The Rangers Are Coming (29 page)

“If they send a thousand ships, can our Navy stop them?”

“Unfortunately not,” said Arcadia.  Some of the troop ships will get through and be able to land on our shores.  That’s why we need another Brigade of Rangers.”

“We will still win,” said Arcadia, “despite the loss of lives.  It will leave the Europeans short of money, ships, and the ability to feed their people.  We’ll demonstrate a Christian nation does not hold grudges and start doing all the things the Europeans can’t do for themselves.  Of course, they won’t be able to pay for all this, so we will extend them credit.  In the end, we’ll initiate a great trading relationship and with the Europeans owing us so much money, they will think twice before offending us again.  Our neutrality will be secure.”

“Does this solve all our problems for the future,” asked Robby?

“Not by any means, there will be new issues and new problems beyond your lifetime, and these may not be in our history books.  We might have to find new answers to new threats.”

                     
28

Fort Freedom, Virginia

              The new recruits were pouring in.  Sergeant First Class Robert Pierce watched them as they stepped off the Chinooks, wide-eyed over their first air flight.  They were eager and excited, but also very apprehensive.  Robby remembered his first impressions and understood the feelings.  In his case, none of the men who came for the formation of the first brigade had any idea of what they had actually signed up to do.  This bunch had read the extensive coverage the Rangers had received in every paper in the country.  There were even a few eyewitnesses to seeing the Rangers in action.

              Robby had chanced upon Sergeant Thomas Seacrest, the man who first interviewed him in Boston a lifetime ago.  He was now Sergeant Major Seacrest, the top non-com in the brigade and working for the new brigade commander, General Forrester. 

              “You’ve come far, Pilgrim,” said Seacrest.  “I’m proud of you.  Now you’re going to have a platoon of your own to train.  Who’s helping you?”

              “Sergeants Wilkins and Thomas,” said Robby.

              “Good men,” said Seacrest, “they’ll keep the lads on their toes.  They are old hands at this kind of work.  Don’t be too proud to ask for their advice.”

              “You can relax on that, Sergeant-Major, I hardly know what I’m doing here myself.”

              “New drill instructors have a tendency to coddle their troops too much.  Don’t do it.  Remember not all of your fifty men are going to make it through the training.  You will lose about 20 percent, who just can’t cut it physically or academically.  When we get out in real action, you’ll lose another 5 percent, at current numbers.  Be tough, but fair, reasonable, but demanding.  You’ll do fine.”

              Now the moment was upon them.  He had 50 young boys standing in front of him in disorder.  He walked out in front of them, his two sergeants flanking him.

              “Good morning, recruits,” he said.  “I want you to line up in rows ten across and five deep.  I want the shortest man in the front right corner as you face me, and tallest man in the back left row.  Now move it!”

              The men shuffled around, Wilkins and Thomas used their batons to help the pokey ones move with a sense of urgency.  When the formation was finally formed, Robby went back to the front. “This is the formation you will have anytime you are ordered to fall in.  Try to remember who’s standing next to you, because if you get it wrong, you will have to pay a physical penalty in pushups.”

              “My name is Sergeant First Class Pierce.  These are my bothers in arms, Sergeants Wilkins and Thomas.  The three of us are Rangers.  None of you are Rangers, and some of you will never be Rangers.  For the next twelve months, you will be tested physically, mentally and emotionally.  This is a volunteer army, you can quit and go home, whenever you like.  In fact, we hope you do ring the bell in front of the mess hall and save us the trouble of having to write home to your family that you just got killed in battle because you were stupid, or got tired, or couldn’t stand the stench of a battleground.  The first words that come out your mouth when you speak to us are ‘Yes Sir, or No Sir, Drill Sergeant’.  Do you understand?”

              A loud chorus of “Yes Sir, Drill Sergeant,” came from the recruits.

              “I can’t hear you,” shouted the First Sergeant.

              The recruits screamed at the top of their lungs, “Yes Sir, Drill Sergeant!”

“We are not officers, so in real life we don’t rate a Sir or a Salute, but you will see and take classes from a lot of officers who do rate both of those.  We just want to make sure you don’t forget proper protocol.”

“Now, the first thing we are going to do is turn you over to the medical people, who are going to vaccinate you for every disease we know about.  After that, you’ll go to the quartermaster to draw uniforms and equipment.  Then you will be assigned your quarters, two men to a room, or two women, for you four.  You’d better make up your minds with whom you are going to live with for the next year.  After that, we will go to lunch.  You will spend the rest of the day taking tests so we can find out who can read and write and separate you into classes.  There is no shame in not being able to read and write.  We guarantee you will be able to do both and a lot more before your training is over.  Now we are going to march over to infirmary and get started.  Move in single file, starting at this end and filling in when each rank has cleared.”

The three sergeants ushered the recruits into the infirmary.  When the last had entered, they relaxed, knowing that they would not see the recruits for several hours.  They took the time to get better acquainted.  “I’m John Wilkins, First Sergeant.  Aren’t you the one they call ‘Hawkeye’”?

“That’s me.”

“It’s an honor to serve with you.  Some of your exploits are legendary.”

“If that were the case, I would be the General,” smiled Robby.

“I’m Mathew Thomas, First Sergeant.  I don’t need to be told about you, I was in Veracruz when Willis Grant got killed.  You may not remember me I was just one of the troops, but you saved a bunch of us that day, and the way you handled that cavalry outfit was really smart.”

