Glimmer of Hope (Land of Tomorrow Book 1) (7 page)

Chapter 8 – Meeting of the Minds

The first gathering of the Jackson Purchase Emergency Meeting started with tight lips and downcast stares at the table. Lieutenant Governor Reginald Philips had gone to some significant trouble to get the men and women together in the Calloway County courtroom. Reggie came to the conclusion that if the personnel responsible for conducting state duties and services were not gathered together and given direction and support, they would slowly melt away into the mass of people just trying to survive. Although he would have preferred it otherwise, he knew as the state's Lieutenant Governor he was the only person who could legitimately call them here.

There were fewer people than were invited, but more than he expected. General Clarence Anderson was present and his new Deputy Commander, retired Marine Major General Dale "Butch" Matthews. Butch had been enjoying retirement teaching classical history at Murray State University on N-Day. After Reggie convinced Anderson to come back on active duty, he in turn did the same with Butch.

Next to Butch sat Frank Simm, the District Commander of the Kentucky State Police, and to his left sat Janet Cline, the state-appointed FEMA Director for the Jackson Purchase. Doctor Thomas Stevens, the President of Murray State University, sat across the table from Janet, and to his left slumped John Downing, the Director of the Tennessee Valley Authority works in Kentucky. TVA responsibility included Kentucky Dam and the Land Between the Lakes Park. Counting himself, Reggie had seven people to help him. Not many, but he was thankful for them all.

Reginald cleared his throat. “I appreciate all of you coming here today and I know some of you had some trouble given the conditions of the roads and lack of gas.” He looked around and paused, “I feel like we should begin our session with a prayer for guidance, wisdom, and support.” Reggie expected some push-back, but everyone just nodded, with some even giving him encouraging smiles or nods.

Reggie began, “Lord, I thank you for sparing us the destruction that has been visited upon much of our country. We don’t know why it came or why we were not destroyed too, but we are grateful we have so much, while others have nothing. Lord, in these days ahead, please grant us Your understanding, wisdom, and strength to do what we can to retain decency, justice, and mercy in the world.” There was more Reggie wanted to say, but he was afraid he would lose control of his emotions before the meeting even got started. “Amen,” he said, and heard several others follow suit.

Reggie deliberately opened his folder and scanned the items on his agenda. “As you probably know, the County Executive Council has become the primary means of cooperative governmental decision-making in the Jackson Purchase. I can tell you those representatives are great people who are trying to do their best. The problem is they need a…” Reggie sought for the right word, “…framework, let us say, to operate. I believe that is where we come into the picture.”

Doctor Stevens spoke up. “You’re saying, as state officials, we’re separate from their county rivalries and interests, and thus possess a certain position of trust by default.”

“In a sense…yes,” replied Reggie. “I hope I’m not shocking anyone when I say that I think the federal government of the United States of America is not coming to our rescue.” Although Reggie knew this and felt everyone else in the room did also, the silence still made him feel depressed. Speaking these things aloud felt like crossing a point of no return.

He continued after a pause, “People here, given time, will transition to some alternate form of practical government. They all understand democracy and how a representative government works. Our job is to protect them until the day something greater comes into being, and that mainly means we keep doing what we’re all doing and keep fear away as much as possible. I know that’s hard, but history has shown how fear can destroy us all if it gets a foothold.”

Frank Simm, in his immaculate state police uniform, leaned forward and placed his hands on the table in front of him. “Reggie, I hope I’m not overstepping here, but I think we all understand the gravity of the situation. You don’t have to convince us. We’re with you or we wouldn’t be here. Just tell us what we need to do.”

The delivery was gruff and direct, but Reggie appreciated the message which was that they accepted his authority. The first hurdle crossed, he plowed forward.

“Well, as you know I’m invited to the Council Meetings and allowed to speak first. I would like to begin those meetings by telling them what we're doing and propose recommendations to give them the framework we talked about earlier. I know you have all been doing great work. I would like each of you to keep doing that work, bring up issues, and let us talk through problems together.”

The room became silent as everyone looked at each other expectantly.

“All right,” said Clarence Anderson finally. “I would like to start unless someone else wants to go first.” Everyone nodded, so he pulled out reading glasses from his military uniform pocket and began scanning lists.

“The three national guard units are currently at 86 percent manning, thanks to the ability granted at the last Council Meeting to enlist new members. We have also established a basic training and retraining facility outside of Murray for new enlistees and those with no combat training. I would say given the circumstances, this training is progressing well.” Anderson took off his glasses and sighed, “With that said, we’re going to need more troops. These units are not enough to cover the borders for any extended period of time.”

Janet spoke up a little defensively, “Well, the FEMA plan was really only designed to operate temporarily, maybe a few weeks at most. We’re going on almost four months.”

“Exactly,” said Anderson, “we have troops away from their families. Desertion, insubordination, and acts of punishment have increased. We’re asking them to do too much. Enlistments are going well since food and shelter appear to be incentives enough, but we need more.”

“I trust you have a recommendation,” said Reggie with a smile.

“Indeed I do,” answered Anderson. “I would like to have Butch Matthews here talk about an idea he has that I think might be our best bet.”

The short and stocky Marine sat forward and looked around at them all. “Thank you General. Although enlistments are up, we really cannot afford to significantly increase our troop levels. It costs us incredible amounts of food, fuel, and other resources. As you all know, the monetary system has completely broken down and we rely on a barter system. This makes paying soldiers a nightmare and additional soldiers makes that worse, but frankly we need them.” General Matthews smiled for the first time, “I propose that we take a page from our own history and establish a county-based regimental militia system.”

“Excuse me,” said Doctor Stevens, “but isn’t that what the National Guard is anyway, at least, in essence?”

