by Ron Foster
The list of stuff he and Bertha came up with to assist in fertilizing, treating plant diseases etc. if we could find such items grew every day as discussions of provisioning or foraging this little outpost for spring were refined and discussed.
The big bone of contention amongst the preppers and the overseer of this place was Crick and David made a decision to form a militia. That defense of the plantation was important Clem and Bertha could agree on but saw no sense in putting a label on it or practicing what they thought was stupid drill and ceremonies of getting everyone to march around in step or do the attention or at ease drills the military minded said were necessary.
David tried to explain to Clem and Bertha that such mindless playing soldier drills were necessary to enforce cohesiveness and respect for authority so folks got used to taking orders without question until they found out Clem and Bertha just couldn’t march for the life of them and insisted on participating and trying it out. It didn’t help much when Bertha decided to borrow that generals hat she made for the goat to wear when it was time to muster and seeing a picture of Napoleons hat in an encyclopedia from the big house became something that she insisted Clem should wear was added to the spectacle of them soldiering up for a drill. Clem added a big buzzard feather to his ensemble because he couldn’t find a turkey feather because to his way of thinking he resembled something from Robert E. Lee’s confederate army and everybody sort of chuckled when they first saw them thinking it was a joke instead of how seriously they thought about them ridiculous hats. Hats like flags had great meaning to them and they took them seriously.
Well, there weren’t nobody that had any serious Drill Sergeant time in this man’s Army but there were plenty of folks that had been marched around or been yelled at by one or two of them Smokey the Bear hat wearing break you down to military service loud mouthed purveyors of the soldier spirit so we had discord aplenty as to how and why certain individuals should be hollering cadence and marching troops particularly when the plantations bosses were so ill equipped to participate in the task or want things done their way..
Everyone sort of looked to Loomis first because of his hat and general demeanor to be Senior Drill Sergeant but he lacked that essential element of having done it been there and was just generally too damn nice of a person to try it out right. P.D. could do it because nobody would question him sharply on his authority but fear was not the way to lead troops, BCTruck was a likely candidate but his metal working skills and time were needed elsewhere, Pop Prepper was in the same boat with his wood working skills, Neil was more of a peace keeper than an order barker but we did put Karen in charge of the women’s league of rifles to support and assist us die hard no frontline women troops in a battle and guard the home front or minister to the wounded, David had had the most experience but would be leaving eventually and couldn’t sing cadence worth a damn nor wanted to but he wasn’t bad at getting the better vocalists to pick up the chant as quick as he could. Lowbuck could get everyone together to do what was needed but he didn’t cut the military figure or have the same ideas of discipline needed to just make people look like they were Hollywood marching without saying it didn’t matter and allowing some to diddly-bopping going on or be out of step himself. He could keep a group of Harley’s going down the road with a precision that would amaze you but when it came to marching he liked to play too much or allow others to deviate from the plan.
We old souls of the military schools knew that we all hated this march around in a circle crap but al of us generally say its necessity if you are going to be fielding troops right? You can’t get a man to jump up and charge a machine gun nest for example without making him not think about it and just be following orders drilled into him until he was halfway there already and realized it was that dangerous to blindly follow you when needed . You get so used to right face, left face, forward march etc. you just do it without thinking and don’t stop to ask why, you just try to perform it as quickly and with the most precision you can without thinking after a while of doing the drills.
When I say, ready set go you march and are listening closely for the next order. Your mind is in a different place and you are a unit. This is the way the military moves large groups of people in precision and order and positions them where they want.
If I say jump up and charge a machinegun because that is what its going to take to knock the thing out, sane minds rebel and say “Oh hell no” and want to object. There is no time in battle for objections, it is do or die. These stupid drills we do make people jump up and follow the leader without thinking and by the time they think of the “Oh shit, moment of what they are doing, they are already halfway to the objective or dead.
Bravery is something everyone wishes for or says they have, but that is not what is needed in battle, its follow orders regardless and drill and ceremony keeps you from second guessing what is natural in humans to shy from danger and protect their own skins first versus function as a unit as being the best way to do this.
Many a brave man or boy as a natural fact or conclusion thinks about increasing their own survival first by questioning the veracity of an order, but we seasoned soldiers know you can’t give them time to think for themselves and instead we train folks just charge. The cowardly, the weak, the more sane, the smarter etc. all follow the same singular rule of follow the order, support the unit etc. because for better or worse we all been psychologically conditioned to do so immediately under penalty or bravado. That is why we drill. There are no heroes, no fools, no cowardice or hesitation, just following orders and doing it to the best of your ability so the man or woman next to you doing the same thing has the same chance of survival and the mission gets done. That is your legacy that is your pride, no individuals, just a unit that can perform as one to the best their training or unit composition can do.
