Vigilante (Book 2): Into the Fray

by Cliff Deane

Please get yourself, and your boys, to include the Ben and the SGM back here as soon as you’ve knocked off those morons in Tarboro.

  *

  September 1st,

  Updated Governmental Bunker

  Greenbrier, WV

  Major General Peter Hughessat across from SenatorWalter Clanton. They were discussing progress made in operation “New Direction” which was to remove the sitting President, Raymond Mitchell and his supporters from office, and taking the Presidency in a coup.

  “General, are your troops in line?” asked Senator Clanton.

  “Yes sir, I have discussed the possibility that our Commander in Chief may not be returning to the surface with us, and that you will take the helm. None of the Commanders had a problem with that. In fact they each felt that Mitchell was too soft to do the dirty work necessary to get the USA back on its feet. To a man, they felt more comfortable with you and me emerging as the proper leadership.

  I have no doubt they will quickly disarm the survivors, and establish the work camps necessary to get production restarted. The Commanders down to platoon level are likewise on board.

  I am comfortable that our military arm will not attempt to interfere with the transition of power.

  Sir, have you decided on a date to return to Washington?”

  Sitting back in his chair, anticipating the glorious return to D.C. as President for life, the Senator made a steeple of his fingers as they touched his mouth before saying, “Yes, General, let’s set this schedule;

  September 4th we eliminate the President and his allies.

  Establish our new regime

  Promote all military personnel one grade, and yourself to five stars, General of the Army

  We remain here for the winter and emerge in April during the Cherry Tree blossoming

  During the winter we send small unit patrols to the surface to assess damage and to tell the yokels that we’ll be bringing help and electricity to them within weeks of our return

  We confiscate weapons and transform America into our vision of the perfect state, well, perfect for us, of course

  Yes, General, you and I will rule as I see fit. I think we are going to like the new United States of America.”

  General Hughes gushed his approval to the Senator’s plan but privately thought, yes, one of us will like being King. King Hughes, that is.

  At that moment, the die was cast, and on Sept 4th, the last lawfully elected President of the United States was executed along with the Vice President, his staff, and followers, for treason. Operation New Direction was a resounding success.

  *

  September 8th, 1830

  Walmart

  Tarboro

  Levi penned a reply saying they would return to Defiance NLT 1100 on 9 September. He gave the envelope to the courier and directed him to beat feet back to Defiance.

  The Courier accepted the manila envelope, saluted and immediately departed for Defiance.

  Levi asked Sgt. Major Cobb to get the usual suspects together for a briefing, to include Colonel Eldridge and his 1st Sgt, “Sgt Major Cobb, let’s schedule it for 1900 in the Walmart Manager’s Office.”

  “Yes sir, on the way.” Sgt Major Cobb saluted and turned to gather up the attendees.

  ***

  Chapter 8

  The Plan

  September 12th, 0850

  Commander’s Conference Room

  Defiance

  The Sergeant Major ushered Lt. Colonel Eldridge and Major Smith into the Conference Room where they prepared for their briefing.

  At 0900 the coffee and donuts were on the conference table, and President Bassett, Colonel Levins, Major Murtaugh, SGM Cobb and Captain Guyardo entered the room and sat down.

  President Ralph Bassett asked for Colonel Levins to run this planning session as he was there only as an interested observer.

  Levi thanked the President of the ROA and said, “So, Colonel Eldridge, do you have a winning battle plan for us?”

  Lt. Colonel Scott Eldridge stood and said, “Mr. President, Colonel Levins; Major Smith and I have taken your Commander’s Guidance, and after many long hours of planning we are convinced that we will win this war in one battle.

  We shall break this briefing down into segments. Major Smith?”

  Ben stood and said, “Colonel, my portion of this brief will predominantly focus on the known elements of the Greenbrier Bunker, logistics, and acquisition of additional equipment from Camp Lejeune.

