Islamic States of America (Soldier Up Book 2)
Page 14
At 2300 the two planes took off and headed into the dark once airborne they turned and headed towards Dearborn. It was going to be a long slow fight, once near Dearborn they would break off, and come at the city from different directions, they would also try to ascertain if the jump zone was populated or not by looking for lights in and around the area they had selected. At 0125 both teams had chutes in the air.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Besides having the B-52D operational and checked out they now had at least one more and a B-29 that they had managed to get operational. There were also two more C-47’s and four C-24 Liberators these weren’t originally running when they found them but took some hard work and magic to get them up and running. They also had several Beechcraft and a dozen P-51D Mustangs things were looking good and they still had a long way to go, there were still quite a few aircraft that were running but hadn’t been checked out by the mechanics yet.
Colonel Blakely was proud of the men and women under his command they were at the forefront of reestablishing the Air Force and overall air dominance at least as far as he knew anyway. Colonel James was also working hard with the men and women under his command they were helping Colonel Blakely’s people repairing the aircraft and learning all about them.
In turn they were now learning how to fly them and it was a lot different from the aircraft they had flown prior to the event. The jets they flew prior to the event were state-of-the-art technology they were fast and agile. These planes comparatively were low drag and slow, but these were now considered state-of-the-art technology these planes would test their flying abilities to the max. There were no computers to help them these planes required their full concentration and flying abilities. The planes they were flying were tough and took a beating no wonder these planes were still operational after fifty years.
While all this was going on Mel Clayton was slowly making her way back to Camp Parks now via Davis-Monthan. What she found was no different from any of the other places she had visited and worked. Like every place else all the services she was setting up was not new to the military but it was always civilians that ran them and as she found out the most of those civilians who ran them at least at the management level were gone, there were certainly minions but they had no incentive to get things moving along after the event. What she found was that if solid military leadership wasn’t present after the event happened then people tended to fend for themselves and their loved ones.
The first thing she did when arriving was to meet with the Garrison Commander Colonel Datak, she advised him that they needed to get moving on creating a civilian council in Tucson and a civilian security force, she had to spend the time to explain to him the difference between that and a police force. In this case the civilian security force would be trained by the Air Force Security forces and overseen by them until it was decided it was safe to turn them over to the civilian council. Also, the civilian council and odds are there was going to be more than one would have oversight on all city, town or village functions which included foods, water, power, fuel, housing, medical and more the key here is that there would be heavy military oversight until they were able to operate on their own.
She went on to explain one of the incidents that happened at Camp Parks with one of the councils that had been set up who elected to use their own security forces, instead of being an asset to the community they were dealing with human trafficking. The Army moved in after they tried to assassinate Colonel Clayton, her husband, and leveled the entire camp with an artillery barrage. The message was understood by the civilians there would be law and order or there would be a heavy price to pay.
The draw back to the post was that the security forces as part of their package to take up such dangerous work was that they got the security of the base which included food, water and housing for them and their families. They would also be paid in US Currency, coins not dollar bills, she explained that the paper money had no real value at this time, maybe in the future, so for now they would only use US minted coins which there was no shortage of.
Colonel Datak was blown away with regards how well this was all thought out, Mel reminded him that they had a lot of early experience with Camp Parks and Fort Irwin where most of the policies and procedures were worked out. Granted every place is a bit different but from her experience not that different that these polices and procedure’s would need a full revision, there was room for Commanders to make some adjustment. In addition, these policies and procedures carried the weight of General Watkins behind them.
She also cautioned Colonel Datak that once the civilian counsels were set up they would try their best to assert their influence over the military and he was told that he was not to waiver, the military had final say over everything at this time, like it or not, that’s the way it was going to be for the time being.
Tucson would be easier to handle if the majority of residents lived closer to the base and as unfortunate as it was there was plenty of housing available. This was more about security and being able to protect the population than anything else. There were going to be people who refused to relocate and they would be told they are going to be living outside the current security zones. Not saying they wouldn’t receive help if needed, they would, but help would not be coming as quickly as they might need.
She started the entire process by having flyers set up at the main gate, train station, in and around the airport and various locations throughout town. The following week the interviews for the jobs would begin. The Air Force had set up several large tents to handle the interviews near the main gate of the base; there was heavy Air Force Security in and around the base out words to one mile of Davis-Monthan. The line for the security jobs was hundreds of people long, oddly enough they had yet to decide on the numbers they would need in the security forces.
They were still in the process of setting up of the school and getting the cadre selected. The curriculum was simple it would be the same the Air Force Security personnel had to go through. They had plenty of documentation and experience there to drive that.
