Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Medal and ‘Dollar’

Yi-hyeon became able to go on leave again. Last time the first leave he only got to eat after 8 months of enlisting but this time not even a few months passed and they are giving leave again. They gave reward leave for the Afghanistan operation matching the parents’ memorial day.

For that dazzling (?) merit only receiving reward leave and ending? No way.

Yi-hyeon unexpectedly heard the sound that the US military side would give a medal.

“What?”

At Yi-hyeon’s civilian-like question Team Leader Kim Cheol-ho does not even get angry and informs bit by bit.

“You rascal, this is a US military operation so in the Korean army there is no basis to reward. Knowing that the US military side is saying they will give you a medal.”

“Only me?”

“Uh··· you and I two receive the medal and the remaining team members a little reward money···.”

Team Leader Kim Cheol-ho mumbled unlike his appearance. Receiving the medal only himself and Yi-hyeon excluding other team members would be a little uneasy.

Yi-hyeon was dumbfounded, but thought it could be so. It is not that there are no cases of the US awarding medals to foreigners. No such cases are countless. So it is possible to award a medal to a Korean soldier who safely rescued one’s own country’s VIP.

But, what would I do receiving that?

Unlike Team Leader Kim Cheol-ho (captain) in front who graduated from the Military Academy and intends to bury his bones in the army for people who are not it is not very useful. Yi-hyeon will exactly discharge when the term ends.

“The medal is fine. Instead of that ask for money. In dollars. Ahem ahem.”

“What? This bastard what kind of joke.”

Team Leader Kim Cheol-ho was an expression of dumbfounded but Yi-hyeon insisted.

“Just try asking for dollars. I don’t need things like medals.”

“···Aigoo. You really···.”

Team Leader Kim Cheol-ho who soothed for a long while shook his head and waved his hand telling Yi-hyeon to go out. Thinking of reporting above it became distant.

Returning to the living quarters Yi-hyeon muttered.

“If receiving the medal it seems I will get more entangled with those guys. If giving in dollars I should do a banquet with the unit members or something. Or not.”

Yi-hyeon hummed and thought lightly, but the situation did not resolve that way.

* * *

A few days ago Fort Bragg, North Carolina, USA.

The place where the headquarters of that famous Delta Force is.

The official name is 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment-Delta, abbreviated 1st SFOD-D but a unit more famous by the nickname Delta Force. To maintain secrecy they frequently change and call names among themselves.

Members also recruit and use many from other services who went through Ranger course such as Green Beret or DevGru or the 24th Special Operations Wing. The superior command unit is of course the Special Operations Command. Truly the US military’s tier 1 unit regarding anti-terror.

There are several scandals such as the Iran hostage rescue failure incident in the past but it is a unit that has the reputation of the Army’s Delta together with the US Navy’s SEAL team.

But in some place of that unit a loud voice was coming out.

“Why can’t you mobilize him in this training?”

A man with short cut black-brown hair was sitting behind the desk and throwing a fit. Though wearing military uniform, there is no rank and name tag.

In front of him a black man who seemed not yet 40 was standing in attention posture and answering. His rank is lieutenant colonel.

“From Korea’s 707 they are not cooperative in selecting him.”

“What? Is that Colonel Lim blocking again?”

“···Yes. We are judging so. Making excuses citing various administrative procedures but we see Lim moving behind.”

“Shik! That guy again···.”

The person in charge of the desk closed his mouth while speaking. He judged it was not the fault of the lieutenant colonel standing in front. After thinking for a moment he gestured with his chin to the lieutenant colonel.

“Go out.”

When the lieutenant colonel left the room, he fell into thought.

His name is Jimmy Kruger. The rank is a full brigadier general.

Belonging to the US Army Special Operations Command he is not a soldier belonging to Delta here. Currently his position is the force analysis officer of the Special Operations Command and from 6 months ago he has been dispatched from the command to fix Delta that is consecutively failing in force strengthening recently.

In fact from a few years ago Delta was being criticized countless times.

Internally the Special Operations Command pondered the existence of Delta every time the commander changed, and the reason was nothing else. Unlike the brilliant meditation known externally internally several problems were emerging.

First it spends enormous budget.

Delta maintains usually about 800 to 1,000 people including field members and internal administrative agents. The budget they use in one year was horrible.

Since using several times the cost that large process divisions like the 82nd Division or 101st Division use, in the military leadership they could not help but severely watch the eyes of the House that manages military-related budget and as that period lengthened eventually even the theory of Delta’s existence came out.

