by Mark Goodwin
Sam nodded. “I can respect that. I’m sure Somerset Company will understand the reasoning and won’t mind a bit.”
Adam said, “Thank you.”
Sam continued explaining the plan. “We’ll have six-man fire teams spread out about every half mile or so. If you start taking concentrated fire, bug out, head into the woods. There’s plenty of cover all along the way. The enemy will be totally exposed.”
Adam asked, “Any idea how many armored vehicles they have that are still operational.”
Sam said, “McKee Company sent a recon team there last night. I should know a little more by this evening. We got hold of a few AT-4s from the National Guard.”
Adam said, “Wow, those would have come in handy. They were being stingy with them before.”
Shelly asked, “What’s an AT-4?”
Adam explained, “They’re shoulder-fired anti-tank weapons.”
Sam continued, “We should have enough for each fire team to have two AT-4s. The Guard sees this as their mission. Maybe that’s why they’re handing them out. It may also be that they didn’t know how long the conflict was going to go on.”
Adam said, “At any rate, I’m glad we’ve got some real munitions for this fight.”
Sam said, “And we’ll hang on to any that we don’t use. We’ll just say they were left in the woods or whatever. We’ve been doing the Guard’s job for a few months. It’s the least they could do for us. Let’s all meet up here tomorrow night just after dark. We’ll do a pre-combat inspection and roll out to our positions.
“It’s going to be a mess out there. We’ll have good guys and bad guys all mixed up. We don’t know if they’ll be in uniform or what. Some of our militia in other companies have a wide variety of uniforms. We’ve come up with a code system for movement to identify ourselves. The challenge question is ‘trick,’ the response is ‘two’ for National Guard and ‘three’ for militia. Get that wrong, and you’ll be detained. So if someone approaches my position and I’m not sure he is who he claims to be, I’ll say ‘trick.’ If he’s militia he’ll say ‘three.’ If he’s wearing National Guard insignia and says ‘three,’ we’ve got a problem. Does everyone understand?”
Shelly clarified, “Because National Guard should answer ‘two.’ He may have stolen a uniform and overheard a pass code if he says ‘three.’”
“Bingo.” Sam answered. “Anyone have any other questions?”
No one did.
“Alright,” Sam said, “get lots of rest and eat a couple good meals between now and then. We’ll see y’all tomorrow night.”
When Matt arrived home, Karen quickly pulled him to the side to get the skinny on what was happening. Evidently, there was a lot of speculation between her, Rene, Debbie and Janice.
“So what’s happening?” Karen asked.
Matt said, “The National Guard are actually the ones that will be invading Pikeville. We’ll just be sitting outside of town to pick off anyone who decides to run.”
Karen said, “Oh, I guess that’s not so bad.”
Matt nodded. He could tell she wanted details, but he knew more details would give her more to worry about. While he hadn’t lied, he’d left out a few pieces of information that would give her more cause for concern if she had them.
“So the horse gave birth since the last time Adam was there,” Matt stated. Nothing like baby animals to help shift the direction of the conversation.
“Did you see it?” Karen asked.
Matt smiled. “Yes, it’s so cute. You won’t believe it. The foal is walking around just like a full-grown horse. A little clumsy, but not bad for the first day on its feet.”
Karen reminded him, “You better not say anything to Mandy; none of us will get any sleep.”
“I’ll take her over there after my post tomorrow. It’ll be a surprise,” Matt said.
CHAPTER 40
“I have sworn on the altar of God eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man.”
-Thomas Jefferson
The next day, there was an air of apprehension about the raid. Wesley’s death, as well as the death of so many other members of London Company was still fresh on everyone’s mind. Matt felt the heaviness on the hearts of all those at Fort Bair.
After lunch, Matt called to Mandy, “Do you want to walk over to your house and help me feed the cows?”
“Sure.” Mandy was a little somber as well. The new horse would lift her spirits.
Carissa shouted, “I want to go, too!”
Matt said, “Okay, ask your mom.”
They cut through the woods and Matt soon arrived at the fence with the two girls.
Mandy put her hands over her mouth and gasped when she saw the foal.
Carissa pointed. “A baby horse!”
Mandy said, “It’s beautiful! It’s going to be your horse, Matt. What will you name it?”
Matt said, “That’s true, it will be my horse, but you’re so good with horses, I was hoping I could count on you to help me raise her. After all, you’ll only be a couple miles away.”
“Of course I’ll help,” Mandy said. “I’ll do whatever you need me to do!”
Matt said, “For starters, why don’t you name it?”
Mandy was filled with joy. “Spirit!”
Matt said, “Okay, Spirit it is. Any particular reason?”
Mandy said, “Because the horse reminds me of a new American spirit. The war is almost over, and we’ll have the opportunity to make a better future.”
Matt wasn’t expecting that for an answer. “Wow, that’s fantastic.”
Matt had taken the girls to give them something to be excited about and shift their focus from the battle lying ahead. But he had been blessed even more. Matt saw the true spirit of America in Mandy’s dreams for the country. Suddenly, the small horse was an icon of hope for Matt. He had been closely watching the country in a death spiral for decades. It had been year after year of things deteriorating and getting worse and worse. Finally, it seemed that there was a glimmer of hope. For the first time since he could remember, things might actually be getting better.
