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Post by MG Laura McArthur on Jun 13, 2017 21:37:31 GMT -5
Looks like we're breaking records and creating history once more, General McArthur thought as she climbed aboard Colonel Kuznetsov's lead T-90A battle tank; comparable in size and strength to an M1A2 Abrams (or its European equivalents, the British Challenger II and German Leopard II), it packed an impressive punch...;but that wasn't the history part McArthur was thinking....for the first time since Vietnam, American troops would be riding aboard tanks - albeit Russian ones - from one location to another.
After climbing aboard - and reminding herself not to use the tank barrel as a handhold (the reason, she knew, was that if the main weapon was fired, the tank barrel would be white-hot to the touch) - McArthur took out her map and showed the Russian colonel where they were and where they needed to go. "Get us from here," she said, "to here," all the while thinking to herself, and in one piece, if you please...
Like Major McKenna, Lieutenant Grishkov was also thinking on how best to protect their newly secured airport. He however, had quite a few ideas. He knew that the base in New York had sappers that could be flown over to mine the exterior of the perimeter, but that was more of a long term plan than an immediate one. For one, their air cover was probably their best offense, but that also made it a very good defence. Few things could take a position that a Hind was holding.
The next option however would be to position his marksman and Pecheneg gunners on the roof, giving them overlapping fields of fire on the potential egress points. This would allow them to hold the terminal buildings with a fair degree of ease, as having overwatch made such tasks far more than considerably easier. Naturally, however, she'd motioned for them to approach because she'd had her own ideas on how to do what he was thinking of, and so he'd listen to hers and adapt his if need be. "Da, Major?" he asked, slipping into Russian for a moment before realizing that he'd done so. Alexandra nodded and climbed up onto the tank, taking up a place next to her uncle. A marksman could potentially take a shot at them, but the Ratnik 2 gear was rated for a 7.62x54R round, and so she doubted that they'd be having any problems with that. However the General's gear was not, then again, she didn't have very much identifying her as an officer, which would make identifying her at range doubly more difficult. She let out a slight chuckle at her uncle's comment about his old legs not being able to stand still. " Я думал, что все старые кости были сидеть, дядя (I thought all old bones did was sit still, uncle)," she joked, smiling at him before her face was serious once more and she answered his question. " Вася и его подразделение вернулись в Вест-Пойнт. Им не было выдано никаких распоряжений о развертывании. Не нужно развертывать Спецназ ГРУ, где VDV может выполнить свою работу. Или это было то, что нам сказали (Vasya and his unit are back at West Point. No deployment orders were issued to them. No need to deploy Spetsnaz GRU where VDV can get the job done. Or, that was what we were both told)."
Post by BG Anne McKenna on Jun 16, 2017 18:08:10 GMT -5
Looking over at Grishkov, Major McKenna smiled and said, "I know what you're thinking: how do we secure this area? Well, unless you want to spend several hours moving rusted hulks," pausing to point at all the abandoned vehicles around in the area, "the best defense for now is an active one for the time being.
"Alright, listen up," McKenna continued, waiting until she had gotten everyone's attention. "We're not going to wait for the engineers to get here before moving out, so here's what we're going to do," pausing to look at her map once more. "Captain Otstoch, I want you and both Scout companies to patrol the road just outside the main terminal here; once the engineers and other reinforcements arrive, you're to begin patrolling along the Mohawk River, using the river as your right flank. Anchor off of that; if I know General McArthur, once we've secured a base of operations here in Albany, we'll begin pushing westward, using a combination of ground and air assault tactics as we move along." Before Capt. Otstoch headed out, McKenna added with hmbleness, "Good job out here, Captain," nodding at the Mohawk Indian to emphasize the point.
"As for the rest of us," McKenna added, turning back to the others, "we're going to patrol along this road, down to Interstate 87 here," pausing to tap her finger on the multi-lane highway. "Yes, I know it'd be easier to do this either by air or with armor support, but in our hearts we're going to do what all mudfeet have done for millenia after millenia: secure the ground ourselves.
"Anyway, rest up for 15 minutes, then be ready to move out, everyone."
