Her name was Mandy Ellis, a senior CIA intelligence officer and one of the key supporting characters in the TV series SEAL Team, serving as a foreign intelligence aid for Bravo Team.
This was the first thing that popped up in his mind after he took a longer look at the woman."The CIA and Green Team have nothing to do with each other, and the foreign intelligence aid of Red Team does not extend to Green Team. Then, why was she here, serving as a training partner?”The original plot offered nothing regarding this matter, leaving Long Zhan utterly baffled about what might have transpired behind the scenes.
Just then, a team of medics rushed in.
"Get out of the way! Out of the way everybody! Anyone not involved should step aside. We’ll take over from here."
The medical crew had arrived, rendering Long Zhan's on the fly attempts at acupressure useless. The unconscious woman was swiftly carried away on a stretcher.
The male training partner who was punched by Long Zhan also left with the medical team, probably to check if he had a concussion.
Outside, Clay and the other 14 trainees awaiting their turn couldn't believe that a routine indoor simulation would result in a training partner being carried off on a stretcher while one of their instructors also followed, looking worse for wear.
Curious about what was going on, the trainees all rushed to the door of the training room, eager to see what was happening inside.
But as they inched closer for a peek, the instructor descended from the elevated walkway with a scowl on his face, heading straight for the training room himself.
To avoid getting caught and face unnecessary punishment, Clay and the others reluctantly suppressed their curiosity.
They’d wait for Long Zhan to come out and grill him about what happened.Long Zhan was the only one left in the training room. Having not heard the command to notify him that his training was complete and he could leave, he stood there and waited.Glancing up at the overhead walkway, he saw that Instructor Adam and the other accompanying instructor had also vanished.Long Zhan realized something was definitely wrong, but facing the impending interrogation, he showed no sign of nervousness.The reason was simple, this kind of situation was something Long Zhan was used to in the Navy SEALs.
Whenever it came to open-ended training, Long Zhan's approach was always unique. He could complete the mission, but his methods were always unconventional, significantly different from those of his other team members or the methods that they had been taught.
This was initially unacceptable to the higher-ups, who would often confront Long Zhan about it.However, after two years of service, right up to his departure for Green Team, he'd never faced punishment. His unorthodox methods, while eccentric, always aligned with one regulation or another, allowing him to always find a way to justify his actions.
The superiors both loved and hated Long Zhan, but since they were unable to do anything about it, they could only let him "run wild."
Long Zhan believed that even now on Green Team, as long as his methods were effective and suited his current needs, he could continue to implement his unique mercenary-influenced style.
After all, he was the only person in the world who'd spent over a decade as an old-school mercenary before becoming a top-tier special forces operator.
It would be strange if his style was too similar to that of other special forces soldiers.
Long Zhan wasn’t left waiting for too long. Soon, Instructor Adam, accompanied by two other instructors, pushed open the training room’s door and walked towards him.
"I wanted to give you a perfect score for this exercise, but now you can only get a 0. However, I will give you a chance to explain yourself. Why, after neutralizing the militant, did you attack other targets that clearly posed no threat?"Instructor Adam stared blankly at Long Zhan, as if to say, “Did you lose your damned mind under that hood?”Giving a soldier a chance to explain his mistakes following a training exercise sounded incredibly unrealistic, but in reality, this was precisely the style of the SEALs.Whether it was the regular SEALs or the elites in DEVGRU, their management and organizational structure diverged from most other special forces units around the world.
The traditional approach of most special forces units is that those in command are responsible for issuing orders, and the lower-level soldiers are solely responsible for executing them. The lower-level soldiers have no say in any operational decisions. The Navy SEALs and DEVGRU, on the other hand, operated very differently, employing a bottom-up approach instead. For example, during a counterterrorism operation, the first meeting wasn’t held by command, but rather by the team leader, who brought the intelligence to his teammates and together they would discuss and create an action plan.Everyone could speak freely, pitching their ideas or raising any concerns they had with the intelligence.
After gathering everyone’s input, the team leader would then discuss it with the commander and the intelligence officer, before formulating the final action plan.This method applied to both combat operations and training.Except for fixed-metric drills like marksmanship or PT, when it came to any other open-ended training exercise, soldiers were allowed to use whatever method they deemed appropriate to complete their task.As long as they could provide a reasonable and feasible explanation afterwards, their methods would be approved.
This open and inclusive ethos was why Long Zhan felt comfortable about basically doing whatever he pleased in these training exercises.Facing instructor Adam’s questioning, Long Zhan remained poised and responded with conviction, his voice loud and powerful, “Sir, I don’t think I did anything wrong. I was just fulfilling my duties as an operator.“I had no way of confirming whether or not those two were a threat or not.“Under the premise that it is impossible to distinguish whether someone is friend or foe, per the relevant operational rules of JSOC (Joint Special Operations Command) during special operations, as long as the individual is holding a weapon, the operators carrying out the operations are free to designate them as potentially hostile.“In addition, I'm training in Green Team, which positions me as a DEVGRU Tier 1 operator.
“As far as I know, DEVGRU holds a special authorization issued by the Ministry of Defense, allowing Tier 1 personnel to preemptively strike terrorists and terrorist facilities, exempting them from international engagement protocols under certain conditions.
"Therefore, from my perspective, I had the authority to neutralize the armed targets.
"Yet I didn't outright eliminate them, instead I mercifully aimed to incapacitate and control them.“Given the circumstances, I believe that my approach was not only flawless, but also the most reasonable and effective approach.”
Long Zhan's rationale was airtight, virtually flawless, especially his deft invocation of the regulations, which he wielded like a professional.
Adam couldn't find a single flaw with this reasoning, his expression noticeably changing.
“You fired to disarm one of them. Did it not cross your mind that had you missed, you could have killed your own teammate? You would be court-martialed.”Adam raised his head slightly and stared at Long Zhan, his lips slightly curling, unclear whether it was because he was angry or amused."First of all, he was wearing casual clothes and had no identification. I didn't know he was a teammate. Even if I killed him, the main responsibility would not be mine. Second of all, I believe in my marksmanship and there is no way that I would miss that shot.”
Long Zhan’s reply was full of confidence, especially when it came to the latter part where he felt that his marksmanship was called into question."Are you that confident in your marksmanship? Haven't you heard of Murphy's Law? On the battlefield, nothing is absolute.” Adam continued.
“No sir, I disagree.”
Long Zhan flashed a self-assured grin, retorting boldly: "In my book, if it hasn't happened, then it hasn’t happened. Murphy can keep his law to himself, as far as I’m concerned, it’s bullshit.”
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