Desert Heat

by T J Reeder

  God they are fun, I asked them to hold the jokes but of course May said “Who was joking?” poor Willy.

  He finally spoke up and told us about the book, it was funny because I had read that same book! Neither of us could remember the name of it but we both liked it. The plot so to speak was somebody wanted to get the attention of the Government or something so they emptied out a small town in the desert and flew a large plane with a cargo ramp over the town and rolled out a 5000 gallon fuel blivet with a detonator on it and at about a thousand feet or so it went off. The air burst flattened the town completely and in the rain of fire burned the scraps, instant no town.

  Great idea but where would we get a C-130 and who was gonna fly it?

  Again Bear spoke up and turned to Harry and said, “Your turn boss.” Harry said, “Well we also acquired a lot of airplanes and pilots and I’m sure we have a C-130.” I was rather astounded and had to ask just when they were planning to find a use for them. Harry said when things settled out they figured the planes could really help in rebuilding the country, but he saw no reason to not use one for a good cause. He would just pass the plan up stream.

  So we had tools to work with and a plan, now to bring it all together.

  While we waited for word on the air craft we studied maps and came to the conclusion that this was going to be a major issue! The sheer size of the city was mind boggling when faced with mounting an attack.

  Capt. Harry as we took to calling him since we had two Harry’s in the loop said his understanding was that the main gang turf was located in the center of the city and they had some power from generators, Big generators, so we might be able to centralize the attack.

  Joe offered the idea that if we had some artillery coming we might just shell the outer edges of the area and start driving them south toward the border area and then fire bomb them while they were running. I liked that idea.

  We were not going to lose one person if I could help it; we had one big advantage in that they didn’t know we were coming. Capt. Harry was going to put together a plan to take the Base from within.

  I asked Harry 2 if there was any spec-ops troops in Texas? He asked if a Platoon of Rangers would be of use? Well yes I guess, jeeze Harry tell me what there is we can use. He said pretty much whatever we wanted.

  Well I sat down and said, “Harry, why have I been running my ass off trying to stomp snakes when y’all got big boots just sittin in Texas.”

  He smiled and said, “John, how many people have you lost since you started burning down cities, blowing them up and in general raising hell all over the heartland? “

  I was ashamed I couldn’t tell him for sure but I thought it was 15. He said well you’ve done more with almost nothing and very low losses then a regular army command would ever get done and they would lose a ton of people.

  He said your people mean more to you then the average grunt means to the upper level of command, they aren’t evil they just see things in a different light.” He also said if the Rangers worked under me he was willing to bet most if not all would get home.

  That wasn’t the case if the high command was running things.

  I leaned forward and said, “Harry I feel either a snow job or a blow job coming,” and before I could say more I felt a hand on my shoulder and knew it was Beth from the warmth of the feelings going thru me. I shook my head and said, “I’m sorry Harry, I was out of line, you don’t deserve that shit.”

  He smiled and said, “Sure I did because that’s what you were getting only you never gave me the chance to finish.”

  Beth sat beside me and leaned against me with her head on my shoulder while Harry finished, it was simple, they would make anything available to me as long as I was in charge of the way the assets were used. No high brass looking over my shoulder. No bird in the sky trying to run fire teams from 5000 ft.

  I felt real bad and said “Oh” he laughed and said, “You’re a good man John you just ain’t found it out yet, look around you at the quality of the people who follow you, they are the best troops you could find and have very little training beyond that which you taught them, you care for them, you lead from the front when Doc and Wyatt let you,” he then smiled at Beth and said, “I think this lady here is controlling all three of you.” I knew she had a way with the girls who I had forgot about and I started to get up but Beth said they are napping so relax. I was the luckiest man alive.

  Other then setting out our line of march and helping Capt. Harry cook up his plan there wasn’t much to do for now.

  We just rested and helped the Mech crews until they ran us off saying if we watched their price went to double. I said hell you work for free so big fkn deal. Beth took me for a walk.

  A week to the day after the call went out to the folks in Texas we had the word on the C-130, it was a go and the crew were pretty wild about the idea behind it all.

  The Rangers took a bit longer because of a General who said “His Rangers” would work under a crazy son of a bitching Marine only after he was dead!!

  Sandy and May were all ready to go see to that but Harry said it was settled, I asked if they killed him he said, “No, worse, he was put in charge of a small reserve base counting mess tins.” I had to laugh at that because I had seen it a time or two myself.

  I believe in calling the troops “MY” troops but if they go to a fight I will be in the front rank with them. Generals as a rule don’t do that.

  So we were waiting for the Air Force to work out the pay load and how to set it up while the demo folks were ironing out the ways and means to make it work at the elevation we wanted it to go off, plus how many chutes it would take to float it down to that area.

