Oct 30
4 May 2011
We just got a fatality report from WHO. The death toll in Asia is something like seven hundred million. I wonder how much of that is really from the fighting.
Oct 26
1 May 2011
We finally got to pop a shot at a Chinese warship. One of their destroyers came in just a little too close. Pretty much every UAV on the coastline opened fire on it. By the time the Super Hornets got there, she was already running. They only let me take a whack at it (a couple miles out of my usual range) because it was a shift change and the other bird had already relieved me. Lemme tell ya, you'd be amazed what a Hellfire missile can do to Type 051 Destroyer. We mostly whacked her superstructure (I think that's the term for it, the fiddly bits up top), but that's all we needed. You could hear the brass's heads exploding when they realized drones were more than just a surveillance asset.
I wonder when they're gonna get around to declaring this war.
Oct 25
30 April 2011
Last night, I had a dream about an Elder God. I was with a platoon of troops, coming up on a village that looked like something you'd find in the Pacific Islands. Coastline. To cut the long story short, we tried to stop human sacrifice with rocket launchers, then I got picked to be the next sacrifice. Dream ended about the time my dream-self chucked grenades down the Elder God's maw.
... And woke up to the sounds of missiles. Our anti-missile missiles (there's a Monty Python sketch there) shot most of 'em down, but it was still a lot closer than I'd like. They told us to go MOPP 4, but I didn't even bother putting my mask on. I'm already coughing up blood each morning. What's some nerve gas gonna do? Make it end faster? No actual contact this time, though. Security's getting better.
Oct 19
25 April 2011
Normally, I'm not scared of the dark. I have excellent night vision and if there's anything over a half moon I can go on a night op without NODs and perform as well as the guys with NODs. Even when it's pitch-black out, I'm really not scared of the thing that goes bump in the night. I am the thing that goes bump in the night.
In hindsight, watching a marathon of the old _____ of the Dead series for the first time in a long time, not so much a good idea while I'm on night shift. A real weird thing to get spooked by, y'know? I guess it's just a fear of my generation. My parents had Invasion of the Body Snatchers. We have zombies. (And before you get all flamey, I know the Romero movies came out in the sixties-seventies, the zombie genre just didn't reach its full popularity until the turn of the millennium.) Every time I walk into a room, I kinda unconsciously clear it... in case of zombie. Zombies are pretty much the only thing that scare me anymore.
Oct 16
22 April 2011
Sorry for the delays, Mustache Fans. We had another attack, pretty much second verse same as the first. They attacked my station, almost blowing up the hangar during my shift. If it weren't for the other shift coming a few minutes earlier than normal, I would be a greasy stain right now.
As it is, I got my ass saved by airmen.
Next the Navy will rescue me. Then I will have to commit seppuku.
I was a good influence on 'em, though. Everyone got orders to start carrying their weapons with them after the Chinese attack a few days ago, but thanks to my nagging and dipping into my own supplies my air-buddies also had rounds with them. I still can't believe the Air Force issues weapons but not ammo, while the Army issues even a desk jockey such as myself the full kit of 210 rounds. You can see how ammunition could be important for shooting a coupla Chinamen up to monkey-business. These weren't commandos, though, more like regular guys who snuck in with the LN work details. I don't know which is a worse sign, the fact that the Japs didn't rat 'em out or the fact that our security didn't catch 'em. Either way, standing orders for all our crew is to demand ID from any Asians not in uniform, detain or destroy if they refuse. We ain't playing around no more.
Of course, the wuss in the White House has adamantly denied hostilities.
The Japs got quarantine camps for the infected and death squads roaming their streets now, knocking on doors and looking for anyone with signs of plague. Us carriers have been warned to not go off-base unless we wanted to get picked up by one of these squads and taken into the quarantine camps. They're on their own with those camps. I hear the general told their officers where they could shove it when they asked him for troops to guard the camps. I, for one, appreciate not being reassigned to shoot civilians trying to escape a deathtrap.
Speaking of the Red Death, I haven't coughed up blood since that one time. My lungs still rattle a bit when I breathe, but Doc says he'd put money on it just being a regular flu and not whatever the Death is. He finally convinced me to take some pills for it, but I wouldn't let him give me quarters. There's no need to stretch us thinner than we already are for a little cold.
Oct 14
16 April 2011
The Chinese attacked a couple days ago. An actual attack this time, not like that crazy destroyer. I was asleep in my bunk when it happened, go woke up after it was over.
... Am I even in this Army anymore?
From what I heard, it was a covert attack that went ugly. Apparently, they had a good chunk of our base in an uproar before a group of 3-21's guys cornered them in the D-FAC twenty minutes into it. The death toll is somewhere around sixty, not counting the Chinese commandos. Plus another hundred and twenty wounded. The Chinese popped off a bunch of grenades just before the 3-21 guys stormed the D-FAC, killing all the fobbits who'd taken cover rather than fight back.
See, shit like this is why I always have at least one magazine on me and my weapon within reach.
