Willard
01-27-2007, 08:51 AM
Chapter 21
Dave went into Walts house. Sam was talking to Walt’s wife when he entered.
“Hi,” she said as he walked in, “Made up your mind yet?” She looked at Dave directly,
her gaze not wavering a bit.
“No,’ answered Dave, “frankly we’re against the idea of bringing a girl along…”
“I’m almost 17,” Sam defended herself by saying, “and I just found out that Walt joined
the Army at 17.”
“It’s more than that. We’re going into a combat zone. We don’t want to have to baby-sit
anyone.”
“Look, I’m half the age of you guys, I can pack just as much as you, and I’m in at least as
good a shape as you guys are.”
“That’s not what we’re questioning. If we get hit, you’ll be part of a team, and we don’t
want to risk anyone trying to protect you, or to have you freak out under the pressure.
War isn’t a game.”
“Freak out? My Dad’s been taking me hunting since I was seven, and I got my first dear
when I was 11! I’ve seen blood, mister soldier.”
“Well, let’s talk. Do you know what we’re doing?”
Sam considered that for a moment. “I thought it was refugees and stuff, setting up way
stations for them, like the underground railroad. But it sounds more like a war patrol or
something.”
“Well, it is helping refugees, but it IS in a war zone. We’re going to try to help folks
escape to New Hampshire, and protect them from the ‘As if’ forces. They’ve been
attacking and arresting folks, and I know that they are killing armed groups of people.”
“Dave, I want to help those people. I can be a help on the team, I really can,” she wasn’t
pleading, but she did come across as desperate to go.
“I don’t know, Sam. Let’s talk a bit, then you’ll meet the team. Then the guys and I will
talk about it and let you know.” Sam bit her lip and nodded. Dave thought she was trying
not to say something. Whatever; she could listen a bit.
“Do you have a military style rifle?”
”Yeah, my Dad’s SKS.”
”Well, we’re using AR’s and variants-they’re M-16 for citizens.”
“I’ll get one in town.”
“Steve said you’ve hiked the AT and Washington in winter. Tell me about that…”
Same told Dave how she had always followed her brother around. When he was a Boy
Scout and her Father was a Troop Leader she went along on their campouts, which were
held monthly, every month, rain or shine. As part of a Council project, she accompanied
them on a three summer hike of the Appalachian Trail, starting in Georgia and eventually
finishing in Baxter State Park in Maine. Her winter hikes of Mount Washington, the
highest peak in new England and home of some of the most severe weather in the world
was done with her father, brother, and several others as a separate climb. She had
attended a wilderness survival school in Alaska the summer prior as a gift from her
parents-she had asked for nothing else for her 16th birthday and had gotten straight A’s at
school. Her parents acquiesced and let her go for two weeks. She then returned home
through Wyoming, where she participated in a National Outdoor Leadership School hike
of the Grand Teton Mountains, where the students had to carry all of their gear and food
for two weeks in their packs.
Dave considered. She had a LOT of hiking and outdoor experience.
“What about the radio?”
“I have an Extra license and I was taking electrical engineering correspondence courses
on the computer before all this happened. I’m going to be an engineer when this is done.
I’ve made some radios from kits, and I built one by ordering parts from catalogs and stuff.
Doc can set me up with a rig that uses just a little electricity, and he’s gonna give me a
hand generator we can carry to power the rig.”
Dave sighed. If she was a guy, he’d have no problem with her going. But she wasn’t a
guy.
“Let’s meet the team and talk some more.”
Dave rounded up Will, Tony, and Jim, and led them into the barn. They all sat around the
table. Walt sat with them, as did a few of the other guys. Dave went around the table
introducing Sam to the men.
“Guys, this is Sam. Doc sent her to us as a commo expert, but we need to decide if we’re
going to take her. I want you all to talk to her, primarily the guys going, and then we’ll
ask her to step out while we decide. OK?”
All the heads nodded.
Walt took a cigarette out of his pack and lit it, blowing the smoke up and away from the
table. “Well, Sam,” he said, “tell us about yourself and why Dave and the others should
take you along.”
Sam reiterated her story, filling in more details about setting up radio contacts on her hike
in the Tetons using continuous wave, CW she called it, or Morse Code, from a small low
powered radio she packed along. She also told them that she was an expert shot with a
rifle, and that she felt her skills would be an asset to the team. Finally, she reached across
the table, took one of Walts cigarettes, and lit it defiantly. “I’m my own person and don’t
take crap from anyone, either. If you want the best commo person you’re ever going to
see, you’ll take me.” And she got up and walked out. The group sat there for a minute.
“So much for questions and answer,” said Jim. Everyone laughed. Despite their
reservations they liked the spunky teenager. She certainly had filled her short life with
some interesting adventures.
“Tony, would do you think?” asked Dave.
“She’s better suited to this than me. My only qualification is that I walked here from
Mass, and I probably would be dead if I didn’t get adopted as a stray dawg,” said Tony,
eliciting more laughs from the group.
“Jim?”
“I think we should try her out. But one F-up and she’s history.”
“Will?”
“Bring her. She’s in better shape than a bunch of old has beens,” said Will, looking Dave,
Walt, Jim, and Steve in the eyes as he spoke. He was the youngest member of the team at
28, “and she’s definitely capable of carrying her own weight.”
“Anyone else?”
“Is there anyone else who can go?”
“Doc said she’s it. All the other guys are sick or older than us.” Steve replied.
“I don’t like it,” said Walt. Everyone quieted down. Walt was, by more acceptance than
anything else, the leader. “She’s a kid, and she stole my last cigarette. That pisses me
off.” Everyone laughed at him.
“Seriously, you guys talk about it. Dave, if you guys want her, take her.”
“How about we talk about this as a team? We can sleep on it if you want,” Dave looked
at the other team members. Tony spoke up.
“My minds made up. She can come.”
“Mine too,” said Will, “She’ OK by in my book.”
“I wanna think it over,” said Jim.
“So do I,” said Dave, “Let’s decide in the morning. We’ll meet here with our stuff to
pack and prep for the mission. Speaking of which, here is a packing list to copy. And
after I talk to Sam we can go over the Opord. I’ll have her sit in on it so if we do take her
we won’t have to go over it again just for her.”
The meeting ended later than they thought it would. Sam had a lot of questions, which the
team tolerated with remarkable restraint. The team went over maps of the areas Tony and
Dave had come through, and did a map recon of the whole border area to look for other
likely routes. These they marked for future reference. After ensuring that Sam understood
they were going to make a decision tomorrow, the meeting broke up. Will agreed to drop
Sam off back in town, as she had radio watch that night as part of Docs commo team, and
Will wanted to get a few things from his apartment in town. He was staying at Steves for
the duration.
“0900 sharp we start,” said Dave as they pulled on their coats.
The team assembled well before 0900. Except for Sam.
Jim looked at Dave, “Make up your mind?” he asked.
“Yeah. You?”
“Yup.”
“Weellll?”
“I say we try her out. Being out there with one of us goobers on the radio is too risky. But
if she’s trouble during training we dump her.”
“That’s what I was thinking, too,” said Dave. He had talked to Sandy that morning over
breakfast. She had convinced him to try her out.
“Sandy convince you?”
Dave laughed, “Yeah, how’d you know?”
“My wife ragged on me all last night and this morning about it. If I didn’t say yes I
wouldn’t get to wiggle my bean for a month.” They both laughed.
“Well, let’s get started.”
The team layed out their gear in the barn. Dave went over the packing list, to find any
deficiencies. He had Will examine his pack.
“We’re going to go over movement, Patrol Base procedures, ambush drills, and all before
we go. Refugees or not we’re treating this as a combat patrol.”
The team broke out a few cases of late dated MRE’s and started stripping them, taking
out anything they didn’t want or need. Once the MRE bags were repacked they were
taped with green duct tape. Dave brought in a case of heat tabs from his truck, and a box
of disposable lighters he had purchased in from a warehouse superstore a few years
before. He laid them on the table for the team to use.
A few minutes before nine a car horn beeped. “It’s Sam,” said Steve, coming in. “You
guys wanna talk to her?”
“Yeah, tell her we’ll be right there.”
Putting on their coats the team went outside to see a brown Bronco in front of the house,
it’s tailpipes spewing white exhaust smoke in the chill morning air. The doors opened and
Sam got out, accompanied by a man the team all knew.
“Hi, Shawn,” said Will. Shawn was a member of the towns militia, and had trained with
Dave and the men many times now.
“Hi. Hear you got something to tell my daughter here.”
“Yes we do,” answered Dave. Turning to Sam he said “You are in, provisionally. If we
like they way you act in training, you can go. We have our reservations, but you’ve got
your chance.”
Sams face lit up, “You won’t be sorry Dave, really.”
Shawn was smiling, too, “Sam won’t let you down, Dave. Ever since her brother joined
the NHDF she’s been wanting to do her part.”
“Shawn, she’s only going if we think she’s capable.”
“Oh, you’ll see,” said Shawn, his confidence in Sams abilities obvious in his voice,
“You’re gonna want ten more just like her.”
“I hope so. Look, Sam, we’re going over our gear right now. You can go get your stuff
and come back, we’ll go over it then.”
“Oh, no, I’ve got it here. Ooops, I have this, too, for Walt.” She pulled a manila envelope
from her jacket, “It’s a message from the NHDF. We have ten days to report.”
Dave took the envelope from her, “You read a lot of messages meant for others?”
“I received it last night on radio watch. I have to read it to copy it down.”
Dave felt silly. “Jim, will you tell Walt we have a message from HQ? Sam, go get your
stuff and come back. We’ll be here for the next three days to train.”
“I have my stuff in my Dad’s truck,” she said. Shawn and Sam went to the back of the
truck. Swinging aside the spare tire, Shawn pulled out Sams pack, and three large plastic
totes. “Where do you want these?” he asked.
“In the barn. Here, we’ll help.”
“Let me get my SKS for Sam,” said Shawn, moving to the front of the truck.
“It’s OK, Shawn, we’ll set her up with an AR?”
“Are you sure? That’s a lot of money…”
“We need her to have the same weapon as we do, for compatibility. It’s all right. She can
give it back later.”
“If you say so, Dave. Let’s get these thing in the barn.”
Sam had a commercial pack, a Lowe. Unfortunately it was purple. “We’ll have to do
something about your pack,” he said to Samantha, “We’ve got black dye around here
somewhere.”
“Do we have to?” Sam asked.
“Yes. We’re gonna make snow covers anyway, but yes, purple is not allowed. Got it?”
”Yes,” said Sam dejectedly.
“If you’re done here I’ll get going,” said Shawn.
“Sure, Shawn. We’ll drop Sam off when we break, it’ll be a few days.”
“I understand, Dave.” Sam gave him a hug and he was gone, closing the barn door behind
him.
“Let’s see what you’ve got,” said Dave to Sam. In the totes were food, clothes, and radio
equipment, along with two small 12 volt motorcycle batteries.
“These are the primary power for the radio,” Sam pointed at a smallish radio on the table.
“They’ll give us 24 hours a piece. I have a large solar charger and Docs hand generator to
recharge them.”
Will placed the batteries on the table.
“I have an antenna, and my handbook to help sizing it for whatever freqs we’re on. Also,
I’ve got a handheld 2 meter and spare batteries for it.”
“Looks good,” remarked Dave, “We’ll practice setting it up later. You’ll need to teach us
all how to use it.”
At this Sam made a face. “Don’t worry, we’re not going to have you train us and then
leave you. If you are incapacitated we all need to know how it works. Also, you’ve got to
sleep sometimes.”
Sam grinned sheepishly, “Sorry. I have a lot to learn about this army stuff.”
“We’ll teach you that. I bet it’s easier than the radio is.”
After helping Sam empty her pack, and laying out her things on the table to help her
decide what to repack, Jim said something Dave hadn’t thought of.
“So, Sam, where’s you’re ‘feminine hygiene products’?”
“I don’t need them right now,” said Sam, a little taken aback by the subject broached by a
30+ year old married man.
“Not now, but what about on the trail?”
Everyone looked from Jim to Sam. They hadn’t thought of that.
“I’ll bring them next time.”
”Well,” said Jim, “Bring twice what you think you’ll need. Stress can change your cycle.
And as medic I may be able to use some for dressings if we need them.”
Sam nodded, “I will, I will.”
