by Unknown
They were greeted at the plane by Colonel Clayton and General Watkins; each man shook hands and introduced themselves. They took the nickel tour back to the posts headquarters building and like all of those who had gone before them they were amazed at what had been accomplished. It demonstrated what their own posts could be like if they had put the work into it. This is one of the reasons that General Watkins had these meetings at Camp Parks most of the posts they had made contact with were in the process of being abandoned such as Davis-Monthan or were running the post in a half-ass fashion that was driving down morale and causing folks to go AWOL. Colonel Clayton was able to accomplish so much because of prior planning by the Special Operations Community and the training the SF Soldiers went through, it was also his no bullshit approach to everything that helped a great deal.
At the headquarters building they met Colonel March who made the presentation which included the status of forces in the current theater of operations. The most important part of the presentation was they learned that the United States Air Force was alive and well, it could be classified as flourishing. The three Colonels were definitely impressed and they knew they had the means and capabilities at Davis-Monthan to contribute to the security of the country. There was a gold mine of old planes that could be pulled out of mothballs and either used for parts or flown again. The knowledge was certainly there. Fuel in the future would be an issue but for now they had plenty of it on base that had been sitting underground but no way to get to it. Colonel March assured them it was accessible and it could be gotten at fairly easy.
The big issue for them was that Tucson must be secured and no one knew that status of the town. General Watkins was willing to send his forces into Indian Country to secure the area between Fort Irwin and Tucson. Colonel March informed them that operations to do just that had begun this morning with reconnaissance flights investigating the potential routes between the Fort and the Air Force Base, he was willing to commit all United States Forces to retake the area if need be. The United States Military now had close to fifty thousand men and women under its command General Watkins said they would take on all comers who wanted a fight. This was our country and we would take it back from whoever wants to take it away. The General Acknowledged it was going to take a while especially since they had no idea what was going on in Southern California which prior to the event had a huge military industrial complex as well and home to the Marines and US Navy. He assured everyone that he was leaving this up to the United States Navy and Marines to solve.
The meeting lasted all day and ended with a nice meal at the mess hall. After dinner they took a tour of the housing areas and the camps located off post. It was something to see all of these people living here, they were thriving their standard of living wasn’t what it used to be prior to the event but it looked like most had adjusted to it. Colonel Clayton told them not to be fooled by what they see there was still a lot of misery outside of the area people were barely getting by and crime was still a problem in some areas, Colonel Datak pointed out that crime no matter how secure an area would always exist and not to beat himself up about it.
The next morning was the final meeting between the Officers from Davis-Monthan and the General and his staff. The General wanted to know where they stood; all three men from Davis-Monthan told the General they didn’t understand the question. That they were Officers in the United States Air Force sworn to defend the country from all enemies. The General said that he would be sending a Company of Paratroopers as well as two Special Forces A-Teams to Davis-Monthan to help with security however their primary purpose was to secure Tucson. They needed to get Air Force Security personnel back on the job to secure the base. He also wanted a status report of all functioning vehicles as well as aircraft. By the end of the week he would fly into Davis-Monthan for a briefing on where they were on the aircraft revitalizing effort he said they needed bombers first and then fighter aircraft. His rationale for that was there was no one threatening them right now with other fighters but if they were to expand their reach they could certainly bomb the hell out of an opponent until ground forces could be deployed.
By early afternoon the three Colonels from Davis-Monthan were on their way back to base, their heads swimming with so much information and a new mission, they were excited now it was time to get the troops excited and back to work, hopefully it would be easier said than done.
They arrived back on base in the early afternoon there was a stark difference between Camp Parks and the Air Force Base. Colonel Datak stood there looking at the bases flag poll that used to fly the flag of the United States, there was nothing flying now. He turned and went to his headquarters building, the female Captain his aide was there waiting for him. Captain Fleming I want a flag on that poll within the next hour, I want daily revile and taps is that clear? I want guard duty reestablished and I want it done no later than tomorrow. Put out the word to everyone; that everyone will report in uniform to their respective command at 0600 tomorrow. He then asked her if she had any questions, she responded negative Sir and she moved out to execute the Colonels orders.
Colonel Blakely the Commander of 309th AMRG returned to his headquarters building from his office he had a slight view of the immense graveyard he knew that the men and women under his command had an immense job. They had to find flyable aircraft out there, but he knew there was aircraft in there they could use. Major Dunhill was his XO and he had met him at the HQ, “Major,” the Colonel Said. “I want everyone here in uniform ASAP no excuses.”
“Yes Sir, do to what may I ask?” said the Major.
“Major we’re going hunting.” stated the Colonel.
“I’m sorry Sir I don’t understand?”
