by Unknown
“Ortiz!” Sergeant Morgan called out.
“Yes Staff Sargent?” he responded.
“Did you see where the shot came from?” asked Sergeant Morgan.
“Yeah, yeah I did.”
“Can you get him?” asked Sergeant Morgan.
“Yeah if he exposes himself a bit longer then he has been.”
“Alright, on the count of three I’m up and running to the berm to the left he should be focusing on me. Will that do?”
“Yeah Staff Sergeant if he takes the bait.”
“Alright Ortiz on three….” said Staff Sergeant Morgan. “One, two, three –“ Staff Sergeant Morgan stood and ran full speed zigzagging towards the berm. Ortiz took aim waiting for the sniper to popup, just as he got his sight picture set on the second story window the sniper appeared. Staff Sergeant Morgan tripped and fell as was struggling to get up and he was in the open. Ortiz was settling his sight and slowly squeezing the trigger, a shot rang out, it was the snipers but he missed Staff Sergeant Morgan was now back up on his feet and running.
Ortiz fired and through his sights saw the snipers head explode from the impact of the round and he dropped down to the floor. Staff Sergeant Morgan was at the berm and gave Ortiz a thumbs up, the squad continued to maintain security and were surprised to see the train with its full complement of Paratroopers approach their position, slow and come to a stop. Except for the Soldiers who were on the machine gun positions on the train the rest of the company disembarked. Staff Sergeant Morgan moved to meet the CO of the contingent on the train, Captain Sheila Roberts. He meets her and gave her a quick rundown of what happened with the sniper and showed her the damage to the tracks.
Captain Roberts ordered a platoon of Paratroopers to clear the houses where the sniper was. The platoon moved towards the homes and was immediately engaged by machine gun fire coming from the second story of another house down the block from where the sniper was. The machine gunners on the train quickly returned fire lighting up the window that the fire had come from. One of the Paratroopers in the platoon that was moving towards him took one of the AT-4’s and fired it at the house and into the window causing a huge explosion blowing much the backend of the house out and starting the house on fire.
The platoon continued to move forward a bit more carefully, they moved into the housing area carefully scrutinizing each house. There were twelve houses and one was on fire, a squad was sent to check out the house the sniper was in, they entered it and cleared it, they found two more men who were armed and looking for a fight the paratroopers tossed a couple of grenades their way and that was it for them.
It took the Soldiers two hours to clear the rest of the houses and they found ten more men who decided that they would rather fight then run. All of them were killed; in the fourth house they cleared they found the railroad spikes that had been removed. Captain Roberts ordered that the rest of the homes be set on fire for two reasons; one it had already been proven that the homes were close enough to the tracks that they could cause problems, second reason was to send a message to anyone who believed it was smart to take them on.
Once the task was done they all loaded back up on the train, while the platoon had been clearing the housing area other Soldiers had repaired the tracks. Staff Sergeant Morgan and his squad departed and followed the tracks about five more miles ahead and didn’t see any more problems. Staff Sergeant Morgan radioed back that it was all clear for the next five miles; they sat and waited for the train to pass them. As the train passed Staff Sergeant Morgan and his men waved as they passed and then returned to the train station.
The train continued on its way unabated moving steadily and surely forward intent on showing force and the United States flag. As it passed near towns and villages the train blew its whistle startling the residents bringing smiles and joy to children. The planes had returned to flying cover for the train but only after the recent engagement in the housing area. Civilians could easily see the single white star on the wings of the fighters most adults knew what it represented they knew it was a sign that the United States Military was in the fight now, it was a good feeling for most of them, a bad one for those who had other ideas.
By 1030 hours the train pulled into the new rail area on Fort Huachuca everyone was there and the train and Soldiers on it looked no worse from wear. General Watkins had flown in to welcome them all, the Garrison and Intelligence Commanders were also there. The Soldiers on the train were going to rotate with the Marines and Paratroopers that were at the Fort, the train would return to Fort Irwin in three days.
The Garrison Commander of Davis-Monthan had briefed General Watkins the day before and had told them they had found two fully functional locomotives at the Train Museum in Tucson. They were being guarded by the Engineers themselves and other train enthusiasts and boy were they happy to see the Marines who had escorted the Airmen out there, progress was being made. They believed within the month they should be able to establish rail service for the military and civilians within the month now that they were sure the rails were clear. Privately General Watkins wondered if that was really true, there was always something or someone willing to throw a wrench in the best laid plans.
Chapter Twenty
Steven Tuma had been devising a plan to assassinate the Sultan and return the Caliphate to the true path of Islam. The Caliphate or Islamic States of America now stretched from what was Toronto Canada, all of Michigan (to include Camp Grayling, Grayling and the surrounding towns even though the Army of Allah had never set foot in the area), Indiana, Ohio, Iowa, Wisconsin (which didn’t include Fort McCoy), Illinois and Minnesota. They claimed places they had never been and didn’t even know if there was any Muslim population there and in a lot of cases the surviving inhabitants of those areas didn’t even know they were now citizens of the Caliphate.
