Message from the Author: Sorry for another long wait. I've been swamped recently with work and had a little writers block for a while. Thanks for waiting.


Integrity

"What did you see?"

"Well sir, there aren't any other entrances to the compound besides the two main gates."

"Well, we can't use those."

"Yes, sir. We need another way in." The two men had just completed their initial reconnaissance of the main North Korean compound. They met back up to discuss a plan of action.

"Well corporal, lucky for us I spotted a section of the wall blind to enemy searchlights. We should be able to scale it; the wall is not too tall."

"How are we going to scale the wall? It looks way too smooth to be able to climb up it unsupported"

"You see this?" 2LT Joseph pointed to his unit patch. "Do you know why I got assigned to the 10th Mountain?"

"No, sir."

"I went to and graduated from the Army Mountain Warfare School as a cadet. Do you know what that means?"

"You can climb mountains?"

"I can climb anything. If there's a way to climb it, I'll find it."


"This place is way too quiet. It gives me the creeps." a soldier said to PFC Leonardo, "There's nothing here, empty streets and buildings. Where's the enemy?"

"I dunno, but there is definitely something wrong here."

"Noise discipline, keep your voices down!" the sergeant said with a harsh whisper, "Keep your heads on a swivel, the enemy could be waiting around any corner or in any building." The squad moved to a building and stacked around the doorway. The point man nodded to the sergeant, and they stepped in quickly, weapons high, one after another.

"Clear." The rest of the squad came in.

"Look." The pointman was standing over a body. It was stripped bare, with a set of neatly folded but wet ACUs placed next to the body.

"What the hell?"


"On me, corporal." 2LT Joseph said to CPL Ku as he helped pull him over the parapet of the wall. They were now on top of the wall. "Primary communication is visual, verbal is alternate. If we get separated, I will fire a red star cluster above a rendezvous point. Clear?"

"Hooah."

"Noise discipline." The lieutenant whispered. He headed towards a watchtower connected to the wall. He motioned with his left hand, signaling CPL Ku to follow. Nearing the watchtower, he identified the occupants through the window: a soldier operating the searchlight and another sitting in a chair next to him. They were conversing.

2LT Joseph slung his weapon behind him and looked back to CPL Ku, pulled out his Gerber and opened up the blade. He nodded towards CPL Ku, making him follow suit, but pulling his bayonet out. The pair made it to the door of the tower. The lieutenant picked up a scrap piece of metal from the floor and tossed it off the side of the wall. Alerted, the soldier manning the light swung the beam down towards the ground near the base of the wall, and the other prepared the mounted machine gun, racking the charging handle to load the first round in from the ammunition belt.

Meanwhile, the lieutenant and the corporal snuck in through the open door and came up behind the enemy soldiers. The lieutenant looked to the corporal, covering his mouth with his left hand and pointing his blade towards his neck. The corporal nodded. The lieutenant counted down from three with his left hand.

Immediately upon reaching zero, he grabbed the enemy on the machine gun with his left hand over the soldier's mouth and brought his blade to the soldier's neck, stabbing at the throat many times in a panicked manner. The soldier's initial screams were muffled, but quickly stopped due to the windpipe being severed. Massive amounts of blood poured from the enemy's neck. Stepping backwards, he began to lay the soldier's body onto the ground and released his grip.

The soldier's eyes were wide and unresponsive, throat sloppily butchered with blood pooling around his head. 2LT Joseph looked to CPL Ku, who had done the same to his target. He was clearly uncomfortable with what he just had to do. He looked back at the lieutenant, who nodded in a small attempt at reassurance. The lieutenant bent down and wiped his blood-soaked blade and gloved right hand on clean parts of the dead soldier's uniform, and then put his Gerber away.

The pair hastily searched the room for anything useful. The lieutenant found a map of the complex and its surrounding area, with labeled buildings and sector sketches of the defenses. He motioned for the corporal to look. After a brief inspection, he pointed to a building on the map and then pointed to the floor, and the lieutenant nodded in response. The corporal then pointed at another building.

"Interrogation room." He whispered. The lieutenant laid prone and the corporal followed suit. The lieutenant pulled an alcohol pen from his sleeve and the pair began to discuss options and formulate a plan.