Invasion USA 3 - The Battle for Survival (8 page)

“Yes, Philippe,” the admiral replied to his older brother.

“The United States needs a little help in their territorial waters,” added Philippe. “They have very few naval and coast guard vessels still operational. Am I right that our navy has very little to do here and should have very little to do for the foreseeable future, Luiz?” The admiral nodded. “Then get a large contingent of our loyal sailors together, like I explained for our ground forces, and get three of the four ships ready to sail to Virginia. I will tell the Americans that we are sending help to patrol their coastal waters in exchange for their using American fuel. It will give them something to do, keep the men from jumping ship and you can swap out a Frigate every month, bring one home and see how many men desert.” The admiral nodded in agreement.

“General Miguel Rodriquez—my younger brother, Carlos—what are we doing about our fighter aircraft, how many are scrap metal as far as useless electronics, and your manpower numbers, please?” Uncle Philippe asked the head of the Colombian Air Force. Carlos now realized that this was a real family affair.

“We have lost about a thousand men, mostly in clerical positions, and evenly divided between our eight bases,” he replied.

Miguel Rodriquez was a tall man, thin, and one of the most decorated pilots in Colombia. There was nothing in the country he couldn’t fly. “We have currently one third of our aircraft grounded, all our Tucanos, all our Black Hawk helicopters, and two old tankers that would still be operational if we hadn’t upgraded their electronics in America last year. Other than those aircraft, we still have 20 of the 24 Kfirs semi-operational and all will be airborne within a month. We are replacing any useless electronics, mostly very small recent additions. Four of the worst-hit aircraft are being decommissioned for parts. The others are being reassembled with old parts they arrived with from Israel. I’m glad we don’t throw away anything. Our seven 70s-era C-130s are all operational, apart from newer radios which are being exchanged as we speak, as well as their older radar systems. Four of the C-130s are currently flying food supplies to areas where we are short and today is their last day of operation before refits. The old Bell helicopters are still active, as are most of our smaller, propeller-driven aircraft. We have 100 percent of our fuel stocks heavily under guard and with our now reduced flying schedule, have enough jet fuel here at El Dorado, our Air Force bases and all the other civilian airports for approximately two years.”

“Thank you, Manuel. This country is going to need every gallon of aircraft fuel we can find. The shipping industry is sitting useless or is at the bottom of the sea, so we are not going to get any new supplies in the near future. So, gentlemen, what is the latest information from the Los Llanos region, where my old enemies, the Calderóns and the Florencia Cartel were last focused, and where we hope they are still hiding? And your report on our dangerous neighbor, Venezuela?” asked Philippe.

For twenty minutes most of the men at the table contributed all the information they knew, mostly from spies and infiltrators in the largest cartel in the country, the Florencia Cartel, which had over 30,000 members and had an ongoing war with the Colombian military. They currently frequented the Los Llanos area of Colombia which bordered Venezuela. It was a grassy plain area with small lines of hills where the cartel was active.

The benefit of this area to the cartel was that when the military went in to attack the hundreds of small border villages where they were holed up, the gangs had an opportunity to cross the border to Venezuela and disappear until the soldiers gave up waiting for them to return.

Venezuela had doubled their soldiers on the border, welcomed the banditos, and told the Colombian military to stay away.

General Rodriquez added that because the Venezuelan Air Force was far more modern with mostly modern American and Russian fighters, they were mostly permanently grounded. The Colombian Air Force had complete superiority in the air. The Venezuelan army was bigger, but the general heard that their more modern equipment infrastructure was in disarray and Colombia would have little or no opportunity to get fuel from their neighbor. The insecurity of the Venezuelan regime was far worse than in Colombia.

The other border countries weren’t a threat. Only Venezuela’s border area needed constant surveillance by keen eyes, and Carlos was thinking about this problem when he was brought back to the present.

“Carlos,” stated Uncle Philippe, turning to his nephew, “do you have anything to add to what you have heard here today?” Carlos was listening intently and was surprised that his uncle wanted his view.

