Going to War

by burmafrd

AR, very AU. No Aliens. CC. Mostly Liz/Max. All hail Jason Katims for creating it; but he also messed it up as well. This is just for Fun. This is still our Liz, just different going in a different way. No Roswell.

6. Chapter 6

It was now late June and there were multiple missions almost every day. All the helicopter crews were being run ragged as the new offensive against the Taliban demanded more and more support. Several Blackhawks had been badly damaged and two had been destroyed; but the 101st Aviation seemed to lead a charmed life as regards no one getting killed. But with the tempo and the demands, that was just a matter of time. So far the Apache's had escaped with only minor damage on a few occasions.

It was the second mission of the day; and the second mission where the entire company was out on a mission. This was another major assault on a Taliban village over 150 miles from Kandahar. This was considered the limit for various reasons. They would base out of a FOB that was only 50 miles from the target. That meant they had to load up and fly there first; refuel and then hit the target and maybe refuel on the way back. 6 Battalion would supply the Blackhawks; and two full companies were involved. As usual with an assault this big, a full company of Apache's would accompany them. The first mission had been a resupply that ended at 1200; by 1500 they were heading to the FOB where they would land and refuel and wait until just before dawn the next morning. The FOB was primitive and you were stuck sleeping in a tent; which in the very hot weather of near mid summer was not easy to do. A dinner of MRE's did not make it better.

Liz and the others got what rest they could; she did manage a few hours of sleep. She had a uneasy feeling about this mission. At 0430 they woke up; at 0515 they were in the air and hit the target right at 0545. 14 Blackhawks from two sides dropped off the company of troops; and then flew off to wait; joining the 2 MEDEVACS and 4 reserves. Liz had her platoon down low this day while Hustler went high. The troops surged into the village; from what Liz could see there was very little if any resistance. She told Roger "this is a little suspicious; no resistance." "Yeah. Not a good sign for what was supposedly a very serious Taliban village."

The troops found only a few fighters; and not much else. No arms caches; explosives or much of anything. The village looked just about abandoned.

Liz's bad feeling got worse.

"Spectre lead to Assault; looks like an empty house."

"Assault to Spectre Lead. Nobody home. Will be pulling out soon."

Liz did not like it. "Doberman to Hustler; scout the immediate area."

"Hustler to Doberman Roger that"

Liz kept her platoon with the Blackhawks, watching everywhere at once.

A few minutes later "Hustler to Doberman; nothing."

"Roger"

Liz was still worried. When the commander called for Dustoff she ordered everyone down low; 1 platoon to each side, and to keep a sharp eye.

The Blackhawks came in and landed and the troopers poured out of the village and began to board. Liz got tenser; if they were going to do anything it was now.

And sure enough out of concealed areas a group of Taliban popped out. It was clear now that they had kept them going there every night so as to be ready for a dawn assault. And they had gotten lucky in that the 101st had come calling.

The Apache's jumped right on them pouring 30MM fire and some used Hellfires and 2.75's. Liz had Roger hose one group with the 30MM and she fired several 2.75 HE's at another; some of the Taliban were getting hit from multiple Apache's.

But unfortunately they were not able to get them all in time. An RPG hit the rotor of one Blackhawk just as it was about to take off; it luckily did not explode as the rotor shredded and destroyed the engine in the process. Further in luck no one on the Blackhawk was seriously injured. In an instance of absolute chance another RPG went right through the open doors of another Blackhawk and did not hit anything and kept on going. But their luck ran out as another RPG hit a Blackhawk that had just taken off; it hit the right engine and exploded; the rotor shredded and the Blackhawk fell straight down and over turned, laying on its side. Several others were hit with small arms fire; but only a few were wounded; only one other Blackhawk was damaged enough so that it could not fly. The only Blackhawks left were the three damaged ones.

"Doberman to Hustler; Wipe that village!"

"ROGER THAT!"

2nd platoon proceeded to use up most of its Hellfires and 2.75's.

The medevacs were already on the ground as were the reserve Blackhawks.

6th Battalions XO had come along to command; he ordered that the damaged blackhawks be assessed. In 10 minutes the word came back that the two hit by RPG's were just about totaled. The less damaged one could be repaired if they could get a crew to it. He then called base; if a Chinook was handy they would send one; if not they would get a repair crew and parts and bring them in.

Liz considered the situation; this would take hours either way. They had about 2hrs flight time left.

"Doberman to Assault Lead; recommend all undamaged head to FOB; I can have one platoon go with and refuel"

"Assault Lead to all craft; head to FOB. Doberman are you staying?"

"Roger."

Liz pulled the Apache's up to 1000 feet and hovered. If fuel looked like it could become a problem she would land and idle. It would not take more than 30 minutes for them to get to the FOB; probably about an hour at most to get refueled. Probably not that long. She had to stretch things.

"Doberman to Whistler and Pug; land and idle down."

"Roger."

The medevacs left soon after; the reserve Blackhawks took off as well; no one would be left on the ground. If they were going to repair it the pilots could come back; if the Chinook came they would not need pilots.

Word came back soon that no Chinooks were available; a repair crew would have to come from the base. ETA was 3 hrs.

So they waited; Liz contemplating how this could have happened. Clearly this was an ambush; but how could the Taliban have known this village would be the one hit? Only the mission planners had known; and no one knew which village would be hit when. The Afghan military was not told either. So Liz began to think that they had just had a routine for some time established that they would wake up around an hour before dawn and move to their spider holes. With the level the campaign was at, this village would be hit sooner or later. Liz had seen several come out of holes that had a foot of sand on top of them; there was no way even with infrared they could have been detected prior. Sophisticated Sniffers probably could; but those were very expensive; only the Special Ops had any. And she was not sure that they worked from any distance. She wondered if the really sophisticated infrared could help?

After an hour Liz and Lobo switched out. At the end of the second hour she heard the good word.

"Hustler to Doberman, ETA 15 mikes"

"Roger that Hustler."

She took off and waited for the others to arrive. When she got to the base it was empty; the rest must have headed back home. She frowned a little at that; it was policy that no group of blackhawks went any distance without attack escort. She landed and got out. She went to the FOB command tent and poked her head in.

"They left without escort?"

The FOB commander was clearly not happy. "Yes. Good news is that the repair crew is inbound. ETA at the target is one hour."

Liz shook her head and went back to the chopper. They were done refueling in just less than 45 minutes; Liz waited until the repair chopper and the spare coming with it were in sight before taking off. She got to the site and told Hustler to take off and refuel and then head home. She had Whistler and Pug land while they stayed up. It took two hours for the repairs to get done; and the repaired chopper took off with the other two; charges had been set in the totaled Blackhawks to totally destroy them, particularly their electronics. They blew as the rest of them left the scene. They all stopped to refuel one more time before heading home. They got in about 1400. Liz found the Battalion commander waiting for her.

"Were you told about the flight heading back to Kandahar without escort."

"nope."

"Well, I am going to the Brigade commander on this; the 6th Battalion CO does not think it is a big deal."

"I think it was really stupid and an unnecessary risk."

"That is what I think the Brigade commander will say. I know he has not been happy with the leadership of 6 Battalion."

Liz was at dinner that evening; she ate in the mess hall a few times a week depending on what was going on.

James Winston and Ed Griffith found her and pulled her into a quiet corner.

"The Brigade commander just relieved the Battalion commander and his XO; they will be on the next plane out." Came from Winston.

Liz blinked at them. "I am a little surprised he moved that hard and fast."

Griffith shook his head. "He has been looking for a reason for a while; this way he got both of them at one shot when the Battalion commander said he would have done the same thing."

"So who is taking over the Battalion and who is his XO?"

"XO of 5 Battalion is going to take it; Scooter is moving to his XO. I will move up to Battalion XO and will get my promotion. One good thing is that the planned move of our Battalion Commander to XO of brigade will not come until after we get back home."

"So are you going to keep flying, Ed?"

"For as long as I can. That makes you more than likely the senior captain –will have to check for sure."

Liz sighed. "So I am 3rd now?"

"Probably but I will make sure."

Two days later weather grounded everyone and the Brigade commander called a senior officer meeting; every captain and above. The reverberations were still coming from the relief of 6 battalions Commander and XO. Liz had talked to the Crew about it.

As usual Jesse was the blunt one. "About time for both of them."

Vicki nodded and Ellen snorted. "I am surprised that it took this long."

Liz was a little puzzled. "I know he was not well liked; I certainly did not; but I had not heard he was that bad."

"Actually neither one of them was really incompetent; they just were assholes and got too fast and loose with things. Good riddance. Our XO is a good Joe; and you said Scooter Winston was a good guy."

"He is a good guy. Sorry to lose him Scooter will do fine. Bad thing about that is that I am now senior Captain in the battalion- at least among the pilots. The company support captain is senior but he is a non pilot. That inevitably means more work for me. And brings the day closer when I get bumped up to Battalion XO and start getting buried in paperwork."

The meeting was rather short and to the point.

"Let me make something clear about the actions of the last day. Relief for cause will happen if I am not satisfied with your performance. And I want this to be absolutely clear; no helicopter goes more than 20 miles from this base without escort. No solo runs at all. And the only way there is no Attack or Armed helicopter escort is if there are none available and it's a critical mission."

The Kiowa's had been used for recon and light attack and escort duties; it was decided to prioritize the Apache's for the most risky and demanding missions. One problem the Kiowa's had was they were not as capable at higher altitudes as the Apache was; and they did not have external tanks, though they had better internal tank range than the Apache. They would be used almost exclusively for the shorter range missions and especially anything that concerned Kandahar City.

6 Battalion was lucky in that the unflyable weather lasted for 3 days and allowed them time to accept and get used to the command change. The rest of the Brigade did not complain as it was the first real multi day rest they had gotten since April and the start of operations. 3 straight months was a load. This also allowed the ground crews to catch up on maintenance and then catch up on their sleep.

So it was a rested and more ready Brigade that started operations again. Which was a good thing as some hairy missions came fast.

"So the prototype exceeded all expectations and did not have any major bugs. That is pretty rare."

"Well, most of the individual improvements have been tested elsewhere; the new engines, most of the avionics and communications gear. The air frame is just stronger than it was; the fenestron is well proven as regards tail rotors."

"True but sometimes when you put all those components together for the first time unexpected things pop up."

"Apparently not this time. What does the funding look like?"

"We are lucky; Special Operations still gets the special treatment for funding. Though the congressmen winced when told of the $80 million price for each; more than double a regular Apache. So we will probably get at most 2 companies; 48."

The first day flying again there were 3 separate FOBs that required resupply; and all the Brigades Chinooks were split between the three. They were also over 100 miles from Kandahar. So Liz made sure that they had two auxiliary tanks for their mission. It was partialed out one company for each mission. Possibly overkill but you never knew. And on this day it turned out to be a good idea. After noticing that there were bases that had not been resupplied, the Taliban figured out which ones were most likely to get some the first flyable day and had sent in groups to cause trouble. With the beginning of July it was now at the height of summer and very hot and very dry and very dusty.

At two of the FOB's, the Taliban were not as stealthy as they thought they were and the personnel there spotted them; warned the Apache's came in and hosed the area and took them right out of the fight. Liz listened to this over the battalion net; she called ahead to their target. All three resupply missions had left at the same time but the one Liz was covering was the farthest away.

"Spectre Lead to FOB Jakob; any activity noticed? Those people are busy at the other bases."

"FOB Jakob to Spectre Lead, nothing seen or heard here."

"Roger."

Liz had not had any premonitions before this mission as she had before others that had turned hairy. But she decided to take no chances.

"FOB Jakob, just in case we intend to fumigate your perimeter. Will let you know when we are within 5 miks."

"FOB Jakob to Spectre Lead, Roger that."

"Doberman to Hustler, take the North side and we will take the south side. Use up your 2.75's."

"Roger that."

"OK People get ready."

"Spectre Lead to Jakob, 5 miks to a belated July 4"

"FOB Jakob to Spectre Lead; we don't have any beer or popcorn but we will be watching."

"Doberman to all units; FIRE!"

In ripples each helicopter fired 19 2.75" rockets, all HE, for a total of 152 that pretty much covered a great deal of the perimeter of the landing area. That raised up a lot of dust that took a few minutes to clear. Then Liz led her people down to 300 feet after it cleared and hovered, waiting to see if anyone else showed up. The Chinooks came in and landed and began to unload; the Apache's hovered, waiting. But no one showed. The FOB sent out squads to look over the area the Apache's had hit. Just before the Chinooks were done and about to leave the word came.

"FOB Jakob to Spectre Lead; we did have visitors; and they have been greeted properly. Thanks."

"Spectre Lead to FOB Jakob, we are an all services included package. Fumigation included."

At the mission debrief held for all three at the same time, it was bandied about that maybe in the future for resupply runs that the Apaches should pop some at the perimeter all the time. There was some debate about the increased usage of munitions, but overall the sentiment was to shoot first and ask questions later. The Battalion commander took that to Brigade and it was approved; it would be up to the escort to do so on a case by case basis.

