Retribution (Soldier Up - Book Five 5), page 5
“I recall a real hard charger of a Colonel Magnus out of Massachusetts. Is that him?” General Clayton asked.
“One and the same,” SFC Harris replied.
“You really think it’s that bad? He’s coming for Washington; does he have the muscle to take on the 3rd?” General Clayton was quizzing SFC Harris.
“I’ve been on a couple of the OPs we’re sending the boys on and I can tell you first hand that Colonel Magnus believes that if you’re not with him then you’re against him. Once he has it settled in his mind that you’re against him, then he is one brutal man. He has no compunction on destroying an entire community or enslaving people; it’s hard to believe a United States Army officer can be that horrific to his own people. He justifies it as these are the people that got the country into the mess it was in and as far as he’s concerned, they are vermin and need to be exterminated.” SFC Harris ranted.
“Why not just ask them to leave?” General Clayton asked.
“He does sometimes; other times people are stubborn and don’t think he will act on his threats. It’s hard to answer your question regarding Colonel Magnus and his Continental Army as he calls them and the 3rd. I don’t have any idea what the status of the 3rd is, but if I were a betting man and you know I am, yeah he can take on the 3rd and in my opinion roll right through them like a hot knife through butter.”
General Clayton looked at General Moon. “When were you going to tell me about this?” General Clayton asked General Moon.
“All of us.” General Moon said looking at SFC Harris. “We’re under orders by General Portson not to discuss the issue with anyone including you.”
“Why?” General Clayton said.
General Moon glared at General Clayton. “I don’t normally question my orders from someone that outranks.”
“You should.” General Clayton said, he looked at SFC Harris. “Let’s go; we need to find Colonel Lambert and talk to him.”
General Clayton stood along with SFC Harris and both men left the mess hall, leaving General Moon sitting at the table by himself wondering what the hell had just happened.
Chapter Nine
SSG Arroa’s squad moved cautiously down the path that the Sergeant had marked to the main gate at Fort Indiantown Gap. The rest of the first platoon had held back as well as the company to provide cover for the advancing squad. SSG Arroa had cleared about a hundred yards past the main gain without any problems. They encountered no resistance, but several booby-traps, which they disabled. Their orders were that once they were able to breach the main gate, they were to begin to remove the barricades, which consisted of everything but the kitchen sink, several cars that had been pushed into the front of the gate, chairs, benches, large rocks, mounds of dirt, and a couple of desks.
SSG Arroa sent Corporal Reyes to his Platoon Sergeant and told him to send more men to help clear the barricade. There was no way he could provide security for him and his men as well as move everything out of the way. SFC Dittmyer was the Platoon Sergeant; the man was not a great thinker and a very poor leader. He had decided to send one more squad to help SSG Arroa; why the entire platoon didn’t move was lost on SSG Arroa. Once they had cleared the gate everyone was supposed to move through it so why wait. However, SSG Arroa knew it wasn’t his job to wonder why the Army did things. His job was to execute his orders to the best of his ability.
Second Squad led by SSG Dane moved out of their position in the woods running toward the main gate, down the path and meeting up with first squad. SSG Arroa told SSG Dane to clear the barricade and they would provide security. SSG Dane and his men weren’t happy to have to do the heavy lifting with clearing the barricade because it looked like a lot of work. SSG Dane glared at SSG Arroa, “Really? We move everything. Why can’t you do it?”
“We cleared the way in and disabled he bombs. We did our piece it’s your turn,” SSG Arroa said.
SSG Dane nodded his acquiescence as it was hard to argue with that. “Yeah you got a point,” Sergeant Dane said. Sergeant Dane ordered the squad to sling their weapons and get to work clearing the main gate. He also ordered them to be on the lookout for anything suspicious while clearing it. “What do you mean by suspicious Sergeant?” Private Mulvaney asked.
“Well Private, anything that looks like it might blow your fucking head off,” Sergeant Dane said.
Now that Sergeant Dane had his orders clarified it was time for everyone to get to work. Fortunately for them SSG Arroa had done a great job of clearing out the ordinance within the barricade when he first inspected it. It took SSG Dane and his men two hours to clear the main gate with no incident of anyone blowing their fucking head off, for which their Platoon Leader was thankful and their Platoon Sergeant was nowhere to be found. It was clear to the rest of the Company and Battalion the main gate was cleared and they were ordered to move through the gate and began clearing the post from front to back.
In the meantime 1st and 3rd Battalions of the 172nd Infantry Regiment had taken a route clear of the Fort hopefully so they could see them maneuvering to the rear of the post. Anyone watching the move out with any common sense could have put two-and-two together. It took three hours for the two Battalions to get into position and prepare for the attack on Fort Indiantown Gap. Each Battalion had sent out scouts from each company to various locations around the post to probe any potential lines around it. So far they hadn’t found a living soul nor seen any sign of recent activity; it was like no one was home. The scouts were then ordered to keep moving forward, but not to go any further onto post than three miles essentially—no further than a quick reaction force could get to them.
