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  “Well should we all head over to the chow hall Chief?”

  “Yes Sir.”

  “Why don’t you dismiss the men and we can all walk over there together.” said the General.

  “Yes Sir!” replied the Chief. The Chief did an about face, “Dismissed!” he shouted.

  With that the General and Sergeant Major led the men over to the mess hall to eat. There wasn’t anyone in it at this time of the morning on a Sunday; it was everyone’s day off. The mess staff was used to seeing the General and Sergeant Major eating here. They liked being with the Troops whenever possible. Everyone gathered their food and sat down at one of the larger tables that could seat everyone.

  Once everyone was seated and eating the General turned to the Captain, “Well Captain what’s the game?”

  Captain Stevens and Chief Engel went on to explain the mission and what was going on at Camp Parks. The General and Sergeant Major had a lot of questions and it took time to answer them all. He was quite impressed by what had been accomplished in Dublin and Camp Parks. The General explained that they didn’t have a lot of civilians from any of the areas come out this way from the coast. Certainly some people came out from Barstow but were turned around when they realized that the Army didn’t have any more than they did.

  They were isolated militarily so they didn’t lose many troops and they had a water supply with the rivers being so close. Right now they had plenty of fuel but like Camp Parks they had gathered up what they could from the area and were also predicted to run out in about six months or so. They up to now had no plan but this sort of fell into their lap.

  “Who’s the Commander at Camp Parks?” asked the General.

  “Colonel Clayton Sir.” said Captain Stevens.

  “John Clayton?” asked the General.

  “Yes Sir.”

  Major General Watkins thought for a moment, “When are you returning to Camp Parks and can I hitch a ride?”

  “Sir?” Captain Stevens was taken aback, “Well Sir we have to refuel with what we brought with us and that shouldn’t take too long, we could leave in a couple of hours.”

  “Great let’s make that happen then.” said the General. “Sergeant Major please get in touch with the 11 ACR Regimental Commander and have him join me at Bicycle Lake for a trip to see Colonel Clayton. You have room for one more?”

  “Yes Sir we do.”

  “Well let’s get moving then looks like it’s going to be a busy morning.” said General Watkins.

  With that Sergeant Major Calhoun took off to find the 11 ACR Commander, Captain Stevens and his men headed back to Bicycle Lake on foot and the General went to get himself ready to leave. They all agreed that they would be ready to leave NLT 1100 and meet at Operations at the Lake then.

  By 1100 the General with Colonel Boxer, the Commander of 11 ACR, were at the Lake loading into the Cessna. It had been awhile since either man had set foot in an airplane seemed like that by itself brought back some normalcy to the entire situation. After everyone was loaded they moved towards the runway and took off, since there was no one in the tower there was no one to contact. It would be an easier flight back for the pilots they could follow the road. In fact the General insisted on it, he said he wanted to follow it to see if it was clear or not, if there were any obstacles that might prevent them from moving down it, any gangs running rampant over it that they may have to deal with.

  It certainly looked like the General was planning something, but that was the entire point wasn’t it. They got back to the airport near Camp Parks in forty minutes with a nice tail wind; Captain Stevens thought that Colonel Clayton was certainly going to be surprised; they returned with a Major General, he thought well it should certainly liven things up around here.

  Once on the ground the General and Colonel took notice of the other planes and yes he was told they all ran, his first thought was could he get one and with a pilot. Captain Stevens ordered the team back to the team room, clean and turn weapons in. Then he walked the General and Colonel over to operations where they were able to call, yes call, the Colonel and let him know there was a Major General Watkins and Colonel Boxer from Fort Irwin here to see him. Colonel Clayton at first was stunned, “A what?”

  “A Major General Sir, what would you like for me to do?” asked Captain Stevens.

  “Please escort them to my office Captain and you better not be screwing with me! I’m sending a car it should be there in ten.”

  “See you in a few Sir.” with that Captain Stevens hung up. “General, Colonel Clayton is sending a car it should be here in ten minutes, you and the Colonel can wait in the lounge if you like.”

  “You have a lounge?” the General said.

  Captain Steven’s smiled, “Yes Sir and you can grab a cup of coffee there too if you like.”

  “You have a lounge and coffee and y’all are asking for my help?” the General shook his head.

  The car arrived within ten minutes and they headed to Camp Parks HQ, it was a short drive but even on a Sunday the Camp was bustling. Families every place, they passed the youth soccer fields which was packed with kids and their parents. He noticed people riding bikes, jogging, all sorts of stuff. He wondered why they hadn’t implemented any of this at Fort Irwin they certainly had the means it just no one ever took the lead on it, he would definitely move to implement more family activities when he got back.

