The Show Down
(Part 3, ‘Oh thus be it ever, When Freemen Shall Stand’)
‘Your belief in Jesus is an insult to Mohammad.
Your belief in personnel freedom is an insult to my faith.
And your belief in your God is an insult to Allah.
Because you have written about this, your fate is sealed,
And all three of these insults have marked you for death.
So it is written, and so it shall be.’
A Jihad’s threat to all western journalists and writers
I know that, Freedom is not free;
Freedom is a very expensive commodity,
one that was purchased by many patriots placing their lives on the line so that you,
the average man can sit at home in comfort and in safety.
But if we as a society are not willing to spill blood to preserve our freedom, we will lose it.
Then what excuse will you give to your children?
As for me,
I will not submit
‘lan astaslem’ is Arabic, and it means I will not give up, I will not surrender.
I wish no man any malice, nor do I hate you for who you are, or your beliefs.
As for you, Oh followers of Islam, if you feel Froggy then go ahead and jump,
but just a warning, if you come hunting me wishing for a fight to the bitter end,
It will be to your luck not to find me.
JN
That light at the end of the tunnel, it could be a mushroom cloud or
The sun shining on the faces of valiant patriots restoring freedom.
People we have a choice if we fight we might die,
If we won’t fight and run away we will still die, and our children will be enslaved.
But if we fight for the flame of Liberty like or forefathers did starting back in 1775,
With that stand on Lexington Green. Then years later at the Alamo, and at Bastogne,
All were battlegrounds where real hero’s refused to back down, then we will win.
Now be quick about choosing your legacy, the barbarians are gathering.
Just remember not all of them are outside the gates.
7.62 PK
‘War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse.
The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself.’John Stuart Mill
"We will export our revolution throughout the world... until the calls "there is no god but Allah and Muhammad is the messenger of Allah are" echoed all over the world"
Ayatollah Ruhollah komeeini 1979
Without preparedness superiority is not real superiority and there can be no initiative either. Having grasped this point, a force which is inferior but prepared can often defeat a superior enemy by surprise attack.
Mao Tse-tung
When moved by the love of God
A man becomes a Christian by his own choosing.
Or a man can become a Muslim by his own choice.
When a man converts from a Christian to a Muslim,
God weeps because a soul has gone astray.
When a Muslim converts to a Christian,
Allah says to kill the Apostate.
One religion is not afraid, the other is afraid of the truth,
Now which religion is the one of love and forgiveness?
Which one is the religion of tolerance?
Simple questions yes, about choice and tolerance,
And that is what freedom is all about accepting others choices.
And the bedrock of our Republic, Choice with out fear,
Without force, the freedom to choose as you see fit,
And the freedom to change your mind as you wish.
JN
'Before I was nine I had learned the basic canon of Arab life. It was
me against my brother; me and my brother against our father; my
family against my cousins and the clan; the clan against the tribe;
the tribe against the world, and all of us against the infidel.’
me against my brother; me and my brother against our father; my
family against my cousins and the clan; the clan against the tribe;
the tribe against the world, and all of us against the infidel.’
Leon Uris, 'The Haj'
We are farmers and merchants, labors all, not fighting men or soldiers ready for war.
But necessity or war has found us; it has come to our land.
I don’t know if I would have had the courage necessary to stand at Lexington Green.
But stand I will between my family and the minions from hell.
Alone if necessary, or with friends and companions I will,
Cause I know in my heart that Freedom isn’t Free.
Christ died to make men holy, so if it’s necessary I’ll die to keep us free.
And remember peace can be achieved through superior firepower, if you have the guts to use it.
(Opening paragraph in the Kansas Militia Leaders Handbook)
“Seek out and join a lawful Militia or form one in your area. If you wish to remain Free you will have to fight for it, not because we want to fight, or you want to fight
but because the traitors will give us no choice in the matter”
William Cooper
“…the states cannot, even laying the constitutional provision in question out of view, prohibit the people from keeping and bearing arms so as to deprive the United States of their rightful resource for maintaining the public security, and disable the people from performing their duty to the general government.” U.S. Supreme Court, 1886.
“But it ought always to be held prominently in view that the safety of these States and everything dear to a free people must depend in an eminent degree on the militia. Invasion may be made too formidable to be resisted by any land and navel force which would comport either with the principles of our Government or the circumstances of the United States to maintain.
In such cases recourse must be made to the great body of the people, and in a manner to produce the best effect. It is of the highest importance, therefore, that they be so organized and trained as to be prepared for any emergency.” President James Monroe’s First Inaugural Address 1817
Psalms 78: Give ear, O my people, to my teaching; incline your ears to the words of my mouth!
2) I will open my mouth in a parable; I will utter dark sayings from of old, things that we have heard and known, that our Fathers have told us.
4) We will not hide them from their children, but tell to the coming generation the glorious deeds of the Lord, and his might, and the wonders, which he has wrought.
To me this means we are to teach our Children the history of why America became such a great nations, that America was founded upon the principles found in the bible, the teachings of kindness, freedom and obedience to the lord. Our history is full of stories of righteous men and women whose belief in God and their desire for freedom carried them through the worst that evil has ever thrown at us the American people. Yes we have made mistakes as a people and most of the time we have corrected those mistakes with out resorting to violence and bloodshed.
We must teach our children that a loving God gave us our Freedoms and our Constitution, and they cannot be taken away without a 2/3 vote of the people giving their OK, not by some simple act of congress or a presidential decree, even in times of war. And I pity the poor foolish aggressor be they foreign or domestic, who tries to do it by force.
Yet there is another way to lose these freedoms, stay ignorant forget about our history don’t pass it on, and do nothing when another person is denied their God given Constitutional rights, do that and soon it will be your turn to lose a small slice of freedom. Not all at once but a little every now and then, the same way a spider builds a web one strand at a time.
America is the last bastion of the free world. Americans need to wake up to that reality, not only to guard itself but also to keep the world free.
Presently there is no other country that will be the first to step up, to spill its own blood to keep the rest of the world free. JN
Presently there is no other country that will be the first to step up, to spill its own blood to keep the rest of the world free. JN
Hero’s to Remember
WO Oleg Vyacheslavovich Loskov, WO Denis Yevgeniyevich Pudovkin, Lt. Andrei Alekseyeyevich Turkin, Maj. Roman Yurievich Katasonov, Maj. Mikhaail Borisvich Kuznetsov, Maj. Vyacheslav Valimifovich Molyarov, Maj. Aleksandr Valentinovich Perov, Maj. Andrei Vitaliyevich Velko, Lt Col. Oleg Gennadiyevich Ilin, Lt.Col. Dmitri Aleksandrovich, Razumovskii, and 1 Unidentified publicly Operators of the Alpha
and Vymprl Counter Terror Units
who gave their lives at Beslan so that others might live.
From Thomas Paine off of the Timebomb 2000.com web site
‘This is my fathers world. O let me ne’er forget,
That though the wrong seems oft so strong.
God is the ruler yet.’
"Islam does not distinguish between the American people and the American government, since both are in a state of war with Islam," Mustafa Abu Al-Yazid
(Worldnetdaily.com)
If you’re an American, you had the privilege to be born free,
If you wish to die free you better get up off your ass and make it happen.
Stand and fight damn-it, if not these just might be the last words your hear,
‘AllahuAkbar! AllahuAkbar! AllahuAkbar!’
7.62 PK
‘Those who do not study history are doomed to repeat it.’
Winston Churchill
Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected,
and handed on for them to do the same.
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan
The American Flag does not fly because of the wind that blows it,
It flies because each soldier's last breath blows by it.
Anon
(C-1)
Operation Wolverine
Full Thunder Moon
(Orders Session)
‘A wolverine is a vicious little brute who doesn’t quit,
he’s sort of like a cross between a wolf, a bear, an me mother-in law.
I have seen one that drove a bear away from a dead moose,
just after the snows started to melt.
You have no idea how hungry a bear is when they wake up,
Hungry.’
New England trapper telling a story, 1675
Pick the place and time you want to do battle,
Prepare the ground, set up lanes of fire,
Set out your claymores and tangle foot.
Try to avoid the time and place your enemy chooses.
Soldiers Hand Book, Kansas Militia
“OK Gentlemen, as you eat lunch, I want to show you a new surprise for our Chinese friends,” Boa said as he picked up a empty two and half-gallon paint thinner can. “This one not full, not painted yet, all of them will be a light brown all over with some dark brown, tan and olive drab paint on the business end to help camouflage them. Each can will be full of napalm and come with two soda size cans of C-4 and a small baggie of black gunpowder tucked inside.” Boa held up one soda can for them all to see.
“You dig a hole at an angle or on the side of a small hill or gully, the hole must be large enough to place the large can in on top of the smaller cans, first prep the C-4 with your blasting cap and then secure the wire around the smaller cans then put them in the bottom of your hole. Then place the larger can on top and cover with 30 centimeters of dirt sorry, that’s a little over an inch of dirt, then go back and hook up the wire to the control board, like the one I’m holding. Each control board can set off ten of these cans or a mixture of them and claymores as each squad is directed to place them by their Platoon Leader.”
“In the 1st and 2nd Kansas and the 1st Texan and 1st Louisianan each of your battalions will have 250 cans and enough wire to place them out as far as 500 meters.” Turning to Dan he asks, “sir if you're ready for the demo?”
“Go ahead Boa, it’s your show.”
“Gentlemen watch the open field to your left.” Taking his radio mike Boa pressed the button and said into it, “Sgt Lutz, you ready, over?”
“This is demo one, ready on your command, over,” came back the reply.
“Your three count, then fire over,” Boa answered.
A man standing about sixty meters away shouted so they could all hear, “Fire in the hole, fire in the hole, Three, Two, One.”
A large explosion happens about 100 meters further away and instantly a huge fireball is shot out of the ground toward a number of silhouette targets that are spread out; of the dozen or more targets most catch fire and start burning.
Several of the senior officers say ‘hot damn’, others, ‘whoa’, or ‘good Lord that was impressive’, as they watch the targets burning.
Colonel Chouteau from the 4th Mo. Brigade asked, “I thought that napalm was banned?”
“America never signed that part of the treaty. Our armed forces and government decided years ago to do away with it for awhile.” Dan answered, “but Congress has just re-authorized its use again, after the Chinese invaded. They confirmed we could use it as a defensive weapon right after we sent forward copies of the captured Jihadist rape and torture videos and our pictures from the Stockton raid.”
