The process of making the magazines took two days. The magazine bodies were bent from sheet steel. Their springs came from extra HK magazines. Their followers were cast from scrap aluminum, using the lost wax method. Once they were fully assembled, the magazines all functioned flawlessly. With the permission of Mike Nelson, the AR-10 was test fired and re-zeroed to suit Margie’s preference. Using the new magazines, the rifle functioned without a stutter.
Jeff, who had been serving picket duty, came down the hill after he was relieved. He asked Dan, “What was all the shooting about?”
Fong replied, “We were testing the new AR-10 mags. They work great.”
Jeff had missed seeing most of the magazine manufacturing process because he had LP/OP duty for two successive days. He asked, “Were they hard to make?”
“Nope,” Dan answered. “If I had been doing the work, I probably would have made several prototypes before I got one that would finally fit and function properly. Old man Porter just whipped out all five at once. He went straight from concept to finished product. The guy is incredible. I can see that I’ll be learning a lot from him. He’s a far cry from Ian Doyle.”
Jeff stroked his mustache and asked, “Doyle? Hey, wasn’t he that Air Force cadet that you and Todd used to hang out with in college?”
Dan smiled. “Ah, so you do remember Ian. Yep, that’s the guy. Todd and I kept up with him after college, mainly by e-mail. In fact, I had a chat with him on the phone just a couple of months before the Crunch. At the time he was flying F-16s down at Luke Air Force Base in Arizona. Hard to believe, but he was a Major-Select when we talked. He was married and had a daughter, too.
She must be close to ten years old now. Seems like yesterday that we were in college. When we were living in the dorms, I helped him weld up and part together an Ingram M10 and a Sten gun in his parents’ garage. He had Sionics type suppressers for both of them. The dude was very low key, but he had a secret life as a major gun nut. His motto was ‘Cut to size, file to fit, and paint to match.’ I wonder whatever happened to him, once the Schumer hit the fan.”
“He probably has his own private little empire set up somewhere by now,” Trasel said with a chuckle.
The diminutive Della, or “Little Dell” as Lon called her, also needed to be armed. After Rose was given T.K.’s CAR-15, there were no more spare .223 rifles or carbines available. A special meeting was held on the subject. After much arguing, the group finally voted to give Della the Ruger Mini-14 and accessories that was captured from the looters. For a handgun she was given Mary’s spare blue steel Gold Cup. At roughly the same time, Lon “traded” his Ortgies .380 for Dan’s long barreled Model 686 .357 magnum revolver.
Although it was hardly an equal trade, Dan went ahead with it, knowing that the gun would be more useful in the hands of Lon than sitting in the back of Dan’s wall locker. Margie traded most of the Porters’ small cache of U.S. and Canadian silver coins for Dan’s Beretta nine-millimeter pistol. This too was a lopsided trade, but the same logic applied, so Dan consented.
Because she had never done much shooting before, Della was given extensive target and combat shooting training over the course of the next few weeks. Doing this much shooting was judged an acceptable risk by Mike Nelson. As he explained his logic, the advantage of having another trained shooter outweighed the risks associated with making a lot of noise. Della had several instructors, starting with Rose, who spent several days teaching her the basics of marksmanship and shooting positions, using a Ruger 10/22. Next, she learned the functioning of her Mini-14 and how to field strip it, by Dan Fong.
Then she was taught how to shoot the weapon accurately by T.K., using the techniques he had learned at the Front Sight Firearms Training Institute, and drawing on his many years of high-power competition experience.
Tom Kennedy, as “the marksmanship guru,” insisted that she memorize the tables for bullet drop at different distances, and for bullet drift with varying crosswinds, and uphill/downhill compensation. After a few weeks practicing with different shooting stances and firing deliberately, Della developed into an accurate shooter. Eventually, she was hitting man-sized targets with regularity at ranges out to four hundred yards. Considering that she was shooting a .223 Remington, which was never known as a good long-range cartridge, her performance was commendable.
Her next phase of instruction, which she shared with Rose, Lon, and Margie, involved pistol shooting. They had two instructors: Mike and Todd.