Steven Tuma was now known as the Supreme General (or Supreme Commander) of the Army of Allah and in his mind he only had to answer to Allah, the current reality though was that he had to answer to the Sultan who answered to Allah. Steven believed that this needed to change and it was time for the Sultan to go now all he had to do was eliminate him.
Steven’s Sub-Commander was General Muhammad Zogby, a fifty-six portly man who had a mean streak a mile wide. He had no problems with torture of men, women and even children anything it took to advance their agenda. Like the Supreme General, General Zogby believed that they weren’t being aggressive enough against the infidels that if they were unwilling to convert then they should be killed, they didn’t need them as slaves or merchants he believed that Allah would provide.
Under General Zogby were four executive Generals, they are First General Maloof who Commands the Revolutionary Guard, First General Srour who Commands the Special Operation Branch, Second General Nader who Commands the Ground Forces and Second General Handai who acted as Special Counsel to the Supreme General and the Sub-Commander.
Each of those men had additional Officers under their command there was no NCO Corp not like there was in the United States Military. They had NCO ranks Sergeant-Lieutenant, Sergeant – Corporal and Sergeant their primary purpose was strictly to supervise the troops in the absence of the Officers, they were not command and they didn’t understand weapons and tactics like an NCO in the US Military would. The NCO job in the Army of Allah was to ensure the Officers orders were executed by everyone and if they weren’t ensure the proper punishment was distributed which often meant death. If Allah forbid an Officer were killed there was no second command the Sergeants were not trained to think for themselves and issue combat orders.
The Supreme Commander had under his command over 55,000 men broken out through all of his Commanders. On the flip side the Sultan had his own Corps which guarded him; they were under the command of General Harb. General Harb had been a General in the Iraq Revolutionary Guard; he had taken a false identity and escaped to the United States to escape the United States Military who hunted him during the war. Some people such as S
teven Tuma and the Sultan always knew of his true identity but had kept it between them for many years. General Harb had actual combat experience and had commanded real Soldiers against the Americans and although he ultimately lost he had learned a great deal about war and fighting from the Americans. Also, he was the only true combat leader out of the entire military establishment in the Army of Allah even more so the Steven Tuma. General Harb for the most part was a very devout Muslim but he understood very well that Allah only helped those who helped themselves. He knew they needed the infidels to run the country there was no way around it. He wasn’t one of those that believed Allah would provide for everything, if that were the case then the American military would have never been so successful in the Middle East Allah would have given them the power to defeat them. He was also the only Commander that had fought the Americans, Steven Tuma had fought with ISIS and fought other Muslims none came close to the American Army, but you couldn’t tell the Supreme Commander that he just wouldn’t hear of it. General Harb was not under Steven Tumas command he was under absolute command of the Sultan so General Harb had a lot of leeway to criticize the Supreme Commander even publically which he had no problem doing so. The tension between the two men was palpable.
General Harb had 25,000 men under his command now after starting with a 1000, half the number of what Tuma had, the key difference between the two forces was training and experience. Almost all of General Harb’s men had served in the Iraqi security forces and were trained by the Iraqi Army or the American Army. Most of his men had combat experience; another key difference was that the rank structure was very similar to that of a Western Army. Everyone was taught to obey all orders of their superiors but so did Tuma’s forces the key being here was that under General Harb a superior could be a Corporal and under Tuma the only superior they recognized that could issue orders in combat were the Officers.
General Harb ensured that his men understood and trained that if the Officer was killed the senior NCO would take over command and if he NCO was killed then the next lower in the rank structure took over. This was a hard learned lesson by General Harb he saw his forces being decimated by western Armies that went after the Officers and once the Officers were neutralized the Soldiers under their command were lost and often surrendered because they had no idea what to do. On the other side the western Armies when an Officer was killed command just past to the next senior man and everything kept moving almost like nothing had happened.
General Harb considered the Soldiers under Tuma’s command nothing but thugs, they had very little training if any, and in most cases they were conscripted against their will and given a gun and told to go fight with those men over there. Tuma was full of himself because of all of the success he had been having but truth be told they had fought two or three engagements with the US Army reserve and National Guard and he believed some Marine reserve forces and in small numbers. Tuma’s forces were never able to overrun their positions and in fact those forces pulled back repeatedly causing massive losses in the Army of Allah until they all but disappeared normally leaving behind destroyed equipment. They found the reserve bases and National Guard Armories emptied of equipment and if something was left behind it was destroyed.
General Harb believed that if they ever ran into the real US Army and or Marines they were all in for a real wake-up call, this had been his recommendations to the Sultan regarding Camp Grayling in northern Michigan. Knowing the US Military as he did he was sure they had time to regroup, organize, and prepare for any attack and given more time once they were ready they may very well begin offensive operations.