Third squad from 4th Platoon, Alpha Company, 3rd Battalion, 172nd Infantry Regiment had been patrolling near some bluffs that overlooked the fort and had a birds-eye-view of both battalions. Sergeant Eliza Munoz thought he had seen something up on one of the bluffs, like a glimmer of light and felt it was worth checking out. It was quite a hike to get up to it and it took two hours to get there. It wasn’t the distance; it was the climb up. As they approached the crest of the bluff in question they noticed what looked like military type camouflage netting over what looked like holes that had been dug into the side of the bluff itself. As infantrymen they recognized what looked like hide where soldiers would literally hide from the enemy and collect data on troop movement, number of troops and vehicles.
Sergeant Munoz halted the advance of the soldiers in his squad. He wanted to take a little more time to watch the hide to try and determine who was using it. However, he knew they wouldn’t be able to wait indefinitely. After all, they would eventually be missed. They did have radio contact with their Platoon Leader and Platoon Sergeant. He didn’t want to make a report regarding what they found just yet. Ten minutes had passed, then fifteen, and twenty there was no sign of the people using the hide so it was time to move. Sergeant Munoz moved forward with most of the men in the squad fanning out along the way to cover more area. He left three men behind with the SAW (squad automatic weapon) to cover them in the event it was an ambush.
Sergeant Munoz headed directly for the visible hide and pulled back the camouflage netting which exposed a rather large cave, but the entrance was small which was probably why it was selected in the first place. Sergeant Munoz, Corporal Adams and Private Page crawled through the small passage into the much larger cavern on the other side. Each man pulled out their flashlight and shined it around the cave. Prior to the event they would have used some sort of night vision device to view the cave to make sure it was clear. However, that was no longer an option so they had to use flashlights which immediately gave them away and presented a clear target for anyone in the cave. All the enemy would have to do was center on the light and fire, but fortunately nothing like that happened.
Sergeant Munoz and the others shined their lights around the cave. They noticed that it had been recently been occupied. There was a fire ring. Corporal Adams kneeled down and felt around it and found it was still hot. Private Page found several spots where something looked to have been buried. When he uncovered them, he found opened MRE (meals ready to eat) packages. MREs generally meant the military, but as they had found out over the course of the past few months civilians had them too. As the three men moved further back into the cave they stumbled on what looked like a military rucksack. The three men focused on the rucksack and moved towards it carefully thinking it may be booby-trapped and not a way they wanted to die.
Sergeant Munoz carefully guided his flashlight around the rucksack looking for any wires, but didn’t see any. Corporal Adams did his best to look under it as it was standing and leaning against the wall, but he didn’t see any either. “Looks clear.” Sergeant Munoz said. “To me too.” Corporal Adams replied.
Sergeant Munoz slowly pulled the rucksack away from the wall and started to search it. It was heavy. He figured it must weigh close to a hundred pounds. He started his search with the front pockets. The first thing he pulled out was a Green Beret with flash insignia of the 19th Special Forces Group. The first thing Sergeant Munoz thought to himself was, ‘This can’t be good.’ He stood up and hurried out of the cave to find his RTO. He needed to report that there might be Special Operations in the area observing them.
Chapter Ten
The Generals had arrived in Washington D.C at Dulles which was now operating at one-tenth its capacity and that was only been recently with the Air Force flying in from the Mid-West and West Coast. The generals were met at the airport by several Humvees, which they boarded and whisked them away to the Pentagon. They were scheduled to meet General Wallace within the hour to discuss the status of Fort Bragg. General Wallace was well aware that the 3rd Infantry Regiment couldn’t defend the Capital or any other place on its own. They would get what help there was from the Marines stationed around the city, but there weren’t many and the Navy as well. However, there was no sizable combat force near and even though Fort Bragg was hundreds of miles away. Thanks to one Brigadier General Clayton and Lieutenant General Watkins they now had the means to maneuver those forces.
The generals were dumbstruck with what they saw in the nation’s Capital; a once truly glorious city was for the most part in ruins. There were very few people around and the infrastructure was crumbling from a lack of maintenance. It was remarkable what had happened over a course of a year and how it affected the buildings that were near the Pentagon. All the generals from Fort Bragg – the post Commander, 18th Airborne Corps Commander and 82nd Airborne Division Commander had been to the Pentagon many times over their careers. In fact all of them had served there at one time or another. There three-vehicle motorcade was the only thing on the road. Each man remembered the traffic was horrible almost all of the time on the beltway. Now it was deserted; at least what vehicles there were on the road had been moved to the side of the road. From what they had been told it was part of the Presidents back-to-work program for civilians.
