by T W Powell
A salvo of 5 THAAD interceptors were launched from Kauai, resulting in two hard kills. A third ICBM veered off course during re-entry and air burst over the Pacific well north of Oahu. This may, or may not, have been the result of a glancing blow from a THAAD kinetic interceptor.
The USS Lake Erie was just departing Pearl when the alert was issued. Lake Erie was a Ticonderoga Class Aegis Cruiser. Her phased array radar painted the two remaining North Korean warheads as they were in the terminal phase of their descent. SM-6 missiles erupted skyward from the Lake Erie’s vertical launch system. Unlike THAAD, the SM-6 missile kills its’ target with a 140 lbs. blast fragmentation warhead detonated by a radar proximity fuse.
One SM-6 made a “clean kill” on a North Korean warhead. Another SM-6 warhead exploded in close proximity to the remaining incoming North Korean warhead but did not destroy it. Instead, the warhead was knocked off course and air burst at only 200 feet over the Pacific, two nautical miles south of Diamondhead. The yield of that warhead was approximately 100 kilotons, five times the yield of the Nagasaki A-bomb. Diamondhead shielded Honolulu from much of the blast. Notwithstanding that shielding, the Waikiki, Kaimuki, and Waialae Kahala districts were heavily damaged with great loss of life.
The USS Ohio nuclear missile submarine had been converted 20 years earlier from an SSBN carrying 24 Trident ballistic missiles to a SSGN carrying 154 Tomahawk cruise missiles. Unknown to the North Koreans, the USS Ohio was submerged and cruising about 100 miles east of North Korea in the Sea of Japan. Upon NORAD’s detection of the North Korean missile launch, the USS Ohio received flash ELF radio traffic ordering the boat to periscope depth to receive flash radio traffic from the National Command Authority.
Minutes after the Diamondhead detonation, six thermonuclear tipped Tomahawks were racing toward Pyongyang. These warheads had been reloaded onto some of the Ohio’s Tomahawks after the 2022 Nuclear Deterrent Review. The Ohio’s thermonuclear warheads were the ‘dial-a-yield’ type whose yields could be set from 5 up to 150 kilotons. These Tomahawk warheads had their yield set at 150 kilotons. The Tomahawks were programed to air burst at an altitude of 580 meters in a wide pattern designed for maximum destructive effect. 30 minutes after launch, the Pyongyang pattern detonated. A city of 3 million was instantly obliterated. The National Command Authority had no clue that Pyongyang had been completely evacuated just hours before the North Korean ICBM launch.
55 additional Tomahawks were fired from the Ohio. These Tomahawks were not “Specials”, they “only” carried 1,000 lbs. high explosive warheads. The USS Ohio rained hell down upon North Korea.
Another five North Korean nuclear warheads were en route to Puget Sound. The THAAD Battery in Kodiak, Alaska would get a long-range side-on shot at them. Ten interceptors were launched resulting in 2 kills.
The USS Kidd and USS Shoup were moored at Bremerton, Washington. As they prepared to sortie, their Aegis phased array radars blasted the sky with S-band radiation. Those radars painted three incoming warheads. SM-6 missiles were fired in rapid succession from the vertical launch systems of both ships. Two of the three remaining ICBMs were destroyed, but the third warhead overshot its’ target and air burst very low over the Point Robinson Lighthouse, on the eastern tip of Maury Island out in Puget Sound. Ground Zero was five miles southwest of Sea-Tac International Airport. Kent, Washington and Sea-Tac International were devastated, but the Boeing facilities in Renton and other critical defense assets were relatively unscathed.
The final five ICBMs were targeted on Coronado Island and Point Loma in San Diego Bay. A THAAD battery was located up the Pacific coast at Vandenberg Air Force Base and was perfectly positioned for a head-on engagement. At 10:30 p.m. PST, Vandenberg received the NORAD alert. All sensor information was fed directly into the Air Force’s new battle management system, ABMS. The Vandenberg THAAD battery was composed of 8 launcher vehicles each armed with 8 interceptors. The ABMS was now receiving real time data from a wide variety of sensors and radars. The artificial intelligence built into ABMS began firing interceptors at optimum intercept range. A volley of eight interceptors was followed shortly by another volley of eight. Four of the five incoming warheads were destroyed.