Dan turned to Boa and said, “Thank you for the demo, you out did yourself again Boa. By the way where did you get all of the Gas to make these?”
“The Chinese left over 20,000 gallons that was contaminated or of poor quality, it was to low of octane for our vehicles, so I latch on to it. We used Styrofoam as the gelling agent and the cans were sitting empty back at the depot. When I found out about the gasoline then the idea formed in my head.”
“Good thinking Boa,” Red said and several of the other officers agreed.
James Dix tells them, “CO's if your guys use these at the right time it will give us an advantage that just might make a big difference.” To Major Diem he said, “Thank you that was a good demo.”
“Thank you gentlemen, I have work to do,” Boa said as he saluted and left.
“I can see a use for them,” another officer said, “It would be pretty bad to be on the receiving end of one of those, especially if one is going off right in your face. One hell of a way to die.”
Some one else said, “A few of those out in front of a defensive line will sure make an attacker hesitate. And at night it will be very effective in lighting up an area. My dad who was a pilot during Korea, and he told me about dropped some napalm on a North Korean unit that was attacking some of our soldiers and when he was coming back to strafe the enemy they were all waving white flags, and surrendered to the man when our troops advanced, it took all the fight out of them. And I’m sure it saved a lot of lives on both sides. It might offend some people that we will use it, but they haven’t been shot at or come under a rocket or artillery barrage. To be killed by fire, bomb or a bullet, still leaves you dead.”
One of the officers replied, “I for one haven’t any problem using this.”
All of the other officers agree, especially since it’s there own lives and their men’s lives that will be on the line.
“Dan from what you laid out for us in this mornings briefing this is going to be a fairly ambitious attack we are launching in two weeks. From the breaking into the valley, the racing across to relieve our men who take the bridge and then turning north to place two divisions across the shipping canal. I can see a lot of places where a few little problems could cause us a world of grief.” Pausing for a second then Red Stoddard Division Commander of the 2nd Kansas added, “And two major problems stand out!”
Finishing chewing the bite of sandwich in his mouth and then swallowing it, Dan takes a napkin and wipes his mouth then gives his reply. “I know what you are referring to Red, that’s why I’m having your third brigades leg infantry airlifted across to the north side, they will land north of the Rio Vista air strip and deploy out from their. With those thirty heavily armed dune buggies on board your first units will have a lot of firepower, fast and mobile with some decent anti-tank and good ambush capability.”
“Yes sir but even then we will be using all of our captured Chinese helicopters and it’s still going to take a few lifts. And a lot of bad can happen between each of those lifts?”
“In any plan there is some risk Red, our Intel says once the Chinese battalion at Rio Vista is either destroyed or captured the only close reinforcements are up at the Travis Air Base. And that is only a ground Security Battalion plus a Air Defense battalion for guarding the base. Except for the AA guns and missiles they have at most a dozen wheeled APC’s, and all of them are the light 6X6 armored personnel carriers mounting PKM machine guns or 60mm mortars. The M-2's on the buggies will eat them up; they won’t need to use their Anti-tank missiles. There will be six of the captured WZ-10’s helicopter gun ships airborne at all times and in direct support of the operations at the bridge, if it becomes necessary they will support your forward battalion. So if your first battalion and D’s people have any trouble or we see a major counterattack developing there will be enough firepower there to handle them.”
“That’s not my main worry Dan, it’s the idea of relying on one bridge that scares me more then anything else. Say our luck holds out for a while and we do get two divisions across and enough supplies for a week or two, then the Chinese take out the bridge with some of those A-100’s like we captured up at Truckee!”
“I understand your concern, but Tom has promised us some special weapons to stop that from happening. Don't forget right behind the first brigade in your convoy we will have one battery of the captured M-1 anti-missile, missiles they will deploy on both sides of the bridge for protection. Before the rest of your units are really rolling across the bridge, they will be in position set up and ready for action. The Air Force tested them out down at White Sands right after we captured them and they trained some of our people at the same time, our men said these batteries were ninety-percent effective.”
“Yeah, I read the report, it’s the ten percent one’s that got through that bothers me.”
“That’s where the special weapons promised by Tom come in, anyway by day two the Corps engineer brigade will have a pontoon bridge set up crossing the river just above the bridge, by day four there will be two pontoon bridges and a lot of supplies can be brought over on them.”
“We’re still taking a might big chance!”
“Yes it is and a calculated one, as you know any offensive action is a gamble. And for a back up we still have those ten Chinese Heavy Lift helicopters the Mi-17V7’s that we captured, they can ferry up to six tons of supplies at a time. So if it becomes necessary we can set up two helipads on either side of the shipping canal across from each other, I’m hoping it doesn’t come down to that though.”
Red shook his head, still not satisfied with the answers; “Another concern I have is using the few captured California secondary road system under our control to bring more supplies over the mountains. We may have a large reserve of supplies on hand now but it’s still limited, if this drags on for a few weeks it might not be enough to sustain us if things get hairy.”
Taking a breath he continued, “Besides Col. Cleavage and his three brigades of drivers and supply people can only do so much, hell even the divisions supply companies are going to be hard pressed to keep up.”
“Red we will never have all the supplies we would like to have, but what we have will be more then enough. And as I explained in the opening statements this morning I’m using the Chinese own plans against them. They expect us to break into the valley then turn north and attack straight into the southern suburbs of Sacramento. If we did that they plan on giving us a warm welcome, I don’t want our men to have to do any urban fighting to speak of, and not on the Chinese terms. As you all know urban fighting is the most expensive in lives, I would rather encircle the cities and starve them out, or as I hope, to force them to come out and to fight us in the open.”
All of the Division commanders nodded their heads in agreement, none of them wanted to waste their men in fighting house to house, and from street to street.
To emphasis his point Dan said again, “As the operational plans show we move in and take our objectives, and dig in. After that they will have to come to us, to come out and fight us on our terms. So we will attack them first and take the terrain we want and then go to ground. With them trapped in a sack, we are forcing them to make the next move, to come to us on the ground we prepared. As I said if we can cut their two supply links to SF, they have to make a choice either attack us or starve. It worked for us both times up in the passes when we tried it last winter, Red it was your plan and it very well then. Once our men cut the Chinese off from their supply lines, then surround them, and harassed them to no end. Once cut off like that they had only two choices. Now what’s your other concern?”
“That the Chinese 11th Corp has close to 800 of those ZTZ-99 heavy tanks available to them and the 1st and 2nd Kansas Divisions have only 90 Abrams between them. That’s a bit lopped sided don’t you think?”
“That’s why we dig in the two forward decoy lines, the first being the mechanical ambush where we are concentrating our light anti-armor fire-power onto their infantry APC’s destroying them, and the second line will be where are using the whack a gopher strategy against the tanks.”
“Whack a gopher,” Red asked with skepticism?
“Yeah you know the arcade game where you use a rubber mallet to hit the mechanical gopher that pops up for a second from a dozen different holes. Our second set of javelin launchers along with 100 of the Israeli SPIKE LR’s will be scattered over a large area , one man pops up aims and shots a missile then ducks back down, and then another launcher over here on the other side pops up and shoots. With three sections of forty plus of these hidden positions scattered across the FEBA (Forward edge of the battle area) of the three front brigades, with four missiles each shooting at the Chin’s tanks that have overran the first line. While they halt consolidate, and wait for their infantry to mop-up we whack them hard. After a couple a dozen tanks are destroyed they’ll attack the second line without infantry support. The Chin tanks will be exposed with out supporting infantry and we will then destroy them as they attack.”
“Do you really think they’ll stop on top of this first decoy line, remember they’re professionals?”
“Yes I do, it’s their operational SOP. I won’t speculate but they have three choices, either retreat leaving their infantry exposed, or they sit tight taking the heavy punishment we will be raining down on them. Or the last choice they have will be to advance trying to take out this second line as their infantry then skirmishes across two-hundred plus meters of open ground trying to catch up to the tanks and that’s after they have used a lot of energy sweeping the first line.”
Dan explains his thinking, “A good Armor commander will only sit for so long, taking our hard hammering while waiting on the infantry, after several of his tanks are hit they will move forward to attack and once we separate the tanks from the infantry that will be the end of them. As for the ZTZ-99’s, I don’t think they will commit all 800 of their best tanks in one battle, maybe 200 at the most, with the rest being the older type 96 or type 88. The 105’s on your M60A3’s will defeat the older tanks easily head with easy shoots out to the 4-k range, long before they can get close enough to use their guns. And any flanking shots will open them like a can of beans hit by a 45. And the 105’s will blow off a track of the 99’s with easy, leaving them for our Javelins or the Air Force and the A-10’s.”
“With out knowing exactly were our main defensive line is the Chinese won’t attack with everything they have, they will lose a lot of men and equipment trying to find us, and later when they want to pin us down.” Dan paused for just a second then continues, “But even if they do commit everything in one push, by then operation Sitting Duck will be completed and you’ll have some air assists. Who gets the most air support depends on where the Chinese send their heaviest concentration of Armor.”
“Whack a Gopher,” Red chuckles and all of the other officers laugh as he finishes, “that sounds strange but I like the analogy.”
Dan smiles and added, “I couldn’t think of another example, now what else is bothering you?”
“Well the long range weather forecast bothers me a bit too, the highs are expected to be over one hundred and even as high as one-ten for the next fifteen days.”
Dan chuckled as he said, “Can’t help the weather, half of the time the weather man has to look out side to see if its raining or the sun is shining. Since most of our troops are from the mid-west and the south they know how to work when it’s hot. If it’s water your worried about, that’s why I gave your division that extra engineer platoon with it’s four water purification units, and eight of those Chinese water transport trucks we captured last winter south of Bridgeport. You’ll find that information is covered in your order section on logistics, the plan is for them to set up at lake Curry and get busy doing their job, also in the logistics and supply section of the orders we have given each of your battalions four of the two-thousand gallon water bladders. I didn’t mention the supply details yet, because my J-4 will cover those plans with all of you and your Divisions G-4 officers this afternoon.”
Dan looked around at each of his commanders and said, “I’ve tried to cover all contingencies but remember Murphy’s laws, ‘What can go wrong will go wrong’, so I want every one of your front line vehicles loaded to the max with ammo, water and food. The J-4 will keep the pipeline full of supplies coming forward. He will establish three well-dispersed forward depots, I know the first one will be just southwest of Comanche Reservoir. The second will be over by Rio Vista and the third up by Fairfield. He told me his people could move enough supplies in two days to sustain the whole Corp for close to two weeks of heavy fighting. So your men better stay off of the roads or his people will run your slow Asses over.”
