by Steven Linde
“Yes sir will do.” With that the Commander saluted and did an about face and left the office. Commander Hardy knew exactly where the Marine Company commander was, they had set up a command post near the front gate. The purpose of that was to be able to react as quickly as they could to internal and external situations that would require the heavy hand needed by the Marines.
It was close to 1500 when Lt. JG Embry appeared at Captain Harold Luxon’s TOC (USMC). The Captain was familiar with Embry he knew him to be one of the base commanders dog robbers. “Captain Luxon.” stated Lt. JG Embry. “I presume.”
Captain Luxon turned and looked at him, then looked him up and down. He thought ‘god help him if Embry was the prime physical specimen that the Navy produced’. “What can I do for you Embry?”
Lt JG Embry eyed the Captain for a moment recognizing the sarcasm in his voice, “Captain O’Hara has ordered you to report to him now.”
“He has now has he?” said the Captain. “You know I don’t report to him? I report to the Commandant of the Marine Corps I don’t have to do shit that the Captain asks.”
LT JG Embry didn’t know what to say, he was speechless, all he could get out was, “Well….well…well he’s the base commander.”
“Relax Embry I’m yanking your chain.” Captain Luxon laughed. “Give me a moment and I’ll be right with you.”
Lt. JG Embry failed to see any humor in what Captain Luxon had said, as far as he was concerned his boss the Captain wanted to see him and see him now. As far as he was concerned the Captain Luxon should have come to attention, saluted and hurried off to see his boss. He made a note to himself that he would report Captain Luxon’s behavior to Captain O’Hara.
Captain Luxon returned to where Lt. JG Embry was waiting for him, “Ok I’m ready let’s go champ, let’s go see what the old man wants.” Captain Luxon said.
Lt. JG Embry was beside himself, Captain Luxon, he felt, was absolutely unprofessional in his opinion, even for a Marine. The two men left the TOC and headed to the bases HQ building where Captain O’Hara was waiting for them. It wasn’t a long walk and they were there in minutes, they entered the building, climbed the stairs and entered the base commander’s office. “Sir I’ve retrieved Captain Luxon as you requested.” Lt. JG Embry said.
“Thank you Embry I appreciate it. That’ll be all.” Captain O’Hara replied.
Lt. JG Embry found himself once again stunned this time by his boss; he was being dismissed just like that? That wasn’t fair, he didn’t know why his boss wanted to see the Marine Captain, but he knew it couldn’t be good, just look at the Marine. He wanted to be there to see the dressing down of the egotistical Marine but it wasn’t going to happen, an order was an order. Lt JG Embry came to attention, saluted, did and about face and pouted his way out of the office.
“Captain Luxon to be clear you are the Company Commander of the Marines at the gate?” asked Captain O’Hara.
Captain Luxon a bit perplexed by the question because he thought the order for him and his Marines came from the base commander. “Yes sir, but I was under the impression you’re the one that ordered us there, as well as the patrols outside of the gate.”
“Nope wasn’t me, although I’m happy someone had the common sense to do it. I’m not in your chain-of-command I can’t really order you to do anything.”
“Well Sir Embry sure has a different take on things he believes I do come under your command as was all over me for stating otherwise.”
“He did, did he; I’ll have-to-have a talk with him and better inform him.” Captain O’Hara didn’t want to antagonize the Marines he needed their help. “Captain Luxon you more than anyone are aware of the security problems outside the gate.”
“Yes sir we’re dealing with it every day and every day it seems to get worse.”
“I think we can help each other than.”
“How so sir?”
“I have a lot of Sailors sitting around with nothing to do. I can’t send them out to help because that would be like sending the Christians to the lions.”
“I’m sorry sir I’m not following.”
“My Sailors need training Captain to be able to help outside the gates, tell me it’s not like combat out there?”
“Its combat sir, day-in-day-out.”
“Exactly my point, I would like for you and your men to train my Sailors, get them ready to take the fight outside the gate. Once we have at least a Company sized element ready to go we can focus on getting security in the camps around the base, which I’m sure you’d like to see.”
“Sir I’ve got four platoons that are heavily engaged now how many of my Marines are you asking for?”
“Right now a platoon and I’m aware what I’m asking for. Let’s think train-the-trainer here for a moment, how many Sailors can you train at once? Once you have them trained can they take over the training under your supervision?”
“I don’t know sir, I’d say since they already know basic marksmanship, drill and ceremonies, command structures and so forth, about four weeks. There would have to be a lot of range time for various weapons, small unit tactics in an urban environment, some demolition, hand-to-hand combat, and physical conditioning and that’s only what I can think of off the top of my head.”
“Ok now we’re cooking Captain Luxon let’s start there. I can give you a planning staff today and get the ball moving. You tell them what you need and I’ll make sure they get it for you.”
“So we’re doing this sir?”
“Yes Captain if you’ll help?”
“Well yes sir I guess we can, I would ask are there any former Marines or Soldiers in your ranks that we can use. How about some of the prior service civilians I know a lot of them are more than willing to help?”
Captain O’Hara hadn’t considered either one of those ideas, “I can check the personnel here to see if we have any prior service Army or Marines and send them over. Regarding the civilians, how would you plan on venting them to be sure they are prior service?”
