Tuesday. 09:45 Naval Station Great Lakes, Wargame 1.

“Recon’s hold, you got a guard walking near by you.” Nathan called out on coms. Thirty seconds passed. “Cleared to proceed.”

The only squad left to get into position was John’s force recon squad. The enemy platoon was completely unaware where any of them were. The enemy was spread throughout the base, which meant John’s squad could get to the objective could be easy if they enemy stays suppressed.

“John, you’ve got two enemies on a smoke break back there. No one else is back there.” Thomas called.

“Got eyes on them. Patrice and Terry. Y’all ready?”

“Yes.” They both answered.

“Commence attack in twenty seconds.”

John pointed at Miguel and Alex. “At three seconds take out both members with a three-round burst.”

The clock took what felt like an eternity to wind down, but at three seconds the two recon members fired a quick burst and eliminated both guards near them. John hopped over the wall and went to the edge of the wall and raised his gun to his shoulder to cover the rest of his squad. He waived them up. At the front of the compound all hell was breaking loose.

“HUDs have cones of fire from friendlies, stay aware from there. Twenty-five meters to target. Eliminate anyone we see using burst fire.” John ordered his squad.

They moved stealthily around the containers. They took out one more guard around the second to last container. John took a camera door breach lens and poked it out the side. They had to run down the length of this shipping container and then duck to the right to get to the central command of the impromptu base.

“John, all of the guards moved up to the front of the base to help defend it. No idea on how many hostiles are left around the command center.”

“Roger.” John switched his coms to his squad. “Miguel, you cover my left, everyone else fall in and watch your fire, do not shoot friendlies.”

They crept forward. They stopped with weapons at the ready. John took out his camera again and saw three enemies. He motioned three to the squad. He then made it clear with nonverbal cues that he was responsible for shooting the right one, Alex the middle, and Miguel the left. He set a timer on their HUDs.

At one second, they jumped into action and caught the enemy command team completely unawares. The three were eliminated. The intel objective was taken along with some secondary items that were mentioned in the mission briefing.

“Overwatch, route clear?” John asked.

“All clear.”

“Bounce, same way we came. Double time.” John ordered.

It took them less than thirty seconds to weave between the shipping containers. The squads’ weapons were at the ready as they cleared containers.

“We’re clear, fighting retreat.”

The recon team was watched by the designated marksmen at the top of the hill. When John’s squad cleared the base, they were running towards the DM squad. Patrice and Terry’s squads fell back first, got into position then let the heavy weapons squads fall back. It took the squad longer to sneak into position then to execute the attack. But they once again suffered no casualties and dominated the wargame. Their opponents were hopelessly outmatched.

The after-action report back in the classroom called that out. There were zero casualties suffered by their platoon, they managed to eliminate only fifteen enemy combatants in that wargame. They did a good job of being able to dig in, but they didn’t protect their objective well enough. The roles would be reversed in two days. The platoon they fought against would be the attacker and they would be the defender. The rest of the day the cadets immediate switched gears from celebrating to planning their defense.

Thursday. 10:30 Officer Training Room 4A.

John’s plan to be the defender was a unique one. It bordered between insane and insubordinate. But it would result in his platoon not suffering any casualties and denying the enemy the information.

“So, you put the intel in the middle of the base unprotected. Made sure they could see that. Then set off a simulated claymore charge to deny the enemy the intel.” Max was attempting to keep a straight face.

“Yes sir. But we only detonated it when they got close to it. If we couldn’t guarantee it’s safety, then we’d be better off destroying it and confusing the enemy.” John answered matter of fact like.

“And that led into the next step?”

“Yes, the top shipping containers towards the rear of the base were lined with spare armor plates and had our snipers and heavy weapons teams in there. The enemy squad was acting all confused like after the explosion, so the initial alpha strike was highly effective.” Terry stated.

“When they regrouped, we set off the smoke grenades we had around the base and had those squads fall back along the coast.” Kristin added lastly.

“Well, that’s now two things you’ve done that we’ve never seen before. Head back to your platoon and stow your gear. Then head to PE before lunch.” Max lightly shook his head as the cadet leaders saluted him.

“Aye aye.” The four cadet leaders saluted and left the office.

Captain Marcus walked in smiling. “They were the only platoon that realized that the data was better left destroyed then the chance to fall into enemy hands. It’s not technically a loss on their part to deny the other’s a victory.”