General Le Grand of the Texas 1st asked, “Who came up the idea to use the words ‘New Hooey,’ for the code words the boys use when they clear the bridge of explosives?”
Every one chuckled as James Dix answered, “Colonel D Salvador suggested it. It’s pronounced ‘Ni hao’ and its Chinese for hello, if their electronic radio surveillance people pick up that transmission they might think one of their people keyed a mike by accident or is just playing around, at least that’s what we hope they will think.”
“Ni hao, or hello,” Le Grand exclaimed with a laugh, “that’s one hell of a way to say we’re coming!”
(C-2)
Take a Step Back
To take a step back: disengage (v)
to free or release from anything that holds.
- Military. To withdraw from contact with an enemy
(i.e. to retreat)
“Are all of your troops out of Reno and back behind the Donner Pass?”
“The last Brigade size unit pulled out of Reno last night. They are now at Truckee and have dug in there. As ordered we still have several scout platoons in the front positions facing the Americas where they will act as if they are still the forward units of a division.”
“What about the rest of your three divisions that were there?”
“I have one on the East side of Donner Pass and the other two just on the west side, where they can attack and destroy any American units that attempt to search for them. Not to show any disrespect sir, but this placement of my three forward Divisions makes no sense. We should hold on to Reno and force the Americans to attack with at least a Corp to dislodge us. At least there I had room to maneuver and do a counter flanking attack if needed. Where the bulk of the troops are now they can hold the high ground, on either side of the pass, but there are no feeder access roads to move the armor and artillery units over.”
“General Chin your troops are the cork in a bottle, if the Americans move down highway 80, they can't dislodge you. For them to attack from the east against Sacramento they must go through your main divisions there. And as it was explained in the general orders session, if they attack from the south we let them in the door, stop them and then cut them to pieces.”
General Chin turned his head and let out a sigh, then placing the phone back to his head he replied, “Your orders will be followed, but my units around Plymouth and Jackson will be on high alert. The Americans keep probing my right flank and they could attack there instead of up on Highway 80?”
With a chuckle General Gobi answered, “Reading tea leaves might give us more of an idea of what they plan. Keep all of your front line units on alert, I underestimated the enemy and their capabilities one time, but not this time! We should know in a few days a week at the most, where they will attack again, and then we move to destroy them! Out!”
Hanging up the phone General Chin shakes his head, you don not win battles by waiting. You win battles by attacking and keeping your opponent on his heals, as we are right now. Attack, attack, attack, not defense and wait, or the few limited company and battalion attacks we have done. Attack while the Americans are building up supplies getting ready for their next offense, we have the shorter supply lines we should use that to our advantage.
Damn the fool, we will lose if he keeps up these retrograde operations. We still out number the American forces facing us, we have more Tanks, Artillery, Jets and attack Helicopters. Looking at his operational area map his eyes are drawn to Reno and and then to the American Navel airbase at Fallon. We still hold Reno even if it is with a covering force, victory was so close. He knows it's only seventy Kilometers to Fallon and it would have been ours if I hadn't followed orders and stopped.
Seventy Kilometers, the key to all that has happened or will happen here in Northern California. The Americans knew that, I know that, anyone but the fool who gives the orders understood that.
With a sigh he looks at the American forces positions and their estimated numbers. Two Divisions to the north West of Reno, with another two Divisions directly east of Reno and another division in an arc from there down to Lake Tahoe. Six months ago there had been only one Division facing him and they were at risk of being destroyed. Today they are forcing my commander to pull back, with out attacking us, how could this be?
And to my south there are how many more divisions, three, five, seven? Our intelligence doesn't know, our spies don't know, our satellite photos show us next to nothing. The same with photos from our Stealth aircraft, so I know the Americans are using our equipment they captured to detect them. Our Special forces teams sent in on reconnaissance are discovered and destroyed before they can gather enough information on the numbers we face there.
I know they are Militia from several of their states, the few prisoners we captured, even they don't know how many units there are, as it should be. With a chuckle he picks up one of their cards they like to leave with our dead and looks at the side with the wolf on it, Prairie Ghost, I know better. Not ghost there are no such things, men of flesh and blood, soldiers like mine only trained a little better. Well we will see, to win you have to come to us, in a heads up fight the best will be the last standing. I plan to be that one, the last soldier standing.
(C-3)
Me, I’m a patriot too, 4PM east coast.
Patriots come in all colors, shapes and sizes
they are friends that might have to cover your six,
treat them as you would want to be treated.
Kansas Militia Hand book.
“Bruno I have a request, it’s a job for you from an associate I’ve worked with before, he’s offering enough money to set you up for life.”
“How much?”
“Ten million in Euros, that’s over thirty-seven million in US dollars, half of it will be paid in gold coin,” Tony replied.
“You know I won’t do any major world leaders.”
“Yeah I told him, he said it’s not, just a no nothing American Citizen or two in a home. In fact the number one target is an immigrant, a naturalized citizen.”
“Ten million Euros? The punk sure must of crapped in your associate chili to offer that much.” As he thought there’s more to this then taking out a simple target.
“He did say they were an embarrassment, one that had to be dealt with and very soon too.”
“You got a name?”
Passing across a large sealed envelope Tony said, “It’s all in there, do you want to look it over in private?”
Flicking open a butter fly knife and cutting the seal Bruno said, “Naw you can set there.” Taking out an 8x10 photo he said, “Nice looking dame,” turning the photo over he didn’t see any name on the back and set it down. He then pulled the next three pages out that were stapled together and typed in double space, the last two items he removed from the packet were two thick stacks of €500 notes. Which he set to one side and started to read the information. Getting to the women’s name he frowned as he thought for a few seconds; as he knew that name from somewhere? Reading the rest of the first page he saw the location as being somewhere in the Mid-west, Kansas, he turned the page and read a few lines on the second page. His eyes lit up as he muttered, “She’s got a small security detail for guarding her 24/7. That’s going to take at least a couple of weeks worth of watching for opportunities.”
Indicating the Euro notes he told Tony, “That’s what the money for, expenses to go and take a look, say’s there’s a hundred thousand there. Did you tell him I needed money up front?”
“No I didn’t.” Tony frowned as he added; “Probably thinks you will take the job if he flashes money at ya.”
Bruno snickered as he continued to read, when he got half way down the last page, he tossed the pages down and blurted out, “No way Tony, not for no amount of doe or threats would I do this job. She’s a Rhodesian.”
“Never heard of them, that some sort of off the wall religion or what?”
“No it used to be the name of a small country in Africa, my daughter Marcie Moretti, from my first wife was saved on 9/11 by a Rhodesian, his name was Rick Rescorla. Marcie was still in the south tower when that second plane hit it, during the rush to get out some jerk pushed her over, then several people following close behind stomped on her leg breaking it.”
“That was some bad luck!”
“Yes it was, but this guy named Rick showed up placed some splints on her leg, and got five of his people to help carry her down from the 47th floor, they saved her life. All because this guy had his people organized, if they hadn’t got her out of there, I wouldn’t be a grand dad today,” he said with a proud twinkle in his eye. “I owe him big time, but never got the chance to pay him back or to even say thinks.”
“Why, what happened to him?”
“He was courageous to the end, he got his people and my daughter down to the Para-medics and then he headed back up to help some more people, he died when the tower collapsed. Since I couldn’t tell him thanks, I’m not offing one of his fellow countrymen, as I said I owe him to much.”
“I understand where your coming from, that’s a debt to honor." Tony said as he nodded his head in agreement, “Mind if I read this shit?”
“Go ahead, but don’t get any ideas Tony. Even though we grew up on the same block, I would take this one personnel if you were to get some other ass-hole to rub her out!”
Tony smiled thinking a job is a job. That was until he got to her name Evelyn Marion, and read the address. Standing up abruptly he got red in the face as he said to no one in particular, “You shitty diaper headed, low life camel humping mother. No not you Bruno, that’s for the ass-wipe that wants this job done, he wants me to have some one whack the wife of one of our best Generals fighting out in California. I might be a no-good low life, but I am still a patriot. My middle son Carlo is in the New York Militia and he’s out in Washington State right now fighting. And this son-of-a-bitch wants me to help his fanatical friends by hurting our soldiers; no way in hell will I do that. He can go and pound sand up his ass.”
Reaching across the desk he offers his hand to Bruno as he said, “I’m glad your daughter’s alive and that you do draw a line in your work, I’m drawing a line too, now what do we do about this,” indicating the papers on his desk?
Taking the offered hand Bruno said, “I know that Tony, I’m patriotic to, and as I said that other Rhodesian helped save my daughter, then he went and gave his life going back up to help others. The man had guts that’s for sure, and I’m repaying him by refusing this job. Now, what we need to do is to fix this SOB, what’s the name of this rag head that wanted me to take this job? I think I just might do one for free, or more then one if any of his people get in the way.”
“You might not be able to get to him, he’s got a hell of a security detail around him at all times. Besides he’s a cousin of a prince in the Royal family of Saudi Arabia.”
“Don’t give a rat’s ass who he is, these people need a hard lesson delivered for attempting this type of crap, and I’m the man!”
“Know what you mean, but there’s another way and you can still get at least half of the pay they offered.”
“Tony I don’t work that way, I do a job and get paid, otherwise I’m not going to work for any one else ever. And I don’t want to be looking over my shoulder the rest of my life because this muther hired some punk to Hickcock me because I stiffed him.”
“I thought you were ready to retire?”
“I am, I’m fifty this year, and I have enough put away to last me another fifty.”
“And five million more Euros wouldn’t hurt you as some added insurance?”
“You got a plan?”
“Yes, but it will cost you one million of the five million he’s willing to put up front.”
Bruno shrugged as he set there thinking for a bit; before today he had planned to kill several of the outspoken Islamic leaders locally as his contribution to the war effort. But he liked the idea of nailing one of their paymasters, to him that sounded a lot better. Hit them in the wallet was an effective way, better then killing just a mouth, as another one would quickly step forward to take his place. So he asked, “You going to tell me?”
“If you’re ready to get out of the trade and willing to turn states evidence on this sand-dick. My attorney will have to contact the FBI and we can have them help us set up a sting to get him. With his giving you 5 big ones in cash captured on video and as a hire for murder he won’t be able to escape prison. His family won’t have enough pull or money to get him off the hook for this.”
