“The outside of the school will also need some work, as the grass has gotten pretty high over the last few months. There is a big field next to the school where we want to put a community garden. Andrew, I know you are really busy here with all of our fields, but I was hoping you could give a couple of soldiers some direction in what needs to be done to get it ready for a garden.
“Once the school is done, we will start on the homes on the same block as the school. We’ve already met some folks living in the development who are willing to help fix these homes and move into them. As we get a block fixed and people moved in, we’ll move to the next block, and so on, working around the school.
“There are also some small stores across from the school. The goal is to get them cleaned up also and use them as places to start businesses – places where the community can barter, maybe a medical clinic, and so on. That is farther down the list though. First, we need to get homes repaired and people moved in.”
Tom then talked about his observations of the type of work that would need to be done. “From a construction point of view, there are a number of houses that need repairs to doors and windows. Quite a few have bullet holes that will need to be repaired. I noticed the winter was not kind to many of the roofs which are missing shingles. There are a few homes that are beyond repair. Some are burned, and some are just in bad shape. We will take those homes apart as best we can and salvage any materials we can to use in houses that can be repaired.”
Marcie raised her hand and asked, “What about all of the stuff inside each house? What will you do with things like dishes and furniture?”
“Good question,” I responded. We plan to empty each house before it is repaired. We will then clean the items removed and store them in designated areas in the school. We’ll use them to supply families as they move into newly repaired homes. Stuff that is badly damaged will just be discarded, I suppose.”
“What about people who return to the community and want to stay in their own home?” asked Janet.
“We’ll help them fix their home if they want, and of course, they can stay there. We are not about to take away people’s homes, although our first five families are willing to move to homes closer to the school for safety,” answered Tom.
We spent another half hour talking over all of the work that would be involved and decided we would have a small group of us go to the school in a few days to begin cleaning. Talk then turned to the EMP and to the bombing of Fort Bragg. The Nuk-Alerts remained silent, which was encouraging to know there was either no radiation involved, or the wind continued to blow it all away from us. Tom and I assured everyone that we did not have any additional information about Fort Bragg but would share anything we may learn.
I was thrilled to learn the solar was working as well as it was before the EMP. Everyone applauded Kiara for the great job she did getting everything hooked up and working again. Father Dan reported the radios and computers all survived the EMP. We only lost the radio Tom was holding and two of the radios held by our security folks. Janet reported the kitchen equipment was again working fine, and nothing was lost. All in all, we were extraordinarily lucky.
When our meeting was over, I headed over to Jon’s wing of the house to check on Gabby. I found her resting in bed with her sister-in-law Stacy and nephew John Henry at her side.
“How are you feeling?” I asked.
“Better, I think. My blood pressure is down a bit and my headache has eased up a little bit. I feel really guilty just laying around, but Stacy has been keeping me company. Plus, I’ve been enjoying playing with the baby.”
Stacy chimed in, “Yes, and I keep reminding her that she needs to stay in bed and rest if she wants to be able to play with her own baby one of these days.”
I reached over and picked up my grandson. He was almost six months old and was a happy baby. As I tickled him under his chin, he grinned widely and reminded me so much of his daddy at the same age. I played with him for a while, making all kinds of silly sounds just to hear him giggle. Playing with him was about the best stress relief I could find.
Later that night, as I tried to go to sleep, I tried to picture what kind of world my grandchildren would inherit. I hoped we were successful on the small scale in Riverdale, but also on the large scale. I wanted my grandkids to know all of the freedoms I had growing up. That meant we really needed to work hard now to have something for them later on. As I was falling asleep, my last thought was that I forgot to talk to Mark about Anita.
CHAPTER FIVE
At precisely 1400, General McPherson drove into the main entrance of the airport. He was quite pleased to see that his troops had already moved some of the non-functional airplanes out of hangers to make room for their tanks and missile systems. The fence around the airport had been reinforced with additional barbed wire, and there was now a guard station at the main gate.
The adjoining college campus was also partially fenced off so that the dormitories and several classroom buildings were now part of the airport complex. As he approached the main terminal, General McPherson noted the hand-painted sign that read “United States Army Special Operations Command (Airborne) (USASOC).” Sammy was standing next to the sign waiting to greet the general. As General McPherson stepped out of his Humvee and returned Sammy’s salute, he pointed to the sign and grinned. “That’s a nice touch, General.”
“Thank you, sir. It’s all about the optics, you know.” The general and Sammy both laughed.
“How much trouble did you have occupying the area?”
“Not much, Mac. There were a couple of young people living in one part of one of the dorms. We helped them move to one of the classrooms outside the fence, brought them some additional furniture and things that they needed, and promised to help them get water going once we were settled in. They were grateful for the help and acted very happy to see us. Nice kids, they were going to college here when things fell apart and had nowhere else to go, no way to get home, so they stayed here.”
“No problems with the airport?”
