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Kindle Notes & Highlights
leaned forward on the webbed bench.
Why is the bench webbed? Are there spiders on the helo? Usually the back wall and the underside of the helo bench are webbed for carrying the gear of the helo crew, not the bench. I wonder who edited this. Certainly was not a prior military person who rode helos (Air Assault, PJs, SAR, ASW, etc.). A former helo rider should have caught this minute mistake. A simple mistake in military hardware so early in the book is concerning.
their battle dress uniforms, and all had beards and long hair to blend into the Afghan culture.
Nope, if the SF guys have on their combat gear there is no way in hell they are going to "blend" in with the Afghan culture. Might as well wear a flashing neon sign saying "American here" with an arrow. If the SF want to blend in with the locals, they would be wearing Afghan clothing, carrying typical Afghan weapons, and they would all speak fluently or at least colloquially some of the local dialects. In typical US SF gear, there is no blending with the Afghans.
Delta’s Fico Delgado,
I assume the author means Delta Force, or 1st SFOD-D. Among JSOC members they usually refer to Delta as Task Force Green.
adjusted their helmets and night-vision devices
With this crap on there is no "blending" with the Afghan culture.
Infrared
Why is infrared capitalized? Night time LZs can be illuminated with infrared, but it would not be designated as such. Usually LZs have a number and letter or name designations - I.E. LZ Green, LZ 1B, etc. And who marked the LZ with infrared? Is there another team that dropped the IR markers?
plateau two kilometers from the village
See note below about wonderous NVGs worn by the team.
area. The winds howled out of the east at fifteen miles an hour, the temperature held at fifty-eight degrees Fahrenheit, while the rain pelted the ground into a mud-soaked path.
See note about wonderous NVG technology below.
Delta Force Sergeant Delgado;
This should have been moved to when we first read about Sgt. Delgado.
infrared technology illuminated the houses at
They are actively painting the village? Most NVG set ups do not reach approx. 1.25 miles. The SF guys get good toys, but damn NVGs that allow the user to clearly see a village 1.25 miles away in the rain, is damn good shit. At best from this distance, you would see a green blur which could be anything from a village to a herd of goats.
white strobe light,
'white and strobe' should have been deleted. Just say light.
three magazines
They must not plan on getting into a shooting match with the Tallies. The MP5N as used by the SEALs fires 800 rounds per minute. If the team is carrying the typical 30-round stick mags (or even the newer and rare 40-round stick mags) that is not a lot of ammo for a SMG. Some of the guys with the MP5s would also be carrying an M4.
flash...
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Flash bang what? I Know the author means flash bang grenades, but it should have been clarified.
Finding themselves targets in the kill zone,
Should have removed "target" if you are in a kill zone, you are a target otherwise you would not be in a kill zone.
Air Force combat controller and another operator ran into the kill zone
Where we these guys when the shit hit the fan? Why were they not with the rest of the teams?
video link from the Predator spotted twenty-five armed insurgents (terrorists) moving fast up on the ridge. We’ve called in a couple of C-130 gunships and the Medevac from Jalalabad.”
The Predator is not armed? Unusual as most at least carry a pair of rockets, usually Hellfires.
That would be an AC-130. C-130s are unarmed.
Usually AC-130s operate individually, but in a fictional world, if one AC-130 is good, two is even better.
Where is the C-130 going to land? I am assuming the Medevac is not a C-130. Type of aircraft used would have been part of the mission briefing.
the chance of the helo being blown to bits
Assuming the reader correctly infers that the Medevac is a helo. For this many troops, the Medevac helo is going to be a big one, such as a CH-53 (used by the Navy and Marine Corps) or a CH-47. JSOC teams use helos from all branches of the service.
The team ran for cover.
For what stupid reason did they break cover while being attacked?
Ericksen yelled “Fire!”
The team has already been shot at and shot back. Don't need the LT to tell his team to shoot back.
submachine guns on full auto.
There goes the three magazines of ammo. Good thing the team came prepared. At 800 RPM, the MP5Ns are going to eat all three mags quickly.
Predator shot a Hellfire missile
About damned time. What took so long? Operator asleep?
Master Sergeant Lech Pulaski, the lead non-commissioned officer,
Must be a Delta guy as there are no MSGs in the US Navy.
The men trusted him.
The SF teams have repeatedly stated that they never ever fully trusted either the translators or the attached aides. Perhaps in the author's world such trust exits, but not in the real world. Even regular grunts such as myself, never ever trusted any Afghan completely. I am sure there is an exception or two, but for the most part there is little to no trust between US forces and the Afghans.
“Oscar-Foxtrot-Zulu-Raven…Do
For brevity, usually radio callsigns are truncated to one or two words. So Col. Dawkins could have been just simply Raven or Zulu Raven if he wanted to sound special. The SF guys and even regular troops, don't want to have to send a whole mouthful of words each radio transmission, especially during a firefight.
Iron Fist.” Iron Fist was Colonel Dawkins’ code name.
Why the hell then was the radio operator transmitting all that other BS? The RT should have just called "Iron Fist" on the radio. Someone obviously never tried to use a radio during a fight.
“Gold Eagle, goddammit! Now terminate Sadozai, and that’s a damn, fucking order. Do you copy?”
Unprofessional of a senior officer to swear on the radio. I'll let it slide as it does happen. But no officer concerned with remaining outside of Leavenworth, KS would ever tell another soldier to execute a civilian. Complete BS as no officer would follow such an order. Unless the UCMJ is different in the author's world, Article 118 still covers murder.
He knew killing an unarmed person violated the Rules of Engagement.
The UCMJ not the ROE. The ROE does not carry nearly the weight of the UCMJ.
“Gold Eagle, I’ve given you a fucking order so you best not give me any shit! Do you copy?”
This Colonel is determined to get his ass sent to Leavenworth, KS.
