War with Russia

He saw Allenby give him a quizzical look and then, thankfully, she changed the subject. “And you, Tom. How do you feel about it? Your time in the forests… ?”

“Well, you know… It takes a bit of time to wind down and get back to normality. It’s good to be back with the Battalion… but I find I’m still spending time with the guys who were there with me. There’s no one else, apart from Marina Krauja and the Forest Brothers, who could begin to understand what it was like out there.”

“What about Marina? You must have got pretty close to her? She sounds like quite a girl.”

Morland was quiet for a moment. “She’s a great girl.”

“Will you see her again?” asked Allenby.

How best to answer Allenby’s question? Because it was a question he had been asking himself ever since his rushed farewell with Krauja as she had been unexpectedly put on a helicopter bound for Poland, while he’d been directed to an RAF C-130 Hercules about to head to RAF Brize Norton.

“I’m sure I will… some time. When we were in the forest, and on the run, we did get pretty close in some ways. Who wouldn’t, given everything that happened? But it was hardly the time or place. She’s pretty tough. Especially after her recent experiences. She’s also a woman with a mission. She’s determined to help rebuild things in Latvia. Her brother was killed when the Russians attacked the airport and her parents need her around—which is all fair enough. I can only respect her for that…”

Which he knew, and even as he said it, was not really an answer. Allenby, of course, picked up on it and probed deeper.

As she did so, Morland recognized the parallels between the two of them. In so doing, he realized how much he had been looking forward to seeing Allenby again. And how much he was enjoying being with her now.

“I’d like to meet her one day,” announced Allenby.

“You’d like her. You’ve got a lot in common.”

Glossary

ACE—Allied Command Europe. An element in the Cold War NATO command structure. No longer exists

ACTORD—Activation order

ACTWARN—Activation warning

ADC—Aide de Camp. A general’s junior personal staff officer, usually a captain

AMRAAM—Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missile

ARRC—Allied Rapid Reaction Corps. British led multinational NATO formation

Article 5—Article in Washington Treaty of 1949, the founding treaty of NATO, which states that “an armed attack against one or more [NATO member states] in Europe or North America shall be considered an attack against them all” and binds other member states to take “such action as it deems necessary, including the use of armed force, to restore and maintain the security of the North Atlantic area.”

ASAP—As soon as possible

C2—Command and control

CAP—Combat Air Patrol

CCOMC—Comprehensive Crisis Operations Management Center, the nerve center of SHAPE

CDS—UK Chief of Defense Staff

CEO—Chief executive officer

CIA—Central Intelligence Agency. The USA’s foreign intelligence service

CJSOR—Combined Joint Statement of Requirement. The list of forces required for an operation

CMC—Chairman of the Military Committee. NATO’s senior military officer and the principal military adviser to the Secretary General and the North Atlantic Council

CO—Commanding officer

COM EUCOM—Commander US European Command

DDoS—Distributed Denial of Services. A form of cyber attack

Der Spiegel—influential German weekly news magazine

DSACEUR—Deputy Supreme Commander Europe, NATO’s deputy strategic commander

DSO—Distinguished Service Order, a prestigious British military award for meritorious service in war

DZ—Drop zone for airborne forces

ERV—Emergency rendezvous point

FSB—Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation and the successor to the KGB

G7—Group of Seven. An informal bloc of industrialized democracies that meets annually to discuss issues such as global economic governance, international security, and energy policy (biggest economies). Was G8 until Russia was expelled following invasion of Crimea

G1098—An item of British military equipment for personal issue

GCHQ—Government Communications Headquarters. British intelligence and security organization responsible for providing signals intelligence (SIGINT) and information assurance to the British Government and Armed Forces

GDP—Gross domestic product

GPMG—General-purpose machine gun

GPS—Global Positioning System

HAHO—High Altitude High Opening. High altitude insertion by parachute

HARM—High Speed Anti-Radiation Missile. Designed to destroy active radar

HEAT—High-explosive anti-tank

HUMVEE—High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV), commonly known as the Humvee, a four-wheel drive military light truck

ICBM—Intercontinental ballistic missile

IED—Improvised explosive device

JFACC—Joint Force Air Component Commander

JFS—Jet fuel starter on F16, single engine multi-role fighter aircraft

JOA—Joint operations area