Urban warfare is combat conducted in urban areas such as towns and cities. Urban combat differs from combat in the open at both the operational and the tactical levels. Complicating factors in urban warfare include the presence of civilians and the complexity of the urban terrain. Urban warfare is considered as one of the hardest type of warfare. Urban combat operations may be conducted to capitalize on strategic or tactical advantages associated with the possession or the control of a particular urban area or to deny these advantages to the enemy.

Urban Warfare, Wikipedia.

Part 1: Operation Silver Strike

“The President has ordered me to oversee this operation in Peshawar. For me? I’m just glad that I don’t have to deal with the politics in Washington D.C right now…”

Those words spoken by the General of the Army, Kennedy Adams, shook both Randall and the rest of the strike team. It would be one thing to have a General overseeing an operation, but usually those command personnel were owned by Joint Special Operations Command, or Army Special Operations Command. To have a five-star General to oversee a small operation rather than a whole campaign was puzzling at best and alarming at worst.

Ever since the United States has begun negotiations with the TIPA, congress ultimately decided there was a need to establish an equivalent rank to the highest ranked officer in the TIPA. Putting it bluntly it was a more discreet version of a gunboat diplomacy. Though being in a state of war with the TIPA didn’t help with public reception to this sudden move.

With a light headache, Randall sat silently in the standardized troop transport waiting to get past the Pakistani border. The late evening sun burned over the arid grounds and not far from their position was the city of Lahore. During transit from base, it had been revealed that a team of SEALS had been deployed to investigate a known international terrorist. From what they knew the mission had gone well under the cover of a large storm.

Similar units pulled from JSOC had been deployed across the country. Several Green Beret and Ranger elements were conducting reconnaissance mission across several hot zones where local Pakistani forces engaged hostile opposition.

As he laid in his seat, he felt the pressure of his primary firearms system, the M-5 carbine that shoots 6.5 Advance Purpose Cartridge (6.5 APC). It wasn’t until 2063 where the United States caved into the idea of fielding a new weapons system to replace the strong-but aging AR-10 and AR-15 platforms.

Rubbing his gloved hands over his face, Randall once more let out a light yawn as he forced himself awake. He glanced outside and focused his vision on at the checkpoint several men stood at. Captain Thompson, Lieutenant Patterson, and several other Rangers from another squad stood together as they conversed with several Pakistani border guards attempting to make sure the entrance into the “war-torn” country wouldn’t get them shot on sight.

He shook his head as he cursed the command structure. Once again, their mission was impeded due to an oversight in both militaries respectively.

Both sides didn’t make any troop movements, and when they would happen, clear at all.

Sitting in the truck to his left was Corporal Richard. The boy had once wanted to become EOD, yet due to his behavior his former CO had somehow sent him to RASP, and by some miracle he had passed both that and Ranger school. His former obnoxious behavior had been somewhat subdued, yet in times of high stress he always seemed to act like a jackass to many of the others.

Perhaps it was his way of reliving stress, but to a select group it was too much for such a team centered unit.

Retrieving his canteen full of crisp cold water, Randall uncovered the top and took a swig as Richard had the bright idea to engage in a conversation with the Sergeant.

“Yo Sergeant! It’s about half a day for us to arrive near Peshawar, correct?”

Taking a short breath from drinking his water, Randall wiped his mouth with his sleeve before answering, “Something like that. We still have to pass Lahore and hopefully not get shot on the way up.”

“Right. Of course, the Chinese could get involved. All this activity is probably making them freak out.”

“Corporal?” Randall said while clutching the bridge of his nose.

“Yes?” Richard responded confused.

“Please, shut the fuck up!” Randall said in a strained voice.

“…understood Sergeant.”

Only the hum of the truck’s engine remained a constant as Richard fell silent. Outside it had seemed the men had reached an agreement. The Pakistani border guards stepped aside and gave the Americans clearance to enter the country unimpeded.

Even with the hiccups made by both parties throughout the country, a constant remained; after both the Secretary of State and Secretary of Defense approached and convincingly argued for western intervention in Pakistan commonly using the argument that nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction were at risk.