“No, sir, the airport was completely vacant. It was pretty creepy, and I had a few of the guys go through looking for any kind of booby traps. They didn’t find any traps, but we did find a lot of av gas, as well as a couple of large tanks of diesel. We also checked out the air traffic control tower. Naturally, with no power, none of the systems there are working, but I know where I can find an electrical engineer who might be able to get some of this running again if we can get power going. First Lieutenant Kiara Diamond was one of the troops Mark evacuated from Bragg on their way here, and he tells me she is brilliant when it comes to anything electronic.”
“Well, get her out here then, because we need to have radar up as soon as possible. Have the big generators that we had hidden in the caves arrived yet?”
“Yes, they are in the first hangar. We did not want them out in the open, since we’ve not yet found the sleeper cell we suspect is here. When 1LT Diamond gets here, we’ll have her check them all out before we fire them up. We’ve set up the terminal area to be our main conference area, with some private space for you. We also have an area set up here for us to be billeted here. I didn’t think you wanted to be all the way over by the dorms, as that’s where we’re putting most of the troops.” General McPherson was grinning widely.
“Well done. I can tell you must have been working all night, and you did a good job. Show me where our conference area is so that we can get busy.”
Sammy escorted the general to a large room with a table and chairs in the middle and several smaller tables along the sides. One corner of the room was set up to be a communications center with several radios and two radio operators.
“The big table is for meetings with your commanders. The tables around the sides are where various people will work. There are several smaller rooms off to your left set up as both offices and sleeping quarters. There is also a small room where you can have private meetings.” Sammy escorted the general on
a tour of the small rooms. “I hope you don’t mind, but I went ahead and had your stuff moved into your quarters.”
“You did a great job, Sammy. I’m assuming this is my office?” said the general, pointing to a small room next to his quarters.
“Yes, sir. I’ll be in the office next to you, and Carter can take the one just past my office.”
“Excellent. I am going to go get settled in my office and try to get some work done. In about an hour or so, let’s take a tour of the airport and campus so you can show me the lay of the land. Meanwhile, do we have a coffee pot anywhere around here?”
Sammy just laughed. “There is one out in the big room next to the radios. Do you want me to get you a cup?”
“Have you ever known me to turn down a cup of coffee? Make it a big cup… oh, and Sammy? Thank you.” Sammy grinned as he left, shutting the office door behind him.
General McPherson sat at his new desk and opened his worn briefcase. He pulled out a stack of reports he received that morning from the various unit commanders with him in Riverdale. He looked at the first report, which was a headcount of all the people currently on their new base. As he skimmed through the list, he was reassured to see that not only did he have a large number of combat-ready troops, he also had a good number of soldiers with critical skills including medical, engineering, communications, and support staff. The second report listed all of the equipment they had from Fort Bragg. He was surprised at how long the list was: the unit commanders did a great job of moving a lot of heavy equipment, combat vehicles, and armament from Bragg to the caves.
The next report addressed current stocks of weapons and ammunition. While it was a good amount, he knew that you could never have too many guns or too much ammunition. He looked quickly through the list to see if the armorers with him had the materials necessary to reload ammunition. When he didn’t see that information after a quick skim, he pulled a yellow lined note pad from his briefcase and started a list. In addition to ammunition, he added medical staff and supplies to the list. Just then, Sammy returned with a pot of coffee and two mugs.
“I’m sorry it took so long,” Sammy said. “I had to make fresh and it took a few minutes to find potable water to use.”
“No problem,” the general replied. “I’ve been skimming through these reports and trying to establish some priorities for us on this base before we start tackling Homeland troops. At the top of the list is food and water. We need to get a large garden in. I wonder if those young people you moved into a classroom would be willing to help with a garden in exchange for food and water? That would free up troops for other tasks.”
Sammy looked thoughtful for a moment. “I know that when I talked with them, they seemed to be interested in helping us any way they could. I’ll send someone over later to have a chat with them.”
“Good. Let me know what they say. The next thing on the list is getting a medical aid station set up. I see we have a few medical staff with us, and we’ll probably need to look for medical supplies.”
Sammy smiled. “I’ve got the answers on that one. The medical folks have already taken over a section of the ground floor of one of the dorms and they are setting up a medical area. I’ll find out what kind of medical staff they have. They seem to have quite a lot of equipment and supplies, but I’ll have them make a wish list for scavenging.”
“Good. I’m glad they took the initiative to find an area and get set up. Next, we will need to find our armorers. I didn’t see reloading equipment listed, but I was just skimming pretty quickly. We need to be sure that all troops understand to save their brass whenever possible, as I am sure there will come a time that ammo is in short supply.” Sammy nodded his agreement.
“I want to see all field grade officers here at 2000 tonight so we can start hammering out some plans. We’ve got a lot of work to do, and I don’t think Homeland is going to give us a lot of time to get it all done.”
“I’ll get the word out to everyone. We should have a much better idea of what we have and what we need by then.”