Post by MG Laura McArthur on Jun 16, 2017 21:42:57 GMT -5
Holding onto a couple of grab-bars on the T-90's turret as they headed north, General McArthur - now joined on top of the tank by Alexandra and McArthur's RTO - noticing a bit of anxiousness in Alexandra, said to her, "Anyone dumb enough to shoot at a tank in this day and age deserves to get stomped on....and if its' a rifle bullet, they'd be aiming at me," pausing to take off her ACH (Advanced Combat Helmet) helmet, quickly re-adjusting the straps on it, then replacing it on her head, "which is why the only rank insignia you see on a U.S. Army officer will be the center rank insignia," tapping her chest where the single star of a Brigadier General sat, her ACU blouse fastened tight around her upper body.
Passing the earlier road junction, McArthur watched as the tanks joined them in line, the line of steel now as long as the eye could see; she couldn't help but think to herself, I will be so glad someday when we can replace these tanks with American steel....but at the moment, I'll take the Russian steel and work with it.,,,
(OOC: It would largely depend on what we do in either case, but in my opinion we should finish up here, and yes, I should get to a reply. No idea that you'd even responded. Sometimes these get buried in other forum alerts.)
(OOC: It would largely depend on what we do in either case, but in my opinion we should finish up here, and yes, I should get to a reply. No idea that you'd even responded. Sometimes these get buried in other forum alerts.)
(OOC: Just thought I'd ask; I figured it would be better to ask first before pulling the trigger of any summer storylines/plots than to go blindly ahead and have to woah back on the reins, so to speak.
Post by MG Laura McArthur on Jun 26, 2017 22:57:10 GMT -5
One week later - morning, Albany International Airport How old am I again? General McArthur asked as she slowly began to wake up, the morning sunlight coming through the window in one of the National Guard Hangar's rooms' enough to awaken the general; sitting up on the couch, she grabbed her ACU uniform blouse and put it back on, the only insignia denoting her rank and position being the single star in the center of the uniform blouse. After making sure everything was in place and ready to go, she grabbed her M4 carbine and got up from the couch, stepping out of the office that served as her forward headquarters and walked out into the hangar itself, quietly making her way outside in and amongst all the hubbub and activity going on everywhere.
From what she could see, the past week's activity had fundamentally altered the landscape of both the airport and the Albany area...in regards to the airport, it had been turned into a joint operating base for both American and Russian forces, the bulk of the several thousand there being the Russians, on both the ground and in the air. By contrast, American forces were mostly centered around the Guard hangar and nearby buildings on the north corner of the airport grounds, but for the lower tech base of the American forces, they more than made up for in ingenuity, skill and simple hard work. From above, one could see the multiple barriers surrounding the airport - barriers as varied as earthen berms, HESCO barriers, tall concrete Jersey barriers, everything down to the rusted out hulks of motor vehicles that were anchored in place with steel rebar and stacked high in certain areas....from a distance, one could almost imagine the great American combat bases of the Iraq or Afghan Wars and/or the immense Russian airbase at Latakia, Syria in the two years prior to the fall of civilization.
For all the activity on the airport grounds, however, that paled to the activity back to the east in the Albany area; as things stood, American and Russian troops - both infantry and motor-rifle forces - were moving through the Albany area, searching for civilians and dealing with any hostiles that they cane across. Although the numbers of civilians still in the area were low: about three hundred by McArthur's own count - they could use every able-bodied person they came across and those who could serve she had ordered drafted into military service.....not a decision she relished, even after long conversations with both President Michner and West Point's chief legal officer, Colonel Stone, but a necessary one under the circumstances. And if most of them make it through rudimentary basic training back down at West Point, she mused as she paused once more and looked around, I might have enough for a second Volunteer Regiment. That thought alone made her happy: the more troops they could muster in the Albany area, the more troops they'd have available for the push westward.