“You want me to talk to the FBI? Are you nuts? You got to be joking right? They suspect me on half-a-dozen hits as it is. If I give them this shit, it will confirm what line of work I do, they’ll have my ass in a cell next to this guy.”
“Not if we set it up right. First we get them to give you and me immunity for everything, for what they think they know and for what you really did, and for any others that they might uncover later and try to blame either of us for.”
“Tony you don’t know shit, I’ve been very busy. I won’t say how many but it’s more then a few, they won’t give me immunity on all of them. And why would you want immunity too?
“Your right I haven’t a clue on how many, but if you gave them the full scoop, all of the names the dates, places and I mean everything, you come clean. And that’s after they give the immunity, they won’t be able to touch you later. As for me, what you tell them, some of this would wash up on my door step, and I’ll need to be covered too. And just like you I'm wanting to get out too. I've got to many grand-kids to worry about. This business is for those with out family, or for those who just don't care. ”
“You know if I do this, we’ll both have to find a rock to crawl under. Because somebody who’s loved one I hit, will want to get even with me, they always do. And some of your associates won’t be happy with you either.”
“That’s true, I hadn’t thought about that, but I can handle it. Now if you want to think about it you can call me in a day or too.” Gesturing to the photo and the hit information Tony said, “I still have to do something about this. I can’t let them offer it to someone else, that’s unless you want to try and get him first?”
Bruno didn’t move or say anything for over a minuet as he thought, I’ve always worked alone and I’m one of the best if not the best around. To snub this one ‘associate’ out; well it would be righteous, but as Tony had said this might not be practicable for a solo job.
But he couldn’t leave it open either, sure as hell I don’t want this guy to hire someone else and get him or her to have a chance to get lucky, and maybe kill the Generals wife. On the other hand he didn’t trust the feds, never had, they hated competition, and they weren’t to be trusted, to many leaks higher up, and he knew that some of them were compromised. So he asked Tony, “Give me a week or two while I look into this you can stall him that long can’t you?”
“Yeah, I told them it might take me that long to contact you, and for your checking out the target. What you got in mind?”
“To check out this associate as you called him, to see if his people have any holes that I can exploit. Don’t worry I won’t whack him, not until I get the advance of five million Euros, it would be a nice retirement bonus to have.” He smiled as he corrected his last sentence, “I meant four million, since your getting a million.”
Laughing Tony added, “Now this is funny, you and me just two American Patriots trying to be helpful, if we pull this off we stand to make some profit, but we’re still Patriots. I’ll talk to my attorney tomorrow and see what he thinks, maybe he can have a chat later with the FBI and feel them out.”
Bruno smiled at Tony’s attempted joke, as he replied with all sincerity, “Just because I’m a hired gun it never mattered, but I’ve always been a patriot Tony. And when we were kids on the fourth of July listening to the few old veterans telling their stories about lost friends and forgotten battles I felt for them, and what it cost them, for us to be free. Then later setting off fireworks celebrating our freedoms the old guys would say that the firecrackers were representing the fire from rifles and the aerial rockets were flares lighting up a dark night. I know you listened and felt the pride too, in knowing such men, to me the fourth of July was the best time of the year, we couldn’t have been any happier. And I know you’re still a patriot today to, I know you gave blood and a big wad of cash after 9/11, for the victims. And again after the invasion, you might not be the typical good old patriot, but I know you’re one.”
Tony looked at his childhood friend as his eyes misted for a second, thinking about all those people that never had a chance to make it out of the two towers. And last fall watching the TV for days, and seeing all of the refugees fleeing California, with literally nothing but the cloths they had on, that had hit home, hard. Nodding his head as his voice betrayed him as he said, “Yes I’m am a patriot, despite my faults, God Bless America. You and me Bruno just like the old days, we’ll get this bastard one way or another.”
(C-4)
Later that evening
James Dix offers his condolences, “I sorry for what happened up at Big Dome, I just heard about your brother getting killed in that Chinese raid yesterday. The few survivors said it was at least a platoon size attack on the OP support position, they did take a couple of the guys prisoner.”
Dan just shakes his head in agreement, he knew it was one of the many useless loses that war brings. But the hurt is very real and very personnel, as he wonders, how many more will we lose, sons, daughters, brothers, sisters, family and friends? He doesn't know, but he does know that freedom for all Americans is worth the cost, Oh Lord please give me the strength. The letters home last night to his sister in law and their father were the hardest to write, no words he could think of seemed right.
Dix changing the subjects then said, “Your plan, it will put the Chinese on the hot seat for sure. But I'm thinking a lot along the lines of what Red brought up. Do we have enough men and equipment to make it happen?”
Dan lets out a long sigh as he says, “Jim, a lot of commanders have always thought that, they think they never have enough of what is required, or what they would like to have. I’m sure we have more then enough men for the job, I’m using seven divisions and the two independent brigades for the attack and I’ll keep the OK division in reserve. So far we have been able to make do, we have planned the best that we can, and I have complete trust in our men, to see it through to victory. That’s why I’m having the units preparing for what the enemy is capable of doing, not what I think or hope he will do.”
“Are you sure you didn’t go to the War College at Leavenworth Sir, cause that’s what they drill into our heads during our tactics classes. And that's the big difference between sound tactics, and a gamble.”
Dan smiled, as he shook his head no as he said, “Years ago while fighting in the bush in Africa I learned how to be dodgy, to use deception, mobility, surprise and determination to win. Now, today, the only difference is that I have lots of artillery firepower that I can call on and even more good riflemen that can hit a man size target out to 500 meters.”
“Dodgy,” Jim said with a frown?
Laughing at the look on Jim’s face, Dan answered, “Sorry, dodgy, the way I’m using it means to be tricky or evasive. Not the other way, of being risky or uncertain. Even though that is what war and fighting is, a big risk.”
“Too bad you’re not like Aragon in the Lord of the Rings and can summon up an army of the dead from the mountains, to come to our aid,” Dix said in jest.
With a sly smile Dan retorted, “I might not have a magic sword, nor do I have the persuasive ability to summon such an army. But I have prayed and called out for Eagles, Falcons and Night Hawks and other nasties to help us.”
“Other nasties?”
“Yes nasties, at least that’s what I would call them, the Phantoms, Spirits, Specters, Raptors and Warthogs.” He smiled as he continues, “the ‘Sitting Duck’ part of our operation has been approved, it’s a go. Soon we will stand back and watch as the Lighting and Thunderbolts run amok above our enemies heads as our men, the riflemen along with the King of battle, will do the rest.”
Dan dropped his head in thought of the one thing he feared most, as he whispered, “But only if the enemy comes out to us, if he waits for us to attack him it will get very hard, and really bloody very fast, we will win even then, but at what cost?”
Jim Dix looks at Dan and shakes his head in agreement, city battles, fighting in urban areas and in house-to-house are always very costly in lives and in the number of wounded. He knew that the Militia would do what was asked of them, but they had received very limited training in that area, as there had been so little time.
Urban fighting, that is one fight where learning on the job skills was the hardest. Yes pray that the Chinese come out to us one more time.
He then shudders a little trying to image in his mind what it would be like to be on the receiving end of a warthog attack, as he thinks, ‘I feel sorry for the poor Chin bastards when that happens.’
Two days later, ten days before the attack and the battle begins Dan sends out a letter to be read to all of the troops under his command, the following are excerpts I have taken from that letter.
‘Chingera Imbwa,’ Beware of the dog. We warned them!
The Prairie Ghost are coming, we are coming after you our enemies, you drew first blood. We were forced into this conflict, a fight that none of us wanted.
We have cast the dice, and now we wait for the role to stop and see the numbers, but dice is just a game of chance. And we are the ones here today, fighting for freedom.
One of the best things about working with a patriotic volunteer force is the quality of the men and women, everyone with the determination to see any and all jobs completed, to the end, and the ability of surmounting all problems that might arise, no matter what.
My friends we have worked hard and we prepared for what ever, a tornado, an earthquake, braving freezing cold to take food to those stranded by blizzards, or sandbagging during springtime floods, and now in battle, to always be there, to lend a hand.
We have helped put out grass fires, rounded up stray cattle off of country roads, and in looking for lost children, all of these as our civic duty.
But even more important then all of those task; we made a promise to each other and to our country. To stand against any enemy be they foreign or domestic as we are doing today. Before now others who didn’t understand the Constitution called us names, and still we persevered we prepared and we trained and now we are ready.
It’s time to go and kick some Chin and Terr butt.
It doesn’t matter if they are ready for us or not
They started this fight, now we finish it.
Material things don’t matter. All fame and glory are fleeting. The here and now is all that matters. In the movie Gladiator, Maximus states that’s ‘What we do in life echoes in eternity.’ And that my friends is a proven truth, we don’t remember the names of all of the men who stood there ground on Lexington Green, but we do remember what they stood for. I know they would be proud to have you standing by their side, as I am honored to have you with me today and in the battles that lie ahead of us.
Do your job with all that you have, and we will be victorious, everyone else is counting on you as you are in them. Remember
“If you are wounded,
I will carry you.
If your are captured,
I will come for you.
And if you are killed,
I will always remember you.”
Never forget that we live for our God, our families and our country; we’ll make the bastards who invaded our country die for theirs. They are about to find out the hard way,
‘Who’s Next’
Daniel Francis Marion
"The hour is fast approaching, on which the Honor and Success of this army, and the safety of our bleeding Country depend. Remember officers and Soldiers, that you are Freemen, fighting for the blessings of Liberty -- that slavery will be your portion, and that of your posterity, if you do not acquit yourselves like men."--General George Washington
(C-6)
Headlines in the Mexican newspapers
Killing those who won't accept Allah is not murder.
(Repeated numerous times in the Qur'an)
'Verily, Allah has cursed the disbelievers and prepared for them a Blazing Fire.
Dwelling therein forever, and they will find no protector or helper'.
Shariah Program
“What do you think about the latest headlines from Mexico,” Ayman asks?
With a smirk Kalidia retorted, “It doesn't matter what they print, Mexico is a minor foot note in history. Once we are finished here in the United States, they and Canada will fall under Allah's will in no time. Besides have we not asked for all of the people of the Americas to accept Allah countless times, over many years? We are just humble servants of the truth, and we are doing the will of Allah as told to us by the one true Prophet Mohammed, may peace be upon him. Even he had limits to his patience. The Americans were asked to convert over 200 years ago, if they had done so then we would not be here now.”
“As always you are correct Kalidia, but the newspapers report us as the worst killers of all time, saying we have killed several million innocents.”
