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Grey issued an order over the Communication system saying, “Fire that weapon soldier.”

The response was a strong and satisfying CRACK
,
which was followed by a cloud of dust rising off of the multi-
purpose
vehicle.

Grey watched the shell arcing over the convoy and into the hills
,
where maybe there were some enemy combatants
,
or maybe their supplies.  He knew that most likely he just attacked an empty spot on the desert.  It was a show of force, nothing more.  From this position, they were totally ineffective to bring fire support to the forward squad.  Grey would have to move.  Once he knew the position of the enemy combatants he could try for a flanking maneuver.  Grey started moving.  He joined alpha on the perimeter; he was looking for an improved visual on the terrain in front of him
and
he needed to form a plan of attack.

Three vehicles were visible
and
stacked up in front of his squad
. They obscured
Lt. Grey’s view as the road turned to the left following the ridge.  At the turn in the road, on the right hand side there was a rocky outcropping that abruptly jutted out of the dry and cracked desert.  Together the ridge and the rocky outcropping created a natural divide in the landscape.  The convoy was following the rough road
,
and moving through the narrow pass between ridge and the outcropping
,
when they were attacked.

The squad communication system crackled and Grey heard,

“Beta here, LASO telemetry is active now Sir.  We can see the battlefield.”

Grey returned to the back of the multi-purpose vehicle and opened the command station which was now deployed.  On the vid-screen he could see
that
the overhead display of the local area
,
and the battlefield feature
,
were clearly mapped including topography and the location of the convoy vehicles and enemy combatants.  Looking at this display confirmed what Grey had already suspected, the combatants had selected this position for an ambush.  This was not a chance encounter with a roving enemy patrol. 

Grey considered
the
information for a moment.  If this was an ambush, then his squad should also be under fire.  The combatants knew that convoys were protected by squads that were deployed to both the front and the rear.  This thought was disquieting.

Grey again considered the map of the terrain.  The road moved to the left following the rise and then moved past the rocky outcropping that he could see on the right.  This is what Grey had observed from his position at the forward perimeter.  What the map showed him was that after the left turn, the road turned sharply to the right following the contour of the rocky outcropping.

The convoy was stacked up inside the “S” curve created by the road moving between a ridge on the left
,
and the rocks on the right.  The forward squad was pinned down.  They were trapped inside their vehicle and taking fire from enemy combatants entrenched on both sides of the road.  The enemy combatant forces were divided evenly across the road ahead of the forward convoy. 

“Why were they were only attacking the front squad?” he wondered. 

The ridge to his left was open and undefended.  As Grey was reviewing the battle map the recommended tactical attack plan from Comm-RAM presented itself on the display with a series of green arrows overlaying the topographical map display.  Comm-RAM
was
suggesting that the squad take their vehicle off of the road and drive up onto the ridge to their left. 

Once in position on the ridge, they could then deploy the .55 millimeter canon.  From this new position above the battlefield they would gain a clear line of fire onto the enemy who was positioned further up towards the end of the S curve.  The tactical suggestion seemed right.  In fact, it seemed obvious.  By moving the squad onto the top of the ridge
,
Grey would command a high point that overlooked the entire battlefield.  It was highly defensive and at the same time he could bring fire onto the enemy combatants. 

As Jonathan Grey considered the tactical plan, his mind flashed back to the last time he followed the tactical advice from Comm-RAM.

Comm-RAM Intel had identified a rarely seen combatant settlement.  Grey and his squad were sent to investigate.  They approached the encampment in pre-dawn darkness so that the night vision integrated into their Exo-
S
uits would provide them with an additional tactical advantage.  Grey was worried the combatants were hiding nearby.  They moved quickly towards the camp because it was not possible to move quietly in the heavy armor of the Exo-
S
uits.  Therefore
,
it
was
best to push forward
,
quickly.  As they approached, Grey sensed that something was wrong.  The offensive was too easy.  The attack plan provided by Comm-RAM was too obvious.  The combatants had never left clear evidence of their encampments like this behind before.  As the squad drew nearer to the encampment, alarm bells were sounding in Lt. Grey’s mind.  The squad should be under fire already, the combatants should have sentries, and they should have lookouts.  The combatants would never let them get this close to their encampment without a fight. 

Then the explosions started. 
The mines hidden in the desert sand under the approach to the enemy camp cost Lt. Grey his legs.
It also cost him his squad. 

The war in the desert was a war of technology vs. Fanaticism.  The Alliance forces deployed advanced technology into the battle and the enemy combatants countered with improved use of the local terrain, the natural elements and the indigenous resources.

The fanatic combatants were losing the battles but winning the war.  Each combatant killed by Alliance forces became a martyr and the locals would send more men to avenge his death.  At the same time, for each Alliance soldier killed, the negative anti-war publicity generated by the overzealous content hungry media reverberated through the alliance countries.  News of death in the desert excited an already unhappy civilian population into open protests against an unpopular and seemingly endless military campaign.

Images of flag-draped coffins inspired the alliance populations to openly protest the war.  Unless the calculus of war was changed, the result could be easily forecasted. 

Alliance politics would eventually force the military leadership to abandon their mission and extract their troops.  The fanatic combatants were winning by not losing.