What was planned was a blitzkrieg operation that would rival the invasion of Iraq during the First Gulf War.

Three Venom attack helicopters escorted by ten Apache MK2 Gunships breached the border of Pakistan and target known military instillations that were overtaken by several organizations working in tandem to overthrow the Pakistani government. Their mission was to destroy three key communication and radar stations, so that the USAF and Pakistani Air Force would have a clean shot at taking out key instillations supporting the enemy forces.

Tactical Air Communications based in Iran were the first ones to confirm the kills in the new air war. Over twenty Tomahawk cruise missiles launched by the US Navy and ten AGM-90 supersonic missiles launched by eight B-52 strategic bomber aircraft from the US Air Force were both the first shots taken, and the first shots to land kills.

Three coalition strike teams comprised of Pakistani, US, and Indian fighters counting over 350 fixed wing aircraft began to descend on the country to target key insurgent and communication facilities. More than 1200 explosives were used in destroying targets daily, yet over fifteen coalition aircraft were confirmed to be downed during the bombing campaign.

Due to limitations from the international community and pressure from the Pakistani government to limit bombings on strategic targets, many of the US Army’s aviation strike teams were on hold until the ground war “began”.

A new age of counterterrorism was almost eerily similar to that of Operation Desert Storm and its “shock and awe” tactics.

Though this operation had begun over three weeks ago, and due to weapons being tight for the air force, Special operation units such as Green Berets, Delta Force, Force Recon, and Indian COBRA troops reported that the bombing campaign had mixed results.

Now almost a month later Marine elements have moved from their staging grounds into Pakistan, and two Army Infantry and armored battalions began to sweep through the border of the nation to clear out insurgent strongholds.

With 101st Airborne clearing the way, JSOC had authorized the Navy SEALs to help extract several Green Beret ODAs with actionable intelligence on the location of target “Brutus”, furthermore the Task Force Spare to enter the country and move to the city of Peshawar, with the Delta ODAs being dropped in by helicopter with fellow airborne units. Oddly the Ranger teams were directed to establish an inner and outer cordon by ground, perhaps in an effort to cut off main highway routes, though such a job would normally be handled by infantry units from the army.

Sitting silently as the arid fields passed by, Randall only hoped that this conflict would blow over in the coming months.

Part 2: Five Hours

Clouds of dust were kicked up from the vehicles as they passed the city of Lahore. Between small talk and communications with the other vics, bullets and explosions rang out through the city. USAF fixed winged bombers and fighters established air superiority as they dogged rocket propelled grenades and other anti-air platforms.

Majority of the FMPP (Freedom Movement for the People of Pakistan) used older 21st century Russian and Chinese anti-air weaponry, with old Soviet-era gear making up the reserves. American troops scoured the city and engaged in firefights much to the dismay of humanitarian groups, but from a soldier’s point of view, such groups were making a mistake of moving into a destabilized conflict zone.

Traversing the main roads near the primary “Red Zone” in Pakistan was a risk command was willing to take. They needed ground units to cut off exits to the city of Peshawar while offering interceptors to anyone that was able to make it out during the raid made by the 10th Air Assault Division.

Sergeant Randall kept his eyes glued to the ballistic window next to him. As he was on the left side of the vehicle all he could see was the passing civilian cars along the highway.

He gripped the pistol grip of his carbine tight as the sudden thought of the rules of engagement presented not two days earlier came to the forefront. The orders were clear: “Weapons tight. No civilian casualties.” It made sense; going into a heavily populated, mostly civilian oriented environment would call for precision operations rather than open bombing runs.

Corporal Richard let out a crude “yelp” as he stretched his arms. As he settled back into his seat, he followed up his shout with an opener to start a conversation, “Anyone else wanting to know why we’re taking a ground vehicle to Peshawar?”

“You know they wanted us to stop any crazy jihadist fucker from getting out of the city, right?”

PFC Green said eliciting a response from Ramirez sitting in the front passenger seat.

“Doesn’t Jihadist mean something like fighting?”

“It means fighting the enemies of Islam. It refers to the action of fighting more than any sole individual.” Randall said gaining a smirk from Richard.

