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Praetorium Honoris

Friday, October 1, 2021

A Bad Start...

(Source)

The little hamlet of Dirksen's Corner was in flames.

The new peacekeepers had been in place for three weeks and a day, things had been calm until three days before Dirksen's Corner burned. On that day a teenager had spit on one of the peacekeeper APCs. One of the soldiers near that vehicle, who spoke very little English, remonstrated with the youth, who promptly extended a middle finger in that soldier's direction and suggested that he "go f**k himself." The Chinese soldier understood that particular phrase.

After a beating right there in the street, the youth was taken to the Chinese compound and held in a small building just inside the wire that the Chinese were using as a jail. During the night which followed, a band of locals broke the young man out of the jail, in the process they had killed one of the Chinese sentries.

Three days later, before sunrise, a full company of Chinese infantry mounted in APCs surrounded the hamlet and opened fire on the small settlement. Some of the residents actually returned fire using whatever firearms they had to hand. Seven Chinese soldiers were wounded, two were killed outright. All thirty-three inhabitants of Dirksen's Corner were killed.

The Chinese had gone house to house, killing anyone they found - regardless of age - then setting each of the buildings alight. When the last soldier had climbed back aboard the APCs, nothing was left of the hamlet.

Nothing.


"How is he Doc?" Jack Bishop asked Mike Henderson, who wasn't an actual doctor but had served as a Corpsman with the Marines during his time in the Navy.

"Cuppla busted ribs, lots of bruises on his torso, but I think he'll be okay. Right Bobby?" Henderson ruffled the kid's hair as he said that.

Bobby Leftwich groaned as he sat up. "Yeah, those bastards really worked me over. Assholes."

Jack looked at the young man and said, "You're gonna have to lay low for a while son. You got any place you can go that's out of the way?"

"Well, I'd need to go home and get my Ma. Then maybe we could head over to..."

At that moment Theo Weiss came into the room, in a very big hurry. "The f**cking Reds attacked Dirksen's Corner, burned it to the ground." That's when he noticed Bobby, he knew that Bobby was from Dirksen's Corner.

Bobby looked at Theo and asked, "What about the folks that lived there? Did the Commies arrest them?"

Theo put a hand on Bobby's shoulder, "I'm sorry Bobby, they're all dead, was your mother at home this morning?"

Bobby nodded as tears began to stream down his cheeks. He was an orphan now.


Jack and Billy were headed back to Billy's place. It was time to head into the mountains, they'd collect Ida and Billy's Jeep and head up to Jack's to make further plans.

Jack broke the silence, "Your hound, good hunter?"

"She's a good dog Jack, but she's no hunter, more of a watch dog."

"She doesn't bark that much, how can she be a..."

"Sadie will come find me or Ida, she'll let us know if there's anything suspicious going on. She's a real good dog."

"She have any special diet?"

"Nah, she'll eat damned near anything, though she's pretty partial to Purina Dog Chow."

"Good to know, Bart loves that stuff. Do you want to bring Sadie with you?"

"Absolutely, I'd no more leave her behind than I'd leave Ida behind." Billy seemed a little irked that Jack would ask such a thing.

"It's alright Billy, I didn't mean nothing by that, Sadie will be an asset up there. Ya know we're going to have to hunker down for a while, then start fighting back. Let the bastards relax until the winter comes, then we'll start making life miserable for them."

Billy nodded, looking out the window of Jack's truck as they rolled down the road. Winter wasn't that far off, but would folks wait that long?


"Staff Sarn't Sager!" Major Mo Morrison called from his office at the Guard Armory. The sergeant poked his head in a minute later.

"Sir?"

"Yeah, this is Captain... What did you say your name was again?"

"Zhou."

"Right, Captain Zhou here wants to see our records, particularly those dealing with weapons and ammunition."

"That's a lot of paperwork. Sir." SSgt. Sager addressed the Chinese officer directly. "Can you and your driver handle it, that little car you've got won't do it."

The Captain smiled and said, "You needn't worry sergeant, I can have a full company..."

Captain Zhou's smile froze in place as he felt the sharp blade of the Major's knife slide into his back. He died quietly, Morrison lowered the corpse to the floor. He looked at Sager expectantly.

"Driver's dead, Gleason killed him. We put the car with the body in it in Garage C. Shall we drag this bastard out there as well?"

"Nah, let him rot right here. Is everything ready?"

"Yessir, vehicles are all loaded, we've got seventy-eight men, all fully equipped. We'd have more but a lot of the guys and gals are on vacation, what with the school break and all."

"Let's mount up and beat feet before the Commies figure out that they're missing this asshole." Morrison said, nodding at the corpse on the floor of his office.

"Damned good thing the State Adjutant General gave us a heads up." Sager remarked.