This training took eight days. On the first four days, the four students used bull barreled Ruger Mark II .22 target pistols that belonged to the Grays and Nelsons. Together, they fired nearly two thousand rounds of .22 ammunition.
During the last four days of their training, they graduated to their full-power “carry” pistols. Through these, they fired almost eight hundred rounds of .45 ACP, .38 Special, .357 magnum, and nine-millimeter Parabellum.
In addition to deliberate target practice, they also practiced speed draws, combat stances, barricade shooting, tactical and emergency reloading, and low light shooting. Their “final exam” was a combat course on the run over a distance of five hundred yards, shooting at targets as close as five feet, and as far as one hundred yards. It was a demanding course, but all four did fairly well.
Following their pistol training, the four inductees were given instruction in tactics, patrolling, and combat rifle shooting. Mike Nelson, Jeff Trasel, and Doug Carlton served as the instructors.
Lon’s mechanical ingenuity soon made itself evident. After his first shift of C.Q. duty, Lon suggested to Todd that he modify the hand crank generator to increase its efficiency. Mary had already expressed her worries of “repetitive stress” injuries. After Todd heard Porter’s idea, he agreed enthusiastically. Lon started out by fabricating a metal stand to support Mary’s old bicycle. Because it had large “outriggers” that extended outward for three feet, the stand firmly held the bicycle in position without fear of it tipping over.
With the rear wheel removed, and the bike mounted firmly in the stand, Lon made a mounting bracket for the hand crank generator. After taking some dimensions and doing rough calculations on gear ratios and crank speeds, Lon cut a piece of square bar stock to fit one of the two slots for the hand cranks.
He then centered and welded a gear onto the end of the bar stock. Next, Porter bolted the generator onto the stand and connected the bicycle’s chain and adjusted the tension. The new bicycle generator worked perfectly. With the increased efficiency of the generator, group members assigned C.Q. duty only had to operate it for forty-five minutes of each shift to generate the same amount of power that had previously taken three hours. This made everyone at the retreat happy. Cranking the generator was still not a fun job, but at least it was no longer an onerous task.
The Porters quickly integrated themselves into the day-to-day working of the retreat. All three pulled C.Q. and LP/OP duty. This provided the man-hours necessary for many of the more labor-intensive tasks, including gardening. Margie soon corrected one glaring defect that she had noticed. All of the men at the retreat had shabby looking haircuts. As there had been no one trained in how to give a proper haircut, the standard practice had been to wait until hair began to interfere with proper vision, and then proceed to hack it off unevenly. Some of the results were less than flattering. Margie, who had been giving haircuts as a hobby for two decades, soon set up shop. After giving all of the men fresh haircuts, she started working on the coiffures of the ladies.
Three weeks after the Porters arrived, Todd noticed that Della Porter was deeply engaged in conversation with Doug as he sat at the C.Q. desk. They were looking directly into each other’s eyes. Della was smiling—a lot. Todd brought up his suspicions with Mary. She asked with disbelief, “What, didn’t you notice before? Those two gravitated together more than a week ago.”
A look of amazement spread across Todd’s face. “But Della is only seventeen, isn’t she?”
“Yes, hon, she won�
��t turn eighteen until a few weeks from now. However, under the current state of affairs, I don’t think that Doug is liable to be prosecuted. Besides, I don’t think that anything has happened. Doug and Della are good Christians. They’ll wait until they’re married.”
Todd scratched his chin. “Well, I don’t want any fornicating or even ‘bundling’ going on under my roof. I guess that T.K. ought to have a talk with Doug, and determine his intentions. Then, I suppose it’ll probably be time for Doug to ask Lon for permission to marry his daughter.”
Mary smiled. “Yes, that’s the thing a young man traditionally does, isn’t it? Don’t you remember your conversation with grouchy old Mr. Krause?”
“Are you kidding? That conversation with your dad is permanently etched in my memory.” In a gravely voice, Todd quoted Mary’s father:“‘What exactly are your prospects, Todd?’”