There was also, she knew, a bit of related news that President Michner had relayed to her from West Point: of the seven newly-sworn in United States Marshals he'd sworn in the week before, he'd heard from all seven of them. All of them had come across small settlements across New England and while most of them readily swore allegiance to the United States, one of them had hit the proverbial jackpot, coming across a large settlement outside of Boston, Massachusetts that was, surprisingly enough, not only in contact with other settlements down in Rhode Island, but contained the largest number of Marines still remaining in this world....how they've survived for four long years is a miracle in and of itself, but God bless those hardy souls up there, McArthur thought as her radio operator joined her outside. "Get hold of both Major McKenna and Lieutenant Creed; I want to see them ASAP," she said to the RTO, tightly gripping the colonel's oak leafs she was holding in her hand as they stood there....
Post by BG Anne McKenna on Jul 2, 2017 1:08:53 GMT -5
Current Map of Albany - July 2017; area in red denotes Camp Albany; area in blue denotes FOB George ClintonForward Operating Base George Clinton, WNW of Camp Albany
Ahh, another beautiful morning in the field....oh, who the fuck am I kidding? Welcome to another day in the Suck, Major McKenna thought with the gallows humor of a battlefield commander as she got up from the makeshift bed in the FOB's command bunker, located roughly in the center of the FOB. The forward operating base, situated on a former golf course roughly equidistant from the city centers of Schenectady and Niskayuna, had been built and laid out in the manner of an ancient Roman fortification following the clearing of trees and other debris and detritus from over four years of non-use and neglect.
Looking at it, though, one could definitely see similarities between the FOB and its' Roman antecedents: the base was roughly squarish in shape, with guard towers at each point covering each cardinal point of the map and a sandbag-covered central tower watching over the FOB. To the west and the east were the only exits out of the camp: the western exit led out onto a road which led the roughly two miles or so from the FOB to the main terminal of Camp Albany, while the eastern exit led out onto a highway which would be their probable jumping-off point for securing the cities around them. A double-barrier of earthen berms, built by engineers attached to McKenna's regiment - that reminds me, McKenna thought; I'll have to thank Creed for the use of his diggers (a subtle reminder of the age-old rivalry between engineers and the infantry) - were the primary barrier; jutting out from the outer berm were hundreds of wooden hedgehog-style barriers interlaced every so often with claymore anti-personnel mines. If walkers or bad guys want this patrol base, McKenna thought while watching the engineers at work over the past week, they'll have to go through Hell to take it.
Inside the FOB, the base was laid out Roman-style, with large soldiers' tents along the inside of the second berm; inside of that were the FOB medical station, command bunker, central tower...and a flagpole McKenna and her Regulars had "appropriated" from Camp Albany; installed right in the center of the FOB, an American flag flew 24-7, illuminated at night at McKenna's orders as a way to tell any potential hostiles "This is American territory; back off!" As she stepped outside, ACU uniform on (sans uniform blouse), McKenna heard the reveille call and turned towards the flagpole, standing at attention as a bugler played the reveille, another reminder that this was a military fortification in the middle of a hostile area and that they were sending a message as well with it, namely a reminder that they were Americans and that they had an obligation to persevere in the face of everything and to keep moving forward, no matter the circumstance.
As the bugler's call faded in the air and everyone began their duties for the day, McKenna started to walk towards the south tower, where she planned to begin her daily security sweep, when one of the regiment's RTOs' ran out to her. "Major!" he said, message paper in hand. "Got a message from Rocky Top," the specialist said, handing her the message. Reading it, McKenna shook her head and humorously thought, Well, there goes my day....
"Looks like my plans have changed," McKenna said quietly, handing the paper back to the RTO. Walking back towards the command bunker, she said, "Contact General McArthur and tell her I'm on my way; in the meantime, have a pair of Humvees' ready to go and loaded for bear...and tell Captain Singleton that she's in charge until I return later," rushing back inside to grab her M4, her ACU blouse and Kevlar for the trip back to Albany...