“Only one platoon won the defense, and they were brought down to a single cadet left. Instead, this one chose to blow it up, leave a squad to shoot at the enemy, then immediately fall back. They still took out a quarter of the enemy platoon in this match.” Max was laughing at the absurdity of it.

“Speaking of, this platoon and the other, presuming they both win the next ones will be joined together for the last game.”

12:30 Cafeteria

“Look, it was the soundest strategy. Deny them the victory. Destroy the intel and run away.” John smiled as he had a bite of his burger.

“But it just a shit way to win the match.” Jessica said.

“They were so confused too. They stopped moving from cover. They got lit the fuck up by us.” Kevin was smiling about his kill count there.

“We took out a quarter of their platoon and denied them the data. And only six members of our platoon were ever in any real danger of being shot at.”

“We got credit for an original solution to the scenario.” Alice smiled. “Five bucks says they change it for the next class though.”

The platoon enjoyed their lunch. They had classes all afternoon then PE in the evening. They were going to be exhausted that night when they turned in. Winning a wargame did not result in them having less PE to do. If anything, it felt like there was more that they had to do.

The next wargame was nothing interesting. They were the attackers and won with relatively easily again. Their platoon had the most flexibility with weapon options, so they were able to adjust their plan of attack accordingly to anything challenging they came up against. When that wargame was over there were only five days left during the summer training. Everyone was ready for regular summer school, even Andern.

Wednesday. 16:00 Captain Marcus’ Office

“Captain, I deserve to be the commander as I’ve led my platoon to a perfect record.” Cadet Jerry Been stated.

“Cadet Lief, your response?” Captain Marcus looked over at the other cadet in front of his desk.

“I can’t speak for Been’s leadership abilities. I can however speak for mine and the results speak for itself.” John calmly stated. “We’ve only had three simulated casualties and one death in the last five wargames I’ve commanded. Not to mention the outside the box thinking that has given my platoon the flexibility to do what it has.”

“Lief, you’re the leading the two platoons. How are you going to handle your command structure?”

“Patrice will be the second in command, Jerry and his other three leaders in their platoon will be my lieutenants. Depending on their specialties they will likely lead a pair of squads each.”

“Understood, all of you are dismissed.”

The cadets walked out of Captain Marcus’ office and headed to the classroom to review the mission. John pulled aside Jerry and his command squad before going into the room.

“Out with it. In there I don’t want our platoons at each other’s throats. I want us to win this.”

“You don’t deserve this command, I do.” Jerry stated calmly.

“Anything else?”

“We should be in command. We know what to do to win this.” Jerry said calmly again.

“Respectfully, no you don’t. Half of your victories were pyrrhic ones. Watch and learn.” John motioned for them to follow him into the room.

Jerry was shocked to see John’s platoon was already working on the mission. About a quarter of his platoon was working with them, the rest were sitting in their seats waiting.

“So, what do we got here?” John asked.

“Two versus Eight.” Alice laughed.

“So, a fair fight for a change, eh?” John looked at the board. “Stealth suit would make this so much easier.”

“Too bad for you.” Thomas laughed.

“Jerry, how many recon suits did y’all request?” John asked. Recon suits didn’t have active camouflage fields but did effective render them invisible in thermal vision scopes.

“We have four.” Jerry answered.

“Ok, so that means we can have ten sneaky boys. Hands up if you are the four in question.” John looked at the room. “Ok good, y’all are in my squad now.”

John looked at the table some more.

“Ok, Patrice you’re going to be in command of the main attacking force. Jerry, you’re his second in command.”

“Roger?” Jerry said unsure like.

“How much heavy weaponry did you lot get?” Kevin shouted out.

“Full squad worth.” A cadet said from the seats.

“Perfect, so we have twelve machine guns that we can have split up in two squads here and here for suppressing fire.”

The other platoon wasn’t used to the controlled chaos that was occurring in the room. Everyone could toss out ideas. John was ultimately the final decision maker, but the democratized planning session produced a higher quality plan in the same amount of time. In comparison to Jerry’s platoon, the mission plan was light years ahead of what they could have produced in the same amount of time.

“We have three squads of DMs too. So, each heavy squad can have a DM to cover them and then the third can hang with the snipers over here.” Theresa pointed at the locations where they’d be set up.