The team discussed their jobs with Sam, and the training they were planning for the
remainder of the week.
“I’m going to draw up a schedule for the week, some of you will give us classes on your
specialties. If you guys will help Sam with her gear, I’ll work one up now.”
The team agreed. Dave took up his notebook and coat and went to Walts house to draw
up a training schedule in quiet. The team was talking up a storm, in high spirits with the
forthcoming mission. Dave knew they would get less talkative and more somber as the
launch date drew closer.
An hour later Dave and Walt entered the barn. The team looked up as a smiling Dave
announced, “We have something for Sam. Sam, will you come up here a minute?”
A curious Sam approached them.
“Since you didn’t have anything decent in the way of weapons, I’m going to loan you
this,” said Walt, emphasizing the ‘loan’ part. He held up a short AR-15, “It’s an AR, and
it’s got an 11 ½ inch barrel. Perfect for a commo queen.”
Sam took the little rifle and looked at it. “Cute!” she declared. Walt rolled his eyes. “Cute
she says.” Everyone laughed. They couldn’t help but agree. It was a cute little gun.
Will held out his right hand, palm facing the rear, fingers pointed up. Stop. The team
stopped, taking a half step off of the trail, and took a knee facing out. Jim, the last man,
turned and faced their back trail to cover the rear. Will keyed his radio “They’re just up
ahead. I can see a tent.”
Dave radioed back “Roger. Tony, go up with him and initiate contact.” The team were all
listening and dropped their packs, going prone behind them. Tony was next behind Dave,
and scurried past, heading for the front. They were three days into the mission, and this
was their first contact with refugees. Will and Tony approached the little camp slowly
and cautiously. When they were a good deal closer Tony called out “Hello the tent!’ They
heard a multitude of sounds coming from it, a child asking “What is it?” and a woman’s
voice saying “Hush!” inside. Then they heard the distinct sound of a bolt being worked,
and a man with a scoped M1A stood up from behind the tent. “What do you want?” he
asked, his eyes nervously surveying the uniformed and armed men before him.
“We’re from the New Hampshire militia,” Tony said, “We’re here to help.”
“How do I know you’re not ISAF?” the man asked.
“Do we look like Germans or traitors to you?” said Will. “If we wanted to capture you we
would’ve circled you. I’ll lay down my weapon if you want and come up, if you want to
parlay.”
The man looked at him. “Why don’t you just get the hell out of here?” In the tent a little
sneeze and a voice said “Mommy, I’m cold.”
“Because you’re kids are freezing, you’re alone, and there’s an “as if” patrol over the
next hill waiting for you.”
“How do you know?” asked the man warily.
“Because we skirted them yesterday. Look,” Tony laid down his CAR15, “Point that
thing away from my chest and I’ll come up alone.”
Tony put both his hands where the nervous man could see they were empty and walked to
the tent. “We’ve got a medic, blankets, and food. How about we talk?”
Feet crunching on the snow, he approached. The man got a better look at him. Unshaved,
wearing obviously homemade over white, and using old fashioned web gear, he didn’t
look like the Army or their accomplices.
“Why are you running?” Tony asked.
“They had me on a list. Arrested and detained twice, I figured I better get before I wound
up locked up in jail.”
Tony nodded. He knew the feeling. “How long have you been on the trail?”
“About ten days. It’s slow with the kids…umm, I’ve got three friends covering you, you
know.”
Tony looked around. “We know you’re alone. Look, we’re not here to hassle you, we’ve
been sent to help out. I escaped a few months ago with my family, and the militia helped
me. Why don’t you let us help, alright?”
The man said nothing, mulling what Tony had said over in his head. After a half minute
or so, he lowered his rifle. “OK. Melissa, it’s OK, they’re here to help.”
A muffled voice from inside the tent said “Are you sure?”
“Well, if they aren’t we’re toast anyway. C’mon out.” The zipper made it’s distinct sound
and a bedraggled woman came out, bundled in a bright ski jacket. She leaned back into
the tent and said “Andy, keep your sister warm. I’ll be right back.”
Standing up, her hair was a mess, her eyes red, her cheeks pale, and she was shivering.
Tony smile disarmingly, as did Will. “Ma’am,” said Will, with a nod.
She looked around nervously, “Hello. You’re here to help us?”
“Yes Ma’am. We’ve got blankets, food, and a medic to check you out. You have any hot
food?”
“No, we didn’t want to risk a fire.”
“We’ll take care of that,” Will again keyed his mike, “We’re secure, come on up.”
“OK” came the static filled reply. “I’ve asked the team to come up. We can cook up some
hot soup and check out the kids-how are they?”
“Cold and sick, Amy has a cold and their clothes are wet. We’re having a hard time
drying them out.”
”Well, we’ll do what we can.”
The team came up, carrying Tony and Wills packs. Sam smiles at the woman “Hello,”
she said, “can we help you?”
With Sams appearance the man and woman relaxed noticeably. The ISAF forces
wouldn’t have a young girl along.
Tony told the man, “This is Dave, he’s in charge. Dave, they have two kids…” he turned
with a questioning look at the man, who nodded, “who are cold and wet, one’s sick, and
they need dry clothes.”
“Thanks, Tony. Can you, Will, and Sam set up a quick perimeter? Put Claymores out,
and Will, watch the back trail with the 40, OK?”
“OK, Dave, I’m there,” said Will, rucking up. The German grenade launcher was
attached to the outside of his ALICE pack.
“Jim, get your kit and look at the kids, will you?” Dave looked back at the parents, “Jims
trained as a paramedic, he’s got some medicine and things that may help. Ma’am, can
you show him the kids?”
The woman nodded, “Of course. Right this way…”
Jim walked up and introduced himself to her “I’m Jim, and I only play a doctor on TV…”
Dave stuck out his hand, “Dave McGrath.”
The man took it “Pat Woolard.”
“Tell me what brings you here, Pat, and I’ll put some food on.”
“Well, I had this rifle I never turned in, and I told them I sold it, but they didn’t believe
me……..”
Dave prepped his Firefly stove as the man talked. He filled the pot with a can of chicken
noodle soup, which he remembered was a hit with Tony’s kids. When Pat finished, Dave
said “Well, Pat, you’ve done a good job of getting your family out. But the border is
more secure than before, so maybe we can help. We have a few resources available that I
think will speed you along.”
Jim came out of the tent. “How are they?” Dave asked.
“Cold and tired. I had them take off their wet clothes and put them in a sleeping bag.
Their Moms going to get in, too, and warm them up. Is the soup ready?”
“Almost.”
“Good. Sir, do you have cups or mugs for the kids?”
“Yeah, in the tent. And the names Pat.”
“Pat, I’m Jim. Your daughter has the beginnings of bronchitis. Her tonsils are huge and
her lungs are filling with fluid. I’d like to get her out ASAP before she gets pneumonia.”
“I’d like to get her out, too.”
“We’ll see what we can do,” said Dave.
After ensuring the kids each had as much soup as they could eat, Dave sent Jim out to
relieve Sam. In short order, she approached Dave. “What is it, boss?” and gave him a
mock salute. Dave knocked her hand down. “What are doing?” he said, his voice low but
firm, “Trying to attract snipers? Don’t do that.”
Sam looked chagrined. “Sorry, Dave, I…”
Dave smiled, “Just don’t do it again, huh?”
Sam looked slightly relieved, “OK, Dave.”
“I need you to get in touch with NHDF HQ and let them know we have four to evacuate.”
He pulled a laminated map out of his pocket, and then wrote some information down on a
small pad. He tore off the sheet and handed it to her. “This is our location, encode it. We
have two adults, two kids. We’ll need to know how they want them. And keep the
transmission brief, right?”
”Just like we practiced, Dave, no problemo,” said Sam, and she sent back to her pack and
started setting up her radio.
“Pat,” said Dave, “Your tent stands out pretty well here. Let’s do something about that. I
have this white poncho here…..”
After covering the tent, Dave told Pat he was going to check on his team. He put two cans
of soup on the stove in the largish stainless cook pot, and then sent them back one at a
time for a canteen cup of soup. It was cold in the hills in December.
He sat with Sam, who told him the message was received and that she was waiting for an
answer. She suggested putting out the solar charger for the extra battery, which Dave did.
On the back trail, Dave stood off the trail in a small stand of pine trees that stood about
five feet above the snow. Will had shown him the clacker to the claymore was, and where
the mine was aimed. He scanned the back trail with his pocket binos, the heat from his
body causing the lenses to condense. After ten minutes or so Will came back and relieved
him.
“Thanks, boss, that was a much needed boost to my core temperature.”
“You’re welcome,” Dave replied, “How are you doing?”
“Good, this is a great day to be outside. If you want to wait a minute, I want to put on my
snow pants.”
“Sure.”
A few minutes later Will came back wearing a pair of black skimobile pants. “It’s getting
colder. I think we’ll have snow tonight or tomorrow.”
“I hope so. It will slow up the ‘as if’ guys.”
Dave made his way back to the tent to talk to Jim.
“How are they?”
“Better. We put their clothes in the bag and they are drying out. The kids are warmer and
I gave the girl aspirin for her fever and cough suppressant for her cough. How are they
exfilling?”
“Waiting for word now. Could you check the team? Frostbite, feet, you know the drill.”
“You got it, cheifie,” came the reply. Jim secured his kit and went toward Tony’s position.
After an hour of waiting Sam got the message from the NHDF HQ team. Her gloved
hands quickly copied down the encoded Morse transmission. She translated and then
decoded it for Dave, having learned how to use the code book during the teams three
days of prep at the headquarters.
Dave read it and got his map back out. They were to meet a truck, codename ‘Pilgrim”, at
the side of the road three miles into occupied territory and a mile or more to their West.
He plotted a route. They had until 7 A.M. the next morning to get there, which gave them
over 14 hours. He decided to get moving before dark to try to put some distance between
them and the ISAF team to their North.
“Pat, Sam, could you come here a sec?”
The team was using the trail. The snow was fairly well broken by others who had passed
before. By the footprints they mostly civilians going North. Will led the way, backed up
by Tony. Dave was next, then the family, Melissa and Pat herding their wards, Sam and
Jim in the rear. The FRS radios the team had were indispensable for maintaining contact
with the front and rear elements of the team, as the point had a tendency to get far ahead,
and the children slowed the back half considerably. They marched for a few hours,
gaining about two miles map distance. Dave stopped them at a curve in the trial to check
his map.
“Point, there’s a side trail coming up, we want that.”
“Roger,” came the terse reply.
“Wait five and move out, do a short recon of the trail and report.”
Will broke squelch twice to indicate he understood.
Jim made sure the kids were still OK. He gave them some hard candy to cheer them up a
little, and returned to the rear of the column. After ten minutes or so in which the party
took time to attend to personal matters (the teams toilet paper was greeted warmly by the
family) they again headed out. Will made his report shortly thereafter.
“Looks clear, no traffic signs. Hard going.”
Dave broke squelch twice back at Will.
Reaching Will and Tony, they saw that the side trail led down a more exposed hillside,
and the snow had drifted in places to a depth of several feet. He could see where Tony
and Will had broken through on their recon. Again stopping the team, Dave had them put
on their snowshoes, a donation from a local bed and breakfast which had them for guests
to rent. Using ski poles, Dave, Will, and Tony took turns leading the party down the hill,
breaking a path for the family, which didn’t have snowshoes. Several falls later they
reached a more level and wooded area, and the going got easier, although it was
hampered by the lack of illumination. Only starlight guided them.
Tony looked back at Dave. “How much farther?”
“Not much. I want to closer to the RV point before stopping. We need to cross that road
we talked about and then we’re home free.”
Dave guided them to a stand of pines, walking well past them and then using a technique
called ‘fish hooking’ led them back to it via a different route. He put Will and Sam on a
small ambush to cover the back trail, in case they were followed, which with the snow
was a likely possibility.
“I want to check out the road ahead. Tony, you are in charge here while I’m gone. Will
and I are going, and we should be back in two hours or less. We’ll use the radios when
we come back. If you hear gunfire or if we tell you to move out, go back up the trail and
take the small spur trail we passed as far as you can. Find a place to lie up and radio HQ
to let them know the RV is compromised, and get new instructions. Any questions?”
“No.”
“OK. Will and Sam are on the back trail ambush, I’ll leave Sam. Relieve her in a half
hour or so. No fires, but keep the kids warm. And we’re not staying here, so don’t set up
camp,” he added for Pats benefit.
