by Steven Linde
One of the more interesting meetings the General had scheduled for today was with a Professor from Fayetteville State University. He had no idea why anyone from the University would want to meet with him. In fact he didn’t even know the University was still active almost eight months after the event. He found the request intriguing and told his admin to go ahead and schedule it, General Poston had only moments ago returned from lunch with his beautiful bride of twenty-two years and he was notified by his admin that the Professor was present. The General told his admin to please show the Professor in, his door opened a few moments later. General Portson was surprised by what he saw, a very young man possibly twenty-one or twenty-two, skinny, looked to be about six-five, long blonde hair. The first thought the General had was, ‘are you kidding me?’ followed by the second, ‘this kid should be on a beach in California some place’.
The General shook hands with the young man and offered a seat over on the couch; it was to be a very informal meeting. “Are you really a professor at the University?” Asked the General looking entirely skeptical.
“No sir I’m not. I was a student there working on my Masters in Electrical Engineering with the EMP event happened.” Said the young man.
“What’s your name son?” asked the General.
“Skip Smith sir.”
“Why are you here Skip? You’ve got five minutes.”
Skip was a bit flustered, he knew the General would know he wasn’t a Professor and he was sure the General was going to throw him out. “Sir why haven’t you exploited some of the resources that would in and around Fayetteville increase the quality of life in the area?”
General Portson looked at Skip quite confused, “What resources are you referring to Skip?”
“Well….sir…what about the trains?”
“The trains don’t run we looked at them.” Stated the General.
“You looked at the Steam Locomotives?” asked Skip.
The General didn’t have an answer for that, he looked at Skip and he saw his opening, “Sir with all due respect there’s no reason steam locomotives won’t work. There’s at least one at the city’s transportation museum that was used during World War Two to move troops and vehicles. I know it works because I was able to fire it up.”
The General’s eyes popped open at the news, “I’ll be damned.” The General quickly called in his admin an ordered her to get Brigadier General Cook over here yesterday. Within five minutes Skip was repeating to General Cook what he had told General Portson. “What do you think Walter?” asked General Portson, using General Cook’s first name.
“Sir it didn’t occur to us to check out the museums for anything, I can certainly get over there right now. In fact Sergeant Major Valliant and his men are begging for something to do.”
“Great! Get them over there, I want you to go to, see what else is over there. I want a report by you by COB today.”
“Will do General.” With that General Cook left the office.
“Anything else son?” asked General Portson.
“Yes sir, are you aware that the older Short Wave radios that were built with tubes will work? Also, why haven’t you explored the area museums for older aircraft to see if they work, I’m talking World War Two, piper cubs, prop Cessna’s and others like that?”
General Portson’s head was exploding with all of this, “Wait wait son, let me get my admin in here to take notes, can you wait for a moment?” Skip nodded; General Portson stepped out of the office to speak with his admin, Specialist Clarissa Gray, “Clarissa I need for you to send someone to Pope to get their CO over here ASAP. I need for you to send another runner over to 18th Airborne’s Signal Command and get their CO over her now, after that clear my schedule and come into my office to take notes.” General Portson knew he had struck gold with Skip.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Sergeant Major Valliant was happy to finally receive a tasking; he got Alpha Company, 2nd Battalion, 501st PIR to give up a platoon to escort himself and General Cook out to the transportation museum. They loaded up several of the armored Humvees that had M-249 MG mounted in their turret. The others were loaded onto old M-35 2.5 ton trucks, each one of them had M-2 .50 Caliber MG mounted in their turrets.
Although the 82nd and 18th Airborne had been all over Fayetteville it didn’t mean that the city was secure by any means. What they found were large roving militias or gangs scouring the countryside robbing, murdering and raping. They would move from town-to-town and the only ones to stop them were some local law enforcement which there weren’t enough of them. Sometimes they would come up against a well-armed town and slug it out with them, more often than not they would eventually overrun the town, simply by waiting them out, cutting off any water and food sources. If that wasn’t the case they would overwhelm them with numbers.
It was a little over twelve miles to the Fayetteville Transportation Museum, only five of those had been secured by the 82nd the rest was in Indian Country. Local Intel had it that a large militia from out-of-state had moved into the area. They had looted what was left in the area, taken prisoners and or slaves. Apparently there were several secured housing areas that had pulled together after the event for mutual defense, pooled food, water and fuel and had served over the past eight to nine months. Reports had it that there were two-to-five hundred men and women under arms. None-of-this had been independently verified by the any military source. As people were forced out of their areas they headed toward Fort Bragg for security.
In the lead Humvee was Sergeant Major Valliant, in the Humvee behind him was Brigadier General Cook, in the middle was 2nd Platoon, Alpha Company, bringing of the rear was the Platoon Sergeant and Leader in the last Humvee. Although the bulk of the platoon was made up of combat veterans of either Iraq and or Afghanistan, there were several FNG’s (fucking new guys). One of them was Sergeant Major Valliant’s driver PFC Robin Miller; he had been listening to the chatter over the radio. There was a lot of talk about gang this or gang that and militia this and militia that they were being used interchangeably.
