FROGs Dancing

By Roy E. Bean, Jr

The Captains are on a new mission to one of the oldest Christian countries in the world. This country has been at the crossroads of civilization for a long time and have paid for it sometimes in blood. With their neighbors never happy with what they have, constant guard must be kept on the boarders and the Captains are sent to investigate.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Roy E. Bean, Jr
• Release date: Jul 30, 2018
• ISBN: 9780463895924

Roy E. Bean, Jr

Started writing at 16 years old. Didn't finish first book 'Strange Dayz' until I was 26. Served in the Army and went to college in the mean time. Graduated with a degree in Business. Worked in that capacity as a civilian. Joined the National Guard and rose to the rank of SGM. Retired after over twenty years of service. Served in Military Intelligence, Cavalry, Infantry and as a Chem Specialist.

Book preview

FROG's

Dancing

By

Roy E Bean Jr.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places. and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

FROG is an acronym for Female Regimental Operations Group

Ecclesiastics 4:12

A cord of three strands...

All rights reserved

Copyright © 2017 by Roy E Bean Jr.

This book may not be reproduced in whole or in part by mimeograph or any other means, without permission.

Printed in the United States of America

Other books by Roy Bean

Buddies

Deception

Someone's Sister

F.R.O.G.s

F.R.O.G.s in the desert

A Day Trip

Savings

Diversion

Strange Dayz

Full Up

Reboot

Prolog: A lesson in history

The country of Georgia, land of the wolves, is strategically placed south of the Caucasus Mountains which provide a natural northern border. It's western border is the Black Sea which gives it shipping access to the Mediterranean Sea through the Sea of Marmara and then the Aegean Sea. To the south is Turkey, Armenia and Azerbaijan to the south east. While Georgia and Armenia were able to hold on to their Christian roots, those around them were conquered and converted to Islam. Because of its location it has seen its share of conflict between Russia to the north and Persia (Iran) to its south, and even the Mongols took a crack at them. Although they were not assimilated like those around them the occupation by others had its effect on their culture. Because of the Caucasus Mountains the route to Europe was easier through Georgia to the sea than over them to the north. This was true for a branch of the Silk Road out of China. The original name of this area was Sakatvelo. The capital of Georgia is Tbilisi, a city of a little over one million people, almost one third of the population of the country. Kartlis Deda, or mother of Georgia, is a giant statue found there that was erected in 1958 to celebrate the countries one thousand five hundred year anniversary. In her left hand she holds a bowl of wine as a greeting to all who want to visit. In her right hand is a sword held as a deterrent to her enemies. Tbilisi is a modern city with both old and new buildings. Century old cathedrals are near cutting edge architecture.

Georgia is also the birthplace of loseb Besaironis dze Jughashvili in the little town of Gori. We know him better as Joseph Stalin of Russian dictator fame. He called himself the 'Gardener of Human Happiness', ya right! During his time in power he is responsible for millions of people in the Soviet Union being executed as traitors. The range of deaths is anywhere from thirty four to sixty two million, depending on what source you use for the information. Even though in most places the 'cult of Stalin' has been erased he still gets some props as a famous son of Georgia. His policies for agriculture which led to famine also were responsible for millions starving to death. He took some steps to punish Georgia because they didn't want to be part of his communist wonderland. They came out better than most of those around them did though.

Georgia declared independence from the Soviet Union on 31 March, 1991. Shortly after this a civil war broke out which lasted until the end of 1994. Next came the Rose Revolution in 2003. In 2005 Georgia and Russia a bilateral agreement but by April of 2008 tensions had escalated and on August 7th, in response to a South Ossetian separatists attack, the Georgian military started shelling their capital, Tskhinvali. During this engagement Georgian artillery hit a Russian peacekeeper base which gave the Russians reason enough to get involved. After five days of fighting the Russian military was told to halt further operations and withdraw from Georgian territories. The end result of this conflict was that the areas of South Ossetia and Abkhazia were considered independent but under Russian occupation.

Georgia is a representative democratic semi-presidential republic where the president is the head of state and the prime minister is the head of government. A Cabinet is appointed by the president, which is headed by the prime minister. Legislative authority comes from the Parliament. They are a pro-western country seeking to join NATO. This puts them at odds with the government of Russia who feels that such an alliance would upset the balance of power in Europe. Tourism and agriculture are the two largest economic sectors. Wine is a large part of their export

Georgia is slightly smaller than the state of South Carolina and with a smaller population. Besides the capital there are only three cities with a population above one hundred thousand. One of them, Batumi, is on the coast just north of the border with Turkey. Maybe because most of the cities, towns and villages are small there is a real sense of community here and family is very important. Maybe the Russians are jealous or just greedy, but they still want to include Georgia in their 'union' and benefit from whatever they can take from them. This urge to 'reconnect' has continued to cause tensions along the border.