Even the well-known airborne divisions use costs reaching several times that of ordinary combat divisions of the US Army. To the point of going to Panama every year to train for jungle adaptation training so what to say.

In this atmosphere recently conflict arose with the Navy Seal belonging to the Navy.

Originally the conflict between the US Army and Navy was an old homework.

The academies established at similar times, that is the Military Academy at West Point and the Naval Academy at Annapolis were rivals from birth so graduates of the two academies growled even after becoming generals.

Even now when events like the friendship sports meet of the two schools held every year open it truly becomes a mess. Not only soldiers from the two schools but even their families come out and support shouting until their necks burst.

In a situation where each boasts of being the world’s best special forces by chance SEAL succeeded a few missions nicely while at a similar time Delta had cases of failing operations. Moreover as that operation was exposed to the media it bought international shame.

Truly becoming a case of earning a beating in a difficult period the position narrowed as much as possible. But in this situation high-ranking officials of the Navy secretly moved their hands. Going around meeting influential people centered on neocons in Washington and the House Armed Services Committee and suggesting the abolition of Delta.

Though the words put forward efficient operation of the defense budget internally the old conflict between the Army and Navy rose. At this the highest ranks of the Army who flared up pressed the Special Operations Command, and so now Brigadier General Jimmy Kruger is staking his life on Delta’s reconstruction and image renewal.

He was in a situation where if there was a method to reconsider Delta’s image and raise substantial power he would do any act.

Jimmy Kruger first to grasp Delta’s problems instructed subordinate units to report the current status regarding anti-terror units of friendly countries, and accordingly the current status of friendly countries’ special forces being updated at certain cycles began to come up clearly. Jimmy Kruger noted the report that came up from Korea among them.

Korea well, is a definite friendly country. Though not a top priority country like Britain, Canada, Australia, New Zealand etc. Especially in a place called Pyeongtaek in Korea isn’t there a military base that is the largest scale among the US military’s overseas bases.

But there was a peculiar point in Korea’s report.

707 Special Mission Unit.

It was a unit Jimmy Kruger also well knew. In fact if a person working in special forces or doing related work it is a unit one cannot not know, precisely the 707 special mission unit.

That much this unit was outstanding. An elite among elites so highly advanced that one cannot believe it is a unit of a small country called Korea.

And a report that a strange figure recently rose in this unit. It is a university student who just turned 20, and the training result values this beginner soldier showed are astonishing.

Jimmy Kruger could not believe these numbers at all so instructed to increase exchange training with Delta. To secure more data regarding this soldier. Doing so for more than 6 months.

He thought it would be a number that came out once by chance, but unexpectedly, the training achievements were surging more and more.

If so one cannot not look into it.

Judging that there might be a special secret in this soldier’s training manual he felt the need to investigate more about that soldier.

So he instructed again. Try making a method to deploy this soldier to real combat.

But in the midst of this a large accident burst.

House Armed Services Committee Chairman Ewing McGregor.

This big shot’s daughter without even informing her father saying she would cover a story recklessly entered Kabul. Of course it was not just entering and saying it was a measure in her own way she secretly asked her father’s secretary to find a companion and guard to Kabul and the man that secretary introduced was Tom Hardy working at the consulate in Oman.

In fact he was a CIA agent disguised as a consulate employee.

Amy McGregor having a protector said believe and was acting fearlessly in downtown Kabul and ended up being abducted by the Taliban.

The authorities who learned of the abduction incident handled this incident as top secret and entered the rescue operation, and when grasping that this incident was not something to resolve by sending a few agents they immediately held an internal meeting.

It was a meeting of which unit to entrust this rescue operation to, and the big shots of the Army who judged this incident as the optimal opportunity to recover honor and receive eye stamps from the House all stepped forward and insisted it should be entrusted to Delta and eventually pushed it through.

Now the Special Operations Command and Delta were on emergency, and the leadership of the Army instructed to succeed this operation no matter what method used.

Ahead of the operation Jimmy Kruger pondered. This operation could become a matter that simultaneously solves the problem of reestablishing Delta’s status and the problem of raising that power so it was a situation where one had to catch a clue somehow.

In the midst of that the young agent of that 707 that entered the eyes.

Jimmy resolved.

To deploy that agent in some way in this operation and try making results.

So at the base in Kabul they set up a temporary headquarters, that is a TF (Task Force) in the true sense and entered the operation. The operation name is Light of Kabul. And they called Korea’s 707 to this camp.

Up to here is the story of Alpha Team that Yi-hyeon belongs to being suddenly called to Kabul in Afghanistan, but the problem happened after that.

