Vigilante_The Way West

by Cliff Deane

  They made their way along the outer edge of the tree line, slightly ahead of the now halted convoy.

  Tactically, this was not the prime place for the stationing of an RPG 7 gunner. The optimum position would have been at the rear of the column to preclude shooting down an oncoming helicopter directly over friendly forces.

  Pilots called this tactic of being attacked by an RPG from the rear, the six o’clock shadow. As the RPG system is a direct fire and relatively primitive weapon, it has no seeking capability, and no electronic signature to alert the Pilot that his aircraft is about to become a pile of junk. The first indication the aircraft crew has of an incoming RPG approaching from the rear is when it detonates. If they are hit in the tail assembly, at an altitude above 2,500’ the pilot may be able to make a controlled crash; under 2,500’ almost always allows insufficient time to have any chance of controlling the descent.

  If a Pilot flying above 2,500’ sees the launch, then he makes a corkscrew maneuver called a “Yank and Bank” to attempt to evade the incoming, uncontrolled mini-missile.

  Gangsta

  3 September 1020

  3,000’ above the Cuban Convoy

  Levi asked the Pilot if he was locked and loaded?

  “Yes sir,” answered Lieutenant Bill D. Costello, the Pilot of Gangsta.

  Levi then asked if Costello could both fly and shoot at the same time.

  “Yes sir, no sweat.”

  “Well, all right,” said Levi, let’s make two passes; first to destroy as many trucks as we can, and then we’ll take a swipe at the troops moving along the wood line.”

  “Roger, sir; are you ready?”

  “Oh, Hell yes,” said Levi as Costello banked the Snake into a strafing run. The first run drew no fire as the Cobra lit up the vehicles in the Cuban convoy, destroying nearly all of them.

  The second run, however, did draw ineffective small arms fire as the Cobra, while hovering at an altitude of 2,500’, began firing rockets into the tree line along the course of the Cuban convoy.

  As Costello was rocketing the Cuban Infantry, Levi saw the flash from an RPG launching a missile grenade at Gangsta. Levi shouted, “MISSILE!”

  The Pilot immediately pulled into the Yank and Bank maneuver which allowed the craft to avoid a direct hit from the RPG, but the fuse in the warhead detonated a bit too close and sent shards of metal through the tail assembly.

  The Cobra immediately began to spiral out of control for about four seconds before Costello was able to regain a modicum of control to allow for a controlled crash.

  The intensive training paid off for Lieutenant Costello as he quickly found his bearings and began his pre-crash routine in the direction of home. He actually made nearly one mile before crashing into the tops of the forest pines. Gangsta’s forward motion stopped, but her vertical motion did not, as the chopper’s weight caused it to fall from limb to limb, toward the ground some eighty feet below.

  The two men were roughly bounced around in their seats until the craft came to a precarious stop some ten to fifteen feet above the ground.

  Costello called to Levi, “Sir, are you okay?”

  Levi’s jaw was sore from clamping his mouth so tightly shut, but was otherwise unhurt.

  “Yeah, I’m okay, I think; you?”

  “Yes sir, I’m still tickin’. We’d better try to hurry and get out of my bent bird before she falls again, or the Cubans pay us a visit. I’d guess that if they are coming, we’ve got about ten minutes before their Welcome Wagon arrives.

  Don’t unbuckle until I get the cockpit open and can ascertain how stable we are. Just opening the cockpit could shake us enough to make that last ten feet, so hang on.”

  Levi just said, “Gotcha, let’s do it.”

  Bill manually released the canopy which caused a minor jostling of the craft as it tilted slightly more to the left.

  “All right, sir, now slowly and carefully unbuckle your harness; and make your way out of the cockpit and onto the nearest tree limb. At that point, it’s to hell with being too careful; just get down as quickly and safely as you can. As soon as you are on the ground, I’ll follow. Ready?”

