Chapter 8
MARCH 10, LATE AFTERNOON
ADRIAN HAD SPENT SEVERAL HOURS with Linda’s troops setting up a basic training regimen. He gave her a sheet of paper with the training plan he wanted her to carry out with the understanding that she could change it as she saw fit. Linda also watched the men training and realized quickly that there was little difference between the two regimens. The men spent more time on attack tactics than the women, who spent more time on defensive tactics. Given their respective assignments, it made sense.
Linda had chosen her second in command, Shirley—Sarah’s daughter—based on observation. Shirley was aggressive and confident, taking to the drills as though it were second nature to her.
Linda explained to Shirley, “The most important skill we can learn right now is firearms competence. Each person has to be able to use their weapon with enough skill that they can hit a man at a hundred yards. So we’ll spend enough time practicing to make that happen. First, we run them through the basics of shooting without ammunition. Dry firing because we need to conserve ammunition. After they have the basics down solidly, they’ll be issued twenty live rounds to sight in and to practice with. If they can’t make it with those twenty rounds, they’ll be washed out. Better to not have incompetent shooters when the time comes than to waste ammunition.”
After several hours of basic rifle and shooting instructions, Linda had a fair idea of who would be successful, and only four or five women that she didn’t expect to make the cut. Those women would become field medics, given different training from Jennifer’s medical group.
On the firing line, Linda shouted, “Remember BRASS: Breathe in and let half your breath back out and hold half in your lungs; Relax your major muscle groups, as tense muscles will cause you to miss; Aim by picking a small portion of the target you want to hit, aim for a button if you can see one, or choose the center of the largest part of the target, and do not aim at the whole target; your Sight picture should be the alignment of three things, the rear sight will be aligned correctly with the front sight, and the target point you have chosen will be directly above and sitting on top of the front sight; and Squeeze the trigger slowly while maintaining your sight picture until the rifle fires. If you do it correctly, you’ll be somewhat surprised when the rifle does fire. If you jerk the trigger, you will pull the rifle off of the target and waste the shot.
“Then put another round in the chamber unless you’re using a semi-automatic rifle, acquire another target, and repeat the process. It is critical that you do not rush or get panicked. Slow, consistent, accurate fire is far more effective than slinging bullets and hoping for the best. You’ll be under intense pressure—worse than anything you’ve ever experienced in your life—when they’re coming at you shooting. Your adrenaline will be pumping, your mind will be panicky, and your fine motor skills will be out the window. In the heat of battle, you may develop tunnel vision. Presence of mind is what will kill the bastards; the bullet you send will be the agent of your presence of mind. How accurate and deadly you are is a direct result of remaining calm and following a sound shooting procedure. Remaining calm and following procedure is the most powerful weapon you have. Any questions before we commence the dry firing exercise?”
One hand went up. “Yes? Your question?”
One of the women stood and said, “I’ve heard that dry firing can damage a gun, is that not true?”
Linda replied, “That’s a good question. Sometimes, yes, it will, but most times it won’t—it depends largely on the type of gun you have. To be on the safe side, we have taken an empty casing for each of your rifles and replaced the primer with a piece of melted plastic for the firing pin to hit. Those will be issued to you momentarily. Any other questions?” After a moment of silence, she said, “No? Captain, pass out the practice rounds.”
MARCH 10, EVENING
Adrian, Linda, Jennifer, Sarah, and Roman were seated around Sarah’s dinner table. The dishes had been cleared and stacked in the sink. Adrian and Roman were sipping Roman’s reserve whisky without ice. The women had all chosen hot tea.
Adrian said, “Roman, this is the best ever. You’re a distilling genius.”
Roman replied, “Practice, practice, practice. That’s all it takes. Next year, I’m going to make wine from the wild mustang grapes, then distill that down into cognac. I think it’ll be good. How did the training go today?”
Adrian replied, “For the men, at least, it went well. We began covering advance and cover techniques. We only spent a little time on actual shooting technique because these men already know how to shoot. Hell, they’re all hunters, or they wouldn’t have survived this long. What we covered was taking the time to draw a bead and squeezing it off while under fire, not getting excited to the point that they get buck fever and just start banging away. Hunting is one thing; shooting while being shot at is something intensely different. We spent most of our shooting time on that concept. Tomorrow, we’re going to work on advance and cover some more, then start on simple ambush techniques. The men are extremely motivated, so the lessons are going faster than I had hoped they might.” Adrian looked at Linda and asked, “How about your troop, Linda?”
“It went quite well. As I had guessed, there were four who couldn’t hit the target to save their lives, literally speaking. What I intend to do is make them medics. It’s not that they aren’t brave, and with enough time and ammunition I’m sure they could learn to shoot well enough, but there isn’t enough time or ammunition for that. Jennifer, tomorrow those four will be at the hospital for basic trauma training. Would you see to it that they are versed in that and provide them with field kits to work with?”