Leaving the way the entered, he briefed Sam and Will on what they were doing. Will and
Dave moved out, rejoining the path and following it for a half mile.
“We’ll drop our packs here and find a place to cross.”
Dropping the packs, they camo’ed them as best they could. They then moved out, Dave
in the lead. The path took them up to an open area. Stopping at the edge, it was apparent
that the local builders had been busy. Rows of houses lined the road, smoke coming from
many of the chimneys, and weak candle light peaked through curtains up and down the
road.
“Well, what now?” inquired Will.
“Let’s go back and go further that way,” he pointed left, “Looks like the houses end
closer that way.”
They went back and recovered their packs, and headed through the woods. It wasn’t as
easy as the path, as the myriad of small bushes and low tree branches grabbed at their
packs and snowshoes with every step. Arriving panting and scratched at another field,
they saw it was a glade in the wood, perhaps the remnants of an old field from a long
forgotten farm. They skirted the edge, Will turning every so often to cover the rear. At
the far end of the field they came to another path, this one a local one, probably used by
local people for walking. They again entered the woods, paralleling the path until they
reached the road. There were no houses in sight. Splitting up, they checked out the woods
to either side for a hundred yards or so, looking for a good place to cross, preferring not
to use the paths entrance. When they met at the path Will said “There’s a likely looking
pace back my way. Small stand of Laurel and cedar for cover not far from the road.”
“Good,” said Dave, “there’s nothing my way. Let’s get the rest of the guys.”
Carefully retracing their route they radioed the team when they felt they were close
enough. Sam answered, and she was instructed to bring the family and team down the
path. Getting the family up and moving took a good 15 minutes, so it was a half hour or
more before they met Will and Dave on the path.
Dave told Pat that they had a way to go, but that they should have a few hours to rest
before they were picked up. Pat nodded his understanding, which Dave barely made out
in the dark. Suddenly Will radioed “I hear something!” The team all stopped in their
tracks. “Quiet and don’t move!” hissed Tony to the family. Dave pulled the earpiece out
and listened. Sure enough, it sounded like a helicopter-or more than one-heading their
way. “Everyone against a tree! Pull your packs over yourselves! If the have thermal it
will help a little to hide us!” For few second the thing the team heard was there rustling of
packs and crunch of snow as everyone scrambled for concealment. Then all that could be
heard was the throbbing of heavy rotor blades as the birds drew near. Suddenly the
helicopters were over them and past, a formation of at least five helos, Dave knew them
to be Blackhawks by their sound. Soon the sound of the big helicopters faded. Everyone
breathed a sigh of relief as they got to their feet and rucked up.
The rest of their movement was uneventful. They crossed the road without incident, and
had to skirt a large platte on the other side. The came to spot not far from the RV point,
and Dave called a halt.
“We’ll stay here for now. We have 4 hours until we need to get ready, so I’d like the kids
to sleep. We can do a rotating shift for us, so set up two fartsacks, two hours on and off.
Will, Jim, take first watch. Set up a claymore on the back trail and one towards the road.
Will, hand off the 40 to your relief. Sam, can you and Tony help set up hooches for the
Woolards?”
Sam and Tony got their rucks and told the Woolards they would make them shelters.
First they chose a spot free from trees. Sam trampled down the snow while Tony snapped
two ponchos together, making a tube. They then laid that down, and bungee corded the
corners to nearby trees. Using the hood and a bungee, Tony lifted up the roof by securing
that to an overhead branch. They then used a ski pole to prop open one end. They used
Pats pack to block the other end. They then put down one of their space blankets on the
floor, and the Woolards two self inflating mattresses on that. They told Tony to put his
bags in their, feet to the open end, and to put Melissa pack at the end to block the wind.
They gave them two wool blankets that the NHDF had provided refugee teams, and these
went over the bags. It was low tech but effective. They left the family preparing to sleep,
and built one more using their sleeping bags. Tony deferred to Sam, and allowed her to
go in first. He set his bag up opposite Sams, his modesty amusing her.
Dave spent half the night asleep against his pack, the cold waking him every so often.
When he Awoke he checked on the security teams, and resumed his fitful sleep. At 5 AM
sharp he woke up the two sleeping militiamen and the Woolards. He prepped a pot of
water, heating it to make cocoa and coffee. After packing, everyone got a dose of hot
drink and moved out once again. Dave set up security at the spot Will had found. Tony,
Will, and Sam were covering their back trail. Dave took a few minutes to make the signal
at the roadside, and he and Jim were covering the flanks. The Woolards were in the
middle, about 70 feet from the road. At a few minutes to 7 they heard a truck engine
coming from their left flank. Dave tensed, his hands on the firing device for the claymore
he had put out. A Mayflower moving van slowed and came to a stop just past Dave. The
passenger got out of the truck and started kicking the tire and whistling the theme to
Gilligans Island. Dave whistled back with the Andy Griffith theme. The man turned to
the woods, and then looked left and right.
“The coast is clear, let’s hurry up!”
Dave signaled to Pat, who was watching him. “That’s your ride, get going!” Pat and
Melissa got the kids up and struggled with their packs. The man opened the side door on
the truck and boosted the kids up. Dave heard him tell Pat and Melissa to push the big
boxes up against the doors and to hide in the wooden crates. He shut the door, and
whistling again he got back in the truck without so much as a glance back at the woodline.
In moments the truck was gone in a cloud of diesel smoke.
Dave called to Jim on the radio and had him pull back. When he got the all set signal he
recovered his Claymore and went back to meet Jim at their packs. They then called the
rest of the team, who recovered their mines one at a time and rucked up. They headed
back The way they had come, and made camp in a thicket on the opposite side of the trail
from where they had spent the night.
They again made a small camp, sleeping bags and a low shelter for two. They crammed
three into the shelter for the first sleep shift, which made it a cozy tent. Tony and Will
stood first watch. At noon they awoke the sleepers. The guards ate a quick cold lunch
(Will had been carrying his MRE entrée in his shirt pocket, so his was at least lukewarm)
and racked out. Dave had Tony and Sam eat, and they all took turns cleaning their
weapons. They then cleaned Will and Tony’s rifles for them. As dusk approached they
woke the sleepers and made a quick hot drink apiece.
Just as they were finished stowing the stove, they heard the sound of voices. They all
froze. They were coming from their back trail. As they waited the voices got louder.
“This is so obviously a BS detail,” said one voice.
“Well, let’s get it done quick so we can go back and get warm. This cold sucks.”
“Yes it does,” agreed a third voice.
Dave suddenly remembered his Sten and pulled it from his pack. He pulled the bolt to the
rear and inserted a magazine. He made a motion to Jim, who passed it on around the team.
He made sure the selector was on auto and waited. Footsteps crunched on the crusty snow
as three American troops came up the path, following the snowshoe prints. All had M-
16A2’s, and one had a radio. The team stayed still as the men came to them, intent on the
tracks. As the men drew abreast of the team, Dave fired a short burst into the first man,
stitching him with three rounds in the torso. He quickly shifted to the middle guy and hit
him in the head with one round. The first man whirled and fired a three shot burst into the
path even as Dave ventilated him with another burst of 9mm.
“Will, Sam, strip the bodies. Jim, watch the path. Fifteen seconds,” commanded Dave,
letting them know that they would move in that time. “Tony, take point,” Dave saw Sam
remove the radio from the first man, “Get the radio from Sam and listen to it. Go!”
Sam was delicately stripping the dead man of his gear even as Will finished with the
second of his men. Dave ran up to her and said “Just grab it off him!” He reached under
and unbuckled the mans GI LBV, and pulled it off, the mans limp arms flopping as the
vest came off. “Take this and cover the rear,” said Dave as he passed the vest and rifle to
Sam. He then emptied the mans pockets, placing the contents down the front of his shirt.
Finishing, he called to Jim “Let’s go!” Jim and Sam got up and followed Dave and Will
up the trail, moving as fast as they could.
Dave called to Tony on the little radio “You get anything off that radio?”
“Yeah, their sending a team to investigate. They heard the shots and got frantic when the
guys didn’t answer.”
Dave thought fast. “Sam, Jim, give me your Claymores. Did the vest have any grenades?”
Sam and Will dropped the vest and went through the pockets quickly. “One each, Dave,
here,” and Will handed three frags to Dave. “Leave me one vest and go,” said Dave. Per
SOP they would go up the trail 300 hundred yards and wait for Dave and Will. They
knew what to do if Dave and Will didn’t come back in one hour. Dave said to Will
“Follow me,” and headed up the trail. At a bend they prepped one claymore, making a
tripwire with prepared material Will carried in his pack. They quickly tied the base to a
tree using two black zip ties that were attached to the base. Will strung the thin wire
across the path and tied it to another tree. Dave screwed the electrical blasting cap into
the mine, and connected it the 9 volt battery with the attached connector taken from a
child’s toy.
“Ready?” he asked Will.
“Yeah, let’s go,” replied Will, getting to his feet and going. Dave radioed ahead “We’re
coming, keep going.”
Click-click came a reply. The team met at the main trail.
“What now, Dave?”
“We go down the trail and try to move to another path. We’ll put up a few signs further
on saying this way is compromised. Hopefully that will work. And we’ll continue our
mission in our secondary area. Let’s move.”
As they headed up the trail they heard the echo as a pound and a half of C-4, behind a
matrix of 750 steel ball bearing detonated. They all hoped it was in the faces of ISAF
troops. As a special bonus, Will left five more tripwires, all attached to nothing, along the
way. If they were followed it would hopefully slow the pursuing troops.
Four days later the team was again at the NHDF headquarters. They had escorted a group
of fourteen people, three families, out of Massachusetts, catching a ride in the back of the
same moving van. They had learned that the moving man and his cousin, the co driver,
had another cousin in the Massachusetts National Guard who was commanding a border
checkpoint. He let them through without inspection every time, and enabled them to save
a number of people.
After a debriefing, they were shown shower rooms and given a chance to clean up. They
put on clean clothes and met in the main mess hall, where they hungrily ate a second
breakfast. Dave reported to them that the liaison had told them to keep the rifles they had
captured, as well as filling the pickup they had driven to the inn with supplies. Medicines,
ammo, more weapons. They gas tanks were full, and the motor pool staff had changed the
oil and filter, as well as repacking the front bearings with grease and lubing the chassis.
It was a quiet ride home. While they felt they had done some good, it seemed like a
wasted effort. Two of the seventeen teams had basically disappeared, three more were
shot up badly, and only four others had helped refugees. The others gathered some good
intel that would undoubtedly help the cause, but while they had been gone a German
recon team had been captured near their town by the remaining militia. Even as they sped
home a NHDF interrogation team was there questioning them.
Chapter 22 —Winter Doldrums
When the group approached town, Dave called the commo center at the police station
using the 10 meter HAM radio in Wills truck. They would let the guard posts on the main
roads know they were incoming friendlies. Also, Dave wanted a sitrep on the German
recon team they had captured. They were told, after a few minutes wait, to drop Dave off
at the police station. As Will was driving and the others were asleep, Dave asked that he
be dropped off first. Will quickly agreed, and in short order Dave was standing in the
foyer of the police station talking to a patrolman.
“They’ve got him in the isolation cell in the basement. Jim and the interrogation team
from the defense forces are there, along with Biatta McGillis, you know, Jacob McGillis’
wife? She’s from Germany, he married her when he was stationed there in the Air Force.
She’s listening to the interrogation to make sure nothing is missed.”
“OK, can you show me down there? I want to talk to Jim and see what the scoop is.”
“Sure, Dave, follow me.”
Dave followed the officer through the office areas and into a dark stairwell, where he
could hear the sounds of a vigorous questioning in progress. Dave thanked the officer,
who seemed to be in a hurry to leave, and entered the lit area. At the back of the room
was a cell, with two Flec camo dressed men in it. Both had their hands cuffed behind
their backs and were hooded. They were both seated on the floor and had their feet
secured to the bunk bed, which was made of steel and securely fastened to the floor, wall,
and ceiling of the cell. Another man was in a far corner, tied in the same manner, but he
was right next to a hot water heater, and guarded by a NHDF soldier armed with a pistol.
Dave raised an eyebrow at the man, who gave a grim smile and smacked the man on the
side of his head. “Otto was bad, weren’t you Otto?” Dave nodded. Very bad indeed, it
seemed.
