Islamic States of America (Soldier Up Book 2) Read online

  That was the radio they had used to contact Camp Parks with but it was in bad shape to begin with. It was one of the Soldiers in 11th Signal, he had brought it in to his company area where they had set it up. The Company commander had brought the radio up to his commander and he ran it up the chain-of-command to the General. They were ecstatic to have it yet it was short lived it was old and unreliable but were able to reach out for a short time.

  “Well Colonel I have three right now that work and I would like to give to you. Sort of figured you could use them more than I could, that includes antennas, hand cranked generators, and I can train y’all how to use and repair them.”

  The Colonel was thinking of the possibilities with three working radios that could reach almost any place in the world given the right conditions and power, “Thank you Mr. Isa I’ll take them. Where can we pick them up?”

  “I’ve got them right with me in the back of my old van there.” Darrel pointed to an old beat up VW Van that looked ancient but they were reliable.

  “Sergeant, give Mr. Isa a day pass for the post.” The Colonel said to the MP. “Mr. Isa once he has you squared away you can follow me back to my headquarters building.”

  “That’d be mighty fine Colonel.” said Darrel.

  Darrel got the pass from the MP loaded up into his van and crossed onto the post and followed the Colonel in his Humvee. It only took minutes to reach the 11th Signal Brigade’s headquarters both men parked the vehicles, Colonel Braxton walked over to Darrel and told him he would have a few Soldiers with him in a few minutes to help him with his gear.

  “Colonel Sir,” Darrel said. “It’d be better if you found at least one place I could set up one of the rigs now I’d like to get in up as soon as possible.”

  “Well Mr. Isa as I understand it you’re going to need a lot of room for that antenna correct?” asked Colonel Braxton.

  “Yup, but I should be able to get in installed within a couple of hours.” replied Darrel.

  Colonel Braxton was skeptical that he could really get one of those antennas installed on his own, “Mr. Isa give me about 15 minutes and we will find a place for you to set up and get you all of the help you need.”

  “Alright alright Colonel I guess I can do that.”

  The Colonel headed into the building and his office and quickly made some calls, via the landlines that only worked on post. He called over to MARS or Military Auxiliary Radio System to see if anyone was even there anymore…it had occurred to him that no one had even bothered to check in with them since the event. They figured that if they were up and running they would have heard from them. A second thought occurred to him was did they even run the new phone lines out to the MARS station? It looked like it was going to take a drive out to it to find out, he contacted one of the Battalions and asked them to send over four radio operators one from each company with orders to report now.

  Another ten minutes passed as Darrel waited but he now found himself waiting with four Soldiers who told him they were ordered to wait with him until the Colonel had vehicles brought around. The Colonel walked out of the building heading towards them, he was with the Sergeant Major, Sergeant Major Lawrence Walker. The Colonel explained they were waiting for another Humvee to come from the motor pool and they would all be heading over to the MARS to see what’s up over there. He didn’t feel it was necessary to let the Soldiers know what was going on until they determined whether or not they could actually get the radios up and running.

  The Humvee arrived and the Soldier’s loaded in, the Colonel instructed Darrel to fall in behind the last Humvee, Darrel shrugged and did what he was asked to do, it’s not like he had anything else to do that day anyway.

  Like many things on the Fort the MARS station wasn’t far as they pulled up they saw a couple of older vehicles parked which the Colonel and Sergeant Major thought unusual. Regardless everyone got out of their respective vehicles and approached the vehicle. Darrel recognized what it was from the moment he saw it and as a shortwave enthusiast he was excited he knew what the MARS stations were but had never been too one. He thought it unlikely their radios still worked as they were filled with modern transistors and possibly even some solid state components, he radios were all tube.