Naturally, China's denying everything. We'll see what happens next time I catch one of their vessels a little too close to being in range of my missiles. Two can play the deny, deny, deny game.
My brother's birthday is tomorrow. Hope he's alright; his unit's just now redeploying after an extended tour in Afghanistan.
Oct 11
10 April 2011
Another four guys died. I didn't know 'em, they were in 5-1 Cav. Poor bastards. They got the worst of it in Iraq, too... Unless I got 'em confused with the 1-5 Infantry. Never could keep those units straight.
Either way. They weren't in Z-Btry. I guess being a carrier doesn't mean what everyone seems to think it means. There was another round of tests, but only a couple of guys got their armband.
Rumor has it there was an outbreak in the States. I haven't been able to call home to find out. It's kinda funny... Both wars I've been in, I've had more internet/phone access than I did back home. Iraq, there wasn't an enemy any more. Here? Good luck fighting a bug. I'd prefer an enemy I can fight. This... the whole 'control the plague' thing is just ludicrous.
I found a gaming group, some reds from Z-Btry and one of the chAir Force guys I work with. We're going to have our first session this weekend. I'm DMing, playing with regular old 3.5E. Just something of the old world, I guess. Starting at first level, gonna be running through one of the old modules my dad first started us out on. Palace of the Silver Princess.
I coughed up blood this morning during PT, a couple of drops. I didn't tell anyone.
Oct 10
9 April 2011
There's talk about setting up camps for the infected. Apparently, not everyone dies right away. Some people linger on - one guy's lasted for a good four months now. I just watched part of Schindler's List on bootleg DVD the other day. Coincidence? I don't like where this is going. Double that 'cause they've already warned me I might be one of the guys assigned to secure the perimeter. More on that later.
The company lost another couple of guys last night. This makes three in the couple of weeks we've been here. They tested everyone in the company for the Red Death, and fifteen came up as carriers. The test was real simple, just prick the finger and squeeze out a couple drops (or, in my case, a couple dozen - I'm a bleedy little bastard). They dropped some antibody agent on the blood, and if the blood didn't change colors you were clean. I about shit myself when I saw my blood turn black. All the carriers have to wear red armbands, even in uniform. 2-8 had to organize a new unit for the carriers, Z-Battery, to keep us away from the clean guys. I guess someone thought it was funny, y'know? Red Death, artillery red. Fucking hilarious. Maybe I should go cough on the Brigade Commander. That'd be funny. Heheh.
Sad thing is? There's easily a battalion's worth of carriers. Some of us - like the UAV operators (all of... me), the MPs, and other guys who're necessary for maintaining the blockade and security return to their usual duties after morning PT, but come back to Z-Btry for COB. Fortunately, my flight shift's during COB. Unfortunately? I'm on deployment. I'm doing PT. There is no God.
Oct 08
5 April 2011
After all that flurry, things suddenly just... stopped. We're still keeping our patrols stepped up, and the Chinese are now patrolling their borders, but the attack we thought was coming still hasn't.
Iraq all over again. Expecting attack, expecting attack... no attack. I'm not complaining too loudly.
Working with the Air Force guys, I'm back on the eight on, sixteen off shifts (and no, I still don't give a fuck about opsec). They got me flying the afternoon shift, seeing as how I got the least experience with our bird. Would you believe these guys didn't name their UAV? The machine spirit is not appeased.
Oct 05
2 April 2011
Boy, yesterday was a bad day. Somebody - we don't know who - popped Arctic Shadow with a SAM. I don't know how the fuck those bastards managed to hit me with a goddamn anti-air missile. I was flying low, like I always do, too low for anything but a really lucky rifle or some shit like that. I should've been below their operating level. The real killer is, it wasn't civilians who shot me down. A nearby bird spotted them. A Chinese destroyer.
... Y'know, somehow I always knew I would be responsible for starting World War III.
I'm sure everyone's already heard about it by now, or at least what happened next. The destroyer's crew was infected, loaded with friends and family members. They made a break for the Japanese coast, and almost made it ashore. Let's just say it's a good thing this was a planned contingency, and we had systems in place. Those systems almost didn't work. I volunteered to help with sweeping the beaches, seeing as how it was my fault, but the chain of command wouldn't let me go. They reassigned me to another crew, this one a bunch of Air Force guys who've been here for four months now. They're flying Predators, which I only have a passing familiarity with. The only birds I've flown were Ravens and Shadows - the stuff the Army uses a lot of. I've been familiarized with other models, but I got a learning curve that I don't like. My trigger finger's starting to itch. With all the bluster that what's left of China's coming up with over us sinking their destroyer (to say nothing of all them refugees), I'm really hot to get this show on the road. Isn't that sick? S'pose that's why I stayed in the Army when most of my buddies got out. Sometimes, a fella's just not meant for civilized society. Sometimes the sheep dogs go feral. Dunno whose sheep dogs went rabid first. Don't think it much matters anymore, does it?
There're a lot of troop movements going on. Shit's about to get serious. I wonder how bad things really are over there.
3:11 PM Feb 9