By the strangest of coincidences, the Ticongeroga Class guided missile cruiser, USS Chosin, was just entering San Diego Bay when the alert was issued. She immediately made for the open sea at flank speed with her Aegis radar scanning the sky. Chosin painted the fifth and final North Korean warhead as it passed just to the west of Long Beach. The Aegis Combat System had been constantly tweaked and upgraded over 50 years of service. The Aegis System identified and located the threat, then automatically engaged the threat with SM-6 missiles. The final North Korean warhead was destroyed over Oceanside, California, showering radioactive debris over a wide area. There were no immediate casualties, but extensive decontamination procedures were required in the surrounding area.
The Joint Chiefs and NORAD were surprised at the North Korean strategy. It appeared that North Korea had targeted US Navy assets but had not targeted Seoul. Intermediate range and tactical missiles with conventional warheads had targeted military assets in Japan and South Korea, but there were no nuclear strikes. A different kind of hell erupted along the 38th Parallel, the Korean DMZ.
The North Korean strategists must have decided that, once the nuclear card was played, all bets were off. North Korea had carefully sited and entrenched thousands of artillery pieces and hundreds of tactical missiles along the DMZ. Those weapons were fired at key military targets in South Korea concurrently with the ICBM launch. Much of that ordinance carried the nerve agents Sarin and VX.
US and South Korean war planners had long feared that North Korea would use its’ large stockpile of chemical weapons. But this was considered unlikely as the use of chemical weapons would invite a nuclear response from the US. Since the North Korean nuclear strikes had already resulted in a US nuclear response, North Korea now had nothing to lose.
The US and South Korean war planners had never expected chemical attacks on this scale. The entire length of the 38th Parallel was covered in a cloud of death composed of Sarin and VX nerve agents. These attacks caused mass panic and confusion. Massive rural civilian casualties overwhelmed South Korean medical facilities. Operations at airfields, military hospitals, and logistics depots were disrupted. Curiously, Seoul was not targeted. In fact, no major South Korean urban, or industrial centers were targeted.
Within two minutes of the opening chemical barrage, US and ROK counter-battery radars had pinpointed many North Korean artillery pieces and missile launchers. Over 1,200 South Korean K9 Thunder self-propelled 155 mm guns were locked and loaded. The K9 Thunder was South Korea’s versions of the US 155 mm Paladin self- propelled gun. The armored crew compartment protected the crew from small arms fire, radiological, biological, and chemical attack. Using special rocket assisted shells, Thunder could hit targets at ranges up to 35 miles. All 1,200 Thunders received counter-battery targeting information and fired. Over 100 K239 Self Propelled Multiple Rocket Launchers joined in, firing 600 239mm guided rockets at targets up to 50 miles away. The counter-battery fire was devastating. Once these self-propelled assets fired, they quickly displaced to avoid return counter battery fire, then they fired again.
The North Korean Army crossed the 38th Parallel in mass 30 minutes after their opening chemical barrage. By this time, Tomahawk cruise missiles began striking key bridges, highways, and rail assets to their rear, just above the 38th Parallel.
The USS Abraham Lincoln’s Battle Group was cruising in the Sea of Japan a couple of hundred miles east of USS Ohio. The Lincoln Battle Group went to General Quarters immediately after receiving the NORAD alert. The F-35 “Panthers” and EA-18G “Growlers” of Carrier Air Wing 7 were ready to destroy North Korea’s air defense. Joining in this effort were 150 Japanese and 40 South Korean Panthers. The aging North Korean air force was wiped out within hours.
Three of Abraham Lincoln’s escorts, two Arleigh
Burke Class destroyers and the Ticonderoga Class Cruiser, Princeton, joined the USS Ohio and struck a variety of logistic and transportation targets in North Korea with Tomahawk cruise missiles.
The Air Force was not going to be outdone. 10 B-52s took off from Minot, North Dakota taking the polar route to North Korea. These B-52s were built about the same time that Darius’ Pops was born, but these old-timers packed a punch. Each B-52 carried 20 AGM-86D air launched cruise missiles (ALCM). These missiles could be launched 600 miles from their target and their warheads were specially designed to penetrate and destroy hardened targets. 10 hours after the Diamondhead detonation 200 ALCMs struck predetermined hardened targets in North Korea, these targets included many command and control bunkers. Most of those bunkers were empty.