Jim was with two other NHDF men, as was Doc, and a man Dave recognized from the
state meeting, the commander of the unit to their south. Dave stood back to observe.
Biatta was sitting to one side, listening as the man spewed a torrent of German into a
microphone held inches in front of his hooded face. When he slowed down the shorter
NHDF man would bark at him in his native tongue, and he would start talking with
renewed vigor. After a half hour of questioning they pulled up his mask and gave him
some water, which he drank greedily. Dave noticed bruises on the mans jaw, and idly
wondered where it came from. He didn’t really care if it was down here in the basement
or out in the woods, because, confronted with these EPW’s, he really didn’t care if they
lived or died. Nor did he care about the conditions under which they lived or died. That
was a revelation to him. He had killed a few of them and didn’t feel anything until it was
over. He still slept at night, although the guy he killed with the hammer still came to visit
periodically. But these guys, he’d just prefer to lock them in the cell and come get their
bones in the spring.
Jim walked over to him. “Heard about your mission. How’s the team?”
“Tired but satisfied, they did a good job out there.”
“Good. Sam work out ok?”
“Yes, in spite of my expectations, she did just fine. Actually, having her along helped
anyone know we weren’t an ‘as if’ patrol.”
“Well, we’ll have to see about recognizing her. Look, we’ve been questioning these guys
for almost two days. The ISAF are planning on launching raids into our territory, and
these guys are the pathfinders. I’d like you to take a copy of what they’ve told us so far
and go over it. Get a shower and some sleep, then come back here. I want to know what
you make of that material, and your ideas for how to counter the threat.”
“Sure, Jim, I can be back in four or five hours.”
“No, no earlier than eight, no later than ten. You look like crap. Did you sleep on the
patrol?”
Dave grinned, “Not much.”
Jim handed him some keys, “Take my truck.”
“Thanks,” said Dave, taking the keys as Jim turned back to the German, who was
weeping and talking in a low voice. Biatta talked to him in a soothing voice. Bet he just
spilled the beans on something big, thought Dave. Good.
Dave drove home, greeted his wife and sons, and took a shower. After reading the papers
Jim had given him, he took some notes, and spent ten minutes or so with his sons. When
he slept, he crashed hard. His wife woke him eight hours later with a cup of coffee, and
ten minutes after that, Dave was on his way to the police station with a couple of
sandwiches to keep the coffee company.
He mulled the papers over in his head as he drove. The ISAF were planning on launching
lightning raids into free territory to take out the militia infrastructure, disrupt municipal
services, and then get out quickly. That meant either heliborne or parachute insertions,
and probably helicopter exfil. Specifically the German pathfinder teams were looking for
LZ’s big enough for five Blackhawks or DZ’s big enough for a C-130 to drop it’s whole
load of men in one pass. Dave knew that was pretty big, especially for the 130. They
might better off looking for two or three smaller ones…..better consider that as a
contingency. They’d need LZ watchers and a QRF, or quick reaction force, to respond.
Trackers? Have to see who had hunting or tracking dogs. Need commo for the trail
watchers, banging sticks together like the VC was too-primitive? Well, it wouldn’t be
effective, in any regard.
When Dave got to the station Jim was standing outside talking to the chief. When he saw
Dave he said goodbye and headed over to the trucks passenger door and opened it.
“Wanna drive me home? We got some planning to do.”
“What’s up?”
“Well, one of the guys broke and told us everything. Their codes, freqs, the whole nine
yards. We have to think about how to use it to our advantage.”
“You mean bait and ambush?”
“Yeah.”
“The possibilities are endless.”
Jim grinned maliciously, “Indeed they are. We’re gonna kick some ass on this one. Or get
ours handed to us.”
Several hours later the meeting ended. They had been joined by other group leaders in
their area, as well as Kirk and his XO Rich from the Ice Spring Militia.
“OK, we’ll finalize the OPORD and have it delivered to you tomorrow. Just to run down,
we’re going to prepare an ambush site and have our German quisling call in the troops.
When they land we either destroy or capture them. I’ll need a list of what weapons you
can supply. We want as many large caliber rifles as we can get-if they use helicopters we
want .308's and higher. Any other stuff, machineguns, .50 caliber rifles, whatever, let us
know. Radio us using the codes, let us know how to prepare. We may hit it big on this
one, people.” Jim sat back as the assembled group gathered their papers. They had the
water cooled Maxim, two Browning 1919A4 .30’s, two MG-3’s, and a shitload of FAL’s,
M-1’s, and G-3 clones. Hopefully the “as if” forces wouldn’t prep the LZ/DZ with an air
strike first.
They wound up establishing three LZ’s, just in case. The primary, which got an MG-3
and a Maxim, and two alternates, one of which had the two Brownings, the other had the
second MG-3 and two H&K 91’s that were select fire. These were bipod mounted and the
rifleman who owned them were trained to alternate fires, that is “talk” the guns, one
firing then the other in turn. This was of limited utility, due to the 20 round magazine
capacity of the rifles, but it could still generate a large volume of fire. Jim put most of his
men on the primary, as it was their town that was targeted for the recon. Ice Spring had
one, and provided men to the third, which was mostly staffed by men from the adjoining
town to the East. The remainder of militia were assembled at a local warehouse, where
they would act as a quick reaction force if one or more of the teams were to encounter
more than they could handle, or if the ambushes were unsuccessful. If the mission was
compromised by the German who squealed, they did run the chance of being ambushed
themselves, but both Biatta and the NHDF interpreter seemed confident of his sincerity.
Two hard days and one night of preparation were on order before the ambush was
executed. The primary LZ was an elliptical clearing in the woods about five miles from
town and at least one mile from the nearest occupied dwelling. About 200 yards long and
75 wide, the southern approach was an opening between two small hills, but a large hill
loomed at the north end. The built a machinegun emplacement at the base of each
southern hill. Their mission was to either sweep the field with grazing fire if parachutists
landed, or fire at landing helicopters. If the ISAF landed in multiple helicopters the guns
were set to sweep the woodline east and west, and traverse into the LZ. On the northern
hill, east and west of the LZ, there were four emplacements, each with two men armed
with M-1 rifles and all the .30-06 armor piercing ammo in town. They were positioned
out of the line of fire of the MG’s, and were assigned with targeting the cockpits of any
helo’s that landed, or to pick off men on the ground. The west side of the potential LZ
was staffed with a motley group, men with heavy rifles-FALs, H&K’s, CETME’s, M-
1A’s. A few men had bolt action hunting rifles and small caliber assault rifles for backup.
They also had secondary positions about 70 yards behind their primary positions. If the
landing took root they would fall back in twos to the secondaries and try to hold the
attackers for the QRF. All told there were nearly 40 men and women in the primary LZ’s
ambush team, and another 10 in immediate support, including three snowmobiles pulling
sleds for evacuating casualties.
They built small fighting positions in the woods, digging through the frozen ground one
painful pick axe swing at a time. All the dirt was carefully carted away. Each position had
to be provide room for two men to live in for several days. The wise ones brought plastic
buckets for latrine use. A light snow the night after they completed work was a welcome
cover for evidence of their labors. Three cold, boring days and nights of waiting took
their toll on the men and women. Usually they would switch off sleeping and standing
watch, trying to keep activity to a minimum. The first nights expected landing was
cancelled due to the snow. Oddly, the storm was hitting the south harder than usual, and
even though snow was falling lightly in New Hampshire, Massachusetts was
experiencing almost white out conditions. The second night the planned landing was
cancelled because one of the Hueys the Germans were using experienced engine trouble
thanks to a sympathetic American mechanic, and the platoon aborted. The third night the
German quisling reported that the mission was a “go” about twenty five minutes before
they were to land. Word on the LZ was quickly spread. Jim was with the west side assault
team while Dave was with the Maxim crew on the south east. The man who had inherited
the Maxim was an enthusiastic machine gunner but had no formal training; Dave was
there to provide leadership if needed.
The throbbing of the rotor blades were masked by terrain until the CH-47 was almost on
top of them, then the sound of it’s two huge engines and enormous blades left room for
no other sound. The radio crackled “Wait for it…” said Jim. Dave’s Maxim was to
initiate fire. The dark shape of the helicopter stood out against the starlit field as it flared
for landing. As the bird settled it threw up a cloud of snow that totally obscured all sight
of it. Dave gave it half a heartbeat and heard the pitch of the blades change ever so
slightly as the rotors were relieved of most of their burden. He tapped Roger, the gunner,
on the leg. Roger lifted the trigger bars with his forefingers and pressed the trigger with
his thumbs. The Devil’s Paintbrush went to work, less than 300 miles from where Hiram
Maxim, it’s designer, had fired his first shots well over 100 years ago. The gun never ran
better.
Dave knelt next to Roger and watched as he adjusted his fire to pour into the back ramp
of the shithook. He shouldered his L1A1 and began firing at where he thought the
engines were. In the dark it was more area then point firing, but he managed about half a
mag before the bird took off again, limping into the hillside and exploding to the cheers
of the militia. On the LZ a few figures moved, and the Maxim and MG-3 swept the field
with grazing fire for another few seconds. Individual rifle shots rang out even as first Jim
and then Dave blew their whistles indicating cease fire. As the fire stopped ten men in
five two man teams moved over the LZ. The pyre of Boeing and German carcasses
provided more than enough light for them to sweep the LZ for gear, prisoners, and
intelligence material. It took all of two minutes for them to clear the field.
“Pick up what you need and take off,” Dave ordered the Maxim crew.
“You got it,” came the reply.
The rest of the winter was uneventful. With the onslaught of a fierce New England winter
snow and cold kept most of the ISAF forces in the south, dealing with the repeated acts of
sabotage in supposedly “secure” areas. While the free states to the north were a thorn in
their side, the many acts carried out against them in their own back yard were more of a
concern. The militias all throughout New Hampshire carried out patrols but saw nothing
except for the rare ISAF aircraft flying well out of small arms range.
Nationally, the United Nations had the ear of President Billary, and she was a faithful
follower of their advice. She declared universal health care for all people within the
borders of the United States, outlawed homeschooling and secular schools, and granted
citizenship to anyone living or working in the US for a period of 12 months or more,
regardless of their immigration status. The in New England Maine and New Hampshire
remained unoccupied. Georgia from 50 miles inland and outside of Atlanta, and most of
North Carolina and South Carolina outside of the metropolitan areas were essentially
independent, as were Tennessee, Kentucky, and most of the south. Washington was free
east of the Cascades, and Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, and North Dakota had no living
ISAF troops in state. In most other states the ISAF only controlled the cities. America
was just too big to occupy at once. Besides, there were patriots in every small town ready
to take pot shots at the ISAF forces.
The elected leaders of the free states met in a convention in Casper in January. The
declaration they came up with and that was eventually approved by the voters in each
state simply reiterated the sentiments of the Declaration of Independence- that the only
legitimate purpose of government was to protect the rights of its citizens. It also
reaffirmed the sentiments of the United States Constitution-and specifically stated that a
limited federal government was all that was needed to protect the rights of Americans. It
also stated the Bill of Rights in plain, modern language, and reaffirmed the Ninth and
Tenth Amendments thereof. It requested that all foreign powers remove themselves from
US soil and immediately ceasing all offensive actions against Americans would allow
them a ceasefire under which to leave. The conference also called for a Continental
Congress, named in deference, of course, to the first one, to which each state would send
a body of representatives. Their purpose would be to present a unified front for the
reestablishment of their rights by Washington. By the time they met they were NOT in
the mood for compromise.
All across America things were happening. A number of military units just disappeared
from their posts, in groups of two and three hundred, stripping all useful equipment from
their bases as they left. Air Force bases emptied of planes and trucks, pilots and support
personnel. A Navy Roll on/roll off, or Ro-ro ship, part of the maritime supply fleet,
docked in Maine, loaded with enough equipment, food, ammo, and vehicles for a Marine
amphibious expeditionary brigade for 30 days of combat. The crew was almost
unanimously pro freedom, and decided to do their part. The ship was unloaded as quickly
as could be arranged, which was fortunate, as it was destroyed and sunk at the dock late
one night by an air attack using laser guided munitions. While the New Hampshire news
reported that all equipment was lost, the tanks, Humvees, and cannons were being
prepped and crews were being trained deep in the mountains of New England.
