Operation: Adelantado
OOC: I originally thought of doing this as a solo story-type thing to establish a starting point for my nation’s new empire in Asia, since I’ve decided to turn it into a modern-day version of a Colonial era Spain/France hybrid. But if you really want to join in then go ahead.
Operation: Adelantado, T-Minus 101 Days
Admiral Mesquida stood on deck aboard HMS Magellan, the pride and joy of the Royal Navy’s budding Pacific fleet, as he peered distantly westwards towards the paramarines scrambling up and down the Falklands coast.
“Terrible,” the admiral announced gruffly, “Run the exercise again, but this time make sure that both regiments reach the rendezvous point at the same time.”
“But sir, we’ve already run the exercise eleven times,” replied his aide, a young, newly-minted Ensign, fresh out of the Naval Academy, “We were mean to be finished four hours ago.”
“Well then, I guess we’ll just have to run it twelve times, son. We’re gonna keep at it until we get this right. We haven’t even run the exercise with an OPFOR yet, or in coordination with the Army reinforcements. These men are supposed to be the elite, the fact that we can’t even manage this is pathetic. At this rate, how the fuck does anyone expect us to be victorious in three months, I mean, Jesus Christ. Order a redo, Ensign.”
“Aye sir,” the Ensign spoke into his radio, “Attention all ships and naval personnel, board again and repeat the exercise. Admiral’s orders.”
Operation: Adelantado, T-Minus 41 Days
As dusk began to set in, Admiral Mesquida came the closest he had been in seven years to a smile.
The radio crackled and an Army general spoke into it. “Congratulations, Admiral. Naval infantry successfully landed, defeated OPFOR, and taken Bravo Sector. Army heavy duty and engineers have been deployed. Exercise Adelantado, Phase One complete.”
The Admiral picked up the radio and spoke into it himself, “Not quite, General. That was good but let’s do this again. We drill this to perfection.”
Operation: Adelantado, T-Minus 3 Days
The armada of ships seemed to lazily float across the calm waters of the Pacific Ocean, with no land in sight. Color Sergeant Lauzun sat back in his hammock, chewing tobacco as he pondered his mission. He knew that the fleet were nearing the objective, though.
He knew this because the Admiral had told him so. Naval officers had been telling the impatient Naval Infantrymen that they were nearing the target for weeks now. But earlier today, Lauzun had spoken with the admiral. Lauzun had served under the admiral’s command for the past twenty-or-so years and knew he was a trustworthy man.
He also knew that he would be leading his troops in an invasion of a series of islands. That much had been obvious from the training that he and his crew had received. He knew what he would do, the training had supplied that as well. He knew that it was probably in the Pacific, or else the Pacific Fleet would probably not have been used. Beyond that, however, he knew nothing, he didn’t even know the nation that he was invading.
He lifted his bulky frame and spat his tobacco into a nearby bucket, then leaned back against the wall, placing his large, tattooed arms along the back of his bald head. As a forty-five year old Colour Sergeant in the Naval Infantry, he was somewhat of a cross between a crusty old sailor and a ‘been there, done that’-type NCO. He had been press-ganged into the Royal Naval Service at fourteen, one of the last to be, before the practice had been made illegal and the age of service had been raised to eighteen.
Finding himself in forced service, he spent two years as a crewman, but was, at the age of sixteen, accepted into the Royal Naval Infantry. By twenty-two, he had served in the exclusive Marine Guards, and served a stint in the King’s Own Naval Rifles. After qualifying for UDT training, Lauzun temporarily left the Naval Infantry, to serve as a member of Atruria’s elite naval special forces. Five years later, Lauzun returned to the Naval Infantry, joined the 4th Marine Infantry Parachute Regiment, and hadn’t left since.
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For The King’s Eyes Only
Admiral’s Log
Reconquest of the Philippines
Operation: Adelantado, T-Minus 1 Day
The fleet is nearing Batanes Province. So far everything has gone according to plan. 4th and 5th Marine Infantry Parachute Regiments will provide the first wave in taking each of the Batanes Islands separately. Of 4 MIP, 1st Battalion will take Mavudis Island, 2nd Battalion will take Misanga, 3rd Battalion will take Ditarem, 4th Battalion will take Siayan, 5th Battalion will take Itbayat. Of 5th MIP, 1st Battalion will take Dinem, 2nd Battalion will take Batan, 3rd Battalion will take Sabtang, 4th Battalion will take Ivuhos, 5th Battalion will take Diadekey.
Given the small size of these islands, and the minute amount of military activity that intelligence reports on them, the Command Sergeant Major deems that establishing actual beachheads on them would be more costly, inefficient, and time consuming than simply moving to take the entire islands.
Following the MIP’s landing by rigid-hulled inflatable crafts, amphibious assault ships will land a single Naval Light Infantry regiment on each island. Once the Batanes Islands, known as Sector Bravo, have been secured, the troops will reboard, to be replaced by naval fusiliers, which, I am sure you are aware, are our security troops.
Naval, Air Force, and Army units will land here and begin the construction of a military base. A provisional HQ, runway, barracks, and the likes will be completed within two days, though for a fully-functional, fully-modernized military base, our engineers estimate four months.
In the meantime, we will launch a similar offensive on the Babuyan Islands, from which we will establish a beachhead on the northeastern stretch of the Cagayan Valley region. We will establish a lodgement that consists of the entirety of the Ilocos, Cagayan Valley, and Cordillera Regions. From there we will construct defenses, but at this point, the army will obviously take the lead role as the offensive ground force, with the navy and air force serving in support roles.