by Cliff Deane
Levi complimented them on their study habits and asked when Tim and Kevin would solo?
“Susan said, “Sir, they will solo tomorrow, and we will be cramming as much stick time as possible before we smoke that Caliphate convoy, and I have to tell you, sir that their gunnery skills proved to be far beyond what I would have expected when we hit those mosques.”
Levi congratulated them on such rapid progress, then warned them not to break the Snakes.
“Major Turner, once you have finished your class, please send Lts. Simms and Levins to my quarters, oh, and please accompany them.”
“Yes sir, is five minutes all right?”
Levi told her to make it ten.
Exactly ten minutes later the three Officers knocked on Levi’s tent pole and were told to enter.
Major Turner was about to formally report to the General, but Levi waved her off, saying, “No reporting required Major, this is a personal matter.
All three looked to Levi’s desk and saw his pistol atop his desk, and a disassembled M4A1 in the process of being cleaned.
Levi told Susan and Kate to have a seat but left Kevin standing. After several seconds Levi, without looking up at Kevin asked, “LT what exactly are your intentions as pertains to my daughter?”
Kate started to rise, but Levi’s hand motion caused her to remain seated.
Kevin was now becoming very nervous but stood his ground saying, “Sir, my intentions are honorable. I assure you that I have nothing but the greatest respect for Katherine.”
Levi looked sternly at Kevin and said, “Son, I approve of you sparking my daughter, but I must warn you that my pistol is always loaded, and yes, I will probably be up all night just cleaning this gun. We good?”
Kevin could only sputter out, “Yes sir, we’re good.”
Levi then looked up and standing said, “Kevin, I think you are a fine man, and yeah, we’ve been pulling your leg. I know how you treat Kate and I know you both will do the right thing,” then held out his hand for Kevin to shake.
Now, realizing the spoof, Kevin said, “Sir, you scared the crap out of me.”
Levi then began laughing and told Kevin that it was all Kate’s idea.
“Oh, thanks, Dad, why don’t you just drop a sack of quarters on me, huh?”
“Go on, you two, go take a walk or something. Go on, now, git.”
They got.
After they left, Susan came to Levi and said, “You are so bad.”
“Yeah, I know, but I’ve always wanted to say that to a young suitor, but having no daughter before, I never thought I would be able to, and yeah, I loved it, now would you please come on over here?”
***
Chapter 10
Birds of Prey
22 July 2315
A convoy, led by a 1967 Mercedes Benz S-Class Touring Car, a 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air and fifty-five trucks and trailers were traveling in lights-out driving mode, slowly making their way onto highway 47A. The Caliphate’s Leading Mullah, along with the General, commanding Islamic Forces in Cleveland sat in the back seat of their Staff Car; the plan was to slip away from Cleveland using the deepest darkness of night for cover and travel overland to Dearborn.
Highway 47A is an old, narrow secondary route that had been only lightly traveled prior to the CME. While the road still held many stalled vehicles, it was, for the most part, traversable, albeit slowly.
All appeared to be going well for the first hour, and the convoy had been able to travel nearly ten miles when the blinding searchlights from five Super Cobra Gunships lit up the convoy. Within seconds the Cobras opened fire, decimating the trapped vehicles which clogged the highway with nowhere to go.
The attackers flew low and fast over the first two vehicles of the convoy, attacking from three sides, and turned the remaining fifty-five trucks into burning hulks. The Gatling guns fired so fast the tracers (1 in 5) looked like solid ropes of fire at they tore through the thin metal of the trucks, and into the soldiers of the Caliphate. It was impossible to detect individual shots from the weapons on the Cobras as the only sound was a loud whir as the mini-guns spat bullets at a rate equal to six thousand round per minute.
The only survivors were the passengers of the first two vehicles leading the retreat to Dearborn.
As the Gunships flew overhead, slashing and tearing into the convoy with deadly bursts of GAU-17/A machine gun and M-61 Vulcan 20 mm cannon fire, the General ordered the driver to stop and shut down the motor. He believed that the Cobras had overlooked the two autos by the will and love of Allah; hopefully, they had thought that only trucks were in the column of vehicles.
