by Unknown
“Yes Sir.” She responded and left.
“Alright gentlemen call our rides in and let’s get moving we’re burning day light.” said the Colonel.
To the surprise of the guards at the barricades two Humvees came roaring up out of the desert to rest directly in front of them, then to further confuse them Colonel Datak and several men two who they didn’t recognize moved through the barricade and climbed into the vehicles. The Humvees were crowded with passengers to say the least uncomfortable was the word for the day but the airfield was fifteen minutes or so away so the suffering wouldn’t take so long.
As they got closer to air operations center the tail of the C-47 could clearly been seen, to Colonel Datak’s Air Force eyes it was the most beautiful thing he had seen in a long time. Captain Kahn had the vehicles stop; he climbed out of the vehicle over bodies and headed towards the plane looking for the Marines. He wouldn’t have to wait long as there was a challenge by one of the Marines and Captain Kahn was required to give the correct response that only he and the team members knew. Once the challenge and password game was over Captain Khan waved the rest of the vehicles in. About that time two other men arrived in uniform on bicycles. Captain Kahn wondered if the post leadership was so poor or that they couldn’t figure out what vehicles would run or not. One of the men was Colonel Paul James Commander of the 355 Fighter Wing and the other was Colonel Joseph Blakely the Commander of 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group.
Colonel’s James and Blakely quickly met with Colonel Datak to find out what was going on. They weren’t quite sure what to believe and questioned whether or not this was some sort of elaborate trap. Colonel Datak told them they didn’t have to go he held no authority over them but it’s possible that General Watkins did and who knows what might happen with that. In addition, Colonel Datak questioned there logic that it could be a trap, why a trap? What would they get? If they had what they said they did then they could have taken the base without much of a fight. Colonel’s Blakely and James backed off and said of course they were coming they just wanted to make sure they had thought it through.
After the plane was in the air Captain Kahn had come back to speak with the Colonels, “I’m sorry Sir’s I didn’t know at the time but we are going to have to drop off the Marines at Fort Huachuca first then we will be on our way to Camp Parks. We shouldn’t be on the ground to long.”
The flight to the Fort wasn’t long as they the plane approached the Forts airfield there were two things that the Colonel’s observed the Stars and Strips was flying high every place over the post and the other thing was that there was a lot of activity Soldiers everywhere working doing their job it was a sight for the three men to see it gave them the chills, it was good to see that the United States military was in fact on the job.
Chapter Twelve
Camp Grayling was starting to struggle with the new reality, moral was dangerously low and families were also struggling to stay afloat on post. Colonel Rodgers although was great at planning combat operations he wasn’t cut out for building a new society. He was under a lot of pressure to provide for everyone on post from the Soldiers to a new born baby, he just wasn’t cut out for this. He was struggling and everyone in the command could see it.
At 0330 that morning at Colonel Rodgers home on post there was a loud banging on his front door. Colonel Rodgers wasn’t happy about being rousted out of bed at this ungodly time in the morning, there would be hell to pay for the person that was at his door. The Colonel ripped the door open and looked at the poor Sergeant standing there, “What the hell do you want Sergeant and if this isn’t good I’m going to have your ass!”
“Sir,” said the Sergeant. “General Gregory is at the headquarters building he sent me to get you.”
Colonel Rodgers couldn’t have been more surprised, “Major General Gregory here?”
“Yes Sir he’s here.” replied the Sergeant.
“Major General Gregory from Lansing is here?” Colonel Rodgers couldn’t quite get over it.
“Yes Sir he asked you to report to him as soon as possible, I’m pretty sure he meant now.” stated the Sergeant.
“Why is the General here?” asked the Colonel. “How did the General get here?”
“Sir I have no clue why the General is here and as far as how, he arrived here with fairly long convoy Humvee’s pulling artillery, Humvee ambulances, they brought the whole kitchen sink.”
“Alright Sergeant give me a few minutes to pull myself together come and take a seat in the living room, can I get you something to drink?” said the Colonel.
“No Sir I’m fine and thank you for letting me in.”
With that Colonel Rodgers led the Sergeant in and had him take a seat and then hurried off to get dressed. In fifteen minutes Colonel Rodgers was back, dressed and ready to go, “Ok Sergeant I’m ready let’s hit the road.”
“Yes Sir.” And with that the Sergeant escorted Colonel Rodgers out to the Humvee to his 0400 meeting with General Gregory.
Within minutes they arrived at the posts headquarters building which was ablaze with lights and you could hear the generators running in the rear of the building. There was a ton of activity going on in and around the building. On his brief drive in it looked like the artillery units that had accompanied him in were setting up combat batteries around the post which stuck him as odd the only reason to do that is if they were expected to come under attack but who would attack them.
Colonel Rodgers walked into the headquarters building General Gregory’s staff was busy. The Generals Chief of Staff, Colonel Falk, approached Colonel Rodgers, “Please come with me Colonel.”
Colonel Rodgers followed Colonel Falk into Colonel Rodgers own office where apparently General Gregory had taken over.