“Ideally a DD-214 outside of that interviews, a real veteran of that particular service will understand drill and ceremonies, how to zero a weapon, where they went to basic training and boot camp, they will know the ranks and understand the chain-of-command as examples. I feel confident that we can vent them in this fashion and if do get past the venting process and aren’t real, then it will come out in training. We would require them to take a refresher course and that would weed out the fakes that we didn’t catch.”
Captain O’Hara thought about it for a moment, “It sounds like a good plan who do you have to go through to get it approved?”
“Normally my command back at Quantico, but I haven’t had any contact with them in weeks, sadly to say I’ve been winging it. Something like proceed until apprehended.”
“Are you ok with doing that now? I’ll support whatever decision you make and I’ll give you what cover I can.”
“Yes sir I have no problem with the plan. When would we begin?”
Captain O’Hara was happy to hear it, “How about today? I have already set aside a training area, weapons, ammunition, vehicles, tents, everything I thought you were going to need.”
Captain Luxon stared at Captain O’Hara, “Sir you already knew I was going to say yes?”
“You’re a Marine so it was a given.” Replied Captain O’Hara smiling.
Chapter Nineteen
Things outside the gates of Fort Bragg, NC were looking pretty grim for the civilians, unlike many of the posts and bases along the east coast civilians hadn’t congregated outside of the base. The most likely reason for this was that many of the residents were retired Army veterans and were confident they could take care of themselves.
However, several months had passed now and regardless of how prepared many of those veterans were their food and water were running out, not to mention fuel to run their generators. They started to leave the security of their homes and neighborhoods to look for supplies only to
find everything gone. Since they found nothing in the stores they turned to the abandoned houses which they also found empty of food, water and fuel. As the weeks passed those souls became more and more panicked that they would starve to death or die of thirst. It hadn’t occurred to them to seek help at the fort yet.
The fort wasn’t turning away any of the retiree’s in fact, it welcomed them; it also wasn’t turning its back on any of the civilians. In fact, the 18th and 82nd Airborne were conducting patrols in and around the base to ensure there were no security issues. By the end of the eighth month after the event those people that hadn’t left the safety of their homes and neighborhoods were evacuating. Many, not all, headed for the fort feeling at least they would be safe there for the time being. Other’s headed west into the mountains feeling they had a better chance of leaving what civilization there was behind and moving west into the mountains and living off the land.
Only one problem with that reasoning was that the communities in the mountains of North Carolina had become very protective of what little they had. Lakes and reservoirs in the mountains were being protected by those communities and not letting any outsiders near their water supplies. Water wars were coming with people now moving west out of Fayetteville and her surrounding communities. It had taken a while for the migration to start, but it was in full swing now. The units on the fort were more than ready to handle the refugees; they had been doing it all over the world for years. They never expected it to happen in their own country, especially their own community, regardless they had GP medium and large tents set up outside the main gate. All of the other gates onto post had been locked down and no one was being allowed through them. Each one of the gates had been barricaded and there was at least one infantry platoon assigned to guard it with a reaction force at the ready twenty-four seven in case of breech.
Womack Army Medical Center on the fort was up and running, Colonel Blake Holder, the commanding officer, ordered facilities set up outside the gate round the clock to help any civilians requesting treatment. At first there was a trickle of people coming in but as word spread more and more people came. Eventually, people with gunshot and knife wounds started to show up and a triage and emergency room had to be set up for the worst. After months of attempting to treat people they set up a full MUST and had a small hospital outside of the gate. It became apparent that the civilian hospitals in the city were not pulling their weight but the question was why. Colonel Holder approached the post commander and asked if he could get any resources to check out the medical facilities around town, they were being overwhelmed and their own resources in medicines, water and food were being stretched.
Lieutenant General Stephen Portson told the Colonel he would speak with the 82nd and 18th Airborne’s commanders and see what they could do. He assured the Colonel that he was ninety-nine percent sure that they would be more than happy to help. After the meeting the commander returned to the hospital after doing a quick check on the facility outside of the gate. Once back at his office there was a Lieutenant Colonel Akin Sanders waiting for him from the 82nd.
Colonel Holder was a bit surprised to enter his office and the Lt. Colonel was sitting there quiet as can be waiting patiently for him. “Hello?” said Colonel Holder. “Can I help you?”
Lt. Colonel Sanders was startled, looked behind him to see Colonel Holder standing there. Lt. Colonel Sanders immediately jumped to attention, “Sir I was ordered to report to you.” said Lt. Colonel Sanders.
“Regarding what?” Colonel Holder asked.
“Sir from what I understand LTG Portson made a request to Major General Clark to support your efforts. MG Clark assured the post commander that he would move heaven and earth to give you everything you needed. I’m from the 1st Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 1st Battalion, 504th PIR, I’m the Battalion commander and apparently heaven and earth.” said Lt. Colonel Sanders smiling. “Now all that being the case, what can I do for you Colonel you’ve got an entire Airborne Infantry Battalion.”