  The question in Darrel’s mind was their antennae still any good and if they had any other viable electrical power source, he assumed they must the entire purpose of the MARs stations were to act as a national backup for communications in the event of a national disaster. They were about to find out, the Colonel attempted to open the door but found it was locked. The Sergeant Major ordered the Soldiers to check out the area around the building to determine if there might another way in. The Colonel knocked on the door and got no response, he then banged hard on the door and still no response.

  It didn’t take long for the Soldiers to return and tell the Sergeant Major they didn’t see another way in. One of the Soldiers said they could tie off a chain on the door handle and see if they could pull the door open with one of the Humvees oddly enough the Colonel considered it for a brief moment then told him although it was a good idea he didn’t want to destroy the building just now. The Sergeant Major went over and looked over the door to get in, he started to kick hard against it, yelling “Dammit open the door right now or I’m going to blow it open!”

  After yelling and kicking at the door a few more times it slowly cracked open Chief Operator Samuel Esperanza stuck his head out, looking about scared, “What?” was all he said.

  The Sergeant Major looked at him, “Open that damned door or I’m going to yank you out by your ears! You’re on a damned US Army installation and will still abide by our orders.”

  Samuel eyes widened as he saw the Sergeant Major moving towards him, “Ok ok,” Samuel said and he opened the door. “What do you want?”

  Colonel Braxton stepped forward, “Who’s in charge of the station here?”

  “I am,” said Samuel. “I’m the Chief operator.”

  “Whatcha operating?” asked the Sergeant Major.

  Samuel looked at everyone, “Well – nothing now nothings working.”

  “Let us the fuck in now.” Ordered the Sergeant Major as he bullied his way through the door and found two more men standing there and they looked scared. “Who the hell are you?” asked the Sergeant Major.

  The two men looked at each other and then Samuel, Samuel responded, “There both operators, that’s Jed Alexander and the other is Wilson Nagski.”

  The Sergeant Major looked at Samuel with fire in his eyes, “What they can’t fucking speak for themselves?”

  “Well-Well of course they can I just thought –“said Samuel.

  “Alright enough,” said the Colonel. “Samuel, Mr. Isa here says he has three radios that work we want at least one up and running now!”

  “Sir,” said the Sergeant Major. “How the fuck do we know these three really worked here for all we know there vagrants who broke in here.”

  “No, no,” said Samuel. “My office is over here I can show you my license as well as the others and we have photo identification.”

  “Get it now before I put my boot up your ass!” screamed the Sergeant Major, Colonel Braxton was shaking his head and smiling, “You better do what he asks Samuel the Sergeant Major has a pretty big boot and it could be painful.”

  Samuel hurried off and went into the office closest to them he returned quickly with all of the licenses and pictures and gave them to the Sergeant Major who quickly looked them over and handed them over to the Colonel, who then looked them over and handed them to Darrel. Darrel looked them over, “They look square to me Colonel if that’s what you want to know.”

  Samuel asked, “Colonel you said something about three radios, shortwave?”

  The Colonel looked over at Darrel, “You’re up Mr. Isa.”

  Darrel stepped up, “I have three radio sets that I have been using for the past few years they have no solid state older transistors but mostly tube, they work great.”


  Samuel asked, “Tube, yes tube should work when can we get them?”

  “Now, they’re in my van but how’s your antenna?” asked Darrel.

  “We were down for maintenance when the event hit everything was disconnected from it so it we think it should be ok. But we have no power our generator won’t start.” said Samuel.

  “I have hand cranked power generators just takes muscle which I’m too old to do these days.”

  The Colonel stepped in, “If the radios work I can supply a generator to get you on the air let’s see if we can get them to work. We have Soldiers who can work the hand powered generator for now.”

  “Colonel if we can get your men to help me get everything out of my van that would be great.”

  Colonel Braxton ordered the Soldiers to bring in everything from the van and to be especially careful of the radios. The Sergeant Major was a bit blunter telling the Soldiers if they fucked up a radio he was going to personally beat the hell out of them.

