Patriot Dawn: The Resistance Rises

by Velocity, Max

  Once at the assembly area they would be provided food and water and allowed to rest up.

  Over the course of the next week, all of Jack’s teams trickled in, with the exception of those in the two pickups which had gone missing. Some had experienced adventures, pursued by Regime elements or drones, and had taken long diversions or been forced to lie up under the thermal ponchos, others were simply exhausted.

  Jack decided to take a different approach with the Yankee patrol base. They were too far inside West Virginia, away from any realistic target areas, to carry out operations from here. He decided that they needed to rest up and plan their next move.

  Jack set up a treatment center under Megan for the various wounded personnel, located tacked on to Yankee to make use of the people there to help with the healing and management of the wounded fighters.

  He established his fire support platoon co-located with the fighting vehicles in a laager area. They were to be used as a quick reaction force for a mobile defense in case of a Regime incursion into the area.

  He now dispersed the three 82nd squads to the three platoons and had each platoon set up a defensive patrol base dispersed around Yankee. This gave him a defensive screen round Yankee where the families and recovering wounded were being housed.

  Once the defenses were set up, they went into a busy period of equipment and weapon cleaning and maintenance, as well as physical rest. They conducted a light patrolling program into the surrounding area.

  Jack realized that to get back in the fight, he was going to have to move his forces back into a position where they could begin operations against the Regime again.

  Two weeks later, Bill arrived. Jack was amazed. Jack had moved his TOC into a bunker he had had built just outside of Yankee, in order to be central to the defensive positions around the base. They grabbed some hot water from the central kitchen, made coffee, and walked up to his bunker where they sat inside on camp chairs by the light of a kerosene lamp.

  They had a lot to talk about. Bill wanted to go over the after action reports from the recent combat, and Jack wanted news from the outside world. The big strategic question was about what was next for them.

  The war against the Chinese was still ongoing west of the Rockies, with General Wall leading USPACOM. There were no significant breakthroughs to report either way from that theatre as yet. The demarcation line still held to the south with the Southern Federation, but there were rumblings of war.

  “Listen Jack,” Bill said, “I want to get your buy in on a plan.”

  “Ok, run it by me.”

  “Remember the guy I sent to Texas?”

  “Yea.”

  “Ok, well they know all about your Company in Texas. Jack’s Juggernauts, aka the Mountain Men,” Bill chuckled. “You are famous, and very well regarded. I have been in negotiations and my guy reports that Texas is offering sanctuary to the families, on the basis that we move the Company to Texas. You will have to submit to operational control from the Federation chain of command and they will use you to further the Southern Federation’s military agenda.”

  “You say ‘you’ – where do you fit in to this?”

  “I would stay here, at the farm, and continue to run the network. Intelligence gathering.”

  “I see,” said Jack, “but how do you feel about this? This is your Company, you created it, and we would no longer be fighting in Virginia?”

  “I appreciate that Jack, but actually you need to give yourself more credit. I started this thing, but now I’m the network guy. You have fought and bled with this Company, it is yours. I want to see the families safe, and I think we could hit back at the Regime more effectively with the support of the Federation military. Anyway, they are likely to send you back in to conduct operations once the families are safe in Texas.”

  Jack mulled it over.

  “Ok Bill,” he finally said, “Let’s get some of the main players together and see what they think, and if they agree then we can run it past the group.”

  It was not just a military decision. They got the commanders together along with the leaders from the civilian side, including Caitlin and some of the other key women such as Gayle who ran the place.

  It was unanimous. They wanted to get to Texas. It would keep the families and kids safe, and then the Company could join the fight again secure in the knowledge that their loved ones were out of harm’s way. From a military point of view, they would no longer have to allocate combat power to protecting the families.

  The next question was how?

  Bill wanted to keep some OPSEC around this one so he pulled Jack aside and told him: C-130 Hercules aircraft. STOL operations, which stood for ‘short takeoff and landing’.

  Texas was prepared to send in Texas Air Guard aircraft to extract the Company along with the families in return for the agreement that they would fight for the Southern Federation.

  Bill outlined the plan: he would hang around until they could find a suitable landing field. Once that was established, he would return to his farm, allowing suitable travel and planning time, and pass the message to Texas. On a specified day, the aircraft would come in and lift them out.

  They needed a suitable dirt field three thousand feet long. They did a map recon and located some potential locations, following up with recon patrols. They found a suitable location on some upland pasture land dotted with occasional trees and low shrub. It was located in a small valley. It was perfect for two thousand feet and had three thousand feet of clearance available at a pinch.

  It would need a little work but it was only a mile from Yankee. Jack had some work parties set to work clearing the few trees and the bushes, creating a dirt landing strip.

  Meanwhile, allowing for time to get the landing strip ready, Bill took the coordinates, set a date with Jack, and headed back to his farm. They set an initial date for a daylight pickup, with further dates if they first one was missed for any reason.