“I don't have an exact number of the ones who refused to convert, I know my units have killed almost two million. Not a one of them are innocents, and they refuse to be slaves as directed by the will of Allah and laid out in the Qur'an. They gave us no option, and we do as it was written. Peace comes from Allah as do all blessings.” What of your units Ayman?
“I do not have an exact number of the ones killed by my people. I suspect it is close to a Million, maybe a few mores as some of my commanders are not as forthcoming as they should be. The exact number is not important as knowing those who have converted and assist us. The newly converted are the ones who try the hardest to please. They are filled with the joy of knowing Allah, he is master over all things everywhere and that with him all things are possible.”
“Yes with Allah all things are possible, blessing flow from him as well as judgments for those who deny him. When all the people of earth rejoice in him we will have true peace. Until then we do his work, Allah Akbar.”
“Now Ayman I must ask you a serious question, does the Chinese General Gobi wish to lose his Army here in Northern California. I have seen his plans and for some reason he is waiting for the Americans to attack him? What do you make of that?”
“He is an old fat Communist that was retained by the Khan. I don not understand why, as that must have been a political decision, and he is the worst Kuffar I have ever met. He believes in the state or the man running the state as the supreme authority. He has hampered his best commander and promotes lackeys to command who are just like him. So far he has kept my two division in occupation duties, where we have stayed busy, as Allah has willed. As you know our one unit the Dhul-fiqar Division was headed to the line for combat duty. Instead they were ambushed by these cowardly dogs from Kansas and massacred. The two men who escaped said the survivors were herded into small enclosures and probable executed.”
Kalidia was visitable angry, his face was red and his eyes were like daggers, he motioned for Ayman to continue.
“The Chinese said they received a detailed list of all of our soldiers killed or captured and gave it to me. I don't remember the exact number but it was something like 13,700 or so killed and another 2,100 or so captured.. I know that there were over 17,000 soldiers in the division so that leaves 2,000 men unaccounted for.”
“How many of the units were from our Aztlan recruits?”
“Maybe two battalions worth, but I don't consider them as soldiers, brigands maybe, but not soldiers. Why?”
“You are correct they are not soldiers, cowards and thieves, men with no honor. More then likely they ran away with with out firing a shot and have gone back to the hovels they call homes. That is where the missing numbers are, it may sound like an opinion but also a true observation as it see it. Do not trust them, the Cons that converted are more trustworthy.”
“In the battles in the south, the Chinese have used the two divisions of Aztlan soldiers with mixed results, but they have put more time into training then we do. As I said do not trust them.”
“I see your point Kalidia, I only have a few companies of them and they are scattered among several brigades, we will watch them and use them up when we can.”
(C-7)
D-day minus 3, 1245 NYNY
“You guys can have all of the back-up you want, but they better stay way back and out of sight. It’s my ass on the line at this meeting and his security is good, some of the best I’ve seen. And your guys, they better not be using their radios either, his people monitor everything and if they pick up a lot of scrambled conservation close by I’ll be toast.”
“Our HRC team leaders says there are holes in his security detail, and don’t worry we have state of the art Comms.”
“I don’t care what your man says, he doesn’t know what I know. Beside he isn’t the one who’s going to be talking face-to-face with this little shit. You may think you have good stuff, but he’s got stuff that makes yours look like a string and two tin cans. Tony you tell them, I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t know my stuff.”
Before Tony can say anything his attorney whispers in his ear. Then Tony said, “When you gave Bruno his immunity, does that also cover me if I confirm what he’s telling you?”
The top FBI agent and the Department of Justice attorney glance at each other and make eye contact. They had discussed all of their options with the number two man in the Attorney Generals office and have cleared all possible scenarios ahead of this meeting. Both men nod their heads in agreement as the DOJ man said, “Yes, it’s covered.”
Tony’s attorney then spoke up and said, “I want a written and signed document before Tony say’s another word.”
With a sigh of exasperation the DOJ officer opens his brief case and takes out the prepared document signs it and slides it across the table.
Tony’s attorney quickly reads the blanket immunity and then slides it back across to the top FBI agent and says, “We need you signature to, they prepared a place for you to sign too.”
The FBI man shot a quick glare at the DOJ man, then he takes the paper, reads it and signs it as he said to Bruno, “How did you find out about the radio van that follows him around?”
“He’s a big supplier of heroin to some of the other gangs around, your Intelligence isn’t very good,” Tony said looking over at the Head of the Hostage and Swat team leader. “He took over that end of the business from his dad six years ago. And he’s good, as a pilot during the Gulf War he commanded their special aerial surveillance and warfare section. He knows that when the allies controlled the electronic spectrum completely, Saddam’s people never had a prayer. He’s a whole football field ahead of your Drug interdiction people right now and he plans on staying that way.”
Looking at the faces of the DOJ and FBI agents and their masked expressions Bruno smirks as he then said. “You guys didn’t know a thing about his drug dealing did you. Good thing you agreed to let me keep the five million he’s giving me up front, otherwise I would be charging you some high dollar informants’ fees.”
“We will have to confirm this,” the guy from DOJ said.
“Tony tell them, OK?”
“Sure, tomorrow he has two containers being unloaded over in New Jersey from a ship, it’s called the MV Powerful, and the manifest for the two containers will have them both listed as containing hot tubs.”
“Do you know what time this will happen?”
“No, and don’t go and plan a big raid on the ship, and for Gods sake don’t use the local State or City Narc people, or let you buddies in the DEA know your looking at these containers. If your going to tail them it’s best if you use one of your six by six surveillance teams to trail them when they clear customs.”
“Why not use the local Narcs or DEA people,” The FBI agent asked?
“There is someone on the inside locally, who gives information to another family and when a bust is going down or even an investigation gets started word gets to us.”
The looks the Feds gave each other were priceless, Bruno wished he had a camera on him.
The DOJ man said, “Do you have a name?”
“Nope, the families all of us, we never ask each other for that type of information, I do know that the mole has a daughter who had been hooked on smack, she made some porno films a few years back to support her habit. The Prince acquired all of them before any copies were made and sold. And his mob connection had a long talk with the parents about keeping the movies from going public, and a deal was worked out. The locals Narc’s still make busts and good ones, but not on any of this sand fleas shipments. Everyone in the local law enforcement is happy with those busts, and so far any rumor of his operation has never surfaced.”
The FBI sneered as he intoned, “You guys are planning on using us to bust your competition. All the while you bring other shit in and poison our kids. I can see that you’re planning to take over a larger slice of the trade?”
Tony refused to take the bait or to get mad as he answered, “I gave you the same information that I gave to Bruno, it came directly from the man who wants this hit made. As for my family, we got out of the drug trade after my younger brother died from using some bad Meth three years ago. We don’t do that anymore, but you can believe what you want to believe, I don’t give a damn. When Bruno said no to the hit and told me the reason’s why, I respect him for that. Now show a little respect in return, we love America too, that’s why were talking to you today.”
Standing up and looking the FBI agent in the eye’s he continued, “Bruno’s reasoning for not doing the hit was good enough for me, you can question my motives all you want, as I said, I don’t care. Bruno has been my friend since we were five years old playing in the park together, he has never lied to me. If I don’t need to know he won’t tell me stuff, but he has never lied to me. As for me I won’t back down because I’m offering my country help, you might not like me personally, again I don’t care, that doesn’t matter one bit.”
“With your record I’m supposed to trust you?”
“You Mister, may have taken an oath to serve and protect this country and I’m OK with that. Just to let you know about honoring an oath, Bruno and I entered Scouts together and we might not have lived up to all that is in the Scouts Law, but there are a couple we do honor.” Holding up one finger he says, “A scout is Loyal, he is true to his family, Scout Leaders, friends, school, and nation. And the other one is being Brave, A Scout can face danger even if he is afraid. He has the courage to stand for what he thinks is right even if others laugh at or threaten him. You can laugh at us all you want just because we have stayed true to each other.”
Seating back down he continued, “As I said, question my motive’s I don’t care. But one thing I will promise you, with-or-without your help we will take this threat to our nation out. No way in hell am I going to let them impose their phony religion on my kids or family. Either we work together or we don’t, but I promise you this, these people will pay, and they will be stopped.”
The FBI agent said as if he was brushing dirt off of his shoe, “That’s a threat against the son of a Diplomatic I could have you arrested for that.”
Toni’s attorney said, “All I heard was a patriot saying that he was going to join the Militia, and to join in the fight, arrest him if you want but it won’t stand in court.”
“That’s bullshit I know what he meant, don’t try some of you legalizes on….”
“Stop it John and I mean stop it right now,” The DOJ lawyer said, raising his voice to the FBI agent. “We have to accept what he’s offering, they came to us with the letter and photo. I’d rather be talking to him now about thwarting this plan, then after the fact if he had carried it out. I don’t like having to deal with these guys any better then you do. Remember less then a year ago we were willing to go after the Militia for any little excuse, now we are working to protect them and their families. Right now the Militia and the Army are fighting and dying to protect all of our families, time changes all. Your attitude needs to change too, if not are you willing to put on a uniform and head out west and join the fight, just as they are doing right now. Now do the job you were trained to do and help stop the threat at hand?”
“Yes I would put on a uniform again. I’d be there right now but the President ordered us to stay at our jobs and to secure the rear against terrorist attacks, he didn’t say anything about having to work with the mob. They are criminals and they want us to waste time checking on our own people while they get away with murder.”
Bruno cut in, “You don’t have to work with me and like it, I’ll set them up for you and then you will never hear from me again. If I had refused this job they would have gotten someone else to do it for them. I’ve offered you guys a chance to take out a paymaster for these terrorists, and to role up a large drug smuggling ring at the same time. But the most important part, is to keep the wife alive of a man who’s out there putting his butt on the line every day for me, and for you and your kids. From what little there is in the news and the papers about what he’s doing and winning; I for one want him to keep doing it. I’m no soldier but I’m not a coward either. Once I enter into the final negotiations with this camel jokey, I’ll be surrounded by his security people, I’ll be without any means of defense or weapons, if I goof up or they find out through their paid informer’s I’m dead. Now lighten up will-ya, as Tony said we can all work together to get him, if not Tony and I will take care of this threat our way.”
All of the men got quiet as they were all thinking, where do we go from here. Bruno was the first to talk and what he said took everyone by surprise, “Now if I upset any one here I’ll be the first one to say I’m sorry, and I mean it to. Our arguing won’t solve anything and it just cost us time and makes for hard feelings. Our enemies would love nothing better then to see us divided, we lose and they win. To me that's not acceptable, anymore then I'm sure it is to you.