The Korean People’s Army’s maximum penetration into South Korean territory was the top of the Seoul Ring Expressway (Hwy 100). The KPA penetration along the rest of the border was 20 – 25 miles. They soon ran out of fuel and ammo. They never really had much food to begin with. The US and South Korean strategy became readily apparent. The KPA’s line of retreat had been interdicted. Its’ supply chain had been disrupted. Its’ air force was destroyed. The brunt of the initial KPA assault had been blunted, now the KPA would be eliminated.
The National Command Authority, in consultation with its’ South Korean and Japanese partners, decided to do what Truman had failed to do. Once the North Korean threat was eliminated, the Korean Peninsula would be unified under a single democratic government.
The USS Nimitz and USS Carl Vinson Battle Groups joined the Abraham Lincoln Battle Group in the Sea of Japan by the end of February. Lance Corporal Darius Johnson’s 1st Marine Division, based at Camp Pendleton, California, was airlifted to Okinawa. The Marines, along with the 3,000 strong Japanese Amphibious Rapid Deployment Brigade, would land at the North Korean port of Wonsan.
The new Wonsan Kalma International Airport was located virtually on the beach. Once secured, 3,000 South Korean Marines, nicknamed the “Spartan 3,000”, would be airlifted to the airport. Kim Jong Un had dreamt of transforming Wonsan into the Miami Beach of North Korea and had the new airport constructed to handle the imagined tourist traffic. As it turned out, those tourists would be American, Japanese, and South Korean Marines.
Wonsan would be the 2025 version of Inchon. Once the Wonsan harbor was secured, massive Coalition forces could be landed and resupplied. Those forces would then drive westward toward the glowing ruins of Pyongyang, cutting off the retreat of the shattered and starving KPA.
It took Junior all morning to tell Bobby Ray this story, frequently stopping to further elaborate on specific events and answer Bobby Ray’s rapid-fire questions. By noon, Junior was tired of talking. They ate a lunch of Vienna sausage and crackers then dozed and froze for the rest of the day.
Visitors
By dusk, the webs were spun in the three narrowest canyons up Kingston Creek. Ray had built an adequate emergency shower near the Aid Station. A total blackout was in effect for all the hideouts up the creek. Tom had directed all the hideouts be located on hills and slopes above the canyon floor as nerve agents are heavier than air and would tend to sink to the lowest points in each canyon. Tom then met with each of his sergeants.
Juan Hernandez and his squad were camped around the CAT dozer parked at the roadblock on Jefferson Drive a quarter mile due east of the Saloon. His men and women ranged in age from 31 to 47, neither too young, nor too old. Three were Mormon. Two were women. Juan was Catholic. One thing is certain, none of Juan’s squad were atheists that evening.
“Vet” had established a good defensive position on the northern flank. His roadblock was positioned on the bank of Kingston Creek closest to town. Any attacker would have to cross the Creek now swollen from spring snowmelt. Vet and his men were hunkered down in the trench behind the berm. John Nicolescu was an Army Ranger veteran of two tours of duty in Afghanistan. John was in great shape despite his age.
Bill Smart, aka: Dawg, had deployed his squad as a mounted screening force fanned out behind a series of roadblocks, berms, trenches, and buildings covering several gravel roads on the south side of town. Dawg had paired older men with younger men, including a young woman, hoping each would offset the other’s weaknesses.
As Tom was wrapping up his inspection, Vet’s voice came over walkie, “Vet to Jarhead, Apache on the prowl.”
Tom responded, “Three Stooges get ready.”
An Apache helicopter was moving fast and low up Kingston Creek. All three squads dispersed and took cover. The Apache then loitered over the town scouring the area with a searchlight.
Tom radioed the codeword, “Spider, I repeat Spider.”
Moe, Larry, and Curly galloped through their respective canyons igniting the bonfires. A few moments later, the Apache started up Kingston Creek flying low and fast. By now, The Stooges were well on their way back to their respective squads making good use of the desert scrub and the relative darkness of the waxing crescent moon to hide their movement.
