by Steven Linde
Chapter Forty-One
The President and his Chief of Staff arrived at Fort Meyer three hours after Sergeant Torres dropped off the equipment and took up positions around the building they had dropped it off at. Within the building was the White House Communications personnel that had been in the Oval Office almost two weeks earlier. The trio of Staff Sergeant, US Army, Willy Maxwell, Corporal Donna Byrd and Specialist Billy Cox were present and had set up the antennae as well as the radio. They also had one of the large Army generators running power to the building which meant there was no need for the hand-cranked generator that they had used earlier. Secret Service agents were crawling all over the building and had worked with the Army to set up and extended security perimeter even though they were on Fort Meyer. When the President entered the building there was additional senior military members present to include General Wallace the Joint Chief the command of Joint Base Meyer-Henderson Hall, Colonel Sumner as well as several others.
It was decided that Corporal Byrd would be the one to attempt to establish contact with Fort Huachuca again. They waited for everyone to take their seats prior to beginning to establish communications, the President refused to sit, he had a lot of nervous energy, and this was a big deal to him. If they were successful, the country would take another step in returning to some normalcy, “I’m ready anytime you are Corporal.” Said President Washington to Corporal Byrd.
She nodded, powered on the radio, which they had done earlier to make sure it was working, they had also set the frequency and were basically waiting for the dog-and-pony show to start. Once Corporal Byrd was ready, she squeezed the microphone. Now that they had the COI they had the proper call station identifiers, “Oscar Brave Zulu One Niner Four (Call sign for Fort Huachuca MARs) this is Papa Oscar Uniform Sierra One (call sign for the President of the United States), over.”
Everyone in the area surrounding the radio collectively held their breath; there was nothing but dead air after the call. It took a couple of minutes, then, “Papa Oscar Uniform Sierra One this is Oscar Brave Zulu One Niner Four, authenticate, over.” The response from the radio had been connected to a large speaker that could be heard throughout the building.
“Oscar Brave Zulu One Niner Four I authenticate November Two Niner Zulu Two, over.” Said Corporal Byrd into the microphone.
“Roger that Papa Oscar Uniform Sierra One, is this really the President? over.” asked the radio Operator at Fort Huachuca.
President Washington asked for the microphone from Corporal Byrd, “This is President Washington, over.”
The radio operator was stunned; he knew the voice and the call sign as well as the authentication checked out. “Hold one, over.” Said Fort Huachuca.
President Washington looked at Corporal Byrd, “Did they just put me on hold?” asked President Washington with a smile. “Yes sir I believe they did.” Replied Corporal Byrd.
There was no response from Fort Huachuca for almost ten minutes, “Papa Oscar Uniform Sierra One are you still there?” asked the operator at Fort Huachuca.
The President was caught a bit off-guard and fumbled a little with the microphone but was able to reply, “We’re still here, over.”
“Papa Oscar Uniform Sierra One this is General Watson sir, good to hear from you, how’s the weather back there?” Said General Watson
As with many things Washington D.C. was a small world, President Washington as well as General Wallace knew General Watson and considered each other as friends. “Weather is good General how’s it out there?” asked the President. President Washington had pulled up a chair next to Corporal Byrd; she couldn’t believe they were talking about the weather.
“It’s hot as you can expect since we’re in the desert. Sir what’s your situation?” asked General Watson.
President Washington was far more interested in what was going on in the western part of the country. However, he gave General Watson a brief rundown of what’s had been happening in the D.C. area. After he’d finished President Washington asked for a status, General Watson spent the next hour briefing the President and everyone else in the room. The President and everyone else in the room were stunned to hear how far the West Coast had come. In addition, to the conflict against the Islamic States of America and current conflict with the Mexicans in Southern California. General Watson indicated that they had everything under control and expected to wrap up the Southern California operation in another week or so. To top off everything General Watson told them they had a fully functional Air Force with B-29 Super Fortresses. General Watson offered to fly it out to show them anytime if the President ordered. Once that offer was made the room went silent, no one knew what to say, everyone realized they were so far behind the West Coast on all aspects militarily, technology and civilian infrastructure.
“General Watson this is what I want for now.” Said President Washington. “I want radio checks between these two stations every thirty minutes.” General Watson interrupted, “Sir you should really be talking to the Admiral at NAS North Island in Coronado. He’s senior ranking Officer and responsible for all West Coast Operations. They have their own radios as well as other locations.”
The Presidents head was spinning, they have multiple radio sets, an active military chain-of-command, “Alright can you give us their call signs and we will contact them all and that being the case once we have made contact with all stations I expect radio checks once an hour.”
“Yes sir will do.” Replied General Watson.
“When can the B-29 be here?” asked President Washington.
General Watson chuckled, “Sir you’re the Commander you tell us.”
President Washington smiled, “Yes General of course, how about the day after tomorrow?”
“Yes sir I will contact the Air Force to contact this station ASAP to get all needed information.”
“Can we get more people on the radio?” asked the President.
“Sir do you mean like a conference call?” said General Watson.
“Yes exactly.” Replied the President.
“Yes sir we have a daily briefing with all of the commanders at 1100 PST daily.”
