In the back of the cargo section of the aircraft, the ramplike cargo door lowered and a blast of frigid air washed over the MSPF team waiting in the back. The team was ready: they had a large twenty-foot rubber boat,

called Combat Rubber Raiding Craft (CRRC), or "Rubber Raider," complete with a 75-horsepower gasoline engine and extra fuel tanks, waiting in the open cargo hatch. The team was dressed in "Mustang suits"-black nylon water suits that protected the wearer from the cold, provided flotation, sealed out water, and allowed much more mobility than divers'

wet suits. Their weapons, radios, and other gear were sealed in black waterproof bags slung around their shoulders.

When the signal was given, the MSPF team members picked up the boat by its rope handles and ran out the cargo ramp into space, dropping into the ice-cold water below. The weight of the Marines on the handlines kept the CRRC from flipping over, and they began pulling themselves into the boat, stabilizing it against the hurricane-like turbulence from the CV-22's rotor downwash. Seconds later the CRRC's outboard engine was started, team members loaded and checked their MP-5 submachine guns and .45-caliber automatics and, with Lobato providing directions from a compass and from his intense advance study of the area, they raced off for shore.

Aboard the CV-22, Sergeant Brown reported that the Marines were safely away, and Fell wheeled his plane westward once again and sped away from shore, staying below fifty feet but carefully avoiding all boats that popped up on his FLIR sensor. At that same time, Watanabe relayed a single message on the command channel: "Teviske," which meant

"Motherland" in Lithuanian, the signal to Paul White and the rest of the assault team that the Marines were headed ashore.

Marines, especially Recon or special-operations teams, never fought alone. No matter how big or how small the team was, Marine Corps infantry units were always supported by a command, air, and logistics element. That simple "go" message would send the rest of the players into

action:

As PAVE HAMMER returned to the Valley Mistress for fuel and to rearm with a two-man assist team, a Marine Corps KG- 130 aerial-refueling tanker began its takeoff roll from Sandefjord Air Base, south of Oslo, a NATO training base where the U.S. Marines had established a Northern Europe operations center. Flying along with the KG- 130 was a CH-53E Super Stallion helicopter-a huge transport helicopter-with a reinforced rifle platoon called a "Sparrowhawk" on board ready to assist Gunny Lobato's team if necessary.

Watanabe's message also alerted other detached members of the 26th Marine Expeditionary Force in Denmark and Germany that the operation was in progress and that intelligence and planning teams were standing by, waiting for word on the team's progress and preparing alternate plans of action.

The U.S. Air Force also had a support network .ready to go, with even more firepower than the Marines. Launching from Rhein-Main Air Base

in Germany and under command of the Air Force Special Operations Command, was an MC- 1 30P special-operations tanker aircraft-designed to refuel other aircraft at low altitude and over hostile territory or near a target area-accompanied by two F- 1 6C Fighting Falcon fighters. Carrying mine dispensers, rocket pods, and antiradar missiles as well as air-to-air missiles, the heavily armed F-16s could assist the Marines on the ground to break away from hostile ground units, or they could clear the skies if the Soviets decided to scramble fighters against the rotary-wing aircraft. Additionally, the MC-130H COMBAT TALON