Fem War II - Chapter Six

A Chapter by The Grappler

After the Doolittle Raid (haven't done the raid yet!!)

Rowdy didn’t rise from the Seat of Power as a rather bedraggled Grappler and Nacirema came into Colonel Grappler’s office tent. Instead he swung a few times in a quarter circle back and forth on the swivel chair, hands behind his head and feet on the desk, and purely and obviously enjoying himself.

“Ah, this is the life! Looks like you two have been dragged over a dusty paddock.. with a few scratchy bits in it!”

“Yeah, the joys of active service, Rowdy. Don’t mind us - we’ll just take a seat here on this side of MY desk!”

Rowdy magnanimously waved a hand to the two chairs,

“Be my guest. So - how’d it go?”

“Let me catch my breath! It went pretty well - no reports back yet on the strike, but we got ‘em all off pretty well. Bit of interference from an Empire patrol, but one of those damned big battlewagons took care of that. You oughta see the guns on those things!”

Jess had a word,

“I’d reckon they could use a lot more anti-aircraft stuff - only takes a coupla hits and they’d be out of action. Need to stop ‘em before they hit ya! I think them big boys rely on their speed and firepower, but that ain’t no good against a small target that’s moving fast!”

“Yeah, you’re right. Make sure you let Brad know that when we get back to him….”

… Grappler looked at his watch…..

“…in about an hour, soon as we shower and clean up a bit! Better get on with it. You just hold down that desk for a while yet, Rowdy - but don’t get too used to it, - I’m not going anywhere soon!”

“OK, will do! I found you a couple of good prospects for Squadron commands! Clue you in when you get back!”

Grappler nodded and he and Jess headed for the showers….

* * *

Nelson was ready with hot coffee and some of his favourite bagels, and gestured Grappler and Jess to chairs straight away, and had the orderly pour the coffee before leaving. He took his time, letting them get in a couple of sips and a bite first.

Grappler sighed contentedly and put down his cup, Jess following immediately.

“We’re ready, Brad, soon as you are.”

Nelson nodded, switching on a recorder.

“OK, I’ll let Jess lead.”

Jess lead, dropping her skokiebokie accent suddenly and sounding like a high-flying General instead of a Sergeant,

“OK, General, thanks, Colonel - I felt the Hornet mission went pretty well considering we were way out on a limb there, and the carrier concept seemed to be pretty solid.

I’d just like to say that I felt that defence against air attack was a bit limited, to say the least, and that having to stick to railroads every time is a bit restrictive. We won’t always be able to get our air where we need them - right up there at the pointy end, so we need to have a couple of plans in place.

Way I see it - we keep the TRACs up and running, full aircraft complement, and we keep with the battlewagons - a great way to get some heavy artillery around, and I hear the Navy has some surplus old 16 inch barrels, ammo and stuff around and is refurbishing them for a full battle job. Should give us some punch where we need it.

I’ll hand off to Graps now.

Oh - and those damned things need showers!”

Nelson nodded,

"Good point about the showers", from Nelson, "Your turn, Graps!"

“OK Brad, Jess has given the basics. The answers we, Jess and I both that is, see are that we keep the TRACS at full strength, and use them or maybe some backup TRACS that aren’t war jobs as such, but more like freighters, that we can use to insert air power into fields and road stretches not too far from railroads, but near the front and close enough to the rails so we can supply them easily. More permanent. These freight TRACs, Jeep TRACs we could call ‘em, would just be a quick in-quick out for delivery and pickup of air on site, and as a backup to replace aircraft lost from the big TRACs. It’s a big call, but we can do it.

As for air defence, they need those Phalanxes up and running soon, plus some long range artillery stuff onboard, but the big thing we need is air cover over our own TRACs. You have to fight fire with fire, and the best way to down a plane is with another plane, and you need fighter cover for your attack aircraft anyway, or you’ll lose the lot. I’d reckon Eliza got away with her plan, for the simple reason that it would be such a shock to Hilter and her cohorts, but that’s a one-off.

Running the rails is a bit limiting in that you can only run a long line of TRACs, but having a close-in dedicated anti-air TRAC in front and behind our air TRACs should help a lot, or maybe a couple of flat cars that are gun and missile dedicated on each air TRAC.

Task groups are the way to go, just like the Navy in the past, with support, defence, and offense all in one package under one command… and flexible.

Those big gun TRACs should be great. Troops on the ground will love ‘em.”

Grappler paused again, making sure he had Brad’s attention.

“The biggest thing I figure is that the Navy should run the TRACs.. Now hear me out.

The Navy has heaps of experience with carriers, and they know that s**t backwards, and they’ve also got a lot of people just sitting around with nothing to do. We could have some dedicated Naval Air TRACs, and some dedicated Air Force with the Navy guys running them to free up more people. The Navy air would be always onboard and available for quick redeployment around the front, and the Air Force could combine that plus take charge of established fields on the ground.

As far the Battlewagon TRACs, the Navy’s got the guns and stuff in storage and the knowledge of ‘em - and the same applies - they’ve got the people available right now.”

He paused again, and Brad nodded,

“Go on - I can see something else coming.”

“It’s also … history and morale. The Navy feels mighty left out at the moment - Sprague didn’t say so much, but I could see it in his face - and they are mighty pissed off about it, senior service and all that. Their history shows that they want to fight and will go anywhere to do it - and I think we need to give them something to focus on in this war. The Air Force will be happy to run its own fields and I figure they feel safer with their feet on the ground, so to speak, at established fields, rather than running around all the time on a moving and vulnerable platform. Also allows for a rapport between the ground-hogs and the Air force when you’ve got air commands right with the troops.

So that’s it - way I see it - a fair combination of Air and Navy, and, for maybe only the second time in history, an orderly chain of command, like Chuck Horner had in Desert Storm.

That’s it, Brad!”

Nelson had it all on a recorder, which he switched off, and sitting back, put his hands to the back of his head.

“OK! Good work! I’ll be taking this to the President in…. two hours. Thanks, Graps… thanks Jess.”

He rose to shake each by the hand…..

“I’ll be putting in another good word for you reprobates with The Man as well. Now leave me alone to set this up as a proper presentation for Rubin. I’ll get the staff to run up a few fancy diagrams and stuff, just to round it out.”

Jess and Grappler stepped back and saluted, then turned to go…

“Oh, guys,”

They stopped, turned back,

“I’ll be recommending to Rubin that your private army be officially recognized and be placed on the order of battle. He’ll accept it, as I already know. Jess is going to be stepped up to Command Sergeant-Major, and you Graps - well - you stay the same as now. Let me have your command structure, troop complement and supply requirements. Might not be a lot of extra new stuff to go around, weapon-wise, but we’ve still got plenty stashed away from the past - and some of it is pretty good.

Night, troops! Tell your people it was a great job!”

Nelson saluted first, they saluted again, and they left him to his planning…

* * *