              Robby looked at Thomas, “I thought you looked familiar to me.  I’m glad to have such a veteran in my staff.”

              The sergeants picked up their platoon as they emerged from the quartermaster’s building.  They had all been to the barber and were completely bald.  They were now dressed in fatigues, and looked incrementally more like soldiers.  They moved the men to the barracks.  The recruits had all doubled up and so the Sergeants let them have ten minutes to admire their new quarters and wonder at the lights, mirrors, large beds, running hot and cold water and the flushing toilets.  They dumped their piles of uniforms and equipment.  Instruction of how to square away a room would come later.

Then it was off to the mess hall.  Robby remembered how hungry he was when he’d gotten his first meal, and how surprised at how good and plentiful the food was.  He didn’t give them any more time to eat it than he had had.  In exactly 45 minutes, they were moving in a line toward the classroom building and instructors took over to separate the men and women by education levels.

When the day was over a lieutenant came out to give Robby a report.  “It’s a about what we expected.  About half the platoon is functionally illiterate.  We can fix that in fairly short order with the computer enhanced learning programs.  None of them has IQ’s so low they can’t learn.  They are ignorant, and unschooled, not stupid.  You do have some pretty bright people in your group, especially two of the women.  We’ll push them along into higher studies as fast as they can absorb it.”

The training got underway in earnest the next morning.  Robby and his Sergeants drove the platoon very hard for a month.  They were shaping up into a good platoon.  When the specialized training began that involved other instructors, Robby was sent to the Special Education center, which was also at Fort Liberty.

The elements of business, trade, commerce, and finance, diplomacy, and the history of the world, with special emphasis on Europe were presented in sections and he learned them.  He became very proficient at operating a computer.

Part of the special education was a stream of information regarding the politics going on in Europe.  Apparently, the American ambassadors to the major countries were able to stay in contact by radio with central command.  The French and the Spanish were pushing hard to form a coalition with the great powers to mount an offensive on North America.  The voice of caution was coming from the British, who had first-hand experience with the tremendous capabilities of the American army.  All of the European powers were madly trying to regain what they had lost in the Americas by absorbing other weaker countries in the world.

A big part of his education was learning the long strides being made in America.  With the election of George Washington as President in November of 1776, he was able to organize departments to handle the many enterprises the country needed.  Arcadia made sure that money was not a problem, even though the flat rate system of taxes was working very well.

The most important projects underway were the development of bigger and more efficient steel mills.  There were now half a dozen Bessemer plants in operation and specialized products of all kinds being manufactured in revolutionary assembly lines.  Products coming out were tools of all kinds from hammers to saws to shovels all produced at a fraction of the price of what it had cost to hand forge these products.

The power for these mills and other factories was coming from improved hydroelectric plants.  The simple generators Ben Franklin had seen were now being built in full sized versions and power was pouring out.

One of the priorities for the country was a working transportation system.  The first rail line between Philadelphia and Boston was completed in 1778.  At the same time, construction began on the first transcontinental railroad. 

There was not a single unemployed person in the country and the biggest problem for many of the projects was a shortage of labor.  Washington solved this problem by importing hundreds of thousands of starving peasants from Mexico, Central America and some of the Caribbean Islands.  They were housed, educated, provided with ample opportunities to worship God in the Roman Catholic tradition, and paid more money each month than any of them had ever seen in their lives.

In return, the emigrants returned the benefits they were receiving by working very hard.  Washington limited all workdays for the whole country to ten hours and everyone had no work on Sunday.  This, in itself, was a big improvement in the working conditions that people had previously known.

America adapted the steam engines from the locomotives to the shipping industry.  The plants started turning out materials to build steel-hulled ships with powerful steam engines.  Soon, a growing fleet of ships was coming out of the graving yards.  They were stronger, faster, safer, and had a much bigger capacity for carrying cargo.

Another industry that was emphasized was textiles.  The special education department got a few hints, here and there, from people disguised as students in the classes, but were actually trained technicians.  In record time, the concept of the modern power loom came off the drawing boards.  The British would not reach this level of sophistication for almost a hundred years.  Cotton that would have normally gone to England to be turned into clothing and textiles, was now sent to plants located near the source.  The southern states began to be the leaders in the manufacturing of cloth.  Best of all, it was produced by former slaves whose standard of living improved along with the plantation owners.  The introduction of the cotton gin significantly increased the amount of cotton that could be grown and processed.  The manpower for this expanding enterprise came mostly from Mexico and Central America.  No new slaves were imported from Africa.

Much of this was still in development when Robby started in the Special Education school.  It didn’t stay that way very long.

Robby left the school after a month of intensive study and returned to his platoon to guide them through their year of training.  They graduated 40 recruits and they went on to their permanent units for specialized training in the full range of Ranger operations.  It was a fast year, and a second brigade of Rangers was just a year short of being operational.

      
29

The New District of Columbia

              Arcadia stood in the center of her office and looked at the big model of Washington, D.C.  It was almost a perfect copy of the real Washington she had known all her life, but was now just a smoking radioactive ruin in 2025.  She had made a few small changes, but it was substantially the same Capital.  Of course, most of it was still not built.  She had a crew of 50 men who had come with her from Branson, all top-notch architects, contractors, electricians, plumbers, and top worker supervisors.  To this, she added 10,000 workers.  The first year they all lived and ate in tents until the building that would be the National History Museum was finished.  It was large enough to house the work crews with offices for all the supervisors, and one for Arcadia.