Victory for the PLAN!

For you unenlightened, PLAN = People's Liberation Army Navy. It's what the Chinese call their navy. Go figure.

Anyways, Peter came over for wargaming, and I totally trounced his Yankee hiney in a game of Fleets 2025: East China Sea. During a naval exercise off the coast of Japan, a flight of Chinese J-13Cs approached within 25 miles of a US carrier battle group and were intercepted by two US F-35s. Reports are conflicting, but the PLAN aircraft were shot down and the Chinese launched an immediate retaliatory strike.

I began the campaign by cautiously moving my submarines eastward. I was determined to keep my sole carrier safely behind its screen of destroyers and hugging the coast of the motherland. To my delight and surprise, the Yanks elected to move toward me and steamed just east of Japan. I believe this was a mistake, because they should have awaited their reinforcements.

My carrier aircraft launched a strike against his nuclear submarine and sent it to the bottom, but he responded by shooting down some of my aircraft. Those were the last casualties for a while. My intelligence teams worked overtime to gain me a lot of tactical advantages, but time was not on my side. It became clear to me that if I didn't inflict serious damage on the Americans, my government would lose heart and sue for peace. Because of the Americans' overly aggressive moves, I was able to get into a position to hammer his carrier battle group with submarine-lauched precision weapons that damaged his carrier and escorts! He learned wisdom late and began to steam back east with my PLAN forces in hot pursuit. At this point, I toyed with the idea of launching a nuclear strike against his forces, but in the end I chose not to, because I knew world opinion would turn against me. As I vacillated, his ships' crews repaired at sea. Opportunity lost.

In the closing hours of the war, I maneuvered while the American commander wasted time on operational logistics. I managed to shoot down two squadrons of Yank aircraft, and then I launched a submarine strike against his advanced guided missile cruiser, sinking it. The gutless Americans sued for peace.

In other news, we did our final walk-thru on the house today. It is GORGEOUS. I can't believe that Zanne and I built this beautiful castle together. It was truly a team effort. We were both involved in every step: she negotiated a great deal and had a clear vision of what we needed. And I...ummm...well I did something really important, too.

Anyways, we are now waiting for the West Virginia Development Fund to complete the paperwork on our loan, so we can close. We are hoping for a closing this Friday or early next week, but it may be as late as the 31st of July. Once we close, the work really begins.

We also attended the memorial service for our dear friend and sister in Christ, Alicia Barylski. She was just 44 years old when cancer struck her down. About a year and a half ago, she told us that she had fallen and hurt her knee. It turned out to be a tumor in her leg. For the next 18 months, she fought hard. She was such a little woman, but she never gave in--always smiling, always optimistic. I remember visiting the home when she was recovering from another round of chemo. She was exhausted...but still undefeated in her spirit. Now she is with our Lord--home at last. She is the first of our home group to cross the finish line. Way to go, Alicia! We miss you!