“Sergeant Major can I ask you something?” asked PFC Miller.
Without looking at PFC Miller Sergeant Major Valliant responded, “Private given your rank and age I encourage you to ask as many questions as possible! Just don’t ask me.”
PFC Miller being a PFC continued on anyway,” What’s the difference between a gang and militia?”
Sergeant Major Valliant signed, thought for a moment, “Generally a gang is just that a gang, a large unruly mob that has a loosely defined chain-of-command and with no real direction. A militia calls itself a militia or army. It has a clearly defined chain-of-command, some sort of rank structure and looks somewhat military.”
PFC Miller nodded at that and seemed satisfied with the answer at least he didn’t ask any more questions.
When they reached the five mile marker there was a large sign reading “Leaving home of the 82nd Airborne! Entering Indian Country, enter at your own risk.” Sergeant Major Valliant radioed for the convoy to pull over to the side of the road. He got out and met with the General and the Platoon Leader, it was decided it was time to lock-and-load all weapons. Word was also passed that the area they were entering was not secured and they could expect anything. The troops were told of some potential militia movements in the area and to be on alert. If they are fired on they are allowed to return fire and please please keep civilian casualties down to a minimum. It was a sign of the times that there were going to be civilian casualties and to varying degrees it was acceptable. There were no precision guided weapons anymore. The bad guys had been using civilian areas to fight from and used civilians as shields.
The practice had become so common with the gangs and militia that the Army would have never been able to pacify most of the areas because they were too concerned about hurting people. General Portson and the senior staff made the decision that with reason civilian casualties were going to happen and some losses were going to happen. Th
ey knew that if the event civilian leadership ever returned, they may be held accountable for their actions, but this is now and that’s in the future. They would worry about it then. The platoon had selected two of the Humvee’s as scouts, they were manned with three men apiece all scout combat veterans. They were ordered to head out and not to get any more than a mile ahead of the convoy, in addition, to check in every fifteen minutes. Also, if they saw any militia, they were to pull back and observe and report. They were not to engage unless fired on and if they were fired on they needed to beat feet back to the convoy.
The two scout Humvee’s passed the LOD (line of departure), Sergeant Major would give them a fifteen minute head start; he had security pulled in and the rest of the convoy fired up their engines and waited. After radio checks everything was set and the convoy pulled out and headed into no man’s land. The scouts were in constant communication with the convoy, more specifically Sergeant Major Valliant as well as their Platoon Leader. The reports coming back weren’t uncommon, lots of abandoned vehicles, downed aircraft with decaying bodies, empty neighborhoods, and packs of dogs running around which could be dangerous. The Soldiers had lost count at how many dogs they had killed over the past several months. When the dogs were in packs is when they were the most dangerous and they were all put down. A lone dog wasn’t necessarily killed more often than not it was looking for companionship and was hungry. The Soldiers took pity on the animals and many times took them in and cared for them and at a minimum they feed them and if they were hurt gave them medical help.
Two miles out from the LOD the scouts found the first camp; it was a series of homes, tents, ramshackle building part wood and cardboard. The Soldiers wondered how they determined who got to live in the houses and who didn’t. The scout passed through the camp slowly, people came out and stared at them wondering what was going on. They did see some of the men and women were armed, but as long as they made no aggressive moves toward them they would let them be. The scouts radioed back to the main body what they found and were ordered to keep pushing forward.
The scouts didn’t encounter any more camps or people the rest of the way to the Transportation museum. They pulled up to it and radioed back to the main body they had arrived successfully and that they would be free and cleared all the way. Sergeant Major contacted them and asked if there was a place where they could over-watch and not be seen. The scouts answered in the affirmative that there was a place not far where they would be able to see the museum and a bit further out. The Sergeant Major ordered them to the over-watch position to see-what-they-could-see. He told them that the main body was five mikes out and would be there shortly.
The scouts arrived at the over-watch sight which gave them a great view of anything heading towards them for miles. Lieutenant Perez the OIC of the scouts noticed what looked like several large spots in the distance, what looked like miles away? He might not have thought anything of them but it looked like they were heading there way.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Colonel J.D. Magnus was the commander of Camp Edwards in Massachusetts when the event hit that Saturday night which seemed like an eternity ago. Camp Edwards is or was an Army National Guard training area, the largest in the northeast. Like many National Guard and Reserve components throughout the nation, it was the time of year that they held two week drills constantly on post by various units. On the night of the event the camp was at its maximum capacity as far as units on two week drill. Some of the units had been in the field for two weeks already and were returning to garrison to clean and turn in vehicles, tents, weapons and other gear. There were also new units arriving to start their two week drill.