“So, it means we’re working with them now? Didn’t they attack us during 9-11?”

“That was Al-Quade, not the Pakistani government.” PFC Simon interjected as he wiped his glasses clean.

“Yeah but, didn’t they help Osama Bin Laden escape Afghanistan? That’s the reason why SEAL Team Six crossed borders to whack his ass in the first place?”

Annoyed at the chatter, Lieutenant Patterson who was driving the vehicle turned his head momentarily to speak to the other Rangers, “All right you bunch, pipe down! Just remember we’re working with the good Jihadists.”

“Yeah, “Supposedly”. Richard said which gained a round of snickers and light laughter from the others.

As the began to settle down, a sudden thunderous crack impacted the window next to Corporal Ramirez making him attempted to scrunch below the door. The other Rangers reacted in a similar manner as they shuffled in their seats attempting to get clear of the windows. Though bullet resistant, a well-placed anti-material or high caliber bullet would punch right through the glass.

“Fuck! Fuck!” Ramirez shouted as he kept his M-5 in the high ready. His gear scrapped against the seat and metallic door as Lieutenant Patterson brought up the radio microphone.

“Where’s it coming from!? Was it a sniper?” Patterson shouted over the confusion.

“To the east! To the east! Three gunners!”

“Fuck!” Patterson said as he pressed the gas, “Vic two taking fire from three insurgents to the east!”

“Keep it moving down the road! Disengage from the hostiles!” Captain Thompson’s voice came over the local radio frequency and kept everyone focused as the trucks began to speed away while occasional shots landed next to them.

Ramirez let out a quick and high pitch whistle as he attempted to sit comfortably in his seat. His gloved hand traced the glass splatter with his hand. Several more cracks echoed from afar as the insurgents attempted to fire at the three vehicles now racing down the highway.

With an excited voice, Randall spoke in Ramirez’s place as he looked at the window, “Shit Corporal, looks like the glass saved you there. What the hell hit us anyways?”

“Fuck man, 7.62? It wasn’t enough to completely puncture the glass, but man did it hit hard.” Richard exclaimed as he struggled to wipe a small amount of sweat from his forehead.

“Either way let’s count ourselves lucky that we weren’t hit with an IED or RPG.” Patterson said with a sigh and a forced smile. “We’d be screwed if we’re token out of the game this early.” He said garnering a few chuckled from the less shocked men.

High above the paved streets, a single MQ-43 Falcon drone. Its mission was to insert into friendly airspace and conduct surveillance and intelligence gathering operations to support coalition forces. Randall peered out the window and spotted the medium altitude drone, though it looked like a mere spec in the sky.

He held neither a stoic look nor a frightened face. It wasn’t that he held apathy to the situation him and the other Rangers found themselves in, yet in an almost eerie way, he felt normal under the extreme stress brought around by the bullet hitting the vehicle.

Once again in an almost ironic way to the drugged-up recruits he had spent his time with in BCT and AIT, Randall took out his now half-empty canteen and took a swig of the room temperature water. Still to him, taking anything but water was a mistake.

As the nerves that were raised during the sudden engagement began to settle, the looming sun slowly set behind a plethora of clouds that had formed high above in the dark blue skies. The MQ-43 was long gone; its footage from the incident on the ground would no doubt be relayed to local patrolling elements that were closing on Lahore.

Bright lights from the trucks began illuminate the growing darkness, and each Ranger aside from Lieutenant Patterson equipped their AVS-30-night vision goggles that derived from the old IVAS, NETT Warrior, and Future Warrior programs. With either a single camera mounted to the helmet, or using the internal cameras on the goggles, the AVS-30 provided a low-profile night optic device that served to enhance the already capable grunt within the army.

Mounting the goggles to his helmet, all Randall could do was look towards the shrinking city of Lahore in the outside mirror.

Publicly Available Information: M-5 Carbine:

Designed by American gunsmith Alexander Weston, the M-5 Carbine is the primary weapon system for the United States armed forces and many other countries. With the 6.5 Advance Purpose Cartridge, the M-5 boasts incredible stopping power, range, and penetration well beyond what the AR-15 weapon systems could achieve.