Militia (4 page)

Chapter Five

M
ike and his
father arrived home a little after ten at night. The ride back home was silent with each man deep in thought. As they climbed out of Mike’s old truck his father told him to follow him downstairs. Mike followed him to his basement bar that had served as a neighborhood drinking spot during football season for as long as Mike could remember.

Mike senior reached under the bar and brought up a bottle of whiskey and poured two shots. He handed Mike a shot without a word and the two men bumped their glasses together and swallowed the sour liquid. As soon as Mike had set his shot glass down his father poured another shot for each of them and went to the fridge grabbing two beers.

“Mike, I know that you have seen some bad shit over there. I could see it in your eyes the second you came home. I believe that what you are doing is the right thing and I am with you all the way. But I am your father and you know that if there is anything that you need to get off of your chest you can talk to me.”

Mike took a swig from his beer while wondering where to begin. “Dad, the last mission that I ran will haunt me for the rest of my life. It was my first mission as a team leader. We had been out for days trying to find an enemy cell. Just as I was getting ready to give up and bring my team back my roommate took a head shot from a sniper. We grabbed his body and started hauling ass back towards safety when the mortar rounds started coming in. We made good time but they had us dialed in pretty good. I had my guys take cover in a cave while I went out to try getting a radio signal to get some rounds on the enemy and get my guys outta there. A mortar hit right on the cave collapsing it and killing my whole team while I just got thrown through the air and knocked out.”

Mike senior looked at his son but stayed quiet.

“This was my first mission as a leader and all of my guys got killed. I guess that I am just worried that more people will die under my lead and I don’t know if I can handle that.”

Mike’s father raised is shot glass once again, “to your soldiers, Mike.” Mike raised his glass to meet his fathers and drank. “Mike you know that I’ve been there myself, right? Not Afghanistan, but Iraq got pretty ugly at times back in my day. I can’t say that I lost any men as I never made that rank, but I’ve watched my friends die right next to me, same as you. What I think you are missing in what youth was left to you is that the responsibility you took for your men is why you were promoted in the first place and why you are a good leader. When you put your team in that cave and walked outside into mortar fire, you were risking your life to try and protect them. You may not want to lead anymore but the same reason that you don’t want it is the very same reason that this town and those men in that barn all need you.”

There were no words left to be said and Mike’s dad poured them each a third shot and again the men clinked their glasses and drank. They finished their beers in silence and quietly made their way back upstairs. Mike fell asleep easily with the whiskey buzz humming through his body. He dreamt once again of that last mission but this time he realized that he did everything right. His team hunkered down in the cave and Mike remembered the fear that ran through him as he took a deep breath and stepped out into the unknown. Everything that he could have done to protect his men he did. There was no way he could have known that the cave was going to take a direct hit. His father was right.

Waking up Mike could still taste the whiskey on his breath. He grabbed his cell phone and called Steve.

“Hello,” Steve said groggily.

“Steve, its Mike I need you to get your ass up and get over to my place.”

“Damn, Mike, it’s like six in the morning. You have to be shitting me. “

“I need help setting up some training and you might as well get used to waking up even earlier ‘cause we are going to start every day before the sun comes up. My way or nothing, remember?”

“Alright, Mike, don’t get your panties in a bunch. I’ll get some breakfast in me and be out the door.”

Mike got out of bed and started digging through one of the green Army duffle bags on floor. He pulled out a pair of camouflage cargo pants, a brown t-shirt, and an old broken-in pair of boots. He went downstairs to the kitchen and grabbed a handful of jerky and walked over to the gun cabinet. The assault rifle he had bought as a teenager was still there as it had been since he joined the army complete with the modifications he made that allowed it to fire like an automatic. Mike grabbed it, pulled the bolt back to make sure it was clear, and slung it over his back.

By the time Steve showed up Mike had been sitting on the porch swing waiting for nearly half an hour drawing shapes on large pieces of construction paper.

“What the hell are we doing, having an art class?” Steve joked.

“Making targets and you’re late.” Mike responded, “How many did you get signed up?”

“Almost everybody at the meeting wanted in so we got around sixty names before leaving the barn but we were getting phone calls all night with more people joining who had heard about it through word of mouth. I think we have a little over a hundred of em now.”

“Good, I need you to spend the day getting a hold of every one of them and telling them to be here at five tomorrow morning with boots, any light camouflage hunting clothes they have, and sturdy book bags. Tell them to bring what guns they have and to make sure they have twenty five pounds in their bags. Before you start making calls run over to Jake’s house and help him bring all of his guns and ammo over here.”

“Alright man, you got it.” Steve got back in his car and headed off on his first mission while Mike continued to make targets.

The next morning Mike’s road was lined as far as the eye could see with cars and truck and the front yard was filled with tired, camouflaged people all waiting to find out what he had in store for them.

Mike walked up to the large group and blew a whistle to get their attention. “The first thing we need to do is to get all of you in shape,” Mike began, “you are going to have to learn to ignore pain and push your bodies further than you ever have before. There is no point learning anything about combat if your bodies cannot handle the physical strain that combat will put on them. It looks like everybody brought their bags so head out to the road. I want you all in two single file lines spread evenly apart on each side of the road. Don’t move until I tell you to. There is a line on the road a couple of miles away that I spray painted where you will turn around at. Steve, Mark, and Tom, I need you to stay here with me for a minute.”

The tired group of people did as they were told while Steve, Mark and Tom stayed in the yard with Mike.