“Major we’re going out into the boneyard and find us aircraft that we can recover and fly.”
“Sir is that possible?”
“Yes Major it should be I have all the confidence in the world that we can. We need to find B-29’s, C-47’ and C-24’s to start with next we want to look for some old fighters maybe P-50’s and P-51’s.”
“Sir we still have those aircraft out there?” the Major was perplexed.
“They’re out there Major we just gotta go get them, I want them all brought in one way or another and let’s see where we’re at with them. “
“To what point Sir why?”
“Great question Major the first one you should have asked.” said the Colonel flatly. “Once everyone is present I will explain everything. Now get going we have a long day still.”
With that the Major took off and left the headquarters building to gather the troops it was going to be a hell of a day.
Colonel James Commander of the 355 Fighter Wing returned to his headquarters building his XO was Lieutenant Colonel Orikin. Both men were pilots and had flown just about everything the Air Force had but this was going to be different. The aircraft that he and his pilots were now going to have to fly were older than all of the men and women in his Command, well not age collectively. They had challenges certainly, for instance there were no trainers and no airplanes, well maybe there were, the Colonel had an idea. General Watkins was coming back at the end of the week for a briefing; they certainly wouldn’t have any aircraft ready to fly here by then. What if he could get his pilots training and flight time on the C-47 and B-29 that they already had and how was Travis Air Force Base dealing with all of this he wondered.
There was an outline of a plan now coming together it was all hands on deck all over the base. It was going to be tough at first getting everyone back in the Air Force swing of things but all three Colonels felt this was a good thing they had a mission and they were going to execute it.
Chapter Fifteen
Mel had arrived at Fort Huachuca two weeks ago she was starting to miss the kids and John more each day. She had been very busy lately with General Watkins and to an extent John volunteering her time. She understood the big picture as John liked to preach but she still had a family to take care of and a
fter Travis Air Force Base she thought she would have her own time to relax and focus on the kids. Not yet though, she was home for just a few weeks when John and the General asked her to go to Fort Huachuca to help get their family Services organization up and running. Most if not all of these posts had family service organizations prior to the event but they were run by civilians and in most cases those civilians had disappeared after the event.
Because of her success at Camp Parks she had become the Family Services expert and everyone wanted her help. Part of the problem with Fort Huachuca was that the fort had isolated itself from Sierra Vista the town just outside the gate. The fort military personnel didn’t want to believe or believed they didn’t really need the civilian help anymore. General Watkins had certainly cleared up that misconception with them and ordered them to secure the town and get their shit together, his words not hers, he also added that it was their job to protect the civilians until law enforcement could be reestablished.
The Company of Marines that General Watkins had ordered to secure Sierra Vista was quick and efficient. They had found that several gangs had taken over the town and what civilians that were still alive, served them. The gangs were made up of thugs that were part of the town’s seedy underworld of crime and drugs. When the event hit the police found themselves overwhelmed and unable to respond they were also out gunned 5-1 they were a small police force. Many of the officers were executed by the gangs as revenge killings were happening city wide. The one thing about Arizona was that guns were prolific that’s the biggest thing that set the Bay Area in California apart.
However, the outlying ranches were still under the control of the owners they were heavily armed and had the means to travel around the area by horse or ATV’s which still ran. The gangs were stupid enough to attack the Marines repeatedly and they were cut down where they stood they were not taking prisoners. As far as the Marines were concerned it was a war of attrition and they weren’t going to take any shit you were either with them or against them and if against them you were going to die.
Sierra Vista wasn’t a big city by any means a mile by a mile or so maybe two, they moved through each neighborhood driving through in armored Humvees with turrets and machine guns in those turrets. The purpose of that was to draw out all the bad guys if they fired on the vehicles they returned fire and called in the squads that were waiting in reserve to come clear out the area. The technique was effective and they had used it in other areas around the San Francisco.
After a week of fighting the gangs were gone or hiding and the town for the most part was as secure as it was going to get. Civilians came out of hiding and greeted the Marines with open arms the first question was why them and not the Soldiers on the Fort. The Marines explained that the Soldiers on post were not infantry they were communications and intelligence Soldiers which most people in town knew. The next question was where the hell did they come from? That took a lot more explaining and some people didn’t want to believe them.
Once the Marines had secured the town then Mel could start to put the word out that jobs were available on post in exchange they would be able to move onto post, they would be paid in security, food, housing, and whatever else the post could offer. The word had caught fire in town and the job applicants lined up for what seemed miles.
General Watkins had also ordered the post to set up a civilian security force the Special Forces A-Teams would train them and they would be supervised via military and civilian oversight. There were a lot of people that lived in town that were still alive; they estimated that almost three-quarters of the population had been lost in the city during the last ten months due to starvation, sickness, revenge killings and the gangs.