"Yup, damned good thing. I hate to say it though, he'll probably be executed by these Red bastards. Unless he's got a fast car and a good plan."

"Hey, he survived the third Gulf War and that scrape in North Africa. I'm sure the old man'll come through, he's one tough hombre."

"I'm still gonna pray for the man."

"Pray for us all, Major. I am."




48 comments:

  1. Gramps went to Korea, Dad went to Vietnam... Frankly I'd consider it an honor to uphold our long family tradition of killin commies. Think of all the carbon credits I could get doing so, CONUS... None of that pesky travelin hafway 'round the globe to put in the work and creating a giant travel based carbon footprint. How very green and environmentally conscious of me. Added bonus? Gramps n Pops would be smiling down on me the whole time.

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    1. Nice thing about killing commies is you definitely aren't violating any of the Lord's tenets against mano-y-mano fighting. Well, according to Rafał Gan-Ganowicz, when asked how it felt to take human life, "I wouldn't know, I've only killed communists.”

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  2. "Did the Commies arrest them"...... missing the ? Sarge? Aaand there's that well-known line from Hollywood.... "from the files obtain form 4473." There'll be no quarter from the Red Chinese.

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    1. Punctuation is important because otherwise you really cannot tell what the writer is trying to say and does that make sense yes

      Fixed it. Don't expect quarter from the Americans either.

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    2. Punctuation is what differentiates Pandas from a drive-by baskeball player at a picnic.

      "Eats shoots and leaves." vs "Eats, shoots and leaves."

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    3. Beans, I'd almost bet that you own the book by that title. I do.
      --Tennessee Budd

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    4. No, I saw the title somewhere. But I was raised on "Warriner's English Grammar and Composition." I can still diagram a sentence structure...

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    5. Or... the difference between helping your Uncle Jack, off a horse...

      ;)

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  3. OK, I may be old, but I can be a sacrificial shot on the outer perimeter or at least a decent watchdog when the hearing aids are in. Send grid for meet-up. I do seriously wonder if we are headed in that direction. I think we would be better off if a small country and coordination /communication were not as difficult. I don't see relatively small groups in far places being successful, though they might be a catalyst.

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    1. Yeah, the Viet Cong/Mujahidin model may not work in a country of this size. But the partisans in Russia worked well along with the country's vast size. Too much to bite off and chew, especially with riled up locals running around killing and destroying in your rear areas.

      Still need an organized army to push the would be conquerors out, let's hope it never comes down to that.

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    2. Depending on the local, partisans can do quite well in these United States. Oceanside Florida? Maybe not so much, but swamplands Florida and the weird cavey section up near Tallahassee or along the spine where there's lots and lots of trees and water? Good places.

      The Appalachians, from Georgia to Maine, offer damned good cover and lots of caves and mines. Same out west, where you have tunnels and mines everywhere.

      The partisans will have to act locally, because that's the terrain they know. Heck, a buncha Maine Lobstermen? A more hidebound and recalcitrant bunch of seafolk that you've ever seen. Can't even imagine what they'd do.

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    3. It's more the amount of fight in the people than it is the locale. But having good places to hide is pretty damned important.

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    4. It's not all about combat arms, Bob. Never was... Contributions to the cause of liberty are many and varied and, I'm sure you have value above and beyond fixin a bayonet and wading into the shit. Don't let anybody tell ya different and don't feel the need to justify whatever slack you may need. "Inclusive" ain't just a word for progressives to abuse.

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    5. Observing and reporting, even us old guys can do that.

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  4. Ham radio, folks. They can be hooked up to car batteries and don’t need internet, cell towers, etc. to work.

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    1. Yes, those could work. But they can also be tracked and monitored. Typically not encrypted either.

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    2. There's 5 watt handhelds and 50 watt mobiles. Keep it brief, keep moving and use codes. Not perfect but a lot better than nothing if the cell phones mysteriously go down.

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  5. Well, that escalated quickly...

    Sarge, I have to confess I approach your blog with trepidation now, wanting very much to read it because it so well written and engaging but at the same time fearing what I will read that day because it is uncomfortably close to a might-be...

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    1. I often have the same thoughts when I'm writing it!

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  6. I knew I was in for a troubled read when I saw the picture.

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  7. Heh. Never go to a foreign officer's post in troubled lands without a suitable escort. Foreigners, in this instance, being the Americans...

    I can believe the above. Not some Nat Guards, but the ones based more on more, er, rural communities or those away from the big cities (that don't overall, provide much natguard material anyways.) Start quietly setting up plans and contingencies as soon as the bastard blue helms (even the nicer Euro or Sarge's South African ones) show up. And most will wait out said 'nice' blue helms until they leave after 'the emergency' is over. Introduction of ChiCom blue-helms? Yeah, that would activate lots of plans. Be funny how much material was already 'accidentally' dropped off at locations before the final bail-out occurs.