“Ok guys the people of this town all listen to each of you and they all respect you. You are going to be there leaders. I will expect you to work harder than anyone else in this group. You will be here early and leave late every day. For this exercise I want all of you to stay in the center of the movement by taking sections and making sure they are keeping the spacing I will set them out with.”

The men nodded to Mike who then led them to the front of the two lines. Mike told the first man in the left line to start walking and after they had moved ten yards or so he had the first man in the right line start walking. One after another Mike had them start with the same space between each man and set his leaders up with equal groups. Once the whole group was in motion Mike ran all the way to Steve who was with the front group. By the time he reached Steve the front of the movement was just reaching the turnaround point and were looking very tired. Most of these men had never walked so much as a mile with a pack on and were quickly realizing that they were far from being in the kind of shape that a soldier must maintain.

Running to the front, Mike took the lead and had both lines follow him all the way back to his front yard. Once everybody had made it back Mike sat them all down and had them rest while moving around and showing his appointed leaders how to check their troops feet and having them all drink water.

“That sucked didn’t it guys?” Mike said after hearing some faint, under the breath grumbling, “but I promise you that it is only going to get harder from here on out. If any of you would like to quit now would be a good time to do it.”

Many looked around at each other as if to gauge the reactions of their friends but not a single one of them got up and left. Mike was actually surprised to have not lost a single person after their first road march.

“Every morning at five you will all be here ready to train. We will start each day by exercising and then go into classes for the rest of the day. You will be taught how to survive off of the land, communicate without words, and to shoot among other essential soldering task that I feel are necessary for our goals. Bring water and something to eat for lunch with you. If I have you show up in running shoes you will have your boots in your bags. If I tell you to show up in boots you will carry your shoes. You will all bring at least two extra pairs of socks every day. Do I have any questions?” Mike waited but nobody seemed to have anything to ask.

They spent the rest of the day going over classes just as Mike had promised. The first half of the day Mike covered basic first aid and after lunch started teaching them how to trap small animals and find edible plants. Every day that week the whole group assembled on his lawn ready for a workout and every afternoon sat through one class after another with hands on training following each session. After two months of this they were becoming soldiers. Every one of them was able to march for fifteen miles, run for five, and had learned as much as Mike cared to teach in a class-like setting. Every day after releasing the group Mike had Steve, Mark, and Tom stay for another hour going over leadership and movement tactics. Not once did any of them quit or complain. Finally it was time to take them to the next step.

Now when they arrived they still did their morning workouts which still got progressively harder as they found themselves in increasingly better physical condition, but instead of doing classes they followed Mike into the woods and started training on everything they had learned so far. Over the first months Mike had spent most of his nights setting up training in the same woods he had grown up playing and hunting in. There were at least ten separate ranges to cover everything from marksmanship to every assault drills they would need to learn. He had even built a small town with the help of the militia’s leaders to practice room clearing.

In between tactical training Mike and his father would walk around helping the others perfect survival skills like not tying, tracking, and trapping for food. For two more months his militia lived on these ranges. They trained during the day and then they trained during the night. It was almost convenient that none of them could find work and were able to do nothing but train and sleep and as they progressed in their survival skills less and less food was needed to be brought from their homes.

Mike split the group equally between Steve, Mark, and Tom giving each man a platoon of around forty soldiers. He them helped each of them break their platoons down into squads and teams by placing their best soldiers as squad and team leaders and filling each small group with the rest of their men. They began training in these groups every day, getting to know each other’s strengths and weaknesses. Before long Mike was actually amazed by how well trained they were becoming. They started focusing on team and squad tactics and quickly progressed into platoon and company assaults.

The soldiers were now one big family and had even begun calling themselves the Middle Militia after the fact that they were the survivors of the once-great middle class. By the time winter had set in they were ready. Mike set them out on their first mission; it was time to take their town back. Under the cover of darkness they moved into town. They had spent two whole weeks planning the assault and every man knew what he had to do. Mike’s orders were to clear each building arresting all criminals inside and only shooting if fired upon. They moved so quickly that no fight was needed and by morning they had arrested many of the criminals and many more had ran off back towards the city.

Once the sun was up all detainees were gathered up, told not to step foot back into the town again and driven by the truckload into the city of Erie. Even those who began in this militia with the most doubt now had the confidence in their skills and training which can only come through a real life mission. The Middle Militia had won their first victory without having to fire a single shot and the gangs that took refuge in their town knew to find another town to call home from now on.

Over the next few weeks the militia quickly took to the roll of its town’s law enforcement personnel. Patrols were assigned to all members of the militia and rotated day and night to ensure the safety and well being of their citizens. At first the people of Edinboro who were not involved or well informed enough of the new militia were skeptical and even afraid of the new patrols but it didn’t take long for everybody to embrace the idea. Mike had reminded his troops that their actions around the town would speak louder than any words could. Their actions never interfered with freedoms (even those freedoms deemed illegal by the government) but instead only served to protect the town and its people from harm.

The armed patrols added to the small raid, quickly got the point across to outsiders that Edinboro was not the helpless town it once had seemed. Not that outsiders were unwelcomed but their actions were watched carefully for signs of theft or gang activity. After only a week the militia had gained the trust of the town and Mike was able to set up neighborhood watch programs which reported any incidents or suspicions to the militia.

On top of police patrols Mike and the men and women dedicated to the cause organized humanitarian efforts which all of the militia took to in one way or another. All extra food taken from the traps that they all now knew how to make was handed out at the local food bank and free labor was given donated by those in the militia who had various expertise from medical training to construction.