This briefing enthralled the lieutenant colonel. Sickened by his desk job and embarrassed by the sordid cover-up of his glorious attack, the man was visibly itching for a fight. He had come fully prepared. His all-volunteer squad of forest ninjas were lugging whole arsenals of professional gear: body armor, silenced sniper rifles, human body-odor sniffers, mine-proofed boot soles, night-fighting video helmets, even ultraspecial, freeze-dried, self-heating, long-range patrol rations.