Strike Force 11

by Forest Getter

  “Well, Admiral Pratt said he was sending us some re-enforcements. Did you guys pass them on your way here?” I replied. We both laughed and shook hands

  “It’s good to see you brother. So, what’s going on?” The Major said.

  “First we will get you and your people moved into Hanger 2, then we will feed you, I have a couple of cases of crayons at the hanger, and there will be a briefing at 1500,” I said.

  “Gunny Sargent John West is my right hand. He will be on the third helo coming in.” He said.

  “We set up the main floor with cots for all your jr. enlisted and there are pilot sleeping quarters on the second floor for your senior personal. We will have some APCs come pick up your troops at 1200 for lunch. As soon as you and the Gunny store your gear, I will take you over to see the Skipper.” I replied.

  “As soon as the Gunny lands, we can head out.” He said then turned to speak with one of his men “1st Sargent make sure that my gear and the Gunny’s gear get stored we are going to meet with the base commander. Busses will be by to pick everyone up for lunch at 1200 we will meet back up at 1330 here.” He said.

  “Aye Sir,” The 1st Sgt replied.

  When the Gunny landed, we loaded up and headed out to The Grinder. When We pulled up outside the Grinder Major Harm said, “We grabbing a coffee before we meet with the Skipper?”

  “We are grabbing a coffee while we meet with the Skipper. We had a suicide bomber attack the admin building, so we had to move our offices temporary. The Skipper is in the Conference room here.” I told him as we unloaded and entered the building.

  The Skipper walked out of the conference room and greeted the major

  “Harm how the hell are you? You old Jarhead.” he said.

  “ahh you know how it is, The SEALs get in trouble, and they send me in to bail them out. I heard you got that star finally.” Harm replied.

  “Well, you almost got that right we called you in to help clean this mess up. I sent a truckload of brooms and mops over to the hanger for you guys,” the Skipper said with a laugh.

  They shook hands as I walked up to the counter and ordered a coffee while the two of them enter the conference room

  “Gunny, what will it be for you and Harm?” I asked.

  “Just black coffees,” He replied.

  Then I turned to Piper. “Take the APC to the hanger and grab Var and Kevlar and bring them back here” I said to her.

  “Aye, Master Chief” She replied.

  While the others entered the conference room, I stayed out in the coffee shop proper and called Alley

  “Hey sis can I barrow the Tribes Construction firm?” I asked.

  “Sure, what do you need them for?” She said.

  “We had some damage to the admin building, and we have more forces on the way here, and we need some more housing built, ASAP. We have five million in gold to use as a down payment if they can start now.” I told her.

  “I will have our general Contractor come by and see you as soon as he can. Beyond that, we have some Huge tents and massive portable air conditioners I can get loaded up on some trucks and sent over to you. We use them for Trible gathering.” She said.

  I thanked her then I called PO Anderson and asked him to have lunch sent here at The Grinder for everyone. I then entered the conference room.

  “I talked with Alley. She is sending us the large tents and air conditioners that they use for Trible gatherings and the head of their construction firm to help with the construction of new barracks. Anderson is having lunch delivered here to us. Piper should be returning shortly with Var and Kevlar.” I said.

  “Thanks, Go-go.” The Skipper said.

  The major and Gunny were busy reading a mission briefing folder that explained the Mission of TEAM 11.

  They finished reading the files and looked up in bewilderment.

  “Is this some type of Joke, you guys, are trying to pull on us?” Gunny Johns asked.

  At that time, I saw Var and Kevlar enter The Grinder and waved them in then replied, “No it’s all true, I have a couple of people you need to meet.”

  At that moment, Kevlar and Var entered the room; Major Harm and the Gunny both reached for their pistols as I said “Calm down these guys are our friends. Major Harm, Gunny Johns this Captain Var and General Kevlar.”

  The major and the Gunny relaxed and shook hands with Var and Kevlar. Shortly after that, the food arrived. We all sat down and ate, and I caught everyone up to date on what was going on and what we had discovered from Papa Smurf.