The Mullah prayed, and the General exited his car to watch as the Gunships raked the column with devastating fire.
Within two minutes the Cobras had riddled every truck with bullets and incendiaries causing each to burst into flame from the massive explosions.
The battle was over before it had really even begun. The two trailing pickup trucks held eight soldiers who were able to leap from their truck to seek refuge in the drainage ditch along the highway. One of these soldiers was foolish enough to return fire, which allowed one of the Cobras to find them, sending an additional eight martyrs to their reward.
The lone soldier returning fire was able to empty one magazine into the belly of one of the Cobras as it passed just overhead. The armor surrounding the cockpit deflected all of the five rounds that struck the undercarriage, but a sixth round incredibly found its way into, what the crew called the “Jesus nut,” which locked up the rotor causing the Cobra to nose over and crash into the ground, bursting into flames. The crew died upon impact, just one second before the fuel from the ruptured fuel cells exploded.
The Huey Dust Off arrived just minutes after the crash but found no one to extract.
The Caliphate General leaped for joy as he saw the Cobra go down, and jumped back in the car. The Mullah asked what he had seen to make the General so happy.
“By the Grace of Allah, our forces martyred themselves like true servants of Allah, Allahu Akbar. With my own eyes, I have seen twelve aircraft of the Great Satan destroyed before the steadfast forces of the one true god martyred themselves, fighting like tigers, Allahu Akbar.”
The Mullah was also pleased and asked how many Gunships of the Great Satan had attacked the convoy?
“Only by the wonderful love of Allah were we able to escape death at the hands of the twenty attackers.
The Mullah looked at the General and said, “Only twenty, I myself counted twice that number before I invoked Allah to help us in this struggle, Allahu Akbar.
“Yes, of course,” said the General, did I say twenty; of course I meant forty. Though our forces sacrificed themselves, by the will of Allah, like giants, the destruction of so many enemy aircraft proves a great victory for the faithful, Allahu Akbar.”
“Yes,” said the Mullah, “a great victory indeed. Still, their power is mighty, and we must make sure that the Supreme Leader knows of their strength and savagery. Only the Grace of Allah allowed us to be saved this night; Praise be to Allah.”
“Indeed, all praise to Allah for allowing us to warn our Supreme Leader of the huge force, which I am sure will follow us to Dearborn. Muhollah Madjid, if it were not imperative that we fulfill the will of Allah to warn the Supreme Leader, I would personally remain behind to continue the fight against the evil which this way comes, Allahu Akbar.”
In the dark, the Muhollah smiled to himself and said, “Well Abdullah, perhaps I should go on alone so that you may, by the will of Allah, continue the fight; for if Allah wills it, you will be victorious while single handedly saving the Caliphate.”
The General quickly decided that the best thing would be for him to present a military evaluation of this great battle to the Supreme Leader.
“Yes, my friend, perhaps you are right; let us be on our way before the enemies of Islam send ground troops.”
The general thought this to be an excellent suggestion and ordered the driver to move out.”
*
23 July 0800
ROA TOC, AAR
Bedford
After receiving an abbreviated briefing on the ambush and the loss of one Cobra, at 0200 hours, Levi had ordered the air crews to bed. The full briefing would reconvene at 0800.
At 0800 Colonel Murtaugh called the meeting to order and asked Major Turner to brief the General on the assault upon the Caliphate convoy.
Major Turner stood and thanked Gus for allowing her to present the briefing.
“General, on 22 July at approximately 2315 hours, five AH Super Cobras attacked a convoy of fifty-seven Caliphate vehicles attempting to flee Cleveland and move to Dearborn.
The attack consisted of illuminating the convoy with searchlights immediately before engaging with Mini-Gun and 20 mm cannon fire which lasted for approximately two to three minutes.
During the attack, one Cobra was downed by small arms fire. I witnessed the aircraft as it was hit. The rotor locked and the sudden loss of forward motion caused the craft to nose over, and dive into the ground.