Jennifer replied, “Certainly. I’ll need at least a week with them. But I thought the nurses and I would be performing that duty? Not that anyone said so, but I did assume it.”
Adrian spoke up. “Actually, what we will need you to do is act as a field M.A.S.H.-type unit. The field medics will do what they can in the field, and then the wounded will be carried to you for more advanced treatment. From there, they will be carried back here to the hospital for continued care. It’s a three-step system that will provide the best possible chance of recovery. My thinking is that you’ll set up a temporary field hospital between the battle site and the village. You’ll need to be at that field hospital to receive and treat the incoming wounded. Once they are stabilized, they’ll be carried to the village hospital for continued care in a better setting. What do you think?”
“Sounds reasonable, but who is going to do all that carrying? You’re going to be pulling able-bodied men away from the fighting to do that, aren’t you?”
“Yes, but just as Linda has recognized a better use for some of her soldiers, so have I. Just because they are male doesn’t mean they are automatically fierce fighters. Before the grid dropped, the majority of America’s men would not have made good fighters. After the grid dropped, those men mostly died off. The men who did survive, for the most part, were the ones who had the fighter instinct. Not all of them, though, and a few of the men would be more dangerous to us than to the enemy in a fight. I don’t have a lower opinion of those men than the others—they are just different, and it’s probably the result of factors they had no control over. As Linda said, it’s not that they aren’t brave or that they don’t want to fight. Medics are, in my estimation, the bravest of all. Their mission is as critical and necessary as any other, but they are even more exposed to a hostile line-of-fire environment and risk their own lives solely to help their comrades. So, in short, I’ll assign some of my men to act as medics and stretcher-bearers. I’ll have these men at your hospital in a couple of days after I’ve identified them all.”
MARCH 11, MORNING
Matthew had taken a wood-gas-fired truck into Waco. He’d had an idea for the training and explained it to Adrian. Upon his return, he told Adrian, “We had good luck. No one has seen any use for these since the grid dropped, so there were plenty of them, and plenty of ammo, too. I’m afraid the paintballs may have hardened up over the years, but they will shoot, and perhaps sting all the more for it.”
Adrian replied, “When you first suggested it I thought it was pretty silly, but the idea grew and I realized it was a good one. Will we have any problems firing these things?”
“No. They work on compressed gas, and the gas cylinders hold their pressure nearly forever. I tried a few and they worked fine. Using the old phone book, I located three large supply sources and brought back a truckload. More than enough for several exercises. This was still a popular sport when the grid went down. I can go back for more if need be. I also looked for real guns and ammo, but didn’t find squat—those were picked off long ago.”
“All right, then, let’s get this show on the road—”
Matt interrupted. “I also picked up components for the pipe cannons. One of the ideas I’m going to try out is loading them with short pieces of chainsaw blade chain; they have wicked sharp teeth. I found loads of chainsaw chains at two of the home improvement chain stores—no pun intended,” Matt said with a big grin. “I can cut these short so they can then be curled up into tight little sections that will load easily into the cannon. When they’re shot out, they should straighten out and then fly through the air end over end, chopping through the raiders like crazy. My idea is to test this a couple of times, getting an idea of the spread pattern. Then the cannons will be spaced out to get a continuous field of shrapnel across the segment the raiders will approach and a specific distance where the maximum damage will occur. They’ll be fired with electronic igniters similar to the one I used in the hog gun I showed you. So picture this: the cannons are pre-set at the right distance apart. The distance where the chains spread out from each cannon to provide a continuous field of damage is marked on the ground with, say, green-painted rocks. The raiders come charging in, and when they get to those rocks, the women simultaneously fire the cannons.
“The chains come flying out, unfold, and zoom through the air at waist height, providing a solid line of flying steel across the width of the raiders. The result will be devastating. A lot will depend on the raiders being bunched together and we can’t completely control that, but the carnage will be horrendous. One downside the black powder will create a dense cloud of smoke. There will be a few moments where the women won’t be able to see the raiders, but the raiders won’t be able to see the women, either. How long that lasts depends on wind speed at the time. On a calm day, it could be two or three minutes. What do you think?”
Adrian replied, “I think I am very damned happy you’re on our side. I think it’s brilliant. Let me know how you’re progressing and if you need any help.”
“The only help I’ll need will be some extra hands turning out black powder for two days. The rest I can do myself fairly easily.”
Adrian said, “I’ll get some of the men and women who will be acting as stretcher bearers to your shop first thing in the morning.”