Post by MG Laura McArthur on Jul 11, 2017 16:36:21 GMT -5
(OOC: Unless there's any objection, I'm going to go ahead and post on the assumption that Lt. Creed is with McArthur and the others.)Standing around outside the Guard hangar, General McArthur looked at her three subordinate commanders - Major McKenna, Major Warburton and Lieutenant Creed and conversed with them for several minutes before getting to the bulk of her words to them. "Well, whatever plans the three of you might've had for now, shelve them," pulling out a large map of the Eastern U.S. and Canada and pointing out their next destination - Detroit, Michigan. "Three days ago, I spoke to President Michner down at West Point and briefed him on the situation up here; suffice it to say, he sends his congratulations to all of you and to your personnel.
"Now that we know we can operate with the Russians on joint operations - and I plan to discuss what I'm about to tell you with Admiral Sokolov at the first opportunity - we can now cement this: we are heading westward and Detroit will be our first stop. The plan, to be code-named Operation Republic I, will involve setting up a series of trading posts and forts from Albany here to Belle Isle here," tapping the two locations on the map; looking over at Lt. Creed, McArthur said, "Now from what you've told me, you've been to Belle Isle, so any knowledge of the area that you have will be vital to the operation's success," turning her attention back to the group. "When we depart Albany, we'll head first to the cities of Syracuse, Rochester and Buffalo; there are unconfirmed reports that there may be pockets of survivors in each region...once we reach Buffalo, we'll then head north, into Canadian territory, and proceed from St. Catharines' to Hamilton to London and then to Port Huron, here," tapping the map once, "at the southern tip of Lake Huron. Once we reach that point, we can head south and into Detroit.
"We'll be taking both McKenna and Warburton's regiments - 1st Regulars and 1st Volunteers - along with your engineers, Creed, along with a second, as-yet-not-quite-formed second regiment of Regulars in short order. We'll also be getting other forces as we need them, plus I'm going to see if Admiral Sokolov will chop Kuznetzov's tanks to us for the primary operation; going by the reports thus far, his tankers are damn good at what they do....which makes me hope to see our own tankers someday as well, but that's neither here nor there for the time being."
Pausing to blow out a long breath, McArthur continued. "The details there we can hash out before she step out on the road....but there's one other thing I have to discuss with you all here," folding up the map and slipping it into an inside uniform blouse pocket. Once that was done, she reached into another inside pocket and pulled out a couple of rank insignia, handing them each to Creed, Warburton and McKenna. "Those are colonel's eagles; under the authority of the President of the United States, the three of you are hereby promoted to the brevet rank of Colonel until further notice," adding deadpan, "or until this war ends," bringing a short round of laughter from the group. The rank insignia were designed to be worn in the center of the ACU uniform blouse; it was also the only rank insignia a U.S. Army soldier wore (for some reason McArthur couldn't fathom, Marines still wore a pair of shoulder insignia)...as the three of them attached their rank insignia to their uniforms, McArthur pulled out one more set of insignia - those of a 2-star major general. "The President also brevetted me to the rank of Major General," pausing to remove the one-star insignia of a Brigadier General and replace it with the two stars of a Major General, "which I suspect I'll need for the meeting with our Russian counterparts," bringing another small round of laughter from everyone. "Anyway," motioning for them all to follow alongside, "I need to know what's going on with each of your units, so as we walk, fill me in on the situations, everyone..."
Post by BG Anne McKenna on Jul 20, 2017 23:51:00 GMT -5
After listening to both Colonels Creed and Warburton give their reports - and thinking to herself, at least Derick's earned his brevet, unlike Warburton - Colonel McKenna began. "Well, we've been running patrols into both Niskayuna and Schenectady the past few days, mainly to show the flag; at present we've picked up," pausing to flip open a small notebook and check her numbers, "about 100 survivors. We've given them medical supplies and sent them on to Camp Albany; some didn't want to go.."
"And so?" MG McArthur asked, eyebrow raised.
"...so we gave them 2-3 days worth of food and let them go, as per your orders, Geenral," McKenna replied. "We've also come across a few dead-enders; I've got three wounded, no deaths," closing up the notebook and slipping it back into an outer ACU uniform blouse pocket.
"How many encounters thus far?" McArthur asked; from memory, McKenna said, "Both were in this area, Hawthorne Hill," pointing them out on McArthur's map of the region. "I've flooded the area with patrols, both foot and rolling patrols and we've stopped it for now but..."