Once they arrived back at Fort Bair, it was time to start gearing up. Matt packed his assault pack, oiled his rifle, checked his gear and stocked up on food and water. The others who would be participating in the raid did the same.
The team began loading up into the truck shortly after sundown. Janice said, “We want to say a prayer for you all before you roll out.”
Adam said, “That’d be great.”
Everyone formed a circle and held hands as Janice asked God to watch over and protect those that would be participating in the raid. Karen added a plea to God to bring them home safely.
Lt. Joe would be staying to operate the radio while they were gone. He joked, “Y’all better hurry up. I don’t like bein’ left here with all these women. They might get tempted.”
Shelly winked at Lt. Joe as she racked a round into her rifle. “Then you better run, Joe. If I find out you were cheatin’ on me, we’ll need a new comms operator.”
Everyone had a chuckle and the team pulled away. They rendezvoused with Manchester Company and headed toward Pikeville. The men from McKee Company stated that the former DHS troops were manning checkpoints on the south and north sides of Pikeville, roughly half a mile outside of town. Since the militia couldn’t approach from the south on 23, they would have to take a detour which would take them roughly twenty miles out of the way. They would pass Pikeville heading north on State Road 80, then follow 194, a winding country road, through the mountains and south back down to their ambush positions.
They soon arrived at their position. Adam dropped them off on the side of the road and took the truck back a few hundred yards to a side road. He had informed them that he would drop the truck, stash the keys and walked back to the ambush position.
The moon offered a fair amount of light between the clouds for them to select defendable positions. Matt did not have the conf
idence he had at the ambush one month earlier. He was still a little gun-shy and continued to recite a Bible verse in his mind to keep him at peace.
Their position on Town Mountain Road was just over a mile away from the DHS checkpoint. They had to be very alert for patrols and be ready to peel back into the woods if a patrol drove by. Everyone was positioned on the west side of the road and split into two teams. Adam, Gary and Justin were in the forward position, closest to the road. They held the two AT-4s and would be initiating the assault. Matt, Doc and Shelly would be doing clean up with sniper shots from a more fortified position. Adam didn’t hide his reasoning for splitting the team up in this manner. Shelly was in the rear position because she was one of the best long-range shooters. Doc was in the rear in case they needed him to address an injury. Matt had been assigned to the rear position because he couldn’t run if they had to make a hasty retreat to the truck.
Adam explained to Matt, “If we have to run, everyone is going to slow down to cover you. It will put us all in jeopardy. Your rear support position is critical. When the front team falls back, we’ll be counting on you to cover us.”
Despite wanting to be part of the front team, Matt knew Adam was right. Matt took his position and settled in for the night. He shared some cookies Karen had made with Doc and Shelly. They whispered softly about what morning would bring. The three of them took shifts resting, but no one could relax enough to actually go to sleep.
Morning finally came. The break of dawn was met with the sound of gunfire ringing through the hills from the distant south. Matt said to Doc and Shelly, “Sounds like we’re on.”
Within minutes, a convoy of vehicles was streaming along Town Mountain Road toward US 119. Matt and his team sat silently as vehicle after vehicle passed them by. There were several armored vehicles that survived the EMP or had been retrofitted to function without the damaged components. The convoy also contained many old trucks that had most likely been stolen from the people of Pikeville.
Matt waited anxiously for the Lexington Militia to break radio silence and signal for the ambush to commence. Suddenly, the radio squawked, “Brace for air assault.” Seconds later, F-16s were low overhead.
Matt covered his head as the Maverick air-to-ground missiles fell from the last plane. The eruptions shook the ground beneath him. The vehicles destroyed by the missiles left burning piles of rubble strewn across the narrow mountain road. There were three vehicles in Matt’s vicinity that were trapped behind the flames. The first was a late 70’s Jeep which tried to plow through the rubble. As it passed through the flames, it hooked a piece of burning material in the axle. The Jeep could still move, but the flames were quickly heating up the vehicle. The driver stopped and five troops bailed out. Matt saw Adam engage the troops. Matt followed suit along with Shelly. Three hostiles were down before the remaining two had a chance to return fire. The second vehicle was a Humvee. Justin fired one of the two AT-4s at it. It was a direct hit. The vehicle flipped over and everyone inside was killed. The last vehicle was a white, 1976 passenger van. It quickly turned around to head back toward Pikeville. Adam fired the second AT-4 at the moving vehicle. The projectile hit the road and exploded on the right front side of the fleeing van. The explosion caused the van to go off the east side of the road and careen down the hill until it was suddenly stopped by an old oak. The passengers poured out and Matt’s team engaged them. Eight men rushed out of the van to find cover. Adam called over the walkie, “Gary, Justin, follow the two men from the Jeep to the north. Once you take them out, stay on the east side of the road and flank the guys from the van. I’m coming to you Matt.”
