Eyes of the Hammer (The Green Berets) by Bob Mayer Read Free Book Online Page B

is attached to all the weapon systems. When each system is fired using blank rounds, a laser beam is sent out wherever the weapon is aimed. All our personnel and vehicles involved in the exercise had harnesses on that could pick up these laser beams. A hit on a person is indicated by a loud beeper going off on the harness. A hit on a vehicle sufficient to disable it is represented by a flashing yellow light going off on top of the vehicle and a loud tone being sounded on the intercom system inside. We had all our personnel at the weapons storage facility and ready line equipped with this gear.
    "Our first indication of trouble came at 0126 ..."
    Riley tuned out the major and mentally reviewed his own presentation. The man was doing his best to make his organization look good, which was to be expected. Riley tuned back in as the major wrapped up his presentation.
    "Sir, overall I feel our men did a good job. We do have some areas we need to work on. First, we are going to revise our reaction SOP to cover the possibility of multiple attacks. However, I must point out, sir, in all fairness to the lieutenant in charge of the reaction platoon, that it is extremely unlikely that a terrorist organization would be able to mount two attacks on the scale we experienced last night.
    "Additionally, the attackers used army ID cards and a military vehicle to gain admission onto post. Again, this would be very difficult for a terrorist organization to accomplish.
    "As a further recommendation, we are going to increase the number of surveillance checks we do on both the post perimeter road and the storage facility perimeter road. Sir, pending your questions that concludes my briefing."
    Colonel Albright looked at his air police commander in surprise. "That's all you have, Major?"
    Major Baley shifted his feet nervously. "Yes, sir."
    "All right, Major. You can sit down. Mister Riley, let's hear what you have to say."
    Riley walked over to the podium. Typical briefing for the air force, he thought to himself. Try to make things look as good as possible. It didn't look as though the post commander had bought off on it, though. But the colonel would have to decide for himself.
    Riley sorted out his notes while Partusi pulled out a schematic of the air base mounted on cardboard and placed it on an easel. Partusi extended a collapsible pointer and stood at parade rest next to the easel, prepared to point during Riley's presentation.
    "Sir, I will first brief you on our perspective of the operation as it was conducted. Then I will highlight some areas, with our recommendations, that we believe your people ought to focus on to help improve weapons security.
    "To conduct this mission we recruited eighteen members of the local army National Guard to act as guerrillas for us. We recognize we used a larger force than expected but our instructions from the Department of Defense were to create a worst-case scenario. Due to your post's proximity to the Canadian border, we feel it is quite possible that a terrorist organization may be able to infiltrate by vehicle across the border and attack here, so the number of personnel that participated last night is not improbable.
    "We trained our guerrillas for two days in the Adirondack State Forest near Meacham Lake. We received intelligence regarding the physical layout of the post and guard activities from a civilian worker who has access to all areas of the post. She provided us with detailed descriptions of everything we asked for. We drew up our plan based on this intelligence and on building information we found in the Plattsburgh Chamber of Commerce."
    Riley looked up. "I don't know why they're there, but a complete layout of the nuclear weapons storage facility is on record in the Plattsburgh County clerk's office. Although it doesn't detail the security setup, it does greatly facilitate planning a mission. Anyway, to continue. We recruited the civilian who owns the Harley-Davidson dealership that is