Talking with some of the others, Liz thought that using 2.75's without any reason was probably overkill; so popping some 30MM first to see if that stirred up things was agreed on. And from that time on it became SOP.

The Brigade commander had taken that up to division and it was debated some; but most agreed that using some 30MM to sanitize the perimeter was probably a good idea. Maybe the most dedicated and disciplined Taliban would continue to hide and wait, but most others would not be able to resist doing something.

So from that time on no resupply was done without first treating the area around the LZ to some preventative pest control. And that did have an impact; incidents during resupply runs to FOB's dropped significantly.

As August began to go by, the pace of combat began to slacken. The new theatre commander changed some tactics and it seemed to help. The Brigade was just happy to have things ease so that they could properly rest and relax between missions, and the maintenance personnel could get their jobs done and still get enough sleep.

But most of the Afghan vets knew that it would pick up again, especially starting in September when things would start to cool off.

Meanwhile Liz was thrilled to hear that Maria had had a baby girl; and accordingly she and the Crew poured over the baby pictures. It was a nice distraction. Then she found out that both Isabelle and Tess were expecting as well.

"The congressman was kind of pointed, wasn't he?"

"Well he has believed in this for some time and of course what he has seen personally has had an effect.

The SECDEF pondered on this. How much of this was because of that? Not that it mattered why; it was a view that was gaining ground. And personally he had nothing against it.

"Very well, schedule this for the briefing for the President on Wednesday. I am going to have the Joint Chiefs way in on it and present their view to him. Some may consider this a small change, but it is significant."

The President read the memo and the views of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

"Very well. Make the change."

"Just got this from SECDEF. Read it."

"Well, sir that is not a big change."

"But it is one for us, though some did not know that some of that was already being done."

"Because we did not exactly advertise. But this does impact some of our other future plans."

"Yes it does. Well I am going to draft up a memo for the groups. Basically telling them to start looking and examining candidates."

"They have to apply first."

"True, but that does not mean we can sound out some we think belong in SF."

"What about the 160th?"

"I have a feeling, since this was coming from a certain congressman, that it might just have more to do with aviation than anything else."

"You think that is what this is about?"

"Partially. But can you blame him? And especially for the 160th, it is due."

"They have women there."

"Staff positions, though that is rather loosely interpreted there. But no pilots."

"Do you wonder if she is prodding him?"

"From everything I have heard, no."

"Our first operational SAH-64 will be ready next year. I am wondering if that figured at all?"

"Well, she certainly would be at the top of my recruit list."

As September waned, and the temperatures began to cool off; the tempo of Combat started to warm up. While the new ways of starting off resupply missions had helped there, assault missions were still usually way more interesting than anyone wanted them to be.

It was late September. They had only one mission scheduled that day, which was nice. Another pre dawn assault. A big one. A full company from the 3rd Brigade would be hitting a fairly good sized village that was reputed to be mostly Taliban. Once again two full companies of the 5th Battalion, A and B, would be involved. 14 going in, 6 in reserve and due to the size and the way things had been going, 3 MEDEVACS. Liz was happy that this time the Crew would be in the reserve choppers. Still she was starting to get a bad feeling. Considering how accurate that had been, she quietly told Hustler that she was getting bad vibes and the word spread. The whole company by now took her inklings very seriously.

Things seemed normal as they formed up and headed out; the strike headed out with no problems. The target was about 80 miles out. Just 10 minutes in, one of the Blackhawks reported engine problems; it quickly landed and one of the reserve choppers took their troops. The mission commander, 5th Battalion CO, ordered everyone to continue on; another Blackhawk was already on its way to escort the wounded bird, which thought they could make it back to base. Liz felt her foreboding increase. The entire flight had continued on and the backup bird caught up. They made up the time and were on schedule. As usual they were going to hit the village from two sides. It was on the foothills, but the terrain was not that rough. Liz decided to listen to her feelings and had the whole company down low, watching, flanking the Blackhawks as they came in. They hit the ground and the troopers headed for the village. As far as Liz could see, surprise was total. The troops all unloaded and the Blackhawks took off. So far so good. Listening to the troopers, they were meeting increased resistance. Liz, listening to her feelings, had not pulled the Apache's out yet. Even though procedure was to do so in this kind of situation. They were still very low, at about 300 feet.

"Hustler to Doberman; we have hostiles moving in from the west; am engaging."

"Roger that, Hustler but leave two behind."

"Roger"

Looking around she could see nothing. Then

"Pug to Doberman, hostiles coming from the east"

"Doberman to Pug, take Whistler and engage."

"Roger."

Liz knew something else was coming. Working on instinct, feeling that the Taliban were trying to divert the Apache's, she ordered everyone even closer to the village, they were about half a mile out. Looking into the village, the troopers had split it in two and were trying to drive to each end, which would mean they had covered the entire village. The Taliban were resisting fiercely. Then she noticed some buildings that did not look right; if she had not been this close she would have missed them.

"Spectre Lead to Assault Lead, there are concrete bunkers right near your front points. On each end of the village."

"Roger – will advise."

The company commander was looking at one. It looked fairly normal until you got right close to it; or saw it close from the air. He noticed that the door looked solid; as did the window. He began to get a bad feeling. He ordered the men there and the ones on the other end to back off; he pulled them back to more than 100 yds away from them and behind some stone buildings.

"Assault Lead to Spectre Lead; have pulled back; take those buildings out."

"Assault Lead, pull back a little farther please."

"Roger we are."

"Doberman to Hustler are you back?"

"Roger."

"See that strange looking building at the end of that lane?"

"Roger. It does look different."

"Take it out with a Hellfire- but make sure you are at angels 10."

"Roger."

Liz pulled back to 1000 feet and aimed a Hellfire at the building."

"Doberman to Hustler; FIRE!"

They launched almost together and their missiles hit the buildings- which blew up with considerably more force than empty buildings should have. Even at 1000 feet and probably a quarter mile away linearly, the blast buffeted Liz.

"Spectre Lead to Assault Lead; how are you guys?"

"Assault lead to Spectre lead, a little dusty but no serious injuries. We are pulling out; requesting DUSTOFF."

The other Taliban fighters had either been killed or had fled or were hiding; the extraction was quick; the CO did not request MEDEVAC so the injuries must have been minor. In 15 minutes everyone was heading home.

At the mission debrief some photographs of the buildings were examined. They had clearly been build specifically to focus the blast outwards; the walls were thin but the roof had been very heavy. It would have acted as a tamping measure, forcing more of the blast and debris outward rather than upwards. Which would have been very deadly for the troops. Clearly the idea was to have let the troops advance until the two buildings were right where the front line was, where most of the troopers would have been close to. Then without a doubt a radio controlled detonation would have occurred. They might have lost half the company.

The Company commander looked at Liz. "What tipped you off?'

She was a little embarrassed. "I had a real bad feeling something was up; then when those forces outside the village started to make trouble something told me that it was a diversion, what could they do, they were fully exposed. So to me it seemed they were trying to keep the Apache's from getting too close. Because from the air the difference in the buildings was pretty clear. Once you spot them they really stick out."

"Well I can say without a doubt you saved a lot of Troopers today, Captain Parker."

The Battalion commander looked at Ed. "Commendation?"

"Definitely. If she had not been so sharp, so paranoid one can say, we could have lost half a company of men today."

That got around the division fairly quickly. The Crew made it a point of thanking Liz; one of those she might have saved was Ellen's current boyfriend. In her own quirky way she made her point.

"Gee, Liz, you just kept me being able to get laid. Thank you."

The Battalion commander noticed that A company was getting more requests to fly escort than any of the other companies. It had been that way somewhat, before; but after the exploding building mission it got very pronounced.

"Liz's company is getting very popular."

"Word gets around. Someone figured that no one had yet been killed on any mission that A Company escorted. Either in flight; landing or taking off; or fighting on the ground."

"I can see why that would get the soldiers attention."

On the first of October the Brigade held a ceremony and several people got commendations and medals. Liz got another Air Medal. The company that was there that day was in full attendance and made their appreciation well known.

Afterwards the Crew and she were quietly talking in their room. Jesse looked at Liz.

"I did a little checking, Liz. Now maybe some Special Operations type has gotten more, but from what I was able to find you are the most decorated US Army soldier of the last 10 years."

Liz blinked. "I think you might be wrong. There are some chopper pilots that have gotten seven or eight air medals. I have gotten 3. So odds are that there are others with more."

Vicki looked thoughtful. "Just counting here; you have the Presidential Medal of Freedom, Presidential Unit Citation, DSC, Legion of Merit, Soldiers Medal, Purple Heart, 3 Air Medals and your other medals. You might not be. But you are not far off either."

Ellen grinned at a clearly embarrassed Liz. "Suck it up, Hero.

Liz just hoped her luck held; for the rest of the tour anyway.

The word went out to look for that sort of thing again; but no one figured the Taliban would try something that had failed and was now known about again. But the possibility of that happening was mentioned and from that time on no uncleared buildings would be passed by.

October came and things were still pretty warm on the battlefield if starting to really cool off elsewhere. Towards the end of that month Liz got another request from Special Forces; though this time it was for them and not the Company.

"Satellite is pretty sure but the angle is wrong."

"Predator?"

"Supports the premise."

"That is pretty high. Nothing can hover at that altitude."

"Nope. But there are two rock outcrops nearby; just big enough for a Blackhawk."

"Anyone staying at that altitude, 16,000 feet, would take weeks to acclimatize to that. Even in this country."

"True, but a great place to hide things. And easy to keep an eye on from below."

"OK talk to the Rotor heads."

"Sir, all our birds are too big for that ledge that can get to that altitude. We figure that there is at most 25, maybe 28 feet clearance to the mountain side. Everything that can go that high has a bigger rotor than that."

"What can?"

"Well an Apache has a rotor that is 5 feet less diameter. That could make it if you have a real good pilot that is nuts."

"So that is the story sir."

"OK, let's have the satellite take real good pictures and get a very precise reading on that one ledge. Make sure it is possible before asking our favorite Apache pilot to try. We would send our guy as the copilot so that he can go in and look."

When Liz saw the Captain she sighed and motioned him into her office.

"OK, what is it this time?"

"Well it is a special one for sure. We think only an Apache can do it. So we would like you to come by and let us know what you think."

Later on at the Spec Ops compound in the Commanders office she looked at the proposal.

"You guys are truly nuts. I kept hearing that but until now I really did not believe it. 16,000 feet; have to come up over an 18,000 foot peak and then drop down and land on a ledge that has at most a two to three foot clearance for my rotors. My front seat is occupied by a intelligence weenie who goes in there and looks for something Al Queeda might have hidden there. Then we leave and hope to fly safely down to the valley below."

They just looked at her. She sighed and looked at the satellite photos.

"They are sure there is rotor clearance?"

"Yes."

Liz sat for several minutes thinking about it. But part of her could not resist the challenge. And what they might find could be huge. This was thought to possibly be the squirrel hole for the whole organization. This had been rumored about for some years. She shook her head and grinned slightly.

"I guess I am just as crazy. I need to talk to someone with Boeing on this for that kind of altitude."

"We have a conference call set up for one hour from now."

Liz rolled her eyes at their confidence.

Liz looked at the numbers. All pods off the aircraft. 100 rds of 30MM her only armament. A half full internal tank and nothing else. It would take over 20 minutes to get over the top of the mountain. But she figured her weight, counting her passenger, would be very light. That should help. The target was over 200 miles away. She would fly to a Spec Ops post that was about 30 miles away. She decided that she needed company and talked them into allowing her to bring one other Apache with her. She chose Lobo of course.

The Battalion commander looked at Liz. "This request came from high up, really high."

Liz sighed and looked at him. "Cannot say more sir. It is a pretty wild mission."

"OK. Just come back."

"Roger that."

Ted was not happy when Liz gave him some details. But he knew that it had to be very important for her to take such a risk. Roger was not told much; she would drop him off at the base.

It was scheduled for two days later; Liz flew two missions before she left that evening for the Spec Ops base. Grunt was not happy when she told him to unload all but 100 rds and take off all the pods and not put on any auxiliary tanks. It was a long flight and the base was not much. She shut it down and got out. Then they waited. They put just enough fuel in to make a half a tank. She met the weenie, who looked like a staff puke. Glasses and the whole nine yards. It was good that he was not very big. She had a hunch she would be thankful for every pound saved. He seemed friendly enough; Josh Dummel, a captain in Intelligence.

She took off at 0700 and began the climb, holding the chopper on a steady course towards the mountain, climbing to 10,000 and holding till she got close; then she began to climb; as lightly loaded as the Apache was she did well until just over 15,000 when it was clear she was struggling; at that point both she and Joe put on emergency oxygen masks. She pushed it to just over the top of the mountain and started to go down the other side, curving around to maintain as good a forward speed as possible, this was way above what an Apache could do as regards hovering. She spotted the ledge and moved right to it, knowing she could not miss; as she got close to it she could feel the ground effect; and a plus was an updraft; she had hoped for one and that definitely helped. Her altimeter read 16,455 as she closed in on the ledge. Carefully with her telling Joe to watch the top of the rotors she moved closer and closer and then taking her heart in her hand began to set down; and then she was down. Slowing the rotor down carefully, prepared for the bird to start to slip, and she got to idle. She let out her breath in the mask and told him.

