Redeye Fulda Cold , livre ebook

Cold War Publications, LLC - Bill Fortin

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276 pages

English

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Redeye Fulda Cold by Bill Fortin is a different type of war novel. The silence of the combat was deafening for all who would participate. In 1969 the fighting of the Cold War was fought on 1000 maps in 30 command posts strategically located throughout West Germany. Fontain, the main character in this saga, is just out of high school. A series of tests shines a light on him which puts him on a path that will change his life forever.

Redeye Fulda Cold is a snap shot in time from our history... a view that very few Americans remember. It was a time when the world was on the brink of war. A great secret that has been kept to this day. This story is meant as a tribute to the women and men who fought in the Cold War.

Things Are Seldom What They Seem 14

The Beginning - Zero Hour 21

Zero Week - Plus Eight Hours 24

The Advancement 34

The Color of Red 40

The Loneliest Number 51

United States Army Europe 66

PART II 72

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Publié par	Cold War Publications, LLC
Date de parution	15 juin 2015
Nombre de lectures	2
EAN13	9780996478625
Langue	English
Poids de l'ouvrage	2 Mo

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0007€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

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RedEye
FULDA COLD – BOOK 1
Books by Bill Fortin
RedEye
FULDA COLD – BOOK 1
A Cold War Novel with Rick Fontain
BILL FORTIN
Copyright © 2013 by Bill Fortin

Library of Congress Control Number: 2013918724

ISBN: 978-0-578-16485-4 Paperback
978-0-9964786-0-1 Hardback
978-0-9964786-2-5 Ebook

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Characters, businesses, and organizational groups appearing in this work have been used fictitiously. Any resemblance to real persons (living or dead) is purely coincidental.

This book was printed in the United States of America.

Published by Cold War Publications
June 2015

http://coldwarpublications.com
Thanks to Larry Stockert and Jack Swanson and to Ken Clark’s photos.
I would also like to recognize these individuals who provided strength and guidance through their words of encouragement throughout this project.
A Very Special Thanks
• My Mom, Dorothy Fortin, and my brother, Mark, for their unending support during the entire project.
• Ellen Lindenbaum for her guidance and provisioning with the logistics in setting the tone and assisting with laying out the storyline.
• 1st LT Martin Milco, his stories and descriptions of events of life in the 3rd Armor’s activities in and around Gelnhausen and the Coleman Kaserne were invaluable for sharpening the technical elements of RedEye .
• COL James Pittman started his military career around the same time as my tour in West Germany. I met Jim online through the ‘Together We Serve’ site. His comments enhanced the conversation of RedEye .
• COL Luke Lloyd took over command of the 1st/33rd Armor Battalion the year after I rotated back to the land of the big PX. His counsel and friendship have been the best part of this journey.
• Donna Foley, editor
• Stephen Walker, S. R. Walker Designs
• Patty Wallenburg, format editor
• Bracha Kunz, proofreader
In loving memory of Sergeant Ken Clark , 1st/48th INF, HHC, 1969–1971, who used his camera to record for all of us important moments in history long since forgotten. The entire RedEye team owes our very lives to him. Ken passed away on May 11, 2007.
This story is dedicated to him. . .

LTC Thomas Brogan, Battalion Commander, 1st/48th INF, Gelnhausen Germany, was born May 2, 1930, to Harriet and Tyler Brogan in Los Angeles, California.
Survived by his daughter, Lisa, and son, Tim. Tom passed on July 13, 2010, in Tyler, Texas. Tom was an extraordinary human being and a true American hero.

“Blood & Guts, Colonel.”

“Joining is hard, belonging is earned, and committing to those you serve with will define you forever.”
RedEye Fulda Cold. . . “. . . with a smooth, wry touch, Bill Fortin spins a page-turning Cold War tale capturing both the great bravery and the occasional comic moments—some intentional, some classic SNAFUs—of U.S. military intelligence saving the world from Russia invasion.”