The numbers at the school would far outnumber the numbers that would be needed in Tucson at least that was the plan for now. Some of them would be given the opportunity to work at Fort Huachuca, Fort Irwin, Travis AFB, and even Camp Parks. The candidates were placed under a tremendous amount of scrutiny, those with prior military and law enforcement experience were sought but they had to somehow prove they had that experience. For the prior service many had physical copies of their DD-214’s and Law Enforcement many of them also had physical documents to show they were what they said they were and they were moved to the front of the line. Of course there were always those that claimed to be SEALs, Special Forces Rangers all in one, they were quickly showed the door or tent flap in this case. Things here were moving along nicely.
Next up, Mel met with the three Colonels – Blakely, Datak and James, her question to them was how do they plan on maintaining an active force? They weren’t really sure what she was driving at and they made that clear to her.
“Gentlemen, you are going to lose men and women under your command for various reasons, their enlistments expire and they chose to get out, they are killed in combat or by accident. How do you plan on replacing them?” asked Mel.
The Officers looked at each other and told her they hadn’t really considered it and they could certainly see her point.
“This really is an Air Force matter and not only affects you here at Davis-Monthan but at Oakland and Travis too. Right now basic training and AIT is held at Camp Parks for all of the services but I know that Colonel Clayton would love for the respective service to reclaim those tasks from him. I would suggest that y’all get together with the Commanders at the other Air Force Bases as well as the Air Force training center at Camp Parks and come up with your own plan.” stated Mel, this was the same discussion she had with the three other base Commanders over the past six months with no real commitment by any of them.
Colonel Datak responded by stating that it was also a concern of his own and he wondered if it would be possible to screen some of those people who were applying for the security forces, especially those that were prior Air Force. Mel told them it sounded like a great idea but she urged them to work with the other Air Force bases to come to a universal understanding. All of the men agreed, Colonel Datak asked the others if they minded if he took the lead with this, that he would like to meet with the other bases, he would be more than happy to fly to the three other bases and go to Camp Parks to discuss the matter with them.
The two other men agreed since they had full plates now, Mel was finally happy to see someone taking the lead as long as he followed through. She would know soon enough and hopefully she would have a positive report for the General.
Colonel Datak was true to his word; he immediately sent word down to the tents where the interviews were going on to be on the lookout for any Air Force prior service, no matter the age for now, and to forward their applications to him. Within two days Colonel Datak had formed a recruitment team comprised of a Lieutenant Colonel to command it, a few company grade officers, NCO’s and enlisted. He had also used the shortwave radio system to set up meetings with the senior commanders at each of the Air Force bases at the end of the week. It was a good time to get it all rolling not to mention that Davis-Monthan had no issues with available aircraft that could be flown there. He met a couple of times with Colonels James and Blakely to get their wish list of personnel.
Next up was trying to convince people to move closer to the base and the forming of the council(s). This was the most painful of all there was always a lot of fighting by the civilians who would do what. Mel went out within the communities, under heavy guard and spoke with many of the survivors, she placed and gave out flyers. Getting people involved in the community was a bit different from creating a security force the council members had to live in the communities they represented and it was voluntary there was no financial reward for it, at least not now.
The reward they saw was a collective being built that would assure their mutual survival, at first they would be allowed to invest in their communities and that could be very lucrative. Rest assured though the military would not let anyone person or council become an authoritarian regime they had to operate under democratic principles and were answerable to the people they served. The plan was to break down Tucson into four or five different seats of government something like what had happened originally around Camp Parks and that idea spread throughout the Bay area and had proven to be very successful. She had gotten the ball rolling here and things were looking good, it was now up to the leadership at Davis-Monthan to handle the rest.
The last thing she needed to do there was to come up with an assessment regarding food and water for the region which included Fort Huachuca and its surrounding communities that happened to survive which weren’t many.
Prior to the event Tucson was surrounded by farm land for miles and miles of it, they produced a lot of food, not only that there were ranches in Tucson and near Sierra Vista. The event hadn’t killed off the animals the ranchers and farmers who were a creative bunch were able to adjust so far. As for water they depended on the summer monsoons which brought a great deal of water which they were smart enough to collect and store for later use. During the winter it snowed in the mountains surrounding Tucson as well as in the Huachuca Mountains, those residents were also creative and found ways to collect the snow, melt it and save the water for future use, not to mention the melt off and collecting that water. They key here for everyone that survived and continued to live in the valley did they collect enough water to get them through the summer months for now only time will tell and with that lessons would be learned, hard lessons though.
