Dragon Sim-13 by 1959- Bob Mayer Read Free Book Online Page A

he could count on Olinski's support for his strict training habits. Olinski had the same outlook Riley did.
    Olinski was one of those people with a varied background that Special Forces seemed to attract. His parents were Polish and he himself had lived in Poland until he was eleven, when the family had escaped to West Germany. Olinski had spent three years there, then came to the United States to live with an uncle. At seventeen he enlisted in the army and joined the Rangers, where he rose to the rank of staff sergeant. When someone at the Department of the Army happened to see that Olinski spoke fluent Polish, German, and Russian, Olinski was asked to volunteer for Special Forces. After finishing his training, Olinski had spent several years in the 10th Special Forces Group, which had Europe as its area of orientation. When DET-K had picked up some responsibility for eastern Russia, Olinski had been sent to Korea for a one-year short tour.
    Since his arrival, Olinski had maintained a reputation as a quiet but extremely competent intelligence sergeant. His knowledge of Soviet and Warsaw Pact armies and security forces came from more than just books. He also had his personal childhood experiences to draw on.
    Olinski looked his name, with a broad Slavic face and tall lanky body. Besides the usual Polish jokes, Olinski was often the butt of other younger, and less experienced, team members' jibes for his willingness to be miserable when there might be an easier way out. In the Rangers, Olinski had learned to ignore the pain and discomfort that hard, realistic training entailed. This hard-core quality endeared the man to Riley, who was fond of saying that pain was weakness leaving the body.
    Riley watched as Olinski lowered his body into the chilly mountain stream. This was the price one had to pay to be good, Riley thought. The easy way got you killed. With the rope tied around his waist, and his M16A2 held overhead, Olinski sidestroked to the far bank, being careful not to swallow water. Any water in the Korean countryside was extremely suspect: pollution and the Korean way of fertilizing fields with human waste ensured that. In his dripping uniform Olinski anchored the rope around a tree, then turned to provide far bank security.
     
    Hoffman enlisted the aid of three other team members and they anchored the near end of the rope on a tree, then tightened it down as much as possible. Hoffman hooked Olinski's and his own rucksack onto the rope with snap links and started across. The natural stretch of the rope made the center section of the bridge sag so that Hoffman's head went underwater briefly, but he pulled himself over quickly. One by one, the rest of the team followed.
    Sending his ruck over with Devito, Riley remained until last. He untied the near bank rope and swam it over. On the far bank, he coiled the rope and hung it on the outside of his ruck as the team moved out to cover the last kilometer back to their pickup point. When they reached the road junction where the truck was supposed to be, Riley sighed as he saw nothing there. He was too tired to get angry. Typical, he thought. He knew it would show up sooner or later. Between Hooker and Mitchell at the Operations Shop, one of the two would get things rolling.
    Riley missed Mitchell. The captain had been Riley's team leader for sixteen months before moving up to the DET-K S-3 slot. Riley had enjoyed working with someone who was competent and also willing to learn. During those sixteen months, Riley had imparted as much knowledge as he could to Mitchell, and at the same time learned a few things himself. They had split the chore of running the team in an efficient manner.
    The two had formed an extremely close professional and personal bond during their time together. Because of that bond, Team 3 had become what all Special Forces teams should be but few achieve: twelve individuals welded into an effective, cohesive fighting force. The team worked and played