Colonel Rodgers came to attention and saluted, “Sir, reporting as ordered.”
General Gregory returned the salute, “Thank you for the use of your office and coming so quickly Colonel I appreciate it.”
Colonel Rodgers still standing at attention while the General looked through some documents. Then he looks up at the Colonel, “Colonel where are your patrols? On our way in we didn’t see any sign of military activity in Grayling in fact I have met with citizens that stated you’ve had nothing to do with them. Are you even aware of what’s going on outside that gate?”
“I’m sorry Sir I don’t understand?” replied Colonel Rodgers.
“Colonel what’s your mission here?” asked the General.
“Sir well – my mission is to maintain the forces under my command.”
“Colonel,” the General said sternly. “Your mission is to defend the United States from all enemies foreign and domestic and to uphold and defend the constitution. You can’t do that by hiding behind the wire.”
“Yes Sir I understand that but I was worried about losing assets.”
“We are the United States Army unfortunately we lose assets its part of the job. There is a whole world of hurt heading this way and if you were involved outside of the wire you would know that Colonel!”
“Sir I’m afraid you’ve lost me again.” said Colonel Rodgers.
“Dammit Colonel your first responsibility was to the people of Grayling do you understand that? When law enforcement failed it was your job to pick up the pieces or try to.” The General was angry.
“Yes Sir I’m getting that now.” The Colonel didn’t seem apologetic at all he seemed inconvenienced by the General.
“Question Colonel, do you raise the flag in the morning? Lower it in the evening?” asked the General.
“Well….no Sir after everything that’s happened it didn’t seem a priority anymore.” The Colonel was clearly confused.
“Colonel - Soldiers, no people in general need a purpose, something to believe in, they need a routine that they understand and can get behind. You but all stripped these people of a national identify. “
Colonel Rodgers was fuming, “Sir with all due respect this is my post not your
s!”
“Colonel Rodgers you stand relieved of duty this is a United States Military Camp under the control of the State of Michigan and the United States of America. Now Rodgers you can go quietly or I can call in the MP’s and have you arrested and thrown in the stockade.”
Colonel Rodgers was stunned, “You can’t do that to me I’m in charge here!”
“That’s the way it’s going to be then Rodgers.” General Gregory looked at him steely eyed. “Colonel Flak!” yelled the General.
Colonel Flak showed up at the Generals door with two MP’s, “Colonel Flak please place Colonel Rodgers under arrest and place him in the stockade.”
“Sergeant Cruz,” Colonel Flak addressing the MP. “Please handcuff Colonel Rodgers and place him under arrest.”
The two MP’s stepped forward, the Sergeant spoke, “Colonel Rodgers please place your hands behind your back.”
Colonel Rodgers thought the entire situation surreal he placed his hands behind and felt the cuffs click around his wrist and the MP’s grasped his arms on each side and escorted him out of the building.
The General addressed Colonel Flak, “I want reveille, I want a damned flag on that poll and I mean now and I want it lowered in the evenings. It’s about time we put the Army back into these people. I want patrols outside the wire daily I want defensive positions in and around Grayling; LPOP’s the whole nine yards. The only bright spot I saw or even heard of was the local hospital was working with the medical unit on post until Rodgers cut them off. Let’s get that started again. I want to talk to all the officers on post at 0900.”
“Yes Sir I’ll get right on it.” Colonel Flak turned and left the office, it was time to get the ball rolling.
Chapter Thirteen
The Caliphate had spread over several states within ten months of the event, the large cities they had by passed for now, there was so much chaos within the cities they were slowly consuming themselves. The smaller towns folded easily as most people were starving and dying of thirst there we communities and neighborhoods of course who fought and fought hard. However, the Army of Allah now had almost forty thousand men under arms. The ages of the Soldiers was dropped to twelve years old and stretched to sixty, many were conscripted into service their families were held hostage, they either fought for the Sultan or the man and his family were slaughtered.
They had also stopped the killing of non-believers they were used as slaves but were treated horrendously and required to follow Sharia Law which they didn’t really understand and were often in violation of it and not because of some rebellious attitude they just didn’t know. When in violation the punishments were physical in nature, generally public whipping or public stockade. They had truly stepped back a hundred years.
All women were treated like animals and didn’t have many privileges at all they were there to serve the men. Male children at the age of five were removed from the families and sent to a local madrassa to build them into proper Muslim’s. Daughters were left at home and were not allowed any type of education other than taking care of the home.
The Army of Allah was made up of light infantry; the Soldiers got modest training before being sent out to the field to join their respective units where they would get more training. The average Soldier was armed with an AR-15 the Soldiers who had been with there units the longest had an AK-47, M16A3 or M4A2. These weapons had been confiscated from police departments or private collectors they had found, then there were the gun shops that had all sorts of weapon and many had many types of light and heavy machine guns.
