Sergeant John Baker was far from amused while he marched to the Commanding Officer's quarters. 'What does he want now?' he thought to himself. 'This better be worth my whi-'
His train of thought was interrupted when he reached the door to the C.O's office, and knocked.
"Enter," came the muffled response from within. Making his way inside, Baker saluted to the C.O, who was filing paperwork at his desk. Looking up, he acknowledged Baker's presence.
"Ah, Baker." he said. "Do take a seat."
Following his C.O's instruction, he took a seat. Immediately, he got to the point. "What did you want to see me for, sir?" he asked. 'Hopefully it's not another transfer,' Baker thought to himself.
The C.O smiled. He knew what Baker was thinking. "It's about a transfer," he said.
'Oh no,' Baker thought, struggling to hold back the urge to protest. He failed miserably. "But sir!" he said, standing up. "This is the fifth time my squad is being transferred this year alone! With all due respect, my men don't want to go sightseeing the world over. They want action, and they want it now. Just drop us off in Afghanistan or somewhere and we'll be set!"
The C.O, maintaining his composure, leaned forward. "Oh you'll be seeing action, alright," he said, rather calmly. "But you're not going to Afghanistan. Any guesses as to where?"
"No sir."
"Right." said the C.O, leaning back into his chair. "Your squad is being sent to..." he deliberately paused, and could not hide a smile when Baker leaned forward in anticipation.
"Japan." the C.O said abruptly.
Baker took a moment to take this all in. "... Eh? Japan, sir?"
"Correct, sergeant."
"But sir!" replied Baker, certainly surprised. "Haven't we been allies since the end of the Second World War?"
"Yes, and we still are. I don't know the details, but you'll find out what is going on when you get there. At this point, that's all you need to know. Dismissed."
Surprised and mildly annoyed, Baker saluted the C.O and marched out of the room back to his quarters. "Japan eh?" he muttered to himself. "I wonder why the C.O was in such a hurry to get me out. Ah well, we'll be told everything later. Perhaps I'd best tell my men now..."
Within the next few days, Sergeant baker's four-man fireteam, Fireteam Delta, were on a C-130 Hercules Transport Aircraft bound for Camp Zama, a US Military Installation in Japan.
"So why exactly are we headed to Japan, sarge?" asked Roy Davis, the 'Rifleman' of Fireteam Delta.
"I'm in the dark as much as you are, RD" replied Sergeant Baker, calling Roy by his callsign. "The C.O didn't tell me anything, apart from the fact that we're going to Japan."
"I hear the food's great," said Barney Perkins, the rather large 'Squad Automatic Rifleman' of the team as he snacked on some chocolate bars he had packed secretly. "It'll be a nice change from the donuts and McDonald's."
"Hey! McDonald's is awesome!" snapped RD. "How dare you-"
"Now now, RD," interrupted Sergeant Baker. "Let's not start a fight over donuts shall we? Now, Tubby, I'm sure the food is just as good as it is anywhere else in the world."
"I guess," replied Barney, responding to his callsign. "I suppose I don't mind as long as there's plenty of it. After all, I'm not a fussy eater." As he said this, he dropped his chocolate bar on the ground. The fireteam turned to stare at the chocolate bar on the dirty metal floor, seconds before Tubby snatched it up again and scoffed it down. An awkward silence followed.
"Well," said Daniel Minamoto, the squad 'Grenadier' of the fireteam and a man of Japanese-American descent. "It would certainly be interesting to see my home country. But, I wonder who exactly we're going to be fighting this time?"
"A holdout, perhaps?" suggested RD. "Like, some poor guy who still thinks WWII is on and we have to hunt him down or something. Oh, no offence there, Cookie."
"None taken," replied Minamoto, who went by the callsign 'Cookie'. "In any case, he would have to be a very old holdout - if I was abandoned by my country for sixty years, I would have given up and gone home long before then."
After a long, tiring flight, Fireteam Delta finally arrived in Japan and were transported by lorry to Camp Zama, a US Army Installation near Tokyo. The four men stepped out the back of the lorry, and were soon marched off to their new base and to settle in.