  Levi was, of course, nervous, but he said, “Okay, Bill, here goes,” and he unbuckled the restraining harness before easing his way out of the now teetering wreck. Once on a safe limb he began a rapid descent to the ground and was barely clear of the Cobra when a branch snapped, and the helo tilted onto its side and fell the last ten feet to the ground.

  Levi ran to the cockpit and saw the pain in Lieutenant Costello’s eyes; a jagged right shin bone was protruding through his flight suit.

  “Costello, listen to me; I am going to release your harness and then lift you out of your seat and onto the ground. Son, grit your teeth because this maneuver is going to hurt like a bastard. You ready?”

  “Ready or not, if you don’t get me out of here I’m going to fry; can you smell the spilling fuel. Come on, sir; let’s do what has to be done.”

  Levi saw a small piece of a branch and placed it between Bill’s teeth, and then he said, “All right, son, on three; one, two, and Levi quickly pulled Bill out of his seat and carried him deeper into the forest.

  Lieutenant Costello’s voice of pain came out of his mouth as an agonizing guttural scream. The General was grateful that Costello was able to eat his pain, allowing Levi to get him to safety.

  He then leaned Bill Costello against a tree and said, “Bill, I’m going back for our rifles, since we can’t run; if they come, we’ll have to fight.”

  At this point, Costello was nearly unconscious from the pain of being moved and carried from the wreckage, but he still said, “You said on the count of three.”

  As Levi rose, he smiled and said, “Yeah, but you were less tensed up on two, now shut up and rest while I go to get our weapons from the Cobra; I’ll be right back.” Levi then rushed back to the crash site and managed to retrieve the M4-A1s and the bandolier of magazines from the firewall. He was no more than two-hundred feet from the wreck when it exploded in a massive fireball.

  The blast pressure wave was strong, and he felt the heat from the blast, but Levi was able to remain on his feet and he quickly made his way back to Lieutenant Costello.

  ROA TOC

  Convoy Line of Departure

  The Road

  Everyone heard the explosion, Gus and the planning group ran outside and saw the huge fireball.

  “Oh, shit, it’s Levi!” shouted Gus, who immediately shouted, “Fire up the LAVs, mount up Infantry! Come on, let’s go!

  Susan, get your birds in the air, now. We’ve got to give them cover. To hell with the ambush, we fight here and now!”

  “Yes sir,” shouted Susan as she ran to the helipad. The Ground Crews were already on site preparing for the day’s missions; by the time the Pilots arrived, the birds were wound up and ready for takeoff.

  As Susan was climbing into Martyr Maker, Gus shouted, save him, Susan, or bring back his body, if there is one.”

  Susan nodded, then saluted as she closed the canopy and immediately lifted off.

  Levi

  Crash site

  Levi made it back to Lieutenant Costello and found him unconscious from his pain. He then began an inspection of Bill’s wound and found that the shin was bleeding, but not profusely. Knowing that the Brigade would soon be on site Levi placed a bandage on the Lieutenant’s exposed shin bone, in the hope of slowing the flow of blood and protecting the wound from dirt.

  Levi heard engines and upon seeing the Gunships swoop overhead; he threw a purple smoke bomb to show his position. Immediately behind the Cobras, a Dust Off, seeing the smoke quickly landed. Three Medics jumped from the Huey and ran to Levi and Lieutenant Costello.

  The Senior Medic, Sergeant Willard, knelt beside Levi as the other two tended the injured pilot.

  “Are you all right, sir, are you wounded?” asked the Medic.

  Levi looked at him and said, “Your timing is perfect, and just between you, me,
and the fence post; I’m getting too old for this shit.”

  The Medic laughed, both at the joke, and from the relief of finding his General alive and kicking.

  Cubans

  Cuban Convoy

  Coronel Guevara told his XO to forget about the Gunship Crew and ordered a defensive perimeter formed inside the wood line. His soldiers had just retrieved what was left of the necessary equipment for a perimeter defense when the Cobras appeared overhead and began firing at anything that moved…Or didn’t move.

  Thinking their General was dead, the ROA Force wanted blood, and they wanted it now.

