Canon Fodder: Forgotten Warriors Options

[Svea Rike]

Forgotten Warriors
Soldiers of America

Hello and welcome to another episode of Forgotten Warriors. On this show, we reach out to former soldiers, veterans of American wars, and interview them about their experience and tell you what the mainstream media doesn’t. In this episode, we are going to talk to two soldiers who fought in the Global War on Terror, probably the most destructive conflict since the Second World War. They will tell us about their experiences both during and after the war, their opinion on the politicians that caused America’s downfall, and how the people of the United States viewed these unsung heroes. Our first interview takes us to Lieutenant Roger Lee Staunton of the U.S. Army Rangers, in the remote wilderness of Montana where he now lives in his secluded mountain cottage, far away from society.

Lieutenant, would you tell the viewers about the first stages of the war - what was it like, what did it feel like to go to war again?

“Boy, do I have a story for you. We were first shipped out in June 2024. The U.S. had just initiated Operation Final Justice, our third invasion of Iraq. Surely seems like we have to get involved in the Middle East at least once a decade. But anyway, the 75th Rangers, my brothers, we were part of the initial landings on the coast. Now our targets, the Global Liberation Army, or the GLA, weren’t like our usual enemies; they had the armaments and manpower of a sovereign nation, yet they fought for no flag, nor did they have a strict – or noticeable – chain of command. Like the guerilla armies we’ve been fighting in Vietnam and Afghanistan. We had never engaged an enemy like this ever before. When we were going on, the boys in our Blackhawk were the usual old bunch: Gung-ho Rangers itching to let some bullets loose, expecting these medieval scumbags to be nothing more than a nuisance that’s never engaged a proper army before. The PLA, and their ancient equipment, or the failed states from Central Asia and their laughably weak armies; they stood no chance against the GLA. The U.S of A. would teach them that war ain’t no game. Our Blackhawk lifted from the USS George H.W. Bush in the Persian Gulf. The irony of that wasn't lost on any of us. Barely half an hour later we hit the beaches. The GLA had taken over Iraq and held it for over a year now, so it was up to us to liberate the country. But things didn’t turn out as planned.

As it turns out, our intelligence had severely underestimated the terrorists’ capabilities. For starters, they told us nothing about their acquisition of American hardware. They had Stinger missiles for crying out loud! Almost a minute after we had flown past the beaches, we heard that dreaded beeping, and since we weren’t that far above the ground the missile hit our Blackhawk just seconds later – not even time to activate flares. It hit our tail rotor and we spun out of control, slamming into the ground. I was lucky to make it out without major injuries. Our pilots were toast, and two of our squad had broken their legs. A nasty firefight ensued, and I managed to pop several of them. If it weren’t for the fly-boys saving our asses by dropping ten metric tons of high explosive ordnances on their noggins, I wouldn’t be here talking to you about this. From then on out we marched further and further into hell.”

Well it is apparent that you have been through a lot, Lieutenant Staunton. From what I can see you received no life-threatening injuries during the war, correct?

“That’s right. I was one of the few lucky ones. The boys that saw the worst of the war are basically in a state worse than death. I visited some of them and they just stared blankly into nothing. No reactions, no thoughts – the horrors they’d seen wouldn’t escape. Even during the op, many of us already got sick from all the black, sooty smoke of the burning oil fields, the biochemical agents and the vaccines, the DU ammo we blasted all over the country...This played hell on both our bodies and minds. Final Justice seemed like the most horrible aspects of Desert Storm and Iraqi Freedom combined.”

But you still experienced some truly horrific sights, Lieutenant?

“Absolutely. While I never got seriously wounded, I witnessed some really nasty things. It was July, in 2025. The previous year Iran had been torn apart by the GLA, their own government and extremists on the opposite side, and we weren’t really sure who we were backing. Not the GLA at least. Unsurprisingly our number one priority was protecting the oil assets, specifically the massive fields at Amisbad. I have seen some really fucked up stuff in my life, but getting covered in oil and then set on fire outranked all of those things. The GLA had booby-trapped the entire area, you see. Fighting among pipelines is gonna cover the entire place with black oil, and one of my buddies was doused in it head-to-toe. Then, the booby traps went off. I barely had time to get behind cover, but he was set ablaze. Oil burns slower than normal tinder, roasting him for three agonizing minutes at temperatures higher than napalm. Half his body had melted, the other half was scorched beyond recognition. That was some seriously frightening shit.”

We are glad we are unable to recreate this event. Lieutenant, in 2027 President Paulson declared the so-called ‘zero hour’ on America's foreign policy, and almost all US overseas forces were pulled back home. Many people claimed this basically nullified the U.S.’ contributions in the war, and all their sacrifices were in vain. What is your opinion on this, Lieutenant Staunton?