Now as Tony was saying about the two containers follow them and see where they go, then watch the building for a day or two. Our friend will send one of his men to collect the money owed for the contents. Then you can follow him back to his boss, I paid some friends to do this five days ago to watch the building and that’s why I know so much. Especial about their electronics van because it showed up twenty-four hours before payment was made and then they followed the bag-man back to their bosses place. Any close tail or constant chatter on any police radio frequencies or the same cell phone numbers being used again and again in the thirty mile trip would have tipped them off.”
The HRT commander asked, “How did your guys do it then, I mean how did you follow them with out being detected?”
Bruno held up a disposable phone, “The same way he wants me to contact him, with a phone like this one. And no this isn’t the phone I’ll use for contacting him, it’s in the next room in a sound proof box.”
“We had a box full of these in each of the six vehicles following him and we had three people in each of the trailing cars. By using each one of these just once we would call in a different car after a few blocks on his tail, or when we hit the interstate and following for just a few miles before we switched cars off again. Using this system, and normal everyday talking, nothing was in the clear as we used a very simple code, like picking up the kids, what’s for dinner and such. With us using that many different phone numbers and with a different one of the three people talking, if any of it was picked up by them it left no pattern for them to detect.”
“How did you know they had an electronics van,” the DOJ attorney asked smiling at their simple but effective ruse?
With a laugh Tony said, “If I don’t know what the competition is doing I’d be out of a job in a heartbeat. You have no idea of what a dog-eat-dog world it is out here. The guys who buy the drugs from them said these guys bragged about having better stuff then you feds use, that they can detect you miles away.”
Several of the Feds glanced at each other wondering if this was true. The Commander of the HRT team just shakes his head side to side, he knows that their electronic countermeasures and security is going to have to improve, a whole lot. He then says, “I suspect your telling the truth Bruno, this means another trip before congress asking for even more money to purchase more and better equipment. And you haven’t a clue of what a royal pain in the ass that is either. It’s like being 19 again and having to face your girl’s dad, asking him for permission to marry his little princess.”
Everyone chuckled and they all relaxed a little more from the lame joke, then Bruno said, “If we are going to give this guy enough rope to hang himself, that is doable. Now all of you will have to leave the same way you came in. In one of Toni’s darkened Limo’s parked in the basement, before I make the call accepting the job, and I’ll be working out the details on the up front payment and picking up the cash. I chose this building for our meeting because it has no internal cameras and there aren’t any out side either, or around here for at least three blocks in all directions. When I make the call I know he will have it tracked to here and he will quickly move some of his people over and start watching all of the exits. His people will go around trying to locate any security cameras and then they will trick or bribe the store owners into giving them a copy of the last 24 hours that was taped.”
“And I wouldn’t be surprised if he hasn’t gotten his hands on the new facial recognition system you guys use. And to make thing worse for you, I’ll bet he has photos of most of you guys in the FBI and DOJ, if he does and yours pops up he will smell a rat.”
John asked, “Do you really think he’s got access to that type of high tech stuff?”
Bruno shrugged as he answered, “Yes I do, we have given them how many billions of dollars for oil this last year? All I know is that money talks and bullshit walks, and I never underestimate what the other guys might have. If we have and use this electronic wiz-bang stuff, you can be sure they do too.”
He paused for a second then said, “When I talk to him everything we discuss will be recorded on a digital recorder, the old reel to reel you guys use or a small pocket cassette gives off an ultra sound noise that can be picked up on the other end by a tech with the right equipment. After I’ve finished talking with him, my one man that remains down stairs working on the elevator with the union crew, he will stay until the job is finished hours later. Then this evening when he leaves he’ll head back to the union hall, meet some friends and head to the bar with them. He can then give the recorder to that Marine we told you to bring along and who’s down stairs now with my man. When or if you take this guy to court your man can vouch for the trail of evidence to nail him with his own words.”
Handing across two pages of typed addresses Bruno continued, “These are the places I want your people to set up some distance from but close enough to film, record and observe. Your crews must be hidden and in place two days before the date I work out with them. I’ll make sure it’s set up for early next week giving you plenty of time.”
Looking at the list he can see that there are fourteen locations, he asked, “Why do you have so many sites to observe?”
“We’ll have to come to an agreement on which one suits us both, in his drug dealings he asks for several sites, and he likes to switch locations at the last minuet, I’ve been told he likes to meet at one and they to drive to another to make the payment. That way he can look for a tail.”
John saw the reason for the necessary security covering their tracks as he stated, “You plans seem feasible, it sounds like you know what your doing.”
“Your damn right I do know what I’m doing,” Bruno laughs, “that’s why you guys could never pin anything on me. I’ve already set up stuff for digital recording at all of the locations, I’ll activate the ones in the building were in after they have swept them and when I see the prince. You know together we’re going catch this camel turd in the act, and stop him cold. And if this fails, I’ll be forced to act, and then he’ll be stopped.”
“Are you sure you can stop him it it becomes necessary?”
“Yes, because he will be dead.” Bruno didn’t say the last part as he thought, 'and so will I.'
(C-8)
Planning for Whatever?
“General Stoddard, Dan has tried to think of just about every different plan of attack the Chinese might use against us. He even has a plan for our being overran and has said we can use the Code Words ‘Broken Arrow’, I guess that’s in reference to the situation like Lieutenant Colonel Moore found himself in the movie ‘We Were Soldiers.’
“Ta ha,” Red chuckled as he said, “the hell with that Larry. I’ll first be dipped in stinking shit sprinkled with nuts and called a ‘Nutty Buddy’, before I give any glory to the Air Force, nope we will use our own plan first. I’m an old Cannon Cocker and we will do ‘Rock and Roll’ before I give any other branch bragging rights on saving our butts.”
“Sir?”
“You heard me correct, the code words will be, ‘Rock and Roll’. Where the combined Artillery of the 1st and 2nd Kansas and hopefully the 1st Californian and the ‘Long Tom’s’ of Corp get the first chance. Hell even just half of that fire power roaring and coming down would make most people here in the Golden State think it’s the ‘Big One a coming’. ”
“And Dan knows you plan on using this first?”
“You have a lot to learn Larry, Dan approved it, he told me, ‘Broken Arrow’ is for everyone else but for us ‘Rock and Roll’ will be used first.”
No battle plan ever survives contact with the enemy, Murphy’s laws of combat #2
Plans are necessary, the details have to be worked out.
Coordination must be accomplished , supplies gathered.
Time tables set, code words and frequencies checked out.
Practice and drills worked on again and again.
Camouflage creme applied, equipment and gut checks made.
When the bullets start flying overhead, work to achieve your goals.
Just remember to stay flexible, adapt and overcome.
Rules for combat, and for life.
Kansas Militia Handbook
This plan was still born. He should have protested more when it was presented, it violated all practical tactical training that was taught at any level of command, be it a squad leader or a division commander, even a shave tail Lieutenant fresh out of officers basics knew that. He should protest even now but he was too tired, and worn out for even that gesture of defiance, and it would be a useless protest again, so why bother.
No matter how well you planned and prepared your orders for what ever might happen, the enemy always had different plans. Every commander had to know and understand that your timetable wasn’t his, and to always expect the unexpected, those and many other lessons had been drummed into his head so many years ago. And this enemy he faced had shown him time and again that first basic rule of warfare, when the battle starts the first causality is always the plan.
In Shiyuè (October) I had 14 divisions to maneuver and use, I made the enemy dance to my tune. But today now, rubbing his temples again, I have only seven combat divisions left under my command, and if the Intel report was correct so did my opponent across the map board from me. I might have the edge in combat experienced people but that didn’t mean a thing, not if I am forced to use them foolishly. Even with counting all of my combat support and supply units I might just outnumber him by a 3 to 2 margin, and if I factor that in with the promised air support that leaves the odds even more in my favor, or one would hope so.
Our probing ground attacks and raids these last few weeks hadn’t revealed any weakness that was easily seen, and the few prisoners captured knew less of any future plans. One thing that was apparent from their physical and mental condition that did stand out, they were well feed but not overly so, and they were very confidant, even eager for battle. Even more so as they had a strong faith in their commander’s leadership and their own abilities. That was something I hadn’t expected, at least not from militia, and not after the harsh winter in the mountains, with their troops exposed to it’s brutal wind and bitter cold, their moral shouldn’t be so high. In a few days it will be the end of Liùyuè, (June) and by then we should be face to face in battle once more, and then we will see who is the better General?
Rubbing his temples once more and closing his eyes for the umpteenth time in the last few hours General Chen understood the Americans even less now then when we first invaded. At that time they may have seemed weak and overly occupied with the many diversions their society offered.
And it seemed at that time that a large number of them had been overly supportive of rounding up their troublemakers, the gun owner’s, conservatives and such. But that had been down in the bay area, not out here in the mountains. It was a different story up here where they had sniped at and ambushed his troops from the beginning, but that was a nuisance, just small attacks compared to what had happen after the massacre of his Artillery Division at the airfield west of Reno.
That had all changed when the Flatlanders had arrived, these Prairie Ghost, and from that day on it was a nightmare for my people. Here were the real Americans, the true strength of this nation. We had made a fatal mistake, we had considered all of the Americans soft from living in their big cities, just like an over ripe tomato, ready to be used. Not hard and bitter like a green apple as this militia had become.
Americans, so many contradictions in just a name, we were wrong to believe what we wanted to hear and see, and we are paying for that. If only my militia that I had under my command were half as motivated as these Americans I would fell better. Back in China when given command of the 25th Corp I was awed by its size, even with half of my troops made up of militia I knew I could make them into soldiers within a year. But now 18 months later and they still disappoint me, with no stomach or back bone for a fight, if surrounded or faced by a determined enemy they shirk and hide from a fight. Even with numbers on their side they only do half of what a regular soldier could be expected to perform.
But now, with mixing them in with my regular army soldier’s maybe they will see and follow the examples of men who know how to soldier, and to fight?
He was tired, twenty years ago he could have stayed awake for four days easily and continued to function properly but not anymore, his age was beginning to show. In less then 48 hours of staying on the go he was fatigued beyond words. Telling his aide, “I will lay down for a little while, wake me if anything important happens.”
