“What? Jack, you can’t be… Oh fuck it! You run off and play and we’ll keep the fire warm,” she says standing.
“So, you’ll have all of the teams tomorrow, Bannerman, to gather the equipment we’ll need. Tomorrow will be for gathering everything and we’ll start our runs the morning after. Oh, and we should plan for the teams to be back two hours prior to sunset. That will give us plenty of leeway in case something goes wrong,” I say smiling at Lynn’s remark.
“Jack, I’d like the teams to have some practice on the range and physical training in the mornings before everyone heads out on their assignments. We need to keep our training levels up too,” Lynn says.
“Okay, set a schedule and you’ll have them. Work out a schedule with Bannerman. We’ll also need to set a night watch. The standby team should be a good one to pick as they won’t be out and about,” I say. “Anything else we should talk about or thoughts?”
“I think we’re good,” Bannerman says.
“Okay, let’s try to get some sleep if we can with all that hammering. If we can think of something to shut the sound out so we can get some sleep, I’m all ears.”
They just shake their heads and walk to the other side of the balcony where most of the others are getting ready to turn in.
“Do I really get to start training?” Bri asks when we’re the only ones left.
“Yes, hon. But you have to take it serious and do everything Lynn says. No questions. And it’s not a game and you can’t treat it that way,” I answer.
“I will, Dad. Take it serious I mean,” she says but I notice a gleam in her eye.
The night passes and we are only occasionally awakened by the night runners still trying to get through the doors. Bannerman and whoever he had helping did a great job of installing them as they’ve held up well under the constant onslaught. It’s just an irritant to hear the metallic clangs throughout the night. The constant noise does taper off as the night goes on. I imagine some gave up and went in search of food elsewhere. Now if we can get the wall built and provide for an extra margin of security, I’ll feel even better. We’ve made it this far, through trials and hardships, through dangerous environments and perilous situations, and with some hard losses, but we’re here and, for the time being, safe from nightly attacks.
There is still a lot of danger with gathering our supplies, finding others, and in general trying to stay at least one step ahead of the game. I have no doubt that the night runners will eventually find a way in with their bloody persistence and we can’t afford to assume a place of complacency. My mind also goes back to the conversation prior about clearing them out but I just don’t see a way to do that right now. We’d have to shift our priorities completely and the end result would still be a toss-up.
I roll off my cot feeling drained; awake but still tired. I’m just not a morning person. I throw on my shirt wondering who is more offended by it, me or the shirt itself. I ask Bannerman where the other clothes are stored and if he’s gathering the dirty ones somewhere. He points me in the right direction and I feel a little better with a clean, black fatigue shirt on. I see Lynn rousing the other teams. It’s nice not to have the sound of night runners slamming into our doors rebounding throughout the area. The sense of relief is immense and you don’t notice how much tension that kind of constant noise creates until it’s gone.
Bannerman also points me in the direction of the showers they discovered. I see Robert staring at the place where Nic’s cot was obviously lost in thought. He pulls out of his reverie with a sigh and rises from his cot next to Michelle’s. Robert tags sleepily along as I head to the locker room. We pass by Lynn and the other teams as they gather to head outside for PT and training.
“Going to join us, flyboy?” Lynn asks to which I merely shake my head and point to the locker room.
I should join them but I just seriously don’t want to. I’ll pick that up with them in the coming days. I still just don’t feel totally back to being myself. My thoughts are leaning in the direction of finding a scout helicopter and seeing if I can keep from killing myself trying to learn its secrets. The warm water pouring over my head feels good and breathes some life into my tired body and mind.
We finish and dress with me showing Robert where I found the fresh shirt. The dirty laundry of the others is gathered in a pile and he tosses his along with the others. I plan on taking Red Team, to include Robert as he is a member, with me to Fort Lewis to see what we can find. It’s not that I just want to have fun but I feel that the helicopter will be a useful tool once we begin to search for others; to be able to cover a wider area. Learning to fly one after we have a need for it will put us behind the curve and I want to be prepared. I imagine a dozen scenarios where it will be useful. I just wish we had a rotor head along with us already. We’re lucky to have what we do with regards to people and abilities but that would have been cool too!
I hear the sound of gunfire outside as I emerge into the early morning light. The light blue of the morning is replaced by a yellowish-orange glow as the sun rises above the mountains to the east. The long shadow of the building stretches across the parking lot enveloping the parked vehicles. The cool morning air refreshes me even more than the shower and I inhale it deeply. I look over the doors, which are now rolled up, for damage where they are bolted into the concrete walls. They look like they have withstood another night without a mark or becoming weakened.
The firing is coming from teams lined up at the edge of the parking lot and firing across the fields. Drescoll walks along behind them. Other teams are going through immediate action drills on another part of the parking lot with Lynn guiding them. I stroll over to watch Lynn walk them through as Robert comes out and joins me. It’s Red Team’s turn and I have Robert join them in their exercise.
“Are you going to join in?” Lynn asks waiting for the team to get into place and for Robert to join them.
“I’m good thanks,” I reply.
“Jack, you’re part of this team so get your ass over here,” she says with me thinking I should have ventured off the other direction or found something very interesting on the exact opposite side of the parking lot.
I move in line with the team taking the slack position behind McCafferty and we go through the IAD’s with “contact front”, “contact side”, and “contact rear” drills focusing on each member’s responsibilities during each. We also cover areas of responsibilities and coverage during various formations; whether that is in a wedge formation or in a patrol line. We don’t really have rooms to practice clearing operations with as yet but will definitely have to incorporate inside building operations in the near future.
“I’d really like to formulate urban and building ops training as well,” I tell Lynn after we finish.
“I thought about that and will come up with something while I’m building the training program today. I’ll incorporate that into a daily training plan for the teams,” she says.
“Switch,” Lynn calls out and the teams that were firing changes places with those that were drilling. I fire several rounds making sure my sights and lasers are still centered.
We finish a short time later and adjourn. The teams take turns showering and then we all eat as a group. Afterwards, Lynn pulls a table and chair outside and begins writing furiously on several notepads. The teams circle around Bannerman for assignments and Red Team gathers with me outside.
I tell Red Team of our plan to go to Fort Lewis and find a scout chopper which they find mightily amusing for some reason. “Can we watch, sir? I haven’t seen an officer make a complete ass of himself in about a week,” Gonzalez says at one point with a grin. “Of course watching will be from a considerable distance but we’ll have fire extinguishers on hand and come a runnin’.”
“Yeah, highly fucking amusing,” I respond jokingly back.
We pile into a Humvee and start out with other vehicles beginning to pull out on their assigned errands. The sun has just crested fully over the mountains covering the land in its golden glow. It’s been nice to have so many nice days in a row without even the clouds coming to visit and no rain. That’s unusual for the summer here and I hope it’s because someone is looking out for us. I’m hoping this weather continues but I know we’ll have our share of the rain. I’m also hoping the night runners will still be affected by the sun being out, cloud cover or not. If that’s not true, then we’re in for a world of hurt, especially come winter time. I can’t assume anything so our first day under heavy cloud cover will be a down day just in case. Or at least starting later after assuring ourselves that we still own the day. That’s just something we’ll have to find out.
Pulling onto the base, we head directly to the small flight line associated with Fort Lewis. Several helicopters line the tarmac to one side of the runway with others parked in open hangars. I still can’t get over the eerie feeling of seeing so many man-made objects without the associated sounds or activity. The movement of crew chiefs on