"Go for it Joe."

He gave her the thumbs up and opened up the hatch and carefully made his way to the cave entrance. Liz concentrated on not thinking about things as she waited; 15 minutes, then 20. Then 25. Then she saw him coming lugging some bags of papers; he had thought to bring plastic supermarket bags, he put them in and got in as well and closed the hatch.

"Not sure what I got; but I think it's going to be valuable."

Liz then began to add power until she felt the aircraft start to move then she headed over and started to go down; the first few seconds were scary as she was dropping fairly fast but she increased the horizontal speed and that got better and as they passed by 10,000 she was able to take the mask off; she was drenched in sweat. Then she headed for the Base. They got in with about 20 minutes of fuel left. She landed it and shut down and began to shake from the effects of all the adrenaline. She then opened her hatch; Joe had already opened his and there were several Company looking types waiting for him. Roger and Ted came towards her; Ted handed her a cold water bottle that she drained in about 10 seconds.

"I am never doing THAT again."

SECDEF looked at the report. Then at the president.

"This answers a whole lot of questions we have had over the years. Who started Al Queeda and most importantly who was helping them that we did not know about. Using this as a base of knowledge, we can now trace the organization all the way back; and just as importantly go from there and trace these people mentioned, some of whom were never suspected."

"I believe another medal is owed to Captain Parker."

"Yes sir. Though it will have to be a classified one. I agree with the Special Operations recommendation for a Distinguished Flying Cross."

"It is so approved."

Captain Forrest was back a week later and right away told Liz

"No mission. Just a little thank you if you can come by tonight."

"Well in that case OK."

Liz managed to close her mouth when the Commander of US Special Operations Command pinned the Distinguished Flying Cross to her uniform.

"Congratulations Captain Parker."

"Thank you sir."

The local Special Operations commander then told her. "You can wear the medal at ceremonies requiring full dress and decorations; and it will go in your service file but that is all the attention it can get."

"Understood sir."

Frankly, Liz was kind of hoping they would forget about her for the rest of the time she was there. While it was an honor they came to her, she really did not think that she liked the rate at which the missions kept getting tougher.

The rest of the month was not as tough as the first part had been; and she was happy things seemed to be slowing down as combat typically did as the weather got colder, especially at night.

Things still got a little tough now and then but the charmed life of A Company and those they escorted continued.

Liz could not help but hope that their luck would continue. Luckily things had settled down in that part of Afghanistan. Even Kandahar City had cooled off.

"When will we be able to go operational with the SAH-64?"

"Rate of production is scheduled for 2 per month starting in December. So realistically in 4 months we could have a company if we stay with the current 8 per company TOE. But it would probably be best until we have 16 for 2 companies and that would be, including time to set everything else up, sometime late in the year. That is of course if there are no delays. Which you usually have."

"So pencil in the likelihood of not until Jan 2012?"

"That would be a reasonable expectation, sir."

November started cold in the weather but hot in combat as the Taliban apparently decided to make one more big statement before most combat ended for the winter. However Allied Command also decided that the pressure should be kept up.

Actual Taliban attacks were not very common; outside of Kandahar City. Either pressure was being applied from above or some local commanders decided to try and impress higher command; whatever they did go after some of the Patrol Bases.

This allowed the Apache's to respond and go after them; and the Taliban were to find out that in colder weather the night vision goggles and infrared sensors of the Apache worked better.

It was actually on the 8th of November, or rather the very early morning of that day, that Liz and Company A got a chance to really do some damage.

Liz groaned as the phone in their quarters rang; Vicki groaned and put her head under a pillow; Jesse kept on sawing logs and Ellen suggested where whoever was calling at 0100 could put that phone. Liz answered.

"mmfh Parker."

"Captain Parker you have an alert for an immediate combat reaction mission."

Liz woke up quickly. "Understood."

She rolled out of bed and quickly dressed. Her roommates were already back to sleep. She got to the operations room in 20 minutes. Beating most of the men in.

"3 Patrol Bases are under attack; One UK and One US Marine and One US Army. "

Liz looked around. "What is available?"

"Your company and the 2nd Platoon of C Company. Right now the rest of the Apache's are undergoing maintenance."

She grabbed Hustler and the 2nd Lt that had 2nd Platoon of C company, Gonzo Jones.

"Gonzo, You take the Marine Base –its closest. Hustler you take the Army base And I will take the UK base since its farthest. Let's rock."

They were in the air 30 minutes later. Liz firewalled the Apache's as word came back that the Taliban were really serious.

The Captain of the Welsh Guard had pulled his people back into the inner perimeter of their Patrol Base which was in an abandoned village. He figured he was outnumbered at least 2-1. Maybe more. He hoped those yank choppers got there soon.

"Spectre Lead to Patrol Base, What is your situation?"

"Patrol Base to Spectre Lead-we have pulled back into the inner perimeter; anyone you see running right now or moving is the enemy. I will throw an incendiary outside our center position."

"Roger that- will be there in 5 Mikes"

"OK People look for the incendiary burning. Outside of that area smoke anyone moving. Pug. You and Whistler take the outer area; Lobo and I will do the inner."

"Roger that."

Liz hovered at 200 feet right over the village; she could see the incendiary easily with the night vision goggles. She saw figures farther away moving in and Whistler and Pug started shooting at them. She carefully looked away from the incendiary; the night vision goggles were working well.

"Roger take the stick-I will be shooting."

"Roger."

Liz carefully picked her targets; one by one she popped them with 30MM HE; after about 5 minutes and 11 shots she could not see anyone to target.

"Doberman to everyone; what are you seeing?"

"Pug no more targets" "Lobo no more targets" "Whistler no more targets"

"Spectre Lead to Patrol Base, what is your situation now?"

"Patrol Base to Spectre Lead; I think you got them all."

"Roger That we will stay and look around for a bit. Will let you know when we leave."

"Roger and Thank You."

"You are more than welcome. Spectre Lead out."

The Captain waited until the Yanks left then poked his head out. He saw nothing then ordered a sound off. Every man answered. He decided to wait until light before moving out of the inner perimeter.

Liz checked fuel status; they were more than half full; then called to the other units.

"Doberman to Hustler, what is your status?"

"Headed home"

"Roger that." "Doberman to Gonzo, what is your status."

"Gonzo to Doberman, still engaged."

"Will be there in 15 Mikes."

"Roger."

Liz got her platoon moving at speed. C Company had had things a little rough; their Commander was good but the rest of the Company just was not as good as the other Companies in the Battalion. But that was reality.

They got close and saw that the Taliban were still trying; this was a good sized base and they had committed quite a few in the attack. The C Company detachment was working the far end. Liz would have had split them and had the other two elsewhere; it looked like two of the Apache's were just hovering and watching. Liz shook her head and then ordered her platoon to tackle the far end.

The Taliban were moving towards the base and were easy to see; Liz kept the choppers at 500 feet as they did not need to go lower.

"OK Guys lets line up and start shooting."

In just a few minutes the Taliban figures were running; which was stupid since that made them all that more obvious. Liz had the three others go after strays and seeing a group of them decided a little more was appropriate; as at the other base she had Roger take over the stick.

She sent a half dozen 2.75 rockets at the group and blew them to pieces. In just a few more minutes no targets were visible. She called out to the other unit.

"Doberman to Gonzo, what is your status?"

"Gonzo to Doberman, no more targets available, Bingo 30MM."

"Return to Base, Gonzo, we will stay for a bit and then go."

"Roger, Doberman."

"Doberman to base; any more business to be had?"

"Base to Doberman; glad you showed up. No more business."

"We will do a quick patrol of your perimeter; if we find nothing else we will go."

"Roger and thank you, Doberman."

They spent 10 more minutes slowly circling the perimeter but found nothing moving. Then they headed home.

Liz went to the debrief and listened quietly. Gonzo did not seem like a bad pilot or leader; just not a really good one. She remained behind when he left. She looked at the Battalion commander. He shook his head.

"I know. Jackman is pushing but I think it's just the matter of not having that good a group of pilots. Outside of him and his wingman, that Company is just average."

"I saw neither good shooting nor good procedures. He had two of his people just hovering when they could have been responding to other attacks on the perimeter."

"Probably 4 of them will be transferred out of Apache's."

"What about their copilots?"

"I think two of them could be good."

Liz went back and tried to get a couple more hours of sleep. Her ground crews would be busy for a good part of the morning; so they would not be flying anyway.

That morning the commander of the UK fire base called in to commend the Apache support they got; they had found 35 bodies they were pretty sure the Apache's had taken care of.

The Army base also commended the Apache's.

The Marine base was not so happy.

"That first group of Apache's were slow to respond and did not seem to want to spread out and take care of the various threats. The second group, Doberman and her people, really got the job done. That first group was fairly inaccurate as well from what we could see when it got light."

The Battalion commander prepared his report to Brigade.

Later that morning the Brigade Commander looked at his XO.

"C Company whenever Jackman is not right there just does not perform well."

"Nothing new; I do not think its Jackmans fault as much as it is we got some Dud Apache drivers there."

"Get the Battalion Commander and his XO up here."

The Battalion commander was not surprised at the summons; and Ed Griffith wasn't either.

The Brigade commander got right to the point.

"2nd Platoon of C company is not good. What can we do to fix it?"

"Do you want to take real action sir?"

"Yes."

"Then I recommend taking Rivers out of 2nd Platoon of A company and making him head of 2nd Platoon of C company. Demote Richards and Hulman and put them on the ground. Promote Charles and Dixon to pilots; they are certified as ready. We have two former copilots of Apache's in 6 Battalion, put them back in as copilots for the rest of the tour."

"Who replaces Rivers?"

"I need to talk to Parker on that."

"Start the paperwork and talk to her,"

Liz sat in the Battalion Commanders office. She sighed when told. Not that she was terribly surprised; she just hated to lose Rivers. She looked at him.

"Whistler for 2nd Platoon commander, I think he is ready. I take it we get one of the upgraded copilots?"

"Fireman Charles. He is ready."

"OK."

"Fireman" Charles was happy to get out of C Company and get an Apache with A company. Going from the worst to the best was good anyway; but everyone knew that Parker just had the touch and best of all was lucky. Liz called him into her office.

"First off welcome to A Company. You will be Pug's Wingman. We will probably have a mission this afternoon so we will have you sit it out while you and your copilot will get to know each other. You will fly this afternoon. I will need to evaluate you before you become operational. We are lucky in one respect that the weather looks bad for tomorrow and the next day. But we probably could fly local."

It was just a resupply mission that afternoon, but Liz did not like flying with only 3 in her platoon. Whistler got a milk run to get used to leading 2nd Platoon. Liz sighed; this was not something calculated to reduce stress.

Liz got back in time and then immediately took Fireman and his copilot up to start running them through things.

The weather was bad for the next two days but Liz was able to take up Fireman and start getting him used to things. She worked him hard for the next two days; and Whistler as well getting him used to Platoon command.

The evening of the third day the Battalion commander came to talk with her.

"How are they doing?"

"Whistler is doing well; I think he will be fine. As long as he is not operating on his own on anything really tricky. I can see that he will be fine; he just needs to work on being a leader. Time will be his friend."

"That is good. How about Charles?"

"I think he will be OK. His copilot is solid and that helps. Pug is a good teacher, I think. So the early signs are good."

The next couple of weeks were fortunately fairly quiet; Liz was very grateful as she worked to bring her company back to the level it had been. The good news was that C Company was looking better.

Of course after that things heated up again as the Taliban seemed to not want to just fade away during the winter as they usually did. And then more fun came from another source.

Liz had just written up her latest Eval on Fireman; Pug seemed to think he was coming along well and Liz saw no reason to doubt it. Whistler seemed to be picking up command well. So naturally just as she started to relax Captain Forrest stuck his head in her door.

"Liz, I know you have been busy lately reworking your company, but something has come up." Then he motioned her to follow him back to the Spec Ops compound.

She walked into the Spec Ops head shed and then almost stopped and stared.

Well this was going to be interesting.

"Captain Parker, welcome and take a seat."

"This is Wing Commander Simmons of the Royal Air Force and Major Rosythe of the 2nd Battalion of the Royal Regiment of Scotland."

"Pleased to meet you."

"Pleased to meet you, Captain Parker." "Good to meet your Captain Parker; and just refer to my Unit as the 2nd Scots."

"To make this short and sweet there is a special operation going on in Helmand Province. RAF and 2nd Scots will be taking it to a Taliban stronghold. The Problem is that the Apache's that normally would be supporting them have had some maintenance problems that showed up suddenly. Some parts were faulty and unfortunately they are parts that are unique to the Brit Apache's. It will be at least a week until they are flying again. Which is a couple of days longer then they think they can delay this operation. It would have gone on in two days. If we can get things going it still will. The SAS will be transporting them and the 2nd Scots will be getting it done. They are used to operating with Apache's which is why you are being called in."