“Thanks, Sammy. Hey, make sure coffee is on the scavenging lists, OK?” Sammy shook his head, laughing as he went out the door.
“I’ll be back in an hour to take you on the royal tour. If you need anything before I get back, Sergeant Weaver and Corporal Alvarez are on the radios.”
General McPherson gave a distracted wave from behind his desk as he dove back into his paperwork.
An hour later, the two generals took a quick tour of the new base. General McPherson was really impressed with how fast his troops had worked to organize their new base. The airport had six hangers. Three were large commercial hangers, and these had been emptied of planes and most of their combat vehicles and equipment were now stored in them. The other three hangers were smaller, designed to house private planes. These planes were also removed from the hangers, and each hanger was set up as a place for troops to sleep. One hanger had a sign out front that said “Reception.” General McPherson headed into that hanger and found rows of cots neatly set up. Off to the side of the room were racks holding sheets and blankets. Other racks held boxes of toiletries and items of clothing. A small crew was busy organizing paperwork at several long tables near the entrance. When they saw the two generals, they immediately came to attention. Sammy smiled at them, put them at ease, and asked them to explain to General McPherson what they were doing. The young lieutenant in charge of the squad stepped forward.
“We’re preparing for new arrivals, sir. Some will be displaced military who will need to be processed and placed into units here. Others will be military family members and civilians. They will also need to be processed, and then placed in housing. Right now, we don’t have housing set up, but we understand there is a community not far from here that is being fixed up for any non-military personnel. As each person comes in, we will interview them and collect demographic information. We’ll assign them to a temporary bed and give them blankets and, if they need it, toiletries and clothing. We have a room set up behind us that will be staffed with medics who will give each person a quick health check – we don’t want to have lice or other infectious things in here. Once released by the medics, people will go through a brief orientation, and then will wait here until they have either a military assignment, or a housing assignment. If they don’t pass the medic’s exam, they will be sent over to the medical area for treatment before being processed.”
General McPherson nodded, expressed his appreciation for their good work, and he and Sammy continued their tour. Both men were encouraged to see the progress that had been made, and that everyone they saw seemed to be in good spirits. After completing their tour, the generals headed back to their offices to begin preparing for the meeting that night.
A few minutes before 2000, the conference area was filled with officers awaiting the general. The room was buzzing with speculation about what would be shared. Most of the men and women in the room were exhausted by all of the work that had been accomplished moving to the new base and getting things set up in a very short time, but they still seemed to have positive attitudes. At 2000, the general entered the room. The officers snapped to attention, and the general quickly put them at ease and had them take their seats. He took a moment to look at the faces of his senior officers and felt a wave of affection for them all.
“Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for coming to this meeting tonight. I know you are all probably pretty tired from all of the excellent work that was done this afternoon. I am very impressed with the progress that was made in one day. Because I know you all need some rack time, I will try to keep this meeting short. I just got off the radio with Admiral Hoskins from the Joint Chiefs to let him know our status. He told me that the Homeland forces seem to be massing in the Alexandria area again. They are using bait and bleed techniques to try to wear down the troops there, but so far, our side is not falling for the bait. Losses on our side have been fairly minimal, but we are concerned that as they mass, they may try t
o overwhelm our forces. Carter, can you give us information on your units up there?”
Carter stood, a sheaf of papers in his hand. “Yes sir. I currently have four companies of Rangers spread out over the area. They are working with the local militias which consist of about four thousand citizens. I have two additional special forces units that are headed to the area. The Joint Chiefs have directed several battalions from both the 82nd and 101st to be ready to jump in if it looks like the enemy is getting ready to attempt any kind of surge tactics.” Carter stood for a moment, looking around in case there were questions. When there were none, he sat back down and the general continued his briefing.
“Thank you. Right now, the UN troops are still not engaging in any combat operations, although they are reported to be harassing the civilian population, taking guns, food, and any other supplies people may have. This is at the direction of Homeland. Apparently, they are trying to remove the ability of citizens to take care of themselves so they are completely dependent on Homeland for food, shelter, and protection. This is not a particular issue in the cities, where people at this point do not have all that much anyway. It has not gone well in outlying areas, though, and I understand many civilians have been killed trying to defend their homes and supplies.
“I know many of you are wondering about the nuke at Bragg. I don’t have any specific information, but the Joint Chiefs tell me that from the satellite pictures, they believe the bomb was a smaller one, and that it landed near FORSCOM headquarters. Of course, that’s just a guess, as there is still a lot of smoke and debris interfering with the images. Eventually, we will get clearer pictures, and when that happens, I will let you know. The fallout cloud is expected to move towards the coast since the prevailing winds are out of the west. That means many of the towns between Bragg and the coast will experience pretty high radiation levels. In a few weeks when the radiation has dissipated, I expect we will be tasked with humanitarian missions to that area to try to help survivors.
Premonitions: Book 2: War Page 7