Stretching out on the sofa he wonders if I will even fall asleep, in less then two minuets fatigue wins and he is sound asleep. But his dreams are anything but pleasant or relaxing, in them he was rushing from one crises to another. Sometimes seeing American soldiers wearing the older BDU camouflage as he cursed them ‘dammed Militia’. At other places he rushes forward to help his troops, instead of the Militia he’s seeing American Indians wearing war paint and feathers, blood was everywhere and his dead were piled in large heaps and all of them were scalped.
And across the field of battle just behind them all, there is a wolf sitting, watching, waiting and howling for more blood. And he shivers each time; twice he wakes up in a cold sweat as he curses his nemesis, these Prairie Ghost haunt even his dreams.
(C-9)
Last minuet Intel
“This is Bullshit Carl! Why in hell is the Pentagon withholding this information? Dan’s plan was the correct one!” A thought enters his head and he then says, “You don’t think Dan has got inside information that we aren’t privy too?”
“Calm down Tom I agree with you, its pure bull. I worked enough with the top Brass out of DC when I commanded the SF school and they pulled all types of crap like this all the time. And for whatever reason, they don’t feel that a commander has the need to know all of the Intel that might affect his given assignment. I guess that way if it’s a failure they can’t be blamed. But that’s just my WOG. And as far as Dan knowing before us, I don’t think so, he’s not a political jerk, he’s the real deal. What you see in him is what you get. He’s either smelled a trap or more then likely was just telling you the truth in not wanting to fight inside a city, I think it’s the latter. He’s not a military genius but he’s does know his men’s abilities, and he is one of the best combat leaders I’ve ever had the opportunity to work with.”
“I’ll second that opinion Carl, thank God we have Dan working with us, but why in hell is the Pentagon releasing this info now, that they have a source inside the Chinese 10th Army Group feeding them raw intelligence? When D called me and informed me of the first landings, he mentioned that a Chinese Colonel had given him copies of their plans, not having heard anything else, I figured that source had dried up, was killed in the fighting, or had been caught by his own people.”
“Let me see the distribution list,” Tom handed over the routing page and Carl quickly scanned down the short list. “That’s why, we aren’t on the list of who needs to know. Admiral Parker back at Fallon NAS slipped up and sent this info by mistake along with the list of his aircraft that will be involved in Sitting Duck.”
“That makes even less sense, a source of Intel like that would have given us detailed plans on what the Chinese were up to. It would have saved, only God knows how many lives of my men, my soldiers. And we could have ambushed the hell out of their advancing units,” Tom Greene said, his face red with anger.
“Maybe the top brass was afraid that your winning all of the first battles would have lead to the lose of their Intel source?”
Getting control over his anger Tom agreed, “That might be the reason, a single Spy is worth more then a Division, he just might save a nation. But damn it, I hate to be used like that, and now to know that we are expendable if that becomes necessary. I’ll have to tell Dan this, but I’ll wait until the war is over.”
“Don’t blame you on waiting, but boy is he going to be pissed off then.”
“That’s an understatement, especially since he’s lost a brother and hundreds of his neighbors and friends. But as you said, if it saves the nation.”
(C-10)
At The Sharp End
‘The patriot volunteer, fighting for country and his rights,
Makes the most reliable soldier on earth.’
Thomas J. (Stonewall) Jackson
The cost of freedom is always high, but Americans have always paid it. And one path we shall never choose, and that is the path of surrender, or submission.
John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy
appear where you are not expected.
‘What ever it takes to win the fight for freedom and survival, then so be it.
Second place is either death or slavery,
I don’t like either of those options.
Do you?
JN
Zero hour, Operation Wolverine, initial Action at Rio Vista 0045 hrs.
Sitting in the second two-man kayak, Navy Lt. Brad Meyers watched as Cpl. Marion made his third attempt to hook the ladder thirty feet above them. This was no easy task using the joined sectional fiberglass poles and reaching so far above his head. The small boats didn’t help either as they shifted about with the slightest movement. He’s almost got it now, no not this time as his kayak again slips to one side.
Brad and his team buddy row their craft up on one side as the number three craft moved up on the other side of the number one kayak. “Take your time Neil, we are ahead of schedule,” he whispers softly.
Neil was a little flustered, this should have been easy, but it wasn’t, sometimes being the smallest and lightest man in the group and the fastest climber had its disadvantages. Raising the pole one more time with the attached and padded grapple hook and rope again above his head, he can feel that the other two kayaks have made a difference, his craft is more stable and he softly hooks the ladder. Then pulling the cord that releases the slipknot holding the hook to the pole. As practiced he hands the pole off to Brad their company commander to break it back down into the six-foot sections. Then taking his folding stock FN he slings it across his back as he takes a deep breath and hauls himself hand over hand up the rope with easy. Getting to the ladder he mounts the first three rungs and then feeds the grapple hook and the line back down after he has attached it to the thicker knotted climbing rope he was carrying in the throw bag, then feeding his end back and forth several times he secures it with the two attached carabineers. Giving three quick jerks he lets the next man know the rope is secure as he quickly climbs up the ladder to the inspection catwalk under the bridge.
Taking his FN off his back he crouches and scans in both directions looking through his thermal headset, good he is the only man on the cat walk, no guards; just as the stout team had reported.
Eli’s two teams making that three-night recon and their report from both sides of the channel was correct, the Chinese didn’t expect a raid sixty miles behind their front lines and they didn’t have a guard posted down here, too bad for them, lucky for us.
The Lt. is the second man up the knotted rope and the ladder and he quietly rushes to the north tower lift mechanism of the bridge to begin disconnecting the wires to the main charge as Neil softly runs up the catwalk to the cross over and then up the other side toward the north end of the bridge. Using a pair of wire cutters he starts cutting the wires leading to all of the secondary charges on his side of the bridge. Even with eight boats on each side of the channel working from the two ends toward the center the sixteen men working under the bridge are very busy. Four men were cutting the electrical wires, another four men cutting the detonation cord between the charges taking out the back up system, and the last eight men pulling out all of the detonators and placing them in bags, to take with them.
When the system is completely disconnected and everything is made safe all of the men start cutting the straps and ropes holding the charges in place; attaching a length of braided Para cord to the ten kg charges and lowering each of them in turn down to the men in the kayaks 100 feet below. Those men then pull the slip knots releasing the cord, so the men above can pull the cord back up and attach it to the next explosive charge and then lower it: a task that will be repeated again and again, until all of the explosives under the bridge are disposed of.
Down at water level the men in the kayaks quietly easy each of the twenty-two pound charges off of the deck softly into the water making no noise or splashing and the explosives sink out of sight to the bottom. This way if the Chinese rush out during the attack on the bridge, and they try to reconnect the charges they won’t have any explosives to hook up to.
It’s a risky job for the boat teams but one that has to be done, and as practiced and expected it takes them over ninety minuets of hard work to accomplish. When the work is completed and with his half of the team gathered at the top of the ladder Navy Lieutenant Brad Meyers takes a head count to make sure everyone is present, eight counting himself good, keying his radio mike he uses the code word, “Mo-go,” Chinese for mushroom. Brads XO on the other end of the bridge, keys his mike and with a soft laugh answers, “Mo-go,” meaning his team is also ready to get back into their kayaks as well.
If the Chinese had a radio intercept team close by and heard the two words spoken on this frequency, the Americans hoped they would think it was just two bored guards messing around.
The eight men in the reverse order of climbing up the rope quietly climb back down the ladder, and slip back down the rope, with twenty second intervals in between as each kayak in turns pulls back by to the rope, getting his buddy. Brad and Neil are the last two and the Lt. gives him the thumbs up as he starts his climb down, Neil counts softly, one thousand one, one thousand two, when he reaches twenty he silently adds, and a one and a two giving the LT two extra seconds.
He then re-slings his FN across his back and makes his way down. His buddy is waiting with the kayak directly under the rope as they had practiced at least a dozen times in the last week. Sitting back down, then sliding on and fastening his dark life jacket, he then picks up his paddle and the two men then quietly and quickly stroke toward the center of the channel as they head down river trying to catch up with the other boats, they have a mile and a half of open water to cover before they are below the Coast Guard Station west of Rio Vista, and are safe.
Maybe thirty seconds have passed since getting back on the water and they are about 150 meters from the bridge when the men hear that dreaded, whoosh, whoosh, behind them, two flares have been launched into the air by someone on top of the bridge. All of the men quiet rowing and close one eye to keep some night vision when the flares go off, and pray that their boats special paint job and the life vest they are wearing, which is the same color as the water, is enough to hide them from the eyes looking for them. Pop, pop, both flares go off, but there is no white or red light showing. Damn they are using flares that burn in the inferred and the wake behind each kayak will be like a bright neon line that is pointing directly to them.
Brad breaks radio silence as he orders them, “Row like hell men,” Switching frequencies he then gives the code word to D, “Ni hao, Ni hao,” Chinese for Hello.
Two of the guards pulling duty on the bridge heard something and look over the down river side, both have their night vision goggles on and see the wake from the many boats. They call for the flares and when the boats are quickly spotted they open fire with their QBZ95 assault rifles on full auto. Being reserve troops and excited, they both fire and quickly empty their thirty round magazines in less then five seconds, completely missing the boats and the men in them.
20 miles south-east and at about the same time that Neil climbed up the rope, another team of D’s people having used the connecting waterways moved south to the highway 4 bridge that crosses the Joaquin River. Their job is just the opposite from the Militias boat teams, they prepare explosives to drop that bridge, if it becomes necessary, to cut off any reinforcements coming east from Antioch. There is a small guard force of Chinese stationed near the bridge, but none of them are on this bridge manning either of the two 12.7 machine guns in sandbagged bunkers so this preparation for demolition is completed in an hour, right under the enemies noses so to speak. Four radio detonated Claymores are slid inside the sand bagged positing protecting the AA guns, in case it becomes necessary to take out the guns with out dropping the bridge. When all of the charges are placed the Special Forces detachment quietly moves back north one kilometer to a selected hide from where they can watch the bridge in safety and with less chance of detection, ready to drop this bridge up if necessary.
Colonel Salvador who is in charge of the next part of the operation, and less then two miles from the bridge, hears the radio message, “Ni hao, Ni hao.” He glances at his watch it’s 0220 hours twenty-five minuets ahead of schedule, which means the boats have been detected, he then hears in the distance the two-guards shooting at his men in the water. Everything and everybody should be ready as we planned for this event just in case. Switching frequencies he then sends the order for all of his men and the attached Corps recon units that made the two-night walk and infiltration to start attacking the bridge over the shipping channel from both sides. Their mission is to kill or capture all of the Chinese defensive units there, plus neutralizes all of the Chinese support positions in and around Rio Vista. His force moves forward from their hiding positions, most of them within five hundred meters from the closest Chinese units and they will make contact in a few minuets. Then using a pre-typed burst transmission he alerts Dan that the Operation on his end can begin.
