Swift Strike II

Image by bill barber (very sporadic) via Flickr

At some point during junior high school the United States Army, in an effort to change it's way of fighting from a "front lines, head-to-head" type to one of dealing with insurgents decided to bring tens of thousands of soldiers to North and South Carolina for the most humongous excercise ever conducted. The exercise, dubbed "Swift Strike II" was not limited to military reservations, but was conducted on the streets, roads and highways of both states. Troops parachuted into our fields, road marched along our highways, trespassed in our gardens and orchards and suffered the ills of the south that they probably thought would be the worst they ever saw. There were thousands of soldiers bivouaced at the Greenwood County Airport and thousands more in the woods and fields all across the state.

These were the "blue forces" or the "good guys." Acting as red forces were the Green Beret's and other Special Ops folks who already had a taste of Viet Nam and irregular fighting methods. The red forces were assigned to recruit civilians and win our hearts and minds so that we could be used against the blue guys. I and my friends Steve, Jimmy, Jokie and Richard fell right in with them and provided them with water, food and gasoline. We all spied on the blue forces - riding our bikes up and down the rows of tents, counting, pacing, making drawings; but Steve and Jimmy actually rode their bicycles through the camp one night with firecrackers blazing. I'll bet that was a sight!

Anyway, even though we didn't know it at the time, we had been hooked and landed and would forever be in uniform. Steve went to the Air Force Academy, Jimmy and I went to OCS - to be followed a couple of years later by Jokie - and Richard enlisted in the Air Force. Steve went on to become a full Colonel, Jokie became a Lt/Colonel and a back seater in F-4 Phantoms, and I ended up as a Captain before leaving the Air Force and moving to the Army Guard. Richard got out as soon as he could and Jimmy was separated for a problem with his leg before being commissioned.

We termed ourselves the 601st Infantry and kept up the tradition for years and years after the Army left us to our own devices. Someday, maybe after I'm sure about the Statute of Limitations I'll tell some of the daring deeds that we did, but for right now you'll just have to imagine.

Jimmy's gone now to a cancer. Richard and Jokie live in Alabama and Steve lives in California. Guys if you read this, I still go on midnight missions along the roads and conceal myself in the bushes when a car is coming. I sometimes yell "CAR !!!!" to myself and remember our scrambling around. No raids though - I've had enough of the real stuff to satisfy my need to play. Review, friends - troops long past review.