Later that morning, Adrian assembled all the troops, men and women alike. He announced, “As part of the training, Matthew had a brilliant idea. He went into town and came back with enough paintball guns, gas cylinders, and ammo to run several drills. At first, you may think it sounds a bit ridiculous, but after a moment, the brilliance of it shines through. It beats the hell out of running around shouting bang, bang! We’re going to divide into two groups: aggressors and defenders. The women will defend Fort Brazos against the men. This will give excellent practice with the added benefit of knowing who was wounded or killed. We’ll get practice in as near a live fire environment as we can without actually killing each other.
“On top of that, we’ll be able to practice battle field communications, medical treatment and evacuation, and how best to defend the fort. We won’t be trying to capture a flag as in the usual war games. We will be continuing the exercise until one side has no survivors. It’s to be a war to the death for each side. These old paint balls might or might not burst when they hit. They will sting either way. The only safety device will be eye shields, we don’t need to lose any eyeballs in this practice. If you are hit, even if the paint doesn’t explode on you, you are to lie down and wait for the medics to find you and carry out their mission. Medics are fair game to shoot, just like they will be shot at when we actually fight. Any questions? None? Okay, captains take your men east of the fort and prepare your invasion. Colonel Fremont, as soon as the men are out of sight, take your defensive positions. Men, in this first exercise, you will imitate the known tactics of our enemy as explained to you in the briefings. This will not only give the defenders a realistic view of how they would be attacked, but will also give you firsthand knowledge of the strengths and weaknesses of the tactics you’ll be fighting against. Subsequent exercises will use our tactics and strategies, the ones we’ll be using against them. Defenders, you’ll also be involved in all exercises to keep you from getting into one set way of thinking, because the attackers will have any number of ways of coming at you.”
MARCH 11, AFTERNOON
Linda’s advance sentries began filtering in from their observation posts, relaying the incoming attackers’ positions and movements. Using this intel, Linda made subtle but important adjustments to the defensive positions.
Linda watched through binoculars as the men moved in. “Shirley, notify the squad leaders they have ten minutes before they see the attackers. Remind them of the effective range of their paintball guns, to rely on the landmarks we identified for ranging information, and that they are not to fire until the attackers reach the optimum range and target density. Stay with them and move from position to position giving advice and confidence.”
Adrian stood by silently, also watching with binoculars. They had taken a position on a rooftop where they could watch without being seen. Linda would be actively moving her troops as needed and issuing commands by runner. Adrian would only observe, offering no advice or counsel. He would instead watch everything and make his observations known in the post-exercise briefing.
The attackers followed the known tactics of the raiders. First, they sent out scouts to observe. The information was relayed to the fighters and they gathered into three distinct groups. They came at the Fort on a dead run, firing as they came. It was a classic three-front strategy, hitting the fort from three directions, putting the defenders in a crossfire while minimizing the chances of friendly fire hitting their own.
The attack was fast, furious, and brutal, and the battle lasted less than five minutes. Many of the attackers were cut down in the initial surge with few losses to the defenders. However, the attackers still overran the defenders and quickly eliminated them. The attackers won, although with heavy losses.
At the follow-up briefing, Adrian said, “We learned a lot today. Thank you, Matthew—it was an excellent idea that will save us many lives before this is over. We learned that the defensive positions need to be fortified more than they are. We learned that the defenders have a chance to succeed if we do several things differently, and those ideas will be incorporated into the next exercise. We also learned that the attack force must be cut down in size considerably if the defenders are to have a chance of success—that will be on the men’s shoulders. Our goal is to eliminate them entirely, and I plan on achieving that goal, but as a fall back, we have to be realistic about how many raiders have to be killed in order to give the defenders at the village a solid chance to win.
“Each of you as an individual has learned a lot. It isn’t a realistic live fire exercise in the important ways, of course, but it is as close as we’re going to get to the real thing. Some of you, due to age or physical condition, can’t keep up with the main group. That’s no slight, it’s just a fact, and we have to face facts. I’ve identified most of those individuals. In subsequent exercises, I’ll confirm those and probably add some more. Those men will be segregated out into a separate group to act as stretcher-bearers to assist the medics and take a load off their shoulders, allowing them more time to work on the wounded.
“Roman—you, Perry, Matt, and Tim’s mission will be to supplement the frontline fighting troops with actions that delay, harass, and kill the enemy in smaller micro-actions. Your primary mission will be to slow the attackers, buying the main group more time to get set up. You will be the first force to encounter the enemy in combat. Your final mission will be to engage any enemy flanks that you can reach during the battle. Be aware your mission is not only critical, but requires the utmost of bravery; you’ll be four men acting independently against almost two hundred enemy combatants. You’ll be outnumbered fifty to one. Do not for a moment think you are being relegated to a lesser mission.”