VIKING HAMMER (AND THE UGLY BABY)

01.Masters of Chaos Pages 8/17/04 12:00 PM Page 309
Viking Hammer (and the Ugly Baby)
From the very first days of surveillance, it had been clear to ODA 081
that it was up against skilled fighters. The Ansar militants had fired mortars
at the men whenever they moved. The team had quickly learned to
follow the example of its Kurdish allies and scurry from the vehicles into
the buildings. Ansar al-Islam was also very well equipped. The accurate
aim indicated that the mortar tubes were new and that the AI knew how
to use them. They would fire twenty or thirty mortars at a time and
were frequently resupplied. The Special Forces did not know how many
Ansar fighters remained after the air strikes of the previous week, but
they doubted that the group would give up easily. Judging by the fortified
positions that the militants had built all over the area, this was not a
passing foothold but a place where they intended to stay.
The captain’s nervous excitement was understandable; Operation
Viking Hammer would be followed closely at high levels of the government,
all the way to the White House. It was the captain’s first battle.
He had just graduated from the Q course, but he was no kid. He was a
twenty-nine-year-old college graduate with a degree in chemical engineering
which, to his mother’s regret, he was not using. The captain had
won the confidence of his sergeants simply by respecting their skill and
experience. The teams that function most smoothly minimize distinctions
of rank in favor of each man pulling his own weight. The captain
trusted the men to do their jobs while he did his. His primary responsibility
was to advise and assist Sheikh Jafr and the band of Kurds that
would provide the mass in the fight. The Kurds liked the friendly and
unpretentious American captain, and the PUK leader’s son, Baffel Talabani,
insisted on coming along as his interpreter.
The firepower would come from the team itself. The captain had no
doubt that his team sergeant, who would direct the tactical movements
of the other four sergeants, knew what he was doing. The thirty-sixyear-old
master sergeant was experienced, aggressive, and outspoken,
with thirteen years in the Special Forces and seventeen in the military.
He’d fought in Desert Storm and Afghanistan, and had served in the special
mission units that undertake secret assignments on counterterrorism
missions. He had started out in 7th Group under Kevin Higgins,
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