  Sir, we know the following things about the Bunker. It originally had four entrances; three to The Greenbrier's grounds and one to the main building. Following the Eisenhower years, the Bunker added the fifth exit.

  The doors to the Bunker are 25-ton blast doors, opening to decontamination chambers which will play to our advantage as these chambers inhibit the flow of emerging personnel.

  There exists only one exit allowing vehicle egress.

  Sir, I will now progress to the logistical requirements of this mission. As it is extensive; please feel free to peruse it at a later time.

  Our plan calls for:

  Ten ¼ ton Jeeps

  Thirty 2 ½ ton trucks

  Twenty 5 ton trucks

  One Semi Truck with lowboy trailer (minimum)

  One Wrecker to recover/repair vehicle breakdowns

  Three hundred combat effectives, as the enemy forces are restricted to only five exits.

  Four, 40 man Infantry Platoons Covering the exits utilized by enemy infantry

  One mech heavy Platoon to plug the enemy mech exit ramp.

  A reserve force of one hundred men (mech heavy)

  Ten Bradley Fighting Vehicles

  One Abrams Main Battle Tank If we can find tankers with experience on the Abrams

  Five hundred anti-personnel mines

  Fifty anti-tank mines

  One hundred Claymore mines

  Two hundred LAWs rockets

  Five hundred pounds of C-4 Explosive, blasting caps, and fuses

  Two hundred fifty thousand rounds of 7.62 small arms ammunition

  Five thousand rounds of thirty mm

  Three thousand rounds of nine mm

  Fifty each TOW and Javelin missiles

  One thousand four hundred and fifty, 40 mm grenades

  One thousand six hundred hand grenades

  One hundred and twenty rounds of 12 gauge buckshot

  Forty camo nets

  Fifty-eight GP Medium Tents

  Two GP Large Tents

  Two field kitchens

  Forty thousand gallons of diesel

  Two thousand gallons of gasoline

  Troopers will each carry their individual weapons. An addition to the individual weapons will be ten 12 gauge shotguns (two at each exit) to engage possible drone deployment.

  Concept of movement:

  Preposition fuel trucks along Route

  Identify fuel stations along Route

  Preposition…”

  Major Smith continued spending another hour presenting his complete logistics nightmare.

  Lt. Colonel Eldridge suggested a break before launching into his concept of the battle. At the conclusion of this portion of the briefing, already exhausted, most wondered how the 1st Cavalry Regiment could pull off such a gargantuan effort.

  At 1150 hours, Levi adjourned the meeting for lunch and directed them to resume at 1330 hours. Ben and Levi ate in the Conference Room where Levi asked many questions.

  *

  September 12th, 1330

  Commander’s Conference Room

  Defiance

  After everyone was seated Levi asked his first question, “Ben since there is no Logistics Arm in the 1st Cav, I need some guidance as to how you intend to make this happen.”

  “Yes sir, it is one of the flies in the ointment, and if we only had seven weeks, this plan would not be workable, but, having seven months, it can be done.

  It is true that we have no Logistics Arm, but this is not a deal breaker. We must reach out to a
ll of America seeking manual labor assistance for this effort. We also have nearly four hundred troopers who are certainly capable of making this operation happen. One of the many things in our favor is time, assuming, of course, that we begin in the next few days.

  This prepositioning of resources will take a minimum of four trips to West Virginia, and much of that in the dead of winter, still, it can be done, and it must be done.

  Captain Pickett, I fear you must begin transitioning from horse cavalry to mechanized cavalry for this mission. If my memory serves, you did say that almost all of your Cowboys are prior service cavalry?”

  “Yes sir, they are, and we can run both Bradley Fighting Vehicles, and the LAV IIIs if you can get them there.”

  “Excellent Captain, those are wondrous sounds to my ears.

  As you said, if we can get them there well, except for the Abrams, the Bradleys will have to road march. My concern here is a mechanical breakdown.”