Liz nodded. "What base will we be operating out of?"

"Bastion".

This got sorted out quickly and the very next morning A Company was on its way to Bastion. The RAF had come in and picked up Grunt and the other crews and a batch of spare parts. It was clear that due to the lowered tempo around Kandahar and the upped Tempo in Helmand that they would be there for a while.

Liz had a quiet conversation with the Brigade commander before she left.

"Captain, you were requested by Name for this mission; and it did not originate from Spec Ops but the British. You apparently impressed them a couple weeks ago and also at Jakob earlier. I think there is a good chance you might spend most of the rest of your tour there. With C Company finally shaping up and things slowing down around here, we can probably spare you. And they need you."

When they got to Bastion and were situated, the RAF Wing commander made it a point to talk to Liz privately in his office.

"Captain, I believe your Brigade Commander informed you of the likelihood that you would be here for more than just this mission?"

"Yes Sir he did."

"We have lost the Dutch Apache contingent and all the others. So even when our Apache's are up and running again we will need you. The Marine attack helicopters are very busy supporting other operations; so we need more than the one company of RAF Apache's. We will get more Apache's here in 2 months but until then you are stuck here."

"I am not surprised sir; and it will be different which might be a good thing; we might have been getting a little complacent at Kandahar."

"Very good to hear, Captain. You are already well known here and trusted. And that is important."

Needless to Say the quarters were not as good as Kandahar; a tent. But it was a pretty good tent and had a heater which worked. So for this time of year it was not too bad. And they had been good enough to put the entire contingent from Kandahar in the same area. Meals were interesting since there was a real mixture available due to the multinational makeup of Bastion. There seemed to be someone from just about every NATO member and from some that were not. Liz decided that while she was here she would try to sample different things and get to know people from different countries. One of the down sides was that she was unable to email Max and Aliya. She got around that by figuring out how to contact one of the Crew every day or so and have them email her family.

They got put right to work the next day on the operation with the RAF and 2nd Scots. They had a fairly long meeting the night before with the entire company so as to make sure there were no missed communications. Liz noted that at Kandahar and with the US Army units, language had gotten fairly informal. The 2nd Scots and the RAF were more by the book. Which was probably best.

They took off at 0800; no dawn attack. That had been explained that since a dawn attack was expected, hitting a couple hours later had the advantage of surprise. Liz was not totally sure about that, but they might have a point. That was to be seen.

The RAF used Merlins for the assault; pretty good sized. Bigger than Blackhawks and tougher; not as big as Chinooks. 4 of them covered by Liz and her company, which might have been overkill. After talking things over, Liz and 1st Platoon would approach from the west and hover just outside the Village; and then the 2nd Scots would land and move in from the west. It was hoped that everyone would be fixated on the Apache's. 2nd Platoon would stay with them and flank them as they came in.

It worked like a charm. Liz watched as a number of armed Afghans took positions facing her Apache's; behind walls. Watching. Liz then slowly brought them in closer. She could see the Merlins land and the Scots move into the camp. Then she could see the moment that the Taliban realized they had been duped and turned towards where the Scots were already in the middle of the village.

"Doberman to 1st Platoon; use your 30MM and pot shoot them."

Roger had been getting better at shooting so this time he was working the cannon.

Caught between the two fires the fight went out of the Taliban and they tried to run. Which did not help them any. In 15 minutes it was all over.

"Ground Force to Spectre Lead; area secure."

"Spectre Lead Roger that. We will patrol the perimeter."

By habit Liz checked her fuel and saw that they were fine; this was only 40 miles from Bastion. By habit they now carried one external tank, so they had more than 2 hrs of flying time left.

Half an hour later they got the word for the Merlins to come in and pick them up. No casualties. Do to the closeness to Bastion, it had been decided not to have a MEDEVAC with the group. And today none was needed.

The mission debrief was indeed brief. The 2nd Scots commander said it all.

"They were so busy watching the Apache's that they never saw us until we opened fire. Caught between the two of us, it was all over quickly."

At noon that day Liz went to a mission briefing for that afternoon.

The same RAF unit would be doing this one; but those involved were SAS. Liz had heard that a fair number of the RAF really did not like to have much to do with the Crazy SAS. She could sort of see that there in the meeting. It was very stiff and proper on both sides. Only two Merlins and 2 troops of the SAS would be in this operation. Liz lingered after the meeting to talk to the Wing Commander.

"Forgive me if this is not polite, but I saw some serious tension between the RAF personnel and the SAS."

The Wing commander paused for a second, and then nodded.

"There have been problems. Both sides are at fault. But I can assure you that they will work together. It will not affect their performance. And you were right to ask."

"Thank you sir for your honesty."

This was more of a Recon so Liz took just the 1st Platoon. The 2nd platoon would remain on call.

It turned out to be pretty much a bust; the village they went to was completely empty; Liz and Lobo buzzed it first and saw nothing; then the SAS moved quickly through it and also found nothing. In half an hour they were on the way back to base. As she got close she was told that 2nd Platoon had responded to a call for help from a patrol that had been ambushed. They had taken casualties and a MEDEVAC was about to leave; checking her fuel status Liz told them they would accompany the MEDEVAC.

Whistler was tense; the patrol had taken casualties; they had gotten there in time to catch a large number of the Taliban out in the open and Whistler had let them all use some 2.75's which took care of the problem. Now they had to cover them. When he heard that Liz and the rest of the Company would be there he relaxed slightly. He was still not comfortable in a command situation.

Liz kept an eye on the fuel, but they were still good when they arrived to wear the Unit was waiting to have their wounded taken out. Whistler sounded glad Liz was there; he was not yet comfortable with command. Liz was going to quietly let him know that it was a danger sign when one became comfortable in command in a combat situation; that bred arrogance and carelessness.

The MEDEVAC took the four wounded and Liz told Whistler to escort them back while she stayed with the Patrol as they headed back to their patrol base.

The LT looked up as the American Apache's buzzed the area. They had really come in the proverbial nick of time. It was right uncomfortable there for a bit.

Liz was able to stay with the Patrol right to its base before they had to get back to camp. She kept 2 of her people right with them while she and Lobo wandered around the area, looking for anything suspicious. Nothing was seen.

After the debrief Liz made it a point to talk to Whistler.

"If you are worried about when you will become comfortable in command it might take a long time. I have never gotten there. And after talking to some experienced commanders, I have come to the realization that if you are you are more than likely to be in trouble of becoming complacent and careless."

No more missions were mentioned that afternoon and Liz decided to look around and see what the Camp had to offer. It did not take long for her to realize that the Marines in the camp next to Bastion, called Leatherneck, had it a lot tougher than she had it here. Yes she was in a tent; but there were a lot of amenities around that were not in Leatherneck.

She got back to her tent in time to find a message for her to come to Operations. That was a pretty good sized building that had been completed not too long ago. Up to now everything had been talked about at the tents near the airstrip. She had a feeling this was a more formal meeting. She was proven right when upon being shown the conference room she saw the Camp Commander and several other very high ranks. All British.

The Colonel in command stood up and greeted her.

"Pleased to meet you, Captain Parker. Very glad to have you and your company here."

She found that the Wing Commander was there along with a Group Captain, who was the overall RAF aviation commander there. And the head of the SAS detachment there, a colonel; and the commander of the 2nd Scots, another colonel. She felt very junior.

The Group captain started it off.

"This is a meeting to formulate an operation to take control of the situation around Pashkar which has deteriorated lately. The intent is to knock the Taliban back on its heels. That is simple to say, less simple to do."

What came out of that meeting was a plan for multiple attacks on known Taliban strongholds to last about a week, depending on results. The SAS and 2nd Scots would both be involved hitting different targets. Liz would split her company to cover both. The targets had been identified and a tentative schedule agreed on. It would start the following day. A pre dawn strike by SAS at one stronghold followed by a morning strike on another by the 2nd Scots. Then an afternoon hit by the 2nd Scotts and the SAS on separate targets. 12 had been identified; it was decided to try and hit four on the first day and then see what the second day brought; it was thought two at least. A signal by the Group Captain kept Liz behind after everyone else left.

"The Wing Commander informed me that you noticed the problems with the SAS and the RAF. It is not something that will be solved soon, let alone here. Now as the company commander it is us to you to assign your assets as you see fit. But I highly recommend that you accompany the SAS on their strikes."

"I had already decided to do that, sir. My second platoon commander is new to his command after a situation with another company required some transfers and mine was raided for my XO, who was 2nd platoon commander. He is learning and getting better but he is green. I had already intended to send him with the Scots."

"Very good. I can see the decision to request your company was the correct one."

Liz reflected that sometimes it was not altogether healthy to have a reputation.

The next 5 days were extremely busy; it was all Grunt and the others could do to keep their Apache's up and running. In addition to the 12 missions eventually performed, they had also gone out on four immediate responses for Air Support.

The first day started out well as both assaults had no casualties and did hurt the Taliban some, if not as much as had been hoped. The second attack with the Scots also went well. The second assault that afternoon with the SAS was not so good.

Liz definitely noticed the difference with the SAS; she had heard that the US Marine Recon teams were much the same way. Both thought faster was better in assaults. She noted with interest that the US Army Special Forces did not seem to be as aggressive; more cautious.

The attack on the second target was right at 1400, and they had to fly up a valley some to get to it, between two fairly good sized foothills not far from the Mountains; this was an assault that went out 75 miles so she decided on 2 aux tanks. There had been thought of not taking many hellfire's; of maybe only having one chopper in each platoon carry any; but Liz had resisted that. Due to the distance a British MEDEVAC had accompanied them; she had a hunch the SAS felt somewhat insulted by that. It was a good thing they had. As usual Liz had brought in Pug and Fireman to buzz the village while she and Lobo accompanied the assault. That had worked initially, but it was clear early on that resistance would be much greater here. All four of the Apache's did some sniping, but the SAS and Taliban were too close for much else. It looked like a very vicious firefight and it was. The SAS smashed through the Taliban but it cost. Liz was right on top of the fight at the end, and used her 30MM to support the SAS as it finished off the Taliban. The MEDEVAC was called in immediately and took off with 9 wounded out of the 34 SAS that had landed. The rest of the SAS pulled out an hour later. Liz had sent Pug and Fireman back with the MEDEVAC.

Liz was very happy to hear that none of the wounds were life threatening when she got back to the Base. In the debrief she noted that the SAS commander was very blithe.

"They stood up and came right at us; which is much preferred. I am obliged to Captain Parker and her Apache's for very good close support. It clearly had an effect on them as they tried to watch the sky while at the same time trying to fight us. Did not work too well."

Personally Liz felt that the SAS had had some unnecessary casualties. She quietly talked to the Wing Commander later.

"Sir, it seemed to me that the SAS was happy to stand and fight with the Taliban."

He shook his head. "Lately we are getting that too much. I am very obliged as well, Captain Parker, for your ground support. I have no doubt the SAS casualties would have been markedly higher otherwise."

The responses for immediate air support had been nerve wracking; two of them had come at night; responding to assaults on small forward patrol posts. Liz had taken both of them. They had been a little hairy, especially the second one which had her personally taking out 4 Taliban fighters that has some members of the Welsh Guards pinned down. They had been within 10 feet or so of the Soldiers, who reported that they felt the blasts and were splattered some of the remains.

The other two were handled by Whistler while she was out on other assaults. They had not been as tough, and Whistler had done well. She could see his growing confidence in himself as a commander.

At the end of the 6th day, the weather got bad enough to ground everyone and Liz was able to actually take a breath. She had been glad to see Ellen on the 5th day, who came in with more spare parts for the Apache's as well as more of Liz's clothes and other things which she had asked for when finding out she would be there for a while. Of course she had had to take off on another mission after only getting a few minutes to talk with Ellen.

"And on the seventh day HE rested." Ted grinned at Liz as they sat in the mess hall on the morning of the seventh day; it was raining some and windy and overall not flyable. Apache's could have if necessary, but no one did anything on days like this; they were so rare. Even the Taliban sat home snug.

"Well I will take it. Being able to sleep in this morning was REALLY nice."

Ted nodded. He had been a little concerned about Liz; she insisted on taking the night missions while still flying the day missions as well. Grunt was barely able to keep her bird flying. She looked tired, but at least this morning she was looking more rested. He noticed the interesting Looks Liz was getting. There were very few women at this camp; and frankly Liz was clearly the youngest and best looking he had seen. Apparently the rest of the male population agreed.

"So what do they think was the results of the operation?"

Liz shrugged. "Too early to tell. The SAS commander was happy. The others seemed reasonably content."

Ted shook his head. "You hear how crazy special ops types are supposed to be; but most of the ones I have seen did not appear that way. But these SAS's here do."

"Yeah. They are definitely closer to the edge. I have not worked with Marine Recon but I hear they are about the same."

"They like you though."

