Read Online The War Planners by Andrew Watts - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Andrew Watts
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relax, Natesh. All of this will work out.”
They stood outside the double glass doors of the Classroom building.
“Thanks,” he replied. There was nothing like a few choice words from an attractive woman to prop up the ego of a doubting man. What’s more, Lena seemed to have a gift for handling people.
Moments later, Natesh stood on the auditorium stage, studying the faces in his audience. His nerves calmed as he shifted into business mode. About half of the seats were filled. The others were funneling in. Most people sipped steaming coffee from Styrofoam cups.
The loud drone of aircraft engines caused most people to look out expansive windows. A large multi-engine propeller plane rolled down the runway. Every other day, that plane was supposed to be bringing in supplies from who knows where. Lena and the Major had told them about it last night during their indoctrination. This was the first drop-off.
They had been told about all of the buildings on the island. They were told where to go to get food and to wash their clothes. There was very little infrastructure. Only a handful of Asian maids and cooks lived in back of the cafeteria. None spoke English, not that it mattered. The Major had warned against speaking with them. They were cleared to work here, but no conversations were to go on within earshot of any of them. There were strict security rules to follow. Lena had explained the rules clearly. Don’t go outside the boundaries of the base fence. It circled the runway and the buildings, but split the island in half, with nothing but mountainous jungle on the other side. Don’t communicate off the island. Natesh wasn’t sure how anyone could have pulled that off anyway. It wasn’t like they had a satellite phone. Lena told them that if anyone had any problems, medical or otherwise, they were to see her as soon as possible. No one had raised any concerns.
Natesh watched the runway scene through the window as men in protective eyewear and helmets jumped down from a retractable ramp on the rear of the aircraft. The men rolled off crates near one of the taxiways and then immediately hopped back on board. Within minutes, the plane had taken off. As soon as it had, the Asian stewards that cooked their food and made up their rooms each day scurried out to the crates and brought them back to the cafeteria building. What was this place?
Everyone was seated. Natesh walked over and stood up in front of the podium. He looked at his watch. 8:01 a.m. “Good morning. I hope you all have been able to sleep better than I have.”
He got a few tired smiles in reply.
“Well...at least we all know why we’re here. Let’s do the best that we possibly can at this. The better job we do at planning out possible Chinese attack strategies and tactics, the better our nation will be able to prepare.”
“Amen.” someone said in the back. There were several nods of approval at that. Most of the group had progressed from the frantic denials and arguments of last night into a patriotic eagerness to contribute.
“So...” He looked at everyone in the room. He saw Lena in the back of the room, standing by the window. She had an encouraging smile and gave him a polite nod, as if to prod him along.
Natesh cleared his throat. He said, “Let’s look at the facts. We started to examine some of the numbers yesterday. On everyone’s desk is an official report that compares China and the US. It’s a threat assessment conducted jointly by the CIA and the Pentagon last year that essentially does what we’re going to do today. It’s a SWOT analysis. For those of you that aren’t familiar, SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. But what took the CIA and the Pentagon over six months to conclude, I can sum up in two sentences. One: China is really big. And two: the United States has a military
They stood outside the double glass doors of the Classroom building.
“Thanks,” he replied. There was nothing like a few choice words from an attractive woman to prop up the ego of a doubting man. What’s more, Lena seemed to have a gift for handling people.
Moments later, Natesh stood on the auditorium stage, studying the faces in his audience. His nerves calmed as he shifted into business mode. About half of the seats were filled. The others were funneling in. Most people sipped steaming coffee from Styrofoam cups.
The loud drone of aircraft engines caused most people to look out expansive windows. A large multi-engine propeller plane rolled down the runway. Every other day, that plane was supposed to be bringing in supplies from who knows where. Lena and the Major had told them about it last night during their indoctrination. This was the first drop-off.
They had been told about all of the buildings on the island. They were told where to go to get food and to wash their clothes. There was very little infrastructure. Only a handful of Asian maids and cooks lived in back of the cafeteria. None spoke English, not that it mattered. The Major had warned against speaking with them. They were cleared to work here, but no conversations were to go on within earshot of any of them. There were strict security rules to follow. Lena had explained the rules clearly. Don’t go outside the boundaries of the base fence. It circled the runway and the buildings, but split the island in half, with nothing but mountainous jungle on the other side. Don’t communicate off the island. Natesh wasn’t sure how anyone could have pulled that off anyway. It wasn’t like they had a satellite phone. Lena told them that if anyone had any problems, medical or otherwise, they were to see her as soon as possible. No one had raised any concerns.
Natesh watched the runway scene through the window as men in protective eyewear and helmets jumped down from a retractable ramp on the rear of the aircraft. The men rolled off crates near one of the taxiways and then immediately hopped back on board. Within minutes, the plane had taken off. As soon as it had, the Asian stewards that cooked their food and made up their rooms each day scurried out to the crates and brought them back to the cafeteria building. What was this place?
Everyone was seated. Natesh walked over and stood up in front of the podium. He looked at his watch. 8:01 a.m. “Good morning. I hope you all have been able to sleep better than I have.”
He got a few tired smiles in reply.
“Well...at least we all know why we’re here. Let’s do the best that we possibly can at this. The better job we do at planning out possible Chinese attack strategies and tactics, the better our nation will be able to prepare.”
“Amen.” someone said in the back. There were several nods of approval at that. Most of the group had progressed from the frantic denials and arguments of last night into a patriotic eagerness to contribute.
“So...” He looked at everyone in the room. He saw Lena in the back of the room, standing by the window. She had an encouraging smile and gave him a polite nod, as if to prod him along.
Natesh cleared his throat. He said, “Let’s look at the facts. We started to examine some of the numbers yesterday. On everyone’s desk is an official report that compares China and the US. It’s a threat assessment conducted jointly by the CIA and the Pentagon last year that essentially does what we’re going to do today. It’s a SWOT analysis. For those of you that aren’t familiar, SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. But what took the CIA and the Pentagon over six months to conclude, I can sum up in two sentences. One: China is really big. And two: the United States has a military
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