  As the Soldiers brought in the equipment Darrel, Samuel and the two other civilian operators started to put one of the sets altogether and get it connected up to the antenna, it took about an hour to get it all set up. One of the Soldiers volunteered to start off on the hand cranking of power generator, as soon as they had enough power Darrel and Samuel switched everything on and the radio came to life with a lot of static. This by itself was cause for celebration; they then started to tune the radio into the national emergency frequencies calling, “Any station this net, any station this net, over.”

  This did this a few times before they finally got a hit! “This is Alpha Tango six eight niner I hear you Lima Charlie.”

  “Alpha Tango six eight niner this is Brave Hotel Echo two three, this is the MARS station at Fort Huachuca Arizona, US Army and you are?” said Samuel knowing it’s not necessarily the correct radio procedure but he didn’t want to set off the Sergeant Major again.

  “Hey there Bravo this is Hot Charlie out of Lincoln Nebraska, what’s this about the US Army?”

  Everyone in the MARS station was stunned they were now talking to the outside world the possibilities were incredible. Colonel Braxton turned to the Sergeant Major, “Get a generator set up here now no bullshit Sergeant Major I want it running 24/7 for now on. I want a platoon trained on all of this yesterday. I want guards on this station too; we got a lot of work to do.”

  “Yes Sir, I’m on it!” with that the Sergeant Major took off.

  The Colonel turned to address everyone else in the room, “Before we proceed any further y’all need to keep in mind OPSEC or operational security be careful how much information you give out. Tell hot Charlie that the US Army is alive and well and to put the word out!”

  “Hot Charlie this is MARS station Fort Huachuca put the word out that the United States Army is alive and well. We are working on getting everything back in order; put the word out Charlie put the word out!”

  “Hot damn! That’s good to hear Fort Huachuca people are gonna love to hear it I’ll get it out now!”

  “Roger that hot Charlie we are signing off for now talk to you soon, out.”

  “Ok Fort Huachuca look forward to hearing from you soon, out here too!”

  With that they powered down the radio the Soldier stopped cranking the generator, everyone sat in silence wondering what the hell really happened and what happens next.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Steven Tuma was becoming increasingly agitated with the Sultans orders and expectations. It seemed that the Sultan was becoming more and more tolerant of the infidels as they moved into new areas, he was even considering letting them practice their own religion within the boundaries of the Caliphate. With of course the primary religion as Islam and they were still be governed by Sharia Law. This was blasphemous to Steven there was no room in his ideology for any other religion it was either Islam or nothing and if nothing it meant death.

  The battle for Toronto exposed great divides between the Sultan and his Military Commander who wanted to kill everyone in the city who wouldn’t convert to Islam. He wanted public beheadings to show the consequences of not converting. However, as the Sultan pointed out if they killed them all who would he use as his shock troops to storm a town or city defenders, he pointed out that it was the non-believers he was using to do that and they were taking tremendous losses there.

  Steven was starting to believe that they no longer needed those troops that Allah would provide and guard them now he was on their side. The Sultan also started to notice the change in his Commander; he saw that he was becoming more hard lined then ever. They argued over strategies and occupation more and more he saw Steven wanted a pure Islamic Caliphate and the Sultan felt it couldn’t be done not right away at least, they needed farmers and ranchers they couldn’t kill everyone because they held the knowledge to do this the things they needed. Yes Allah did provide but Allah was also mindful of what he provided and how he provided it. The Sultan was a student of History and knew that exterminating the people you need didn’t work, look at pol-pot and even early communism where they killed everyone who didn’t believe the way they did, it slowed their movements by decades.

  They needed blacksmiths, carpenters, teachers, scholars, laborers, bakers, cooks, farmers, ranch hands and much much more. If they killed everyone who was a non-believer who would provide those services who would teach the next generation it was all of these issues and more that the Sultan had to take into question, Steven was only focused on a single issue and that was the Caliphate.