  It was then that Gunny Johns asked a question that no one had thought to ask of Kevlar “Why is it that your skin is green and the others of your race that are here have the same skin color as us?”

  “That’s simple to explain my skin color is natural; the others are using skin pigments to change theirs. It is a common practice in our world for people to pigment their skin, just like the people here do with their hair. So, it would be really easy for them to change their skin color to match those of the people in the area they are working on blending in better,” Kevlar replied.

  “I’m going to stick you and most of your Marines with Delta Platoon, they just lost some of their guys so they could use the reinforcements. Have one squad assigned to Go-go to reinforce his personal security detail and one squad to reinforce mine. Have them get with Chief Profit and Senior Chief Ellis. The Rangers will take over base security when they arrive. We will be having a wedding this weekend and hopefully come Monday we will be headed out to Swaziland to take out another gate complex. Get with Gunny Easter at the Armory and get all your gear upgraded and get all your Marines qualified on the railguns.” The Skipper said.

  As we finished lunch, I received a call from Anderson letting me know that Alpha platoon had returned, and the rangers had landed at Homestead AFB they were transferred to several Ch-47 Chinooks and would be here in a couple of hours.

  “My platoon just arrived back. I am going to meet up with Captain America and see how my people are,” I said.

  “I’ll come with you,” Kevlar said.

  “All senior staff will have dinner in the Admiral Mess, and we will catch everyone up to date over dinner.” The Skipper Said.

  “Aye Skipper, we are headed for the pool,” I said as I walked out the door. “Holly have Alpha Platoon meet us at the pool. Actually, scratch that, have them meet us on the tarmac in swim gear, we’ll have the helicopters take us out in the gulf for a swim” I said to her as we entered the APC.

  It was 20 minutes later when all of Alpha Platoon was assembled and loaded up on the helicopters. The helicopters took us out 2 miles and left us to swim back to shore. This wasn’t a give it all you got swim we called it a fun swim it was an opportunity for the team to swim all at once and at a relaxing pace of 45min per mile. We joked and had fun as we swam. There was no better way to beat the Florida heat. It had been some time since we had been able to do a fun swim.

  When we reached the beach everyone was in high spirits, there was nothing like a good ocean swim to wash away the trouble of the past couple of weeks, after all, we were sailors and there is an old saying about sailors “You can take the sailor out of the sea, but you can never take the sea out of the sailor.”

  Since my first days of swimming in the Gulf of Mexico as a child, I have a bond with the sea. I always knew that someday, like my father before, My love of the ocean would lead me to become a sailor.

  As we walked up on the beach to go meet with the helicopters, I turned to Lt. Rogers and said, “A Navy Chief who lived off base was going to bed when his wife told him that he’d left the light on in the shed. The Chief opened the door to go turn off the light but saw there were people in the shed in the process of stealing things.

  He immediately phoned the police, who asked. “Is someone in your house?” And the Chief said no and explained the situation. Then they told that all patrols were busy and that he should simply lock his door and an officer would be there when available. The Chie
f said, “Okay,” hung up, counted to 30, and phoned the police again.

  “Hello, I just called you a few seconds ago because there were people in my shed. Well, you don’t have to worry about them now because I’ve just shot them all.” Then he hung up. Within five minutes, three squad cars, an Armed Response unit, and an ambulance showed up. Of course, the police caught the burglars red-handed. One of the policemen said to the Chief, “I thought you said that you’d shot them!” The Chief replied,

  “I thought you said there was nobody available!” Lt Rogers and those around us laughed. The helicopters landed in a nearby empty parking lot, picked us up and took us back to base.

  40.

