Chapter 3: DMZ

Well boys, as you all know both North and South Korea are still at odds with each other.

I know that a lot of you fought there and I hate to bring up any painful memories. Unfortunately, the North Koreans aren't so kind. It seems that they're still a little sore over what happened during the war. They probably wish it had ended up like Vietnam. With Chinese encouragement they've decided to try reigniting the Korean War. For obvious reasons, this wouldn't be beneficial to anybody on either side of the Cold War; not to mention the civilian populations in those two countries if the perspective second stage were to be bad as the first.

They seem to have taken inspiration from the German dealings with Poland for this one.

From what we can tell, a North Korean infantry platoon of around fifty men, dressed in South Korean Marines, are going to move towards to the DMZ, and take out a North Korean embassy base. Our job is to make a blue-on-blue situation. A small team will move in to intercept the unit and cause enough damage to scrap the plan for them. If that fails, try to cause enough damage to attract any nearby North Korean units, and let them solve the problem for us.

We've given you a North Korean Army signals book and some flares for just such an occasion.

They should know that this is a spoiler attack and they probably won't want to go public because of it. If they try, we'll have our boys in Langley talk some sense in to them. So get out there and do your jobs, boys. Good luck out there.

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"DMZ"
April 11th, 1968
Sergeant Adam Setser
1st Army Research Division, a.k.a "the Trust"
Somewhere 1 and a half miles north of the North/South Korean DMZ

For a communist country that had just recently come out of a war that hadn't officially ended yet, it was surprisingly easy to get to the northern side of the 88th Parallel, and move to the position where we were going to set up our ambush. The South Korean government had been contacted by the US and told of the plan. They fell in love with it, begged to help, and as a result the South Korean military's engineers went out near the DMZ to show what irony really meant. The North Koreans loved using tunnels under the DMZ to cross it relatively unobserved and so the military engineers dug us our own tunnels for infiltration and extraction during the operation.

The tunnels each led about half a mile past either side of the DMZ, with groups of South Korean soldiers sitting on the southern side, and there were three in total for when it came time to extract from the area. We had travelled to our planned ambush position with no opposition from the North Korean military. Sure, we ran across some of their patrols, but those were all relatively easy to avoid for the six of us. Now we had all camouflaged ourselves, setting up our ambush. We would be firing down in to a large clearing from the slope of a steep mountain, with a large road on the northern side of the clearing.

Jeremy had been assigned a Remington sniper rifle, Darryl was using a scoped M14, Staff Sergeant Moscerra was using an M16 with an under-slung grenade launcher, Lieutenant Baker had an M16 like Staff Sergeant Moscerra's, Petya was using a simple M16 without the grenade launcher, and I had been assigned an M60 machinegun for the operation. We were all covered with dark green sheets to help us blend in with the local brush while we waited in almost total silence. I was closest to the front of our roughly diamond-shaped formation, with Darryl and Jeremy lying behind me a short distance away.

We had even gone so far as to set up some claymore mines further down the slip in case anybody tried to push a counter assault up the slope. Slowly moving my head to glance at my watch, I checked the time. According to intelligence, the North Korean commandoes would be passing through this area in the next ten minutes or so. Once they were out in the open, we were going to hit them so hard it would knock them back in to last week. If that failed, we'd send up a signal flare so that the nearest North Korean unit would think that there really were South Korean soldiers trying to infiltrate North Korea.

"It's seems kind of strange." I heard Darryl whisper.

"What does?" Jeremy asked.

"How we're stoppin' these guys from attacking a North Korean outpost." Darryl elaborated.

"We're not helping them." I whispered back, "If we do it right: nobody will know it was us."

"True enough." Darryl replied.

"Can it." Lieutenant Baker whispered in a far harsher manner then the rest of us.

I didn't say anything else and instead just looked to my watch once again. According to my watch, it would be five minutes until they passed through, but when I looked back out to the road it seemed that they were early. We all saw them: a trio of men who came out crouching from the tree line, to the other side of the road. It looked like it was a scout team. They would go out, check for hostiles, and if nothing happened then the rest of the unit would come out in to the open. I slowly squeezed my finger around the trigger of the machinegun. Everything seemed to get quieter as we watched the three men.

They looked around, apparently didn't see anything, and crossed the road back in to the tree-line from where they had come. Approximately three minutes later, we watched as a much larger group emerged from the tree-line. There was around forty men overall, all of them moving as cautiously as possible across the road, and out in to the open.

"Here they come." Petya whispered.

"On my mark: light 'em up." Lieutenant Baker sounded uncharacteristically calm.

They began to head for the center of the clearing.

"One...two...three...mark!" Lieutenant Baker yelled at the end, having whispered the count.

I squeezed the trigger of the M60 all the way. It kicked in to my shoulder as I fired in bursts of anywhere from three to eight rounds, approximately. To reduce their ability to track our position, the standard load of every fifth or sixth round being a tracer in the M60 had been changed. Instead every eighth round was a red tracer round, instead of green rounds that were signature of the Western militaries. As a result, I was still able to appropriately adjust my fire, but the enemy soldiers below would have a harder time finding out where it was all coming from initially.