Liz rolled her eyes. Things got around so fast in a war zone, she had found. The SAS had invited her to dinner one night after their mission. From what Liz had gathered that was VERY rare for them to do. It had been interesting; the SAS were not as wild out of a fight as in it, but you could see the edge there even when supposedly relaxing. They had coaxed her into talking about her time in Iraq at the convoy fight. After describing what she had done, the SAS Colonel had nodded approvingly.

"Considering you had truck drivers there, that was very well thought out and done. Letting them lay there and scream was a very good touch. I have no doubt that sapped the resolve of the others and did buy you time."

As she left she was told by several of them that she would do well with them as a Trooper. She realized that that was high praise from them.

The bad weather lasted for two days and everyone was happy for the rest. Grunt especially. He told Liz that if she tried that many missions in such a short period of time again, her Apache would not hold up. Liz told him she would try and remember that.

When operations resumed after that, the tempo definitely had slowed down. It was the beginning of December, and the weather was very distinctly getting colder. Especially at night.

Liz liked only doing a mission a day; but she did not like so much having to send Hustler off on his own as much as she had to. But so far he had done well. What was not fun was the continuing silent feud between the SAS and the RAF. And it was worse as both at the unit level tried to put Liz and her Apache's in the middle. Each subtly trying to get her closer to their point of view on operations and thus support them in mission planning. She saw both points of view, and tried to be even handed. It was tiring. She found that at least her efforts were appreciated by all sides. The Wing Commander especially.

"I realize that it is not right that you have to be the mediator, but it is working well. I want you to know that it is very much appreciated here and at the higher levels."

So Liz sucked it up and played the game. As was her wont, she put together a plan on how to do this. She kept notes on what worked and did not work from each point of view, and then gave serious thought to combining them the best that she could. Within a couple of weeks, those planning sessions became about as choreographed as Kabuki Theatre; or professional wrestling on a good day. The SAS would propose this and the RAF would counter; or vice versa. Liz would then take part of each proposal and combine them as much as possible.

One good thing was that after two weeks, the RAF Apache's were operational again and that took the load off. In a meeting with the detachments CO, it was agreed that the RAF Apache's would respond to emergency calls for air support, and only if they were not available would Liz's people go. In return A Company took most of the daytime missions. The Dutch were due back with their Apache's in January, so that was figured as the time when A Company could return to Kandahar.

The SAS continued to have the most dangerous missions, but even that had decreased some since Liz had become a buffer. They liked that she was quite willing to take her Apache's in first and draw the enemy attention. While that tactic had never worked quite as well as it did the first time, it was still quite effective. What they also tried was one group come in and hover and the second come from another direction, and then the real assault came from a third. Misdirection seemed to work well on the Taliban. The SAS commander believed that it came from being inflexible fanatics. Liz thought that had validity.

Since Liz had made it a point to take as many of the SAS missions as she could, Hustler spent more time with the 2nd Scots. And that time allowed them to work well together; Liz was glad to see that his confidence as regarding command continued to increase.

Christmas came, and the camp had a big Christmas Eve party. Which also had a dance. Liz found that there as a grand total of 21 women there and about 1000 guys. She was glad the weather had turned bad for the next day, as she was absolutely worn out from dancing with about 50 different men. It started at 1800 and went to midnight, and 6 hours of dancing will wear anyone out. Ellen had sent Liz a simple black dress that fit her; and would not tell her where she could have possibly found it. Liz looked great in it; which was bad in a way as she found out that she was the only woman in a dress there. She was very definitely the belle of the ball. Ted told her that the MP's had to break up about a dozen fistfights from guys that wanted to dance with her but got cut out. Liz really thought that was BS but she found out that a little of that at least was true. She saw a couple of black eyes in the next few days.

They did not start flying again until the 27th, and had to make a bunch of resupply runs. Not much happened that day. But on the 28th came another mission that Liz would have as soon avoided.

As per usual it seemed, it was an SAS mission into the foothills. Another believed Taliban stronghold. 4 Merlins, one Medevac and Liz's company. Since only one mission was scheduled that day Liz decided to keep them all together; plus this had not happened much in the last month or so and she wanted to see firsthand how Whistler was doing as a Platoon commander.

It was very cold; but clear. They left at 0600 and intended to hit the target one hour after dawn. The target was 90 miles away; so Liz had them put on two auxiliary tanks. One pod of 2.75 and one of Hellfires. Liz took her platoon in high and visible; the village was in a sort of crook and could only be approached really from one direction; but after looking at satellite photos and maps, it had been decided that her Apaches and the MEDEVAC would be seen coming from the expected direction; the MEDEVAC definitely behind and safe but visible; while Hustler and the Merlins would come over the hill and hit the village from the rear.

So Liz made it obvious but still came in fast then stopped and hovered at about 500 feet just past the boundary of the village. And that is when it all hit the fan.

Liz was looking to see if any movement could be spotted; and so some people running, some with weapons. At that moment the windshield in front of her cracked and then felt like someone had hit her helmet with a sledgehammer – dazed, she called for Roger to take the stick. Shaking her head her vision cleared as she heard Ted call to her.

"Lobo to Doberman, what is your condition?"

"Doberman to Lobo, windshield hit. Did you get it?"

"Lobo to Doberman. I plastered it with 30MM."

"Where was it?"

"That slightly taller building on this end of the village; you can see dust rising."

Liz blinked and while her head was hurting her vision was clear. She identified the building and then told Roger. "Going to take out that building with a Hellfire."

And she did. Making a nice explosion. Her windshield was cracked all over and had a couple of holes in it. Must have been a 23MM down there; nothing smaller could have done that. It would take several hits from a 12.7MM in the same place to do the same amount of damage a few 23MM would do. She put her hand up to her helmet and found part of it missing and probed with her hand a little and brought it down; it was covered in blood. She pulled off her helmet-and that HURT- and took a cloth scarf she had and quickly tied it over where it hurt the most. Then put her helmet back on, carefully.

"Spectre Lead to Ground Pounders, what is your status?"

"Ground to Spectre Lead, objective almost secured."

"Doberman to Hustler, what is your status?"

"Hustler to Doberman, no targets left; village looks secure."

Liz took a deep breath; her head really was hurting. She ought to order Roger to take them back to base; but for the moment she would wait.

Ted was able to get a good look at Liz's Apache; the pilot's windshield was a mess. "Lobo to Doberman, how are you?"

"Doberman to Lobo, I think I picked up some glass fragments. My windshield is toast. Otherwise operational."

"Roger, Doberman." He was going to keep a sharp eye on her.

"Liz, how are you?" came from Roger.

"I am OK. But as messed up as my windshield is you will be flying back and landing."

"Roger that."

"Ground to Spectre Lead, target secured. MEDEVAC requested."

"Roger, Ground."

Liz waited as patiently as she could with her head hurting like it did; but it did not seem as bad. She found closing her eyes helped. It was fairly bright and her visor was broken so the sun was annoying. She sent Hustler off with the Medevac. 15 minutes after it left the SAS was ready to go.

The trip back was OK as long as Liz kept her eyes closed. As they got close she called the Base to inform them that they needed to contact her Crew chief so that he could order a new pilots windshield. Liz had figured that she had taken some glass to the side of her head above her right ear. So when base asked her condition she was rather blasé about it.

"The glass took a chunk out of my helmet and gave me a cut to the side of the head. It is not bad, though."

So when Roger landed and they moved to the normal parking spot, she noticed not only Grunt but some medics there as well. Talk about over reaction. Oh well.

Grunt looked hard as Liz's Apache came in; the windshield did look like it had been hit several times. No other damage apparent. He was right there as soon as Roger shut down the engine with the British Medic right beside him. He got the hatch open and stood for a moment, stunned.

As soon as roger shut the engine down Liz carefully took off her helmet, and looked at it. Well, need a new flight helmet. The right side about just above the ear was mostly gone in a gouge that was a good 2-3 inches wide. She looked at that and realized that this was a Kevlar helmet; glass could not have done that.

Grunt stared at his pilot who had taken off her helmet; the scarf was tied around her head above her ear and it was blood soaked; it had been a light tan scarf. He quickly stepped forward.

"Liz, this looks bad. Let me help you out."

"It is probably looking worse than it is; I have a headache but that is all. I can get out on my own." But Grunt insisted on helping her out. The Medic pounced on her as soon as she was on the ground, examining her.

The other pilots and copilots of her company were crowding around, shocked. Liz looked like something out of an old war movie. There was blood all over her head and the scarf was soaked and there was some on her flight suit as well.

Hustler saw a big box and he and his copilot grabbed it and hustled and forced themselves through the crowd and placed it right next to the Chopper and the medic forced Liz to sit on it while he looked over the wound.

Off to the side a BBC Camera crew had been filming; but this looked much more interesting as they noticed the medic; and then one of them pointed out the Apache with the busted windscreen. They got a good shot of her being helped out of her ship and the two other pilots bringing a big box for her to sit on while the medic checked her out.

Liz kept her eyes closed while the Medic pocked and prodded and asked questions. Liz answered the first ones then said

"Enough about me, Grunt how is my chopper?"

"Liz…."

"Oh, come on this is not bad. How bad is my bird?"

He sighed. "Well until the crowd leaves I cannot see for sure. If it is only the windshield we have spares at Kandahar and they can get one to me in one day. Now the adhesive filler will take one day to cure. So figure two, maybe three days."

"Well, nuts, I will have to steal one then for the time being. I have to be with my company. I can't stay on the ground."

"Well, that is going to keep you on the ground for a couple of days anyway."

The medic then spoke up. "Yes it will. Now you will be coming to the hospital for XRays and to have that stitched up. We will need to make sure there is no glass in the wound, though I doubt it. You were grazed more likely by a bullet."

"Yeah, when I saw the helmet I thought that might be the case."

Grunt reached in and pulled her helmet out. There was a collective gasp as they saw the gouge in its side and the blood on it. The BBC cameraman also caught that and the reporter had gotten close enough to catch almost all the conversation as well.

So Liz was bundled aboard the ambulance and driven to the Hospital.

Ted was about to go when he noticed Roger standing there, shaken. He went to him and pulled him away.

"She said take the stick; then she shot that hellfire and blew that building up. She seemed fine. I did not notice a thing."

The BBC man caught that as well.

Grunts call to Kandahar went right to the Battalion commander who immediately ordered a spare windshield set to be taken to Bastion that day.

Word spread and Jesse convinced her Battalion commander to let her fly it to Bastion. She was in the air in 3 hours and got to Bastion by noon. She got right to Grunt who was waiting at the strip.

"Liz got a huge chunk taken out of her helmet above the right ear; I found a 23MM rd, TP, embedded in the armor plate right behind her. Funny, if it had been explosive it would have detonated on the windshield and just blown a hole in it. Would have caused a lot less of a problem. It missed taking off the side of Liz's head by about an inch."

With nothing else to do but wait Grunt had already gotten the shattered pieces of the windshield off and he and his crew began to replace the windshield.

Meanwhile Liz had been sat down and the wound carefully cleaned and then stitched up after they took an XRAY to make sure there was no other foreign bits in the wound area. Then they made her lie down and rest.

The word spread to Liz's friends and they all began to try and find out what had happened and how she was. Her new friends at Bastion began to gather at the Hospital. One of the doctors noted this.

"Whoever this yank is she is very popular."

"You remember a couple of years ago that American pilot saving that young girl that had been shot?"

"That is her?"

"Yes."

"She is so small!"

Meanwhile the doctor in charge had to give in and allow some of her friends to visit. That consisted of Ted, Roger and Hustler.

Liz was lying there with her eyes closed; seeming very small and vulnerable. They stopped, wondering if she was sleeping.

Liz heard someone come into her room and she opened her eyes; her head was not hurting as much but they had told her that only minor pain medication was indicated for the time being. She spotted them and smiled.

Liz opened her eyes and looked at them and smiled and suddenly the room got a lot brighter. She seemed clear eyed and if not for the bandage around her head she would have looked fine; she was not in a gown but just had her tank top on in the bed with the covers pulled up.

"Hi Guys."

She got a parade of visitors after that; the SAS and RAF and 2nd Scots.

Then a couple of hours later when the Doctor had said enough visitors Jesse managed to talk her way in.

"Liz; you look comfortable."

She opened her eyes and smiled at her friend.

"Hey, room service and peace and quiet and a soft bed. This is not so bad."

The Brigade commander talked to the 1st Battalion Commander.

"Not sure how long she will be out; it will take a day or two to fix her Apache.'

"Knowing her they might have to tie her up to keep her on the ground."

"The problem would be if they have to do a mission for the whole company; there is no one there who can do it. 2nd Platoon commander is way too green."

"That is true. I can send Griffith over and if necessary he can take one of the other Apache's."

Meanwhile the BBC camera crew and reporter were getting background as fast as they could. Once they realize the injured pilot was Captain Parker, THE Captain Parker, they pulled out all the stops. They got the PR officer of Bastion to ok the story. It got sent to the London studio where it went on the 6PM news.

There the director had scared up a Apache pilot from the RAF to talk about it.