There are bad units and good ones and that’s a reflection on leadership and the willingness of its members to follow a leader. Some leaders rule by scare tactics, if you don’t trust your troops and you got to take that ground with a machine gun cutting down anything that moves, then you decide you are last man out of the foxhole that ordered the charge because those with less will to meet death for the unit have been threatened with death by your shot if they don’t join their fellow soldiers in what appears to be a suicidal charge. A good leader after carefully calculating the odds of living, leads by example and is first man out of the hole, hollering and yelling ‘follow me’. He is not worried that some in the group stay bunkered down until they see what happens to those that take the first fusillade of enemy fire.
A bad leader would send those types out first, the scared, the weak, and the untried to face death and think he or she was not wasting troops that were soon to be a casualty. If you got a bad leader that wasn’t wise or to gung ho in combat wishing for undeserved medals killing off his troops we had a thing called “fragging” to remove them. Basically, throw a hand grenade in his direction and get rid of the son of a bitch before he killed us all but that judgment would be made by better and more experienced men than you and that you better respect also.
It is very difficult to tell a civilian the mindset of battle hardened men or for that matter why we try to counsel and teach troops the way we do, basically it is a system to make everyone equal, an ideal we call an American soldier and all soldiers this nation fields represents the same ideal and the enemy knows how effective this freedom loving source will act and react.
It took a number of days to convince Clem and Bertha that their presence was a distraction to the fighting force we were creating and to just stay on their farm administration duties no matter how fearless and resourceful they were.
An odd scrap of a man took over the militarization of this force we planned to field by his quietness and commanding presence in all things military gained from hard experience from his tours of duty in WW II and Korea. This no self-assuming soul made his presence known when the militia was first being organized and the infantry ta
ctics of patrol and engage were trying to be implemented from the old sods of military forces from the cook section of Vietnam to the armor units of Afghanistan were invited to lend their expertise to the militarization of our normally friendly but highly individualistic force.
A small man of about 135 lbs soaking wet that might remind you of the old war hero Audie Murphy, stood up one day in a discussion and told the whole shooting match of us former and wanna be soldiers that we were full of shit in our expectations and had another grizzled old man standing next o him that used to be a Seabee back in the day that saw the Japanese civilians on the islands we invaded in the second world war jumping off cliffs to their suicidal deaths with children in their arms after the American Army took the island because they believed the propaganda of their warlords that we would torture or eat them if captured.
Real experiences, real heroics, real understanding of the nature of man and tried and true tactics no matter how long forgotten won out and a 80 and 85 year old that we all swore grown in stature and respect everyday gathered up the motley crew of would be militia men and women and taught their time worn half forgotten lessons.
Now these two had no notions of storming a beach or being on the Bataan Death March again in their lessons or demeanor but instead chose eventually who they thought could lead in battle the way they were once chosen and this insight was invaluable to the assembly as well as unlikely in who they picked for what chore.
It wasn’t the biggest, the baddest or the best they looked at, it was who was most stable and dependable amidst the crux of all things, would other people follow these designated leaders was the key.
5
ROCKING AND RANTING
Jimmy Rants and his wife Nancy followed an older RV that had seen its better days down the windy old roads leading to the “Factory’ as their new found friends had called it. Palmer and Marlissa were your average long in the tooth but youthful senior citizens you could bump into in any campsite in America. You never really get to know these types of folks unless you take the time to sit down with them for a moment and listen to their stories, how long they had been traveling across the U.S. or had they just been doing the seasonal migration thing was hard to say. They were in their late seventies but besides complaining about an ache or pain or two the pair were in pretty good shape for their age. This they attributed to being outdoors a lot and leaving their worries behind years ago. It just seemed nothing mattered much like it used to and they were content to have each other and the fun of interacting with like-minded strangers here and there under the auspices of friendly campers or fellow RV’ers sharing a park for a short time.
Jimmy had gotten homesick for the Deep South and had driven his RV down from the mountains to visit his hometown in Mississippi and go on further to vacation in Florida for a bit of fun and old time sake. This trip he was on started out as a part bucket list thing to do, a trial run of his family bugging out as well as meeting some prepper friends along the way that he had known for years on the internet but had never met in person.
That was what was funny about his meeting up with Palmer and his wife; Jimmy had talked to him in the comments section of his YouTube channel and by email for years without ever knowing the couple’s actual age or where abouts. When Jimmy and his wife talked to them on the phone about a meet up at St. Andrews Park in Panama City, Florida, Nancy had guessed they were sixty or so and Jimmy had just said it was hard to tell how old they were because he had been just cutting up with the feisty couple and had never thought to judge their age based on the conversation until Marlissa told them to look for the oldest couple with the white picket fence out in front of their RV.
Palmer and Jimmy were going to surprise another fellow prepper that they had interacted with for years named David at a prepper festival but the old heathen had decided he couldn’t make it this year and suggested they stop by his house on the way instead for a brief visit. That had really put a hitch in their plans and they had decided just to stay in Panama City beach and forgo the Prepper Stock event and catch David on their way home. Well that was the plan anyway before they woke up one morning and found out the poo was hitting the fan. The campground had already been experiencing power outages before they got there and the park attendant had cut their rates to almost nil for the inconvenience so they had no real idea it was lights out everywhere until about three days after the rest of the world already knew about it.