  The Cubans had no time to establish a defensive perimeter as the massed firing from the Super Cobras had every one of them trying to find a hole to get in.

  By the time the Tanks began firing and rolling over the Cuban positions, they became frantic in their desire to escape certain death.

  Corporal Ramon Suharto did manage to piss off one Tank Crew before he and his ammo crew were caught in a hail of caliber .50 Ma Deuce ammunition, which left little to identify.

  The mop-up phase lasted much longer than the actual engagement; some Cuban Infantry did manage to escape, but not many.

  Levi’s Legion was so quick on the scene that the ground assault began soon after the Gunship attack, which further prevented any possibility of a Cuban defensive perimeter. They were simply overrun by the tanks and LAVs.

  Coronel Jesus Guevara and his Sarjento Mayor were wounded, but with non-life-threatening wounds, that is their wounds would not kill them if they were able to receive treatment. Their wounds were bound to stop the bleeding, enabling them to be charged by a Military Tribunal as an invading military force from the nation of Cuba (Koo bah).

  After questioning, no valuable information, other than this Cuban Battalion had acted unilaterally, and without the approval, or knowledge of any viable national government.

  Taking this information into consideration; every prisoner was hung as a terrorist.

  FTOC First ROA Armored Brigade

  3 September 1600

  FTOC

  The Road to Ft. Jackson

  Gus returned from the battleground and found Levi conferring with Sergeant Major Cobb. He walked right up to Levi and, placing his hand on Levi’s right arm, said, “Sergeant Major, I need to speak with this maniac, right now! Please excuse us.”

  Bradley Cobb raised both hands in a palm out gesture saying, “Yes sir; I’ll be right outside.”

  “No, thank you Sergeant Major, but the General and I need to speak in private, so I’ll take this danged fool with me.”

  Bradley tried not to smile, but just couldn’t quite pull it off. He said, “Give him hell, Colonel, he’s got it coming; no offense General.”

  Levi looked at Gus and knew he was pissed; realizing that in this case, discretion was the better part of valor, Levi quietly allowed his best and most trusted friend to lead him by the arm out of the F-TOC tent and into the surrounding woods.

  “Come on, Gus, there’s no need to…”

  “No,” demanded Gus, “wait until we are clear of any ears or prying eyes.”

  “Okay boss, I’m all yours,” said Levi in a voice that sounded like a little kid caught with both hands in the cookie jar. He knew Gus was really upset, and he knew why.

  Once Gus felt they had gone far enough, he released Levi and said, “You freakin’ moron, what the hell were you thinking? No, wait, I know, you had a senior moment and thought you were freakin' Rambo.

  Damn you, Levi, the only two things keeping me from resigning after kicking your stupid ass is our friendship, and that I’m not completely sure I could kick your ass.”

  This last comment gave way to a big smile from Levi, and the hint of an unwanted grin from Gus.

  “No, Levi, don’t you dare think that disarming smile of yours is going to get you off the hook for your stupid behavior. You are our freakin’ leader, and I’m telling you right now that if you do something like this again, we are going to find out if I can whip your ass, and then I’ll be out’a here.”

  This tirade took the steam out of Gus, and he hit Levi in the arm while saying, “Damn it, Levi, please, promise me there will be no repeat performances of shit like this.”

  Levi looked at his friend and knew that he was right about all but one thing. He said, “Gus, you are right; my actions were foolish, and I almost got Lieutenant Costello killed. I promise that there will be no more Ramboisms.

  I admit that I acted rashly, and I will try to put an end to any such actions in the future,” smiled Levi.

  Gus started to speak, but Levi cut him off, saying, “The only part that I’m not sure of is what you said about kicking my ass.”

  Now Gus began smiling and said, “Hey, dipshit, I said I wasn’t sure I could do it.”

  “Yeah, yeah, I know, I’m just wondering why there is a question in your mind about being able to kick my butt. In a bet, my money would be on you.” and both broke out laughing. Gus’ hissy fit was over, and Levi, like always, had charmed his way back into Gus’ good graces.

