The Revolution Begins (Molon Labe) (3 page)

Chapter 6

"To prohibit a citizen from wearing or carrying a war arm . . . is an unwarranted restriction upon the constitutional right to keep and bear arms. If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of constitutional privilege."

[Wilson v. State, 33 Ark. 557, at 560, 34 Am. Rep. 52, at 54 (1878)]

Immediately we began to take accurate fire. Neil and I were not targeted.
Three sniper teams to my left were simultaneously hit and killed.  The three to my right were receiving indirect fire. Only after returning fire did one team begin to take casualties. I quickly realized the problem.  The teams to my left were all situated in and around rock formations and chose to forgo body heat shielding believing they were concealed by the rocks.  They rest of us had used thermal shielding (sleeping bags lined with space blankets) to prevent heat signatures. Then my next epiphany came.  They are using drones.  Drones equipped with infra-red thermal imaging can pinpoint a heat signature and relay coordinates for fire.  We were lucky they weren’t using mortars. If our remaining snipers stayed still long enough, we could probably evade.

Captain John and the others were not so lucky.
The main assault element had likely been tracked shortly after entering the woods. The enemy had planned to encircle and destroy the team. The warning from Mitch had come in enough time to allow the Captain to back away from the objective and try to withdraw.  He immediately began taking fire unaware that the drones were pinpointing the rather large heat signature of the group.  Thinking on his feet like one would expect a SEAL to do; he popped several smoke grenades and two illuminating flares.  I was happy to see the flares because they gave me a picture I needed to see.  I could engage the drones.  I ordered the remaining teams to engage and destroy the drones.  After several shots, two drones fell useless to the ground. The drones were large balloons that had been floating low and tethered to anchor points in the compound. With the drones down, fire directed at the assaulting element became less accurate and they were able to hold a line while a fire team was sent to retrieve Mitch and Jason. 

Kyle
took a team of four to retrieve our fallen comrades.  There was still hope to get them out and bring them home.  Kyle believed they were just pinned down under fire.  Not understanding the exposed position they had been gunned down in, he pushed his team forward. 

Kyle was a battle hardened
marine who did not know the meaning of the words surrender or retreat. Fighting from shelter to shelter, Kyle’s team took sporadic small arms fire. The bulk of the camp’s forces were dedicated to eliminating the main assault team element. Kyle arrived to within thirty meters of the communications rig to see five UN soldiers standing around the bodies of Jason and Mitch.  Two were digging through Mitch’s pockets (presumably looking for Intel) One was facing away providing inadequate guard.  What the other two were doing made Kyle’s blood boil. The other two were taking turns spitting on and kicking Jason’s lifeless body.

Kyle calmed his rage long enough to give his team specific targets.
On his mark all five enemy troops were dropped with single head shots.  Kyle’s team advanced to collect the bodies.  Kyle, with rage barely contained, opened the door to the communications rig and fired quickly, eliminating three UN Troops, but stopping before firing at an unarmed Radio Operator with his hands raised.  Instead of killing him, he ordered the soldier to the floor, zip tied his hands behind his back, and duct-taped his mouth closed. He then took a quick series of pictures of the operating equipment. He gathered all of the papers and loose materials he could stuff into his assault pack, and left with the radio man.  Just before leaving, he set a satchel-charge next to the radios.  When his team (complete with fallen comrades and one prisoner) was thirty meters away, he remote detonated the charge, destroying the-rig, and completing the job Mitch and Jason had started.

Kyle’s team retreated back through the compound taking fire again sporadically.  The radio man was shot twice in the shoulder.  No time to stop and patch him up.  He was dragged along, bleeding.
Re-entering the main assault element lines, Kyle reported to Captain John that they were ready to move out. While enemy communications were down, he was sure the call had gone out, and it was quite probable that re-enforcements were on the way. Captain John agreed.  The team needed a diversion and a chance to move under less fire.

I got the call from Captain John. “
Have your men lay down fire on the front. Open up with the fifty’s. Make a lot of noise. Mess up what you can and then get the hell out of there.”

Roger that.
I relayed the instructions and Neil and I began peppering the APC’s with fifty caliber distraction.  The rest of my team used a continual rolling thunder type exercise taking shots at targets of opportunity for two minutes, never breaking the chain of fire.  The effect was to duplicate the noise generated by a much larger force.

Captain John recognized the distraction he
had ordered instantly. The big .50’s made a lot of noise.  The enemy heard it too. The enemy commander immediately separated his forces and sent a response unit to the front gate.  It was enough.  Utilizing two fire teams in a modified Australian Peel, Captain John moved a covering element one direction to draw attention, while the main assault element (including all of the wounded and dead) moved in another direction.  They would regroup (hopefully) at a pre-arranged rally point and then return to the underground base.

We ended our distraction on the front gate with a series of smoke grenades and
high explosive rounds from grenade launchers.  We backed out of our positions carefully dragging along with us the remains of our fallen snipers. 

Chapter 7

"The maintenance of the right to bear arms is a most essential one to every free people and should not be whittled down by technical constructions."

[State vs. Kerner, 181 N.C. 574, 107 S.E. 222, at 224 (1921)]

Our reunion at headquarters was less than jubilant.  Our forces had been chopped to pieces by a foe that we had underestimated.  We had dead and wounded and not enough medical personnel to handle the situation.  Captain John sent out a hasty recruiting team to bring in a chaplain and willing civilian doctors to help.  Until help arrived, Mack (an 18 Delta Special Forces Medic) was on his own with twenty-five seriously wounded soldiers. 