  Colonel Clayton met the General out front, he came to attention and saluted, and the General stepped out of the vehicle and casually returned the salute. Colonel Clayton moved down the stairs and shook the hand of the General and Colonel Boxer. “Welcome to Camp Parks Sir.” said Colonel Clayton.

  “Likewise Colonel your reputation precedes you.” responded General Watkins.

  “Sir I’m not sure I understand.” Colonel Clayton was confused.

  “Never mind Colonel, let’s move on in and have a chat.”

  “Yes Sir.”

  Colonel Clayton escorted General Watkins and Colonel Boxer into the main conference room. In here was Colonel Claytons XO Lieutenant Colonel March and Sergeant Major Aleho. Introductions were made all around; Colonel Clayton had his orderly bring in some coffee and pastries.

  “I’m sorry General,” Colonel Clayton said. “When I sent out my A-Team I never envisioned them hooking a Major General.”

  The General laughed, “Well I was surprised myself, but I’m the one who invited myself and Colonel Boxer here to come back with your team. Captain Stevens was kind enough to explain to me the situation and why they were there. I figured it was best to hear it from the horse’s mouth.”

  “I’ll be God damned!” said Anzio Dognillo who had walked into the conference room, “slap my ass and teach me to walk backwards you old son-of-a-bitch!” He walked up and shook the Generals hand. “Damn good to see you General.”

  Colonel Claytons face went sheet white at how Dognillo just addressed the General. The General who was caught by surprise too looked at the ex-Sergeant Major, “Well I’ll be, I thought when they were done scrapping your ass off the sidewalk they tossed your ugly ass in the stockade.”

  Both men stood there face-to-face for a moment then broke out laughing, “It’s great to see you Sergeant Major it’s been a long time.” said General Watkins.

  “You too Sir I’m happy to see you too, what it’s been seven, eight years since Afghanistan?”

  “Yeah something like that, are you part of the crew here?”

  “Yes Sir, I’m assuming the rat bastard over there has already introduced himself?” pointing over to Colonel Clayton.

  “Why yes Sergeant Major he has, he looks just like you described him. He was just going to explain to us what the hell is going on. Are you joining us?”

  “Yes Sir wouldn’t miss it for the world!” Dognillio took a chair and sat down.

  “Fine can we get on with it now?” the question was directed at Dognillo by Colonel Clayton. “Sir where would you like for me to start?”

  “Wel
l Colonel how much do you know overall about what happened when the lights went out?” said General Watkins.

  “I’m afraid not much Sir, we’ve been operating under the impression there was an EMP event but we have no idea which type. We’ve had refugees here from Nevada, Southern California, Oregon and a few other places, the stories the same every place but no one knows what happened.”

  “Us to Colonel we suspect an EMP event as well, maybe Solar because I would’ve hoped that if it was nuclear I would have gotten some notice from command of a launch. But, it doesn’t mean it still couldn’t have been nuclear.”

  “Sir we didn’t feel it necessary to find out what happened, whatever it was happened and we felt we needed to deal with the situation on the ground we were now in.” said Colonel Clayton.

  “Agreed Colonel proceed.”

  “Sir we were at the start of our yearly drill with the event hit, so just about everyone was at Camp Parks. The event hit as everyone was deploying to the field they didn’t make it far, we towed all of the vehicles in and regrouped and redeployed to secure the Camp.”

  “Smart move Colonel, so let’s jump ahead a bit, with my short drive over I’m very impressed it looks like almost nothing happened here. Kids playing soccer and their parents yelling at them, you know youth sports. I see some telecommunications, radios, cars, planes and that’s just what I saw in ten minutes.”

  Colonel Clayton smiled, “Yes Sir the working rotary phones we just got working but that’s a very recent development. When the event hit I had them run WD1 with TA312’s all over post, I don’t know if your aware Sir but for years the Special Operations Command has had all Special Warfare Commands prepping for EMP. We were required to have faraday cages, faraday boxes and bags. About ten years ago they had a large underground complex built under Camp Parks that was supposed to be able to survive a nuclear direct hit and they stocked it with everything imaginable. In the faraday cages we had all of our electronics, to be fair Sir it’s nothing special I did; it was what was required of the 19th by SOC.”

  “I had heard they were doing that but I also heard a lot of people at the Pentagon thought they were crazy for wasting time and money on it. Guess who’s laughing now. What about everything else?”

  “Well Sir within the first week I was sending out squad’s and teams into the civilian community to see what was going on.”

  “No Colonel how did you get everyone to stay?” asked the General.

  “Oh that, on the first day we decided that if they lived within fifty miles and wanted their families here we could accommodate that, outside of fifty miles we would take them out that far and drop them off. If they had a running POV they could take that and we would try to help out with fuel. It worked as long as their families were close their good with that, not to mention the security we could provide. Most of the Soldiers were single and had decided to remain so that helped a lot.”