Back on the bridge as the two guards are firing at the kayaks, their Sergeant who is about one hundred meters away shouts for them to stop shooting, they in turn yell back to him, that they’re lots of boats in the water. The Sgt isn’t wearing his night vision goggles because looking through them make him feel sick at his stomach. So he runs to the side and looks over and of course can’t see a thing in the dark.
Taking his one white light parachute flare off of his belt, he points it skyward and pulls the ring to send it up, in twenty seconds it poops open and cast its bright light from 300 hundred meters over his head. Looking back down stream he can see several of the kayaks moving rapidly away. He yells at the two guards to resume firing but the boats are now over 400 meters away and out of range of these poorly trained soldiers.
But both men take aim on the boats without making any adjustment to their sights and blast away on full auto and the rounds again splash up the water one hundred plus meters behind the kayaks. Each time the two guards reload and blast away, with out correcting their aim, they are just wasting ammunition and making noise.
One the north bank of the channel a light QLZ87 35mm automatic grenade launcher team sees the white flare go off and they can now see the third set of splashes from the two guards shooting off of the bridge. The two-man crew looking down river sees the boats, at first they don’t fire wondering if they have permission, after thirty seconds of talking it over the gunner takes aim. Just before he can fire his first shot the white flare burns out and darkness once again hides the targets. The launcher crew waits for another flare to be used by the guards on the bridge, as they don’t have any flares at their position.
Getting the word from D, Dan orders, “Commence firing,” and the single is sent out to the artillery units, and the pre-planned quick but deadly bombardment begins, 12 American made MLRS vehicles launch their deadly missiles toward the several Chinese Division that are within range.
At the same time 24 Self-propelled 155mm artillery guns simultaneously shoot their first six rounds for TOT (Time on Target, where all 144 rounds will simultaneously exploded on or over the target). Then they quickly move to another firing position set up and get ready for the next fire mission. As the first rounds land on target another group of 24 SP155 howitzers located over three kilometers from the first artillery battalion, all fire their six rounds each and then they will re-locate to fire again just like the first 24 guns did. With the two minuet delay from when the first rounds landed and the next 144 come crashing down on their deafened enemy, who are shocked and confused by the first salvo, and then when it seems to be OK these men will stick their heads up, stand up and survey the damage or help their injured thinking that was a short barrage. This second TOT will catch them by surprise and kill a lot of the enemy who by chance escaped the first salvo.
As both of the 155mm battalions are re-locating forty of the captured Chinese 122mm rocket batteries, firing in sets of four send their 40 missiles from each truck in a ripple effect towards their targets. Each of the trucks is able to cover a full square kilometer with the 40 missiles; using air-burst they kill or wound most people caught in the open and destroys or damage most soft skinned vehicles. As each group finished firing they move, reload and get ready for another barrage if necessary.
With most of the 155 ordnance zeroed in on the 27th divisions two brigades blocking highway 12 and 26 they will be decimated and resistance should be weak and sporadic. The South African G-6 155mm guns are positioned another 10 Kilometers further back and will hammer the other forward Chinese Divisions artillery brigades positions at Plymouth with five minuets of fire, and provide radar directed counter battery fire on any answering Chinese artillery if needed.
As this artillery fire again pauses, two flights of F16’s consisting of four planes each, with one section for the northern attack route and the other for the southern route, fly forward at tree top level to unleash their deadly bomb loads as the last of the 122mm rocket fire go off above the enemy. Each plane has two of the CBU-97/B stand off bombs. One bomb alone contains 40 "hockey puck" shaped skeet sized, infrared sensing projectiles that seek out armor targets. These bombs do their jobs and devastate all of the Chinese armor that were warming up their engines expecting a ground attack. All of the tanks APC’s and any vehicle mounted anti-tank weapon systems plus a large portion of the truck mounted anti-air missiles and AA guns are destroyed or disabled. And any supply trucks that are forward with the two brigades, that escaped the damage from the 155 shells and the 122mm rockets are now finished.
These two motorized brigades of the 27th are caught under this reign of fire, death and destruction, both are quickly reduced to a weak leg infantry unit with only a few light support weapons at the battalion level. Not many of the support weapons crews survived the first barrage of the 122mm rockets coming in, killing over half of their people as they were scrambling to their positions.
Down by the Coast Guard Reserve Station, infantry Captain Ulang checking on his two riverside guard post was watching the white flare burning and then spies the kayaks, using his radio he calls for a fire mission from his Battalions six heavy mortars, positioned in the city park up near the center of town.
This request takes several minuets to be answered, as the duty crews have to wake up the mortar officer. Even then it takes a minuet or so for him to fully wake up and understand the situation. When he finally comprehends what is happening he then has to call the Battalion XO for permission to fire as their unit is not under attack, and all orders must be followed.
The executive officer that had been wakened by the shooting at the bridge wonders what is going on and why only a few people are shooting if there is an attack going on. When the shooting stops and three minuets later when the request for mortar fire comes in, it takes a few minuets for his sleep numb mind to figure out that the request for mortar fire is linked to the commotion at the bridge, he then gives the necessary order for just four of the tubes to be used in the fire support mission.
Five minuets after his request for mortar fire, the fire control officer calls Captain Ulang back for the coordinates, he is told that he needs flares first as the flare from the bridge has burnt out long ago. The mortar offices tells the Captain he still needs coordinates of where he has to shoot the flares and while he waits for the map grid, orders his crews to take the HE rounds back they had ready and get four aerial flares. This takes about a minuet as the four HE must have their safety pins placed back into the rounds and for the flares to be taken out of their wooden boxes and then out of the inner fiber tubes that protect them.
Captain Ulang down by the shipping channel calls in the coordinates he estimates where the boats will be and waits.
The mortar officer gives the coordinates to his plotter and the Sergeant sets up the firing solution and calls out the range adjustment, azimuth and elevation to the gunners, to the number two men he gives them the propellant charges necessary for the bombs. Only one of the six 82mm tubes in the mortar platoon are pointed in the right direction and the other three designated crews have to swing their tubes around and this takes another minuet as they site in and adjust them, finally all four tubes report ready and the order is given to fire, six minutes after the firing at the bridge has stopped. Capt Ulang hears the thump thump, thump thump, and knows four rounds are on the way, it takes another twenty-six seconds for the rounds to reach their full height then fall back down to the altitude the fuses are set for, plop, plop, plop, plop. All four flares go off at 800 meters above the shipping channel lighting up the area wanted, but the center of the lighted area is just a little over six hundred meters behind the sixteen boats which are quickly heading down river trying to make their escape.
When the four flares light up the area the QLZ87 35mm automatic grenade launcher crew swing their weapon around and quietly estimate the distance from their position to the boats at a little over 2100 meters, 800 meters outside of effective range. They talk over what to do, and decide not to waste ammunition and have the platoon Sgt yell at them.
Captain Ulang taking a new compass reading estimates where the boats will be in forty seconds and radios the corrected azimuth and distance back to the Mortar officer who gives it to the fire controller, who then re-plots the shots, who gives the adjustments to the mortar crews, they adjust their sites again and then shoot the four HE bombs this time.
After another 29 seconds of flight time the four bombs hit the water just where Ulang had called for, but that spot is a little over 150 meters behind where the boats are now. Quickly estimating where he thinks the center of the boats will be as he gives a corrected fire mission. “Right two-fifty fire over.”
The controller re-plots the mission, then calls the mortar crews with the new settings and they fire again.
Another 29 seconds pass and the four bombs hit the water, on line with the target and a little over thirty meters short of the closet kayak. Capt. Ulang can barely see the boats, as they are almost out of the circle of light from the first four flares and he gives his corrected coordinates and ask for four more flares.
This request again takes the mortar crews by surprise, and it takes them another minuet to reload the 4 HE they had ready and then unpack four more of the requested parachute flares and to fire them off. When these flares light up the area wanted Capt Ulang then calls for more HE and these rounds land fifty meters short of his moving target, again he makes his adjustment and radios the corrections, “right two-hundred add fifty,” asking for another shot. As these bombs fly skyward the four mortar crews are cut down with machine-gun fire from one of D’s Special Forces teams who have infiltrated the Chinese lines from the northwest.
This SF team are experienced hardened men who’s job, after infiltrating past a few sleepy guards hours ago and crossing through the unguarded Catholic Cemetery, was to seeking out the crew served weapons positions stationed in Brunavista Park. And taking them out as the ground attack begins on Rio Vista and on the two ends of the bridge.
The 32 men in the sixteen kayaks even though they are over a kilometer and a half from the mortar tubes hear the thump, thump, thump, thump, each time they are fired. With nowhere to hide all they can do is stroke and pray, knowing that the next sounds they might hear could be their last.
When they hear the machine-gun fire that silences the mortar crews and the rest of the attack winding up, they feel some relief, now if the last four bombs just land short or long we are clear.
From the time they heard the thump of the mortars the twenty-nine seconds seems like a long time. Suddenly there are four explosions in and among the boats. One kayak takes a direct hit killing the two men in it instantly, and the last boat is missed by a few meters on the stern end killing the last man, Neil’s team buddy. Neil is pitched forward into the water and is concussed by the explosion. The undamaged boat crews take a quick look around and see only pieces of wrecked boat and human body parts floating in the water. When machine-gun fire is directed toward them they have to move away quickly before it becomes effective and kills any more men.
Captain Ulang seeing the boats pull up, has his one guard post uses its type 88 machine-gun to fire at them. It’s a distance of close to 1500 meters and the 5.8 mm round is just not up to the task and the bullets fall short by close to 600 meters. The gunner even attempts to make adjustments by watching the splashes in the water, but the rounds still fall 200 meters short. The Sgt. in charge curses this new weapon, as he wishes they were still equipped with the older type 67 GPMG with its more powerful 7.62 round, now that was a good weapon and a quality bullet.
The American boat crews have made the wrong assumption, they figure that all four men in the two kayaks have been killed or blown apart, and now with the MG firing at them they can’t afford any more causalities as they quickly resume paddling down stream. Headed into the north bank and toward their second objective, the Chinese relay signals squad stationed on hill 118.
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