By Ryan Belscamper
Prologue
Everyone knew a war was coming. We’d been talking about it, and hearing about it for years. All the talking heads agreed, “No earlier than 2027, no later than 2030.” So of course it came as an absolute surprise to everyone when the war started in May of ’28. I watch a lot more of the news than other guys in my unit, so my surprise was more like, “Whoa, this is actually happening!”
Neither the U.S. or China wants to admit we’re actually fighting a war. Five aircraft carriers, twenty to fifty destroyers (ours and theirs) either sunk or badly damaged, ten or twenty thousand civilian casualties, mostly in Taiwan, a few cities wrecked, and exactly two nuclear weapons used in the first two and a half weeks. Definitely no war going on here. And I’m definitely not sitting in the middle of it.
Those first two and a half weeks were rough. Basically, both sides managed to knock out most of the other’s forces and capabilities. Every day the news had something dramatic: “Two U.S. amphib groups deploy Marines into Taipei,” then “Amphibious groups sunk by Chinese attack,” “Chinese invasion force sunk by U.S. aircraft,” “Nuclear weapon destroys U.S. carrier group,” “U.S. nuclear weapon detonated in Yellow Sea,” “Jinzhou, Dalian, Weifang, Changzhou, and Tianjin waterfronts destroyed.” One day the U.S. Navy was getting sunk, the next day the U.S. Navy was sinking the Chinese Navy. After those first couple weeks, the pace of the war dropped off, just because neither side could afford to keep up the earlier pace. The whole time, the Chinese kept dumping more troops into Taiwan.
Finally, some four-star got the bright idea that to keep Chinese troops out of Taiwan, they needed to be somewhere else, and the best plan anyone could come up with was to push Littoral Combat Regiments in close. Real close.
Moving Out
[22:45] So that’s why I’m here, two months later, riding a rubber boat in the middle of the night off this little island where my platoon has spent the last two weeks either avoiding detection, or trying to get noticed. It’s not even a very dark night; the lights of Hong Kong really brighten up the sky with their amber glow. Second platoon was actually up on the mainland, just north of the city a week ago. From what I hear they spent most of their time drawing giant penises everywhere they could. The rest of us have been counting how many ships have moved in and out of the port, and trying to figure out if any of them were military, or how much trade disruption the Navy is managing.
Tonight was different though. When the sun went down, a few of our guys broke into the lighthouse on the northeast corner of this island. They planted a bunch of charges on timers before heading to the extraction site. Word has it there was some more graffiti involved. The story is that White bought spray paint at some shop in the city while he was up there with second platoon. I can’t for the life of me figure out if anything that comes out of second platoon is true.
So, while they were planting their charges in the lighthouse, we were uncovering the three launchers we brought with us. At ten o’clock, as we were beating feet to the south side of the island, all twelve missiles launched. We could see the flares of the rocket motors going up as we jumped in our boats, and it wasn’t even a minute later when we started seeing flashes and hearing the “krRump” of those missiles hitting a whole bunch of ships moving out of port. This close to the mainland, the Chinese had to know we were here. So far, I think they’ve ignored us, or we’d have all died a while ago. Judging from the fireworks, I think they’ll be looking for us now.
Okay, boats are turning west. Re-group on Dawanshan. The plan, as I understand it, is we spend about two days laying low on Dawanshan doing damage assessment, then they pull us out of here. These last couple of weeks were kind of funny, like a teenage camping trip with weapons. But as I watch that lighthouse explode behind us, my feelings are changing fast. We’re not a comedy sideshow anymore. This war is real, and we just invited the whole Chinese army to come looking for us. I could wade to the mainland from here. Five minutes pass, and we’re passing the edge of the island now, and I can see the fires burning on the water. I count them; seven, eight, no ten ships ablaze barely out of the harbor. They’re too far away to tell for sure, but I think those two were containerships, and that one is definitely a frigate. All of the others are getting covered in too much smoke to even guess what they were. We did that, and it looks like a horror movie. Okay, I have to face it. Maybe two days till our little excursion is over, and I’m scared.
The Next Morning, 0630
It took us another hour to make it out here to Dawanshan, where Third Platoon has been setting up a defensive net. The sun is rising now, and I can see a lot of smoke still coming from the northeast. Looking a little further to the left, I can see a lot of grey-blue planes flying into the airport. There is definitely a military buildup going on there, and anyone with an IQ over seven knows they’re coming after us. There’s a break in the cargo aircraft, so I grab the binoculars. Looks like two squadrons of helicopters moving into town too. A hundred and fifty of us, less than ten miles away, with no armor, and no air support, versus all of that. I think those planes carry about two hundred troops each, and I saw at least ten of them land. I guess the exact count doesn’t matter, because another flight is coming in now.
[1530] For the second time today, we watch as Chinese helicopters swarm over one of the other islands. Through binoculars, I count fifteen choppers. Five are attack choppers, and circle around a lot. The other ten must be transports, because they just hover over an area for a minute or so, then move away fast. Apparently that is how they are looking for us – rappel about a hundred soldiers down and scour the island. We spent those first two weeks moving from island to island, so I’m certain they’ve found some of second platoon’s artwork by now. There’s no question they found the launchers we abandoned, that was the first island they searched, and medium-sized trucks with giant anti-ship missile launchers on the back aren’t so hard to find. It takes a few hours before the attack choppers leave, they must’ve figured out we aren’t there anymore.
Around 1800 Carlos reports sighting a third group of aircraft moving over yet another island. Call it two hours between searches, and ten or twelve islands out here worth the name. I count on my fingers and come to an ugly conclusion – they will search this island before we leave.
