We start out with Major (newly pinned) Hawthorne, Commander of the 29th UWD, and he’s about to find out if his unit no longer exists or if there is a possibility of a continuing mission he can secure. He has this discussion with Colonel Watkins, Commander of the 5th Special Warfare Group. This commander has responsibility for all of the Army’s operational detachments which include the Green Brete’s as OD Alpha (or ODA). Major Hawthorne’s problem is his unit is experimental as an unconventional warfare detachment (UWD). It’s the only kind and has worked pretty successfully since he got the right people assigned. That includes Corporal Jimmy Stiegel who is currently undergoing the special warfare selection course and has to pass with flying colors or he’s going back to his artillery job.
Their most recent mission was to find out who was in-charge of the resistance movement on planet Sanctuary. They had done better than find out by capturing the daughter of the resistance Captain Ramus after they captured his daughter, Ellie. Still, it appeared that someone else has taken over the leadership and more and more military hardware is finding itself in the hands of the resistance fighters. Of particular concern was the number or amount of surface to air missiles being fielded by the resistance fighters. That problem was causing all sorts of problem since aviation support for ground missions were not available due to the missile situation.
Meanwhile, Corporal Stiegel has completed the special warfare selection course and during the final banquet had found a green brete under the folded napkin. Additionally, his friend, Staff Sergeant Jacobs had also earned his green brete. And Jimmy’s best friend, Staff Sergeant Jasmine Ramirez, had earned her Green Brete four weeks earlier. She was also awaiting on an assignment to one of the ODAs. Well, it just so happened that Major Hawthorne was looking to fill two vacancies that had occurred in his unit just recently. So, after talking with Jimmy about SSgt. Jacobs and talking directly to SSgt. Ramirez, he got both of them assigned to the 29th UWD. Of course that pleased Jimmy to no end and meant he and Jasmine would be spending a lot more time together!
So, with the team back together, Major Hawthorne needed to get them settled at Camp Foster on Sanctuary. He set up a meeting with the on Camp commander, Colonel Rice. The 29th UWD was ADCON to Camp Foster which meant he only had administrative control over the unit and not tactical control. Major Hawthorne had to remind the Colonel of this command relationship because he had found out this Colonel was going to sit in his Camp and do nothing to stop the resistance. He was more afraid of losing people and looking bad on his OERs than actually doing the mission he was supposed to be doing. Major Hawthorne soon realized he’d get no support from this Colonel, so he did the next best thing and asked the Navy to provide the support.
He went to the battleship, *Nemesis*, and met Colonel Waititi and his COB Master Chief Petty Office Potato-Waffle. The COB happened to be an alien insectoid who loved human food. They loved the food so much that they took food related names so humans could call them something since no human could pronounce their given name in their own language. Anyway, Col. Waititi was just the opposite of Col. Rice. Anything the Major wanted was his as long as the *Nemesis* could support it. That included Navy aviation support since the Air Force assets at Camp Foster were under Col. Rice and again, they were locked down so as not to lose any aircraft to the proliferation of resistance missiles.
Major Hawthorne and his unit had their work cut out for them. They had identified three different targets that needed to be assaulted simultaneously if possible. That was going to spread his unit thin, but he asked if the Marine detachment aboard the *Nemesis* wanted to get in on the fight and they were there in an instant. They also had a contingent of Rangers who were sitting around on a transport ship awaiting the arrival of their main body. Again, the Major reached out and asked if they had any volunteers that might want to work with his unit. There were more volunteers than they could use, so they asked for those with actual combat experience only to be told that none of them had done that before. Still, they were included in the bigger unit because, well, Rangers are Rangers and they know how to fight.
This is where the Fire Team Nomad comes in. Corporal Stiegel is picked to lead a combined fire team of Marines and Rangers. They eventually become known as Fire Team Nomad and learn how to fight together. That’s what you’ll read about in most of the book.
I’m not so sure about using call signs for Army type units. With secure communications where you can just say who you want to talk to, I don’t see the need. Most Army types go by their last name and that’s enough unless you got two or more Jone’s or Smith’s or something else. This is a small unit so I’m not sure why they use call signs for individuals. It may be something to do with special forces operators and if so, that’s the best reason I know.
This was a very good book and I’m looking forward to book 3, “Operation Nomad”, now available on Amazon.
[Note 1 (12/23/2025): I’m no longer associated with Amazon and will no longer provide any links to books from that website. You can usually find books that you like at your usual source.]
[Note 2: As of 12/03/2023, this will not be posted on Amazon since I have been banned from posting reviews for some unknown reason. ]