"News from the war in Afghanistan. Now some think that the talk of this war being a coalition war being a put on, should visit Camp Bastion in Helmand Province. American Army Apache's supporting British RAF and Ground forces. Today, actually just hours ago, we received some very descriptive pictures and sound from that base. To give the background, this morning a SAS troop assaulted a suspected Taliban stronghold; once they attacked they found out that it was not suspected at all; it was true. The American Apache helicopters, from 1st Battalion, 101st Aviation Brigade normally stationed in Kandahar but this company, Company A, has been supporting British troops and the RAF at Bastion for the past two months. This company is commanded by Captain Elizabeth Parker, famed for the saving of that Afghan 8 year old girl shot by a Taliban official in footage seen many times over the last two years. Captain Parker adopted that girl; and she is back in Afghanistan on her second tour. Here is our reporter on the scene."

"We do not have all the facts but we do have this footage of when Captain Parker returned to this base."

They then showed the Apache coming to rest, zooming in on the shattered windshield, and then the hatch opening up and Liz getting out of the helicopter, blood stained scarf and blood on her flight suit. They saw two of her fellow pilots manhandle a big box for her to sit on. And then her damaged and bloody helmet. And they heard clearly her conversations.

Then the picture switched back to the studio where a former RAF Apache pilot told the audience what was what.

The American Media was not slow to pick this up and demanded answers. At that particular time there was no American Media at camp Bastion or next door at Leatherneck. So they copied the BBC account and ran with it on the late news and then the morning news.

Nancy Parker got a call from Maria; they got the BBC news on their satellite and had been tipped off by friends about it. Max found out when the PR officer at Campbell called him to inform him that his wife had been wounded but only slightly.

The SAS commander was nudged by Captain Forrest to come by and offer Liz the use of a satellite phone. She called Max; and talked to him and then Aliya; assuring them she was going to be fine. It had been two months since she had been able to talk to them. She then called her mother and reassured her. Then Maria and Isabelle and Tess. Finally done she thanked the SAS commander.

He responded by saying simply "We take care of our own."

Liz was cheered up first by the visit with Jesse then the phone calls home. She began to pester the doctor about getting out of there and was told if she was ok in the morning she would be let go. She convinced Jesse on her way out to have Grunt come by and tell her the condition of her chopper. He came by and told her that nothing else was busted and that they already had the new windshield in place, just needed 24 hours for the seal adhesive to cure and harden. So she would only miss one day if the docs cleared her. She convinced Ted when he came by later to call Kandahar and tell them she would miss one day and that is it. He grudgingly agreed but only if she promised to stay put and rest that night. That was easy as the Doctor gave her a stronger pain med and she was soon asleep.

The Brigade Commander called the Battalion commander.

"Talked to one of her pilots; her apache will be down for just tomorrow and odds are she will be back flying the next day."

"Then I will keep Griffith here."

Liz woke up the next morning, a little confused and still a little woozy from the medication. She lay there slowly remembering things. After a little while a nurse came in and noticed she was awake. She wished her a good morning and told Liz that she would get the doctor. Liz looked for a clock and saw it was around 0700. She had been conked for 11 hours. No wonder she was woozy.

The doctor came in and checked her over.

"Well, you seem very alert and if you have only minor discomfort then we can let you out."

Liz grinned. "That is good news. I need to check on my company and my chopper."

About half an hour later Ted showed up with her jacket and took her to the mess hall where she proceeded to eat a huge breakfast. Ted was amazed at what she put away.

"Liz you must have a hollow leg- because there is no place else you could have put that much food."

"Hey, I ate nothing from a quick MRE yesterday morning until now."

They then headed down to the flight line; he told Liz that as far as he knew right now there was no mission. The only one he knew about the RAF Apache's would be covering. They found Grunt checking out her chopper.

"So will it be ready for tomorrow?"

"Yes, in a pinch it would be ready tonight."

"Well that is good. I guess I can bum around today. It is really nice not being buried in paperwork like I would be at Kandahar."

Liz found herself talking to a lot of people who seemed to know what happened; finally one of the RAF pilots told her that the BBC had done a bit on her. Liz wondered if there was someone UP THERE that just liked to mess with her; talk about lousy luck.

Going to the mess hall was not a lot of fun; luckily her whole company was with her. She felt like the prize attraction at a zoo.

The Brigade Commander and the 1st Battalion commander were looking at the official report. The Battalion commander shook his head.

"That is about as close to it as you can get and walk away."

The SAS Commander and the RAF Commander were having a talk.

"She deserves some kind of commendation; she never lost control or command."

The RAF commander nodded.

"I am going to mention that in the report to the 101st Brigade Commander. And add to that the fact that she has comported herself tremendously her whole time here. Her company has performed at the highest standard possible."

"I heard something that I checked out; and contacted someone I know in Special Forces to confirm it. Not one allied person has died in any mission that she and her company have been part of. Not one pilot, crewmember, soldier, trooper, anyone."

The RAF Commander blinked at that.

"And her company from all accounts has been involved in as many if not more operations as any other attack helicopter company."

"I think that fact needs to be elevated."

The next day the Brigade Commander looked at the report. Then called in his XO.

"I want this checked."

Later that day his XO reported to him.

"It is true sir. Remarkable."

"I think she must be a favorite of the Gods of War."

The next day came and they had two missions; as usual it seemed one for the SAS and one for the 2nd Scots. As usual Liz took the SAS and Hustler took the 2nd Scots.

It was almost the identical mission as the one she had been wounded on; but Liz forced herself to not think about it. This village was only 50 miles from Bastion, and it was in more open terrain so there were more choices of approach. Liz took her Apache's around and came from the opposite direction that Bastion was and came in at 1000 feet and obvious. And hovered; just like last time. This time nothing happened except a movement of armed men to that side of the village facing the waiting, hovering Apaches. And the SAS came from the other side and poured into the village. When the armed men began to turn to face the other way and fire, Liz and her platoon cut loose. In 15 minutes the call came.

"Ground to MEDEVAC, respond. Target secured."

Liz ordered Hustler to send two with the MEDEVAC when it took off.

30 minutes later the call came in for extraction. And they headed back; then Liz got a call from Bastion that a Patrol base needed help about 50 miles away. Liz ordered Hustler to stay with the flight and she took her platoon off to hunt.

The patrol base was almost identical to the one that she had gotten wounded at; and the Taliban were all around it. Liz took Lobo to the right while Pug took Fireman to the left.

"Spectre Lead to Patrol Base, what is your position?"

"Patrol Base to Spectre Lead, we are concentrated in the village center, everyone on the perimeter is unfriendly."

"Roger that, we will see if we can even up things."

"Doberman to all, use 2.75's on perimeter; let's see if we can run them off"

Liz told roger to lay down 2.75's along the perimeter while she started pot shooting Taliban. Liz became Nemesis, putting her mark on one after another. In 20 minutes it looked like they had done as much as they could.

"Spectre Lead to Patrol Base; what is your situation? We have thinned out the perimeter."

"Patrol Base to Spectre, we have no more incoming fire."

"Roger that, we will patrol the perimeter and look some more"

"OK, people, lets circle the perimeter and look for unfriendlies. Snipe them if you see them."

After another 15 minutes Liz looked at the fuel situation and knew they had to leave.

"Spectre Lead to Patrol Base; we are at bingo on fuel. Will have to go."

"Patrol Base to Spectre Lead, we are secure and Thank You."

"Roger Patrol base, we are gone."

So they headed back to base. The wound on the side of her head itched and hurt a little, but otherwise Liz felt fine. She had to work some to scrounge up another helmet.

Meanwhile the story about Liz percolated for a couple of days in the US and then would have died if FOX NEWS had not gotten the interesting tidbit about the record of Liz and her company. They never admitted where they got that from but there were suspicions since Fox News had very close ties with Special Forces.

This is Fox News Tonight. Captain Elizabeth Parker, Commander of A company, 1st Battalion, 101st Aviation Brigade, currently stationed at Kandahar Airfield, but at the moment assisting the UK forces at Camp Bastion in Helmand Province, was once again in the news for this time surviving a very near call. This is courtesy of the BBC." Then they showed the report.

"Captain Parker is someone that seems to be around where the fire is hottest; in Iraq, in Northern Afghanistan, and now Southern Afghanistan. She has been decorated more times for Valor then all the other women in American History combined. She is by some counts the most decorated member of the United States Military since 2001. But one achievement dwarfs all the others: counting the fight defending the convoy, no American or allied soldier, Marine, Airman, anyone, has died while in her command or under the protection of her Company of Apache attack Helicopters. That includes all the missions that she has escorted and all the missions she and her company has responded to for fire support to bases under attack. Including the time she rescued the young girl that she eventually adopted. If she is there, our people do not die."

The DOD PR chief happened to see that personally; he groaned. That was the universal response that everyone in any PR function had to that report. Fox News on occasion spread it very thick; this one was several feet thick. And yet it was true.

The SECDEF was told this; and groaned. The Congressman was told this; and nodded. CENTCOM groaned; and so on down the chain.

The Brigade commander put down the phone. He sat there and thought. Then he called in his XO and his PR officer.

"Fox News had a little Blurb about Captain Parker. I want this checked out with a fine toothed comb." And then he told them. His XO looked thoughtful. The Brigade Commander glared at him. He put up both his hands.

"Sir, I heard this bandied around just lately. I thought it was interesting but I was not sure it was true. But the more I thought about it, the more I began to think that it might be true."

"Well then CONFIRM IT!"

The President was informed of this and demanded the same thing. This order went down the chain of command.

Commander, Bastion, put down his phone. Pondered for a while, then called in his chief of security.

"I want a protection detail assigned to Captain Parker. With the notoriety she is getting, I do not want to take any chances."

At a hastily called meeting of the Commander of the RAF Regiment there at Bastion, as well as the Commanders of all Ground units and the SAS, he informed them of his directive. At that point both the commanders of both the SAS detachment and the 2nd Scots requested the honor of forming that detail. It was then agreed to trade off; each would take responsibility every other day. The SAS then demanded the honor of the first day, since she was usually working with them. It was agreed.

Liz was finishing up the paperwork that seemed to find her no matter where she was at a borrowed desk in operations when four members of the SAS marched up to her. She looked at them with raised eyebrows then stood and returned their rigid salute.

"Captain Parker, by order of the MOD, we are your protective detail."

Liz sighed. "Very well. Grab a seat; I should be done in a few minutes; after which I will eat then retire for the evening."

They did not sit; instead two members were stationed outside the office door and two others were stationed inside.

Liz felt very ridiculous with her detail following her everywhere.

Needless to say, Ted and the others got a kick out of it. Especially when the four members, who were switched out every 4 hours, stationed themselves outside her humble tent.

Of course before long people were taking pictures of it.

The next day was New Years; and there were no missions scheduled. And luckily no requests for support came in. So they had a nice day overall; Liz feeling hunted.

The President read the report. Then looked at SECDEF.

"Remarkable."

SECDEF nodded. "I had this researched and from what has been found to this point, no other Company matches that record. None appear to come close. Now there have not been that many Apache Companies overall; but starting in Iraq and Afghanistan in 2001, there are still a fair number that have been deployed. Now it is very possible that some deployed in Afghanistan from 2002 on might have the same record; for a while it was pretty quiet there. I have some people checking into that. But that just underscores what A company of the 1st Battalion has accomplished in two tours in Afghanistan combined. Both coming during times of very high intensity warfare. And furthermore, there has not been one instance of anyone claiming that that company has killed an innocent or a civilian. That is certainly possible; but no one has come forward."

"I want this thoroughly researched."

"Yes sir."

That fact about Liz percolated the media for a while longer, while there was some serious digging into reports in more than a few areas to see if possibly anyone else could make such a claim. But several military authorities agreed that accomplishing this during a time of intense combat was nothing short of remarkable.

Maria and the others were talking one day at a get together. Maria was unusually pensive.

"We all felt that Liz was very special. We knew it from just about the first day we met her back in 2001. I think we are just now finding out how special."

The Crew was quietly contemplating that same thing New Years Day.

Vicki was wondering how this could happen. Ellen was contemplative.

"Of course part of it is luck. No one could say otherwise. But then how much of it is because of how much she cares; and how hard she works?"

Jesse nodded.

"Most of it. She outworks just about anyone I have ever met. And you remember a couple of times that Liz has mentioned the Gods of War. Just maybe those gods have favorites. And they bless their favorites with just a touch of luck. Just enough so that a bullet wounds instead of kills."

Combat resumed on the 2nd day of 2011. Resupply was the name of that day; and the British Apache's shared the load with Company A. Three separate resupply missions to FOBs. But very little trouble was found. Liz was quite happy with that.

That night, a call went out for fire support and as per the agreement the RAF Apache's went out and got it done. That meant that the next day the load fell on A Company. Once again the SAS and 2nd Scots hit villages. As per usual Liz went with the SAS. It was a small village and it ended up virtually empty. Liz was happy about that. The Scots had a more difficult time but still cleaned theirs out without casualties. When Liz got back she picked up her detail and then went to the Debrief; after it the RAF commander spoke to her.