  They had agreed, in accordance with information that Bill had brought with him from his coded radio exchanges with his agent in Texas, to go for a dawn pickup time. This would allow the Texas Air Guard aircraft to fly in by night, but give them the advantage of daylight to conduct the STOL landing on an unknown and less than ideal landing strip.

  Ten days later the Company was waiting in a defensive position in the trees at the end of the makeshift landing strip. It was just a flattish grassy field which they had cleared of trees and bushes. The fighters had a perimeter around the families, who were organized into four ‘chalks’, one for each aircraft.

  They only had their basic gear with them, weapons, tactical vests and rucksacks. The larger support weapons, ammunition, food and equipment had been placed into the dug outs at Yankee and camouflaged, making it into a huge cache, while the vehicles were hidden under netting deep in the woods, including the military vehicles liberated by the defectors.

  If they ever came back out this way, for whatever reason, they would be able to break out the gear from Yankee.

  Under Jim’s supervision, day-glow panels had been placed out to mark the landing strip.

  They waited in the pre-dawn light.

  Shortly after the sky lightened, the first C-130 Hercules came roaring over the treetops above them, the first of four. It came over and buzzed them low after flying ‘nap of the earth’ up from Texas, hugging the terrain contours at two hundred feet to stay below Regime radar.

  There was a separation between aircraft and the first circled the landing strip, getting eyes on the terrain, followed by the others. They came around in a loop and lined up for the approach.

  The first aircraft came in and lined up on the airstrip. As it came in its nose dropped towards the strip and then it went to ‘full flaps’ as it swooped in to land, taxiing down towards the end of the strip. As each aircraft landed, it taxied down to the end of the runway and made space for the ones landing behind.

  Once the fourth had landed, they put their engines in reverse and rapidly backed
down the airstrip in a single file to where the fighters waited with their families.

  As the aircraft sat there with the engines ‘turning and burning’ the rear ramps lowered and a small security detachment ran off the back of each to secure the immediate area. The loadmasters walked down the ramp and gestured to the waiting chalks.

  The four lines of families and fighters walked out towards the waiting aircraft carrying their gear, some of the wounded carried on stretchers. As they reached the ramps at the back of the aircraft they felt the heat coming off the roaring engines, seemingly threatening to burn their faces as they waited for those ahead to get up the ramp.

  Some of the kids and those who had never experienced it were shielding their faces and turning away from the heat as the engine noise roared around them. Some of the younger kids were crying, scared by the noise, held by their moms.

  The flight crew was directing them to fill into the red webbing seats that lined the outer skin of the aircraft and also a central island down the center. The rucksacks and wounded on stretchers were secured in the open space by the back ramp, between the two side jump doors.

  As soon as everyone was loaded, the ramps went up and the aircraft raced forwards one at a time, taking off over two thousand feet in the same direction that they had landed.

  The C-130s lurched into the air and took off; banking sharply to the south and going straight back into nap of the earth flying at two hundred feet.

  The constant low level flying over the hilly terrain, along the valleys and lurching over the ridges was rough. The passengers could feel the aircraft pulling G’s as they roared south. The aircrew went amongst them handing out sick bags to those who succumbed to airsickness and little boxes of juice drinks with straws to the kids.

  Several hours later, they landed at Dallas Fort Worth. It was a definite culture shock. They emerged off the rear ramp straight from the Virginia woods, where they had been surviving at a basic level. They were met by air-conditioned coaches on the pan and driven to a large aircraft hangar, where there was power. Inside, they were met by a reception committee of Texas Guard dressed in the old style green BDU uniforms.

  There was food and drink laid out, and a medical team waiting to help with the wounded. Jack was amazed at the forethought: they had it all set up in the large hangar, the medical tents off to the side, so that they did not have to separate anyone from the group, which may not have gone down so well with the close knit Virginians.

  The senior officer present was a Colonel Bridges. Jack shook his hand and felt good about it. He seemed like a genuine stand-up guy. Colonel Bridges explained that they had set it up so that they would keep them in the hangar for OPSEC purposes, and to allow them to recover, clean up and decompress.

  After that, they would make plans to integrate the Company with the Southern Federation forces, arranging for a place for the families to stay longer term.

  Colonel Bridges did not bat an eyelid at the heavily armed and geared up Resistance fighters. He simply mentioned to Jack that they had built a weapons unloading bay at the entrance to the hangar and for safety reasons it would be best to clear the weapons for their stay. Jack agreed and passed the message.

  They ended up spending a week decompressing in the hangar. With Megan’s agreement and that of the families of those that had family with the group, some of the wounded were moved to a nearby hospital. Trust was developing easily and the group was starting to relax. The hangar had been divided up into male and female areas and there were rows of bunk beds laid out with bedding provided.

  It appeared that Colonel Bridges was to be their main liaison go-to guy and he and Jack developed a good relationship.

  There was a laundry service organized and in the meantime a bunch of military surplus and charity clothing was dumped off at the hangar, allowing the group to get on some clean clothes. The fighters found themselves outfitted in fresh green BDU uniforms, which led to a lot of joking about looking like smart real soldiers.