Meanwhile, behind me I could hear Jeremy and Darryl opening fire with their sniper rifles, and the others as they rose to crouch while firing over our heads with their M16s. As we fired, the North Korean soldiers down below all dived for cover, scattering, and only sporadically returning fire. It was obvious that they didn't quite know from which way the fire was coming from because I could see that they were all shooting in multiple directions. Gunfire was echoing across all of the surrounding hills, ringing around everywhere.

"Keep up the fire!" Lieutenant Baker ordered.

"I've got to reload!" I replied.

My one hundred round ammo belt had run dry. I pulled a fresh box of ammo from my vest, feeding the ammo as quickly as I could. Once that was done, I chambered the new round, took aim, and opened fire once again. Behind me I heard the sound of an under-slung grenade launcher firing. A few moments later, I saw an explosion down amongst the North Korean commandoes. It seemed now that they knew generally where the fire was coming from because I could see and hear rounds hitting the trees and surrounding underbrush around us.

"Jesus!" I heard Jeremy suddenly exclaim.

"What is it?" Staff Sergeant Moscerra had to yell over all the gunfire.

"My arm: they shot me in my arm!" Jeremy sounded like he was gritting his teeth.

"Back behind a tree or something, just don't stay out in the open!" Lieutenant Baker ordered.

It was obvious the order was for all of us. I rose up, shedding the green cover that had been helping me blend in, and took cover by crouching behind a thick-looking nearby tree. We continued to fire down at the North Koreans while they fired back up. So far none of them had tried to push on the hill so I hadn't needed to set off the claymore mines yet. Either way, I had a feeling that if we didn't wipe them out soon then we were going to have North Korean border guards swarming all over the place.

"Fuck it, I'm sending up a flare!" Lieutenant Baker yelled.

I didn't need to look back to know that he was loading up the flare gun he had been given for this mission. I heard it fire and didn't look up until I had heard it ignite well above our heads. Glancing up I saw a red parachute flare. According to the signal book we had been given, until they would change the code next month the red flare was a signal to all other North Korean units that there was a contact with enemy forces, and that backup was needed immediately. That meant we probably only had to fight for a bit more before more North Koreans would show up.

Reloading for the third time now, I continued to fire down at the remaining enemy soldiers who had taken cover in the taller grass to be concealed from view. Unfortunately for them, concealment and cover weren't the same thing. Once again, a volley of under-slung grenades fired out in to the clearing, and I could see the explosions just as I finished reloading the "Pig". I was about to take aim when I happened to glance up at the road. Two North Korean jeeps with mounted machineguns came pulling up.

I nearly fired on them, but restrained myself.

The two jeeps started opening fire on the commandos and I couldn't see clearly, but I had a feeling that the commandos were probably firing back if only to try discouraging the men in the jeeps. Unfortunately, it seemed like they had a card up their sleeves that the commandos didn't prepare for because it was about that time when I heard a rumbling over the din of all the gunfire. I could see just past the trees and what I saw made my heart skip a beat. I knew I saw the top of a North Korean tank's turret.

"I think we have a tank!" I yelled back to Lieutenant Baker.

What I said was punctuated by a loud explosion. Looking back, I saw the small North Korean tank from before. It had just fired a round in to the field in an attempt to kill off the commandos.

"We need to leave: now!" Lieutenant Baker yelled, "Setser: leave the claymores!"

Nobody had to say or do anything for him to know we were following his orders. I took the detonator for the claymores, often called a "clacker", and gave it an under-hand toss in a random direction away from our current hide-spot. I rose in to a partial standing position, covering the rest of the team with the M60 as they moved back to the crest of the hill. I knew the commandos probably wouldn't be able to try and push up the hill, but it never hurt to be careful. I glanced back and once I saw the others at the crest, I stopped firing, and ran to catch up with them.

"Primary is just down the hill and through a valley to the north!" Staff Sergeant Moscerra said.

"Then let's move: the Gooks are going to be all over this place!" Lieutenant Baker yelled to us.

We started moving down-hill, with Petya beside me to help cover the rear of the group. Our first destination on the way to our primary extraction was a dried out, deep canal that ran through a heavily forested part of a short valley. From there it was a short sprint across open ground at the end of the forested part of the valley, and then up a nearby short mountain the mouth of the tunnel had been disguised to look like a boring old cave for somebody who didn't know what it really was. Once we were across, the South Korean engineers would blast charges in the tunnel, and collapse it behind us once we were clear.

If everything went according to plan, the North Korean attack would be spoiled, they would get a lovely helping of humble pie, and we'd all be able to kick back while sipping some beers after having just possibly prevented a start to WWIII. Unfortunately for us, that all was a dried out canal, a forested valley, a sprint across open ground, and a quick run up the slope of a mountain away. At any other time, it may have taken thirty minutes to get to the tunnel entrance. In war estimations of time changed radically. That's why none of us were thinking like that right now.