Considering the fact that the rotor so abruptly stopped turning, I must conclude that a single round, fired by an enemy soldier, made an incredibly lucky shot and hit what we call the Jesus nut. This inherent weakness in helicopter design appears to be unavoidable; still, a hit on this small target is incredibly rare and is akin, in odds, to winning a lottery.
The pilot and gunner were both killed upon impact which ruptured their fuel tank, causing an explosion that destroyed the aircraft.
Enemy vehicle losses consisted of fifty-five trucks with trailers, and unspecified military equipment; personnel losses are estimates only as the vehicles either burned or exploded. There were no known survivors among Caliphate Forces; however, two lead autos were allowed to escape as per your guidance.
Sir, this completes my After Action Report; are there any questions?”
Colonel Murtaugh asked, “Major Turner, why, exactly did you use searchlights rather than thermal imagery for this engagement?”
“Sir, I directed the use of searchlights to ensure that the surviving personnel would have a clear view of the devastating effect of our weapons systems upon their convoy.
It is, of course, possible that this decision is what led to the tragic loss of Bacon Grease, sorry sir, I meant to say Charlie 1-4.”
Gus interrupted before Levi could say anything and informed Major Turner that he felt her decision to use searchlights was entirely appropriate, and that in the fog of battle, there are often unforeseen and unavoidable developments that result in losses that are not preventable under any given set of circumstances. This tragedy truly proves the adage that the best Battle Plan goes to hell as soon as the first round is fired.
Gus said, “Major, I do not believe that the lighting up of the convoy led to this tragic loss from such a rare hit upon the; what was it you called it, the Jesus nut?”
“Yes sir,” replied Major Turner. The Jesus nut, or Jesus pin, is a slang term for the main rotor retaining nut. This one piece holds the main rotor to the mast of predominantly Sikorsky rotor driven aircraft, such as the Huey and Cobra helicopters; or more generically it could be considered to be any component that represents a single point of failure with catastrophic consequences. The Jesus nut itself consists of a one piece nut and gear that is about the diameter of an adult male’s hand.
If the Jesus nut is hit by enemy fire; it will fail in flight, causing the main rotor to abruptly stop its rotation as it locks into position, causing the helicopter to go nose over. The rotor then detaches from the rotor mast, and the only thing left for the crew to do is to "pray to Jesus."
“WOW!” said Gus, “That is one scary situation; I am certainly glad that it a very rare occurrence.”
“Yes, sir, as are we all.”
Following a deep breath with a loud exhale, Gus said, “In closing, I want you, and everyone involved in this attack to know that this was a huge victory for the ROA’s 1st Brigade. With a force of only five aircraft, your Cobras destroyed a Caliphate Force of fifty-five target vehicles, equipment, and several hundred enemy combatants, with the loss of one Gunship.”
Gus then directed the planning group to prepare a major attack upon the Caliphate leadership in Dearborn. They were to utilize the air arm of the Brigade, coupled with sniper teams to take out any surviving members of the Caliphate hierarchy, should there be any, and also to provide feedback on the levels of success, or failure of the mission.
Those Infernal Drones
27 July 0700
Conference Room
Offices of the American Caliphate’s Supreme Leader
Dearborn
Supreme Leader Ghazanfar Ali Khan sat, along with the Senior Clerics, Corps General Anwar Saifullah Khan and his Senior Staff Officers. They had gathered for the formal briefing from Mullah Madjid, and General Abdullah Khan, a distant cousin of both the Supreme Leader and the Corps General.
General Khan was asked for his briefing on the battle for Cleveland and the later engagement along Highway 47A.
Because the Supreme Leader was absolutely the Supreme Leader, the General directed his initial comments to the ranking Cleric in North America.
Placing the flat palm of his hand to his heart and bowing slightly, General Khan began his briefing by saying, “May Allah be praised, I come to you with both tragic and wondrous news. The city of Cleveland was, by the will of Allah, lost to us because of superior numbers and incredible fire power. The Great Satan has Tanks, Artillery, Infantry, and even many, many helicopter Gunships.