As political pressure mounted, the military leadership continued to look to technology to solve their problem.  They deployed the advanced Exo-Suit technology in an attempt to limit the number of casualties among alliance combat troops.  The Exo-Suit protected the soldier from direct attacks by covering all vital areas with heavy armor.  At the same time, the Exo-Suit protected the soldier from indirect attacks by maintaining an insulated artificial environment.  The Exo-Suits successfully calmed the Anti-War protestors, but
only
for
a short time.  Once deployed into the desert battlefields, the military quickly learned that the Exo-Suits were not invulnerable.  The soldiers who donned the bulky armor became dependent on the servos to move
,
and the environmental systems for fresh air and temperature management. 

Enemy combatants quickly learned to target the Exo-Suits at their weakest points.  They would aim for exposed joints and attempt to damage the servos, or they would target the intake vents and cause a massive failure of the pressurization and environmental controls.  When one or both of these systems failed, the soldier inside the Exo-
S
uit would quickly become immobilized by the weight of the armor.  Additional Exo-Suit wearing soldiers sent to retrieve their fallen comrades would often suffer from similar attacks.  Once the enemy combatants learned how to cause the Exo-Suit systems to fail, the Alliance soldiers would find themselves lying in small clumps across the hot desert battlefield.  Once disabled like this, the Exo-
S
uit was vulnerable to the crudest of weapons.  The unfortunate soldier inside the suit had no choice but to lie broiling in the open sun until the enemy combatants arrived.  When they arrived, the enemy cracked open the Exo-Suits with knives and hammers as if they were opening the shells of cooked crabs.

In the face of negative publicity associated with the failure of the Exo-Suits, The Alliance forces led by the charismatic but controversial General Mueller
,
powered back with additional advances in tactical control systems.  There seemed to be no limit to the ingenuity of the weapons manufacturers who courted General Mueller.  There also seemed to be no end to Mueller’s appetite for new technology that he would quickly test and then fast-track into combat. 

General Mueller was confident that with the proper battlefield intelligence and technology
,
the Alliance forces would outsmart the enemy combatants.  In addition to the Exo-
S
uit, military systems were designed and deployed to give the commanders in the desert more information and lift the fog of battle.  Mueller wanted his squad leaders to have a tactical advantage during the firefight.  The LASO and other similar remote sensing systems were deployed, and for a while t
his was
effective.

Eventually, however, the enemy combatants learned to counter these new tactical technologies.  The combatants countered by using mundane
,
even crude
,
tactics and resources.  They learned to go underground where the sensors could not detect them.   They augmented natural cave systems with hand-dug tunnels to create a human powered network of communication, supply
,
and mobilization.

Additionally, the fanatical enemy combatants learned to pick their battles wisely.  They would wait until the Alliance forces were in an area where the sensors would be blinded by sandstorm or rock formations. Slowly the Alliance casualties began to rise again, frustrating the efforts of General Mueller
,
and fueling the vocal anti-war protests across the Alliance home front.

Looking at the battle map
,
provided by the slowly drifting LASO sensors, Lt. Jonathan Grey felt misgivings.  The green arrows displayed on the vid-screen clearly indicated the attack strategy recommendation from Comm-RAM.  The military intelligence system was suggesting that the squad move to a tactically superior position on the ridge and then deploy a fire team under cover of the .55MM canon.  The blinking green lights and arrows nagged at him.  It was too easy, it was too obvious.  Grey remembered following the strategy from Comm-RAM into the enemy combatant encampment.  He did not want to blindly follow this strategy.  His instincts were against it.

Grey clicked on the console to request an alternative attack plan.  The system considered for a moment
,
and then responded with a variation on the same option.  The green arrows showed a re-positioning of the vehicle on top of the ridge.  The displacement and approach by the fire team was from a new direction.

Grey considered
this. 
He then
completely disregarding the recommended tactical plan suggested by Comm-RAM
.
  I
nstead he would simply abandon the canon here and move the squad up along the now stationary convoy vehicles and in between the ridge and rocks.  It would be messy.  They would be fighting and displacing all along the way.  The squad would be advancing along the convoy in a confined zone of fire
,
with limited support from the canon.  As he thought about this plan a message appeared on the vid-screen.  It was encoded which meant it was from General Mueller
,
who was observing from the remote command room. 

The message was brief,
“Attack
Now
.”

No choice now.  Lt. Grey was a career soldier and this was combat.  He would follow direct orders without question and without delay.

Lt. Grey issued the necessary squad commands in priority sequence, and with the same steady monotone, saying,
“Alpha, displace and set a new defensive perimeter on top of the ridge.
Beta, move this vehicle to the top of the ridge behind the perimeter setup by Alpha.
 
Charlie,
hold
your fire until we are in position, and then target the enemy positions.”

The squad responded quickly. 
As the multi-purpose vehicle moved out of the stalled convoy and up onto the ridge
,
Grey considered the landscape in front of him.
  He could see the line of trucks going into the S curve. 
The heat from the mid-day desert sun radiating off of the tan and olive painted trucks
,
creat
ing
visible ripples in the air, rising up into a cloudless blue sky.
  Riding upon the twisting updrafts were ragged wing carrion eaters
. 
Buzzards
,
or vultures
were
spinning in circles above the desert.  Lt. Grey recognized them
.  T
hese birds were attracted to the sounds of battle.