Jack Terral - Guerilla Warfare (2006)

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Guerrilla Warfare

Jack Terral

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TABLE OF ORGANIZATION

BRANNIGAN'S BRIGANDS

COMMAND ELEMENT

Lieutenant William "Wild Bill" Brannigan

(Commanding Officer)

PO2C Mikael "Mike" Assad

(Rifleman/Scout)

PO2C Francisco "Frank" Gomez

(Rifleman/Commo Chief)

PO2C David "Dave" Leibowitz

(Rifleman/Scout)

PO3C James Bradley

(Rifleman/Hospital Corpsman)

FIRST ASSAULT SECTION

Lieutenant (J. G.) James Cruiser

(Section Commander)

PO2C Bruno Puglisi

(SAW Gunner)

ALPHA FIRE TEAM

CPO Matthew "Matt" Gunnarson

(Fire Team Leader)

PO2C Garth Redhawk

(Rifleman)

PO3C Chadwick "Chad" Murchison

(Rifleman)

BRAVO FIRE TEAM

PO Michael "Connie" Concord

(Fire Team Leader)

PO2C Lamar Taylor

(Rifleman)

PO3C Paulo Cinzento

(Rifleman)

SECOND ASSAULT SECTION

SCPO Buford Dawkins

(Section Commander)

PO2C Josef "Joe" Miskoski

(SAW Gunner)

CHARLIE FIRE TEAM

PO1C Michael "Milly" Mills

(Fire Team Leader)

PO2C Wesley "Wes" Ferguson

(Rifleman)

PO2C Reynauld "Pech" Pecheur

(Rifleman)

DELTA FIRE TEAM

PO1C Guttorm "Gutsy" Olson

(Fire Team Leader)

PO2C Andrei "Andy" Malachenko

(Rifleman)

PO3C Guy Devereaux

(Rifleman)

Falange: Spanish word for "phalanx," a military combat formation of ancient times in which foot soldiers formed a tight square with shields and spears overlapping. Also a fascist political party organized in Spain in the 1930s that was instrumental in overthrowing the Republicans in the Spanish Civil War. This was the only official party allowed in Spain under the regime of Generalissimo Francisco Franco, who ruled the nation from 1939 until his death in 1975.

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RANKS OF THE FALANGIST ARMY-

EL EJERCITO FALANGISTA

Generalisimo

(Commander-in-Chief )

Mariscal

(Marshal)

General

(General)

Coronel

(Colonel)

Comandante

(Commandant)

Capitan

(Captain)

Subalterno

(Subaltern)

Suboficial

(Warrant Officer)

Sargento-Mayor

(Sergeant Major)

Sargento

(Sergeant)

Cabo

(Corporal)

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Excerpt from Sun Tzu's The Art of War as paraphrased by Petty Officer 2nd Class Bruno Puglisi of Brannigan's Brigands:

When you're in enemy territory and they don't know you're there, just play it cool and stay laid back. Then, when the time is right, you hit the rat bastards with everything you got while they've still got their heads up their keisters.

PROLOGUE:

STATE DEPARTMENT WASHINGTON, D. C.

15 NOVEMBER

0945 HOURS LOCAL

ARTURO Sanchez of Bolivia, Patricio Ludendorff of Chile and Luis Bonicelli of Argentina were special envoys from their respective governments to the United States. They had been brought together through a most unusual agreement and sent north to the land of the yanquis on a mission of extreme sensitivity and confidentiality.

The three South American diplomats were given a covert but warm welcome to Washington upon their arrival and provided with quarters at a safe house in Georgetown. Now, after cooling their heels for forty hours, they sat in sullen silence at one end of a large conference table located in an out-of-the-way State Department meeting room. The trio, a trifle irritated, waited impatiently for their American contact to appear.

These gentlemen were specialists in the complicated environment of international diplomacy. They participated in clandestine segments of unique proceedings few insiders knew about. Their duties required them to perform their surreptitious tasks in the strictest secrecy, and that particular day's activities were no exception. The subject to be discussed could absolutely not be revealed to the outside world, particularly to the populations of the emissaries' home countries. Revelations of the conference would cause untold embarrassment to all concerned, not to mention instigating the bloodiest revolution in the history of Latin America.

In short, it would make a bad situation worse.

The door to the room opened, and the South Americans snapped their eyes over in that direction. Carl Joplin, PhD, an American undersecretary of state walked in with a friendly smile, taking a seat at the head of the table. The African-American superdiplomat displayed a warm smile. "Good morning, gentlemen. Or should I say, Buenos dias, caballeros?"

The three visitors smiled slightly in a subdued manner of greeting.

"I was most surprised to hear from all three of you at the same time," Joplin said. "It is hard to imagine what sort of crisis would have brought Argentina, Chile and Bolivia together in what appears to be a common cause."

"Then you realize that only the gravest of circumstances would have brought about this event that you find so electrifying," Ludendorff of Chile said.

"Frankly," Joplin said, "I must admit that at this moment I am more than just a little apprehensive. Your grim demeanors do nothing to allay my uneasiness." He leaned back in his chair. "I believe it is obvious that since I know nothing of your mission, I am unable to officially open this diplomatic session in which no agenda has been introduced." He smiled again. "Would one of you gentleman kindly do the honors?"

The Argentine Bonicelli spoke up in the realization that he and his two companions would have to start the ball rolling. "It begins with a fascist Spanish Army officer by the name of Jose Maria de Castillo y Plato."

"Ah!" Joplin exclaimed. "The Far Right enters the picture, hey? I am very familiar with el coronel Castillo and his service in the notorious Spanish Foreign Legion. His dossier also emphasizes a rather malevolent political background. Thus, it appears you are having problems with neo-Nazis in your particular necks of the woods. Is this the case?"

"Not neo-Nazis in the conventional interpretation of the term," Sanchez of Bolivia said. "In this case it -is Falangists, Dr. Joplin. Castillo is from an old, established and extremely wealthy industrial family. His kinsmen are dedicated followers of traditional Spanish right-wing philosophies that strongly purport the reestablishment of a dictatorship in that country. We believe this potential regime would be even more draconian than that of el generalisimo Francisco Franco."

"A moment please," Joplin said. "As I recall the Falange was the political party that ran Spain under Franco:'

"The same," Ludendorff said. "And since Castillo cannot realize his dream in Spain, he has chosen South America as the locale to establish a new fascist country. To be more precise, he wishes to do this in an area where Argentina, Bolivia and Paraguay come together. We are not in the least appreciative of this dubious honor."

"I am confused," Joplin said. "I see a representative from Chile here, but nobody from Paraguay."

"Paraguay is not involved," the Bolivian Sanchez said. "The war we had with them precludes any hope of cooperation between our two nations' armed forces:'

"You are speaking, of course, of the Gran Chaco War, Senor Sanchez," Joplin said. "But all that happened between 1928 and 1935. Don't tell me that there is still bitterness about a conflict that occurred over three-quarters of a century.

"I assure you such animosity is alive and well to this day," Sanchez said. "At any rate, Colonel Castillo believes Chile has more strategic importance, because of its availability to the Andes mountains and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Consequently, he is ignoring Paraguay."

"Argentina," Bonicelli interjected, "offers access to the Atlantic Ocean, and thus is included in Castillo's ambitions."

Joplin shrugged. "Please, gentlemen, this is all pretty far-fetched, is it not? The whole concept is preposterous."