  They were fortunate to have overrun a ham radio station that still had a single radio working, the owner and operator was a Christian and refused to convert. Steven moved to execute him immediately but the Sultan stopped it. He recognized the need for communication to the outside world and to use it to broadcast there message. It could also be used to call believers from other areas that might have radios of their own to join them, so many possibilities. The Sultan told Steven that if he could find a Muslim shortwave radio operator who could also install and repair them then by all means kill the Christian, if not let him be he will serve us, after all they held his family.

  Steven couldn’t find any Muslim radio operator any place so he was obliged to obey the Sultan but he fumed at the dressing down he had received. Steven could feel the tension between himself and the Sultan building also the Sultan was questioning every single move he made. Recently the Sultan had installed his own private guards who were possibly the best trained men he had but were 100% loyal to the Sultan.

  The Sultan was becoming painfully aware of the US Military presence in northern Michigan it was as far as he knew the only real threat to their dream of a Caliphate, Islamic States of American. However, unlike his military commander he didn’t feel the need to address the issue now, it could wait. The Sultan was concerned with the here and now, they needed food and a steady flow of drinkable water for everyone within the Caliphate, they needed more internal and external securing forces, they needed fuel and a lot of it and where was that going to come from? They had been siphoning all of the vehicles they found which was quite a bit of fuel. His inventors had come up with a way to manually pump the fuel out of the gas stations fuel storage and this was a lot. Yet as they expanded they needed more for the military who was the greatest user of fuel.

  Still, the biggest issue they had was the lack of professional medical help and services, when they first began to establish the Caliphate ten – eleven months ago Steven Tuma, granted under his orders, killed or exiled all non-believers who refused to convert. Certainly there were a few Muslim doctors and but very few nurses, as time passed the Sultan found they had made a mistake killing or exiling the doctors and nurses even if they didn’t convert. However, Steven Tuma, didn’t see it that way he believed Allah would provide yet Allah hadn’t. The Sultan tried to explain the ways of Allah are mysterious and it’s possible the doctors and nurses they had killed or driven off were the ones he provided.

 
They had plenty of Band-Aid’s and Bandages as well as other medical drugs but in many cases they didn’t have the knowledge of how to distribute it. Men who were wounded in battle had less than a fifty percent chance of surviving. The civilian population was even worse off because all of the doctors and nurses were sent off to the Army to help there. These were the daily issues that the Sultan had to consider and deal with, Steven only had to deal with the Army and his view was very narrow. The Sultan was being told by loyalists that Steven was becoming more disenchanted with the Sultans leadership raising concerns of an assassination attempt. This is what led to the creation of the new Sultan Guards he recruited a thousand of the best Soldiers who were absolutely loyal to him and the Caliphate.

  In turn this caused a huge upheaval within the entire Army, why did the Sultan need his own little Army to protect him people wondered out loud. There were loud negative and very public outbursts by Steven Tuma over the creation of the Sultan Guards, which back fired on him most people saw it as blasphemous against their religious leader. People were very public about how they felt about the Army Commander criticizing the Sultan, this lead to Steven having to make a public apology, groveling to the Sultan which internally he fumed at having to do that for anyone. Steven felt that the Sultans time was coming and it would be his turn to lead the nation to a pure Islam and rid the country of all infidels.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Major General Nathanial (Nate) Gregory was a combat Commander, he was a Second and First Lieutenant in the First Gulf war leading and infantry platoon against Iraq Republican Guard units. He was during that short war made company XO and then Company Commander when the original Commander was killed by a scud missile. He led a Battalion and Brigade during the second Iraq war then an Army in Afghanistan he was everything Colonel Rodgers wasn’t.

  The entire camp was startled that morning when they heard reveille being played and then saw the national flag being raised. Followed by their NCO’s running through the barracks or other living quarters to get out of the racks and into formation in ten minutes and they better be strake! Private Gailson said it best, “What the fuck is this all about?”