Going Home (Soldier Up Book 3)

by Steven Linde

  Now that was all straightened out, Admiral Meyers thanked everyone for their dedication to the country in these trying times and he asked if everyone was ready to give him an update of where they were. Each man and woman present knew that whoever was selected would want to get right to work, so they all came prepared. They spent the next three hours bringing everyone in the room up to date on where the Navy and Marine Corps stood in San Diego. What was evident by the briefing was that they were in deep shit.

  The Navy had become irrelevant because every single ship they had ran on computers. They had smaller boats that ran fine, but those boats were generally tied to coastal waters and were not deep sea ships. With that said, they didn’t believe that they were under any immediate threat from an outside naval force, so they felt they had time to deal with it.

  Then Lieutenant Commander J.G. Wentworth had two brilliant ideas. He was standing in the rear of the room packed with Officers and Senior NCO’s. He raised his hand to speak trying to get the Admirals attention. “Yes, you there in the back. Do you have something to add?” asked the Admiral.

  The Commander at first looked around sort of stunned that he was going to get a chance to speak. He stepped though several people to the front. “Yes sir, I’ve been studying the problem for the past two weeks and I think I have somewhat of a solution.”

  “Well, let’s hear it then,” the Admiral replied.

  “Well, sir, it’s going to sound a bit crazy, but activate the USS Midway and get folks working on her right away, today even. Find ships in the mothball fleet. Isn’t it there for National Emergencies?”

  “Thank you Commander, I appreciate your insight.” said the Admiral, dismissing the idea.

  Then Rear Admiral Raymond Portola spoke up. “Actually, sir, I think those are great ideas and very doable. We can also go through what aircraft they have to see if there’s anything we can use.”

  Captain Able Garcia added, “Not only that sir, there are quite a few aircraft at the San Diego Aero Museum we might be able to use, too.”

  Then Vice Admiral Jacob Walters jumped in. “Admiral, I agree with all of them. We have to think outside the box on this. It’s going to take a year, or years, to retrofit the fleet to get them underway again. We have an opportunity to get a jump on this with decommissioned ships right now. We have a huge command structure here with nothing to do except sit on their ships. Why not have them get moving on something they can get into? What can it hurt?”

  The Admiral looked around the room. “Anyone else want to add their two cents to this discussion?” No one spoke up. “Alright then. Jake, can you take this on?”

  “Yes sir, I’ll get on it today.”

  “Great, then let’s move on to next business. General Charkin, I’m very concerned in what’s going on in the communities. I think we need to get our colors out there to show people we’re still here and willing to help. I’m leaving that up to the Marines at this time. You’re authorized to use what force is needed to bring the communities back into line.”

  “Yes, sir, we will get right on it,” said the General.

  “General Charkin, that’s not all. I want all fuel stations San Diego-wide secured and fuel brought onto the bases. If we can’t do that, we need to figure out how to secure it: this is a national defense matter. We need to stop any and all looting, and that’s going to cost some lives on both sides. We need to control food and fresh water. I know we’re a bit late into the game here, but let’s see if we can get a handle on the grocery and big-box stores. I want everything that’s not nailed-down brought onto the bases. We will distribute everything to the civilian population in an orderly and fair manner. Admiral Karkeren, I want you to work with General Charkin on this. Give him what Naval assets we have to get this done, since it’s a huge job and it’s going to take both services.”

  “Yes sir.” said Admiral Karkeren.

  “Ok then, let’s break for now. Let’s reconvene Senior Officers and NCO’s at 1500 tomorrow to see where we are at.

  Chapter Three

  Two days after the event, Los Angeles erupted into chaos. People realized that the police weren’t coming: there was rioting and looting, people running off with every type of electrical equipment that wasn’t nailed down only to learn that they had carried off a piece of junk. There were neighborhoods burning from commercial aircraft falling from the skies, granted this happened in other cities throughout the country, but not to the same devastating effect it did in Los Angeles. Because of the city’s size, the aircraft had that much more occupied area to fly over before arriving at LAX.

  Before the event, the city was already plagued by gang violence and for the most part the only people with firearms were the criminals. Los Angeles officials had done a pretty good job of disarming those who owned them legally. Murders and strong armed robbery were the rule of the day after the event. People didn’t care who they shot and killed, as long as they got what they needed. In the long run, those who died probably had it better than those who lived.

  With no way to pump the water from the valleys in the desert, Los Angeles got real dry real quick. Most people didn’t realize how dependent Los Angeles was on the rest of the outside world for its survival. Los Angeles was eating itself from the inside: gangs ruled, the police all but disappeared, and there was no military presence to speak of. The average citizens had new masters now: the gangs took full advantage and enslaved them, working them to death or using them for target practice.

  There were neighborhoods that fought back, and to varying degrees were successful. However, they were isolated and needed food, water, medicine, and other essential items. They would leave the security of their neighborhoods only to find that the gangs had picked everything clean. There were neighborhoods that challenged the gangs, and were successful. Those were the neighborhoods that had people that had been in the Army or Marine Corps and understood tactics and weapons. Generally those neighborhoods were good at taking on the gangs, in general the gangs had no one with military experience. The gangs certainly had the numbers, yet good tactics and experience, as well as well-placed firepower, could overcome those numbers.