"Go on," McArthur said.
"Well, I'm worried about what will happen once we've moved out west," McKenna said, to which McArthur said, "You let me worry about the big picture; for now, worry about what's in front of you," adding, "and that goes for the rest of you guys." Taking off her PASGT helmet, McArthur spoke quietly. "Guys, these next six months or so could very well determine the future of the Republic but we have to push westward at some point and as soon as we can get some more forces raised up of our own, we'll make that push. Right now, there's survivors in Detroit who have out there alone for over 4 years and its' incumbent upon us to join forces with them. Now whether we do that with the Russians assisting us or without....let me worry about that; as I said earlier, just keep doing what your doing, alright?" smiling at the assembled commanders.
Russian aircraft taking off and leaving Albany was not a rare sight since the Russian Air Force had started conducting tests with their Su-34s to ascertain the suitability of the base for possible future combat operations alongside the Americans. Though the base already had the VDVs IL-76 and An-124 transport aircraft stationed at the base for when they would be needed to deploy the Russian Airborne Troops to another location in the country, or potentially move heavier equipment another location. However, the two aircraft on approach were not Russian Air Force, but Russian Naval Aviation MiG-29Ks, escorting a single Ka-29TB containing Admiral Vadim Sokolov and Lieutenant Colonel Valentin.
Sokolov knew that the American were quite content with the recently acquired Albany airport, but as they'd discussed earlier, their objective was to also reach out to other strongholds. He'd assumed that's why he'd been called to meet with Brigadier General McArthur. As he'd mentioned when they'd first talked on this matter, he had wanted to send a scout team first to ascertain what the situation was at Detroit before he let he or anyone else go there. He in fact suggested that the General do the same. As he and Valentin had discussed prior to leaving for Albany, they had just the team in mind for such task and hoped that the Americans did have one as well, and weren't going to be suggesting that they move troops, equipment and valuable command staff there without getting a feel for the situation first.
Something else was bothering the Admiral though, it wasn't something that he could quite put his finger on, but he could certainly feel it. It was tangible, it was most certainly in the air and in the attitudes of the American soldiers. It wasn't animosity per se, but it was certainly apprehension. Apprehension that wasn't there when they first arrived. Sokolov, the other officers and several of the career soldiers had noticed it, during the latter days of the Albany operation. He, and many of them had suspected that indeed this would happen at some time, but they'd expected this to be the case at a far later stage, not this early on in joint operations.
Nonetheless, he was going to put it aside for now, simply because they all had a job to do. He watched as the Ka-29TB made it's final approach to its landing location just a short walking distance away from the National Guard hangar that the Americans had set up in. His Naval Infantry protective detail stepped out first, fanning out and holding their position as they waited for him and the other officers to step out. Once they were out, the detail's commander waved them forward, and together Sokolov, Valentin and the Naval Infantry made their way toward the hangar.
Post by MG Laura McArthur on Jul 26, 2017 11:47:19 GMT -5
As the meeting between McArthur and her subordinate commanders ended, someone noted the arrival of a couple of Russian aircraft and remarked, "Looks like we got company, General." Looking over, McArthur noted the command insignia on the Kamov helicopter and thought, This is a surprise, taking a moment to put her PASGT helmet back on her head before she began walking over to meet Admiral Sokolov, noting even from a distance that the admiral seems a bit....she couldn't quite place the specific thought or expression, but whatever it was, it made her wonder if this wasn't a social visit but something else entirely. As the two groups - Admiral Solokov with his small group, General McArthur with her small group - finally met, McArthur looked her Russian counterpart in the eye and said with a wry Tennessee smile, "Nice to see you once again, Admiral Sokolov...what brings you to upstate New York on such a day as this?" referencing the almost crystal-clear weather while also trying to ease any concerns that were bubbling underneath the surface on either side...