Ambush
[Next Day, 1400] My earpiece is bugging me with its low hum of static, but I don’t dare move to adjust it. Every couple of minutes, I heard the faint hum of an electric quadcopter just over the trees. I can’t see a thing other than open ground ahead of me. The thermal blanket is making me sweat, and I’ve got a cramp in my left leg from not moving for so long. I can’t hear the drones anymore, they are completely drowned out by the chop-chop of approaching helicopters. Two helicopters fly past, before a third one stops and hovers right over me. Us. It stops to hover over my fireteam. Each of us are individually concealed, and it is so easy to forget that I am not alone here on the ground.
The end of a rope smacks me on the back, then bounces just a few feet away. Nothing over the earpiece yet. Not that I could hear anything over the pounding of my own heart right now anyhow. Boots appear right in front of my face, and I thank the stars I wasn’t just stepped on. Two more pair appear in turn, and the fourth pair actually step on my rifle as they walk away. The rotor beat of the helicopter is the only reason they can’t hear me breathing. The helicopter leaves, and I can see five soldiers walking away from me, into the small woods right ahead. I was expecting ten, the other five must be behind me somewhere.
“Hold. Second wave approaching.” The low, calm voice over the earpiece almost makes me jump from the sudden fright. I see a quick movement in front of me, I think Carlos did jump. Sure enough, the beating of rotor blades is growing louder again. The first five soldiers are just out of sight now, and I pray the second group doesn’t step on us like they did.
“Now.”
One word. LT didn’t even sound excited about it at all. I don’t jump this time, the command was given so dispassionately. The helicopters are almost overhead when I hear the firing of rocket motors in every direction. As the helicopters overheard explode in unison, the squad of enemy soldiers that almost stepped on us comes bursting back through the trees. I fire, and fire again. First guy down, and I can’t even line up a shot on the second man right in front of me before he drops to the ground, riddled with bullets. I hear a few more shots, and wet thumps behind me as the other half squad falls. Echoes of gunfire ring the area, but then stop. A few crashes of burning machinery, a scream of pain and two more rifle shots, then silence.
Wait, that was it? As I collect my senses, I realize that couldn’t have lasted more than ten seconds, fifteen tops. What kind of firefight is over in ten seconds? Rising from our positions, this empty clearing is suddenly occupied by my fireteam. We form up on Sergeant Rice, and sweep the area. Dead bodies ahead of and behind us. A hundred feet later toy quadcopters lay disabled on the ground. Two go into foil bags, the rest we just stomp on. In a matter of minutes, the entire island is swept, and the all-clear signal is given. Secondary positions are occupied, as we wait for either nightfall or a more robust attack. The next eight hours are the most exhausting stillness of my life.
One of the attack helicopter pilots survived. They pulled him out of the cockpit, put a splint on his arm, and tied him to a tree after Doc shot him full of morphine. Then they raided what was left of his aircraft for all the electronics, manuals, and maintenance records they could find. “They” being from second platoon, I’m guessing there was some artwork on the pilot’s face.
Egress
[2230] We are cutting this close. Climbing into our rubber craft, I can hear the helicopters approaching. Never mind, we’re all onboard, and putting ourselves as far from here as we can. I can see the beach behind us, all clear. Fifteen other boats are in the water with us, all heading south. Our wakes glow like rocket trails in my night-vision goggles. Panic strikes, our wakes are glowing! One of the helicopters is turning now, heading right towards us. We’ve got a head start, but it’s closing fast and as far as I can tell, we’re just heading into open ocean. Looking further out to the sides, I see two small patrol craft. We’ve gotten this far, not a scratch on any of us, and now we are all going to die! I scan ahead of our course, and I can see yet another mast. Great, pinned in by three patrol craft, chased by helicopters, and pretty much devoid of any useful weapons for this fight. Cynicism must be self-propagating, because my goggles just flew off when we hit that last wave.
The two patrol craft on either side of our flotilla of rubber boats are sweeping the waves with searchlights. I see one of the other boats caught in the beam, and I watch as a rocket flies from the helicopter annihilating ten helpless Marines. Another boat is caught in a searchlight, and ten more die. There is a rattle of machine gun fire from one of the patrol boats, but I have no idea what they are shooting at or if they hit any more of us. The searchlights continue to sweep, and one locks right on my boat. Another missile or rocket flares up from the boat in front of us. This one arcs through the air, coming right at the boat I’m in.
The missile sails higher overhead, past us, and brings the helicopter down in a flaming wreck before it sinks beneath the waves. Two more missiles flare up, going to the sides this time, and both of the flanking patrol craft are hit. One more missile goes into the air. I track it until the motor burns out. Following the arc, I see a fireball well behind us. Was that the second helicopter? It had to be.
Our boats are turning now, coming up right behind the vessel which blocked our path. This is no patrol craft, this is a ship. I can only see traces of the outline above me, but that loading ramp at the back, twelve feet above the waterline can only mean one thing. The “Little Crappy Ship” just saved us. Sailors aboard make good time dragging every one of us up into the mission bay. LT is the last aboard, and I hear the ships engines spooling up as we start moving fast through the water. I don’t need my goggles to see the wake kicking up behind the ship. Looking through the closing doors of the mission bay, the wake is an incandescent volcano of water. I catch one last view of the city lights before the doors finish closing.
I hear the squad leaders taking muster, but I’m not the senior guy, so that isn’t my problem. I really don’t want to think about why they’re taking a muster right now. That’ll be the only thing any of us think about for a while, so it can wait till tomorrow. I look for a place to get some sleep.
Ryan Belscamper is a former U.S. Navy Firecontrolman, now working as a U.S. Navy civilian to maintain our Navy’s readiness.
Featured Image: Art created with Midjourney AI.