  Not all of the gangs were all about looting and killing. There were some that saw the benefits, as long as it suited them, to make friends with the hoods that were standalone, fortified enclaves. They were able to trade with them, and in some cases they had mutual defense agreements. It was a marriage of inconvenience at best, but it was working. The gangs allowed the people from the hoods to scavenge throughout their areas for food, fuel, water and other treasured items. They felt the people from the hoods were taking all the risk, and the gangs were getting more in return for mutual defense. Sort of the modern after-EMP-event strong-armed tactics that were used by the mob and other organizations prior to the event. In other words they were paying for protection and not to be massacred.

  There was no leadership in Los Angeles, and those that used to be in charge all died or were killed in the weeks following the event. There were some surviving mayors and city council members from the cities that surrounded Los Angeles. Some remained in charge for the neighborhoods they now commanded, and others became part of a gang. Because there was no unified leadership, there was no forward thinking. For instance, no one thought of the refineries in Los Angeles and Long Beach and how important they would be in the long term. No one thought about the oil pumps that were actually still running throughout the city. People saw them and thought it odd that, out of all of the things that had stopped running, the oil pumps kept going.

  They also overlooked the Los Angeles Air Force Base, which was the home of the Missile and Space Command, for the most part. That mission ended the night of the event, as all communications to all satellites was lost. The Air Force Base was also home to the 61st Air Base Group, whose mission was security, civil engineering, medical, chaplain, personnel and other support services to the command. The group consisted of over seven-hundred service members. The GPS Directorate had s
even hundred employees, most which were service members, and like many of the other service members there were now out of a job. The Space Superiority Systems Directorate had almost two-thousand people working for them. Most were civilians, and only a handful were service members. The Launch Systems Directorate had a total of five-hundred-forty working for them, and only one third were service members, most now without a job. Space Logistics had five-hundred, and a third were unemployed service members. The other directorates had less than four-hundred other employees, and only a quarter of them were service members.

  Civilians weren’t tied to the base and service members were. Over two-thirds of the service members were present after the night of the event, as most lived on or around post. Many lived in housing areas in or near San Pedro, which was about ten miles away from the base. Unlike some of the other Air Force bases, this one was in a major metropolitan area. Granted Tucson was a city too, but Tucson composed of seven-hundred-thousand-plus people. Los Angeles had millions of people, and for some reason the leadership at Los Angeles Air Force Base was a lot savvier than the others. They didn’t retreat inside the wire: once the event hit, they recognized it for what it was and quickly organized. They locked down the base and got a head count, and amazingly enough, half the service members were present. Others would be making their way there over the next day or so.

  There was no chain of command issue. The current commander Lieutenant General Ellen Shelton was firmly in charge. She and her staff immediately got to work the day following the event: head counts, vehicle accountability (which ones ran, which ones didn’t), weapons, ammunition, flyable aircraft, fuel, food, water, you name it, she wanted accountability for everything. The various entrances to the base were heavily fortified and manned. Roving patrols were increased throughout the fence line and the rest of the base.

  Air Force Security personnel were being directly tasked by the General to conduct offensive operations outside the wire. She felt they were the most qualified and the best trained with weapons. They were also tasked with training Air Force Service members on weapons marksmanship. Most Air Force personnel once they are out of basic training seldom fired a weapon again. She had a lot of people with nothing to do, as all satellite and communications systems were down.

  She ordered a think tank be put together to determine how they could communicate with the outside world, as she knew there had to be some way. She also wanted them to look at how they were going to sustain themselves in fuel, water, medical, and food over the long term. By the end of the first week, the base was in step and moving on a new mission: surviving.

  Unknown forces began attacking as the AF Security started to push out the patrols a mile to two from the base. They did have PRC-77’s that someone had dug up, and they did have comms back to base. They were allowed to engage and return fire for defensive purposes only and would deal with any consequences later on. Foot patrols left from the base and reconnoitered the areas up to a mile away. Vehicle patrols consisted of five Humvees with M-249 machine gun mounts on the roof of the vehicle. They pushed out where the foot patrols left off, not sure of what they’d discover.

  As the days passed, the word from the civilians passing through the area was that the rest of Los Angeles was in flames and spreading this way. People told of the riots or senseless mass killings by the gangs. They also told of great parts of Los Angeles were on fire due to planes dropping out of the sky in the middle of the night. The devastation was horrific.

  Worse yet was the news that hospital and medical centers had been raided by the gangs. In some cases they went from room to room killing people randomly. They kidnapped nurses and doctors. Other gangs started in, and nurses and doctors became a valuable commodity. Out of El Segundo there wasn’t much the Air Force could do: they didn’t have the personnel or firepower needed to overcome all of the gangs. General Shelton was adamant that El Segundo would remain in Air Force hands. She insisted they had the will, personnel and guns to do that much. She issued orders to all commands to prepare for combat and ramp-up training. Many of the Air Force personnel weren’t happy to become grunts, leading to a lot of grumbling in the ranks.

