This chapter lists a few similarities with the modern divergence called WSIM24B: one is that he also has a tablet in this one like he does in the aforementioned modern title; the difference is that he's not mentioned as using it as much--and in the modern version, the bartender named Lori keeps it for him, as it's heavily encrypted and he doesn't want it stolen nor looked at by prying military eyes. Here though, it was obvious he only used it for communication purposes, the main one of which was to keep in touch with Vanova. Another similarity is the body sculpting, which I had totally forgotten about in regards to Karpov's girlfriend, which turns out to be the senior commander's daughter. Additionally, Cook himself reveals that he thinks highly of himself, but he's not outright arrogant; in flipping the script in the WSIM24B title, Thorn is arrogant but doesn't necessarily think highly of himself except when it comes to having relations with the opposite sex.
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It amazes me come back to this 5 years later and have the story remind me just how well composed it was and still is. There's still the same efficient syntax: the author manages to stack the sentence structure to match the pacing of the story in order to maximize the impact of the words we read. I just can't say enough about it, because some people are great at knowing when to put that one word for emphasis after a long paragraph in order to basically create shock value; this author mastered varying sentence structure and paragraph structure to create the best effect for each part of the story. It's just wonderful to reread it and be reminded of that fact.

Thanks for sharing

GREAT STORY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Interesting story though the premise is not based on reality. The US military is several times larger than Chinas in almost every metric, and the only nation with more tanks is N. Korea. The US Air force and Navy is several times larger than any other nations. In fact, the US Navy is larger than most other countries combined with only N. Korea, again, having more subs, though theirs are older and less advanced. But that's why it's fiction I guess.

Very sad ending!

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