Dave went into Walts house. Sam was talking to Walt’s wife when he entered.
“Hi,” she said as he walked in, “Made up your mind yet?” She looked at Dave directly,
her gaze not wavering a bit.
“No,’ answered Dave, “frankly we’re against the idea of bringing a girl along…”
“I’m almost 17,” Sam defended herself by saying, “and I just found out that Walt joined
the Army at 17.”
“It’s more than that. We’re going into a combat zone. We don’t want to have to baby-sit
anyone.”
“Look, I’m half the age of you guys, I can pack just as much as you, and I’m in at least as
good a shape as you guys are.”
“That’s not what we’re questioning. If we get hit, you’ll be part of a team, and we don’t
want to risk anyone trying to protect you, or to have you freak out under the pressure.
War isn’t a game.”
“Freak out? My Dad’s been taking me hunting since I was seven, and I got my first dear
when I was 11! I’ve seen blood, mister soldier.”
“Well, let’s talk. Do you know what we’re doing?”
Sam considered that for a moment. “I thought it was refugees and stuff, setting up way
stations for them, like the underground railroad. But it sounds more like a war patrol or
something.”
“Well, it is helping refugees, but it IS in a war zone. We’re going to try to help folks
escape to New Hampshire, and protect them from the ‘As if’ forces. They’ve been
attacking and arresting folks, and I know that they are killing armed groups of people.”
“Dave, I want to help those people. I can be a help on the team, I really can,” she wasn’t
pleading, but she did come across as desperate to go.
“I don’t know, Sam. Let’s talk a bit, then you’ll meet the team. Then the guys and I will
talk about it and let you know.” Sam bit her lip and nodded. Dave thought she was trying
not to say something. Whatever; she could listen a bit.
“Do you have a military style rifle?”
”Yeah, my Dad’s SKS.”
”Well, we’re using AR’s and variants-they’re M-16 for citizens.”
“I’ll get one in town.”
“Steve said you’ve hiked the AT and Washington in winter. Tell me about that…”
Same told Dave how she had always followed her brother around. When he was a Boy
Scout and her Father was a Troop Leader she went along on their campouts, which were
held monthly, every month, rain or shine. As part of a Council project, she accompanied
them on a three summer hike of the Appalachian Trail, starting in Georgia and eventually
finishing in Baxter State Park in Maine. Her winter hikes of Mount Washington, the
highest peak in new England and home of some of the most severe weather in the world
was done with her father, brother, and several others as a separate climb. She had
attended a wilderness survival school in Alaska the summer prior as a gift from her
parents-she had asked for nothing else for her 16th birthday and had gotten straight A’s at
school. Her parents acquiesced and let her go for two weeks. She then returned home
through Wyoming, where she participated in a National Outdoor Leadership School hike
of the Grand Teton Mountains, where the students had to carry all of their gear and food
for two weeks in their packs.
Dave considered. She had a LOT of hiking and outdoor experience.
“What about the radio?”
“I have an Extra license and I was taking electrical engineering correspondence courses
on the computer before all this happened. I’m going to be an engineer when this is done.
I’ve made some radios from kits, and I built one by ordering parts from catalogs and stuff.
Doc can set me up with a rig that uses just a little electricity, and he’s gonna give me a
hand generator we can carry to power the rig.”
Dave sighed. If she was a guy, he’d have no problem with her going. But she wasn’t a
guy.
“Let’s meet the team and talk some more.”
Dave rounded up Will, Tony, and Jim, and led them into the barn. They all sat around the
table. Walt sat with them, as did a few of the other guys. Dave went around the table
introducing Sam to the men.
“Guys, this is Sam. Doc sent her to us as a commo expert, but we need to decide if we’re
going to take her. I want you all to talk to her, primarily the guys going, and then we’ll
ask her to step out while we decide. OK?”
All the heads nodded.
Walt took a cigarette out of his pack and lit it, blowing the smoke up and away from the
table. “Well, Sam,” he said, “tell us about yourself and why Dave and the others should
take you along.”
Sam reiterated her story, filling in more details about setting up radio contacts on her hike
in the Tetons using continuous wave, CW she called it, or Morse Code, from a small low
powered radio she packed along. She also told them that she was an expert shot with a
rifle, and that she felt her skills would be an asset to the team. Finally, she reached across
the table, took one of Walts cigarettes, and lit it defiantly. “I’m my own person and don’t
take crap from anyone, either. If you want the best commo person you’re ever going to
see, you’ll take me.” And she got up and walked out. The group sat there for a minute.
“So much for questions and answer,” said Jim. Everyone laughed. Despite their
reservations they liked the spunky teenager. She certainly had filled her short life with
some interesting adventures.
“Tony, would do you think?” asked Dave.
“She’s better suited to this than me. My only qualification is that I walked here from
Mass, and I probably would be dead if I didn’t get adopted as a stray dawg,” said Tony,
eliciting more laughs from the group.
“Jim?”
“I think we should try her out. But one F-up and she’s history.”
“Will?”
“Bring her. She’s in better shape than a bunch of old has beens,” said Will, looking Dave,
Walt, Jim, and Steve in the eyes as he spoke. He was the youngest member of the team at
28, “and she’s definitely capable of carrying her own weight.”
“Anyone else?”
“Is there anyone else who can go?”
“Doc said she’s it. All the other guys are sick or older than us.” Steve replied.
“I don’t like it,” said Walt. Everyone quieted down. Walt was, by more acceptance than
anything else, the leader. “She’s a kid, and she stole my last cigarette. That pisses me
off.” Everyone laughed at him.
“Seriously, you guys talk about it. Dave, if you guys want her, take her.”
“How about we talk about this as a team? We can sleep on it if you want,” Dave looked
at the other team members. Tony spoke up.
“My minds made up. She can come.”
“Mine too,” said Will, “She’ OK by in my book.”
“I wanna think it over,” said Jim.
“So do I,” said Dave, “Let’s decide in the morning. We’ll meet here with our stuff to
pack and prep for the mission. Speaking of which, here is a packing list to copy. And
after I talk to Sam we can go over the Opord. I’ll have her sit in on it so if we do take her
we won’t have to go over it again just for her.”
The meeting ended later than they thought it would. Sam had a lot of questions, which the
team tolerated with remarkable restraint. The team went over maps of the areas Tony and
Dave had come through, and did a map recon of the whole border area to look for other
likely routes. These they marked for future reference. After ensuring that Sam understood
they were going to make a decision tomorrow, the meeting broke up. Will agreed to drop
Sam off back in town, as she had radio watch that night as part of Docs commo team, and
Will wanted to get a few things from his apartment in town. He was staying at Steves for
the duration.
“0900 sharp we start,” said Dave as they pulled on their coats.
The team assembled well before 0900. Except for Sam.
Jim looked at Dave, “Make up your mind?” he asked.
“Yeah. You?”
“Yup.”
“Weellll?”
“I say we try her out. Being out there with one of us goobers on the radio is too risky. But
if she’s trouble during training we dump her.”
“That’s what I was thinking, too,” said Dave. He had talked to Sandy that morning over
breakfast. She had convinced him to try her out.
“Sandy convince you?”
Dave laughed, “Yeah, how’d you know?”
“My wife ragged on me all last night and this morning about it. If I didn’t say yes I
wouldn’t get to wiggle my bean for a month.” They both laughed.
“Well, let’s get started.”
The team layed out their gear in the barn. Dave went over the packing list, to find any
deficiencies. He had Will examine his pack.
“We’re going to go over movement, Patrol Base procedures, ambush drills, and all before
we go. Refugees or not we’re treating this as a combat patrol.”
The team broke out a few cases of late dated MRE’s and started stripping them, taking
out anything they didn’t want or need. Once the MRE bags were repacked they were
taped with green duct tape. Dave brought in a case of heat tabs from his truck, and a box
of disposable lighters he had purchased in from a warehouse superstore a few years
before. He laid them on the table for the team to use.
A few minutes before nine a car horn beeped. “It’s Sam,” said Steve, coming in. “You
guys wanna talk to her?”
“Yeah, tell her we’ll be right there.”
Putting on their coats the team went outside to see a brown Bronco in front of the house,
it’s tailpipes spewing white exhaust smoke in the chill morning air. The doors opened and
Sam got out, accompanied by a man the team all knew.
“Hi, Shawn,” said Will. Shawn was a member of the towns militia, and had trained with
Dave and the men many times now.
“Hi. Hear you got something to tell my daughter here.”
“Yes we do,” answered Dave. Turning to Sam he said “You are in, provisionally. If we
like they way you act in training, you can go. We have our reservations, but you’ve got
your chance.”
Sams face lit up, “You won’t be sorry Dave, really.”
Shawn was smiling, too, “Sam won’t let you down, Dave. Ever since her brother joined
the NHDF she’s been wanting to do her part.”
“Shawn, she’s only going if we think she’s capable.”
“Oh, you’ll see,” said Shawn, his confidence in Sams abilities obvious in his voice,
“You’re gonna want ten more just like her.”
“I hope so. Look, Sam, we’re going over our gear right now. You can go get your stuff
and come back, we’ll go over it then.”
“Oh, no, I’ve got it here. Ooops, I have this, too, for Walt.” She pulled a manila envelope
from her jacket, “It’s a message from the NHDF. We have ten days to report.”
Dave took the envelope from her, “You read a lot of messages meant for others?”
“I received it last night on radio watch. I have to read it to copy it down.”
Dave felt silly. “Jim, will you tell Walt we have a message from HQ? Sam, go get your
stuff and come back. We’ll be here for the next three days to train.”
“I have my stuff in my Dad’s truck,” she said. Shawn and Sam went to the back of the
truck. Swinging aside the spare tire, Shawn pulled out Sams pack, and three large plastic
totes. “Where do you want these?” he asked.
“In the barn. Here, we’ll help.”
“Let me get my SKS for Sam,” said Shawn, moving to the front of the truck.
“It’s OK, Shawn, we’ll set her up with an AR?”
“Are you sure? That’s a lot of money…”
“We need her to have the same weapon as we do, for compatibility. It’s all right. She can
give it back later.”
“If you say so, Dave. Let’s get these thing in the barn.”
Sam had a commercial pack, a Lowe. Unfortunately it was purple. “We’ll have to do
something about your pack,” he said to Samantha, “We’ve got black dye around here
somewhere.”
“Do we have to?” Sam asked.
“Yes. We’re gonna make snow covers anyway, but yes, purple is not allowed. Got it?”
”Yes,” said Sam dejectedly.
“If you’re done here I’ll get going,” said Shawn.
“Sure, Shawn. We’ll drop Sam off when we break, it’ll be a few days.”
“I understand, Dave.” Sam gave him a hug and he was gone, closing the barn door behind
him.
“Let’s see what you’ve got,” said Dave to Sam. In the totes were food, clothes, and radio
equipment, along with two small 12 volt motorcycle batteries.
“These are the primary power for the radio,” Sam pointed at a smallish radio on the table.
“They’ll give us 24 hours a piece. I have a large solar charger and Docs hand generator to
recharge them.”
Will placed the batteries on the table.
“I have an antenna, and my handbook to help sizing it for whatever freqs we’re on. Also,
I’ve got a handheld 2 meter and spare batteries for it.”
“Looks good,” remarked Dave, “We’ll practice setting it up later. You’ll need to teach us
all how to use it.”
At this Sam made a face. “Don’t worry, we’re not going to have you train us and then
leave you. If you are incapacitated we all need to know how it works. Also, you’ve got to
sleep sometimes.”
Sam grinned sheepishly, “Sorry. I have a lot to learn about this army stuff.”
“We’ll teach you that. I bet it’s easier than the radio is.”
After helping Sam empty her pack, and laying out her things on the table to help her
decide what to repack, Jim said something Dave hadn’t thought of.
“So, Sam, where’s you’re ‘feminine hygiene products’?”
“I don’t need them right now,” said Sam, a little taken aback by the subject broached by a
30+ year old married man.
“Not now, but what about on the trail?”
Everyone looked from Jim to Sam. They hadn’t thought of that.
“I’ll bring them next time.”
”Well,” said Jim, “Bring twice what you think you’ll need. Stress can change your cycle.
And as medic I may be able to use some for dressings if we need them.”
Sam nodded, “I will, I will.”
The team discussed their jobs with Sam, and the training they were planning for the
remainder of the week.