Admiral Sokolov watched his American counterpart as she and those with her walked over toward them, and the two groups stopped somewhere in between. He attempted to resist the urge to smile at her comment, but did so anyways. "Unfortunately, it's not the good weather," he remarked, then letting out a sigh. "Unfortunately this conversation is more along the lines of how we're to proceed henceforth with our plans." He then nodded at the hangar and added, "Perhaps we should take this inside? I don't want to have to yell over the sound of engines." After all, depending on how this went, this conversation was potentially going to be difficult enough.
Post by MG Laura McArthur on Jul 27, 2017 23:04:46 GMT -5
Admiral Sokolov watched his American counterpart as she and those with her walked over toward them, and the two groups stopped somewhere in between. He attempted to resist the urge to smile at her comment, but did so anyways. "Unfortunately, it's not the good weather," he remarked, then letting out a sigh. "Unfortunately this conversation is more along the lines of how we're to proceed henceforth with our plans." He then nodded at the hangar and added, "Perhaps we should take this inside? I don't want to have to yell over the sound of engines." After all, depending on how this went, this conversation was potentially going to be difficult enough.
"Fair enough," General McArthur said, figuring that the sooner they get their plans in order - the Americans and Russians - and in sync, the better for all sides involved. Joint operations are hard enough when they involve your allies, McArthur mused as the two of them walked inside the hangar, their respective details opting to wait outside...but even harder when they involve the very country you trained your whole life to possibly have to fight someday, she added grimly.Although this first operation had gone relatively well by most accounts, she'd heard about a few contretemps (i.e. incidences) between both civilians and their combined forces and between a few members of their respective sides; she read enough Article 15 reports from her subordinate commanders to give her a Rocky Top-sized headache.
After finding a place to talk that was relatively quiet - and relatively private - McArthur said, "Alright...something tells me you didn't come up for a social call, Admiral Sokolov, so what seems to be the trouble?" It was an honest question, the kind an engineer like McArthur would ask because to her, the sooner they got everything settled down and figured out, the sooner they could move forward with their plans.
Joint operations on the scale that they were currently doing had never been done before in the history of their two countries since the second world war. He was certainly not happy about the air of hesitance that he and the other officers were seeing in the Americans, and the Americans were likely not at ease with how calm he and his officers were about this. They'd all spent their lives training for confrontation with one another. For Sokolov, that had always been Washington's doing, not the men and women who made up the various branches of service. The Russian Military had always trained to expect armed conflict with the Americans, and given how nationalistic most of the men with him were, he wasn't surprised in the least that there had been a few...problems.
It didn't change facts however, that times had changed. The world as they knew it was gone, the machinations and games of politics were gone and done with. This was a time to forge a new history, perhaps a history that was founded on the cooperation of the two nations. No matter what they had thought of each other, they had to work with each other. He'd made sure that their men were reprimanded for what they'd done, and told to ensure that no matter what the Americans said and did, they maintained the discipline expected of them as members of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. Or what was left of it in any case.
"There are several things on my mind, General, but I'll start with what's easiest for both of us to discuss," said Sokolov. "The first thing I'd like to talk about was the expedition to Michigan. I have been thinking about it ever since you've mentioned it. Operating here where long ranged fire support, air support and supplies are close at hand is one thing. Moving to an area of this country where the situation is unfamiliar to the both of us, I believe it would be foolish to do so without gathering appropriate intelligence."
Sokolov took a breath before continuing, to collect his thoughts and to let what he had said sink in, "That is why I am suggesting we both send teams to ascertain the nature of the situation before we move in our forces in any larger capacity. The GRU unit assigned to this operation has elected to send Captain Beloi's unit with one of their own, Lieutenant Alexandra, I'm told you've worked with her earlier. My suggestion is that you do the same. So as to not...how do you say, put all our eggs in one basket."
