The Next Warrior

Disembarkation - Part 11

By 2300, the platoons were in formation. They were in their gear, weapons pulled and were loading their magazines. Sitting on the deck and using their packs as tables and stools, they pressed round after round into the magazines they carried. With every press of their thumb against the spring inside the hollow mags, they wondered if that bullet would be used today, and if so, who would it be used for.

Once all their magazines were fully loaded and stowed away in pouches affixed to every inch of their gear, they made their final arrangements before setting out; blacking out the last shreds of metal on their gear and weapons that still glinted in the moonlight, silencing clanging dog tags with electrical tape, checking their subordinates equipment, and taking one last hit of their favored vice. Be it tobacco, caffeine, or quiet moments to think of peace, security, and those they'd rather be with tonight, each indulged one last time before the calm ended. As they did, each took their silent turn looking out over the railings to the North. That was where home was, far beyond the horizon. Just a good swim away. Then they looked South, to a point just beyond the edge of that sea. The lights of the country glowed faintly in the distance, illuminating the line where sea met sky. There, beneath the same high, bright moon of the Caribbean summer, their struggle was about to begin - Venezuela. Until that time came, they sat, stood, and waited for word of what next this night had in store for each of them, each in their own silent rituals of prayer or contemplation.

Their staff officers and non-commissioned officers were not among them. Gathered below in the ship's conference room, the section chiefs and commanders were furiously laying out the plan of the night's events. They were each busy with the writing and reviewing of the five-paragraph orders to their subordinate commanders and NCOs to guide troops tonight. This they did as it was directed to them by the Commanding General of 2nd Marines Expeditionary Force, the Marine commander ultimately in charge of the Marines' invasion tonight.

For Grabowski and Yafante, there was little to do with their own unit. They were low on the totem pole, and at the crossroads of following mission orders and seeing that they were done. They radioed SSgt Carnes, the Platoon Sergeant for Red Platoon. Having confirmed all up on troops, weapons, ammunition, supplies, and equipment, their only purpose at that point was in aiding the battalion S3 - Operations.

Drone swarms were scouring the jungle, collecting more data than any number humans could reasonably fathom. The Operations section was going to have a time on their hands. They would be deciphering that sea of information tonight, and making their recommendations to Unit Commanders on where next their troops would be headed. Drones, large and small, high and low, saw almost everything, and with the aid of multimillion dollar algorithms and the wherewithal of officers and analysts knowledgeable of how to navigate the maelstrom of data, what they saw was turned into actionable insight. That insight, it was believed, would allow a speed and mobility never before seen. Gone were the days when planning major operations like this would take years. With the speed of the world today, that level of detail would be invalid in months. Instead, through information dominance, the new way of warfare in the 2020's, it was believed that high value objectives could be selected, a path to target created, and the enemy measured, culminating in plans mapped out, communicated and carried out, not in terms of months, weeks, or days... but hours.

In fact, much of the planning and preparation would happen over the next few hours as they sailed in to shore. The hours in transport could allow mission planners the time they needed to perfect what planning needed to be done. What the troops on the ground needed to know, what little that was, would be uploaded to them in route. That was how it was supposed to work in theory. That theory was about to be tested.