“Jerry, I want your DMs to coordinate with my platoon’s DMs. The best six at shooting beyond three hundred meters are going with the snipers.”

“Roger.” Jerry and Theresa said in unison.

“Six squads of riflemen then positioned throughout here.” Patrice placed down some more markers to display where they would be.

“Ok, so it’s another intel objective, if I’ve got three hundred two cadets, I’m keeping the main room here with a half platoon or thereabouts. Which complicates things if the intel objective is a person. So, we’re going to have to go in there with kid gloves.” John mused.

Jerry’s platoon eventually got fully involved in the planning process. They spent the next three hours working on their battle plan. They would insert from behind a hill and in the plains. The snipers and recon squads would move in first. The snipers and DMs would have night vision scopes and thermal yardage scopes to see if the enemy had any scouts out in the forest to attack them while they were moving into position.

After dinner they went out to the wargame zone and saw the terrain themselves before it was dark out. They took that information back to the classroom and modified the plan to account for that. Saturday morning, they would practice in the morning. The top six marksmen were determined so the DM squads were then set. In the afternoon they’d have a couple classes. John told the squad to get some rest after chow. Later that evening they’d start their attack after sunset.

Sunday. 00:15 Wargame 1 Grounds

“Forest is clear, no hostiles. Recon squad, suspicions confirmed. Command building is hot.” Theresa said over coms.

“Fuck us. Turtling bastards.” John said under his breath. “Send up a drone, can we confirm live intel or not?”

“Roger.”

A rifle company cadet got the drone off his back and flew it up and out of the forest. The video feed was being shared with everyone.

“Heavies in position.” Kevin called out.

“Sniper’s and DMs are as well.” Theresa added.

“Rifle squads need four minutes.” Patrice called out.

“Recon needs four too.”

“Good news on intel. No live intel. Everyone in the command tent is a hostile.” Jerry called out.

“First bit of good news we’ve got.”

“You want the bad news?” Theresa asked. “There’s two platoons worth in the back area where you’re heading.”

“Fuck.” John was trying to process things. “What’s the headcount on the alpha strike?”

“Eighty to one hundred.” Terry answered.

“Squads are in position. Snipers and DMs, when you can maximize the hits start the countdown.” Patrice ordered.

“Hold for five. Overwatch, can you identify enemy leaders? Observe their movements. In the initial attack they are priority targets.” John ordered.

“Roger.” Theresa called out.

It was an agonizing wait, but they were able to identify at least twenty enemies that were either officers or squad sergeants. They were highlighted on everyone’s HUD. If there were any clear shots at them, they were the first targets to be attacked.

John was used his camera to look over the small wall. There was a full platoon’s worth back there, but they didn’t seem to be paying attention to the wall.

“I need three of you to hop over with me and get into position. Rest of you hop over when you hear us shooting. Clear?”

The recon squad nodded. John and three others climbed over the wall carefully and got into the shadows and marked targets. Their HUDs saw a countdown. John flicked the safety off and set it into burst fire and readied his gun. He started firing with five seconds left in the countdown. The other three recon members with him did the same a heartbeat after he did. The rest of the squad was over the wall and had targets acquired and were shooting them. In those five seconds they had taken out fifteen targets.

Then an overwhelming about of firepower was unleashed from nearly a dozen different locations. The enemy platoons where completely clueless why dozens of their squads were dropping from everywhere in the base. Worse yet for the enemy platoon, they had lost all of their best leaders. The remaining cadet leaders were shell shocked and weren’t capable of effectively leading what remains of the defenders. While they still had an overwhelming number of bodies left to fight back, their ability to coordinate a counterattack had been crippled.

“Clear.” John motioned for the two recon members behind him to move up and take a defensive position. “Miguel and Arik, you’re our rearguard. Call out targets for the fire teams.”

“Roger.”

Three cadets ran out from a container in twenty meters from them, four members of the squad took aim and put them down. John smiled when he saw that.

“Nice work.” He turned his comes to the snipers. “Overwatch, what’s the route like to the bunker?”

“Twenty to thirty outside still.”

“Have shots on them?” John inquired.

“Negative, headcount is from active drone footage.”

John shut the coms off. “Fuck us, time to be sneaky. You two, kill any enemies you see. Rest of us fall in and follow me.”

Kevin’s squad of six machine gunners had four of them firing four to five round bursts at all times. They were keeping the enemy pinned down and they couldn’t move or return fire. That allows the fire times to begin flanking the side and getting clear shots at the front-line guards.