Captain John was bes
ide himself with the death of 16 soldiers weighing on his heart and mind.  He had ordered the assault and blamed himself for the shortcomings of his plan.  I cornered him, placed my hand on his shoulder and said, “Each soldier here was a free man who willingly followed us into battle.  Each of these soldiers was prepared to die for what they believed in.  None of them would blame you for this.  They would each do it again if it meant freedom and liberty for our country.” 

The words seemed to register
somewhere within him and while he stopped at each carefully laid body and prayed, he understood the greater purpose.  There would be many more whose blood would spill for the assurance of freedom and liberty. 

In the Tactical Operations Center (TOC) Kyle had laid out all of the intelligence
data he had taken from the enemy communications rig.  The prisoner taken from the rig was treated and held in a hasty interrogation cell. 

The documents were written in
English and not yet encrypted.  Among them was a set of map coordinates and priority designations.  While the positions could be plotted on the map, the information was useless without knowing what lay at the coordinates.  One set of coordinates plotted to an electrical power plant in Mount Hebron, West Virginia.  The other set was a power plant in Shannon, West Virginia.  Priority designations were assigned to each spot.  Without enough information in the paperwork to make much sense of things, it was time to talk to the prisoner.

Vincent Price was the man for interrogations.  He had joined
the militia from the beginning and while old enough to know he was better behind the scenes, he had a skill set that was useful in gathering information from uncooperative prisoners. .Vince had been an original member of the US Army DELTA Force (The Unit).  He had spent many years honing warrior skills there and had learned interrogation techniques while with them.  He left the Unit on permanent assignment with the CIA and had refined the art of interrogation with them.  Just prior to the revolution, he was a federal retiree, teaching fourth grade at small public school, and remembering daily the better days of his youth.

Vince said the interrogation should start the next day, after the prisoner had time to
get worried.  He then sat two new recruits next to the door of the cell and told them to hit a filled grain sack every twenty minutes and “scream and holler.” Captain John had insisted on not using physical torture, for now. 

Chapter 8

"The right of a citizen to bear arms, in lawful defense of himself or the State, is absolute. He does not derive it from the State government. It is one of the "high powers" delegated directly to the citizen, and 'is excepted out of the general powers of government.' A law cannot be passed to infringe upon or impair it, because it is above the law, and independent of the lawmaking power."

[Cockrum v. State, 24 Tex. 394, at 401-402 (1859)]

Martin was an older
man who had seen a lifetime of medical service.  He had been in medical school as his friends were being drafted to fight a war in Vietnam.  By the time he had finished his residency and begun a private practice, the war was long over and he had been consumed with his work.  His only distraction came in the form of a nurse named Nancy. 

He met Nancy
while working in a local hospital.  The two were quickly smitten and within three months they had planned to marry.  Nancy continued to work as a nurse and together Martin and Nancy took pride in providing a necessary service to their fellow citizens.  They raised a son and a daughter, and until recently had not been involved in politics or political debate.  That all changed when they met a man asking for help and secrecy.  They were more than willing to help and when they left the hospital, they took with them a large amount of needed medical supplies.

The recruiting team returned within an hour with
Martin and Nancy. Both were present when the UN Troops and the Militia had first met. Both had been sworn to secrecy and rushed into service patching up the wounded soldiers.  Mack was grateful for the help and together they were able to save most of the wounded soldiers.  Only three more died from their wounds.  Three too many.

Chapter 9

"A militia, when properly formed, is in fact the people themselves …"
Richard Henry Lee
writing in Letters from the Federal Farmer to the Republic, Letter XVIII, May, 1788.

Nine hours had passed since our battle at the Boy Scout camp. Captain John wanted answers from the prisoner.   He sent for Vincent and the order was clear: find out what the prisoner knows. 

True to form, the two guards
Vincent had set to work had not let up on their orders to beat the grain sack and “holler.”  They were in the middle of doing this when both of their jaws dropped at the sight of Vincent.   Vincent was a very large man of six foot six.  He was wearing an apron with what appeared to be fresh blood stains.  Dangling from a leather belt was a series of knives dripping with blood.  Unbeknownst to the guards, Vincent had been on duty skinning deer.  Venison was the primary source of protein for the militia and Vincent had volunteered for butcher duty that afternoon.  He looked like he had just walked off of the set of Texas Chain Saw Massacre.  He instructed the guards to scream and act as if they were dying. They did, and after a five minute wait, he entered the cell.  At the sight of Vincent and after the psychological beatings, the prisoner began to speak even before questions were asked. 

As it turned out, the coordinates on the maps showed the two major power plants that Washington DC used as a contingency for national emergencies. Each power plant was chosen because they were fueled by a co
al mine located on site.  Each power plant also had a direct line to Washington DC to ensure continuity of operations and communications in DC at all times.  These power plants were slated to be protected by UN soldiers and as such, a large force could be expected to be found at each location.

It was further learned that UN forces were still planning to conduct gun grabs.  They were now planning to enter small rural towns with armored columns and fire teams.  The missions would be
preceded by drone surveillance to detect any extremist activity.  Civilians that resisted would be shot without warning.  Plans were in progress to build concentration camps to house civilians who were identified as “likely to resist.” Criteria for being labeled a likely resister included: prior military service, having conservative values, being a Christian, having registered multiple weapons, having purchased hunting licenses, and demonstrating resistance intentions on social networking outlets such as Facebook or Twitter.   Having one of these traits could get you noticed. Having two or more was an immediate train ride.