General Wallace’s aide-de-camp Colonel Essen met the officers in the underground garage. The Colonel introduced himself and kindly asked the officers to follow him to the General’s conference room. General Portson and the others followed the Colonel through the maze that was the Pentagon. It was eerie as many of the corridors and offices were dark and it was in the middle of the day. They knew that the huge building wasn’t fully powered. They knew about the levels that were underground and how they did when the event hit. The lower levels were supplied electricity like everyone else from the local utilities and then backup generators. When the event hit, the utilities died and the backup generators didn’t start. That’s all General Portson and the others really knew, but they all wondered what happened to those people that were down there when it happened.
The three general officers entered the conference room where General Wallace was waiting for them. “Good morning gentlemen,” General Wallace greeted them warmly. “It’s great to see all of you again.”
General Portson stepped forward to shake hands, “It’s good to see you too Omar; it’s been a while.” General Portson said with a wide grin.
Lieutenant General Eric Townsend, the Commander of the 18th Airborne Corps stepped forward next, “It’s great to see you Omar. How are Trish and the kids?” General Townsend asked referring to General Wallace’s family.
“They’re wonderful Eric and thank you for asking,” General Wallace replied.
Following General Townsend was Major General Tobias Welford, the Commander of the famed 82nd Airborne Division. General Welford was personally picked by General Wallace to take over the 82nd when the then current commander had a heart attack and died while serving in Afghanistan.
“Tobias, it’s fantastic to see you again.” Clearly General Wallace was happy to see his protégé at least that’s what he considered him. He wasn’t too far wrong either. General Welford did see General Wallace as his mentor and did want to become the Joint Chief at some point in his career.
“Thank you sir; it’s great to see you alive and well also happy to hear the family is safe,” General Welford stated.
The conference room had several other members from Department of the Army, Department of the Air Force, the White House, 3rd Infantry Regiment and General Wallace’s own staff. The briefing began by the representative from the 3rd Infantry Regiment, Lieutenant Colonel Ester Perez. It consisted of current operations in and around the DC metropolitan area as well as the train which was now sitting at Fort Bragg with the 3rd Infantry Regiments Commander. She went on to state that he was leaving the area soon and would be returning to deal with the new situation. When she stated the new situation she sparked an interest in the three officers from Fort Bragg. General Portson asked what that new situation might be. She replied that General Wallace will be speaking to it later on during the briefing. Colonel Perez wrapped up her briefing. Next up were the three generals from Fort Bragg whom everyone had been waiting for.
General Portson led off, giving his overall assessment of the post and a high level briefing on the units on post. General Portson started off recounting the events after the EMP event and although they were never able to ascertain what truly happened, they were fairly sure that some cataclysmic event such as an EMP attack had happened. With that knowledge and only that they moved forward. From there he went over the securing of the post, getting headcounts of everyone on post, vehicle status, fuel, food, all of the information he would need to make decisions. The post had been closed the first two weeks, only letting in active duty service members that had been off post at the time.
The General stated that he had ordered all communication and involvement with the outside community at the time for the first two weeks. He admitted in that his decision regarding that was wrong. In hindsight, he should have known that local law enforcement was going to be ill-prepared to handle such a crisis. He did state that there were some early efforts by the 82nd Airborne who sent out patrols against his orders to secure several of the big box stores near post. These proved to be successful, but he also admitted that they ended up needing Special Operations help to successfully execute those missions. One of the larger issues that turned up during those excursions was that the soldiers had become too dependent on technology. The missions were launched at night and they had no night vision equipment. It was evident that more training was needed to re-hone those skills where night vision was not going to be available.
General Portson also went on to state that it was the first indication that the Special Operations people had working equipment that they didn’t. Subsequent requests to SOF were pointless as they said they didn’t know what we were talking about General Portson stated. He went on to say that they now know that SOF had underground facilities filled with equipment that worked and kept it to themselves. After the first two weeks General Portson briefed it was evident that he had made a mistake in the order not to engage the community right away. Refugees started to show up at the main gate. They were hearing gun fire day and night around the post. Their initial investigation into their own resources showed that outside support would be needed if they were to last longer than eight months on our own.
The general continued: “At that time it was decided that we needed to secure retail establishments such as the rest of the big box stores, sporting goods, fuel, grocery stores and medical facilities. However, by the time we got into action most of those types of facilities had already been looted. The medical facilities around Fayetteville we were able to secure and support and still are. We did end up finding alternate means of meeting our needs. .We found storage units all over town filled with items that people couldn’t get to any longer. Granted, it didn’t belong to us and if the owners did ever show up again we left instructions on where it went and who to contact. To date we haven’t heard from anyone.
“We also started to take on some of the gangs that were terrorizing the city and in most cases these were the same organizations that were hoarding the merchandise from the retail and medical establishments. We were successful in ridding the majority of the area of the moderate to large gangs yet we still experience the so called militias attempting to move into the area. We have pushed beyond the fort by fifty miles and have set up outposts to monitor said areas.” General Portson looked around the room to see if he still had their attention. “Alright then, let me hand this off to General Townsend so he can discuss current operations that the 18th is involved in and answer your questions.” With that, General Townsend stood and General Portson left the podium feeling like he just given birth.