  Go-go’s Raiders

  Over my years with SEAL Team 11, I have always been part of Alpha Platoon. The men and women of Alpha were my brothers and sisters I have seen most of them enter my unit at the age of 19-25 and grow into the elite fighting force they are today. I’ve seen some of them get married and have children, and their children all call me uncle Go-go. SEAL Team 11 is the best the US Special Ops community has to offer, and of the men and woman of SEAL Team 11, Alpha Platoon was the best. Within Alpha Platoon there was an extraordinary squad of SEALs. This was the first squad also known as “Go-go’s Raiders” Those who were part of this squad were hand-selected by me. They were with me on every mission. Before I was promoted to the Command Master Chief, they reported directly to me. When I was promoted that changed their new squad leader became Senior Chief Ellis, and they received a new primary mission, they became my security detail. Now with the added squad of Force Recon Marines, my Raiders were about to double in size. After we all showered and changed my raiders and I loaded up into our APC and headed to Hanger 2 to pick up our Jarheads.

  When we arrived at the hanger 1st sergeant Andy Gillis was there with a squad of marines.

  “I’m Master Chief Getter, but you can call me Go-go.” I said as I offered my hand and said, “Welcome to the team.”

  “I’m 1st sergeant Andy Gillis, but everyone just calls me Gili.” He replied as we shook hands, we ran through the rest of our people making introductions.

  As we all loaded up in the APC, I turned to Gili and said, “Terrorists in Turkey decided to take some Americans as hostages. They run across two Sailors and a Marine on Shore Leave. In the course of tying them up, one of the terrorist’s mask slips off. He asks one of the Sailors, “Did you see my face?” The Sailor answers, yes, and the terrorist shoots him. Then the terrorist turns to the second Sailor. “Did you see my face?”

  The Sailor replied, “No, but the MARINE did.”

  A roar of laughter when up in the APC. “I think we are going to get along just fine Go-go,” Gili said.

  “We are headed to the range so that we can all run some drills together to make sure your Marines can keep up with Holly and the Raiders I can’t have you slowing us down,” I said to him

  “How about this squad with the lowest score cleans the winner’s gear.” Holly said.

  “Sounds like fun,” Gili said.

  “Capture the flag?” I asked, and they both agreed.

  “Gunny Easter and I will be referees,” I said.

  We arrived at the armory and switched over to training weapons and explained to Gunny Easter the plan.

  “You Marines better not let me down,” the Gunny said.

  “Hooyah Raiders,” I said.

  They replied back, “Hooyah Master Chief.”

  The Force Recon Marines took one end of the battlefield, and the SEALs took the other. Once they were both in place, they waved their flags, I shot a flare into the air, signaling the beginning of the battle. Even before the flare reached its apex, the laser receiver on the helmet of the Marine waving the flag lit up and stunned him. He fell over, but another Marine grabbed the flag before it hit the deck and the Marines scattered for cover. From cover, they took up shooting positions to return fire only to discover that the SEALs where gone. The two squads hid and hunted down each other. For about the first 20 minutes the battle was even losses were exchanged. In the end, there were four Marines against Piper and Holly. Piper had the Marines pinned down in a building, and they couldn’t move without her shooting one of them, this was when Holly snuck in behind them and took them all out with her combat knife winning the day for the SEALs. The battlefield had been wet and muddy due to recent rain so the Marines would have their work cut out cleaning the team’s gear.

  After the battle was over, Holly walked up to the 1stSgt and said, “Welcome to Go-go’s Raiders. The only way we leave the team is boots first.” She shook his hand.

  The Marines and the SEALs were shaking hands and talking about the battle results to each other. They all were expressing their respect for each other, and the SEAL’s were welcoming the Marines to the team.

  “That went better than I had hoped,” I thought to myself.

  While we were at the armory, the Gunny issued Railguns to all the Marines before we returned to the hangers. During the trip back Holly worked the marines into the watch rotation. It was decided that during the day while on base, I would have a total of six guards when I am on base. If I had to leave the base, I would have the full team. The daytime guards would consist of two Marines, two SEALs, one sniper, and Holly. The 1stsgt would have a seven-person quick response team (QRT) at night there would be 2 guards stationed outside my door, with Holly, Kevlar, Var, Jamie, and Leroy staying on the same floor they could all act as a nighttime QRT.