Post by MG Laura McArthur on Jul 29, 2017 1:40:35 GMT -5
Listening to Admiral Solkolv's suggestions that (a) they each send a group to Michigan and (b) that they gather intelligence before going into the blind, McArthur nodded.....to her, it made almost perfect sense. "I've been thinking similar thoughts, Admiral," McArthur said. "Its' one thing to operate in an area where support is minutes, if not seconds, away....its' completely different, though, when the nearest help is hundreds of miles away...," pausing as Sokolov continued.... Sokolov took a breath before continuing, to collect his thoughts and to let what he had said sink in, "That is why I am suggesting we both send teams to ascertain the nature of the situation before we move in our forces in any larger capacity. The GRU unit assigned to this operation has elected to send Captain Beloi's unit with one of their own, Lieutenant Alexandra, I'm told you've worked with her earlier. My suggestion is that you do the same. So as to not...how do you say, put all our eggs in one basket."
"From what I remember, Captain Beloi worked well with Major McKenna--excuse me, Colonel McKenna now," McArthur said, explaining that McKenna's brevet, or temporary, promotion was both due to her actions thus far in Albany and due to the fact that she would be leading the advance party to Michigan alongside Captain Beloi, "and Lieutenant Alexandra performed her duties in an exemplary manner; it'd be an honor to have her come along." After a few moments' thought, McArthur continued. "As for who McKenna selects, that will be up to her, but if I know her, whoever she picks will be up to the task.
"That only answers the advance part; once they're in Michigan, the hard part will be resupplying them, which means we're going to need up-to-date intelligence on possible landing areas; Belle Isle - that's the place in Michigan - doesn't have the landing facilities for aircraft on the island; there are, however, two airports nearby that do, so intelligence on both will be crucial...
"Which brings me to the other half of the expedition: the ground side," McArthur said, unfolding a map of the Eastern United States and Canada and setting it out so that the admiral could follow along. "Here we are, in Albany....and there is Belle Isle," tapping both locations on the map. "Unless we're both willing to waste av-gas and JP4 jet fuel on multi-hundred mile round-trip flights, we're going to need ground locations between them. The plan, as I currently see it - and its' still subject to change at any time - is to establish a series of air bridges from Albany to Belle Isle, creating a series of ground and air bases along the way....the ground bases for our troops, vehicles and armor, the air bases for our helicopters, prop aircraft and jet aircraft, each location effectively leap-frogging the previous one. Now, the ground bases can be set up on key high points along the way, while we can use small airports for our aircraft. Long-range aircraft we can base here at Albany, but the short-range ones will work out from those forward locations.
"The overall goal, Admiral Sokolov, is to have an unbroken route from Albany overland through Rochester and Buffalo, across the Welland Canal into Canada - I'm sure the Canadians' won't mind the iontrusion - and overland from there all the way to Windsor, Ontario - right across from Belle Isle. A supply road capable of transporting supplies to and from various locations but also the first major east-west route to be re-established since everything fell apart. Once that route's established, you can pretty much go anything north and south of it but that land route is vital to success.
"Now, the one question that keeps popping up is: what about supplies? Well, from our conversations with the leader there at Belle Isle, they've got plenty of supplies - including fuel, which surprised me when I heard it; more importantly, they still have both a large stock of vehicles that our people can use and they even make their own ammunition, which is definitely a good thing these days, which means that once our team gets there, they can pretty much live off the supplies there." Looking over at her Russian counterpart, McArthur said, "Questions?"
Admiral Sokolov thought long and hard about what was being discussed. He didn't have any doubt that the supply route was vital, and though his fuel sources were less scarce the fact of the matter was that wasting it was not something that made very much sense. Therefore he was most certainly inclined to carry out this plan that the General had for their combined operations. He was sure that Colonel Kuznetsov would be more than happy to assist with it, and they had the flexibility of the VDV to take advantage of as well. All in all, he was sure that it could be done. It would take time for sure, but he knew this when they selected him for the job. His place was in New York with the Kuznetsov and as such he'd have to rely on reports and the occasional visit to check on progress. That was for the best however, he wasn't nearly as young as he was before.
He however didn't plan on sending in them in without supplies, and the GRU had accounted for such an issue as well. Of course, they were going in preparing to stay for long, but that was why while they were going to be inserted in by an Mi-35M, the plan was always to send an Mi-171 in with a support team of VDV as well as a considerable quantity of supplies as well. Naturally, the assumption was that this 'Belle Isle' was a location where they could hold up. However, since it was not in the GRU's business to assume anything, and since none of them had elected to come for this meeting, he'd have to be asking the question that was in all of their heads. "Yes," he said a moment later. "I was wanting to ask when the last time that you had any contact with these people was, and how exactly it was that you did indeed contact them?"