    Freedom cuts deep, finally. Good knife skills. There are several neat technique as to keeping the knifee from making too much noise and struggling. Shiv up into the kidneys is one, slicing the throat and pushing the head forward is another, and there are many many more.

    Glad the Major didn't use the other preferred method, suppressed pistol firing subsonic rounds to the head. Would have been a bit of a gore-fest all over the Sgt.

    Are they going to take the bodies with them and hide them along the way? If so, drive the car and lose it somewhere? Or just leave them hanging for other ChiComs to find? Dangit, you, you, cliffhanging serialist, you!

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  8. Good Story!!

    There are an awful lot of folks, inside as well as outside this country, that just see the population as fat, lazy, loud mouth, spend every dime cowboy types. What folks tend to forget is that EVERYONE who immigrated to America was someone who had the Adventure gene expressing rather strongly, whether the immigration occurred voluntarily from the 1600's on, to more recently, or involuntarily, by being indentured, being deported for crime, or were slaves. The ones who survived the method of transportation, and the initial adjustment period, went on to have kids. Several generations later, we may have a population that, at first glance, look like a bunch of whiny, lay-abouts, just fat and happy with our daily lives, however, appearances can be deceptive. While everything will fight if cornered and in fear for life, this population has a very high percentage of warrior in the gene pool. Added to that is the fact that up til quite recently, patriotism was not a frowned upon activity.
    I think that may be due to the fact that this country has been a melting pot for a long time, and for most of the life of this country we individually regarded ourselves as "Americans", not as Irish Americans, or Italian Americans, etc. While there has been plenty of discrimination over the years, having to fight off the Native Americans on the frontier, and then the English in the Revolution, folks learned that even though we might not all have the same physical characteristics, we needed each other to survive. In more recent times, having the draft, made sure that everyone knew someone who was going off fighting whoever, or wherever. Again, that "forced assimilation" for lack of better term benefited us as a country.

    Now in current times, where there is no longer any forced service to Country, we are reverting to being a bunch of small, petty, tribal types. Add in the facts of basically independent nature, freedoms from having dictators/feudal overlords, and the ability to obtain the means to defend ourselves, as well as an economy and resources which allowed us as a people to grow and flourish financially. Americans would be tough to beat from the outside in our own land. Can we snatch defeat from the jaws of victory and do ourselves in...certainly.

    To large extent, I think that is what is going on currently. In reaction to a leader that many folks did not like because of rude/boorish/gruff behavior, a nation voted for someone who appeared nice, polite, and civilized.
    The fact that folks who voted were not paying attention to what was being said that the "nice" leader wanted to do, actions he wanted to take, the voters took the bait, hook, line and sinker because they couldn't taste the hook until it was too late. Seriously, who would vote for ANYONE that PROMISED to raise taxes???!!

    What many forget, especially in the hallowed halls of privilege and academia, cowboys might have been rowdy, uncouth, and not highly educated, but they came in all colors, sizes, and nationalities. They had a major work ethic,skills with weapons, and strategy, common sense and logic were also frequently used tools. Far more useful than emotion, gnashing of teeth, and culture shaming. Cowboys and Indians were masters at sneaky, quiet, there-before-ya-knew-what-hit-ya defensive and offensive actions. Which is pretty much the definition of guerrilla warfare. Which is what ya get when you go around yanking the big dog's chain.

    Biting is commencing.

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    1. We can't allow balcanization to begin! Or, actually, maybe we better stop it.

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    2. Well said, Suz!
      The Southeast (as well as quite a few other places) is full of folks with a lot of Scotch-Irish blood; lowland Scots sent to Ireland in another 'replacement', like the one with the US now. Ornery folks who keep to themselves, but if they must fight, they tend to really get into it. Some figure you might as well enjoy it, if you have to do it anyhow, and it helps that that tribe has survived damned near everything.
      --Tennessee Budd

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    3. I figure our divisions would be put on hold if someone from the outside came in.

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  9. We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

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  10. Someone recently said "If the right hundred people suddenly disappeared one night, all this would cease"... Now, here's the thing, absent of centralized command, how many small groups would have slightly different lists of 100?.... You know what they say, "Many hands make short work". No one man need take responsibility for this whole clusterfuck, there's more than enough clusterfuck to share. My fear? We're not thorough enough if and when the time comes. I can resign myself to not seeing the back end of this, I cannot resign myself to #1 living under the bootheel they so desperately want to see on my (our) neck. And, #2 I flat refuse to dishonor the memory and the efforts of those who came before me, fought, bled and in many cases died to protect the rights we ALL enjoy in the United States of America. Period.

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  11. Hard to find the correct 100.... Good story, sad but a good story none the less.

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Just be polite... that's all I ask. (For Buck)
Can't be nice, go somewhere else...

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