“I’m going to draw up a schedule for the week, some of you will give us classes on your
specialties. If you guys will help Sam with her gear, I’ll work one up now.”
The team agreed. Dave took up his notebook and coat and went to Walts house to draw
up a training schedule in quiet. The team was talking up a storm, in high spirits with the
forthcoming mission. Dave knew they would get less talkative and more somber as the
launch date drew closer.
An hour later Dave and Walt entered the barn. The team looked up as a smiling Dave
announced, “We have something for Sam. Sam, will you come up here a minute?”
A curious Sam approached them.
“Since you didn’t have anything decent in the way of weapons, I’m going to loan you
this,” said Walt, emphasizing the ‘loan’ part. He held up a short AR-15, “It’s an AR, and
it’s got an 11 ½ inch barrel. Perfect for a commo queen.”
Sam took the little rifle and looked at it. “Cute!” she declared. Walt rolled his eyes. “Cute
she says.” Everyone laughed. They couldn’t help but agree. It was a cute little gun.
Will held out his right hand, palm facing the rear, fingers pointed up. Stop. The team
stopped, taking a half step off of the trail, and took a knee facing out. Jim, the last man,
turned and faced their back trail to cover the rear. Will keyed his radio “They’re just up
ahead. I can see a tent.”
Dave radioed back “Roger. Tony, go up with him and initiate contact.” The team were all
listening and dropped their packs, going prone behind them. Tony was next behind Dave,
and scurried past, heading for the front. They were three days into the mission, and this
was their first contact with refugees. Will and Tony approached the little camp slowly
and cautiously. When they were a good deal closer Tony called out “Hello the tent!’ They
heard a multitude of sounds coming from it, a child asking “What is it?” and a woman’s
voice saying “Hush!” inside. Then they heard the distinct sound of a bolt being worked,
and a man with a scoped M1A stood up from behind the tent. “What do you want?” he
asked, his eyes nervously surveying the uniformed and armed men before him.
“We’re from the New Hampshire militia,” Tony said, “We’re here to help.”
“How do I know you’re not ISAF?” the man asked.
“Do we look like Germans or traitors to you?” said Will. “If we wanted to capture you we
would’ve circled you. I’ll lay down my weapon if you want and come up, if you want to
parlay.”
The man looked at him. “Why don’t you just get the hell out of here?” In the tent a little
sneeze and a voice said “Mommy, I’m cold.”
“Because you’re kids are freezing, you’re alone, and there’s an “as if” patrol over the
next hill waiting for you.”
“How do you know?” asked the man warily.
“Because we skirted them yesterday. Look,” Tony laid down his CAR15, “Point that
thing away from my chest and I’ll come up alone.”
Tony put both his hands where the nervous man could see they were empty and walked to
the tent. “We’ve got a medic, blankets, and food. How about we talk?”
Feet crunching on the snow, he approached. The man got a better look at him. Unshaved,
wearing obviously homemade over white, and using old fashioned web gear, he didn’t
look like the Army or their accomplices.
“Why are you running?” Tony asked.
“They had me on a list. Arrested and detained twice, I figured I better get before I wound
up locked up in jail.”
Tony nodded. He knew the feeling. “How long have you been on the trail?”
“About ten days. It’s slow with the kids…umm, I’ve got three friends covering you, you
know.”
Tony looked around. “We know you’re alone. Look, we’re not here to hassle you, we’ve
been sent to help out. I escaped a few months ago with my family, and the militia helped
me. Why don’t you let us help, alright?”
The man said nothing, mulling what Tony had said over in his head. After a half minute
or so, he lowered his rifle. “OK. Melissa, it’s OK, they’re here to help.”
A muffled voice from inside the tent said “Are you sure?”
“Well, if they aren’t we’re toast anyway. C’mon out.” The zipper made it’s distinct sound
and a bedraggled woman came out, bundled in a bright ski jacket. She leaned back into
the tent and said “Andy, keep your sister warm. I’ll be right back.”
Standing up, her hair was a mess, her eyes red, her cheeks pale, and she was shivering.
Tony smile disarmingly, as did Will. “Ma’am,” said Will, with a nod.
She looked around nervously, “Hello. You’re here to help us?”
“Yes Ma’am. We’ve got blankets, food, and a medic to check you out. You have any hot
food?”
“No, we didn’t want to risk a fire.”
“We’ll take care of that,” Will again keyed his mike, “We’re secure, come on up.”
“OK” came the static filled reply. “I’ve asked the team to come up. We can cook up some
hot soup and check out the kids-how are they?”
“Cold and sick, Amy has a cold and their clothes are wet. We’re having a hard time
drying them out.”
”Well, we’ll do what we can.”
The team came up, carrying Tony and Wills packs. Sam smiles at the woman “Hello,”
she said, “can we help you?”
With Sams appearance the man and woman relaxed noticeably. The ISAF forces
wouldn’t have a young girl along.
Tony told the man, “This is Dave, he’s in charge. Dave, they have two kids…” he turned
with a questioning look at the man, who nodded, “who are cold and wet, one’s sick, and
they need dry clothes.”
“Thanks, Tony. Can you, Will, and Sam set up a quick perimeter? Put Claymores out,
and Will, watch the back trail with the 40, OK?”
“OK, Dave, I’m there,” said Will, rucking up. The German grenade launcher was
attached to the outside of his ALICE pack.
“Jim, get your kit and look at the kids, will you?” Dave looked back at the parents, “Jims
trained as a paramedic, he’s got some medicine and things that may help. Ma’am, can
you show him the kids?”
The woman nodded, “Of course. Right this way…”
Jim walked up and introduced himself to her “I’m Jim, and I only play a doctor on TV…”
Dave stuck out his hand, “Dave McGrath.”
The man took it “Pat Woolard.”
“Tell me what brings you here, Pat, and I’ll put some food on.”
“Well, I had this rifle I never turned in, and I told them I sold it, but they didn’t believe
me……..”
Dave prepped his Firefly stove as the man talked. He filled the pot with a can of chicken
noodle soup, which he remembered was a hit with Tony’s kids. When Pat finished, Dave
said “Well, Pat, you’ve done a good job of getting your family out. But the border is
more secure than before, so maybe we can help. We have a few resources available that I
think will speed you along.”
Jim came out of the tent. “How are they?” Dave asked.
“Cold and tired. I had them take off their wet clothes and put them in a sleeping bag.
Their Moms going to get in, too, and warm them up. Is the soup ready?”
“Almost.”
“Good. Sir, do you have cups or mugs for the kids?”
“Yeah, in the tent. And the names Pat.”
“Pat, I’m Jim. Your daughter has the beginnings of bronchitis. Her tonsils are huge and
her lungs are filling with fluid. I’d like to get her out ASAP before she gets pneumonia.”
“I’d like to get her out, too.”
“We’ll see what we can do,” said Dave.
After ensuring the kids each had as much soup as they could eat, Dave sent Jim out to
relieve Sam. In short order, she approached Dave. “What is it, boss?” and gave him a
mock salute. Dave knocked her hand down. “What are doing?” he said, his voice low but
firm, “Trying to attract snipers? Don’t do that.”
Sam looked chagrined. “Sorry, Dave, I…”
Dave smiled, “Just don’t do it again, huh?”
Sam looked slightly relieved, “OK, Dave.”
“I need you to get in touch with NHDF HQ and let them know we have four to evacuate.”
He pulled a laminated map out of his pocket, and then wrote some information down on a
small pad. He tore off the sheet and handed it to her. “This is our location, encode it. We
have two adults, two kids. We’ll need to know how they want them. And keep the
transmission brief, right?”
”Just like we practiced, Dave, no problemo,” said Sam, and she sent back to her pack and
started setting up her radio.
“Pat,” said Dave, “Your tent stands out pretty well here. Let’s do something about that. I
have this white poncho here…..”
After covering the tent, Dave told Pat he was going to check on his team. He put two cans
of soup on the stove in the largish stainless cook pot, and then sent them back one at a
time for a canteen cup of soup. It was cold in the hills in December.
He sat with Sam, who told him the message was received and that she was waiting for an
answer. She suggested putting out the solar charger for the extra battery, which Dave did.
On the back trail, Dave stood off the trail in a small stand of pine trees that stood about
five feet above the snow. Will had shown him the clacker to the claymore was, and where
the mine was aimed. He scanned the back trail with his pocket binos, the heat from his
body causing the lenses to condense. After ten minutes or so Will came back and relieved
him.
“Thanks, boss, that was a much needed boost to my core temperature.”
“You’re welcome,” Dave replied, “How are you doing?”
“Good, this is a great day to be outside. If you want to wait a minute, I want to put on my
snow pants.”
“Sure.”
A few minutes later Will came back wearing a pair of black skimobile pants. “It’s getting
colder. I think we’ll have snow tonight or tomorrow.”
“I hope so. It will slow up the ‘as if’ guys.”
Dave made his way back to the tent to talk to Jim.
“How are they?”
“Better. We put their clothes in the bag and they are drying out. The kids are warmer and
I gave the girl aspirin for her fever and cough suppressant for her cough. How are they
exfilling?”
“Waiting for word now. Could you check the team? Frostbite, feet, you know the drill.”
“You got it, cheifie,” came the reply. Jim secured his kit and went toward Tony’s position.
After an hour of waiting Sam got the message from the NHDF HQ team. Her gloved
hands quickly copied down the encoded Morse transmission. She translated and then
decoded it for Dave, having learned how to use the code book during the teams three
days of prep at the headquarters.
Dave read it and got his map back out. They were to meet a truck, codename ‘Pilgrim”, at
the side of the road three miles into occupied territory and a mile or more to their West.
He plotted a route. They had until 7 A.M. the next morning to get there, which gave them
over 14 hours. He decided to get moving before dark to try to put some distance between
them and the ISAF team to their North.
“Pat, Sam, could you come here a sec?”
The team was using the trail. The snow was fairly well broken by others who had passed
before. By the footprints they mostly civilians going North. Will led the way, backed up
by Tony. Dave was next, then the family, Melissa and Pat herding their wards, Sam and
Jim in the rear. The FRS radios the team had were indispensable for maintaining contact
with the front and rear elements of the team, as the point had a tendency to get far ahead,
and the children slowed the back half considerably. They marched for a few hours,
gaining about two miles map distance. Dave stopped them at a curve in the trial to check
his map.
“Point, there’s a side trail coming up, we want that.”
“Roger,” came the terse reply.
“Wait five and move out, do a short recon of the trail and report.”
Will broke squelch twice to indicate he understood.
Jim made sure the kids were still OK. He gave them some hard candy to cheer them up a
little, and returned to the rear of the column. After ten minutes or so in which the party
took time to attend to personal matters (the teams toilet paper was greeted warmly by the
family) they again headed out. Will made his report shortly thereafter.
“Looks clear, no traffic signs. Hard going.”
Dave broke squelch twice back at Will.
Reaching Will and Tony, they saw that the side trail led down a more exposed hillside,
and the snow had drifted in places to a depth of several feet. He could see where Tony
and Will had broken through on their recon. Again stopping the team, Dave had them put
on their snowshoes, a donation from a local bed and breakfast which had them for guests
to rent. Using ski poles, Dave, Will, and Tony took turns leading the party down the hill,
breaking a path for the family, which didn’t have snowshoes. Several falls later they
reached a more level and wooded area, and the going got easier, although it was
hampered by the lack of illumination. Only starlight guided them.
Tony looked back at Dave. “How much farther?”
“Not much. I want to closer to the RV point before stopping. We need to cross that road
we talked about and then we’re home free.”
Dave guided them to a stand of pines, walking well past them and then using a technique
called ‘fish hooking’ led them back to it via a different route. He put Will and Sam on a
small ambush to cover the back trail, in case they were followed, which with the snow
was a likely possibility.
“I want to check out the road ahead. Tony, you are in charge here while I’m gone. Will
and I are going, and we should be back in two hours or less. We’ll use the radios when
we come back. If you hear gunfire or if we tell you to move out, go back up the trail and
take the small spur trail we passed as far as you can. Find a place to lie up and radio HQ
to let them know the RV is compromised, and get new instructions. Any questions?”
“No.”
“OK. Will and Sam are on the back trail ambush, I’ll leave Sam. Relieve her in a half
hour or so. No fires, but keep the kids warm. And we’re not staying here, so don’t set up
camp,” he added for Pats benefit.
