're about two kilometers from the target, Sergeant Riley. I think we need to head more to the west."
    "Sir, we're less than a klick away and right on track. Chong is the best navigator I've ever seen at night and he knows this land. I've been checking his azimuth and pace count and we're dead on. Trust me, sir. Unless of course your pace count is much different." Riley waited. He figured that the new team leader had not been keeping a pace count since leaving the cache site. The lack of an answer confirmed this.
    Riley gave the move-out signal. In twenty minutes the team was on target. Following a quick halt to drop rucksacks, the team broke down into its various tactical elements.
    Riley settled back in his overwatch position and observed the team run through the maneuver they had practiced. Four team members split into two groups and moved out along the service road of the power line to provide security. Each two-man team had one of the new squad automatic weapons (SAW) and a pair of light antitank weapons (LAWs). Two other team members were fifty meters back in the tree line, where the team had dropped all ten rucksacks, and would link up once the charges were set and blown. Riley and Captain Peterson observed from the tree line as the two team engineers ran up and placed the charges on the tower holding the power lines.
    From leaving the tree line to completing wiring their charges, Smitty and senior engineer Sgt. Dan Hoffman took two minutes and thirty seconds.
     
    They double-primed the plastic explosive for a nonelectrical detonation as they'd been taught to do by Riley. Before he made rank and became team sergeant, Riley had been a Special Forces engineer also, so he rode his engineers hard and set high, exacting standards.
    Hoffman did a last check and then moved back toward the tree line, unreeling his detonating wire. Once the engineer reached the overwatch position, Riley flashed a red-lens flashlight at both flank security teams and they rushed back. After accounting for all personnel, Riley signaled Hoffman to blow the charge. Hoffman pulled the igniter and yelled "Boom!" Riley jumped.
    "Sorry, Top. Just thought I'd do it for effect," Hoffman admitted sheepishly as they moved back to pick up their rucks.
    Riley was happy with the actions on target. Less than five minutes from leaving the rucks to picking them up. The team could do better, but that wasn't bad. They threw on their rucks and moved out. The dummy demo was left in place to be evaluated and removed the next day.
    The team made it to the pickup zone (PZ) thirty minutes early. It was just getting