  Hell I thought it was simple, just toss it out the fkn door with a grenade up its ass. Grunts have a more colorful way of looking at problems then logistics types, but I think we have more fun and usually put on a better bang for the buck.

  We got some requests about how we wanted to disperse the load, Capt. Harry said the five K load was about max pay load for the 130, they wanted to know if we wanted one 5000 gal unit of avgas or 5 1000 gal units, after thinking it over it seemed that five smaller loads spread over a bigger area would be the way to go.

  Also the chutes would handle the loads easier, so we sent that back. They also sent a message that if we could secure a landing field closer to the target with fuel to use they could fly several missions using extra units they could squeeze aboard. Capt. Harry said that could be handled after he took the base so that became the first and main priority.

  The Air Force also sent a message that the proper term for the fuel delivery system was called a bladder, I replied that in the Marines a Blivet was a five pound sack with 10 pounds of shit in it so what’s yer point. I’m still waiting for a reply.

  Harry did say he heard the laughing went on for a good while and the Air Force General made some noises about turning “his” C-130 over to a fucking Marine! But his aide whispered in his ear about the mess tin counting jobs still open so he shut up.

  Harry said the Artillery was on its way and would be here in a few days.

  They had put command of it under a Captain who was under orders to follow my orders without question.

  This was gonna be fun! I just had to figure out how to keep “them” from stealing a 105 for their collection, but then again it would look good sitting by the LAV.

  I do have some questions wandering around in my head. But damn few answers are forthcoming.

  Such as why has the nation’s military sat on their thumbs while the country went to hell and millions died? Part of me realizes that there was little they could do simply because the task was too huge, I get that, but it sure seems to me some effort could have been made.

  Like this dick head in Barstow, WTF? Couldn’t they have at least sent people in there to waste the fucker?

  Capt. Harry said in the long run it would have simply drained the resources the military had and to what gain? But now that things were ge
tting sorted out they would be able to do something.

  When I asked why we were going to have to deal with the LA gangs he said if the Military did it there would always be fear of them by the citizens and that wasn’t a good thing.

  But if some “cowboy” did it people would be cheering loud and long. So now I’m a cowboy? He laughed and said well not really since you do ride a mule which no self-respecting cowboy would do.

  I was starting to like this guy, he fit right in with the rest of the wise asses around me, Just can’t get any respect!

  I asked about General Sweet and why he was still alive, Capt. Harry said the XO kept him alive as an ace in the hole to control the loyal troops.

  The troops loved their General because of the kind of man and leader he was so they won’t endanger him by rebelling but that thread was very thin and the XO knew it and made sure the Old Man (military slang for the unit leader just not to his face) was well cared for.

  Also Harry said Sweet wasn’t as out of it as he pretended and was marking time before he made a move. So many of the military walked away after the EMP to try to get home to their families that it left damn few to handle security much less anything else.

  And this happened all over the country. I could understand that. Home and family were more important to most men then anything else.

  I enjoyed these talks with Harry because it brought back my years in the Corps and as they say, Once a Marine…etc. And it’s the truth, no matter what ones experience was while there, you never leave it behind and those few who have were never really there. You are either a part of the Green Machine or you’re not, there is no half way. Guess ya hadda be there.

  The Army moves at a slower pace then my troops do, we just decide to go and do it, thus it was almost two weeks before the Rangers showed up and another few days for the artillery to make it.

  The Ranger unit was about platoon size, around fifty men and they looked as you would expect them to, in great shape and very sharp in the brain department.

  Spec-ops troops are picked for their brain power as much as muscle power, in fact most of these warriors surprise folks when they see them, as a rule they don’t look like body builders, all that kind of muscle gets in the way when creeping thru a jungle, thin wiry strong men move thru the bush like a ghost where a bulked out defensive lineman type moves like a bull in a china shop, what they don’t step on and break they shit on. Nope, long, lean and mean works best in Spec-ops and these lads were all of that.

  Their commander was a First LT. who started to report as trained but I stopped him before he could by saying “At Ease LT,” he kinda froze until I smiled and offered my hand, after shaking hands I said, “From now on saluting and standing at attention is out, snipers look for those things. If you need something just walk up and say so, we will deal with it, my name’s John what’s yours?” He was a fast study and said he was used to just using his last name which was on his BDU shirt as “Watson” so that was what I would call him. I asked about his second in command who was a Master Sgt. He called him over and his years showed, he had seen the little thing between his LT and me so he just walked over kind of casual and we shook hands, his name was on his shirt

  “Holmes” I said, “You’re shitting me ain’t ya?”

  Both laughed and said we get that a lot, I told them right then that their commo call signs were Doc and Sherlock which got a good laugh from everybody in the area.