• • •
One morning early in August, as they were dressing, Mary told Todd, “Honey, I’ve got something to tell you. I missed my last period, and I’ve been feeling really nauseated the last few days.”
“You mean… you mean….” Todd stammered.
“Yes, you big oversexed stud, you got me pregnant.”
Grinning from ear to ear, Todd asked, “You didn’t intentionally…?”
Mary scowled. “No, of course not. But, like I briefed everyone in the group years ago, condoms are not the most efficient form of birth control. I should have insisted that all the ladies got fitted for cervical caps, since they’re the best.”
Todd put on a crooked grin and joked, “Personally, I think that you covertly put some pinholes in our supply of rubbers.”
Mary slugged Todd in the shoulder and shouted, “Todd Gray! How could you say a thing like that? I swear, you have the biggest ego on the planet. I’ll bet that you think that I just couldn’t wait to become the mother of your first child,‘oh great tribal chieftain.’”
“No, darling.I just think that you are the most wonderful woman that any man could ever ask for. You have made me very, very proud. I love you very much.”
• • •
Following the installation of the water and power systems, soon after they bought their Bovill property, Todd selected a site and built the listening post/observation post (LP/OP) for the retreat. The site that Todd selected was fifty yards above the spring. It had a commanding view of the entire property, and a good view of the county road in both directions. He resisted the urge to put the LP/OP at the very peak of the hill. Using knowledge gleaned years before from Jeff Trasel, Todd instead put the LP/OP five yards below the hill’s crest at the hill’s “military crest.” By positioning the LP/OP on the military crest, it eliminated the risk of LP/OP sentries “sky-lining” themselves when they walked to and from their posts. This would eventually make it much easier to keep the location and existence of the LP/OP a secret.
The design for the LP/OP itself came straight out of one the Army field manuals in Todd’s collection. The foxhole was dug armpit deep and eight feet long. It was lined with pressure-treated plywood to prevent the walls from crumbling. A stairway leading into the position was dug immediately to the rear.
The floor was “stair-cased” to three different heights to accommodate sentries of differing heights. At five-feet-two-inches, Mary was used as the model for the shorter LP/OP pickets. Next, the floor of the foxhole was covered with the same type of plywood used on the wall, and then industrial open weave rubber floor mats were added to provide a quiet, non-slip surface.
After the experience of the first winter, Todd eventually built wooden steps to replace the earthen steps, and cut up floor mat material to nail on each step.
Another later addition was a roof for the LP/OP, something that Jeff Trasel would have referred to as “overhead cover.” After building up banks on both ends of the LP/OP trench, Todd laid down a row of six-by-eight-inch treated timbers, parallel to the trench. On top of the timbers, he glued and nailed two-by-six-inch tongue and groove boards cross-wise to the support timbers. Next, Todd laid down four thicknesses of ten-mil black sheet plastic. This sheet plastic extended well beyond just the roof, so it would provide better drainage for rainwater. Finally, he covered the whole works with six inches of earth and then the squares of sod that he had originally dug up and set aside when he first started the hole for the trench. Within a few months, this sod grew back in a healthy coat of grass, all but obscuring the LP/OP. From the front, sides, or down the hill, it was practically invisible. Its vision slots were detectable only if someone knew where to look.
There were then just a few finishing touches on the LP/OP. First, Todd and Mary buried two strands of WD-1 field telephone wire that ran between the house and the LP/OP. Todd also made a few modifications to make the LP/OP more livable. First, he cut a few slots in the walls, and inset-mounted ammunition cans to act as shelves. The way they were arranged, the cans could be pulled out and their lids replaced. In this way, the rubber gasket lids would protect the contents of the boxes when they were not in use. Next, Todd bought a comfortable wooden desk chair at a secondhand store in St. Maries.
He modified the chair by fitting a foam cushion, and then bolting on wooden extensions for its legs. With the extensions in place, the eye level of whoever was sitting in it would be virtually the same as if they were standing.