Post by MG Laura McArthur on Jul 30, 2017 21:49:20 GMT -5
"Yes," he said a moment later. "I was wanting to ask when the last time that you had any contact with these people was, and how exactly it was that you did indeed contact them?"
Pulling out a small notepad, McArthur consulted the info inside; if she was anything, she was meticulous in regards to information-gathering, courtesy of having been an engineer most of her life. "First contact with Belle Isle was roughly six months ago, but it wasn't a direct point-to-point communication, it was an autoscan pickup back at West Point," pausing as she explained what an autoscan was. "Soon after the Great Panic four years ago, we set aside several radios in our Communications Center at West Point and set them to autoscan; basically they'd run through every possible radio frequency in use and record the time, date and frequency of anything they'd picked up. We knew which frequencies were used by which law enforcement agency or military installation or government facility, so whenever we'd go through the autoscan pickup list, we could see - in an electronic manner, so to speak - what was still around and what had fallen.
"Now, although our first contact with Belle Isle was made in that manner, we went back over our lists going back at least three years prior..that's how we made the initial guess as to the location; we later found out in talking to them that during the first months of the pandemic, both the U.S. and Michigan state governments had used Belle Isle as a staging and medical isolation area....thankfully, when everything fell apart, they had the good fortune to keep everything both the state and federal government had left on the Island - vehicles, weapons, supplies, portable shelters of multiple supplies - which their leader, a Ms. Sarah Sharpe - said has been a vital part of their survival to this day, especially - her words here - 'in that first brutal winter of 13-14.'
"All told, we've spoken to them several times over the past six months; we both agreed early on to keep knowledge of our existence at West Point secret; right now, the only people who know that we've been talking to each other would be myself along with both President Michner back at West Point, our communications people, Ms. Sharpe and her communications people at Belle Isle...and now, you," pausing to slip her notebook back into an inside uniform blouse pociket as she waited to hear Admiral Sokolov's words on the subject.
Naturally, this should have been the case, and even if it wasn't this should have been the answer he was expecting. Especially what with the Americans behaving as they had off late. Though he had a feeling that the General was being 'straight' with him, as the Americans would say. If that was the case, then the scouting mission would be somewhat less critical on account of the fact that presumably they could count on the members of the settlement to help them. Well, they could count on the members of the settlement to help the Americans, and in the very least count on them to not point weapons at them. He would be a fool to believe that most Americans would have forgotten the propagandist bullshit propagated by certain American news agencies about his country, and more specifically about the aggressive nature of their armed forces. It was all pizdec, but there was little he could do to change that perception in the short term.
With all that in mind, he nodded, "Well, clearly your existence was well hidden then. Not that I'm so sure I would trust a civilian to withhold sensitive information under questioning. Nonetheless, clearly you are still here and presumably so are they." He took a deep breath, "Then perhaps we must indeed send our men out, and perhaps you can warn them about the arrival of my men so they don't seal their fate by opening fire." Sokolov made it very clear that Russian Command would not tolerate anyone firing on their personnel, and to do such a thing would only invite retribution in the fullest. "Captain Beloi and his men are ready to move as soon as you are, and Lieutenant Lebedeva is already briefing their pilot as to the possible nature of the mission. However, I think it to be potentially prudent if he issue a more formal joint briefing." While typically there should be no urgency, Sokolov was under pressure from Russian Command as well as preferring not to have a unit of highly lethal killers with nothing to truly flex their muscle on the base.
Shauna Kelly: That helped, thank you
Oct 4, 2021 14:40:44 GMT -5
Ayita Hunt: dang, January was my last post.. Jeez it's been a hot minute. o7 guys, sorry for the complete disappearance, life got.. a little interesting this year.
Oct 18, 2021 22:34:19 GMT -5