That was exactly what President Washington wanted to hear, “Please give me a call myself and General Wallace would like to sit in on them.”
“Roger that sir will do.”
Chapter Forty-Two
Colonel Lambert and his men were feeling a bit train fever they had been cooped up for days on the train. They had been moving slowly through northern Virginia the tracks had been blocked, removed or even destroyed purposely. The only reason people had blocked the tracks was because for some reason camps had built up around them, perhaps because they were open areas that had already been cleared. Maybe because it brought back memories of another time, but people built camps right over them. People were surprised to see the huge black behemoth in same cases barreling down on them, one of the reasons they had slowed down a bit. There was one instance where they had plowed through one camp in the middle of the night, damn near killed everyone and those that survived needless to say weren’t happy, they kept moving.
They also started to find pieces of track missing no doubt people using it as building material or to melt it down for other reasons unknown to the Colonel. For the time being it was ok they had replacement rails and the men had been trained on how to replace them. They had been stopping and rebuilding water towers and clearing stations. They had to continue to cut wood for fuel, which in some cases caused confrontations with some locals who felt that they were infringing on their resources. Once Colonel Lambert explained, generally at gunpoint, that all of these resources belonged to the United States government. If they had a problem with it, they could travel up to Washington D.C. and speak to the gentleman that was occupying sixteen hundred Pennsylvania Avenue. There were very few confrontations that resulted in people being injured or killed, once they saw the heavily armed train brimming with heavily armed Soldiers they were more than reasona
ble.
There were still some people, generally gangs, which felt they needed a fight. They had killed anyone that had opposed them and took all of their goods. If they could get control of the train they felt they would be invincible. Of course, these were generally reckless men and woman that had no military training and usually armed with pistols, a hunting rifle or AR-15. They were no match for a SAW, M-249 or a Ma-deuce (M2 .50 caliber) machine guns. Not to mention other items the Soldiers had, grenades, AT-4’s, LAWs, mortars, all sorts of weapons that they carried with them that could easily reach out and touch someone with them even getting close. The Soldiers made quick work of their attackers and continued to drive on heading further south.
Colonel Lambert and his staff were in a planning session inside the on-board conference room. They knew the Soldiers needed a break and a couple of days off the train they were about forty-five minutes out of Virginia Beach and after speaking with Chester the train’s engineer as long as they hit all of the correct crossings and made those changes it was doable. Colonel Lambert ordered a course change besides Colonel Lambert reasoned Virginia Beach had a large Navy presence, he was sure the President and General Wallace would be interested in knowing what was going on there. They made their way slowly toward Virginia Beach the tracks were amazingly clear and in good shape, almost like someone had been maintaining them. Chester made the comment that it looked like to him that they were in use, not heavily, but someone had been out at least once over the rails.
The train station in Virginia Beach was technically in Norfolk; in the past you would arrive at Norfolk and take a bus into Virginia Beach. It was roughly twenty miles between Norfolk and Oceana NAS, Colonel Lambert had been pondering how to approach the base. He didn’t want to get him and his men’s asses shot off if they went in there with too large a force which may cause a panic assuming there was even anyone home. Colonel Lambert called in Captain Lopez the commander of Echo Company, 4th Battalion, 3rd Infantry Regiment. Captain Lopez had done an outstanding job of retrofitting the locomotive with new weapons systems; he was also responsible for figuring out how to get the vehicles such as the Humvees on and off the flatbeds as quickly as possible. He was an Iraq war veteran and had seen combat if Fallujah and other notable places his time in country.
Colonel Lambert asked Captain Lopez his opinion on the situation, Captain Lopez has been thinking about it, “Sir I think that we send out first platoon in their vehicles, we break down the platoon and leave the squad at three different rally points along the way while one of the squads pushes through to Oceana. If they run into trouble then can quickly pull back to the squad at the nearest rally point, they in turn, pull back to the next rally point where the next squad it prepared to defend and so on until they are back here.”
“Seems simple enough, how long would it take you to execute it?” asked Colonel Lambert.
“Sir we’re ready to go now.” Replied Captain Lopez.
Colonel Lambert was surprised, “Well then Captain let’s get the show on the road. Which vehicle can I ride in?”
“Sir?” asked Captain Lopez now the one surprised.
“I’m going with the lead squad that’ll make contact with Oceana.”
“Sir is that wise?” asked Captain Lopez now wishing he could take it back after saying it.
“Captain are you questioning my ability to lead the squad?”
“No Sir of course not. I only meant who’s the senior officer staying behind?”
“You and Major Durham. “Who’s leading the squad going into Oceana?”
“Staff Sergeant Barr sir.”
“Alight let’s go find him.”
Staff Sergeant Barr was a barrel chested, stocky, of medium height with very intense steel blue eyes. On his uniform he wore a combat patch for the 75th Ranger Regiment; he was all business as he was making final checks on his Soldiers in his squad. Colonel Lambert, Captain Lopez and First Lieutenant Oslander approached SSG Barr and his squad. SSG Barr called his squad to attention and then saluted the oncoming officers. Colonel Lambert being the senior officer returned the salute, “As you were, Sergeant, please carry on.”