Butch nodded and continued, “Before N-Day that would have described the Guard’s origins, but they have now been activated and constitute the JP's active duty force. In our situation, I don’t think we want to change that. We need a highly trained, permanent, and experienced military force. We just don’t have enough of them, nor do we have the resources to greatly increase their numbers.” Butch nodded his head, “No, for all intents and purposes the Guard is now our permanent standing army.”

Several voices began talking at once, but Butch rode over them by continuing to talk. “What I propose is that we maintain the current National Guard units as a ‘central’ force under our control, and encourage each county to form its own militia regiment. These forces can then do the lion’s share of the daily protection duties, freeing the National Guard units to respond to crises and secure key facilities. These county regiments will fall under the control of the civilian government, and like their colonial ancestors will elect their own leaders and serve largely for free.”

Butch had rushed through this explanation in nearly one breath. It was obvious he had rehearsed it several times, not wanting to get bogged down in questions before he could present the essence of his plan. He paused now and looked around expectantly, and Reggie thought even a little apprehensively.

He believes in this
, thought Reggie, and that convinced him. Reggie was not a military man, and even if he was, he couldn’t handle all the responsibility in addition to those he was already entrusted. Butch was a good man; it was enough for Reggie to know that Butch believed in his plan and thought it best for all of them.

Janet leaned forward with a frown on her face and was getting ready to say something, but Reggie jumped in before she could voice doubt that might be contagious.

“This may be the answer we need. Well done Butch!” he said with enthusiasm. Butch smiled at him in gratitude while Anderson tilted his head and looked back at Reggie with a knowing smile.

“There will, of course, be challenges and complications,” continued Butch. “First of all, we don’t have the equipment or resources to outfit these new units yet and the counties are unlikely to have them either. Second, we can’t pay these men and the counties will be unwilling to do so. They will have to serve freely for mutual self-preservation, again like our colonial ancestors. And finally,” Butch drew in a breath, “we have no system to train these new militia. If we leave it up to the counties it will result in a mishmash, or a rabble, that couldn’t work together to organize a bake sale, much less fight to protect us.”

“But…” added General Anderson, perhaps sensing the mood turning, “we believe we have ways and means to overcome these obstacles. Perhaps we should take these problems which Butch has identified one at a time and then discuss the proposal.”

“Wait a minute,” said Doctor Stevens abruptly, “is this even legal? Sounds like we’re talking about putting together a bunch of yahoos from the local bar and giving them guns. Is that smart? Don't these rednecks already have tons of guns? Can’t we continue relying on the Guard and police until things change?”

“That’s the main problem,” said Reggie evenly. “Things are not likely to change and even if they do, they are probably going to get worse before they get better. I know this is difficult to swallow at first, but I recommend we at least hear Butch out. He’s put a lot of time and energy into this problem.”

Stevens frowned, sat back in his chair, and crossed his arms.

Butch took this as his cue to continue and pulled out a piece of paper from his folder. “We currently have the equipment we need for the Guard forces, but I must emphasize the word ‘currently.’ I estimate that in order to outfit the militia regiments, we will need at least 5,000 rifles and 500,000 rounds of ammunition, not to mention the other equipment, such as uniforms and boots. That stuff we can improvise, but the guns and ammo we can’t.” Butch continued while looking at his charts, “The Remington Arms Plant at Mayfield is working to retool their line to produce what we need, but that will take weeks and that doesn't address the raw material and parts issue. Right now they are mainly tooled to produce hunting shotguns. They also are not set up to produce ammunition at all, but the guys down there know what they’re doing. They believe with the proper resources, they can eventually produce 100,000 rounds a month, if we are only talking about one or two calibers. That is also contingent on their ability to produce cordite for the ammunition"

“Which brings us to another problem,” said Anderson.

“Yes,” stated Butch, “we want all our forces to all use the same weapons, or at least the same caliber of ammunition, or else logistics will be a nearly impossible. Our Guard forces already use 5.56mm for their AR15 and M4s. That is what we need for the militia.” Butch again paused and looked around a little sheepishly, “We think we can get all we need from the post at Fort Campbell.”

“You mean the army base, where the 101
st
Airborne Division is?” asked Janet. “Won’t they want their stuff?”

“We’ve had numerous deserters, refugees, or whatever you want to call them, come in from there, and they tell us the place has simply faded away,” stated Anderson. “After N-Day, communication and command either openly broke down or slowly melted away over time. Most units locked up their buildings, put everyone on extended leave, and went home, wherever that was.”

“Yes,” continued Butch, “and fortunately one of the men who made it to us was Master Sergeant John Robels, who ran the base ammunition supply point. He locked everything away tightly, packed up his family, and came home to Ballard County, along with all the keys and security combinations for the ammo point. He says getting weapons out of unit supply rooms will be fairly easy as long as we have some time and energy to dig through concrete. We just have to get there and come back with the stuff.”

“Uh…not to throw any problems into your plan,” said Frank Simm, “but are we talking about robbing the U.S. Army?”

“Yes,” said Anderson tensely. “But you have to realize, there is no U.S. Army anymore, and we need that equipment and ammo to protect ourselves. Just last week a group of marauders raided from across the Ohio River killing fourteen of our people, taking many women and girls, and stealing a lot of the area’s food. This sort of thing is going to increase, not go away. Maybe we should go on to problem two,” said Anderson to Butch. “I think our plan to ‘acquire’ needed weapons from Fort Campbell is the best bet, but let’s go on so everyone can digest and hear everything.”

“Of course,” said Butch. “The second issue, lack of pay, is not so much a problem as a fact of life. This is something everyone will have to accept. We need to remember that Minutemen weren’t paid; militia service needs to become a shared community obligation again, not a job.”