In numbers they are greater than ten thousand; I have personally seen their massed attacks against our own pitifully equipped force. Only the Grace of Allah allowed us to hold them off for many days until we ran out of ammunition; even then our brave soldiers of Allah fought hand to hand, killing many of the soldiers of the Great Satan. In the end, our lack of munitions and heavy weapons led to the defeat of our Worshipful Soldiers of Allah, forcing us to withdraw and regroup.
Though I would have much preferred to remain behind to fight a guerilla campaign, I felt it necessary to attempt to retrograde back to Dearborn to reinforce the garrison here, and to ensure that you fully comprehend the gravity of the battle ahead of us.
They have small drones that can see within buildings informing the enemies of Islam, Allahu Akbar, of our presence. They also have many Abrams seventy-two ton tanks, armored vehicles, Cobra Gunships, and large numbers of well trained and equipped Infantry.
As we attempted to slip away during the night’s deepest point of darkness, we were attacked by forty Helicopter Gunships, which eventually ravaged our column. However, Allahu Akbar, our brave soldiers were able to down twelve of the Great Satan’s Aircraft. Both Muhollah Madjid and I both saw this with our own eyes, but in the end, the firepower of this enemy was too great, and the attackers martyred all of our brave fighting men.”
Corps General Anwar Saifullah Khan asked, “General, how is it that you survived this attack while losing your entire command?”
Nervously Abdullah Khan said, “It was only by the grace of Allah, the one true God. The enemy obviously thought that the two staff cars leading the convoy were simply two stalled vehicles. They flew directly over us and did not fire a shot toward us, which I am sure is only because Allah wished it to be so, Allahu Akbar.”
“Yes, I see,” said the Corps General, “now, tell me cousin Abdullah, what you suggest we do to prepare for the battle to come?”
Turning to the Supreme Leader, Abdullah said, “I would, with the guidance of Allah, barricade every street with autos and trucks, place explosives in many vehicles and under the manhole covers. We must find a way to shoot down these tiny drones used by Satan’s Army, perhaps with shotguns; this will allow us to establish ambushes and snipers. We must make them fight for every building in Dearborn and Detroit. Doing this will, Allah be praised, whittle the enemy infantry down until they are no longer a threat. We must use explosives to destroy t
he tracks on the Tanks and other tracked vehicles.
I believe that we, as soldiers of Islam, can defeat this huge, well-armed force by making them come into our kill zones.”
The Supreme Leader asked, “But what of the flying machines, how do we defeat them?”
“Holy one, I have also thought of this; our snipers must be quickly trained to shoot into the engine compartments, gun mounts, and into the cockpits to kill the pilots. This can all be done following the destruction of their hideous drones, Allahu Akbar.”
Turning to the Corps General, the Supreme Leader asked, “Tell me, Corps General Anwar Khan, is this a feasible plan that will please Allah?”
“Yes, Holy one, we have also prepared such a plan, which will be enhanced by the information, granted to our cousin Abdullah by Allah, concerning the enemy strength and those satanic drones. Yes, this plan will work. Our forces number nearly twenty times the forces arraigned against us. Yes, it can be done, by the grace of Allah, Allahu Akbar.”
The Supreme Leader said, “Then that is what we shall do. Tell me, Anwar, when can we expect this attack?”
The Corps General told the Supreme Leader that the enemies of Islam will soon be bogged down from of the road cratering done by the sappers. “I believe this should sufficiently slow their progress into our web by several days. Therefore, I anticipate no action prior to 5 or 6 August.”
“Excellent,” smiled the Supreme Leader, who then asked, “and what shall we do with the four spies of the approaching enemy? It must be something that will place great terrors in the hearts of these infidels.”
“Yes, we have decided, with your approval, of course, that we shall crucify their bodies after placing their heads atop each cross and placing them along each side of the road. This demonstration will instill a terrible fear in our enemy’s hearts and minds.”