  Levi looked at Gus and said, “You do know you the used the word freakin’ a lot, right?”

  “Levi just shut the hell up.”

  As they walked back to the FTOC, Levi snickered and said, “We did kick their ass, though, didn’t we?”

  Gus laughed and said, “We, what you mean we, paleface? You crashed a perfectly good Gunship and sat out the entire battle, but yeah, we…kicked…their…ass.”

  ***

  Chapter 2

  They’re Baa-ack…

  DC now lay under two feet of still falling snow

  8 September 0800

  Fort Jackson

  SC

  By 8 September it was far too late for anyone living north of Washington DC to move south; less than seventeen million Americans were still alive.

  Fort Jackson was found to be completely deserted. There had been looters, but that had not gone well for most of them, as those looters did not have the necessary equipment, or explosives, to gain entry to the weapons and ammo caches, of which there were many.

  Then Colonel Guyardo stumbled upon evidence of a firefight between Light Infantry Fighting Vehicles (LAVs), as one Mechanized Motor Pool contained three destroyed LAV IIIs. Of the three, one had no unit identifying markings at all. The two other damaged vehicles were marked as belonging to Bravo Troop, 3rd Squadron, 4th Cavalry Regiment, which had transitioned to Fort Jackson back in 2019.

  Colonel Mike Guyardo had first discovered the derelict vehicles while searching for replacements for those lost in Hurricane Aught One. This discovery was sobering as it could only mean that there was apparently at least one other Armored Unit operating in the area; units that did not want to be identified; along with at least twenty missing LAVs.

  15 July Aught One

  15 July

  Fort Jackson

  Back in July, two months before the ROA arrived at Fort Jackson, Colonel Rolf Steiner led his Mechanized Mercenary Battalion through the fence, to the right of the Main Gate.

  What he found were former members of the U.S. Cavalry preparing their own small mechanized force. Word reached the former Troopers before the Merc Battalion could discover the LAV Motor Parks; this lack of reconnaissance allowed the Troopers to finish loading the two LAVs they were planning to take with them.

  The first Merc LAV arrived at the Motor Park and immediately came under concentrated 30 mm cannon fire, destroying it. The Mercs, however, were a well-trained and professional fighting force. The remainder of the invading Mercs quickly took up positions and decimated the defenders.

  The Mercs then commandeered an additional twenty LAVs to replace those which had been abandoned due to maintenance issues. The Fort’s Ammunition Supply Point’s locked bunkers were easily breached, and the Battalion was quickly resupplied. The vehicles and the three fuel tanker trucks were all topped off.

  In less than three days, the Mercenary Force had come and gone from the
confines of Fort Jackson.

  ROA

  8 September

  B Troop, ¾ Cav, Motor. Park,

  Ft. Jackson

  Newly promoted Colonel Mike Guyardo felt uneasy as he decided to check out the Ammo Dump. What he found created an, oh, shit moment as he realized that there was, in fact, a mechanized force of unknown size somewhere ahead of the First AB.

  As he drove through the Ammo Dump, Mike’s worst fears were realized; large quantities of munitions had been taken up to 40 mm, along with anti-tank missiles.

  Back at the TOC, Mike shared his concerns with First Sergeant Torre and directed him to get a chopper wound up to fly him back to the convoy for a meeting with Levi. He decided to go to Levi rather than talk on the Radio, on the off-chance that the mystery Mech Battalion might pick up the transmission.

  The Road

  8 September

  1 AB Convoy

  The Road

  Levi and Gus met the Huey as the pilot set her down on the skids and cut the engine. Both men were surprised to see Colonel Mike Guyardo exit the chopper.

  Because the convoy was in a potential combat area, no salutes were exchanged. Mike said, “Gentlemen, we need to have a private meeting, oh, and please bring in Captain Page and the Sergeant Major.

  The Pilot was dispatched to gather the other requested personnel; then get some chow. Mike wanted to jump right in telling Levi why he had come to him rather than using the radio.