A Donkey, A Jeep and a Barrel of Rice Wine

Shock and Awe

The colonel hit the black button. Spooling up the tape, he removed it from the recorder and dropped in into an envelope.

"Morgan, That is the last time you will ever tell that story. Ever. Your unit does important work. You know that. But their strength; their value to us is "Shock and Awe". Howzit look when they are dancing at the weddings of their enemy?"

"And I know it is hard enough to keep a bunch of weirdos in line..." He help up a palm as Tank started to protest. "OK, science heroes. But they are not regular army and never will be. Deputy Director Wilson knows you are doing good work here. He wants it to continue. That's why he sent me out here; to fix this."

The colonel took a breath and continued, "Here's what happened:" The colonel ticked off points on his fingers as he talked.

"You picked a couple of your biggest guys and went out on an off-the-books psy-op and intelligence gathering mission."

Tick.

"You targeted a village and managed to capture four NKPA regular army grunts without a shot being fired."

Tick.

"You didn't realize at the time they were new recruits who didn't know squat."

Tick.

"No matter. You got them back across the line the same night without being detected by the enemy."

Tick.

"They are now cooperating with the KMAG I&R team regarding unit strength and placement."

Tick.

He closed his hand into a fist and then brought it down on the table with a bang. "That is the whole story. Understood? Shock and Awe!" The colonel stood and picked up the envelope with the recording. "Off the record now, what happened to the girl?"

"The Bride?" Tank grinned. "Earthquake and Lone Wolf went back a week later and picked up her and her sister; brought them across. We got them jobs in the post exchange."

Shaking his head and muttering "shock and awe,"  The colonel walked out of the room, leaving the door open behind him.