Sleeping Giants

ransportation was about six hours away and Sergeant Ortiz decided to make contact with the Tuvans. We didn’t have the Kazakhs with us but Ortiz speaks a bit of Russian. I think they recognized our guns, or maybe it was the sergeant’s accent, but after a couple minutes, they put down their AKs. We could make out one word in what they were saying: Americanyetz! Americanyetz! I don’t know what they think of Americans in Tuva, but they sure seemed happy we weren’t Russians.

One of the Tuvans went back to the village to get some help. He came back with a dozen more men. With the eleven men in our squad, that meant about forty able bodies. They helped us dig out the artifact and wrap some ropes around it. It took about an hour. Then we sat down with them and waited for the truck. That’s when the Russian army showed up, sort of. It was a small truck with two men in it. If I had to guess, I’d say they were in on the marijuana trade and were coming to get a cut or something. Anyway, we hid behind the artifact as fast as we could. The Russians got out of the truck and started yelling. One of the Tuvans approached them smiling, then drew a pistol and shot both of them in the head point-blank.

—Would you have listened if I had? I have explained to you, several times, that you could only use this weapon when absolutely necessary, and only for defensive purposes. In fact, I specifically told you to ensure that your actions could never be misconstrued as offensive. That did not stop you from marching right into the Korean demilitarized zone before anyone threw so much as a rock at South Korea.
—There was an immediate threat.
—North Korean troops gathering…inside North Korea. That is unheard of.
—They were massing very close to the border.
—North Korea is the size of Ohio. It would be geographically challenging for them to gather very far from the border.