Tom Clancy's Act of Valor Read Online Free PDF

terrific. You were born for this. Trust me, I know about these things. How far along is she?”
    “About nine weeks.”
    “Great, and your timing couldn’t be better. We’ll ">
    Nolan knocked back the shot, and Engel followed suit. Both winced. Nolan drank only beer and that sparingly; Engel was seldom good for more than a glass of red wine at dinner. They talked for a while about kids, kids’ names, and the inevitable changes that they brought about when they arrived—all good, Nolan resolutely claimed. Then Engel got around to the real reason he’d wanted to meet for lunch, just as Nolan knew he would.
    SEALs deployed in squadrons composed of a full SEAL Team along with an expanded intelligence collection and combat-support package. Once deployed, SEAL Team Seven became SEAL Squadron Seven. The squadron was further broken down into three task units, with two SEAL platoons per task unit—each TU with a stand-alone intelligence collection and operational capability. As needed, the two TU platoons could operate independently or together as a two-platoon troop. The Bandito Platoon was currently assigned to a squadron task unit that would be operating out of the Philippines. But, as Engel was about to explain, that had just changed.
    “I went in this morning for a meeting with the squadron skipper and an intel update,” he said, lowering his voice. “It seems that al-Qaeda has put out some kind of a fatwa on all Americans. They’re calling for all related AQ splinter groups to strike hard and strike now. The good news is that this leaves little time for a well-planned attack like 9/11. The bad news is that there will probably be a lot of smaller attacks, and given the fanatical nature of the remaining al-Qaeda cells, they may be vicious attacks. And it may not just be al-Qaeda. They have allies in the criminal world as well. So while the task unit will still be headed for the Philippines, the squadron has been asked to spread out to cover more territory. And we’ve been asked to send one of our squads with an intelligence-support package to a fleet unit off Central America. They are to join an amphibious ready group in the Pacific that’s cruising off Colombia.”
    “So we have to send one squad with the TU to the Philippines and another squad to an afloat unit—probably a big-deck amphib?”
    “That’s about it, Chief. How do you want to play it?”
    Nolan paused to give this some thought. “Boss, where do you think the action will be?”
    “Who knows,” Engel replied. “But they wouldn’t split a platoon and put a squad down there without some indication of terrorist activity. If something goes down in the Philippines or Indonesia, our one squad there will be just one of the SEAL squads that might be tasked. And if it’s a full platoon operation, we’ll see none of it. But if something happens in Central or western South America, that afloat squad will get the call.”
    Again, Nolan paused to think. “It seems like the best bet for a mission tasking is with the amphibious ready group. And since it’s independent duty away from the rest of the task unit, let’s you and I take the Bandito squad afloat.”
    It took them another fifteen minutd fifteen es to make personnel assignments and decide who would go west with the task unit and who would go south. Engel, Nolan, and five other SEALs would go south to rendezvous with the afloat units; and the rest of the platoon, with the other platoon officer and the platoon leading petty officer, would stay with the task unit main body and head for the Philippines. This would require a re-palletization of equipment, but nothing more than that. The Bandito Platoon had trained to operate independently in squad units. The only thing that was on each of their minds was the issue of where the action might be. If they had chosen unwisely and the key mission tasking went to the other squad, neither would be there to help. Yet the platoon was deep in talent; there were