Sultan Aaban Abad was familiar enough with the United States Military even one that has had a huge setback as they had now, he knew that they were a formidable force as a cohesive unit, the problem is they didn’t really know what was going on, they had sent men to find out several times but none had ever returned. That by itself didn’t mean much they could have run into many other obstacles outside of the US Military. They had never really ventured any further then Lansing, although they claimed it as part of the Caliphate, none of their forces had been there and civilians were heavily armed and if Muslim Jihadists were found by them the civilians were just as likely to have executed them as the US Military.
The Sultan was well aware of what Tuma’s plans were for his assassination he had ears every place. His concern right now was that if he had him arrested how the Army would handle it, would it revolt out right and destroy him and everything he had built or would they understand. The big plus in his favor was that most of the men in the Army were conscripted, forcibly, and didn’t like Tuma anymore then the liked him. He knew that Tuma needed to die in battle for his most loyal followers and then it by their own law the Sultan would replace his successor who would be General Harab.
The Supreme Commander was out now touring the sites his troops were at, there had been dissention in the ranks a lot lately, Soldiers turning on their Commanders and disobeying orders. His response to the situation was to have them all beheaded very publically, this would set as an example to everyone else who refused to obey orders of the Officers over them. It also wasn’t a good time as they had a running battle with a force of United States Marines who were retreating north and inflicting heavy casualties on his Army. He was trying to force the Marines to stand and fight, where he could then bring his overwhelming numbers to bear to overrun and kill the infidels.
The Marines had artillery batteries with them, 155mm Howitzers that were very mobile, not to mention the 81mm mortars they used too. They would quickly set up fire and move, they were very effective. Moral was very low in the Army of Allah because of the heavy casualties they were taking. The Marines also had very effective sniper operations and like the artillery they would fire several shots and then disappear; his men were never able to kill or capture any of them. However, the Marines did take some casualties as they Army of Allah entered the small towns heading north they spoke with the local citizens who were reluctant to speak to them. That was solved by public beheadings and whippings for helping the enemy, after that people became more than willing to talk; the problem was they talked but didn’t always give accurate information.
The information they were able to glean from the civilians was that they were United States Marines, believed to be the 24th Marines Reserve. The Marine force was estimated to be about 2000 men and women; they were also traveling with their families. One of the things Tuma could never understand how the western nations could allow their women to fight alongside of their men since women were so inferior. Tuma never took into account that it was those same Marine women who were bringing a lot of pain down on his men.
Reports varied to what the Marines carried with them as far as weapons, they knew about the howitzers and motors as well as light weapons such as M-4’s, M-249, SAW’s, M-60’s. They were told they had armored Humvees with machine guns, two and a half ton trucks that carried supplies, troops and families. Tuma felt that couldn’t be all they had to have more and it was too few Marines to be causing that many casualties in his ranks.
One of the other issues they were encountering was the difficult terrain, heavy forest and hills, with deep valleys and sharp cliffs, his men were used to fighting in an urban setting; it seemed to him that the Marines thrived in this environment. He wished that he had the opportunity to fight against them while in Syria but it never really happened, it might have given him some insight on how to beat them. There was a lot of pressure from the Sultan to break off the operation they were taking to many casualties the men needed training. The Supreme Commander resented the Sultans interference in such situations and ignored the Sultans orders; he would do whatever necessary to bring the Marines to heel, even if it meant the death of everyone.
The Supreme Commander and the Soldiers under General Srour, Special Operations, with seventy five hundred Soldiers entered the outskirts of a small town, Kingsburg. The Special Operations Soldiers were the finest he had and they
both felt were an equal match if not all out better than the Marines. Their intelligence had it that the Marines had stopped to regroup and were holding in the town, both the Supreme Commander and the First General believed it to be an ideal opportunity to kill the Marines and their families down to their last child.
They encircled the town dug in and fired their own mortars into the center of town; there was no response from the Marines. They waited till night fall and sent out patrols to probe the Marine lines, as they approached the Marines fired flares and their machine guns at them. Some of the Soldiers of Allah had stepped on some mines and were killed instantly. The probing of the lines went all night long; there were some skirmishes but not many. The Officers of the Army of Allah reported back the holes they had found in the line and had recommended that the town be assaulted from both ends, north and south at the same time. This would contain the Marines and their families and force them all to the center of town where they then could execute them all.
The Supreme Commander agreed to the plan and ordered the immediate execution of it. The First General had asked for more intelligence something didn’t seem quite right to him but he was over ruled by the Tuma. He wanted the Soldiers moved as quickly as possible and the operation to move as quickly as possible; the First General urged restraint but again was over ruled by the Supreme Commander.
It took three hours to get everyone in place, once they were in place they started the assault and entered the town from north and south they encountered some gun fire, as some of the Soldiers entered buildings there were some explosions it wasn’t clear to the Officers whether or not they were traps or Marines. It didn’t matter they were ordered to keep moving. The Supreme Commander was excited at the prospect of killing the Marines and he moved toward the front of the assault he wanted to be credited with the killing of the Marines and their families. It was a political move more than anything else. It didn’t occur to the senior Officers that they had yet to really see any Marines they just heard gunfire or explosions which they kept moving too.