  I overheard a lance corporal in the back of the APC talking to the 1stsgt about his last trip home and about how he had run into a mugger I put out an add on Craig’s list, here’s what I wrote “To the Guy Who Tried to Mug Me in Downtown Savannah night before last. I was the guy wearing the black Burberry jacket that you demanded that I hand over, shortly after you pulled the knife on my girlfriend and me, threatening our lives. You also asked for my girlfriend’s purse and earrings. I can only hope that you somehow come across this rather important message. First, I’d like to apologize for your embarrassment; I didn’t expect you to actually crap in your pants when I drew my pistol after you took my jacket. The evening was not that cold, and I was wearing the jacket for a reason. My girlfriend was happy that I just returned safely from my 2nd tour as a Combat Marine in Afghanistan. She had just bought me that Kimber Custom Model 1911 .45 ACP pistol for my birthday, and we had picked up a shoulder holster for it that very evening. Obviously, you agree that it is a very intimidating weapon when pointed at your head ... isn’t it?! I know it probably wasn’t fun walking back to wherever you’d come from with crap in your pants. I’m sure it was even worse walking bare-footed since I made you leave your shoes, cell phone, and wallet with me. [That prevented you from calling or running to your buddies to come help mug us again]. After I called your mother or “Momma” as you had her listed in your cell, I explained the entire episode of what you’d done. Then I went and filled up my gas tank as well as those of four other people in the gas station, -- on your credit card. The guy with the big motor home took 153 gallons and was extremely grateful! I gave your shoes to a homeless guy outside Vinnie Van Go Go’s, along with all the cash in your wallet. [That made his day!] I then threw your wallet into the big pink “pimp mobile” that was parked at the curb, after I broke the windshield and side window and keyed the entire driver’s side of the car. Earlier, I managed to get in two threatening phone calls to the DA’s office and one to the FBI, while mentioning the President as my possible target. The FBI guy seemed really intense, and we had a nice long chat (I guess while he traced your number, etc.). In a way, perhaps I should apologize for not killing you, but I feel this type of retribution is a far more appropriate punishment for your threatened crime. I wish you well as you try to sort through some of these rather immediate pressing issues and can only hope that you have the opportunity to reflect upon, and perhaps reconsider, the career path you’ve chosen to pursue in life. Remember, next time you might not be so lucky. Have a good day! Thoughtf
ully yours, Semper Fi.” We all laughed.

  We arrived back at the Hanger and unloaded the Marines and all our gear for them to clean. “We will be back here at 1630 to pick up the senior staff for dinner, and Skipper’s briefing and the busses will be here at the same time to take the rest of the Marines to chow. Tomorrow we will move you and your squad into the barracks with the rest of the Raiders.” I said to Gili.

  “Aye, Aye Go-go.” Gili Said.

  We went back to the barracks to get cleaned up before chow. At 1700 all the senior staff from the Marines, the Rangers and Team 11 met in the Admiral’s mess for dinner and the Skippers briefing. With the Rangers taking over base security the skipper decided to send the Marines out on a search of the swamp to see if there were any more enemy troops in the area. I would be taking my team over to the Seminole reservation where the wedding was to be held and do a security check to see where we need to have troops to secure the area for the VIPs. A secret service detail would be arriving in the morning to go with us.

  41.

  The Tribe

  Just as I was walking out of the building to head back to the barracks, my phone rang. “Hey, brother, I hear your getting married finally” The voice at the other end of the phone said.

  “Yea I am do you think you will make it down for the wedding Saturday?” I asked.

  “Well I just got out of a meeting with Congress, and I was talking with the Commander in Chief, and he said I could hitch a ride. It’s been a while since we got together; I am looking forward to seeing you,” He replied to me.

  “Love you, little brother, see you soon,” I said as we disconnected.

  Paul and I didn’t get to talk as often as we use to our jobs kept us apart and busy. Paul is my younger brother and the people that knew him often referred to him as the Moral compass for our country. Unofficially he was the Chaplin for the United States, officially he was the director of the office of political morality. It was his department’s job to ensure that all politicians did not violate the moral codes established in the oath of office that all political leaders took upon beginning their service to the country. Back when the military took over the Government, it was decided that politicians would be held to the same code of conduct as military officers we held to.