Chapter 1

Elenore Clark, (El.) Kylie Lindtel, and Crystal Lebaram are each Captains on a team which is part of a Group that is known as FROG. (Female Regimental Operations Group.) They do missions that men cannot. They do them because they are women, and go places and do things that having a man do would cause suspicion or distrust among those that they are interacting with. Sometimes it is just the three of them, other times there is a male 'escort' when in an environment that is male dominant.

After their last mission, and a slight delay in the desert of Syria, they went to Fort Irwin to do some hands on training at Weed Army Hospital. There they got the opportunity to work with nurses first hand and learn some rudimentary skills for working with and helping patients in a real time environment. It was a grueling schedule with not only practical application but also book learning on the side. When that part of their training was complete they went to the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, California. They were set up in a building on Sgt Beans Road before you get to Kit Carson Road. The Army had a special instructor come in from the Peace Corps to provide out of the ordinary instruction in the Georgian language. They also learned Russian with the help of on line instruction and instructors stationed at the Institute. They weren't meant to be fluent in either but wanted to have a base knowledge of Georgian to be able to interact with the people they were being sent to help. Russian was necessary to keep them out of further trouble by knowing what was going on if they got into trouble along the line of their work in Georgia. With the tension at the Russian Georgian border there would definitely be opportunities to get into trouble. While at the Institute they did not wear their uniforms or any other indication that they were in the military. For all anyone there knew these ladies were civilians on loan to the government, or were DOD personnel. They didn't interact with others any more than what was necessary. They ate at the common dining facility and shopped at the Post Exchange but tried to keep their distance from others so that they wouldn't have to discuss their mission.

This time they would be going to Georgia (as you probably already assumed) as nurses (which you might have also figured out). A fake or notional organization had been invented, to which realistic looking documents showed they were members of. Nurses of the World, or NOW, was shown on Google as an organization that would send nurses where ever they were needed worldwide. Modeled after 'Doctors without borders' they would provide help to the more remote villages where a doctor wasn't needed, or to assist a doctor who was there at a clinic or even a small hospital.

Army care providers perform medical care up to doing surgical procedures to include splints and urgent care in the field. Many a soldiers life has been saved by the quick action of the army medic on the battle field. Although that type of care wasn't expected to be required where they were going, they did have some training in it. Before their actual deployment they would get a refresher course.

The Captains were housed together and used their 'isolation' to practice their language skills without having to explain to anyone what they were saying. They devised a method of training so that when they were not in class they could practice their skills. On Monday, Wednesday and Friday they spoke to each other in Georgian. Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday was for Russian. Sunday was a free day. Immersion in any language is the quickest way to learn it. They labeled everything with sticky notes in both Russian and Georgian. They had the word in each language on top and underneath it an English phonetic pronunciation. Russian and Georgian languages each have their own quirks and aren't really like any other language. Learning two difficult languages at the same time is not recommended but in their case it was necessary.

Sundays were also their day off from any training. To celebrate this they would go on day trips to San Francisco, various local wineries, and other hot spots. On these trips they would also practice their language skills. Most of the time they spoke in Georgian because the possibility of running into someone from Georgia was pretty rare. The possibility of coming across someone who spoke Russian was much more likely and they didn't want to have to explain themselves. There are no strictly Georgian restaurants in San Francisco but there are some with a Russian flare that have Georgian food on the list. They spoke neither Russian or Georgian in this establishment but listened to see if they could pick up on anything that was not said in English. It was a fun trip with good food. They had been told that the meals in Georgia were a big affair that most people shared with their family over a long span of time. At these meals there were stories shared, toasts made, stomachs filled. There was no eat and run thing going on there.

If you love the ocean then you would love Monterey. It is on a peninsula, like a thumb sticking out from the main land. Beaches and lookout points where you could sit and watch the sunset over the ocean were popular. Further south was Big Sur, another favorite of ocean lovers. After spending so much time in the desert they did take advantage of this proximity to the ocean.