“Staff Sergeant Barr.” Said First Lieutenant Oslander, his platoon leader. “Colonel Lambert and I will be accompanying you and your men on this mission.”
SSG Barr was surprised that the Colonel was going, but then noticed the Special Forces qualification tab on his uniform. Then saw the 1st Special Forces Group patch on the left side of his uniform signifying that he had been in combat with them. Seeing that SSG Barr immediately respected Colonel Lambert not for his rank, but for the man behind his accomplishments, it was unusual to see a senior officer leading from the front. “Yes sir.” replied SSG Barr. “Where would you like to ride sir?”
Directing the question to Colonel Lambert.
“I’d like to ride in the lead vehicle, Sergeant if that’s ok with you?” stated Colonel Lambert.
SSG Barr didn’t really like the idea, if they got hit the bad guys usually go after the lead vehicle first. He didn’t want it known that he got a senior officer killed. He knew though that it wasn’t really a question of his permission. The Colonel was trying to be a nice guy and give him the opportunity to agree with him, a senior officer was going to ride where he wanted to so what the point of disagreeing, “Yes sir no problem.” replied SSG Barr.
“I’ll ride in the rear vehicle.” Said Lieutenant Oslander, not that anyone really cared where the Lieutenant rode. The Lieutenant had never seen any combat and the men in the squad would turn to SSG Barr in the event they were attacked, they all hoped that the Lieutenant would follow SSG Barr’s lead as well but you never knew what a lieutenant would do.
The small convoy of Humvees loaded up, manned the M-249’s in the vehicles turrets, executed radio checks between each vehicle and the op’s center on the train. Once they were sure everything was ready the convoy moved out. SSG Barr’s orders to his drivers were to move out fast and don’t stop for anything unless they had to. They had mapped out the twenty mile drive and everyone knew the route they were taking. They were operating under the assumption that the way to the base was going to be relatively clear and there shouldn’t be any roadblocks not that they knew of anyway.
Captain Lopez’s orders to Lieutenant Oslander and SSG Barr were a radio check every fifteen minutes with their status and location (preferably grid coordinates). Captain Lopez had first and second platoons as a reaction force ready to go if the shit hit the fan and they had to go in and pull all of them out, it was the best he could do, also it was the most that Colonel Lambert was going to let him do. They estimated that if everything went right according to plan, they would make Oceana in thirty-five to forty minutes, but everyone knew how plans worked.
After ten miles into the trip is struck Colonel Lambert that the motorway they had been following was amazingly clear of vehicles. Even in D.C., after a year, there were still vehicles that remained abandoned in many of the roadways, but not here. It was only an observation at this time not something he was concerned about. They hit the fifteen mile mark only three minutes behind schedule, outside of the roads being clear and now the absence of people, they hadn’t seen anyone. Sixteen, seventeen and eighteen miles, they were on secondary roads now with only a few more miles to go.
Colonel Lambert felt it was too easy what was he missing he thought then as if on cue a load explosion was heard to front left about a hundred yards in front of them. Several large trees fell right after and blocked the road; the vehicles came to a sudden halt. The Soldiers in the turret were keenly aware that it was no accident with the tree fallings; they swiveled in their turrets back and forth looking for any targets of opportunity. The radios in each vehicle had come alive, Lieutenant Oslander sent in an immediate report back to the op’s center on the train. Captain Lopez ordered first and second platoons to move out, Colonel Lambert countermanded that order and told them to stay put. The situation was unsettling to Colonel Lambert, if it was an ambus
h, why hadn’t anyone fired on them? Colonel Lambert took the radio microphone and told everyone to stay put inside the vehicles he was getting out to take a look.
Colonel Lambert exited the vehicle, stood next to it for a moment surveying the area, it was quiet, which was odd unto itself, and there should have been some bird noises. Out of the woods stepped a man dressed in camouflage, military type, and he was heavily armed. He was standing near the fallen trees so he was at least a hundred yards away. The Soldier in the lead Humvees turret quickly turned and took aim at him. Colonel Lambert took a step away from the vehicle, raised his arms up, “What do you want?” asked Colonel Lambert.
The man standing near the tree stood looking at the Colonel, “What do you want?” asked the man.
Colonel Lambert thinking ok let’s play along and see where this goes, “I’m Colonel Lambert the commander of the 3rd Infantry Regiment out of Fort Meyer in Washington D.C.”
“You’re a bit away from home aren’t you Colonel, if that’s who you really are. Do you have your military ID that I can see?” said the man.
“Yes I have a military ID but answer my question.” said the Colonel.
The man stood near the tree was now thinking, “I’m Lieutenant Danielson, United States Navy, SEAL Team 4 out of Oceana.”
“You have any identification that can prove that? And if it’s true you will address me as Sir!” stated Colonel Lambert emphatically, he knew he needed to establish the chain-of-command.
“Why don’t we meet in the middle and share IDs?” said Lieutenant Danielson. “Sir.”
Colonel Lambert smiled at the last part, “Let’s do it.” The two men began to step toward each other. Colonel Lambert knew that if he was really SEAL team 4 his men were out there watching the entire situation, he was equally sure they were ready to act if things went south.
