“Now, not everything is rosy for the Feds back east. They still haven’t taken Vermont, New Hampshire, or Maine. They tried that for three summers in a row, and decided to let those states wait for a while. Ditto for most of Michigan. Talk about a hornet’s nest for the Federales! Folks call it ‘Militiagan’ now. The Federals are also having serious problems in the southeast, primarily the coastal states from Virginia south to Florida. Parts of those states have been officially ‘pacified,’ but in actuality there are still large-scale guerrilla movements there, even in the so-called ‘pacified’ areas.
“Starting this summer, they’ve been pushing for control of the western states in a big way. They have apparently decided to leave California and Arizona alone—at least for the time being—until they deal with the inter-mountain states. If and when they do get into California, they will face some tough resistance, especially in the northern half of the state, from the Harry Wu militia. They rightly predicted that the inland northwest would be a real burr under their saddle blanket. From what we’ve heard from the ham operators, things are nip and tuck over in Wyoming and Montana right now. The UN and Federal troops arrived there just about a month ago.
“Meanwhile, Colorado is only partly under their control. The Federals have been there since early last summer. It is kind of stalemate there. The Federals control the big cities, while the militias control most of the small towns and the countryside. In the daytime the Federals control the highways too, but at night they belong to the militias. It’s not much different than the situation that the Russians had in Afghanistan back in the ’80s. Officially, the UN has declared Colorado ‘pacified,’ and they’ve declared ‘victory’ over the Colorado National Guard and the militias. But in reality, virtually all of the state, aside from the big cities and the open plains in the eastern part of the state, are still contested territory. I’m not sure how things will settle out in Wyoming and Montana, but my guess is that at least in the short term, it won’t be too different than in Colorado.
“Now we have word that the Federals have started a sweep up through Utah and the banana belt in southern Idaho. A bunch of Quislings down there cut a deal with the Federals and UN ‘peacekeepers’ in exchange for what they are calling ‘local autonomy.’ They turned out to be a bunch of cooperative little slaves down there, all ready to roll over and play dead. How did Samuel Adams put it? ‘I hope their chains rest lightly upon them when they bow down to lick the hand that feeds them.’” Todd paused for a moment and then went on. “On the advice of the Mormon church hierarchy in Salt Lake City, most of the LDS wards in Utah and southern Idaho have signed on with the Federales’ local autonomy scheme. Just a few are resisting. In essence, though, there isn’t a lot of organized resistance down there. Now by this please don’t think that I’m denigrating the LDS church. I’m not. It’s just their current leadership that has caved in.
“At last report, the Federals have two main forces in the west. They are calling them ‘Corps’ but they are actually more like divisional size. The First Corps is bogged down playing cat and mouse with the militias in Wyoming and Montana. Parenthetically, I should mention that we’ve heard that the Federals basically bypassed the Dakotas in their push west. They figured there wasn’t enough population or resources worth bothering with, at least for now. They probably plan to double back and scarf them up after they secure the west coast.
“The Second Corps is the one heading our way. They have a huge convoy that is pushing north through Idaho, up Highway 95. From what I’ve heard, they’ve been hitting more and more resistance as they get farther and farther north. They just crawled up the White Bird Hill onto the Camas Prairie yesterday morning. They hit some highly organized resistance at Grangeville, and as of last night they were doing a blitzkrieg on Grangeville and surrounding small towns and farms. Parts of Grangeville burned down, from the latest reports.” Those assembled murmured in dismay.
After waiting for the whispering to subside, Todd added, “What I was hearing on the CB relay net about their exact numbers and order of battle was garbled and even a bit contradictory, but that is the nature of raw intelligence information. As near as we can tell, the Second Corps has got something like seven thousand men and nearly one thousand vehicles heading north on Highway 95.”With that, Jeff Trasel let out a low “Wow!”
Gray continued, “Most of it is ground equipment, a mixture of U.S.-made, western European, and eastern European. Both Corps are composite, with a mixture of U.S. and UN units. Less than a year ago, the original Second Corps was divided into three parts. Two of those fractions went to form the nuclei of the Fourth and Fifth Corps, back east. Many of the Second Corps units have either been recently activated and filled with recruits, or are foreign units that are getting their first taste of fighting here in the states. The bottom line is that only about one-third of the Corps has much combat experience. We can probably use that to our advantage.
“The mix in the Second Corps is roughly 75 percent foreign, and 25 percent American. Oh yes, I should also mention, there are UN ‘advisers’ in each of the Federal units. The Second Corps only has a few helicopters, mainly for command and control. There are supposedly quite a few more helicopters presently with the First Corps over in Montana. They detached most of the Second Corps air wing to assist the First Corps. Yesterday I heard from a man who had binoculars on the convoy as it topped White Bird Hill, that for some reason they’ve got all their tracked vehicles loaded on some huge semi-truck Lo-Boy trailers….”
Doug Carlton, who was obviously getting agitated and itching to say something, raised his arm and said, “Sir, if you don’t mind me interrupting, I know why.” Todd turned his outstretched palm upward and toward Doug and replied, “By all means, go ahead, Doug. Please tell us anything you know that might help us—either strategically or tactically.”
Todd took a step backward, and Carlton stood up and leaned on the barrel of his HK91. He drew a breath and said, “I was at Fort Knox, Kentucky, for ROTC Basic Camp. We had lots of briefings from each of the Army branches there. We had a chance to do some hands-on with some of their equipment, too. As I’ve told many of you before, my favorite day was field artillery day. We got a chance to actually prepare and fire some eighty-one-millimeter mortars and pull the lanyard on a 105 howitzer. They also put on a ‘Mad Minute’ firepower demonstration. That was a rush, let me tell ya. I’m sorry, for digressing.
Anyway, the day we got our Armor branch briefing, they told us that operationally they put the tracked vehicles on either railroad flat cars or Lo-Boy trailers until they get close to the actual fighting. That reduces wear and tear on their tracks and suspension. By tracked vehicles, I’m referring to the M1A1 Abrams tanks, the track-mounted artillery, the M2 Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicles, or ‘IFVs,’ the M3 Cavalry Fighting Vehicles, and the older M113 APCs.”
“Eh-Pee-See?” Blanca Doyle asked quizzically.
Carlton turned to explain, “That stands for Armored Personnel Carrier. The M113 is on caterpillar tracks and carries a small squad of men. There is usually a Browning .50 machinegun on top, and optionally a couple of extra M60s. These older APCs have an inch and a half of aluminum armor. That’ll stop most small arms. The newer Bradley IFVs carry a twin TOW missile pod, a twenty-five-millimeter chain gun, and a 7.62 coaxial machinegun. They have thicker armor with extra reactive armor panels on the sides to stop RPGs. The older APCs were basically a battlefield taxi. It rolls the infantry up to the front lines, the back door swings open, and they pour out. The Bradley is much more sophisticated, faster, and better armed. It weighs something like fifty thousand pounds. The M113, by comparison, only weighs a little over half of that. That twenty-five-millimeter cannon is nothing to mess with. Also, since most of the six infantrymen inside should have an individual 5.56 millimeter firing port weapon, they can fight either mounted or dismounted.”