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Scott wasn't wearing a jacket—he was lazily dressed in a gray tank top, with a pair of plastic flip-flops on his feet. If you didn't know better, you might have thought he was on a beach vacation.
Since Long Zhan had just arrived at this Air Force base, he didn't know which units the surrounding camps belonged to.
It was indeed difficult to guess Scott's true identity.
"You're already wearing the SEAL Trident. How could I possibly bring you down? I've been with the Green Berets for almost three years now. Maybe next time we can spar a few rounds," Scott said, clearly eager for a fight.
Long Zhan recalled from memory that Scott and Gibran often sparred and practiced hand-to-hand combat together. It was a small shared hobby between them.
In close-quarters combat, Long Zhan was not intimidated.
"If it weren't for this barbed-wire fence in between us, I'd have you down in three seconds flat."
"You're still as boastful as ever. Being a big guy doesn't impress me one bit," Scott laughed.
"Ha, you're the same."
Long Zhan laughed easily and then changed the subject. "How have you been these past two years?"
After the lighthearted joking, Long Zhan steered the conversation toward everyday life, chatting about the interesting things they had each experienced over the past two years.
That chat stretched on.
Before they knew it, two hours had passed, and they had completely forgotten to eat lunch.
It wasn't until Scott received a message from a colleague saying he needed to immediately attend a meeting at the command center that they reluctantly ended their exchange.
Still eager to talk more, they agreed to catch up again in the evening.
Through this conversation with Scott, Long Zhan generally understood the experiences of these people. He also confirmed one thing:
Season 2 of *Reprisal* hadn't started yet.
In the Season 2 storyline of *Reprisal*, Scott was expelled from DEVGRU (formerly DG) for secretly hiding drugs and only then invited to assist the 20th Division.
Whether or not Scott, like Long Zhan, was hiding his true identity under the guise of the Green Beret, he had actually already joined CAG.
Since Scott was still actively serving in the U.S. military, it meant he hadn't been framed yet, and the Season 2 plot of *Reprisal* had not begun.
This was good news for Long Zhan.
*Reprisal* was one of only two TV series Long Zhan was familiar with, and if he had the chance to join the storyline, his foresight and capabilities would give him a big advantage.
Whether he could smoothly integrate into the plot remained to be seen, but since it hadn't started yet, there was no rush.
As long as he kept in contact and maintained a relationship with Scott, and with his understanding of the *Reprisal* storyline, Long Zhan had enough time to prepare.
After parting ways with Scott to return to their dormitories, they happened to run into Murphy, who had just woken up.
Neither of them had eaten lunch, so they decided to eat together.
The mess halls for regular troops only served three meals a day—if you missed the meal time, tough luck. You'd have to go back and eat your military rations.
Special operations units' mess halls were different—they operated 24/7.
Special operations missions often involved nocturnal activities, resting during the day and operating at night, so mealtimes were mostly in the afternoon and evening.
Logistics personnel followed a normal daytime schedule and needed daytime meal service.
Because their schedules were staggered, food needed to be served at different times.
Taking advantage of this opportunity to eat together, Long Zhan shared his thoughts and opinions about the upcoming operation with Murphy, offering suggestions and requests.
He urged Murphy to push the higher-ups to secure more equipment and supplies for the team.
At a minimum, they needed ballistic MICH helmets and bulletproof vests for every team member; if possible, armor plates would be even better.
Ammunition had to be well-stocked.
Fifteen magazines wouldn't be too many; twenty wouldn't be too few. They needed as many grenades as possible.
They also had to get a light machine gun, preferably an MK46 or MK48 modified by special operations experts, equipped with not just basic optics but an additional 3–6x magnified scope.
Plus ten 100-round soft pouches.
The reason was simple: as a machine gunner, Long Zhan was accustomed to the MK46 and MK48, and particularly skilled at controlled bursts at medium to long range. He wasn't interested in other light machine guns.
Murphy started to think Long Zhan was overreacting.
Recon missions didn't typically engage targets proactively, and to stay concealed and mobile, the team usually traveled as lightly as possible.
With twenty magazines per person, they would be carrying more ammo than a direct assault team.
From Murphy's professional and common-sense perspective, such a recon mission didn't require that much firepower, and there was no need to add so much extra weight.
The protective gear was even more excessive.
After all, in Afghanistan at this season, daytime temperatures soared to thirty or forty degrees Celsius; even wearing a regular jacket made one sweat profusely.
Wearing a heavy, thick bulletproof vest in that heat would be like putting on a thick winter coat in midsummer.
It would be a form of self-torture.
In fact, Murphy's understanding wasn't wrong—recon missions emphasized mobility and stealth, and real combat contact during these operations was extremely rare.
Given this very low probability and the nature of the mission, firepower and protection were usually considered last.
If Long Zhan didn't know what was about to happen, he wouldn't have made such a big deal about a recon mission targeting a mere 200-man minor leader.
But now, the problem was that Long Zhan *did* know the outcome, so he had to push for as much as possible.
To persuade Murphy to heed his suggestions, Long Zhan suppressed his inner frustration and anger and told him about the tragic incident that had happened to the SEAL Team over a year ago—
The *Operation Peacemaker*.
Operation Peacemaker was an FID mission—that is, a Foreign Internal Defense operation.
Simply put:
It was about providing elite military training to allied countries with good diplomatic ties with the U.S., so they could develop outstanding counterterrorism capabilities.
The mission sounded very safe, almost like a vacation.
At first, the three white SEAL instructors thought it would be simple—just teaching some rookies how to conduct counterterrorism special operations.
But the end result was tragic.
Due to a major intelligence failure, the training site was discovered by hostile forces.
The three SEALs plus over a dozen rookies were ambushed by a hundred-strong armed enemy force.
In the end, only one survived after being shot multiple times.
Even an FID mission, essentially a vacation, could have such a catastrophic outcome.
How could you *not* take a deep reconnaissance mission behind enemy lines seriously?
This was Long Zhan's rebuttal.
It was also a challenge.
Murphy, a SEAL Team captain, naturally had heard about this devastating mission, and he also guessed some of the background from Long Zhan's furious expression.
Though Long Zhan narrated the story in third person, it was very likely he was involved in that battle, which explained his extreme caution.
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