They had gone out “roughing it” as it were having previously left their RV`s parked at the campground and attending a coastal survival school put on by some former Air Force Para Rescue instructors out in the sticks with just their backpacks and tents to fill their needs.
The school was cool because the instructors accommodated everyone according to their expectations, degree of fitness and primitive camp life living capabilities.
The two couples joined five other would be survivalists in what was quaintly called the old codger dodger course. That meant a tent city Boy Scout camp like affair for the first two days of the course with campfire and chow hall meals for the over 50 campers and then a two-day trek to practice some real survival skills at a remote beach away from any electronics or communications.
No one even turned on a radio the whole time and the old Chief Master Sergeant running the course insisted on no cell phones or other distractions. The first anybody heard that there was a problem was after everyone got done saying their farewells to the instructors and fellow students and got in their cars to head home and turned a radio on or restarted a cell phone.
It was a twilight zone moment of incomprehensible disbelief as people turned their keys in the ignition and the warnings of “This is not a test, a national state of emergency has been declared, repeat this is not a test” blared through their vehicles speakers. Everyone just sat around dumbfounded staring at their radios waiting on more news or the candied camera folks to show up all the while looking shocked at whoever was sitting next to them in silence waiting to find out more before daring to speak.
Two vehicles pulled away almost immediately and cleared the parking lot like nothing was amiss, Jimmy guessed they must not of had their radios turned on, but for him and the couple riding with them it was a “Oh shit moment” for sure as they looked back and forth at each other over the car seats and began hand motioning to the other cars who were most likely listening to the same crap on the radio they were. This went on for about 5 minutes until some people hearing the Emergency broadcasting station repeats its warnings and advisements that more news would be available later and where to turn to for developing local news wore out their dials searching and becoming frustrated began hollering back and forth to each other from rolled down car windows.
“All I got was that a cyber attack had taken the grid down and terrorists had committed random acts of violence and bombings to further destabilize the situation. Damn announcers didn’t say who or what kinds of terrorists we got to be looking out for, stupid idiots are trying to be politically correct as usual but I bet it was the friggin middle east fanatics trying to bring on Armageddon or whatever wacked out theory some Imam was spewing at his followers.” Jimmy called over to the cadre vehicle next to him.
“Same here! Them or the damn Koreans.” an old Jump Master said before turning the radio down and getting out of the vehicle and waving his hand around in the air in a circle for everyone to rally upon him. After a few moments of confusion as people either hurriedly or begrudgingly formed up in front of the instructor staff, the Chief called everyone to order and began speaking.
“I don’t know what’s up or what is happening in the world guys any better than you. To those who have already left God’s speed and good luck to them. We that are still at this assembly area though listen up to me for a moment. You all came here to learn to survive and I told you that you would as long as you were under my care and as long as you remembered what it was that I was teaching you. It is now time for another lesson I guess and if you will be patien
t for a moment I will get to the point and we can all be on our way. First off, we do have some commo. Mr. Perkins here has a transceiver that can pick up local as well as distant radio signals in the shortwave and maritime bands. He is going to go off with Mr. Lewis over there to find some clear ground and listen in, I would say clearer and higher ground but we are in coastal Florida.” Chief said trying to make a lame joke and lighten up the mood as he looked over the assembly.
“Give him say about 20 minutes or so and we will have the best inside track intelligence you can get as to what is actually happening out there as he checks in with a few friendly HAM radio operators. In the meantime, I said further lessons were in order. I don’t need to tell you all there is no reason to panic or any such malarkey because you all are not the panicky types and came here to hone your own personal survival skills. However, let me remind you of what we learned the past few days, it’s not your personal survival you need to worry about, it’s your buddies, you keep him or her alive and they will keep you alive. Now then, you remember we divided in teams for the survival evasion and escape exercise as well as the combating aggressors’ course? I suggest while we are waiting for Mr. Perkins and Mr. Lewis to give us a report you divide up into those same teams we practiced here and compare some notes on where you are going and see if you can support each other further once you leave my domain and this property. If anybody has any thoughts of staying here or bugging back here if the city or country side is too hot, see my aide for further details. As far as I know all you all are heading back into the city first before going your separate ways, see if you can extend your aid to each other further in your conversations, meantime let me advise you that as far as this class is concerned we are heading out in a herd and school doesn’t let out until we reach the highway 231 junction. Then everyone can go their separate ways but try to have you a buddy to convoy with for as long as you can. There shouldn’t be more than the normal amount of crazy folks out I don’t think, but be alert, situational aware and cautious. Thank you all for coming out and taking the course once again, give me a few minutes and I will be back with an update.” The Chief said and went to talk to Lewis.