Adam soon arrived near Matt’s position to fire on the enemy. The men from the van were shooting and retreating into the woods. They were moving in two teams of four. Four would lay down cover fire while the other team would peel back into the woods. The two teams used a leapfrog method to take turns moving away from Adam and the others. Shelly hit one of the men during his retreat and Adam shot one from the same fire team as he was taking cover. Matt shot one from the next fire team when he got up to move back. They were soon out of range.
Shelly yelled, “Should we pursue them?”
Adam thought for a moment. “Matt, you and Doc stay here and cover us, we’ll move to the other side of the road to see if we can catch a couple more of them.”
“Roger that,” Matt said.
Adam and Shelly made a quick run across the road. Almost immediately, the enemy revealed their position when they began firing.
Matt saw one who exposed himself a little too much from the tree that he was using for cover. Matt took the shot and hit him in the chest. Shelly caught a bullet in her shoulder which spun her around before she reached the other side of the road. She got back up and finished crossing. Before she did, another bullet hit her in the calf. She fell to the edge of the road. She still did not have proper cover. Adam called to Matt, “Lay down heavy cover. I’m going to crawl to Shelly and drag her back to my cover position. Doc, see if you can scoot over here. She needs medical attention fast.”
Matt changed the magazine of his M4 and moved the selector to full auto. Matt took a general aim toward the enemy and laid down bursts of five or six rounds while Doc ducked and ran to meet Adam near Shelly. Matt emptied his magazine, hit the release, inserted a new magazine, slapped the bolt catch with his palm and resumed firing. Adam had made them repeat this series of movements in training until they were sick of it. He had made them perform the function in the dark, blindfolded, while he threw stuff at them and under every other imaginable condition. Matt had really not enjoyed that part of the training, but it just paid off. The rapid magazine change allowed him to continue firing, which kept the enemies’ heads down long enough for Doc and Adam to move Shelly to a safe position.
Once they were safe, Matt changed his magazine again and moved his selector back to semi-auto. He and Adam continued to take shots at the enemy from cover while Doc went to work on Shelly. Doc began by using his EMT shears to cut the lower portion of Shelly’s pant leg off and then her sleeve to expose the wound on her shoulder.
Adam took out one more hostile before they were out of sight and out of range. He called Justin and Gary, “You guys alright?”
Gary called back, “We got one of them, and the other is way back there. Should we pursue?”
Adam replied, “Negative. Shelly’s been hit. We’re pulling out. You guys come on back. Take turns covering and moving. We’ve still got three hostiles out here in the woods.”
“Roger,” Gary replied.
Gary and Justin soon met up with the rest of the team. Doc continued to address Shelly’s wounds. He gently probed each wound. “It looks like they were full metal jacket rounds. I don’t see any fragmentation. It looks like they’re both through and through. She has a lot of tissue damage and has lost a lot of blood. She needs to get to the medical tent where a surgeon can work on her and get her some blood. I need another med kit so we can get her ready to move.” Matt offered his kit to Doc. He put a Quickclot sponge on each side of each wound and wrapped each wound with an Israeli Battle Dressing.
While Doc dressed Shelly’s wounds, Matt found two saplings and began fashioning a stretcher with the saplings and the duct tape he kept in his bag.
Justin commented, “There’s not much you can’t do with duct tape.”
“Don’t leave home without it.” Matt put the finishing touches on the stretcher.
Justin and Doc carried the stretcher while Adam took point to lead them back to the truck. Matt and Gary walked backwards behind them to cover the rear. They kept a particularly tight watch over the areas the Federal troops had fled to.
They soon reached the truck, loaded Shelly into the back and headed out. Adam drove and handed the radio to Doc. “Let them know we have wounded, what type of truck we’re in and where we’re at.”
Doc followed the instructions. “We need to get her to the medical tent in the south National Guard staging area,�
�� he called over the radio.
National Guard Operations Command called back, “The south staging area is overwhelmed. If your wounded are stable, you need to get them to Combs Field. It is a small airport just north of Prestonsburg. National Guard has a complete field hospital set up there. We’re using it as our forward operating base. The staging area to the south is just to stabilize patients, then move them to Combs.”
“How far?” Doc asked.
Command called back, “Thirty-five miles from Pikeville. What’s your location?’
Doc told the communications operator, “Town Mountain headed to 119.”
The operator said, “Then you have to go north. There’s still heavy fighting on US 23 between you and the southern staging area.”
“Roger that, thank you, command,” Doc said.
When they reached US 119, it was littered with burning trucks and military vehicles. Adam had to drive on the side of the road in some places to avoid the flaming debris. Minutes later, they were on US 23 headed north. Almost immediately, they hit a National Guard checkpoint. The guards held their weapons pointed at Adam’s team. The lead guard approached the vehicle. “Trick!”
Adam kept his hands raised with his foot on the brake. “Three!”
The guard motioned for the other guards to lower their weapons. “ID.”
Adam pulled his driver’s license out of his pocket. It was his proof that he was a Kentucky resident. There was no formal ID for the militia.
The guard inspected it, “Where you headed?”
“Combs Field, we’ve got wounded,” Adam replied.
The guard motioned the driver of the Cougar blocking the road. The driver backed up revealing a gauntlet of armored vehicles stretching for about one-hundred yards.