Several weeks had passed, and one day Fireteam Delta was called to the briefing room which, surprisingly, was kept in a top secret location. Its secrecy was such that Baker and his men had to be blindfolded while being led there by armed guards. When they took the blindfolds off, they were in a large lecture theater of sorts, with a US Army General at the stage.
"Welcome, gentlemen." he began. Baker and his men immediately saluted. Saluting back, the general continued. "Your old C.O said you guys wanted to see action real bad, eh? Well you might just get it. Sit down and I'll give you the details."
The General went on to explain that, according to eyewitness reports, a group of very well-armed Japanese terrorists were operating in the mountains of central Japan. The precise details of their tactics and weaponry were sketchy, as the 'eyewitnesses' were brutally wounded and traumatised US Navy SEALs sent in to investigate a series of unusual occurrences in the area. Fireteam Delta, of the US Special Forces, had been chosen because of their constant complaints of a lack of action, and the refusal of further co-operation from the SEALs and, indeed, the US Army.
"Wow, sir," said RD. "Those 'terrorists' must be pretty good to be able to outmatch the SEALs and send them home traumatised."
"Indeed," replied the General. "You guys will be clearing out for the area in a few days - your mission will be to gain as much information as possible on them so that we can plan a co-ordinated response. The Japanese Self Defence Force has also been generous enough to lend the support of three artillery batteries for heavy support, and we ourselves will have F-16s with air-to-ground weapons on standby - we're not taking any chances this time around."
"Sir," said Baker, raising his hand. "Out of curiosity, why will this operation be conducted in such secrecy?"
The General cleared his throat. "This mission, or Operation Shrine Maiden, is classified just below top secret for a good reason - if the Japanese public was to find out that a group of terrorists that could outmatch and beat the Navy SEALs was in the area, it would lead to widespread public panic and chaos."
"And Japan, as a country, will collapse. Am I right in saying that, sir?" asked Cookie.
"Correct." replied the General. "The operation will be pegged as a live-fire training exercise, to satisfy the media." The General allowed a moment's silence, before addressing the men one more time. "I wish you all well on this mission. Please be sure to come home alive."
'Don't worry, sir," said Sergeant Baker. "We will."
When the day of Operation Shrine Maiden came, Fireteam Delta was assembled and loaded on to a US Army lorry and driven to a strange forest at the foot of the Japanese Alps.
"What in the world?" said RD as he saw the Japanese Alps in the distance above the trees. "It's like we've somehow driven under North Korea, China, Russia, Poland and wound up in Switzerland! It is just me, or do those mountains look like the Swiss Alps?"
"It sure is a beautiful country," said Baker. "It's kinda sad, don't you think guys?"
Tubby, RD and Cookie all turned to look at Baker. "Why's that, sarge?" asked Tubby.
"Well," replied Baker. "Put it this way - some of us may not return alive."
Baker saw as the hearts of his men sank at the realisation that they were about to go into combat for the first time. Tubby even broke into tears and sobbed miserably. A single tear was shed from Cookie's eye, and RD just stared out at the mountains. None of them bothered to continue the conversation any further.
Arriving at a clearing in the forest, Fireteam Delta was ordered to dismount before bringing out their weapons. Baker picked up his M4 Carbine and slipped a clip in. RD, as the Squad Rifleman, readied his M16 Rifle and slung it over his shoulder. Cookie, the Grenadier, collected his M4 Carbine before affixing an M203 Grenade Launcher underneath. Tubby, as the Squad Automatic Weapon of the team, lifted his M249 Machine Gun out of its box and loaded a clip. All four men each took an M9 pistol for self defence, and Cookie was tasked with carrying their extra ammo.
When everything was ready, Sergeant baker addressed his Fireteam. "All right men," he began. "We'll head into the forest and probe the area before setting up camp at sundown. All we have to do is gain information on the terrorist's weapons and hopefully tactics. If something happens, don't hesitate call for support. Keep your training and everything I've taught you in mind, and we'll pull through. Right, let's move out."
Silently, Fireteam Delta set off into the deeper parts of the forest...