“Thank you, Uncle Philippe. As an American I know little about the cartel problems here in Colombia, only what I used to hear through the media. I wasn’t expecting to be part of the discussion, but I have a few ideas.”

“Please, young Carlos, you have our ears. I’ve heard that you are a good pilot and know most of the aircraft in our Air Force,” stated General Rodriquez.

“These are just preliminary ideas. I have been thinking about possible scenarios for warfare in the future. We just thwarted an invasion by foreign troops in New York last month. That attack was likely the last one between modern, heavily-armed armies for a long time, perhaps a couple of decades. No country in the world now has a modern, fully operational military force to wage war against another country. Do you agree?” The men looked at each other, discussed the idea for a few minutes and slowly all nodded that Carlos was probably right. “Before he flew around the world to talk to the international leaders, my old friend, General Pete Allen, who many of you knew well and who was a great friend of this country, told me he believed that warfare as we know it today, modern electronic-warfare, is over. He expected that the only warfare possible for the next two to three decades would be war between human armies with simple rifles and mortars, not fancy electronic machines. He backed up his theory with the loss of every one of the modern unmanned aircraft, fancy U.S. Air Force drones all of which were lost in flight. This was the latest direction the United States was taking to achieve military superiority. Now that technology is nothing more than destroyed scrap metal we are back to men fighting men with any old weapons that still work, mostly guns big and small. Yes, there are millions of rockets out there, but the only ones with any accuracy are the ones on a soldier’s shoulder and aimed by that man directly at its target with no GPS guidance. The rest, even though their rocketry will still work, all depend on electronics to get them to their targets, correct?”

Again the soldiers discussed what Carlos said and agreed. General Rodriquez spoke up.

“Carlos, what about the satellite you have operational, and the three Chinese satellites you captured last month? Philippe said that they are the only ones working. Could they be used to target rockets or atomic bombs?”

“Yes and no,” he replied, parsing what was correct to say and what was top secret to the United States. “Our old Navistar satellite was not designed for that mission. The Chinese satellites were, but only for their own weapons, three of which were nuclear devices detonated over China and which must have killed millions of their own people. The fourth atomic missile we know of is now useless as we control the satellites. Whether we can reprogram them to handle what the United States has is something I will be working on in the future and I cannot answer that at this time.”

“Will you keep us informed?” asked General Rodriquez.

“I will share any information with Uncle Philippe that is allowed by the President of The United States,” stated Carlos bluntly.

“Any new ideas on fighting guerrilla warfare such as we have always faced here in Colombia, Carlos?” asked Uncle Philippe.

“Just one. You have how many operational C-130s?”

“Seven,” was the reply from General Rodriquez. “The C-130 is the model for our 130-Cs and 130-Hs, but not of your fancy Gunships. They are beautiful!”

“Just my point, General,” continued Carlos. “Fighter aircraft are always needed and can cover all types of fighting. Helicopters are just as important. You have both. In our last battle, I learned that the third important factor—and one the U.S. Air Force has utilized for decades—are slow, large, heavy attack aircraft. Massive bombers are useless in jungle or bush warfare. They learned that in Vietnam. Bombs are great against weapons factories but useless in the bush. Fighter aircraft are too fast in clearing vast expanses of bush from enemy soldiers, but great against metal targets such as military ground vehicles, or opposing air fighters. Helicopters are great for slow attack and the movement of troops, but cannot pack a heavy punch and cannot be well protected. After listening to General Allen flatten two buildings in Nanjing, China with two 105 mm guns, one in his Gunship,
Ghost Rider
—the one he died in—and our gunship here,
Blue Moon
, I believe that the most powerful aircraft for the foreseeable future is the AC-130 Gunship, fully armed.” The table was absolutely silent.

“Could you get some of our C-130s turned into these Gunships by the Americans?” asked General Rodriquez, winking at Uncle Philippe. Philippe winked back with a smile on his face. Still talking, Carlos became perplexed.