  Captain Pickett interrupted saying, “Sir, have you considered the eight-wheeled LAV III vehicles, rather than the Bradleys? They are much more capable of such a long road march, and they come fitted with both thirty mm and Javelin missile launchers.

  These vehicles were used extensively by the Marines who had many of them at Lejeune in the motor pool of Company B, 2nd Tank Battalion, 2nd Marine Division.

  The LAV III’s can also carry an eight-man squad. It would not be a comfortable ride, but it would be warm in a winter movement. They are also multi-fuel which could greatly reduce the requirement for diesel.”

  Colonel Levins interjected, “Excellent suggestion Leon. Please make yourself available to both Lt. Colonel Eldridge and Major Smith. I think you boys will be needed to drive those funny looking velocipedes back here.”

  “Yes sir, Roger that.”

  “Ben, I like your idea of getting the word out for volunteers, what say we hold a few town meetings around America to see what we can find?

  Leon, please send out some riders to establish a timetable for these meetings.”

  “Yes sir, I’ll get them out at oh-dark-thirty in the morning.”

  “Good, good, please continue Major.”

  “Sir, for now, that will complete my portion of this briefing. Lt. Colonel Eldridge?”

  “Thank you, Ben. Colonel Levins, I have put a detailed battle plan in your packets. If satisfactory, I will only hit the highlights and answer questions.”

  “Fine, Scott, please begin.”

  “Sir, if you will please look at the drawing of the vehicle exit at the Greenbrier. The door opens onto a 10% grade with walls on each side and runs for nearly fifty yards. It is our plan is to destroy this driveway, by cratering it without collapsing the walls. However, if the walls do collapse, the dirt embankment supporting them will not hamper our efforts to preclude escape. We then plan to crater and mine all exits both in and around our craters.

  The three external infantry exits will each be manned by one forty-man platoon of infantry. They will also be augmented with one LAV III mounted with Thirty mm and 7.62 mm machine guns. Each platoon will also have four automatic 40 mm grenade launchers, and forty LAWs 66 mm shoulder-fired missiles.

  The one exit capable of tracked vehicle passage will be defended by a Mechanized Platoon augmented with LAV IIIs utilizing both thirty mm and JAVELIN missile systems.

  The Mech Platoon will also have four automatic 40 mm grenade launchers, and forty LAWs 66 mm shoulder-fired missiles.

  If the situation allows, we will have camo nets over each exit to capture any drones released from inside the bunker.

  Two Infantry Squads will defend the exit inside the hotel proper. Explosive charges will be placed directly along, and in front of the door and will be detonated just as the door begins to open. Our defenders will also utilize Claymore mines to suppress enemy fire. Sandbagged defensive positions will be emplaced to provide cover for our troops.

  One final addition here is that every platoon will have twenty Claymore mines to suppress enemy egression from the bunker.

  We are convinced that we can knock out the first tank, or PC exiting the vehicle door, plugging it like a cork in a bottle. The tracks will be blown off to preclude removing the vehicle from the bottleneck.

  The Reserve/Reaction Force will assist any weak point, or move rapidly to confront enemy forces who may have exited from a currently unknown door.

  Ultimately, sir, we believe that this engagement will be reduced to a siege until the enemy surrenders.”

  Levi looked wary, “Surrenders, huh, I surely hope you are wrong there. The best result here would be for them to fight to the death.

  Gentlemen, if you can pull off this logistics nightmare, then you have given us a victory and saved our new Republic.

  Any question, anyone? Mr. President?”

  Ralph looked shell shocked. “Questions? Where do I begin? I see nothing but seemingly insurmountable obstacles. Levi, I have to say that I am glad I have no experience in this kind of thing, because if I did, well I don’t know what I’d think, but if you think it can be done; then I’m in.”

  “Mr. President, there are no problems here, only opportunities to excel. All right gentlemen, get it done.”

  Ben asked Major Gus Murtaugh and Captain Leon Pickett to remain for a few moments to discuss transporting his men to Lejeune to retrieve the LAV IIIs, and hopefully the Abrams.