Colonel Holder was beside himself, he had no idea how quickly General Portson got the word spread, it had been at most two to three hours since he spoke to him. Regardless he had help now, “What’s your first name Colonel?” asked Colonel Holder.
“Akin.” said Colonel Sanders.
“May I call you that?” asked Colonel Holder. “I’m Blake.”
Lt. Colonel Sanders was caught a bit off guard by the request but it wasn’t the first time he had heard it. In many cases senior officers called each other by their first names when there were no subordinates around. “Yes of course Blake.”
“Alright now what we have solved the name issue. “Blake smiled. “Let’s get down to brass tacks. Are you familiar with the hospital outside the front gate?”
“Yes, it’s wonderful what you’re doing for the civilians there.”
“And I want to be able to continue to treat them but we are being overwhelmed. We need to find out what’s going on with the other facilities in town. We need to find out why they aren’t pulling their weight.”
“Well Blake we have been running patrols all over Fayetteville and we have been collecting all of the medical supplies, they’re in storage here on post. This was news to Colonel Holder, why didn’t General Portson say anything to him about it, he wondered.
“What was the status of the medical centers and clinics?” asked Blake.
“I don’t know right off the bat I’d have to check for you my Battalion wasn’t involved.”
“How long would it take you?”
“An hour or so and I could get back with you.”
Colonel Holder looked at his clock it was 1500 now, “Can we meet back here at 1800 and you can brief me?”
“Of course that’ll work for me.”
“In the meantime I need to have a chat with the post commander regarding the medical supplies, this one area where I out rank his ass.”
Lt. Colonel Sanders thought to himself, he would love to be a fly on the wall for that conversation. “Roger that, I’ll see you in three hours.”
Colonel Holder made his way back to General Portson’s office, once in the posts headquarters building he climbed the stairs two at a time. The Colonel barged through the General’s outer office and past his assistant, through the open door leading into the Generals office. The General was sitting at his desk, startled, “What is the meaning of this?”
“You have all of the medical supplies that were gathered from town?” said and angry Colonel Holder.
“And if I do?” asked a visually surprised General.
“General you may be the post commander but you don’t command the medical center and its personnel. Per Army regulations I command everything medical on this post and if you have medical supplies they belong to me.”
“Are you sure you want to challenge my authority, Colonel?” General Portson stated vehemently.
“Positive General. One of these days someone more senior is going to show up or civilian authority will take back control and I’ll have no problem testifying at your court martial.”
“Are you threatening me Colonel?”
“You can look at it any way you want to General but those supplies are mine and I expect them delivered to the medical center today no-later-than 1900!” Colonel Holder turned and marched out of the Genera’ls office.
General Portson followed Colonel Holder out of his office with his eyes, once he was out of sight, he smiled to himself, it was good to see someone has the balls to stand-up to him. The General called out, “Captain Scalia come in here a moment would you please.”
Captain Scalia hurried into his boss’s office, “Yes sir.”
“Those medical supplies that are in storage get them all over to Womack by 1900 will you please?”
Captain Scalia smiled, “Yes sir I can do that.”
“Can you get that shit eating grin off your face Captain?” chuckled the General.
“Yes sir, I’ll get right on it.” Captain Scalia did an
about face and left.
Chapter Twenty
Jake had briefly met with President Washington to discuss the sad state of the FBI, basically stating that as a law enforcement agency it has ceased to exist. However, there were still senior FBI personnel and special agents available, they were fit to lead and work. He informed the President, he was working on a plan to get them back to work. Granted they weren’t going to be a national law enforcement agency for the foreseeable future but they could perhaps be a regional law enforcement agency, regional being the key word here.
President Washington asked what the status of the NSA was, Jake told him he had yet to investigate, and he was visiting them next. The National Security Agency was located at Fort Meade, Maryland a little over twenty-six miles from Washington DC. The White House had been in contact with much of the Fort and it was contributing to the overall security. The most interesting thing about Fort Meade right now was that the NSA Headquarters building was built in a much different fashion than possibly any building in the nation. The building was built as one huge faraday cage meaning that any electronics within the building, at least in theory, would be protected by an EMP event.
A few weeks after the event contact had been made with Fort Meade contact had also been made with NSA Headquarters on post. Two months ago, it stopped, there could be a very good reason, for instance, although classified the power consumption required to run all of the technology within the building and other NSA locations on post was huge. It was widely believed that it severely strained the local power grid. The NSA HQ did have generators within the complex but not nearly enough to run everything. Then there was the question of where was all of the fuel going to come from to continue to run those generators? Fuel was a finite resource and that’s one of the reasons why the President wanted to know. He didn’t want the NSA using fuel reserves that the military and civilian communities might need.
President Washington also wanted to know that if the NSA was up and running who the hell were they talking to? Were satellites still functioning? If they were it may answer the questions of the type of EMP event they were hit with. Certainly a huge solar flare would have knocked out all of the satellites, if NSA had communications with them it may mean that the country was hit by either a nuclear or an EMP weapon. If that were the case it certainly narrowed the scope of who was responsible, if it was a nuke or EMP weapon to what point was it used? Could they expect an invasion at some point in the future? He had so many questions which his scientific advisors were unable to answer until they had more data.
