“Air defense alert,” the commander said suddenly. He looked at his watch, then made a note in his log. “All units, prepare to repel airborne attackers. This is not an exercise.”

His crew members turned to look at their commander in surprise, then snapped their necks around, frantically checking their indicators and screens for any sign of an intruder, something they missed. There was nothing. But they responded anyway: the deputy pressed a button on his control panel, which sounded a Klaxon throughout the battery that an attack was imminent; reload crews began making preparations to load another four-round missile rack onto the transporter-erector-launchers; and a warning was sent out to all aircraft and all air defense units in the region, warning of an impending attack.

The brigade command phone rang almost immediately: “Lieutenant, what do you have?” the air defense brigade commander asked.

“Inbound Mi-24 attack helicopter, Lion Seven, sir.”

“Does he authenticate?”

“His codes are almost invalid, but as of right now, he has been verified.”

“Any other targets?”

“No, sir”

“Then why did you issue the air defense warning, Lieutenant?”

The commander swallowed but did not otherwise hesitate: “Sir, Lion Seven left his wingman behind, even though he reported another wingman destroyed. All of our aviation units understand the importance of returning to base to be issued up-to-date authentication documents—they must do so unless they are actively engaging the enemy.”

The brigade commander hesitated. The lieutenant was a prior noncommissioned aviation officer, well experienced in both air defense and aviation procedures—at least, the lieutenant hoped the brigade commander remembered.

But it came down to only one thing, which the brigade commander pointed out moments later: “That’s not a violation of procedures or a cause for issuing a general air defense warning. So ... you’re saying you have a hunch, is that it, Lieutenant?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Well, you’re allowed all the hunches you like, Lieutenant—it’ll keep the men on their toes,” the brigade commander said after another lengthy, agonizing pause. “But may I remind you that your battery will have to reposition to another location after the alert is over, so your men will be up all night.”

“I am aware of that, sir.” Once the missile batteries turned on their radars, spy planes and satellites could map their location easily, so it was important to move the missiles and radars around to make it more difficult for the enemy to find and target their radars. Fortunately, the S-300 missile system was very easy to relocate—it took less than a half hour to set up again after finding a suitable spot. The units were moved several times a week—no more than a few hundred meters, but far enough where garbage pits, latrines, and launcher anchor points had to be redug each time out of the desert. That was usually the hardest part, and the aspect of the move that caused the most grumbling.