Free Vietnam II: A War Novel Episode 3 (V2) by C.R. Ryder Page A

all eight of the throttles.  This was hard on the engines, but not as hard as crashing off the end of the runway into the ocean would be.
    The Battle Sky came off the runway slightly nose down.  I tapped the brakes to stop the wheels.
    “Gear up.”
    “Gear up,” the copilot repeats as he throws up the handle.
    Next the flaps come up and then we are climbing at 280 knots.
    Two hours later the primary strike aircraft plus airborne spares, some forty aircraft in all, have all launched into the night sky.  It was all done radio silent so everything from engine start, taxi and takeoff was done based on timing. 
    The first objective of a strike mission is to just get to the target.  The navigator pretty much ran the show.  The pilots just followed their directions.  We had very little navigational information except for the compass.  We had to trust the navigators.
    "Pilot fly heading 325. Pilot give me 290 knots indicated."  The navigator ordered over the interphone.
    I turn us west. 
    We are headed for Vietnam as fast as the Big Ugly Fat Fucker would allow.
     

Boatswain’s Mate Ridley Ford
    USS Missouri
    Gulf of Tonkin
     
    The first wave of Air Force and Navy aircraft were retrograding out of Hanoi.  The bombers were coming in right behind them.  Between the two waves we had our window.  We had our fingers on the trigger waiting for the word.  When the first wave was completely clear it would be our turn.
    A horn sounded followed by an announcement warning us that the Missouri was going to launch Tomahawks.  Moments after we got to our positions the first Tomahawk erupted from the deck.
    The Missouri and other naval forces launched a barrage of Tomahawk land attack cruise missiles (TLAMs) from the Gulf of Tonkin against strategic targets in Vietnam including government buildings, TV stations, airfields, presidential palaces, military installations, communication lines, supply bases, oil refineries, airports, electric power plants and war machine equipment factories making Iraqi war machine equipment.
    When we watched the Armed Forces Network news that next morning and the American reporters in Hanoi were saying, "I hear bombs but I don't see any planes."  I knew they were talking about us.
    The reason they saw no planes was because the only systems sent to destroy the critical, but heavily defended targets in Baghdad were TLAMs.  You didn’t hear the Tomahawk until it exploded.
    We had no idea how well these Tomahawks were doing until the next day.  Their performance was described by fleet as outstanding.  The Tomahawk’s accuracy was about 85% according to intelligence reports.  We would end up with about that same rate for the 288 missiles fired during the war.  The Tomahawk became popular for the same reason UAVs dominated war in the next century: they did not put anyone in harm’s way except the enemy and they worked.  Not only did the Tomahawk avoid risking the life of a pilot in attacking a heavily defended target, it also minimized the loss of life on both sides by reducing unintended collateral damage to civilians.
    “All I see when one of those comes out of the launcher is taxpayer dollars going up in smoke.”  Quinn another sailor told me and Bella at chow.
    I knew better than to start an argument with Bella.  However, I did like to watch him take people apart with his twisted logic.
    “What kind of attitude it that?”  Bella said.
    "They costs a lot of money," said Quinn.
    “True, but they save lives.  How much does a person cost?”  Bella asked.
    “I would say that we are sorting that our right now.”  Quinn responded.
    “Saving lives is noble asshole.”  Bella said investing more syrup into his stack of pancakes.  “Those Tomahawks are dollars well spent.”
    Little did we know it then, but the most effective and most famous weapon of V2 had just made its debut.

Lieutenant Colonel Carol Madison
    U.S. Air Force Intelligence Officer
    Pacific Command Operations