Then there was the Sierra Vista Medical Center which was a disaster, General Watkins had sent several Military Medical Teams to get it all straightened out and get it up and running. All of this was compounded by the fact that Sierra Vista was so isolated but the area had thrived in the 1800’s what was called the wild west and so it could certainly do it again. They could for the time being fly in everything they needed but they couldn’t keep in it as fuel was still and always would be a concern. What they needed was the damn railroad to run people, goods and materials to the Fort and the Air Force Base for that matter.
Every time Mel went into one of these areas she has always heartbroken by what she saw there was so much misery in the towns outside the gates of the bases. She wasn’t like John who had become numb to it all, maybe because it was his job and his military service in the past that taught him to be so disconnected. Mel wanted to help anyone and everyone she knew that all of the resources they had were finite these places had to learn to fend for themselves. Fort Irwin didn’t take much to get up and running they were more than half way there when she arrived. Travis needed a lot of help they like Davis-Monthan they had given up primarily because they felt they had no more missions, this was a problem of leadership not being able to think outside of the box and come up with solutions. She had learned the more she came into contact with the various leaders that in a lot of cases the leadership was taught to follow orders and not go off on their own, essentially stick to the plan with no deviation. Her other observation was that combat Soldiers and Marines often came up with solutions to situations that where unique and were able to adapt and overcome but not their supporting units.
At the end of her three weeks at the Fort she had finally got everyone hired and trained she had at least one more week here and that was to closely supervise and observe to ensure everything was running. What she really wanted to see was the new staff getting the families more involved with the Fort and how it was being run, the Military had to give some ground with all of the families and civilians living on post now which did grate a bit with the senior military Commanders but it was something they could live with. The only time they could declare full military control was if the post was under direct military threat.
Her next step was to take her and her staff out into Sierra Vista to see what the Army could really do for the remaining population. The gangs had raided the big box stores in town and horded away all of the good for themselves. The Marines and the Army had found it all and handed it off to Mel to have it distributed to the local population. The gangs had also taken the food and other items from the local grocery stores and markets, again the Marines and Army had found the stores but they would keep a lot of it and distribute what they could.
Mel created various teams to scavenge through empty homes to get from them what they could, she had learned that the vacated homes were goldmines in food, blankets, medicine and water items they would need. The homes that were occupied they would interview the people and get a headcount and find out what they needed.
She advised the teams to approach homes carefully people were nervous and maybe armed and a little trigger happy. Along with each team went a couple of Soldiers or Marines to deal with the nervous trigger happy folks. The gangs had done a pretty good or bad job depending on how you look at it weeding out the homes of the people who were likely to fight back. They entered homes where entire families had been slaughtered right down to infants, it was sad. At a minimum they could give them a decent burial which there was a lot of that going on.
Another week had passed for Mel as the teams wrapped up the house to house searches she felt they had it under control and didn’t need her direct intervention anymore. She also had several bulletin boards at several points along the Forts perimeter for the civilians to read about upcoming events, in this case the giving out items they had gotten from the gangs who took them big box stores in town.
It also announced they were looking for a citizen advisory board; the board would work with the military hand-in-hand to supervise what was going on in town, to oversee the civilian security forces and to get whatever utilities back on line. The board would be made up of twelve members of the community there would be no mayor each member had an equal vote but could be overridden by the Forts Comman
der. The board had no jurisdiction over any military matters at all which really wasn’t all that different from the city council prior to the event. The board this first time would be appointed by the Forts Command Staff but in the future they would be determined by elections.
One day an elderly gentleman showed up at the front gate he introduced himself to the MP at the gate as Darrel Isa and asked if he could speak to the man who was in-charge of the posts communications systems. He refused to tell the MP why he needed to but his instructions were to be civilian friendly so he asked him to take a seat. The MP contacted the Signal Brigades Headquarters on post and told them there was some elderly man asking to speak with the Colonel for reasons unknown. The message was relayed to the Colonel who was for some reason intrigued by it, he didn’t know why. He had his driver bring the vehicle around and they left for the main gate it took all of ten minutes to get there. He walked into the guard house and there was a man of about seventy years old sitting patiently, the Colonel walked over, “Mr. Isa? I’m Colonel Braxton 11th Signal Brigade. How can I help you?”
“Yes I’m Darrel Isa …nice to meet you Colonel.” Darrell looked around lost in thought for a moment. “Colonel you know what ham radio is?”
“Yes Mr. Isa I’m familiar I know what short wave radio is.” replied the Colonel. “We had one that was actually working until a few weeks ago. One of the tubes blew and it hasn’t worked since.”