“I can only ask. I have the right connections but honestly, I don’t think the U.S. Air Force has thought about what I’ve just told you. They have no need to think that way at the moment. Their whole plan is to feed people right now, a problem you don’t have here,” Carlos responded. “But I will put the idea to General Patterson and the President. We have a meeting coming up next month.”

“We could give them more gas heaters from the embassy,” joked Uncle Philippe. He told the table about how cold the White House was when they first arrived, and the American Government had not given the heaters back yet! The men smiled.

“I’m sure that the U.S. Air Force probably has twenty to thirty, or many more of the latest Gunships sitting around the world. The most modern ones are as useless as your fleet of modern civilian aircraft out there on the tarmac,” continued Carlos. “I think that prompted, they will understand my ideas on the AC-130 and would want to cannibalize as many as they can, if they understand the problems you have. I also believe that life is going to get far worse in the United States, with drug gangs or just gangs of thugs trying to control areas and towns, especially around the Mexico/U.S. southern border. A million-plus army troops is all they have to keep justice in the country and it will still take up to three months before they are all back on home soil. I will put it to the meeting next month. I’m sure that they will be more than happy to convert your C-130s into Gunships if it is possible. The guns are the same types in all of them. The more modern electronics in the most recent weapons can be removed and the aircraft set up with guns to copy
Blue Moon
or
Easy Girl
. Both aircraft have different gun configurations,
Blue Moon
having the powerful 105mm cannon and
Easy Girl
more .30-caliber cannon power. Even the powerful Miniguns in the two jeeps we have in the holds could be a powerful force. A dozen of those 7.62 Gatling guns firing 2,000 rounds a minute from a gunship will clean up camps of men on the ground.”

“And what do you think the Americans would want as payment?” asked General Rodriquez.

Carlos thought for a second. “Their weakest link is naval ships. I believe they have a couple of Destroyers and one or two Submarines and several smaller old naval and Coast Guard vessels. Maybe they will be interested in your Light Frigates,” he answered, thinking from the top of his head.

The table smiled in unison and looked at him. There was silence for several seconds until Uncle Philippe continued.

“Well, we can think about loaning them to the U.S. Which is better for our country right now, sea power or air power?” he asked the table. Following more discussion, air power was the final answer. “You know the U.S., they are a very generous people. We offer them three Light Frigates for six or seven new Gunships, modernized aircraft, and then we ask for our Frigates back when we need them.” It took a while, but there was mutual approval. Uncle Philippe ended the discussion, “Most assistance the U.S. lends to other countries is often never returned, just forgotten in the ongoing political debates.”

Carlos was thanked, the meeting was over and
bocas
(snacks) were presented by the wait staff. Carlos, his father and Uncle Philippe stood up and the three men were joined by General Rodriquez and the admiral.

“Do you really think that swapping three of my best ships for Gunships is a wise idea?” the admiral asked Uncle Philippe.

“Why not? What have we to lose? America is a good ally to have. The Gunships are far more powerful in guerilla warfare than your ships are, Luiz. Until we have an attack or problem from the ocean, the ships are of no use to us at all. I could speak with my friend in the U.S. Navy, also an admiral, and ask him to accept you as Fleet Commander or Officer Liaison to them and maybe you can help in some way, no?”

“Now that sounds interesting, Philippe. It sounds too boring for me to stay here,” replied the admiral.

“Carlos, do you think this exchange could be a possibility?” asked General Rodriquez.

“I will start work once we return, but I’m owed a few favors and I have the ear of the President and a general in the U.S. Air Force. I’m sure cannibalization of all military and civilian equipment will become high priority worldwide very soon, if it hasn’t started already. There will certainly not be any new military or civilian innovations for years, even decades to come.”

All agreed with Uncle Philippe, who again winked at his younger brother, the general. Carlos noticed and still wondered about it.

“Well, that’s settled,” stated Carlos’ father, Manuel. “Philippe, what is on our agenda for the next couple of days?”

“General Rodriquez, what is our schedule until we depart? We are at your mercy,” asked the ambassador.