Leaving the way the entered, he briefed Sam and Will on what they were doing. Will and
Dave moved out, rejoining the path and following it for a half mile.
“We’ll drop our packs here and find a place to cross.”
Dropping the packs, they camo’ed them as best they could. They then moved out, Dave
in the lead. The path took them up to an open area. Stopping at the edge, it was apparent
that the local builders had been busy. Rows of houses lined the road, smoke coming from
many of the chimneys, and weak candle light peaked through curtains up and down the
road.
“Well, what now?” inquired Will.
“Let’s go back and go further that way,” he pointed left, “Looks like the houses end
closer that way.”
They went back and recovered their packs, and headed through the woods. It wasn’t as
easy as the path, as the myriad of small bushes and low tree branches grabbed at their
packs and snowshoes with every step. Arriving panting and scratched at another field,
they saw it was a glade in the wood, perhaps the remnants of an old field from a long
forgotten farm. They skirted the edge, Will turning every so often to cover the rear. At
the far end of the field they came to another path, this one a local one, probably used by
local people for walking. They again entered the woods, paralleling the path until they
reached the road. There were no houses in sight. Splitting up, they checked out the woods
to either side for a hundred yards or so, looking for a good place to cross, preferring not
to use the paths entrance. When they met at the path Will said “There’s a likely looking
pace back my way. Small stand of Laurel and cedar for cover not far from the road.”
“Good,” said Dave, “there’s nothing my way. Let’s get the rest of the guys.”
Carefully retracing their route they radioed the team when they felt they were close
enough. Sam answered, and she was instructed to bring the family and team down the
path. Getting the family up and moving took a good 15 minutes, so it was a half hour or
more before they met Will and Dave on the path.
Dave told Pat that they had a way to go, but that they should have a few hours to rest
before they were picked up. Pat nodded his understanding, which Dave barely made out
in the dark. Suddenly Will radioed “I hear something!” The team all stopped in their
tracks. “Quiet and don’t move!” hissed Tony to the family. Dave pulled the earpiece out
and listened. Sure enough, it sounded like a helicopter-or more than one-heading their
way. “Everyone against a tree! Pull your packs over yourselves! If the have thermal it
will help a little to hide us!” For few second the thing the team heard was there rustling of
packs and crunch of snow as everyone scrambled for concealment. Then all that could be
heard was the throbbing of heavy rotor blades as the birds drew near. Suddenly the
helicopters were over them and past, a formation of at least five helos, Dave knew them
to be Blackhawks by their sound. Soon the sound of the big helicopters faded. Everyone
breathed a sigh of relief as they got to their feet and rucked up.
The rest of their movement was uneventful. They crossed the road without incident, and
had to skirt a large platte on the other side. The came to spot not far from the RV point,
and Dave called a halt.
“We’ll stay here for now. We have 4 hours until we need to get ready, so I’d like the kids
to sleep. We can do a rotating shift for us, so set up two fartsacks, two hours on and off.
Will, Jim, take first watch. Set up a claymore on the back trail and one towards the road.
Will, hand off the 40 to your relief. Sam, can you and Tony help set up hooches for the
Woolards?”
Sam and Tony got their rucks and told the Woolards they would make them shelters.
First they chose a spot free from trees. Sam trampled down the snow while Tony snapped
two ponchos together, making a tube. They then laid that down, and bungee corded the
corners to nearby trees. Using the hood and a bungee, Tony lifted up the roof by securing
that to an overhead branch. They then used a ski pole to prop open one end. They used
Pats pack to block the other end. They then put down one of their space blankets on the
floor, and the Woolards two self inflating mattresses on that. They told Tony to put his
bags in their, feet to the open end, and to put Melissa pack at the end to block the wind.
They gave them two wool blankets that the NHDF had provided refugee teams, and these
went over the bags. It was low tech but effective. They left the family preparing to sleep,
and built one more using their sleeping bags. Tony deferred to Sam, and allowed her to
go in first. He set his bag up opposite Sams, his modesty amusing her.
Dave spent half the night asleep against his pack, the cold waking him every so often.
When he Awoke he checked on the security teams, and resumed his fitful sleep. At 5 AM
sharp he woke up the two sleeping militiamen and the Woolards. He prepped a pot of
water, heating it to make cocoa and coffee. After packing, everyone got a dose of hot
drink and moved out once again. Dave set up security at the spot Will had found. Tony,
Will, and Sam were covering their back trail. Dave took a few minutes to make the signal
at the roadside, and he and Jim were covering the flanks. The Woolards were in the
middle, about 70 feet from the road. At a few minutes to 7 they heard a truck engine
coming from their left flank. Dave tensed, his hands on the firing device for the claymore
he had put out. A Mayflower moving van slowed and came to a stop just past Dave. The
passenger got out of the truck and started kicking the tire and whistling the theme to
Gilligans Island. Dave whistled back with the Andy Griffith theme. The man turned to
the woods, and then looked left and right.
“The coast is clear, let’s hurry up!”
Dave signaled to Pat, who was watching him. “That’s your ride, get going!” Pat and
Melissa got the kids up and struggled with their packs. The man opened the side door on
the truck and boosted the kids up. Dave heard him tell Pat and Melissa to push the big
boxes up against the doors and to hide in the wooden crates. He shut the door, and
whistling again he got back in the truck without so much as a glance back at the woodline.
In moments the truck was gone in a cloud of diesel smoke.
Dave called to Jim on the radio and had him pull back. When he got the all set signal he
recovered his Claymore and went back to meet Jim at their packs. They then called the
rest of the team, who recovered their mines one at a time and rucked up. They headed
back The way they had come, and made camp in a thicket on the opposite side of the trail
from where they had spent the night.
They again made a small camp, sleeping bags and a low shelter for two. They crammed
three into the shelter for the first sleep shift, which made it a cozy tent. Tony and Will
stood first watch. At noon they awoke the sleepers. The guards ate a quick cold lunch
(Will had been carrying his MRE entrée in his shirt pocket, so his was at least lukewarm)
and racked out. Dave had Tony and Sam eat, and they all took turns cleaning their
weapons. They then cleaned Will and Tony’s rifles for them. As dusk approached they
woke the sleepers and made a quick hot drink apiece.
Just as they were finished stowing the stove, they heard the sound of voices. They all
froze. They were coming from their back trail. As they waited the voices got louder.
“This is so obviously a BS detail,” said one voice.
“Well, let’s get it done quick so we can go back and get warm. This cold sucks.”
“Yes it does,” agreed a third voice.
Dave suddenly remembered his Sten and pulled it from his pack. He pulled the bolt to the
rear and inserted a magazine. He made a motion to Jim, who passed it on around the team.
He made sure the selector was on auto and waited. Footsteps crunched on the crusty snow
as three American troops came up the path, following the snowshoe prints. All had M-
16A2’s, and one had a radio. The team stayed still as the men came to them, intent on the
tracks. As the men drew abreast of the team, Dave fired a short burst into the first man,
stitching him with three rounds in the torso. He quickly shifted to the middle guy and hit
him in the head with one round. The first man whirled and fired a three shot burst into the
path even as Dave ventilated him with another burst of 9mm.
“Will, Sam, strip the bodies. Jim, watch the path. Fifteen seconds,” commanded Dave,
letting them know that they would move in that time. “Tony, take point,” Dave saw Sam
remove the radio from the first man, “Get the radio from Sam and listen to it. Go!”
Sam was delicately stripping the dead man of his gear even as Will finished with the
second of his men. Dave ran up to her and said “Just grab it off him!” He reached under
and unbuckled the mans GI LBV, and pulled it off, the mans limp arms flopping as the
vest came off. “Take this and cover the rear,” said Dave as he passed the vest and rifle to
Sam. He then emptied the mans pockets, placing the contents down the front of his shirt.
Finishing, he called to Jim “Let’s go!” Jim and Sam got up and followed Dave and Will
up the trail, moving as fast as they could.
Dave called to Tony on the little radio “You get anything off that radio?”
“Yeah, their sending a team to investigate. They heard the shots and got frantic when the
guys didn’t answer.”
Dave thought fast. “Sam, Jim, give me your Claymores. Did the vest have any grenades?”
Sam and Will dropped the vest and went through the pockets quickly. “One each, Dave,
here,” and Will handed three frags to Dave. “Leave me one vest and go,” said Dave. Per
SOP they would go up the trail 300 hundred yards and wait for Dave and Will. They
knew what to do if Dave and Will didn’t come back in one hour. Dave said to Will
“Follow me,” and headed up the trail. At a bend they prepped one claymore, making a
tripwire with prepared material Will carried in his pack. They quickly tied the base to a
tree using two black zip ties that were attached to the base. Will strung the thin wire
across the path and tied it to another tree. Dave screwed the electrical blasting cap into
the mine, and connected it the 9 volt battery with the attached connector taken from a
child’s toy.
“Ready?” he asked Will.
“Yeah, let’s go,” replied Will, getting to his feet and going. Dave radioed ahead “We’re
coming, keep going.”
Click-click came a reply. The team met at the main trail.
“What now, Dave?”
“We go down the trail and try to move to another path. We’ll put up a few signs further
on saying this way is compromised. Hopefully that will work. And we’ll continue our
mission in our secondary area. Let’s move.”
As they headed up the trail they heard the echo as a pound and a half of C-4, behind a
matrix of 750 steel ball bearing detonated. They all hoped it was in the faces of ISAF
troops. As a special bonus, Will left five more tripwires, all attached to nothing, along the
way. If they were followed it would hopefully slow the pursuing troops.
Four days later the team was again at the NHDF headquarters. They had escorted a group
of fourteen people, three families, out of Massachusetts, catching a ride in the back of the
same moving van. They had learned that the moving man and his cousin, the co driver,
had another cousin in the Massachusetts National Guard who was commanding a border
checkpoint. He let them through without inspection every time, and enabled them to save
a number of people.
After a debriefing, they were shown shower rooms and given a chance to clean up. They
put on clean clothes and met in the main mess hall, where they hungrily ate a second
breakfast. Dave reported to them that the liaison had told them to keep the rifles they had
captured, as well as filling the pickup they had driven to the inn with supplies. Medicines,
ammo, more weapons. They gas tanks were full, and the motor pool staff had changed the
oil and filter, as well as repacking the front bearings with grease and lubing the chassis.
It was a quiet ride home. While they felt they had done some good, it seemed like a
wasted effort. Two of the seventeen teams had basically disappeared, three more were
shot up badly, and only four others had helped refugees. The others gathered some good
intel that would undoubtedly help the cause, but while they had been gone a German
recon team had been captured near their town by the remaining militia. Even as they sped
home a NHDF interrogation team was there questioning them.
Chapter 22 —Winter Doldrums
When the group approached town, Dave called the commo center at the police station
using the 10 meter HAM radio in Wills truck. They would let the guard posts on the main
roads know they were incoming friendlies. Also, Dave wanted a sitrep on the German
recon team they had captured. They were told, after a few minutes wait, to drop Dave off
at the police station. As Will was driving and the others were asleep, Dave asked that he
be dropped off first. Will quickly agreed, and in short order Dave was standing in the
foyer of the police station talking to a patrolman.
“They’ve got him in the isolation cell in the basement. Jim and the interrogation team
from the defense forces are there, along with Biatta McGillis, you know, Jacob McGillis’
wife? She’s from Germany, he married her when he was stationed there in the Air Force.
She’s listening to the interrogation to make sure nothing is missed.”
“OK, can you show me down there? I want to talk to Jim and see what the scoop is.”
“Sure, Dave, follow me.”
Dave followed the officer through the office areas and into a dark stairwell, where he
could hear the sounds of a vigorous questioning in progress. Dave thanked the officer,
who seemed to be in a hurry to leave, and entered the lit area. At the back of the room
was a cell, with two Flec camo dressed men in it. Both had their hands cuffed behind
their backs and were hooded. They were both seated on the floor and had their feet
secured to the bunk bed, which was made of steel and securely fastened to the floor, wall,
and ceiling of the cell. Another man was in a far corner, tied in the same manner, but he
was right next to a hot water heater, and guarded by a NHDF soldier armed with a pistol.
Dave raised an eyebrow at the man, who gave a grim smile and smacked the man on the
side of his head. “Otto was bad, weren’t you Otto?” Dave nodded. Very bad indeed, it
seemed.