  “The planes?” asked Colonel Boxer.

  “I sent out a couple of squads with pilots to the local airports, the pilots I had here told me that the smaller planes were all engine, granted the electronics may not work, but it didn’t mean they couldn’t be started and flown. We found some and brought them back to the airfield you came in on.”

  “Have one I can use?” smiled the General.

  “Ummm Sir you’re the ranking officer it’s not really up to me anymore as far as I know.” said Colonel Clayton.

  Major General Watkins hadn’t even considered that and it’s not why he came out here, “It’s true Colonel I’m the senior officer but this is your command. I didn’t come out here to flex the stars it didn’t even occur to me.”

  “Sir we are still the US Military correct?” asked Sergeant Major Aleho.

  “Well yes I see your point Sergeant Major, but let’s talk about force structure later on.” said the General who was feeling uncomfortable; he didn’t want anyone thinking he came out here to take over. “Gentlemen I’m not out here to take over; Fort Irwin within the next several months will have the same fuel problems you will, I’m here to help solve that, let’s solve one issue at a time.”

  Colonel Clayton smiling, “Are those your orders Sir?”

  “You just don’t give up do you Colonel; fine yes those are my orders.”

  “Well now that we have the chain of command sorted out,” said Colonel Clayton. “Yes Sir we have a plane you can use and pilot. Sir this may sound stupid but should we cut TDY orders for the pilot? He’s an active duty Air Force pilot.”

  The General had to laugh at all of this, probably the first TDY orders in a post-apocalyptic world, the General thought for a moment, “Look I think I have just found myself in-charge of a rather large force that I hadn’t intended on, this wasn’t my plan Colonel. But we are the US Military and we will follow US Military protocols so yes TDY orders would be inline, anything else? Can we get on with the rest of the meeting?”

  Colonel Clayton was still smiling, “And you can knock off that shit eating grin off your face to Colonel unless you want to be private Clayton.” said the General.

  “Yes Sir, Dog can you take care of the pilot and TDY orders?” asked Colonel Clayton.

  “Color it done I will get right no it.”

  Over the next several hours they discussed all of the issue plaguing the Fort and Camp, the biggest issue by far was the looming loss of fuel if they couldn’t replace it. The only way to replace it was to secure the refineries in the Bay Area. Lieutenant Colonel March had pulled out the maps and showed where each refinery was, how much oil and fuel it held, how much they could get if they got it up and running, that was a big ‘if’, the gang or militia that was controlling it and other pertinent information. Again the General was impressed with all of the Intel the A-Teams had done a great job at gathering it and the MI Battalion had done a wonderful job of putting it altogether so it meant something.

  They then moved to discussing the military logistics such as recruitment and training of new people, fortunately or unfortunately depending on how you looked at it, there were plenty of volunteers to choose from. Most people wanted some form of security these days; they also felt that if they were going to die they wanted to have at least a fighting chance. It was obvious to the General why Colonel Clayton reached out to Fort Irwin, 11 ACR was there with that they were sure to secure anything they wanted to, but the 800 pound gorilla in the room was how to get them to Camp Parks (and back to Fort Irwin) without a long road march which may not be a bad thing either. It would allow them to secure the roadways between Fort Irwin and the Bay Area, perhaps even Central California.

  “Colonel March outside of the obvious road march, a very long one at that, has any thought been given on how to move such a large organization as the 11th ACR?” asked Colonel Boxer.

  “Steam locomotives.” Colonel March let that float and sit there for a few. “We recruited locomotive engineers from around Pleasanton and in Durbin. Those Engineers were able to scrounge two large steam locomotives which are on the tracks in Pleasanton now and ready to go. For the last couple of weeks they have also been making sure the tracks are clear and the switches that we would need to use work properly. As you pointed out General not a lot of people heading out to the Deserts.

  “Will they be powerful enough to pull the equipment we need to move?” asked Colonel Boxer.

  “Yes Sir, during World War Two Steam Locomotives was what was used to move equipment all over the world. We have the flatbeds and I assume the railhead at Fort Irwin will have everything else we need to secure them to the flatbeds?”

  “That we do. Sounds like it could work General.” Colonel Boxer looking at General Watkins.

  The General nodded, “We could also use it as a means of general transportation between the two sites for troop rotation and training.” the General added.

  “Yes Sir I hadn’t considered that but yes we could.” replied Colonel March.

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

  “Sir we could be there in three days.”

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

  “Yes Sir we’re on it.”

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

  “Yes Sir, of course.”

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

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

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

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

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

  Chapter Thirty

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

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

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