  Leon informed Ben that none of his troopers were tankers. They were all Cavalry.

  Leon agreed to return at 1000 hours on 13 September to discuss the movement to Lejeune.

  Gus decided to go along to Lejeune to make sure the secured vehicle parts were accessed to get the vehicles moving. He also suggested that Ben take along a Bobtailed Semi to retrieve a fuel tanker.

  All agreed to meet at 1000 the next morning to discuss the mission.

  Ben knew he needed trans help. He walked over to the Skunkworks shop of Adan Ramos and found him working with two other men on radio communications equipment.

  Ben walked over to Adan and asked for a few minutes of his time.

  “Sure Ben, what I can do for you?” asked the Filipino genius.

  “Adan, we have quite an opportunity to excel here. I need semi-trucks. Is it possible to get them up and running?”

  “Sure, it’s not going to be real easy, but I can make a diesel run without all the electronics crap. The downside is that while the trucks will run, that is all they will do. Anything controlled by an electronic circuit board I can’t fix, yet. So, no stereos in the trucks. How many do you need?”

  “My friend, I’m going to need as many as forty ready to roll ASAP.”

  Adan looked around at his crew before saying, “We can probably get five to seven, or maybe eight running each week. Is that ASAP enough?”

  “Oh hell yes! Are you sure you can do it?”

  “Yes, but it will be easier to get the older trucks running since they’ll have less wiring to remove. Is there a used semi dealer nearby?”

  “I’ll find out right away. Can you work on the trucks there, or must we drag them here?”

  “We will be better able to do the job if the trucks are here; much faster. Remember, the older, the better, but we can make any of them work.”

  “Salamat, Po,” said Ben in Adan’s native language of Tagalog.

  Ben then beat feet over to Levi’s office.

  “Come on in, Ben, trouble already?”

  “Sir, I sure hope not, but I am coming to you hat in hand so to speak. I’m going to need at least two assistants, like yesterday. I also need the use of the Bobtail to drag in other semis. Would you believe that Adan is sure he can get them running? Maybe as many as five or six a week.”

  Levi was very pleased that Ben might have found a way to increase America’s truck fleet, but also for the fact that Ben was asking for help. He always tended to do everything himself. Levi was very happy that he realized that he couldn’t do this one alone.

  “Of course, Ben. Pick your assistant
s, and you have carte blanche on vehicle usage and troop details for whatever you need.

  Say, when are you planning your run to Lejeune?”

  Ben said, “Scott, Leon and I are meeting at 1000 tomorrow. I would imagine we will wait for a couple of weeks to finalize everything, so we only have to make one trip. I’m also hoping that Adan can have about ten Bobtails running by then.”

  “Good plan, Ben, please keep me informed on your progress and anything you need. This mission is a make or break for our little country, so, if we have it and you need it, it’s yours.”

  “Thank you, sir. This mission will be the crowning achievement of my entire life. There is no way I fail America.”

  Ben and Levi chatted for a few more minutes about general timelines and such before Ben left to find his first Bobtail.

  Levi had sent for Scott Eldridge to stop by; he was waiting with the Sgt Major in the Orderly room. As soon as Ben left, Sgt Major Cobb knocked, then opened the door to announce Scott’s presence.

  Scott was ushered into Levi’s officer where Levi directed him to a chair.

  “Scott, I just wanted to tell you that I believe your plan is brilliant. If we can just get everything in place, I just do not see how we can miss. Thank you for another job well done, oh, and aren’t you glad you followed Cobb’s advice and shut your pie hole when you questioned your ability to do the job?”

  Both laughed, and Scott said, “Yes sir, I am very glad, indeed. In fact, when I go back to the Orderly Room I’m going to thank him.”

  …and he did.

  ***

  Chapter 9

  Adan’s Skunkworks

  13 September, 0800

  Fort Pickett, ROA