In addition to a TA-1 sound powered field telephone, Todd selected a variety of gear with which to equip the LP/OP. This gear included two angle head flashlights each with two thicknesses of red lens filters, a pair of rubber-armored Bushnell binoculars, a large spiral-bound note pad and pen to use for a duty log, a compressed-air powered boat horn for use as a backup alarm signal, four surplus white star parachute flares, and Todd’s spare Remington 870 riot shotgun and a satchel of number-four buckshot rounds.
Unlike his other riotgun, this particular shotgun was customized for close-in night fighting. It had an eight-round extension magazine installed, as well as a Pachmayr rubber pistol grip. Using a special fore end mount built by SureFire, there was a flashlight mounted below the barrel. A momentary on/off switch was built into the SureFire mount. Todd figured that it would make a good weapon to have handy if whoever was manning the LP/OP got jumped at close range. All of the gear for the LP/OP was packed in an olive drab footlocker. Mary later used a hot glue gun to install thick foam padding inside the footlocker to protect its contents. To put the LP/OP in operation, everything was in one handy “strack box” that could be carried up the hill.
Next, again based on his training by Jeff Trasel, Todd made a range card and sector sketch for the LP/OP. Using a hundred-foot measuring tape, he and Mary took measurements from the LP/OP to each significant landmark on the retreat. Then Todd drew a sketch, with the distances written beside them.
Thus, LP/OP pickets would be able to know the exact distances to various points, something that might come in very handy in the future. With her artistic talent, Mary later improved on the sector sketches with a diagram that she hand-painted on a piece of scrap plywood. This was later mounted on the wall of the LP/OP with wood screws. Todd liked her creation so much that he asked her to make similar “range paintings” for each of the windows of the house. If the house eventually had to be defended with their rifles, Todd didn’t want anyone guessing at the range to any particular target.
• • •
The last of the stored toilet paper was exhausted the month after the Porter family arrived. The small packets of toilet paper that members of the group had saved from MREs was henceforth set aside for patrolling. At the retreat, the group switched to using paper from phone books. Mary had secured a tall stack of Chicago phone books years before, for just this purpose. Everyone realized that even this paper would be expended eventually, so it was used sparingly. The prospect of someday using leaves was not appealing.
CHAPTER 11
Dawn
“The sun’s rim dips; the stars rush out:
At one stride comes the dark.”
—Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Once the cold weather began to set in, during the first fall after the Crunch, the members of the group at the retreat settled into a routine. The main activity was standing picket and C.Q. shifts. As the weather began to get wetter and colder, the members began to dread LP/OP duty. In contrast, C.Q. duty was referred to as “soft duty.” When not standing guard shifts, the other members worked on projects around the house, did laundry by hand in a large tub, and helped with the cooking. With few gardening tasks, there was even some spare time to read, talk, or play board games. Formal meetings were held only as circumstances made them necessary.
With Lon’s permission, Doug and Della were married on the first of November. It was a ceremony much like the one that had been held for Jeff and Rose. The only difference was that there was more warning, so everyone took the time to dress better. All of the men wore ties from Todd’s closet. Margie made a wedding cake. She was adept at getting the temperature of the woodstove oven just right.
The most popular games at the retreat were chess, Risk, and the card game Hearts. The radios yielded little more than static. On most evenings they would listen to the news on Swiss Radio International at 9.910 megahertz, the only commercial shortwave station on the air. It was all bad news.
Bible study and prayer meetings were held each evening after dinner. Either Lon, who was an agnostic, or Kevin, who was Jewish, took a short stint of LP/OP duty during these meetings. Kevin attended only the Bible studies when they were on Old Testament scriptures. Almost every evening, Todd, who had a melodic speaking voice, would read aloud for half an hour in the living room. Everyone would sit and watch the fire and listen to Todd read out loud. He started out reading short stories like Joseph Conrad’s “The Secret Sharer” and Carl Stephenson’s “Leinengen Versus the Ants.” Later, he began reading novels, a few chapters at a time. These included The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand and Unintended Consequences by John Ross. Todd skipped over the lewd passages from the latter, which he thought detracted from an otherwise top-notch novel. Todd often wore his TRC-500 headset during the readings so that whoever was standing LP/OP duty could listen in. For a generation reared on television, Todd was the next best thing.
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