"The Dutch are arriving with 8 Apache's in a week. And we will probably get some others in a few weeks after that. With the relative quiet period we have at this time due to the weather, you should be able to head back to Kandahar in two weeks."

"Sir I will be happy to be in a more comfortable place; but I will be sad to leave those I have fought beside here."

"I can guarantee, Captain Parker, we will miss you."

And two weeks later Liz and A Company headed back to Kandahar. A very fine party was thrown by the SAS, RAF and 2nd Scots for them. Liz was extremely sad to leave Bastion and the very good friends she had made there. Each of those had made her and her company honorary members.

Those two weeks had been rather sparse in missions; hardly any of the Apache's had fired anything.

Liz was happy to be back at Kandahar for several reasons: a more comfortable place to sleep; being with the crew; and not having a protective detail. She was quite glad her greeting was low key. She would not have been glad to know what was going on high over her head.

SECDEF looked at his aide.

"This has been confirmed.

"Yes sir, even during the very quiet periods in Afghanistan it did not happen. In both you could find some that lost no Americans on their watch; but allies were lost. In its current tour, A company has not had one single death of anyone that was not an enemy. Not a civilian or innocent that we can find. If you look at the period just operating with the British, they have not lost anyone during that period either, and they had until A Company arrived a rather high casualty count when you looked at the percentage of troops involved. Now this current tour of the 101st Airborne has been remarkably absent of casualties; but they have had some. Every single one happened on someone else's watch. Special Operations while A Company has been involved had no casualties as regards KIA. Or even killed in accidents. In her last tour Captain Parker was heavily involved with Special Operations Missions; and none were lost there either. It can be put no other way; Captain Parker has the touch of Midas; only instead of gold her gift is life."

The Battalion commander had called a meeting of his Unit Commanders.

"Combat operations will cease on 15 February, just one month from now. It looks like we should all be home on or about 10 March. At this time there is minimal combat, but we cannot relax or grow complacent. I expect 100% effort and efficiency right through the last combat mission."

Liz was back to her office very happily and greeted her first sergeant.

"Now I am really glad to be back. I have someone to dump paperwork on."

He grinned at her. "Paperwork? Never heard of it."

Liz was a little surprised how easily she slipped back into the swing of things; but she was not going to complain. 17 January and they were back to business as usual; a 2nd Brigade assault on a suspected Taliban stronghold near the mountains. It was big enough that Liz was told to take her whole company. In the mission planning; she asked to do the same as they had been doing at Helmand; using a platoon as a diversion. It was agreed.

5th Battalion had 14 hawks in the assault with 4 in reserve and 2 MEDEVACS; Liz realized that she had gotten used to the lesser resources at Bastion. But she was happy to have them. The Crew was in the assault group so Liz was a little tenser than usual but one would not have known by looking at her. Hustler came in from the west while the rest of the assault came in from the east and it worked very well indeed. There were not a lot of Taliban to begin with and most of them obediently lined up and got themselves taken out by getting caught in the crossfire from the Apache's and the troopers. There were a few minor casualties but nothing serious.

There were a few supply runs but nothing else for several days. Then Captain Forrest showed up again. Liz looked at him and sighed.

"If I had any sense at all I would just shoot you now."

"I come in peace."

"I should send you out in pieces."

"How about a visit to our compound?"

"Why not? It's not like I am not in a war zone already."

She went with him and upon entering was taken to the office of the Commander. Captain Forrest then left, closing the door and the Commander offered her a seat. Liz sat down; wondering what was coming this time.

"No mission, no Company mess, nothing like that."

"Now I know I should run like hell."

He handed her a file that was marked TOP SECRET. Liz felt something shift inside of her and she opened the file. Began to read. Then actually felt herself start to drool.

The commander watched all this with satisfaction. He doubted he would need to do much to convince her.

Liz spent 10 minutes reading and memorizing the file then handed it back to the Commander who promptly put it in a safe and locked it. She observed all this.

"Why am I being told? I can guess that this is being built now but VERY quietly.

"It is being built as a black project. And we have been able to keep it very quiet; one reason is that parts of it are being built by people who have no idea what those parts are for. The body and frame parts are basically identical to the standard parts only they are being made out of titanium. Other parts are being made as replacements for current parts. Only the avionics are unique. Even the engines are standard in one respect; they are the same as the WAH models. The first ones will be assembled starting in May. They are making the parts and then will assemble the aircraft. That is another way we are hiding it. The first company will be operational in February of 2012. By the end of that year we will have two battalions. We want you to be not only our first pilot; but the commander of the first company. You only have to ask for transfer to 160th SOAR."

"I thought that was men only."

"A new directive came out in September from SECDEF. We have not publicized it yet. Aviators are no longer male only."

Liz thought about the super Apache. She knew she had to fly it.

"You said Feb of 2012?"

"That is the goal; it probably will slip a few months."

Liz considered that. She had plans but it might still work. But there was no other decision she could make. She knew she should tell Max first but he would understand. She looked at the commander.

"How do I do this?"

"You are agreeing?"

"Yes. I must fly that chopper."

"Then you need to do nothing until you redeploy."

Liz went back to her quarters and lay on her bed and thought. While her decision had been somewhat impulsive, it was also true to herself. Flying was her goal; it was what truly interested her and made her eager to leave her home and family. It made her willing to sacrifice heavily to do it. 'Find something you love to do and then find a way to get paid doing it' was something she had read as a child and had always remembered. She had and she had. Taking a deep breath she then headed out to where you could make commercial phone calls; now she wished she had gone ahead an gotten a satellite phone. It took more than an hour, but she was able to get through to Max's work number and she was in luck as he was at the office.

Max was finishing up some paperwork; this job was not as bad as he had thought it was; not particularly good just not bad. He had been quietly checking around for something better and had some good prospects. Hopefully in six months or so he would have something he liked doing. His phone rang and he answered it.

"Max Evans"

"Max, it's Liz."

"Liz! Great to hear from you honey! How are things going?"

"Well I have some news for you."

"Well if it is big I am sitting down."

"I guess that is good. I had a meeting with the local Special Forces Commander today and he gave me some very interesting information. It made me decide to join the 160th SOAR when I get back from deployment."

Max was very still for a moment.

"Liz, they deploy a lot. More than anyone else."

"I know. But what was offered me I could not pass up."

Max thought hard. What in the world could make Liz jump from the frying pan to the fire?

"Liz you talked about applying to become an instructor so we could start a family."

"We can still start one when I get back. I went off the pill 6 months ago."

"But that means if you are pregnant you are grounded; so what is the point of joining the 160th right after you get back?"

"So I am first in line. What I want to be flying won't be available for a while."

So that was it- something new. He had not heard about any new Helicopters coming out that would make Liz want to do this. So it had to be something really Black. Well it was Special Ops. And they had made a point of offering it now to Liz. Well that was no surprise; with the reputation she had earned they would be stupid to not do that. Liz loved the Apache; so it had to be something that would blow the Apache away. If that was the case no wonder she had jumped on the offer.

"I think I understand now, Liz. At least you will still be based here. So we will manage. I am so looking forward to you coming home."

"So am I. To you and Aliya."

"She is very proud of you and so am I. She is doing well; and staying here will be good for her, too."

"Love you and give her a kiss for me. Have to go."

"Love you too Liz."

Max sat back and thought about things. Then got onto his computer and started to go to some of those forums that speculated about Black Projects. A couple hours later he stopped; even in that most paranoid and conspiracy driven area, there was only a very slight amount of speculation about a new attack helicopter for Black Ops. They had done a real good job of hiding this. And on the regular forums for aviation there was really nothing on a new attack helicopter for the military.

Liz went back to her quarters and once again lay down and thought. She was rather lucky that the Crew was out. She would let Battalion know right after they got home. That would give them time to figure out a replacement for her. She smiled at the thought of 'working' on starting a family. She wanted that very much. If she was lucky she would get pregnant quickly. She hoped her guardian angel was listening.

There were less than four weeks to go before they stopped flying. The replacement brigade would be flying in the next week. They would have three weeks to get ready before they relieved the 101st. One of the Brigades, the 2nd, would also be leaving at the same time; the 4th Brigade was already home. The next two brigades would be leaving in the next few months. Liz knew that everyone was beginning to get the short timers attitude; which had its good and bad points. The Bad was that people would try and skate and do as little as possible; the Good was that people would be more cautious and take fewer risks.

The next day there were some supply runs that were uneventful. C Company had really shaped up and was now maybe as good as A company. Liz privately doubted it, though. B Company had always been solid; not inspired but solid. So that area meant things were good. And with it being this time of year the pressure was off on combat anyway. Liz had no doubt there would be a few more assaults but not that many. The 2nd Cavalry's Kiowa Scouts, attack/recon, handled most of the calls for quick reaction air support. When the fixed wings were not called, anyway. Only when they were not available or the call came from too far away were the Apache's brought in. There was a lot less pressure here then there was at Bastion. They really needed more attack helicopter support there; what was there was badly stretched. Liz had written a report on operations there and had stressed that in it. It had gone to Brigade; she hoped it went higher.

Just one week before the end of flying came another mission that had the look of not being fun. It was a Special Operations mission, so naturally Liz was contacted. She followed Forrest as usual to the Special Ops compound.

There it was outlined. A good sized village in a mountain pass almost 150 miles north of Kandahar. There were intelligence indications that several mid-level Taliban leaders were there. It would be hairy as due to the height of the mountains, above the level any Apache could make, or any other helicopter for that matter, so they would have to go right up the valley and had to withdraw the same way. This operation clearly had to be a night attack. There was a place 50 miles from target that would be used as a refueling point; 2 Chinooks would go there with a Special Ops security team, and the attack force would refuel and then launch the assault. They would leave at night; arrive there and refuel; and then hit the target. 6 Battalion would be the transport unit; it would be a full company of SF in 6 Blackhawks, with 4 in reserve and 2 Medevacs.

It was speculated that the village could be defended by one or more 23MM AA cannons, like the one that had just about punched Liz's ticket. However its use at night would be very limited. This was a no moon period so that there would be no light at all; and all the US Helicopters would be very difficult to see as they had been designed for night operations. However anyone could get lucky so they would be watching for it. The only other possible defense that could worry anyone was if someone down there had an operational man portable SAM like a SA-7 or the like. It was possible they had a more modern version as a SA-7 was very ineffective against a modern US helicopter. It had been established that the Taliban had no remaining operational Stingers; the shelf life for all of them and especially for their batteries had expired years ago. There was no realistic chance any of them would work at this date.

So the mission was planned for the Blackhawks to quickly land the Special Forces teams at the outskirts of the village and then quickly move away to stay out of range of any possible AA weapons. It was probable that there would be 12.7MM MGs – but they had a limited effective range.

The Apache's would move in as cover and watch for anything; and use their 30MM to take out any identifiable threats. They would then quickly move back as well. This operation would succeed or fail on the Special Forces troops.

Liz had no forebodings as they took off at 2000 the next night. But then she had had none when she had been wounded, either. Apparently it only worked when others were under threat. The trip to the refueling point was uneventful; as was the refueling. They took off for the target at 0030 and arrived at 0100 as scheduled. Liz took her entire Company in over the Blackhawks as they landed; this was a lot tougher than it sounds at night. The night Vision Goggles were the latest version but it was still nowhere near as good as daytime. So there was no choice but to go slower than you would have during the day.

It was not long before they began to receive incoming fire; mostly AK 47 but also some 12.7MM Tracer was spotted; but they were quickly silenced as the Apache's could see them easily once they fired. And they fired at the Apache's who were mostly impervious to 12.7MM anyway.

Liz was tensely watching; Roger had control of the stick while she was concentrating on the 30MM. She had not yet fired a shot as someone beat her to it when she spotted something worth shooting at. There were 8 of them watching for anything so that was no surprise. In the cold air it was easier to see the figures trying to move and shoot. The IR contrast helped immensely. Then Liz spotted a figure standing on top of a building with what looked like a RPG, or maybe a SAM. Either way she exploded him quickly. Then heavier tracers started to come towards them and they all reacted quickly to what had to be 23MM; two separate ones were each targeted by 2-3 Apache's and quickly taken out. Then came the word that the Blackhawks had unloaded and were now a safe distance away.

"Doberman to all ships; let's back away as planned."

So they all flew backwards about half a mile or so, each watching the other so that no one got too close to anyone else. There they hovered and waited and watched.

In the village the SF teams had a huge advantage as they all had night goggles and the Taliban did not. Still it was not easy and they slowly fought their way from one end to the other. As agreed once they reached the far end of the village they called the escort.

"Ground to Spectre Lead; we have reached objective three."

Spectre Lead to Ground; understood."

Then as agreed Liz and 1st Platoon at a height of 1500 feet moved over the village to its far end; there to see if anyone tried to flee. This would be tricky because they did not want to shoot any women or children. Anyone carrying a weapon was considered fair game. But still they wanted to be sure.