Mel had been at Davis-Monthan for almost two weeks now and she had been gone from home for over two months, she was home sick, she missed the kids and John tremendously. Over the last couple of weeks her health was taking a hit and she was sick nauseated with headaches on a daily basis. She took ibuprofen and other things which did nothing to stem how bad she was feeling, she had no idea what it was, but she put it off to overworked and stress. She would be home in another day and she had planned on retiring after this, they had a decent life on post and she just wanted to be a mom and wife again, she felt she had done enough for the cause.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Captain Lowery Truhill was the OIC or Detachment Commander for one of the A-Teams currently in Dearborn. His XO Chief Warrant Officer Derek Escobar and his Team Sergeant Master Sergeant Arnold (Arnie) Delarosa along with nine other members all NCO’s. They had been in Dearborn for forty-eight hours now and had seen a significant amount of activity by the ISA.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t going to be easy to fit in they barely had any facial hair and every single man had a fully grown beard. All of the intel gathering was done at night which they felt more comfortable doing anyway. They also found they needed to move to a new location each night or run the risk of being discovered. The ISA ran a very strict society based on terror and said implementation of that terror; people were afraid, very afraid. There was morality police every place and you never knew that the person you were speaking to was going to turn you in for something, even if it was made up.
Oddly enough some people recognizing the Soldiers were not from the area secretly approached them when they thought it was safe. As it turned out these were men and women of the resistance who were risking everything to fight the ISA. Sergeant Delarosa was the first one approached one day while out scouting around the mosque, the Sergeant was wearing a white thawb with an Agal that was pulled over the lower part of his face. While wondering around the area he found what he thought was a place where he could see what was going on and not be seen.
He saw a young man approach him slowly, carefully eyeing him, Sergeant Delarosa was armed with a pistol and a knife neither one did he really want to use. He continued to let the young man approach him regardless Sergeant Delarosa knew that if he had to kill him he would need him to get a lot closer at least in arms reach to be able to pull him back into the bushes then hide his body then E&E out of the area.
The young man slowly strolled by him, speaking in a low tone, “Follow me,” and then kept walking. Sergeant Delarosa thought, “What the fuck?” He shrugged and followed the young man keenly aware that it may be a trap. The young man turned the corner and kept walking two more blocks and entered a house leaving the door open. Sergeant Delarosa thought, “Well in for a pound…” and entered the home with weapon drawn, he was holding it down near his leg, both hands on it. Slowly entered the house looking left and right, taking slow calculated steps, then he heard “It’s safe close the door.” The young man stepped out into the living room with the headscarf removed. “I’m Adam Belfore and you’re not from around here.”
Sergeant Delarosa stood there for a moment calculating his next move and listening for any other movement in the house, “Nice to meet you Adam, what do you want?”
“Who are you?” Adam asked.
“Tom, I’m Tom.” said Sergeant Delarosa.
Adam laughed, “No you’re not, and if you were Tom you would know that you have to respond with your Arab name they give to everyone.”
“My Arab name is Layth Baz I was given that to me when I told them I would convert to Islam.” responded Adam.
“Uh huh.” said Delarosa.
“Look I’m no threat to you if you are who I think you are I gotta ask what the hell took you so long to get here!”
“Who do you think I am?”
“I’m hoping your some sort of military guy from up north. There’s a lot of rumors about the US military being up around Grayling.” said Adam.
“And if I
was one of those military guys?” stated Delarosa.
Adam thought about it for a moment, “I belong to a cell that is part of the resistance attempting to fight the ISA, me just admitting that will get me killed, my head lopped off.”
Delarosa thought about it for a moment, “I’m Master Sergeant Delarosa United States Army Special Forces.”
“Thank God!” said Adam tears starting to steam down his cheeks. “You are a God send. So the rumors are true about Grayling.”
Sergeant Delarosa nodded affirmative, “Yes.” Then asked, “How did you see I was different?”
“That’s easy, it’s how you were carrying yourself and no one absolutely no one would be caught standing around near the mosque. People here are afraid that they will be caught by the morality police and charged with loitering, which carries a penalty of 50 public lashes.”
“What do you mean carry myself?” asked Delarosa.
“You were hidden first, I barely saw you myself. The way you stood there like you were there with a purpose. As I approached you weren’t afraid and didn’t run off. Believe me when I say that’s not normal around here, people do not stand their ground, they will run and deal with the consequences later on.”
“Good to know.” said Delarosa.
“Why are you here?” asked Adam.
Sergeant Delarosa thought for a moment he understood this could all be a set up still but nothing ventured nothing gained, “I’m here trying to determine if the rumors of the ISA are true. If the ISA is real try to find out as much information about it as possible and what their ultimate goal is.”
“You came here by yourself?” asked Adam.
“Yes just me,” replied Delarosa know if it’s a trap then he didn’t want to expose the rest of the team.