Jim was with two other NHDF men, as was Doc, and a man Dave recognized from the
state meeting, the commander of the unit to their south. Dave stood back to observe.
Biatta was sitting to one side, listening as the man spewed a torrent of German into a
microphone held inches in front of his hooded face. When he slowed down the shorter
NHDF man would bark at him in his native tongue, and he would start talking with
renewed vigor. After a half hour of questioning they pulled up his mask and gave him
some water, which he drank greedily. Dave noticed bruises on the mans jaw, and idly
wondered where it came from. He didn’t really care if it was down here in the basement
or out in the woods, because, confronted with these EPW’s, he really didn’t care if they
lived or died. Nor did he care about the conditions under which they lived or died. That
was a revelation to him. He had killed a few of them and didn’t feel anything until it was
over. He still slept at night, although the guy he killed with the hammer still came to visit
periodically. But these guys, he’d just prefer to lock them in the cell and come get their
bones in the spring.
Jim walked over to him. “Heard about your mission. How’s the team?”
“Tired but satisfied, they did a good job out there.”
“Good. Sam work out ok?”
“Yes, in spite of my expectations, she did just fine. Actually, having her along helped
anyone know we weren’t an ‘as if’ patrol.”
“Well, we’ll have to see about recognizing her. Look, we’ve been questioning these guys
for almost two days. The ISAF are planning on launching raids into our territory, and
these guys are the pathfinders. I’d like you to take a copy of what they’ve told us so far
and go over it. Get a shower and some sleep, then come back here. I want to know what
you make of that material, and your ideas for how to counter the threat.”
“Sure, Jim, I can be back in four or five hours.”
“No, no earlier than eight, no later than ten. You look like crap. Did you sleep on the
patrol?”
Dave grinned, “Not much.”
Jim handed him some keys, “Take my truck.”
“Thanks,” said Dave, taking the keys as Jim turned back to the German, who was
weeping and talking in a low voice. Biatta talked to him in a soothing voice. Bet he just
spilled the beans on something big, thought Dave. Good.
Dave drove home, greeted his wife and sons, and took a shower. After reading the papers
Jim had given him, he took some notes, and spent ten minutes or so with his sons. When
he slept, he crashed hard. His wife woke him eight hours later with a cup of coffee, and
ten minutes after that, Dave was on his way to the police station with a couple of
sandwiches to keep the coffee company.
He mulled the papers over in his head as he drove. The ISAF were planning on launching
lightning raids into free territory to take out the militia infrastructure, disrupt municipal
services, and then get out quickly. That meant either heliborne or parachute insertions,
and probably helicopter exfil. Specifically the German pathfinder teams were looking for
LZ’s big enough for five Blackhawks or DZ’s big enough for a C-130 to drop it’s whole
load of men in one pass. Dave knew that was pretty big, especially for the 130. They
might better off looking for two or three smaller ones…..better consider that as a
contingency. They’d need LZ watchers and a QRF, or quick reaction force, to respond.
Trackers? Have to see who had hunting or tracking dogs. Need commo for the trail
watchers, banging sticks together like the VC was too-primitive? Well, it wouldn’t be
effective, in any regard.
When Dave got to the station Jim was standing outside talking to the chief. When he saw
Dave he said goodbye and headed over to the trucks passenger door and opened it.
“Wanna drive me home? We got some planning to do.”
“What’s up?”
“Well, one of the guys broke and told us everything. Their codes, freqs, the whole nine
yards. We have to think about how to use it to our advantage.”
“You mean bait and ambush?”
“Yeah.”
“The possibilities are endless.”
Jim grinned maliciously, “Indeed they are. We’re gonna kick some ass on this one. Or get
ours handed to us.”
Several hours later the meeting ended. They had been joined by other group leaders in
their area, as well as Kirk and his XO Rich from the Ice Spring Militia.
“OK, we’ll finalize the OPORD and have it delivered to you tomorrow. Just to run down,
we’re going to prepare an ambush site and have our German quisling call in the troops.
When they land we either destroy or capture them. I’ll need a list of what weapons you
can supply. We want as many large caliber rifles as we can get-if they use helicopters we
want .308's and higher. Any other stuff, machineguns, .50 caliber rifles, whatever, let us
know. Radio us using the codes, let us know how to prepare. We may hit it big on this
one, people.” Jim sat back as the assembled group gathered their papers. They had the
water cooled Maxim, two Browning 1919A4 .30’s, two MG-3’s, and a shitload of FAL’s,
M-1’s, and G-3 clones. Hopefully the “as if” forces wouldn’t prep the LZ/DZ with an air
strike first.
They wound up establishing three LZ’s, just in case. The primary, which got an MG-3
and a Maxim, and two alternates, one of which had the two Brownings, the other had the
second MG-3 and two H&K 91’s that were select fire. These were bipod mounted and the
rifleman who owned them were trained to alternate fires, that is “talk” the guns, one
firing then the other in turn. This was of limited utility, due to the 20 round magazine
capacity of the rifles, but it could still generate a large volume of fire. Jim put most of his
men on the primary, as it was their town that was targeted for the recon. Ice Spring had
one, and provided men to the third, which was mostly staffed by men from the adjoining
town to the East. The remainder of militia were assembled at a local warehouse, where
they would act as a quick reaction force if one or more of the teams were to encounter
more than they could handle, or if the ambushes were unsuccessful. If the mission was
compromised by the German who squealed, they did run the chance of being ambushed
themselves, but both Biatta and the NHDF interpreter seemed confident of his sincerity.
Two hard days and one night of preparation were on order before the ambush was
executed. The primary LZ was an elliptical clearing in the woods about five miles from
town and at least one mile from the nearest occupied dwelling. About 200 yards long and
75 wide, the southern approach was an opening between two small hills, but a large hill
loomed at the north end. The built a machinegun emplacement at the base of each
southern hill. Their mission was to either sweep the field with grazing fire if parachutists
landed, or fire at landing helicopters. If the ISAF landed in multiple helicopters the guns
were set to sweep the woodline east and west, and traverse into the LZ. On the northern
hill, east and west of the LZ, there were four emplacements, each with two men armed
with M-1 rifles and all the .30-06 armor piercing ammo in town. They were positioned
out of the line of fire of the MG’s, and were assigned with targeting the cockpits of any
helo’s that landed, or to pick off men on the ground. The west side of the potential LZ
was staffed with a motley group, men with heavy rifles-FALs, H&K’s, CETME’s, M-
1A’s. A few men had bolt action hunting rifles and small caliber assault rifles for backup.
They also had secondary positions about 70 yards behind their primary positions. If the
landing took root they would fall back in twos to the secondaries and try to hold the
attackers for the QRF. All told there were nearly 40 men and women in the primary LZ’s
ambush team, and another 10 in immediate support, including three snowmobiles pulling
sleds for evacuating casualties.
They built small fighting positions in the woods, digging through the frozen ground one
painful pick axe swing at a time. All the dirt was carefully carted away. Each position had
to be provide room for two men to live in for several days. The wise ones brought plastic
buckets for latrine use. A light snow the night after they completed work was a welcome
cover for evidence of their labors. Three cold, boring days and nights of waiting took
their toll on the men and women. Usually they would switch off sleeping and standing
watch, trying to keep activity to a minimum. The first nights expected landing was
cancelled due to the snow. Oddly, the storm was hitting the south harder than usual, and
even though snow was falling lightly in New Hampshire, Massachusetts was
experiencing almost white out conditions. The second night the planned landing was
cancelled because one of the Hueys the Germans were using experienced engine trouble
thanks to a sympathetic American mechanic, and the platoon aborted. The third night the
German quisling reported that the mission was a “go” about twenty five minutes before
they were to land. Word on the LZ was quickly spread. Jim was with the west side assault
team while Dave was with the Maxim crew on the south east. The man who had inherited
the Maxim was an enthusiastic machine gunner but had no formal training; Dave was
there to provide leadership if needed.
The throbbing of the rotor blades were masked by terrain until the CH-47 was almost on
top of them, then the sound of it’s two huge engines and enormous blades left room for
no other sound. The radio crackled “Wait for it…” said Jim. Dave’s Maxim was to
initiate fire. The dark shape of the helicopter stood out against the starlit field as it flared
for landing. As the bird settled it threw up a cloud of snow that totally obscured all sight
of it. Dave gave it half a heartbeat and heard the pitch of the blades change ever so
slightly as the rotors were relieved of most of their burden. He tapped Roger, the gunner,
on the leg. Roger lifted the trigger bars with his forefingers and pressed the trigger with
his thumbs. The Devil’s Paintbrush went to work, less than 300 miles from where Hiram
Maxim, it’s designer, had fired his first shots well over 100 years ago. The gun never ran
better.
Dave knelt next to Roger and watched as he adjusted his fire to pour into the back ramp
of the shithook. He shouldered his L1A1 and began firing at where he thought the
engines were. In the dark it was more area then point firing, but he managed about half a
mag before the bird took off again, limping into the hillside and exploding to the cheers
of the militia. On the LZ a few figures moved, and the Maxim and MG-3 swept the field
with grazing fire for another few seconds. Individual rifle shots rang out even as first Jim
and then Dave blew their whistles indicating cease fire. As the fire stopped ten men in
five two man teams moved over the LZ. The pyre of Boeing and German carcasses
provided more than enough light for them to sweep the LZ for gear, prisoners, and
intelligence material. It took all of two minutes for them to clear the field.
“Pick up what you need and take off,” Dave ordered the Maxim crew.
“You got it,” came the reply.
The rest of the winter was uneventful. With the onslaught of a fierce New England winter
snow and cold kept most of the ISAF forces in the south, dealing with the repeated acts of
sabotage in supposedly “secure” areas. While the free states to the north were a thorn in
their side, the many acts carried out against them in their own back yard were more of a
concern. The militias all throughout New Hampshire carried out patrols but saw nothing
except for the rare ISAF aircraft flying well out of small arms range.
Nationally, the United Nations had the ear of President Billary, and she was a faithful
follower of their advice. She declared universal health care for all people within the
borders of the United States, outlawed homeschooling and secular schools, and granted
citizenship to anyone living or working in the US for a period of 12 months or more,
regardless of their immigration status. The in New England Maine and New Hampshire
remained unoccupied. Georgia from 50 miles inland and outside of Atlanta, and most of
North Carolina and South Carolina outside of the metropolitan areas were essentially
independent, as were Tennessee, Kentucky, and most of the south. Washington was free
east of the Cascades, and Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, and North Dakota had no living
ISAF troops in state. In most other states the ISAF only controlled the cities. America
was just too big to occupy at once. Besides, there were patriots in every small town ready
to take pot shots at the ISAF forces.
The elected leaders of the free states met in a convention in Casper in January. The
declaration they came up with and that was eventually approved by the voters in each
state simply reiterated the sentiments of the Declaration of Independence- that the only
legitimate purpose of government was to protect the rights of its citizens. It also
reaffirmed the sentiments of the United States Constitution-and specifically stated that a
limited federal government was all that was needed to protect the rights of Americans. It
also stated the Bill of Rights in plain, modern language, and reaffirmed the Ninth and
Tenth Amendments thereof. It requested that all foreign powers remove themselves from
US soil and immediately ceasing all offensive actions against Americans would allow
them a ceasefire under which to leave. The conference also called for a Continental
Congress, named in deference, of course, to the first one, to which each state would send
a body of representatives. Their purpose would be to present a unified front for the
reestablishment of their rights by Washington. By the time they met they were NOT in
the mood for compromise.
All across America things were happening. A number of military units just disappeared
from their posts, in groups of two and three hundred, stripping all useful equipment from
their bases as they left. Air Force bases emptied of planes and trucks, pilots and support
personnel. A Navy Roll on/roll off, or Ro-ro ship, part of the maritime supply fleet,
docked in Maine, loaded with enough equipment, food, ammo, and vehicles for a Marine
amphibious expeditionary brigade for 30 days of combat. The crew was almost
unanimously pro freedom, and decided to do their part. The ship was unloaded as quickly
as could be arranged, which was fortunate, as it was destroyed and sunk at the dock late
one night by an air attack using laser guided munitions. While the New Hampshire news
reported that all equipment was lost, the tanks, Humvees, and cannons were being
prepped and crews were being trained deep in the mountains of New England.