Free Airborne (1997) by Tom Clancy

what is out of place. A small forest of antennae seems to grow out of the roof, and enough satellite dishes to make Ted Turner envious are scattered nearby. You might even guess that this is someplace that is plugged in to watch the world. If so, you would be more correct than you could ever know. That is because you have just found the headquarters building of the U.S. Army’s XVIII Airborne Corps, America’s busiest combat unit.
    Based at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, where it shares the post with the 82nd Airborne Division, XVIII Airborne Corps’ various units have had a piece of almost every major military operation since its creation just after the Normandy invasion in 1944. Back then, the corps was commanded by the legendary Lieutenant General Matthew Ridgway. It was composed of the 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions, and was getting ready for a shot at destiny in the polder country of Holland and the frosty forests of the Ardennes. Today, XVIII Airborne Corps is composed of four full divisions, and has over forty percent of the Army’s total combat strength on tap. Each of the four divisions (the 3rd Mechanized Infantry, 10th Mountain, 82nd Airborne, and 101st Air Assault) is different, and this diversity is as intriguing as the overall mission of the corps itself: to be America’s crisis response force in readiness.
    Much like the Navy/Marine MEU (SOC)s, the units of XVIII Airborne Corps are designed to rapidly intervene in a crisis anywhere in the world that American military force is required. The difference is that unlike the MEU (SOC)s, which are forward-deployed aboard Amphibious Ready Groups (ARGs) and have to be rotated every few months, the units of XVIII Airborne Corps are home-based in the United States, and designed for rapid deployment overseas.
    This matter of continental U.S. basing has both pluses and minuses for the units of the corps. It means that they can be division-sized forces with real mass and combat power behind them, unlike the battalion-sized MEU (SOC)s. This also means that they are, man-for-man, cheaper to operate and maintain compared to forward-deployed or sea-based units. The downside of home basing is fairly obvious, though: The corps is here in America when a crisis begins overseas. To get around this, each of the units has been either designed for rapid deployment overseas, or given special arrangements with the units of the U.S. Transportation Command (USTRANSCOM) for the necessary resources to make them mobile in a crisis. At one extreme, this includes the 82nd Airborne Division being able to put a full combat-ready battalion into the air for delivery anywhere in the world in less than eighteen hours. On the other end of the spectrum is the mighty 3rd Mechanized Infantry Division, which has priority with the Navy’s fleet of fast sealift ships, and can put a heavy armored brigade anywhere with a port within two to three weeks. Deployability is the name of the game for the soldiers of XVIII Airborne Corps, and they have worked hard to make the game winnable for America. This deployability has made them the busiest collection of units in the U.S. military, especially since the end of the Vietnam War. Their list of battle streamers includes almost every action fought by U.S. forces since that time. Grenada, Panama, the Persian Gulf, and Haiti were all actions which were led by XVIII Airborne Corps.
    If you drive down I-95 into the beautiful pine forests and sand hills of North Carolina, you eventually find the town of Fayetteville. This quiet Southern town is the bedroom community that sits outside the busiest Army base in America. As you enter the post, the history of the place washes over you as soon as you look at the street signs. Names like Bastogne, Normandy, and Nijmegen flash at you, all names of classic airborne actions.
    Near the center of the post complex is the XVIII Airborne Corps headquarters. As you enter the security section of the headquarters building, you are