When their teachers deemed them proficient enough a notification went up the chain that they were ready to continue their mission. After a short wait new orders came in sending them to Fort Sam Houston to further their nurse training. Fort Sam Houston is located on the east side of the city of San Antonio off of I35. The training is open to not only Army personnel but also Navy, Air Force and military from foreign countries. This fort is best known for its training in different fields of medicine. It is also the headquarters for what used to be the 5th and 6th Armies. Now they are called United States Army North, and South respectively. Due to the short time the Captains were going to be here they were sent on temporary duty, or TDY orders. They would be put up in temporary lodging and again somewhat isolated to keep others from asking to many questions. They were put in a modified course as a Combat Medic, MOS 68W, also called a Health Care Specialist. The Combat Lifesaver course that they had taken was only a forty hour class with both lecture and hands on training. A combat medic is required to take a sixteen week course that trains them similar to what an EMT, or emergency medical technician gets. With the training they received at Weed Army Hospital at Fort Irwin and the Combat Lifesaver course they had completed they were well ahead of the curve of those just starting the 68W course. Once again they would only be exposed to training that was listed as 'normal' for civilian injuries and trauma. The instructors were not clued in on the actual reasoning behind this but did as they were asked to do.

The Captains trained together and were off duty together also. This allowed them to continue practicing their language skills. Also while in San Antonio they used their Sundays off to visit a list of 'things to do' that they had found on the internet. Sort of a 'bucket list' for San Antonio. They did the tour of the Alamo museum, a mission that was used by the people of Texas in 1836 to resist the takeover of the area by the Mexican army of General Santa Ana. All that is left of the original fort or presidio, is the chapel, where the Texans made their final stand. Alamo means cottonwood tree in Spanish and the fort might have been named that because of a grove of those trees that were nearby at that time. Across the street from there is a Ripley's 'Believe it or Not' and a Tussaud's Waxworks plus many other tourist traps. They chalked it up to smart marketing. These were all within four blocks of the river walk experience.

The river walk, along the San Antonio River, is quite delightful and can be done is sections at a time. The Captains would use this as an outing to try different restaurants and people watch. They also used it as an opportunity to practice their language skills in an open environment. This would always elicit strange looks from those who would walk by them. They were normally too tired to go out on Saturday night because of the long day of training. They didn't stay out to late on Sunday either so that they could get up for training on Monday. The crowd on Sunday seemed to be lighter than they thought it should be and they attributed that to the fact that normal people have to get up for work the next day.

Because they were on a time table that they hadn't been given access to they tried to gain as much knowledge and experience as possible. They put together that they would be nurses, or posing as nurses in the country of Georgia and would probably interact with Russians at some point. This could mean that they would be near the border or for that matter, anywhere in the country. They realized that they were going to be doing nursing tasks on real people and their abilities could mean the difference between life or death of their patients, as well as themselves.

Their next set of orders came in and there was a list of things that they would have to be issued, or buy. They each got a sweater and coat with a round patch on them that said 'Nurses Of the World' around the outer ring and 'NOW' in the middle. There was a red heart above the NOW, and a red cross below it. They got documents showing their membership in the organization and a certificate that showed they were LPN's, or a licensed practical nurse. They also had to study the layout of a nursing school on the campus of the University of Las Vegas. They were familiar enough with Las Vegas to make this a viable place where they would have learned their skills. It would be awkward to say that they learned nursing at two US Army hospitals. It was impressed on them that nothing of a military origin should be carried to have anyone make that connection. Their military ID cards would be secured in a safe place with them, and would only be used in emergency.

Chapter 2

The powers that be had discussed the different options of transporting the Captains to their assignment. A flight from Lackland AFB just a few miles to the west of Fort Sam to Incirlik AFB in Adana, Turkey on a military cargo plane was offered as an alternative to a commercial flight from San Antonio International Airport to Tbilisi. They would then need to be transported to Adana International Airport and from there take a five hour commercial flight on Turkish Airlines to Tbilisi. Since both of those countries were considered 'friendly' there was little concern about anyone being suspicious of the three ladies and what they were up to. The commercial flight option won out and they were given all of their paperwork and tickets for the flight along with an explanation of their mission in a packet. The tickets, passports and other travel documents they looked at and kept. The mission brief they read and burnt up in their little hibachi.

Their flight had two layovers, one in Washington DC and the other in Munich, Germany. The layover in Munich was fourteen hours. All in all the trip would take over thirty one hours plus the time to go through security and then customs on the other side. They would not be carrying any weapons on this flight. The pistols that they would use there would be their own, transported via diplomatic pouch and picked up by their contact who was in Army Military Intelligence and posted at the American consulate there in Tbilisi. The United States Military Intelligence community had come up with this NOW organization to be able to get both nurses and doctors into places that they wouldn't normally have been able to go. They did their assigned task of caring for people who were ill or injured, but also were eyes and ears on the ground in places that were friendly nations. In these cases though, the necessity to be discreet in their observations was paramount to their being able to complete their mission with no deception on the part of the local government. People tend to only let outsiders see a perfect world if they don't want to have those people think things are out of control. North Korea is a prime example of showing only it's good side when foreigners visit. You would