Originally they intended to deploy Yi-hyeon to real combat and lightly weigh that weight and write an appropriate report and that was it. But once entering the operation a big problem arose.

At point A judged to have the prisoners there was only the dead consul’s body and a trap, and the military committee chairman’s daughter was confined at point B.

Moreover when 1 Delta team that went to point A fell into the trap the Taliban prepared and was smashed and even until the team retreated the headquarters was at a loss.

But dramatically a variable occurred. Around the time when no one in the headquarters high ranks felt they could preserve their positions, didn’t Korea’s 707 deployed to point B miraculously rescue the prisoner.

The headquarters shouted manse and quickly did the aftermath processing. Now the crisis of the headquarters stars taking off clothes disappeared. But the problem still remained. The problem of what to do with that Delta’s incompetence.

The high ranks immediately instructed.

The content of analyzing from multiple angles the factors of Delta’s failure and 707’s success in this operation.

The field working staff even without that the precious agents were sacrificed and the inside was boiling and having to write a shitty report too so it was a taste of dying. But one has to do the work.

The analysis team first dug through the secured materials with eyes blazing. What would there be as materials. It was materials left such as cameras worn on the agents’ helmets and the urgent conversations exchanged during the operation.

An agent proficient in Korean translated the conversations they exchanged and analyzed everything that could be analyzed such as the movements of all 12 agents and the actions they took and even the team leader’s instructions.

And they concluded.

“This operation could not succeed without this agent ‘Baby’. This agent even when the transceiver did not operate due to a satellite program error almost alone resolved the engagement with the Taliban and the abduction of colleagues etc. In short···.”

When the reporting lieutenant colonel stopped speaking Jimmy Kruger lifted his face from the document he was looking into and asked.

“In short what?”

Lieutenant Colonel Jeff Cullinan swallowed and answered.

“I judge him as a super specialist never seen even in the US military until now. He did not waste even a single live round even during group engagement, and especially that physical ability is even astonishing. Honestly I still cannot believe it.”

“···I understand. Go out.”

Sending out the lieutenant colonel Jimmy Kruger fell into thought.

If grafting the ability this super agent possesses to the US military special forces what result would come out.

He who swallowed quickly lifted the phone on the desk. It is a satellite phone that connects directly with any US military unit in the world.

“Look, Eddie. I have to hurry that. First let’s give US military medals to a few among them. Right if giving only to Baby one it is a little strange, so inserting that team leader will do. And later···.”

Jimmy Kruger diligently explained his plan to someone of the US military in Korea.

That way the words of giving a US military medal to Yi-hyeon came out, but Yi-hyeon threw a tantrum asking for ‘dollars’ instead of the medal. Team Leader Kim Cheol-ho racked his brain and inevitably stepped on the system and reported above. Then immediately the commander’s call falls.

“Loyalty! Captain Kim Cheol-ho.”

“Loyalty! Sergeant Song Yi-hyeon.”

“Enough, you guys sit there.”

The commander whether not wanting to make long talk waved his hand and said sit. But even if told to sit one cannot sit···

Whether bothersome to speak more than this the commander looked at Yi-hyeon and said.

“You, why are you acting up again? If giving a medal just receive it quickly and end, why make noise.”

“That···.”

When Yi-hyeon hesitated, the commander glared.

“What, what is the reason? The reason for making the whole unit noisy like this. You rascal, because of this I was even called to the army headquarters and came. I am already gradually postponing the joint training they request so it is complicated in various ways.”

“I rather dollars than the medal···.”

Finally the commander began to shout.

“Shut up, this fellow! Because of you Captain Kim here also became unable to receive the medal.”

“Yes? Such a thing···.”

Now when Yi-hyeon said with a blank face the commander cut in the middle and shouted loudly.

“That is natural, this fellow. Captain Kim in fact is receiving the medal by attaching to you, but since you insist you won’t receive it doesn’t he also become unable to receive it together.”

He did not know it would become like that. Then should he change his thoughts? But how can this gentleman just blurt such talk in front of the party Captain Kim? Making a person embarrassed.

“Then I will receive it. That medal.”

Yi-hyeon said refreshingly.

If doing so then receive what. The Team Leader Kim beside the medal will become an important point for future promotion so I should take care of it.

“What, this bastard···.”

The commander said in a voice that lost strength. The guy who was so stubborn changing his mind in an instant was vain. Team Leader Kim who was glancing beside also has an expression of dumbfounded.

That way Yi-hyeon and Team Leader Kim Cheol-ho came to receive the medal the US military awards. But the strange thing is that to receive this medal one has to go to the US. To the US military Special Operations Command.

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