Operator - 01 by David Vinjamuri Read Free Book Online

the other soldiers in question flew in from Fort Bragg.” He paused to let that sink in. I was stunned. Sniper School was justly famous in the infantry, and everyone coveted the sniper certification even though no tab was awarded. The Army Marksmanship Unit supplied the Army participants for international shooting competitions, including the Olympic games. And I knew what the man’s offhanded reference to Fort Bragg implied; Fort Bragg in North Carolina was headquarters for some of the Army’s deadliest men – like those in the 82 nd Airborne and the Special Forces. The corners of the sandy-haired man’s lips twisted briefly into a shadow of a smile as he saw me processing this. “Their CO will not soon let them forget that they lost to a recruit.”
    There was another weighty pause. “I’d like to describe a career path for you and see if it might be of interest,” the man continued. I nodded slowly.
    “In two weeks you’ll be sent to airborne school. Then you’ll move directly on to Ranger School and if you make it through, you’ll be posted to one of the battalions of the 75 th Ranger Regiment. You’ll stay there until your twentieth birthday, when you become eligible for the Special Forces. If your performance as a Ranger is exemplary, you’ll be chosen for Special Forces selection and indoctrination on your first application. They’ll spend about a year training you, then you’ll spend at least two years with SF in the field. If you survive, you’ll be assigned to my unit. To actually enter, though, you’ll have to make it through Delta Force selection and operator training.” The man put down the folder and leaned forward, staring intently into my eyes.
    “Sir, you’re with The Unit?” I asked with a new level of respect. The Delta Force, the Army’s elite counterterrorist force had the reputation of being the toughest sons of bitches in the Army.
    That ghostlike smile passed the man’s lips again as he shook his head. “No, the Delta Force training just warms you up for what we’ll put you through.”
    “Respectfully, sir, just who the hell are you?” His smile got a little broader at my challenge. In truth, I already knew part of the answer. The sandy-haired man had enough pull to commandeer the Commandant’s office. He was obviously so well-connected that he could guide my career in and out of the Army’s most elite units. And he was clearly unimaginably powerful if he felt perfectly comfortable making his pitch in jeans and a white button-down Oxford.
    “You can call me Alpha. I run a clerical support company – one that doesn’t do much clerical work. The name of the outfit doesn’t matter; it changes all the time, as does its divisional designation. We were originally named the ‘Intelligence Support Activity’ and internally we still call our unit ‘the Activity.’ We were established after the failed hostage rescue of those students in Iran in 1980. Remember that, when those helos went down?”
    I didn’t remember because I hadn’t been born yet, but I didn’t interrupt.
    “The accident was the result of poor field-level intelligence from non-military agencies. We exist to rectify that problem. We prepare the battlefield for special ops units by providing reliable reconnaissance and communications intelligence on the ground. Most of our work supports the Joint Special Operations Command units including DEVGRU – that’s Seal Team Six – the Special Forces, Delta Force and a couple of outfits you’ve never heard of. This means we have to get in and out before they can do their work. We often cooperate with local governments or CIA officers on the ground, and we develop some of our own intelligence networks in key areas. You’ll need to learn languages – at least two to a high degree of proficiency. That’s why you’ll spend time in Special Forces before you reach us. They’ll start your language training and teach you how to understand foreign cultures.
    “Most