These units were armor, infantry, signal, artillery you name it the types of units that were there ran the gamut from combat arms to support. The camp was busy all the time during the summer month’s logistics and planning were key to keep everything on post running smoothly and this was Colonel Magnus and his staff’s job.
As for Colonel J.D. Magnus he considered himself a true patriot, he was a member of the conservative group which prior to the event would have fallen into the Tea Party category. However, Colonel Magnus was even a bit more extreme in his beliefs for that label. Not that he was anti-government, he wasn’t, and he loved his country more than his life. He believed in small government, states’ rights, that social services were a joke that if you worked hard with determination and guts you got what you deserved. He was a staunch supporter of the 2nd Amendment and believed that everyone should carry a firearm. He believed that marriage was between a man and a woman and that the Federal Government and the States should stay out of the bedroom. He was a catholic and was very active in his church he was angry and frustrated that the federal government was chipping away at the notion the United States was a Christian nation. Colonel Magnus was of athletic build, bald, six-four, and African-American, he had a presence about him that commanded respect.
Colonel Magnus had an in with the States National Guard personnel center, he was able to bring in like-minded officers onto his staff and other positions on post. These officers were from were made up of all colors, if you believed the media all tea party members or conservatives in general were old white men which was the furthest from the truth. As time went on Colonel Magnus was able to create a network of other officers and senior non-commissioned officers that were also like-minded. These men and woman were very disenchanted with not only the federal executive branch, but all of congress as well. If they had their way they would have evicted them all out of office and started from scratch and rebuild the government in the fashion the creators wanted it.
Colonel Magnus had also made inroads into the states Air National Guard and Fleet Naval Reserve. No one in the network advocated any type of government over-throw only change through political action and monies to support their candidates. By the night of the event Colonel Magnus had so well integrated himself into the very social fabric of the State of Massachusetts people were talking to him about running for governor. It was an interesting proposition for the Colonel and he was seriously considering it, he had even set up a committee to explore how he might do it. He honestly believed that the only real way he was going to be able to execute change was from inside the political system.
Then the night of the event happened, Colonel Magnus and his staff were working that night as the influx of units from New York, Pennsylvania and the state itself was massive. It included a Stryker Brigade, Calvary, additional Artillery units from outside the state, there were more mech units on post then he had ever seen before. It was turning out to me a nightmare to manage, multiple vehicle accident reports being filed by the MP’s. The problem was you had units coming in from the field that were leaving before their assigned departure times and units in garrison leaving to go to the field, again, prior to their departure times. The ensuing chaos resulted in the two groups meeting up at various points, surprised, and vehicle collisions in the dark, as some units decided to attempt to drive in black out, which wasn’t allowed under the posts rules unless they were off road and it was actually part of the exercise, but they did it anyway.
When the event hit everything on post went dark, most of the vehicles died as well, oddly enough a handful kept running. Many of the military vehicles restarted after dying, but most wouldn’t, there was an odd smell of burning wires or oil is how some described it later. Many of the Soldiers in the field were infantry units the lights going out on post didn’t affect them one way or another they kept to the mission. Most support units temporarily lost their generators, some of them started back up most didn’t, and they would learn later that the batteries were fried but the generator engines were fine. The signal units lost all communications as well as communications throughout post went dead, it was all quite eerie. Colonel Magnus and his staff were thrown into chaos as all of the electrical backup systems failed to kick in. It was pitch-black inside the building. One of the go to items was their cell phones they tried to use to pr
ovide light, but those were dead too. Colonel Magnus and his staff as well as the rest of the post were in the dark literally and figuratively, they had no idea what was going on.
Many of the units that were heading back to garrison from the field figured this was part of the exercise, that it was ingenious how they figured out how to kill the vehicles but nothing really surprised them anymore. The majority of the Soldiers were ordered out of the vehicles, leaving one Soldier behind with the vehicle, the rest were to set up a perimeter around the vehicles and provide security. This went on all over post, except for the Soldiers that were billeted in the barracks or tents that had already turned in vehicles and gear; they were getting ready to leave in the morning and were asleep. By midnight three or so hours after everything stopped Colonel Magnus and his staff finally started to make some headway and it was now organized Chaos. With the vehicles they had running he sent out runners to all of the units to hold in place, to secure up, that this was not a drill planned by anyone. In addition, there would be more information coming soon on next steps.
The first reaction by the commanders in the field and for that matter all over post was the phrase ‘more information coming soon’ what the hell did that mean? Soon as in one hour? Two days? Were they to use the MRE’s to feed the Soldiers? What about water? They all had so many questions, but there was nothing they could do the post commander ordered everyone to hold in place. There were three thousand two hundred Soldiers on post at the time of the event. At the post headquarters building it was dark, flashlights had been pulled out, some of them worked and others didn’t, and there were some candles in the main conference room. It had been over three hours since the lights went out and no indication any place what had happened and what the local power company was doing to restore power.
