Half past six.
The setting sun, yellow sand, desert sky and earth are the same color, and the whole world is shrouded in orange.
Two Chinook helicopters responsible for transporting troops, escorted by two Apaches armed to the teeth, formed a formation and left Bagram Base.
There is quite a lot of space for more than 40 people in two Chinooks.
All the operators were in a good mood. There was no tension or anxiety about officially starting the operation. Everyone was happily chatting and joking with each other.
Everyone else from SEAL Team 10 also came, including Sean, the newbie.
As substitutes, they need to follow the rapid reaction force to the Jebbard base so that they can come on as substitutes at any time.
While a group of veterans were chatting and making dirty jokes, Sean sat at the unclosed hatch at the back.
My legs were hanging out of the helicopter, admiring the orange sun in the distance and the scenery of heaven and earth falling step by step below the horizon.
So chic and happy.
The only regret was that the land beneath my feet was a barren desert with sparse vegetation.
At first glance there is very little green.
Most of the mountains are very steep, with cliffs tens to hundreds of meters everywhere.
If you don't plan your walking route in advance and just walk in one direction, you will be blocked by a steep cliff within a few kilometers.
Once you reach the bottom of the cliff, all signals will be cut off from you.
From sunset to nightfall.
Unknowingly, the time came to nearly 8 o'clock in the evening, and the helicopter had gradually dropped from an altitude of 1,000 meters to less than 100 meters above the ground.
The announcement in the cabin sounded:
"Commander, we are about to arrive at the landing site and will land in one minute."
Murphy patted Long Zhan, who was sitting next to him, and kicked Marcus, who was sitting opposite him with his eyes closed and concentrating. He raised a finger and shouted, "One minute countdown."
Dragon War, Marcus, Dietz and Matt all have the same actions after receiving the password.
Check the tactical backpack strap to see if it is tightly buckled on the body, confirm that the main weapon belt is hung on the body, etc., and then put on windproof glasses.
Finally, take out the thick and stiff rappelling gloves and wear them in addition to the functional tactical gloves.
"The last 30 seconds."
Another reminder from the cabin announcement.
Long Zhan and the other five stood up to take charge of the safety ropes and lined up to the back of the cabin.
"Rope and release, first team member on the rope."
Matt, who was walking at the front, heard the instruction, leaned half of his body out of the cabin, grabbed the rope as thick as the baby's arm with both hands, and angled it outside the cabin door.
When the go command comes out, lift your feet off the cabin door floor, and then on the rappelling rope, release the force simultaneously with both hands holding the rope.
Let your body slide along the rope to the ground under the pull of gravity.
The sliding speed is mainly determined by the friction of the gloves, and the gloves need to rub against the rough rope at a height of more than ten meters. In addition, Long Zhan and others carry relatively large loads, which further increases the friction.
If you don’t wear special downhill gloves in advance, it’s easy to injure your hands during the process.
"The first team member landed smoothly, and the second team member got on the rope."
"Sean, do you want to come over and be the second one?" Marcus yelled into the cabin before setting off.
"Have a good time, you old bastard." Sean smiled and gave him a middle finger, causing the others in the cabin to laugh.
One minute later!
"Zulu 06, Bruno 64 completed the launch and began to return to the base."
After completing the delivery mission, the Chinook helicopter increased its altitude again and flew to the Jebbard base, leaving a special reconnaissance team on the ground.
When the helicopter gradually moved away and disappeared into the darkness, Long Zhan took off his windproof glasses and rappelling gloves.
Instead, he put on night vision goggles, checked weapons and ammunition, and entered combat status.
Be prepared before leaving.
"Apollo 2-2, this is Spartan O-1, communication check." As the team's communications officer, Dietz's priority was to check the radio system.
He used Rayson's "mbmmr", a multi-band, multi-mission radio communication system specially developed for special operations.
It’s not just about radio.
As the world's first actually deployed military radio system using software radio technology, it is more powerful than traditional radio stations.
Not only can it provide voice communication remotely, but it can also transmit images and data, and the transmission power only requires 20 watts.
Dietz sent out a communication and got a quick response.
"Spartan O-1, this is Apollo 2-2, please continue to keep communications open and wish the operation a smooth operation."
The AC130 air gunship, which served as a communication relay station, received the communication, responded, and moved to the forward operations center in Jebbard.
"Spartan O-1 received, completed."
After confirming that the communication with the operations center was correct, Dietz transferred the communication to the team channel and conducted a communication check within the team.
After confirming that the team's communication was smooth, the team followed the GPS and started to go to the first check-in point——
Budweiser.
The terrain along the way was already very desolate, and with the darkness of the night, strange sounds of some kind of animal would be heard from somewhere from time to time.
Walking in this uninhabited desert and mountains gives people a particularly weird feeling.
Not to say scary.
It has nothing to do with feeling relaxed and happy.
In the operational briefing, the major officer made it clear that it would only take 3 to 4 hours to get to the destination from the landing point. However, this first piece of basic information was completely wrong.
It took more than 2 hours to walk from the landing point to the first waypoint, Budweiser.
There are three further waypoints, which means that we are only a quarter of the way, and it will take at least eight or nine hours to complete the entire journey.
Marcus complained mercilessly about this, saying that the command center was directing its head with its butt.
The reason for this error was guessed by Long Zhan based on his actual combat experience.
On the eighth floor, when calculating the distance, the headquarters used daytime marching speed as data, and did not take into account the impact of the loss of vision at night on the march.
It's a typical carelessness.
Fortunately, the departure time was early enough, leaving enough time for the investigation team to travel, so this problem was not that serious.
Even if it takes double the time now, it will still be enough to reach the destination before dawn.
Lewen