  I heard voices pick up from the Rangers and turned to see the girls heading toward me. Both were dressed to get attention as usual, black tee shirts, black jeans, bloused boots and enough weapons to fight a war which is what we do it seems. I just shook my head and introduced them to Watson and Holmes who were kind of big eyed, I asked if they had never seen women before and the LT said, “Is this Wyatt and Doc?” The girls swelled up with pride and Sandy said, “Damn skippy bud!” “So be careful sonny,” said May.

  I looked around for Beth who was headed that way dressed like them but only carrying the 10mm instead of looking like a walking ad for a gun show.

  I introduced her and in a heartbeat she came up with something that got the girls all fired up and off they went, I hugged Beth and said, “Thank you!” She smiled that soft sweet smile and said. “I’ll think of something for payment! I think I turned red and off she went to stop the destruction before it got out of hand.

  How I survived before she came along I’ll never know! She could calm a rabid skunk.

  The LT said, “Come on, is that really the ones they call Wyatt and Doc?” I said, “Yeah, but don’t let looks deceive you, they really are a danger to everybody or thing that gets close to me in a way they don’t like.”

  I explained about Beth and how she seemed to have that something that kept them from getting into too much trouble. I could see he was still confused so I said and yes all three are my wives. Watson laughed out loud and said, “LT, John is a pretty tough man to handle those two not to mention being married to all three of them.” The LT was a youngster but he was getting it.

  After getting his troops settled I called a meeting with all the unit commanders so to speak, but we needed to lay it out. I explained it from the top for the Rangers troop leaders which included squad leaders. I told them we needed the Barstow Supply center back in good hands before we dropped hell on LA and I needed the Rangers to help with that.

  I told LT Holmes that he would lead his people but Capt. Harvey was in command of the operation. I asked if any of the Rangers had any problems with that. None seemed to so I said it again, “Capt. Harvey is a Marine Officer, he is a serving officer who is stationed at the Center, and he undertook a very dangerous mission to get word to me of the goings on in Barstow. He knows the center, and the loyal people he can count on. This will be a dark of the night raid with suppressed weapons which I assume you brought with you at my request?” Holmes said, “Yes sir.” I used that to bring up the no siring or saluting that we had been fighting as snipers and knew what happened when a nail sticks up.

  Capt. Harry held up his foot and said, “See this? And intentional shot for just over 300 yards when this was all that was exposed,” that got the rangers attention.

  Harry then added, “I believe you’ve seen these three ladies walking around with more guns then Josey Wales?” The Rangers nodded, and since they were sitting there near me, he said, “The sweetie with the light brown hair made the shot about one second after John asked somebody to pin me down since I was with the unit they wiped out without receiving a scratch!”

  He had them real good until Sandy spoke up and said “Bull Shit! I ripped a finger nail half off and it hurt! So bite me!” The rest was lost in the loud laughter, but I could see their eyes on Beth who was just smiling her calm smile.

  I held up my hand and said, “So for you Rangers, I know you’re tough and as well trained as any troops in the world today, but these civilians sitting around you were just in the fight that killed over 600 enemy without receiving a scratch.

  I pointed at Sandy and said, “Zip it babe!” She flipped me off so May followed suit.

  Beth being in between them put a hand on each shoulder and they smiled and scooted closer to her. PFM! (Pure fkn magic!) I wish I could bottle it for when Beth isn’t near.

  I told them the plan to fire bomb LA and got some cheers and then I told them about the 105’s that were coming but they already knew that.

  One of the Rangers raised a hand and said, “Sir” and stuttered to a stop and said “Uh John, will we be in on the LA gig?” I said, “You sure will and before we leave here I want you to go thru our armory and pick out a good heavy cal. Rifle to use because we won’t get closer then 300 yards to any of the trash running for it and while I know the 16’s you carry are fine but a real reach out and touch somebody round is pretty nice.” I added to the LT that as soon as we break here gather your troops and follow Willy and Joe then we will meet at the range. And just for shits and grins I winked at Capt. Harry who jumped up and
bellered out in good Marine Drill Instructor voice “Attention!”

  And everybody there snapped to! I was surprised. I laughed and said, “That is the last time you’ll do that! And Dismissed!”

  The Girls had even snapped to so I asked about it and they ratted Harry out saying he leaked the plan to them so they told everybody, so much for Op-sec (Operation Security), but it was fun to recall the old days.

  I noticed LT Holmes and Capt. Harvey getting acquainted so I left them to it and headed off to find some chow which I had 10 seconds to enjoy in peace and quiet before “they” bounced in to shatter the eating and noises records.

  I did notice they kinda set it up so Beth was beside me and they were across the table, so I asked what was going on and they said Beth had been down a bit so they were giving her some extra John time.

  Beth blushed and shook her head. I thought for a moment and said, “Bull Shit what are you up to that requires you slipping away from both of us?” Beth laughed and they just smiled.