—W.E.B. Griffin and William E. Butterworth IV, #1 New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestselling authors
Contents
Author’s Note
Prologue
PART I “An Honor and a Privilege”
1 Things Are Seldom What They Seem
2 The Beginning—Zero Hour
3 Zero Week—Plus Eight Hours
4 The Advancement
5 The Color of Red
6 The Loneliest Number
7 USAREUR
PART II “Growing Up in Gelnhausen”
8 Permanent Change
9 The Mission
10 Operation Sparrow Signature
11 Photo Op Rhein-Main Air Base
12 Junkyard Friendship
13 Aim of the Sparrow
14 Onward and Upward
15 The Russians are Coming
16 Cold War 2.0 “Lines in the Sand”
17 Operation Sparrow Hawk:“The Pied Piper Effect”
18 A Whisper in the Clear
19 The Last Hoorah
20 A Fond Farewell
Epilogue
Characters, Places and Terms
Endnotes
Author’s Note
M ANY PEOPLE FORGET that during the Vietnam era there was another war being fought. . . one that had been raging in silence since the early 1950’s. It was called “the Cold War.” While brave men were fighting in Vietnam, equally brave men and women were embracing an enemy labeled as the evil empire .
RedEye Fulda Cold is a snapshot articulation of the “the Cold War” in 1969. The experiences of a boy who came of age while serving in the 3rd Armor Division’s 1st 48th Infantry battalion. The battle, the politics, and the day to day events are described as they are met head on. Both drama and humor are present as the CIA steps in to address an immediate threat of invasion. The infamous Fulda Gap becomes center stage as the Soviet army’s gather at the border. Those of us who served inside these types of operations. . . in the longest war of our time. . . are the only ones left who know what it took to keep the world and our way of life safe back then. . . We will never forget what we accomplished. . . together.
Prologue
P UTTING A CHINK in communist doctrine may not have been the primary motive of the reform movement called Prague Spring . However, it did provide the people of Czechoslovakia with a brief view of the concept of western capitalism—and its potential value. Czechoslovakia’s newly elected First Secretary of the Communist Party would introduce some radically new ideas to his people and his party. Reformist Alexander Dubcek, on January 5, 1968, released his vision of what he considered to be the future success for his country.
This breath of spring, and his dream, came to a screeching halt on August 21 of that same year when the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact invaded his country and halted any and all reforms that were thought to be detrimental to Mother Russia and the communist party. Romania and Albania were the only Pact countries that did not participate.
History would show that the Czechs attributed the invasion to the “Brezhnev Doctrine,” which stated that the U.S.S.R. had every right to intervene whenever a country in the Eastern Bloc strolled toward capitalism. Brezhnev’s Soviet foreign policy specifically stated—and I quote: “When forces are hostile to socialism, and attempt to turn existing socialist countries toward capitalism, it will become a concern for all.”
Two months before the invasion, several members of the Dubček Cabinet defected to the West. They took with them several interesting documents from the safe in the palace in which the president of Czechoslovakia resided. These official papers clearly outlined a Soviet war plan with intent to fake a NATO first strike invasion of the Eastern bloc countries. What really surprised the NATO intelligence officers, and caused major fallout within the intelligence community itself, was the amount of detail in the plan that specified the immediate use of nuclear weapons. Most everyone just plain refused to believe what they had been handed.
The Langley interrogators, however, took exception to this stance and requested an additional analysis be conducted by the Hilversum Group in Holland. What caused the CIA men great concern was the level of detail used to describe the nuclear strike and the interesting list of the countries that were not to be harmed in the proposed missile barrage. Those countries to be spared were the nations of Great Britain, Spain, Norway, and a special notation for the protection of the city of Paris.
The CIA Station Chief in London was directed by the U.S. President to immediately respond to this clear and present danger. The highest levels of the U.S. and West German governments were summoned to meet in The Netherlands. After much discussion, a complete re-write for the response to invasion, titled MC 14/3 C, was sanctioned. If Russia was indeed going to attack the West, buying time to prepare was the order of the day.
There was the term MAD, mutually assured destruction , which had always been the most halting of deterrents. This had always given pause to a possible Russian invasion. By mid-1968 the MAD FACTOR seemed to no longer apply. The seldom used alerting term, created in the early 1950s, was called DEFCON . These initials stood for Defense Readiness Condition.
A complete policy remake, an addendum, would be required. Enhancements to the NATO war plan, MC 14/3 would be necessary. A recommended mandate, configured in a new section labeled MC 14/3 “C” would require an instant escalation to the second highest level of response readiness, DEFCON-2. This would be implemented for any invasion attempt. An immediate call for a DEFCON-1 would follow once boots on the ground verified the incursion. The key word in this new policy was the word “immediate,” with an absolute no-pause-for-diplomacy mandate.
Not since the end of WWII in the Pacific has this God-like power been authorized. This resolve, known only to the U.S. President, the German Chancellor, and a few high-ranking officials in the NATO command, would be new tac taken to protect Western Europe.
An executive order was issued by the American Presiden