All we were focused on was the now: taking it all one step at a time.

"Let's get moving!" I heard Darryl shout from near the front of the group.

We headed down-hill as quickly as we could, listening to the gunfire fading on the other side of the hill. Lieutenant Baker was right: first the Gooks would check out the commandos, then they would investigate the hill to see who it was that had sent up the flare, and after they found out from other units that there had been no patrols in that area then all hell would break loose. Helicopters, search parties, and everything else would be dedicated to finding out who it was that had engaged the commandos. It wouldn't take them long to realize something was up.

If all things went according to plan, we would be in the tunnel before they came out in force.

We ran in to the canal, a two-lane paved road on our left now, and the hill on our right. As we ran, we could suddenly hear gunfire coming from the hill once again. I glanced back to see the silhouettes of North Korean border guards who had just spotted us. They were firing inaccurately, with most of their rounds hitting the street, or the areas around us. I turned around and fired a quick burst from the M60 to try making them keep their heads down.

"Tangos on our six!" I called to the front of the group.

"Keep moving!" I heard Staff Sergeant Moscerra yell.

I kept back-pedaling, firing at the advancing North Korean soldiers. There was obviously quite a lot of them. Whoever had sent them must have been extremely cautious because it seemed that whenever I shot one, suddenly another one or two would come to replace that one. It had been obvious from the start that we were outnumbered but this was just starting to get ridiculous. I kept firing bursts of M60 rounds in the general direction of the enemy. Once I saw that we were starting to enter a more heavily forested area, I turned and started simply running along with the rest of the group as fast as we could.

"They're right on our tail!" Petya yelled.

"We know!" Was Staff Sergeant Moscerra's response.

As we reached the edge of the trees, being shot at the whole way, we all heard a very distinct sound in the distance, and I couldn't help but look to the sky. The sound was coming from the north east; behind us. A HIND gunship came swooping in to view from behind a particularly large hill. I knew that it was more than capable of ripping us to shreds with its nose cannon or missiles. I once again turned, firing my M60 wildly in its general direction. By now my belt had just come up empty and I knew I couldn't take the time to reload right now. Instead, I opted to just keep running as fast as I could.

"We're almost there!" I heard Lieutenant Baker yell back to the rest of us.

It was true that we were making good progress, but the HIND was making far better progress.

"It's closing on us!" Petya yelled, and I could hear the fear in his voice.

"Just keep mo-..." I didn't get to finish.

How it didn't kill us, I don't know, but it simply didn't. The pilot's gunner fired a single missile at our group and it had slammed in to the ground near us. While the others were simply forced to stumble or cringe from falling dirt: Petya and I weren't so lucky. In one moment I was running along, and in the next I was suddenly being picked in to the air. I dropped my M60 as I did a complete front-flip: landing with a grunt on my back. Petya twirled through the air. The others kept running towards the cave: they couldn't afford to stop just for us. I could afford to help them as much as possible, though.

I unhooked my pack as the HIND began to come overhead of Petya and I. Scrambling for my M60 moments later, I grabbed it, sat up, and began firing in to the belly of the helicopter from behind. I must have hit something because I watched as the helicopter wavered for a few moments and something looking like oil or fuel began leaking from the bottom. Its pilot apparently decided that it wasn't worth it. I watched it make a wide arch and start its way back to wherever it was that it came from. I moved over to Petya, who was lying face-down on the ground, and not moving. I prayed he wasn't dead as I turned him over.

He grit his teeth in protest.

Looking down to his thigh, I could see why. There was a piece of shrapnel the same diameter as a baseball in his upper thigh. As I heard North Koreans shouting off in the distance behind me, I knew there was no way I could possibly drag or carry him to the cave, and the team couldn't afford to turn back. I closed my eyes, clenching a fist in anger.

I was going to be captured.

Again.

I could only pray that the North Koreans wouldn't be as brutal to me as the North Vietnamese.

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The air in the office was thick, with a thick layer of smoke intermingling with an overbearing sense of what could best be described as grim disappointment. The Director hadn't even lit his most recent cigar yet, and had instead opted to chew on it as he looked to the papers and photographs spread out on his desk. The Doctor had a half-smoked cigarette between his fingers and his brow was furrowed: his eyes hidden from view by light reflecting off his lenses.

"So Sgt. Setser was captured?" The Director asked.

His tone made it sound more like a statement, however.

The Doctor gave a small nod, "As well as the Russian: Petya."

"Do we know where they're being held?" The Director retrieved his lighter from his desk, now.

"We've found their position: the North Koreans have kept them together." The Doctor replied.

The Director let out a heavy sigh, "What are the chances of rescue?"

"Minimal." The Doctor shook his head, "Unless they get across the border: they're gone."

Neither man even moved as everything seemed to get very, very quiet.

"What about our boys in Moscow?" The Director suddenly asked.

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Author's Notes: I finally managed to overcome my writer's block for this chapter. Well that means we're one more chapter closer to the end of this epic tale. Don't worry, though. The end is still a bit further away.