From town, the distinctive sound of the Apache’s 30mm chain gun could be heard echoing down Kingston Canyon. The Apache had taken a sharp left and headed up Cougar Canyon obliterating the fake campfires with high explosive dual-purpose 30mm rounds.
Then the sounds emanating from Cougar Canyon abruptly changed as the gunfire stopped. An unearthly sound was produced by over a hundred yards of high-tension wire being flung through the air faster than the tip of Zoro’s whip.
Moe later recounted that the high-tension wire was slicing through the cold, dry, high desert air so fast that it cracked like a whip, much louder than a gunshot, and static electricity discharge danced along the wire like demons from hell. The Apache barrel rolled into the canyon wall and exploded. As the wreckage burned, the 30mm high explosive rounds “cooked off” producing a pyrotechnic display reminiscent of a Fourth of July celebration.
Throughout the canyon hideouts, out at the roadblocks, and in town, loud cheers rang out.
Tom Jackson never used his spurs on Sorrel, didn’t have too. Sorrel and Tom were almost symbiotic, but tonight was different. Tom lightly spurred Little Sorrel and he responded immediately, racing up Kingston Canyon Road like a bat out of hell.
Tom raised Doc Williams on the walkie, “Doc, meet me up Cougar Canyon at the crash site.”
The armored cockpit of an Apache is designed to protect the two-man crew and improve crash survivability. This is accomplished using Kevlar armor, bulletproof glass, and crumple zones around the cockpit to absorb impact. The pilot is seated behind and above the copilot/gunner.
“Doc, looks like the cockpit was thrown clear of the explosion.”
Doc was already examining the gunner, “The guy up front is dead.”
Doc then heard a moan from the pilot, “The rear seater is alive.”
Tom pulled his 9mm, taking no chances.
Doc continued, “Let me check him out before we try to move him,”
“Keep his Chinese ass alive Doc. At least until we can interrogate him.”
15 minutes later Doc gave Tom the prognosis, “Compound leg fracture, concussion, he’s bruised and banged up pretty bad. He’ll live.”
Tom radioed Bill Smart, “Dawg, you got any cuffs?”
“A couple of pair at the house.”
“Go get ‘em and meet us in Cougar Canyon, muy pronto.”
Tom then continued, “On the way up here, stop by and see if Ray can scare up a stretcher and a couple of guys to give us a hand.”
An hour later a Chinese pilot lay spread eagle, handcuffed to the billiard table in the Saloon. His broken leg had been set and immobilized. Doc’s pain medication had put the pilot out like a light.
It was almost 11 p.m. and Tom had to hit the trail by 6 a.m. to make his appointment with Delvin.
“I should be back tomorrow afternoon, make sure he’s awake when I get back.”
Tom and Doc both slept in the Saloon where they could keep a close eye on their pr
isoner. They were awakened at 2:10 a.m. by Vet on the walkie.
“Headlights coming up Kingston Canyon Road.”
“Jarhead here, how many headlights?”
“Two sets. Too dark to see what’s coming.”
The sliver of moon that shone earlier had set by now.
“Vet to Jarhead, we got an EMS ambulance and one of those old extended length 15 passenger vans.”
Tom was already on his way to the north roadblock. The ambulance and van stopped 30 feet from the berm. The ambulance was equipped with a spotlight and the two Militiamen in the ambulance were giving the roadblock the “once over”. A dozen more Militiamen piled out of the van and moved toward the roadblock.
“Jarhead to Abrams, we have visitors about 30 feet east of the north roadblock. Move north with your two best men and the BAR, ready to hit their flank.”
“Moving now. About 30 seconds.”
The Militiamen were talking amongst themselves as they milled about pointing and staring at the roadblock.
Finally, after a minute, or so, the van driver yelled out, “Is anybody out there? We’re looking for a missing helicopter. We have orders to search these canyons. How can we get around this berm?”
Tom Jackson called out, “You’re not going one step up this canyon. Drop your weapons and put your hands in the air.”
The two Militiamen from the ambulance tried to make their escape. Before they could put the ambulance in gear, Juan trashed the tires on the ambulance with a couple of bursts from the BAR. The dozen Militia from the van didn’t want to buy any of what Juan was selling.