“No, darling.I just think that you are the most wonderful woman that any man could ever ask for. You have made me very, very proud. I love you very much.”
Following the installation of the water and power systems, soon after they bought their Bovill property, Todd selected a site and built the listening post/observation post (LP/OP) for the retreat. The site that Todd selected was fifty yards above the spring. It had a commanding view of the entire property, and a good view of the county road in both directions. He resisted the urge to put the LP/OP at the very peak of the hill. Using knowledge gleaned years before from Jeff Trasel, Todd instead put the LP/OP five yards below the hill’s crest at the hill’s “military crest.” By positioning the LP/OP on the military crest, it eliminated the risk of LP/OP sentries “sky-lining” themselves when they walked to and from their posts. This would eventually make it much easier to keep the location and existence of the LP/OP a secret.
The design for the LP/OP itself came straight out of one the Army field manuals in Todd’s collection. The foxhole was dug armpit deep and eight feet long. It was lined with pressure-treated plywood to prevent the walls from crumbling. A stairway leading into the position was dug immediately to the rear.
The floor was “stair-cased” to three different heights to accommodate sentries of differing heights. At five-feet-two-inches, Mary was used as the model for the shorter LP/OP pickets. Next, the floor of the foxhole was covered with the same type of plywood used on the wall, and then industrial open weave rubber floor mats were added to provide a quiet, non-slip surface.
After the experience of the first winter, Todd eventually built wooden steps to replace the earthen steps, and cut up floor mat material to nail on each step.
Another later addition was a roof for the LP/OP, something that Jeff Trasel would have referred to as “overhead cover.” After building up banks on both ends of the LP/OP trench, Todd laid down a row of six-by-eight-inch treated timbers, parallel to the trench. On top of the timbers, he glued and nailed two-by-six-inch tongue and groove boards cross-wise to the support timbers. Next, Todd laid down four thicknesses of ten-mil black sheet plastic. This sheet plastic extended well beyond just the roof, so it would provide better drainage for rainwater. Finally, he covered the whole works with six inches of earth and then the squares of sod that he had originally dug up and set aside when he first started the hole for the trench. Within a few months, this sod grew back in a healthy coat of grass, all but obscuring the LP/OP. From the front, sides, or down the hill, it was practically invisible. Its vision slots were detectable only if someone knew where to look.
There were then just a few finishing touches on the LP/OP. First, Todd and Mary buried two strands of WD-1 field telephone wire that ran between the house and the LP/OP. Todd also made a few modifications to make the LP/OP more livable. First, he cut a few slots in the walls, and inset-mounted ammunition cans to act as shelves. The way they were arranged, the cans could be pulled out and their lids replaced. In this way, the rubber gasket lids would protect the contents of the boxes when they were not in use. Next, Todd bought a comfortable wooden desk chair at a secondhand store in St. Maries.
He modified the chair by fitting a foam cushion, and then bolting on wooden extensions for its legs. With the extensions in place, the eye level of whoever was sitting in it would be virtually the same as if they were standing.
In addition to a TA-1 sound powered field telephone, Todd selected a variety of gear with which to equip the LP/OP. This gear included two angle head flashlights each with two thicknesses of red lens filters, a pair of rubber-armored Bushnell binoculars, a large spiral-bound note pad and pen to use for a duty log, a compressed-air powered boat horn for use as a backup alarm signal, four surplus white star parachute flares, and Todd’s spare Remington 870 riot shotgun and a satchel of number-four buckshot rounds.
Unlike his other riotgun, this particular shotgun was customized for close-in night fighting. It had an eight-round extension magazine installed, as well as a Pachmayr rubber pistol grip. Using a special fore end mount built by SureFire, there was a flashlight mounted below the barrel. A momentary on/off switch was built into the SureFire mount. Todd figured that it would make a good weapon to have handy if whoever was manning the LP/OP got jumped at close range. All of the gear for the LP/OP was packed in an olive drab footlocker. Mary later used a hot glue gun to install thick foam padding inside the footlocker to protect its contents. To put the LP/OP in operation, everything was in one handy “strack box” that could be carried up the hill.
Next, again based on his training by Jeff Trasel, Todd made a range card and sector sketch for the LP/OP. Using a hundred-foot measuring tape, he and Mary took measurements from the LP/OP to each significant landmark on the retreat. Then Todd drew a sketch, with the distances written beside them.
Thus, LP/OP pickets would be able to know the exact distances to various points, something that might come in very handy in the future. With her artistic talent, Mary later improved on the sector sketches with a diagram that she hand-painted on a piece of scrap plywood. This was later mounted on the wall of the LP/OP with wood screws. Todd liked her creation so much that he asked her to make similar “range paintings” for each of the windows of the house. If the house eventually had to be defended with their rifles, Todd didn’t want anyone guessing at the range to any particular target.
The last of the stored toilet paper was exhausted the month after the Porter family arrived. The small packets of toilet paper that members of the group had saved from MREs was henceforth set aside for patrolling. At the retreat, the group switched to using paper from phone books. Mary had secured a tall stack of Chicago phone books years before, for just this purpose. Everyone realized that even this paper would be expended eventually, so it was used sparingly. The prospect of someday using leaves was not appealing.
CHAPTER 11
Dawn
Once the cold weather began to set in, during the first fall after the Crunch, the members of the group at the retreat settled into a routine. The main activity was standing picket and C.Q. shifts. As the weather began to get wetter and colder, the members began to dread LP/OP duty. In contrast, C.Q. duty was referred to as “soft duty.” When not standing guard shifts, the other members worked on projects around the house, did laundry by hand in a large tub, and helped with the cooking. With few gardening tasks, there was even some spare time to read, talk, or play board games. Formal meetings were held only as circumstances made them necessary.
With Lon’s permission, Doug and Della were married on the first of November. It was a ceremony much like the one that had been held for Jeff and Rose. The only difference was that there was more warning, so everyone took the time to dress better. All of the men wore ties from Todd’s closet. Margie made a wedding cake. She was adept at getting the temperature of the woodstove oven just right.
The most popular games at the retreat were chess, Risk, and the card game Hearts. The radios yielded little more than static. On most evenings they would listen to the news on Swiss Radio International at 9.910 megahertz, the only commercial shortwave station on the air. It was all bad news.
Bible study and prayer meetings were held each evening after dinner. Either Lon, who was an agnostic, or Kevin, who was Jewish, took a short stint of LP/OP duty during these meetings. Kevin attended only the Bible studies when they were on Old Testament scriptures. Almost every evening, Todd, who had a melodic speaking voice, would read aloud for half an hour in the living room. Everyone would sit and watch the fire and listen to Todd read out loud. He started out reading short stories like Joseph Conrad’s “The Secret Sharer” and Carl Stephenson’s “Leinengen Versus the Ants.” Later, he began reading novels, a few chapters at a time. These included The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand and Unintended Consequences by John Ross. Todd skipped over the lewd passages from the latter, which he thought detracted from an otherwise top-notch novel. Todd often wore his TRC-500 headset during the readings so that whoever was standing LP/OP duty could listen in. For a generation reared on television, Todd was the next best thing.