<div class="floatleft">(http://i1217.photobucket.com/albums/dd394/Vithe_rothe/Domino/raven%20queen/SummerGlau01_zps5c008d1e.jpg)</div><br/><br/><br/><br/><hr/><strong>Name: 1st Lieutenant Alexandra 'Andi' Mary York<br/>Nationality: USA<br/>Class/Skill Set: Command/ Trooper/ Pilot<br/>Tagged: Enlisted Mess Hall with B Platoon<br/></strong><br/><br/><hr/><br/><hr/><br/><em><strong>-January 1999 near the German/Polish Border-</strong></em><br/><br/>Andi, as her family and close friends called her, swore under her breath as she forced "Traveller" (http://etan.org/news/2012/graphics/Apache-helicopter.jpg) around the hill and lined up so her gunner 'SFC Betty Phillips' could get off a brace of Hellfire (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AGM-114_Hellfire) missiles into the advancing column of old Soviet T-72s. The range was a bit over 2 miles and within seconds 4 tanks were exploding and on fire. They were almost the last Hellfires the entire 3rd Mech had but the orders were to slow or stop the counter attack by the three battered Soviet Divisions so the Brigade could finish withdrawing. She and her wingman had been hunting along a series of ridges with a road on each side. From what she could tell the Category C units were not pressing the attack but one never could be sure.<br/><br/>She had been called up 2 years earlier just after the first tac nuke exchanges. Hurried over in a reforger mission along with National Guard Apaches, as a 2nd LT. Those first weeks were crazy, not just all the looks she got since many of the soldiers still had the 1995 Sports Illustrated Swim Suit issue she had been in but also the complete cluster-fuck she found herself in. No one had real air superiority so any ground support mission was hazardous beyond anything she had ever experienced.<br/><br/>Hers was one of 8 surviving craft and she had learned well the tactics of air to ground and air to air combat. Things no instructor had ever even hinted at. It was that and her natural abilities that reacted at the warbler sound of a lock. 'Traveller' shook and rattled as the engine whines as she pulled up on the stick and shoved it to the side. The Apache lifted and swayed to the left and spun on its axis as two trails of gunfire flashed past just under the 'helo'. What Andi saw made her blood chill, somehow the Soviets had found a pair of Hind 24s (http://www.wallsave.com/wallpapers/1024x768/heavy-arms/75549/heavy-arms-warship-mil-mi-hind-helicopter-gunship-picture-gallery-75549.jpg) to support this column and it had become another nail biter chopper fight. The experts had all said that Helicopter verse helicopter dogfights would never happen since Jets would hold air superiority and forbid that sort of thing. There were fewer jets left then choppers now and so it had become 'somewhat' more common then the experts predicted.<br/><br/>'Traveller' had 4 kill markers on the side under the cockpit but all of those had been one-on-one fights. The first was only 3 weeks after she had arrived and was all luck. The Soviet Hind24 had been happily hammering away at positions of a nearby West German unit when she got the call. It had not even seen her until Betty opened fire. The 2nd had been tougher, a swirling looping dogfight around a series of hills and a ruined village. Her ship had taken half a dozen 30mm hits and was smoking and barely flying when she got it home. Her 3rd kill was much different, she and Betty had been closing on a ground fight loaded with rockets and ammo when word came in off an incoming MiG. Naturally she had swung the ship away from the supposed flightpath and lower between some woods till they almost were touching the ground. Flashing over them from right to left barely 1000 feet up the MIG was making its attack run. Why the pilot didn't even notice them, or maybe in his arrogance he discounted a mere helicopter. Whatever the reason not a single missile of round of gunfire was aimed at them. So she yanked up the stick applied power and swirled her ship on its axis till its nose tracked the jet and Betty opened up with everything they had. 20+ Hydra 70 Rockets as well as the 30mm nose mounted cannon hammered at the MIG. It must have realized something since it was beginning a wing over when it exploded into a huge yellow and orange fireball. The 4th kill had come four days before Christmas, just a few weeks ago. Another Hind but this was a case of who shot first since they had both appeared over a ridge line at almost the same time. Lucky for her Betty was quick on the trigger.<br/><br/>This would be much different.<br/><br/><hr/><br/><em><strong>-Enlisted mess Hall; B troop; 3rd Platoon-</strong></em><br/><br/>Andi had made sure to be in the meeting area along with SFC Hart as the senior officers were setting up. Hart was a God send to her in what he had taught her. She had of course taken basic infantry but being a pilot and by law not allowed in a front line ground unit, her skill set had been lacking in many ways. She was smart and listened closely appling what she had seen from her ground support role to what the Sergeant had been teaching. For the months before the withdrawal she had been shifted from unit to unit with in the 3rd. For a short time in Staff, another short few weeks in Intell. It was as if the brass did not really know what to do with a female infantry officer and one that had her looks and charisma not to mention her family name. She had learned a few things along the way but it was SFC Hart that had taken her in to show her the real roles of a Calvary ground unit. She had already recommended the man for a field commission but had no idea if her name carried that much weight anymore.<br/><br/>She had found a seat at the back of the table so she could watch and observe the entire troop but before setting down she sat a bag beside SFC Hart and gave him a grin and nod. Andi had decided that the B Troop would start to set the standard and between herself and Hart they had scrounged and traded for a special item for the troop. It had taken all her gifts of communication and guile but she had finally gotten each of them a old school Cavalry trooper hat (http://www.cavhooah.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/c/a/cavhooah_hat.jpg). As far as she knew no other troop in the entire division would have them.<br/><br/>The meeting started and she pulled out a small spiral notebook and a Bic pen and took some notes. As the questions began to wind down she nodded to Captian Finn, "I am not sure how useful this will be sir. Back In the summer of '95 I did a photo shoot at Fort McHenry, the point on that map across the river from the Dundalk Terminals. I remember there being a lot of cars, containers, heavy equipment and open areas and maybe a dozen warehouses the size of this ship. Lots of cranes and I would estimate a 20 foot Minimum sea wall along the river edge." Her brown eyes for a moment took on a distance look then her southern accented voice continued, "to the south along the river was a bunch of residents, several with multistories that bordered the terminal and a lot of small docks. Also the river splits the terminal area almost in half sir. It is not shown clearly on the map there but a branch goes off to the right. If the cars or containers are not there now it will be a lot of very wide open terrain with no cover. There are three Hospitals nearby sir, I visited them as part of the tour we were on."