Liz looked hard and long through her sight on the 30MM on the trail leading deeper into the valley from the village. It was not long before there were indeed people starting to run up that trail. Liz was more concerned when she noted what appeared to be women among them. But she did not see a single child.

"Doberman to all ships; I will take any shots; no one else shoots. Acknowledge."

One by one the others acknowledged.

Liz kept watching; then began to drop down closer to get a better look. There were only a couple figures carrying AK 47's; really not worth a shot probably. Then a bigger group came out of the village and there were 8 men in it; 3 were carrying AK 47's; one in front and 2 in the rear. She looked closer and two of the figures in the clump of 5 looked better dressed as near as she could tell. Making a decision she fired a burst at them; killing them all. Then more armed figures came running out of the village shooting back towards it. Liz hosed them as well.

"Ground to Spectre Lead; village secured. Have 4 wounded; not badly."

"Spectre Lead, took down most of the armed subjects leaving village; a group that appears to have targets taken down as well just past the end of the village."

"Roger Spectre Lead will take a look."

In a few minutes Liz saw more armed subjects leaving; clearly the Special Forces soldiers. They checked the ones Liz had blown away then looked at the clump. Liz saw the flashes of pictures being taken.

"Doberman to all ships; back up to angels 15."

15 minutes later the call for Pickup came and the MEDEVACs dropped down as well.

Liz spread out the company looking for any possible attacks and waited; in less than 15 minutes they were away.

And that turned out to be the end of the combat for the Aviation Brigade.

With the end of the combat role and flying, the choppers were taken over by the maintenance crews to prepare them for transport. But that did not mean the pilots had nothing to do; but now all of it was paperwork. Reports right and left for everything and anything. Liz had to do end of deployment evaluations on everyone; and sign off on every report and all the reports of survey for everything lost or expended not previously accounted for.

All that took up the next two weeks; but it was finally MOSTLY done. There was not a lot of personal gear to pack up so that would not take long. So by the beginning of March just about everyone outside of the Company Commanders on up had a fair amount of free time. Which most used to catch up on sleep and relax; since once they got home most would be taking their 30 day leave right away and would want to do things, not rest. Liz and the other commanders had more to do since they were also briefing in the new brigade about everything.

After the final meeting, Liz was talking to Ed and Jim.

"So, guys, what next for you?"

Ed shrugged "I will probably get the Battalion in the next few months when the Battalion commander finally moves up to Brigade XO."

Jim sighed; "They are talking giving me 5 Battalion as he moves up."

Liz looked at them. "Neither of you sound joyful about it."

Ed nodded. "Command is not what it is cracked up to be, as you have already found. But the paperwork at Battalion level is about 5 times what you have at company level."

Jim winced. "And that might be underestimating it. But worst of all flying is just about done."

Liz nodded. "That is why I am thinking of instructor."

They both nodded. "You can stay an instructor for a long time if you want; 5 years or more. But then you are pretty much stuck being a part of the school after that. Your chances at promotion are pretty much gone." ED stated.

Jim nodded. "Now if you are just wanting to run out the string to retirement at 20, that would work. You would not get a command or anything like it. The Bottom line in the military is keep rising or get out. Even if you are great at what you are currently doing, they will not let you stay there for too long no matter what."

Ed sighed. "Liz, you are a superb pilot and company commander. If the military had any brains they would leave you alone right at that position. But they cannot do that; or more to the point won't. It is like an animal that cannot ever not eat; it thinks if it stops feeding for one day it will die. That is where the US Military is today. Instead of transferring people and promoting them every couple of years the smart thing to do was when you found someone outstanding at doing something is leave them there to keep doing it. When you have too many great ones at that position then start promoting them. And gradually you fill from the bottom up. It is not done."

Nothing of what they said came to Liz as anything like a surprise. It was all things she had seen and thought herself. From two that she very much respected to have said it, just confirmed what she already knew. And that made her decision that much easier. It was either what she had already decided to do or become an instructor; and while that would have meant she could keep flying, it would have been treading water. She did not like the feeling that she was running as fast as she could just to remain in the same place.

So when Liz got on the plane on March 10 to return to the US, she had yet to tell anyone outside of Max what she was going to do.

Coming home this time was so much like it was last time; Max and Aliya and her mom waiting for her; in exactly the same place. And it was just as good. The very next day she got a chance to speak to the Crew where she let them know where she was going; just not why.

They were not as surprised as she thought they would be. Ellen said it best.

"You love flying that Apache, Liz; and not a desk. So flying anything other than a desk is what you should do. And I don't think you would like being an instructor as much as you might have thought you would. Dealing with so many just wanting to do enough to get by, would have gotten you sooner or later. And having to wash some out that really want to would have made it worse. And we know you too well to think you would like playing all the political games and doing all those courses to get a list checked; so for me its fine."

Liz told her mom the next day; and she sighed and nodded.

"I have come to terms with the fact that I have a warrior daughter; someone who does not want the picket fence and the safe lifestyle. Whatever you do as long as you want to do it I will always love and support you."

It was a little different a few days later when they went down to stay with Maria and the others for a week. Isabelle understood the best, then Tess. Maria was silent. Liz looked at her friend.

"It is what I want to do Maria."

Maria had her head down then slowly raised it up and they all saw the tears.

"Liz, I got the shakes that night I saw you come out of your Apache dripping blood. I am so afraid that sooner or later I am going to get that phone call telling me that finally you pushed it too far or your luck ran out. And flying for Special Operations is even worse than regular combat. But I know you; I have known you for almost 10 years though not as well the last 5. This is who you are. I think you are the finest person I have ever met; and I dread the day you are no longer here. I want it to happen in about 60 or 70 years. Not next year or the year after."

Tears in her own eyes Liz hugged her friend. There was nothing more to be said.

She and Max had been 'working' on what he called their joint project from the first day. They made it a point to 'work' on it at least once a day.

Aliya had grown both inwardly and outwardly. Gone was the too skinny child; now 10, she was starting to sprout up. She might end up a fair amount taller than her adoptive mother. And from the shy and timid girl she had first adopted had come the much more open and confident pre-teen that more and more appeared to be the everyday American girl. In one respect Liz saw that anyway that they could stay here longer would be so good for her; she had very close friends and was comfortable and happy. It had been good seeing the Posse as well. Susan had been very blunt.

"Thank you for making sure our men came back to us." While the 1st Brigade was not yet back, it was done with combat.

Ruth had just hugged her and whispered to her "I knew you would keep your promise."

Becky had hugged her and told her that Sam had been able to email her and let her know that his unit had just finished their last mission before coming home.

The three of them then took off for 10 days of traveling to several different parts of the country like the Northeast; NY and Boston; then Florida and Disney World. Finally with a week left they came home. And just stayed together; Sam had left his job and the next one would not start for a month. So they got a chance to know each other.

Finally Liz called the number that the Special Forces Commander in Kandahar had given her. She was told to head over to the 160th SOAR HQ in Campbell.

While in a different compound with more security, it did not seem that much different. But going inside the HQ building Liz could feel a difference; an energy that was unlike anything she had seen anywhere else, even the Spec Ops in Afghanistan had. She was directed into an office where a full Colonel waited.

"Captain Parker; I am Colonel Ballard, commander of the 160th SOAR."

"Pleased to meet you sir."

"I am pleased to meet you Captain. I am glad you have decided to join us."

"When I saw that bird, I had to fly her. Just that simple sir."

"Well you will get that chance. However, the schedule has slipped due to some problems that cropped up. Nothing serious but it will add about 6 months to operational status."

"Well that is good sir, since I was looking to have a baby before I started flying her."

He raised an eyebrow then grinned. "I was told you did not mince words, Captain and I am glad that you are being fully honest here. So that is your latest project?"

Liz blushed slightly. "Yes Sir and I am giving full attention to it like anything else that is important."

He grinned wider. "As any good Special Operations warrior should. Well that will work out well if you can manage to start your project in the next few months. You will have to go through our own special preparation course, but it is nothing that frankly should give you too much trouble. As organized as you are reputed to be."

Liz smiled at him. "Ya gotta have a plan."

"You will be going through a special version of that course for the simple reason of your record and accomplishments. Some of the regular parts would be redundant and waste time; you will only be doing what you need. We try to tailor all our prep work that way."

Liz was already liking this. No cookie cutter crap; no trying to force round pegs into square holes.

"How long would that course take?"

"Probably about 12 weeks."

"Well sir, If I can get my current project started, how much of what I need to do can I do before I cannot see my feet?"

He laughed out loud at that. "If that is not too the point I do not know what is. I would say about half of it."

"Sounds like a plan, sir. Where do I sign?"

He reached for a folder on his desk and handed it to her. In about 10 minutes she had signed everything. Most of it had been pre filled out. When she finished it, she looked at him.

"So what next?"

"Inform your command about your intentions. Special Forces has another position they would like you to fill while we are all waiting for the birds to get done.

Liz blinked for a minute then sighed. "Don't tell me; their ASP."

He grinned again. "No flies on you. Makes sense; that is the other area you have excelled in. And they are losing their commander next month."

And that was that. Liz headed back home and let Max know that it was done. The next day she went to the 101st Brigade HQ and talked to the head of personnel there.

"Captain Parker, what can I do for you?"

"Here are my transfer papers to the 160th SOAR."

She did enjoy the look on his face.

Not two hours later she got a call from her Brigade Commander.

"I don't suppose there is any way I can talk you into staying, Captain?" Was his statement to her when she came to his office.

"Sir do you know about the new bird they are getting?"

He looked at her and slowly nodded. "So that is why. I guess I cannot blame you. We will be very sorry to lose you Captain."

"I am sorry to leave sir, but we both know I would not have been in that cockpit for that much longer here."

"I am not going to BS you so no you would not have. Your promotion is in the works and you would have been Battalion XO fairly soon. You should know that you will be getting another commendation."

Liz sighed. "Now what?"

He smiled suddenly. "I just got the word today. Company A, 1st Battalion, 101st Aviation Brigade will be awarded the Presidential Unit Citation for actions in Kandahar and Helmand Provinces, Afghanistan from March of 2010 through February of 2011."

Liz blinked but smiled. "So everyone that served in A Company in that time period is included."

"Yes."

"That is very good. I do not mind this one."

"Thought that would make you a bit happier. I am very sorry to lose you but I do understand why. It has been an honor and pleasure to have you in my command, Captain."

"Proud to have served in your command, Colonel."

Liz came back to their house and found Max and Aliya preparing lunch. She smiled at this. She had not eaten much that morning, her stomach had been a little queasy so she was very hungry now and proceeded to devour two large sandwiches. Aliya had wide eyes at that; Liz laughed at her.

"You have seen me eat big meals before."

"Momma, it always surprises me."

After lunch Aliya went off to the center; this was her last day off before going back to school. A lot of children had not been in school since the division had come back. The school there was used to it. Max came back after dropping her off and found Liz just sitting and smiling.

"What has you happy?"

"The Brigade Commander informed me that A Company is getting the Presidential Unit Citation."

"Wow."

"Yeah this is one I do not mind. Of course it is my second; sometimes I forget about the one I got for being in the 3rd ID during the initial assault on Iraq."

The next week when the Brigade reported back the Company was given the word; the award would be made within the next few weeks. After that she told them that she would be transferring to the 160th SOAR.

They pretty much all said the same thing; that they were not surprised and that they understood. She knew they were disappointed she was going but that was all.

Liz felt like she was in limbo and really did not know what to do until the transfer was formalized. Then another thought occurred to her that kind of took precedence. She realized she was late and remembered the slight nausea she had had on and off the last week or so. She wasted no time in going into town in civilian clothes and getting a pregnancy test. She came back to the house; glad that Max was looking over his new job; they were working on renovating the main air field and he had gotten a job with the contractor as supervisor of the work crews. She knew he would like that job better than the last. She read the instructions and followed them. Not ten minutes later Max came home and found her smiling again.

"OK, what this time?"

She showed him the test.

They spent the next hour making love. Then talking about things.

Aliya came home from school and was told; she was big eyed and asked a lot of questions. Liz very early on told her that she would be the big sister and thus would have some responsibility.

That evening Liz called her mom, then Maria and the others. Then the Crew, and finally the Posse. The crew and posse called for a party at the park the coming Saturday.

Liz quietly called the commander of the 160th SOAR and told him her news.

"Congratulations on the baby, Captain. Good timing. Very efficient."

Liz laughed and thanked him.

On Saturday the Posse proceeded to make sure she did various things. Liz loved this time; the Crew were just as happy. And had some announcements. They were all getting married in the next few months.

That of course required much consultation on all matters marriage.

Back home that evening Liz cuddled with Aliya and Max on the sofa. They just sat there and enjoyed being together.

That Monday Liz was notified formally that her transfer had been accepted. And that she would be detached in two weeks to take over the ASP for Special Operations. And that the Presidential Unit Citation would be held in the White House Rose Garden on May 14. She was not pleased when told that the only ones listed were the Copilots, Pilots and Sergeant Rogers. She immediately called Brigade and they told her they were working on it. Liz then emailed her congressman.