Soldier Up (17 page)

              “Ok then let’s make it happen then.  How soon?” said General Watkins.

              “Sir we could be there in three days.”

              “Do it then Colonel March.” the General was looking around the room.

              “Yes Sir we’re on it.”

              “Can we get a ride back to Irwin Colonel Clayton?” asked the General.

              “Yes Sir, of course.”

              “I’ll expect a full update by the end of the week at Irwin.”

              “Yes Sir do you want me there?” asked Colonel Clayton.

              “Yes you and Colonel March if it’s not too much to ask.”

              “It’s not Sir we will be there, we should also be bringing in your plane and pilot at that time too.”

              “Great gentlemen let’s get the show on the road.” The General felt good to finally be doing something positive that will benefit a lot of people.

It was an early morning in Pleasanton California when people heard the whistle blowing of a train.  People at first wondered what the hell it was, then it blew a few more times drawing people to the station.  There were a lot of smiles and what the heck’s but overall it made people happy, anything that brought back some normalcy was good, they wondered when they would be able to ride it and more to the point where would it take them.  They were told it was being tested right now and might be available for regular travel in the near future.  There was a lot of security around it right now which people really didn’t think was unusual.

              People did think it strange when Soldiers started to get onboard, Soldiers who were heavily armed at that.  The train left the station at 1000 pulling a lot of flat cars, this certainly got people talking.

Pleasanton had been hard hit by the EMP event, the majority of the population like many other cities either left or died because they were unable to adjust to the new reality.  It had a population similar to Dublin about 72,000 or so, but with no one to help them, like Camp Parks was helping Dublin the population had dropped to less than 5,000 souls who were spread out through the city.  Some people relocated to one of the three camps that surrounded Camp Parks.

              Over the next few days Soldiers, Marines and Seabees worked the area around the train station.  They were clearing the parking lots of all cars that had been sitting in them for months, of course they tried to start them first, no point in letting a good car go to waste.  The ones that didn’t work were towed off into various areas.  There was definitely something going on with the Military but no one was talking, even as small as the community in Pleasanton had gotten people talked.  They also went down to watch when they could; there wasn’t much else to do.  They did like having the military people there though; they knew if they were there the gangs weren’t.

              At Fort Irwin Colonel’s Clayton and March reported to Major General Watkins as ordered.  General Watkins was happy to have visitors, outside of the A-Team a week ago; they hadn’t had any since the event.  General Watkins was ecstatic to have his own plane, the pilot he got was also happy to make the move to Fort Irwin, he would seek out other pilots on post and in Barstow to fill their ranks.  They would also start to search the local airfields for other planes they might use or could rebuild to be used, God knew they had the time.

              Word spread like wild fire about the A-Team jumping into post and now another plane from the outside, Soldiers were an inquisitive bunch and looking for any information.  The biggest news was that 11 ACR was preparing to move they were heading to the rail head and rumor had it that a train was coming to load the entire regiment. 

              General Watkins gave them the VIP tour of Fort Irwin and some of the things they had done to improve their lives after the event.  They were nowhere near where Camp Parks was but General Watkins was all about improving the lives of the men and woman within his command as well as their families.  The majority of Soldier’s have been stuck on Fort Irwin with no way to get to Barstow or any place else for that matter.  Cabin fever had set in a long time ago, that’s one reason the train was such a great idea, but first things first; there was a mission at hand.

              It took the train almost three hours to reach Fort Irwin with little to no problems, they had set up water stations along the way and weren’t sure how much coal they would need so they had that set up too.  It was all logistics and there was a steep learning curve do to the fact that the people who used to do this stuff had died or left the area.  Since the event happened on a weekend most of the civilians were not on post when it happened and most never returned, unfortunately the civilians ran a lot of the operations and planning for the post all of that was lost.

              General Watkins asked Colonel Clayton how they got all of the stuff going for families, Colonel Clayton honestly told him he didn’t really have much to do with it, it was his wife who ran family services for the post.  Like Fort Irwin, when the event happened the civilians were sound asleep at home.  Fortunately though many of them lived in Dublin and it was easy walking or bike riding distance from their home to Camp Parks, but there were many who never showed up. 

              They talked for hours what each post could do for the other they agreed that if the train and planes worked out then it would help with over all moral.  They could also open up communications between the two posts building using some of the older telecommunications technology that was now in use at Camp Parks.  After talking for what seemed for hours they headed down to the railhead to see how the loading was going.  Colonel Boxer said the first load which was about a quarter of the unit would be ready to leave post in two hours, he also advised them that this was going to take two to three days to move the entire regiment by train.  He asked the General about moving perhaps a company by road, a road march to show the colors.

              General Watkins was a bit apprehensive about it he had a lot of concerns but Colonel Clayton also agreed with Colonel Boxer as well as Colonel March.  General Watkins gave his permission and asked when they would be ready to leave.  Colonel Boxer told him right now, they all had combat loads with live ammunition; they had fuel tankers with enough fuel to get them to Camp Parks and more.  He told him they would leave now if that was ok.  General Watkins gave the go ahead he asked how long it was going to take; Colonel Boxer expected a ten hour march at the earliest.  The General asked him to keep him updated.  M1A1’s and M1A2’s were heavily EMP shielded, one thing just about everyone believed for certain to survive an EMP event.