“I don’t really know. When I got back, I had the fortune of having a family to live with. My sister and her husband still had their home, thank god, but I had zero chance of ever getting a job. Our economy was ruined, millions were already unemployed and now hundreds of thousands of soldiers were going to add to that pile. Our piece of shit government didn’t know what to do, and I think even Paulson didn’t dare to tell those lies you always hear: “It is going to become better. We will go through this. We will survive.” Man shut the hell up. America’s ass got handed to it. Just admit it; you had the balls, and they got busted. Sure, we are okay off now, after about five years and three useless administrations, but let’s hope we never get involved in another war if it doesn’t involve us.”

Very insightful comments, Lieutenant. As you probably understand, a lot of soldiers resent their government for what they did. But, others do not. We have here Major Amanda Nelson, a pilot in the U.S. Air Force, one of the branches that, as some would say, got off easy after the Global War on Terror. Tell us, Major, what were your experiences during the war like?

“Well, the Air Force was the first in and the first out in the entire war. We supported the Chinese as far back as 2021 by sending B-52s and B-2s to help the PLA ground forces. My squadron was one of the first to patrol the skies above Kazakhstan. I flew an F-117 Nighthawk, call sign Hijack. The Nighthawk was supposed to have been mothballed decades ago, but since the F-35 project was going nowhere and a DoD budget exceeding one trillion dollars, we had several Nighthawks refurbished ad hoc to fill the operational need. But anyway, one of my first runs was hitting a presumed GLA bunker near Akmola. The runt went smoothly, and we celebrated our first victory against the GLA. But then the aftermath reports came in: Apparently the PLA had been tricked, as they reported the bunker was occupied by twenty terrorists. Turns out it was twenty civilians. From there on out, we knew what this war was going to be like.”

I am sorry, Major. But from what reports tell me further intel for the rest of the war was more accurate, and you yourself did not accidentally kill any more civilians?

“Yes. Thankfully, Forward Recon got their act together and reported on actual targets for me. On most of my missions I was in and out before the bomb even hit, but sometimes things didn’t go that easy. Halfway through the war we were introduced to the new F/B-40 Aurora. It was supposed to be the mother of all bombers, going so fast it outflew radar signals. I was one of the few promoted to flying one of those death traps. On my first run with it in Afghanistan, the ground crew had miscalculated its fuel consumption due to conflicting performance information since they had never test flown it with a full payload before. I was armed with a fuel-air bomb, heaviest bomb I’ve ever dropped. On my run to the target, I burned through eighty percent of my fuel. I had to fly so slow on my way back the GLA could have picked me off using conventional flak cannons. My Aurora was spotted by them, and they did open fire. It ripped through my wings, but I managed to get past them.”

Interesting. Would you argue that R&D were trying to push their experimental weapons systems into service because the war was so demanding on the economy?

“Absolutely. They had already spent over 80 billion on the Aurora project since its inception in the 80s, they sure ain’t gonna waste it. Despite being in development for over three decades there were still a lot of work to be done. The Aurora was essentially an attempt to make a bomber as small as a conventional strike fighter, but with the capabilities of a strategic bomber. No wonder it was scrapped during the O’Connor administration, although I’ve heard rumors that Skunkworks is currently working on an improved version...”

What was your situation like after the war?

“I had the opportunity to become a civilian pilot in an international airline, so I had it easy. But I understand the struggle everyone else went through, and I feel for them. I would say that I held less resentment for our government after the war, but I still think that if our budget had been better balanced and spread out instead of focused on these vaunted 'super weapons' like the Aurora or the laser tanks, we might have been able to provide better support in the war, maybe even win it. And of course, what really broke our neck was the sheer political absurdity of invading and occupying almost a dozen countries at the same time. You just cannot control a fragmented population of millions with a few tens or even hundreds of thousands of troops.”

Two soldiers providing their thoughts on the Global War on Terror and its aftermath. Over the past few years the United States military has changed a lot. The Army has become a glorified national guard, the Marines are now the most prominent branch in close conjunction with a Navy that ditched most of its supercarriers in favour of submarine vessels, and the Air Force remains abovie it all. Stay tuned for our next episode of Forgotten Warriord, were we interview a true war hero; Colonel John Burton.

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This is my first official story for Rise of the Reds. MARS provided touch-ups here and there. This is just to keep y'all satisfied until 2.0 updates start rolling out, and I may write more Canon Fodder in the near future.

[3rdShockArmy]

This is great. I don't know where you get all those original dialogues, but it's damn good. It all looks like I'm reading a real news outlet and those people seem so real. Way to go. Keep 'em coming.

This post has been edited by 3rdShockArmy: 6 Sep 2015, 10:03

[{Lads}RikerZZZ]

>mfw reading this and knowing more will come


Awesome dude, seriously, keep them coming.