Some of the police departments were very militarized some had armored personnel carriers which were liberated by the Soldiers and became part of the units TO&E. They were engaging some National Guard units and Army or Marine Reserve components. They gave a good fight and the Army of Allah took heavy losses when dealing with them but the military units didn’t have the numbers they were for the most part isolated from their parent units which might even be in another state. There were thousands of them but only hundreds United States military Soldiers. The Army of Allah would lose hundreds of Soldiers when fighting them, odd but they never knew how many US service members they killed as they would pull back taking their wounded and dead with them.
They had yet to capture any US military unit whole they always retreated and generally destroyed any equipment left behind. Rumor had it they were all pulling back to a place in northern Michigan called Camp Grayling. They would have to find out sooner or later but for now it wasn’t on the Sultans radar it was about gaining more ground and spreading the word of Islam. The Islamic States of America now covered most of Michigan, parts of Wisconsin, Indiana, Illinois and Ohio.
Steven Tuma saw the military in northern Michigan as a very real threat and he felt they needed to deal with it now. He knew the longer they waited the more they were able to dig in up there and plan a counter-attack. Steven had no clue what types of units were up there he felt they were probably no different from his own even though the units they had been running into were artillery which they had all of two pieces with no ammo for. He also had no idea the number of Soldiers they had but there was no way they could have more than he had, not to mention they had Allah on their side surely he wouldn’t let the infidels defeat him. His other problem was that he couldn’t convince the Sultan to go after them, he told him all in good time, Allah has his ways; we will all know the time when he tells us.
Steven was as much as a believer as the Sultan but personally he believed that Allah gave them this land to take and they needed to take it now. But, he would follow the Sultans orders for now he was the religious leader as well and if Steven tried to reject the Sultans wishes then the Army would revolt against Steven and he would be killed. If anything he needed to wait a bit longer to determine if the Sultan was going to be that strong leader he needed him to be, so far he had but there are been no real threat to them, the US military in the north might just be that threat.
Once the Army of Allah had over ran a town or city, which wasn’t all the hard because of the local populations had been devastated by the event, they solidified their conquest by rounding up the remaining residents and moved them to a rehabilitation center which was called an Islamic Educational Center. Once there they were given to choice of converting to Islam and if they chose to convert they were moved to a different type of education center. The ones who refused there were two things that may have happened, the women and young children were moved to farms to plant and pick crops primarily for the Muslim populations within Caliphate. The boys and men in most cases were conscripted into the Army and used as shock troops they were sent in first, most were killed right off and there Islamic Commanders didn’t care they were non-believers they felt they could do with them as they pleased.
In some cases they had bombs strapped to them and went into a town or city and set themselves off killing anyone around them or disabling a piece of equipment that was being used against them. They did it because if they didn’t do it their wives and children would be killed and there was always the hope some sort of rescue would come sometime in the future to save them all.
All-in-all it was a horrendous life for the captives and not at all the greatest for the Muslims themselves. There were a lot of restrictions on the average Muslims life even more if you were a woman. Prayer five times a day, hours of study of the Koran required by everyone, then you were required to work, the jobs they did were not much better than the slaves, the difference was they got paid and earned all sorts of food and fuel. It was also hard to balance the needs of the Army of Allah and the requirements of the community, especially since women were prohibited from working outside of the home.
Jobs needed to be filled, new homes built, holes dug for outhouses then the outhouses themselves. Blacksmithing and auto-repair of the few cars that were available which weren’t many ninety percent of the fuel went to the Army. There was so much to be done but there were no men around to do it, complaints were re
aching the Sultan and to Steven Tuma’s dismay the Sultan was listening. He ordered that men who had completed ninety days of service in the Army were allowed to return home for thirty days to help their communities out. Steven Tuma argued with the Sultan over this stating that it would affect his ability to carry out operations. The Sultan countered with that they needed to be reminded what they were fighting for and prolonged combat would definitely place a burden on the family. The Sultan wasn’t asking Steven Tuma what he thought about the order, it was an order and he would carry it out, secretly Steven Tuma fumed at it.
While this was welcome news to the families it didn’t apply to conscripts they were afraid that they would never come back once they saw how their families were being treated and in many cases the families had been killed anyway for a simple violation of Sharia Law. It was better to keep this news from them they wouldn’t fight if they thought their families were already dead.
The Army of Allah was now threating parts of Canada but only those near London, Hamilton and close to Toronto. Millions and millions of people had died for various reasons over the last year leaving these towns and cities easy pickings for a well-organized group, who reverently believed, most of them anyway, were doing God’s work. They were being driven by something entirely different from the gangs and other militias.
Chapter Fourteen
They were on final approach into Camp Parks Colonel’s James, Blakely and Datak stared out the windows. They weren’t prepared for what they were seeing, like the other Commanders who had first visited they were amazed and startled by what they saw. Camp Parks was everything they wanted their own Commands to be but they all had a long way to go and they knew it. Guilt washed over each man feeling now they didn’t do enough within their own Commands to facilitate health and welfare of the men and women under their Commands to include their families. These men isolated their Commands pulling back to the housing area and letting the rest of the world go to hell now realizing they shirked their duties now realizing they had a much greater duty to the citizens of the United States.