  The Guard had brought in some mobile shower units, one male and one female, and everyone was able to get clean. It was luxury after being in the woods in the heat and humidity. They had also set up a projector in a corner of hangar along with a laptop and big selection of movies. The children spent a lot of time that week sitting about watching kid movies.

  After the week, they were moved to the Double Tree hotel just down the road from the airfield. They had exclusive use of the hotel, there were no guests, and the hotel was running on generators. The staff was working and although the service was not the usual hotel standard, they ran a good buffet in the dining room. It was more of a makeshift barracks than a hotel, but to the Company and their families it was luxury.

  The best thing about the hotel was the hot showers. Jack had a quiet word with Andrew and had him and Vicky take the kids away for a few hours, allowing him and Caitlin the free use of the hotel room. It had been a long time since they had been able to spend some quality alone time, and those few imitate hours were priceless.

  Colonel Bridges was meeting with Jack every day and two days after the move to the hotel it became clear what they were going to be asked to do. It was time to pay the piper.

  “Jack,” said Colonel Bridges, “we have reviewed your report of the actions your Company participated in. We have seen the video footage of the battles. I have met your soldiers and spoken with many of them. They are excellent people, and you have all done a sterling job.”

  “Thank you,” said Jack.

  “It is also clear that amongst your command you also have a number of historically airborne qualified personnel.”

  “True,” said Jack, thrown a curveball.

  “Well, we want you guys for a high risk high reward airborne mission that we have in the pipeline.”

  “Ok.”

  “But I can’t tell you more until you are in isolation. We need to get you across to Fort Benning for parachute refresher training; we will isolate you there, and you will get the full mission brief.”

  “Ok, but I need to make something clear.”

  “What?”

  “I will take all of my fighters, airborne qualified or not, if they want to go.”

  Colonel Bridges grinned, “I thought you would say that. That’s fine, but just so you know; we only have enough ‘chutes for one practice jump.”

  “Roger that.”

  Jack got his Company together in the conference room. He explained the situation and asked for volunteers. Everyone volunteered, including the three squads from the 82nd.

  The next day, they said goodbye to their families and some of the wounded who were not medically cleared to go on the mission. They grabbed their gear, loaded onto the buses, and drove to the airfield for the flight across to Fort Benning, Georgia.

  For many of them, all the airborne qualified personnel and in particular the Rangers, it was a trip down memory lane. The base was now being run by Southern Federation troops and they had set up the jump school using the equipment that was still in place.

  They ran through a week of parachute school, compressing the course from the usual three week school into that one week. They pushed through ground ‘week’ and tower ‘week’ in the first five days and moved onto jump ‘week’ on the seventh day. It was a refresher for all of them, new for many of them.

  It was certainly a strange sight to see them go through jump school, dressed in their ragtag of clothing despite the issue of the new green BDUs, and wearing beards and unkempt hair. Some of them had trimmed and groomed themselves a bit, but not many. Jack grinned to think how this would have gone down in the super strict jump school of times past.

  How priorities change.

  During the week, Jack was given top secret briefings that allowed him to begin to understand what they were up against. He had to keep the information close hold from the Company until they were in isolation following final jump qualification.

  The Southern Federation believed that it was time to attack the
Regime. They were planning a game of ‘kill the king’. It was a two part combined airborne and ground assault. The ground assault would break the Regime line in South Carolina and push north up the I-95 towards Washington DC. It was to be massive armored and mechanized push.

  The preparatory operation would be a surprise airborne assault onto Washington DC, the Capitol itself, to attempt to cut the head off the snake. It was a high risk operation.

  The idea was to use Jack’s Company as part of the airborne assault. If it failed for any reason, or the ground component did not make it to link up, then the thinking was that Jack’s fighters could lead the Southern Federation forces in a withdrawal out of DC back into the Virginia woods, to continue Resistance operations.

  The planned drop zone (DZ) for Jack’s overhead assault mission was the Washington Mall itself, then rapidly assaulting onto the White House.

  Jack had some input of his own on this plan. While serving with the Rangers, he had participated in an exchange with the British Parachute Regiment. Jack had been long dismayed with the direction that the US had gone with its parachuting capability. He had some opinions that he would have liked to have seen implemented.

  The classic T-10 parachute with its four second deployment count was being phased out for the T-11, with its six second count. All this meant that the direction the US military was taking was to jump from higher altitude, thus creating greater risk to the aircraft and the paratroopers.

  When he had jumped with the Brits, they were using the ‘LLP’, or low level parachute, that deployed rapidly but had a slower rate of descent. It was regularly jumped in training at six hundred feet, and could be jumped in combat at two hundred and fifty feet, without a reserve parachute since there would not be time to deploy one.

  In contrast, US military training jumps took place from altitudes around one thousand feet. Jack had also seen that the Brits had perfected the low level ‘overhead assault’ and had a simple system to rig for it. Knowing that he did not have access to the LLPs, but that he was jumping into a potential hornets nest on the Mall, Jack asked for a jump height of four hundred feet using the older T-10 parachutes.