Air Force One Has Landed
After 32 hours in the air and four mid-air refuelings, the President directed the Secret Service to find a safe place to land the aircraft, so they could resupply it and begin to get things back to normal with his regular briefings and staff. When the ICBMs had been launched at Washington, the President suddenly found himself separated from nearly his entire staff. While Air Force One had an exceptional communications array and the ability to hold any level of classified briefings, it could not replace the sidebar or one-on-one meetings and discussions he needed to have with his staff.
The military, along with the Secret Service, determined that it was probably safe to land since the Chinese had not launched any ICBMs at the US following the nuking of Shenyang. It was determined that Air Force One would set down at Ft. Hood, Texas for the time being, until it was safe to return to Washington. The sprawling base could be easily defended and still had a contingent of nearly 12,000 soldiers. Once the aircraft had been refueled and resupplied, it would be moved to the runway and made ready to take off again, should the need to get the President airborne quickly again arise.
The civilian side of the airport had been shut down, and a plethora of additional security had been added to the surrounding area. The Air Force was also flying combat aircraft near the base for added protection. As Air Force One pulled to a halt on the military side of the airfield, a chair truck moved up to the aircraft, so the President could walk down and get back to the business of running the country on the ground.
When the outer door opened, several Secret Service members emerged and began to survey the area around the aircraft. They began to descend the stairway, and the President emerged and followed suit. The Army had sent over several Stryker vehicles to take Gates to the command building, along with a contingent of Special Forces. The armored convoy was also being escorted by several attack helicopters and additional Blackhawk helicopters. No one was going to attack the President on this installation, if the base commander had any say in the matter.
“Mr. President, it is a pleasure to meet you, Sir,” said Lieutenant General John Abrams as he extended a hand in greeting. “If you will please come with me, we can ride together in the Stryker,” he directed. Abrams was the commander of US 1st Army, the army command responsible for mobilization, readiness, and training, which had now become a critical command as the Army was in the process of increasing in size substantially.
The President reached out and shook the General’s hand, smiling warmly at him. “Thank you, General, for meeting me here and for allowing us to land at your base. I don’t think I could have taken any more hours cooped up in that plane.” Both men smiled and briefly laughed, breaking some of the tension they were both feeling.
The President ducked his head slightly as he climbed inside the back of the Stryker vehicle.
“So, this is what our men and women ride into battle,” he thought to himself.
As he got himself situated in the vehicle, a couple of his Secret Service agents also hopped in, and kept their weapons at the ready. Despite being surrounded by armed soldiers, they trusted no one with a loaded weapon around the President.
“Before we get to the base and I become inundated with briefings and decisions, how are things going on the mobilization front?” the President asked General Abrams. “Are we drafting enough soldiers? Are they going to be ready for what they are going to face?”
General Abrams answered, “It’s going to take some time, Mr. President, to get the soldiers trained. Depending on the number of casualties we take in Asia and Europe, these numbers should be sufficient; however, we need to be ready to double the size of the draft should the situation warrant it. My biggest concern is whether or not our forces will be able to hold the line long enough for the recruits to be trained and for our manufacturers to produce the vehicles and munitions needed to win. We are stretched incredibly thin everywhere right now.”
Gates had been pondering that same conundrum while on the plane. Things were moving so rapidly. “Thank you, General, for the insight. Those are big concerns of mine as well. Just do your best to get our men and women ready to fight.”
After his brief conversation with the General, the President made some small talk with several of the soldiers in the vehicle. He wanted to know what they were thinking and let them know he was just as concerned about them as they were about their families. The soldiers also offered up words of encouragement to the President, and urged him to not forget about the people of Oakland and San Francisco with all that was going on with the war; as it turned out, two of the soldiers in the vehicle were from the Oakland area, and had lost their families during the bombing.
The President really did like to spend time with the enlisted soldiers and junior officers; they tended to be the ones implementing the President’s orders, and often provided invaluable feedback on their effectiveness that senior leaders may not fully understand or appreciate.
As Gates arrived at the command building, he was greeted by the base commander and several other senior military leaders and members of his staff that had flown to the base to be with him. He extended his hand and thanked them for accommodating him. Then the base commander led the President and his small entourage to a secured conference room, which had been outfitted with several trays of sandwiches and plenty of drinks for anyone who wanted to grab a bite to eat.
While several additional members of his staff had flown out to Ft. Hood, the Secretaries of Defense and State remained at the Raven Rock facility for the time being, while most of the congressional leaders were at Mount Weather. The Pentagon would make an assessment in another twenty-four hours as to whether or not they felt it was safe for everyone to return to the capital.
A lot of congressional and senate leaders were not happy about being sequestered at Mount Weather. They desperately wanted to get back to Washington or to their constituents. They also hated the fact that none of them could communicate with the press, who had been explicitly excluded from accompanying them to Mount Weather. The only press that was with any members of the government right now was the White House Press pool, who had just arrived at Ft. Hood. The media was going crazy with conspiracy theories about what was happening or not happening while they had no one from the government to interview.
The sinking of the 7th Fleet and the war in Korea was keeping the pundits and talking heads speculating on what the President might do next, and how the US would respond to the loss of so many naval ships and sailors. The sooner Gates could get back in front of the cameras to calm the public, the better.
Back in the conference room at Ft. Hood, the President walked past the sandwiches and grabbed a water bottle before making his way to a seat that had a “POTUS” placard in front of it. Seated next to him were his National Security Advisor and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, who had been traveling with him on Air Force One.
“It’s good to see everyone again,” Gates said warmly. After a marathon flight, the President was glad to be back on the ground.
“Before we get going, I want to personally thank Admiral Robinson and his team for the outstanding performance of NORAD and our ballistic missile defense program. I know everyone feels terrible about the missile that got through in Oakland, but gentlemen, please remember, you also saved the lives of countless millions of Americans when you shot down the other 44 missiles. Given what has happened, I would like to petition Congress for an emergency funding bill to triple the size of our ballistic missile defense interceptors. Without such an important system in place, millions more Americans would have perished,” he said, nodding towards the Congressional leaders that were participating via secured video teleconference.