  General Shelton heard how unhappy many of the troops were. She didn’t want to keep anyone that was unhappy, so she issued the order to the commands that any Air Force personnel were welcome to leave. If they owned a POV and it ran, they could get it topped off and take it, and they could also take all of their civilian clothes. They would be given enough food and water to last three days. If they owned any personal firearms and ammo they would be allowed to take that. They would not be allowed to take any Air Force uniforms, military firearms, or military ammo. Once they were out the gate, they were on their own. If they had no mode of transportation they would be allowed to walk right out the front gate. The General set this amnesty for forty-eight hours. If you were still here after that you would be expected to follow all orders, including ground combat.

  To the General’s surprise, only a dozen took up her offer, mostly E-4’s and below. None of them had any POV’s, so they were allowed to walk right out the gate. Almost all of them carried a trash bag filled with the MRE’s and water they were promised, as well as their other personal items. Their bodies would be found amongst a large number of civilians, massacred by the gangs who were trying to take over El Segundo.

  Chapter Four

  Commander Elliot had been promoted by Lieutenant General Watkins to Captain. He was the Captain of the USS Hornet, the only remaining aircraft carrier on active duty. It took almost six months to get her back into fighting shape. They also had a full contingent of fighter aircraft that was either on the carrier and from various museums located throughout the greater San Francisco area. Captain Elliot was a capable commander and was sure he could command the Hornet in battle. However, he was feeling a bit overwhelmed at the moment: he now had other ships under his command. There were the SS Jeremiah O’Brien, USS LCS(LCS (L) 102), and the USS Pampanito. Captain Elliott didn’t have the experience and know-how to deploy these additional ships in a combat situation in conjunction with the aircraft carrier.

  He had talked to General Watkins about this time and again. The General reassured him over and over that he had his full trust and he believed in him. When Admiral Walcom showed up, Captain Elliott believed it to be a blessing from God. He knew the Admiral and had served under him a time or two before he retired. He was happy to be losing Group Command to the Admiral, and he hoped that he would be able to keep command of the Hornet.

  Colonel March had given Captain Elliot a heads up that General Watkins and the Admiral would be coming out to the Hornet for a visit at 0900 the following morning. He went onto suggest that he might want to break out the dog and pony show for his new commander. Captain Elliot couldn’t agree more, especially if he wanted to retain command of the Hornet. He sent out word to all of the ships’ commanders to be aboard the Hornet no later than 0830 the next morning for a meet and greet with the Admiral. They should also be prepared to give a briefing on their current status. He also contacted Lieutenant Commander Ralph Cortez, who has had the responsibility of rummaging through the mothball fleet that was in Suisun Bay. He had the thankless job of going through the ships that were docked there to determine if any were salvageable. So far he found four in the shipyard that were serviceable.

  One of the surprises they found when they entered the shipyard was the USS Iowa, which apparently was in the Port of Richmond from Los Angeles to get some work done. Even General Watkins didn’t know they had a full-fledged battleship. Captain Elliot told Commander Cortez he was to give full briefing on his scavenging and the restoration of the four ships he had found, including the USS Iowa.

  Busy was the word of the day. Each ship was preparing for their new commander, one that many that either served under or heard of. Everything was going to be ship-shape by 0900, not that it wasn’t already. They worked through the night finishing paint touch-ups and polishing everything. Everyone was ord
ered into Class A’s Navy and Marines; the Admiral was expected to be here within fifteen minutes. The other commanders arrived and were aboard waiting in the conference room.

  Several Humvees pulled up to the gangway, and the General and Admiral stepped out, followed by Colonels March and Clayton. The General led the way up the gangway, and once at the top were given permission to board. Captain Elliot welcomed both the General and Admiral and asked them to follow him. Admiral Walcom was amazed; it was all a beautiful site to him. ‘God, I miss the Navy’ he thought to himself, and to be aboard the Hornet again. Things were good in his world right now, as he walked the decks of his old friend.

  Captain Elliot was aware that the Admiral had served aboard the Hornet before and knew the way to the main conference room. The Captain turned and looked back to check on the General and Admiral. The General was right behind him, but the Admiral was no place to be found.

  “Let’s keep moving Captain,” said the General, “He’ll catch up I’m sure.” He chuckled to himself.

  The Captain led the way. “ATTEN-hut!” All of the people in the room jumped to attention, “As you were,” the General said, “Take your seats.”

  As everyone was sitting down, Admiral Walcom walked into the conference room with the biggest smile on his face. General Watkins could tell the Admiral was home. The General started off the meeting. “Thank you everyone for taking the time out of your busy day to meet with us. I know it was last minute, but as you know this is the military and last minute is our job.”

  People chuckled at that, and the General went on. “I assume you all know why we’re here.” The General looked around the room. “I want to commend Captain Elliot on an outstanding job in pulling everything together. We couldn’t have gotten this far without him; his dedication and professionalism have been truly outstanding. With all of that said, a senior United States Navy Officer has surfaced and I have invited him to take command of the entire US Navy and Marine Corps.” The General went on to review the Admiral’s overwhelming command experience and qualifications. Not that he really needed too, it was more a formality at this point.