              Within twenty minutes the first tanks headed out the main gate of Fort Irwin, it was a brave new world for all of the Soldiers involved, no one really had any idea what to expect.  Colonel Clayton said he would be able to spot for the convoy for a bit once they left in a couple of hours, if they topped off before they left they should be able to keep over the convoy for a good part of their trip and let them know if there is anything out in front they needed to worry about.  The General wanted to know how they would do that with no radio contact, damn Colonel Clayton thought we could have set them up with tank to aircraft radios before they left, something to work towards next time.  The Colonel told the General they would simply land on the road and tell them.  General Watkins seemed satisfied with that for now, but he also told all of the commanders they needed a better way, in other words it was an order.

              The Commanders moved back to the main conference room in General Watkins HQ and continued to plan the operations to secure the port and refineries in the Bay area.  It wasn’t all about securing the facilities and port as much as it was about holding them.  They needed to make sure they eliminated that gang and militia threat in the area.  If was going to be a large operation which would take an additional week to plan.  Units back at Camp Parks were also preparing for the upcoming battle.  Unit commanders were inspecting everything, and then train, train, train.  The new Soldiers from Basic/Boot and AIT were now streaming into their new units, which was the reason why the training was so important.  All units were under orders to be back on main post and ready to move out in approximately ten days.  Of course the plan wasn’t to move out in ten days that was a diversion in the event someone got too chatty.  Only the General and the Colonels knew the exact date, once the plans were solidified each commander would meet with their senior staff and divulge the details and the actual execution date.

              They planning meeting went on for three more hours an hour longer then Colonel Clayton thought it would, but he was not in charge any longer.  The next planning meeting would be in forty-eight hours at Camp Parks and from there General Watkins would remain at Camp Parks as long as the mission lasted.  The General’s XO and the Sergeant Major would hold down the Fort while he was gone.  Hopefully he could convince Mrs. Clayton to go out to Irwin and repeat what she did at Camp Parks that was one of his top priorities once he was there.

              Colonel Clayton and March hurried back to Bicycle Lake they wanted to get into the air to see how the convoy was doing.  They were excited at the possible benefits this could bring to everyone in the region.  They would pass through Barstow where they expected no trouble at all, when they did people word spread quick that 11 ACR was on the move heading north west on the 58, people started to line the highway waving at them but they didn’t dare step near the vehicles as they were moving at convoy maximum speed and it would be impossible for a tank to make that quick a stop.  The next big city they would hit is Bakersfield where there could be problems, when the 58 and 99 interchange was overflown they didn’t see any issues, since the event happened in the middle of the night on a weekend there weren’t a lot of vehicles on the road to block them.  When they hit Bakersfield tank commanders were standing in the turret manning the machine guns the other crew members were ready to react at a moment’s notice.

              As they moved through Bakersfield they didn’t see a sole, it was a ghost town as far as they could tell.  They passed several crashed airliners that had bodies spread all over the place and those bodies in various stages of decomposition.  It was the first time the Soldiers had seen anything like it well the tank commanders had each crew member come up, except for the driver who needed to keep the vehicle moving.  Most thought it was better that way, in some cases there were bodies on the highway and you could see that animals had been at them.  Even for the combat veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan it was a grisly scene.

              The hooked up to the 99 and I-5 interchange and it looked like the I-5 was wide open heading north; there weren’t many vehicles they had to worry about so they stepped up the pace.  About that time they heard or saw the plane that Colonel Clayton and March were in, they passed over the column and the wings of the plane moved back and forth.  The plane flew several miles ahead, then circled back some and then headed back out again.  Now and then it would venture to the west or east for a few miles and then head back to the column; they did this for three hours.

              At the refueling stop they landed on the freeway and met with the Company CO, they told him as far as they could tell for the next thirty miles they were clear.  They were running low on fuel and didn’t want to use any of the tankers; they said that once back at Camp Parks in about forty minutes, they would send out another plane to scout for them.

              As the column was approaching Patterson the first train was pulling into Pleasanton.  The Soldiers that were there started to go to work removing all the chains that held the vehicles in place, blocks and everything else.  The Seabees had built large super reinforced metal structures along the rail line to accommodate the loading and unloading of the vehicles.  It took several hours to unload them and get them into the vehicle park that had been set up for them.  Tents had been set-up near the parks for the time being to house the crews so for now they could stay close to their vehicles.  A mess tent has been set up along with latrines and showers. 

              While that train was being unloaded the other train left to head for Fort Irwin to get its load, that’s the way it was going to work.  While the train was unloading it would be inspected for any problems, fueled with water and coal and the Soldiers and Marines who guarded the trains were switched out with fresh ones.  When the next train arrived to unload the other train would leave this would assure that the plan was constantly in motion.

              Sergeant Major Aleho and Anzio Dogillo had met the first train when it arrived and welcomed the Soldiers.  They showed them where to park the vehicles, refueling points, where to bunk and eat.  There was also a shuttle set up to run the Soldiers back and forth to Camp Parks all of about ten to fifteen minute away.  There they could go to the PX or see a movie, there were no new movies to see obviously but they were able to play DVD’s which could be projected onto a large screen. There was free popcorn and drinks, the purpose of doing this was to bring the community together and to give the sense of normalcy to the people who were living there.  They were in the process of setting up the same thing in Dublin; there was no shortage of DVD movies and shows.

              As soon as Colonel Clayton arrived he and Colonel March made their way to Pleasanton to see how everything was going.  By the time they got there the other train had left for Fort Irwin and three quarters of the train had been unloaded.  Once the train was unloaded the Seabees would inspect the structure they built was instrumental in the entire process.  Since it was the first time it was used they wanted to make sure there was no stress issues, they reported back to Colonel Parks that everything was good to go.