“Enemy is below fifty percent starting strength.” Theresa called out to the entire platoon in between shots.

John and his group were moving up slowly. He used the camera and saw twenty-five to thirty cadets in the alley way down their way. He pulled the camera back.

“Two volleys of grenades. You two throw flash bangs the first one. Clear?”

The squad got their mock grenades ready. They were waiting on John’s command.

“Stun’s now.” John counted to two seconds. “Grenades now!”

The flashbangs went off, then two seconds later the first volley of grenades landed and went off. Ten seconds later a second volley of grenades went off. The squad dashed around the container and fired at any cadets that weren’t on the ground. The grenade volley had annihilated the guards, their shooting finished the job. They took up a defense position and took out a squad at the front gate that had taken cover. They could see the bunker from their position.

“We can dash over there.” Alex was pointing.

“Negative. We’d be out in the open and in the light.” John was looking around. “We head down here; we can hop up onto the second container down there.”

The group hopped over the cement barrier and walked between the containers. John got to the container and used his camera. He smirked when he saw the visual feed on his HUD.

“That’s why we didn’t rush it. Fifteen enemies out front.” John opened his coms again. “Snipers, you get line of sight on the marked squads?”

“That’s a negative.” One of Theresa’s snipers called back. “Nothing left back there though.”

“Miguel and Alex, fall in, follow the path on your HUD.” They complied and dashed forward.

“John, fire teams moving into base to clear out the front. We’ve got two squads coming towards you.”

John got his tablet and drew a quick warning zone for them to avoid. “We’re on top of the shipping container on the map. Be careful of the red area. We’ll toss a flashbang, when that goes off you can move in. We’ll open fire from up here.”

“Roger, in place in twenty seconds.”

“If our intel is right. All that’s left is where you’re at.” Theresa called out.

The rifle squads that flanked the front gate of the base had finished taking out the enemy cadets that were in defensible positions. They held their position and waited to hear from the squads assaulting the building the objective was being held in.

John told the recon squad to get their flash bangs out. The two that had thrown theirs already were going to toss grenades instead. Three more squads called out in position. John set a timer for everyone. There was a two second delay for the fire teams, one second delay for the grenades.

When the countdown hit their designated time, eight flashbangs were thrown. The recon team switched to their guns and opened fire. The fire teams moved in and opened fire as well. Five seconds later the last guard were eliminated. John and the rest of the recon units jumped down to the ground and were closing in on the bunker.

“Stay in cover just in case. We don’t want to lose anyone carelessly here.”

Everyone responded in the affirmative.

“Bossman, nearly bingo ammo.” Alex was down to his last mag.

John walked up to the side door. The cadets inside were holed up tight. He ordered two cadets per door. He climbed up to the top of the bunker and was checking the vent hole at the top. He unscrewed the vent.

“Need two flashbangs. Toss em up.” John caught the two that came up one after another. “Breach the doors when the flashbangs go off.”

John pulled the pins on both flashbangs, kicked the grate off and tossed both flashbangs in. Two loud bangs went off. His squad breached the bunker and eliminated the remaining enemy troops. The wargame was over, they had won once more.

All the cadets saw their HUDs flash that the game was over and those that were playing dead could move once more. Everyone was heading back to their original deployment zones.

“What was our loss count?” John asked over their coms.

“Five KIA, twenty-two casualties suffered with seven serious.” Jerry announced. “Hell of a lot better than expected.”

John’s adrenaline levels were coming down. He was mentally and physically spent. John wanted to celebrate but he couldn’t. They had a five-mile hike back to their deployment zone where they could drop off their gear and then catch a ride back into the school.

Alice was waiting for him at the gate. She was smiling from ear to ear. She had racked up a pretty impressive kill count and had helped stabilize two of her squad mates that got injured and even pulled one back into safety back into the forest. John hugged her and she gave him a kiss on the cheek. The two walked back to the DZ, they were looking forward to a shower, food and sleep. No one really wanted to go through an after-action report, but that was in their immediate future too. At least praise was in their future. The other after-action report would likely be very unpleasant to be a part of.

The cadets had finished the summer training camp with great success. Now they had a few short weeks until finals. Unfortunately for them there was no rest for the weary. Tomorrow they were back to normal summer school, and midterms would start that week.