Battlefield Russia

Liberated

A cool breeze moved across the sprawling military encampment as the Marines of Echo Company focused on completing the last mile of an early morning run. Rounding the last stretch of the perimeter they were running along, Captain Long really opened it up, pushing himself as hard as he could. Few of his Marines could keep up with him as he ran for all he was worth. Once he reached the finish line, he slowed down until he came to a walk and then continued to amble along for a few minutes as he completed his cooldown. The rest of his Marines eventually arrived and followed suit, stretching their muscles and grabbing their canteens to rehydrate.

Looking to his left, Captain Long spotted a pair of C-5 Galaxies unloading several hundred new Marines, fresh from the States. “I wonder how many of them are slated for my unit,” he thought.

Once he finished his stretches, he trotted off to his tent to gather his gear to grab a quick shower and then head over to the mess tent for some breakfast. Today marked the third day his Marines had moved out of the field to a formal military camp. After months of hard fighting, the remaining PLA forces on the island of Taiwan had surrendered to the Allies. Now came the hard part — the rebuilding of the island and preparation for the eventual invasion of Mainland China.

An hour later, Captain Long walked into a tent that had been designated as his company headquarters and saw his platoon leaders eagerly waiting for him. “Good, the new guy is here as well,” he thought.

“You trying to kill us on that run this morning, Captain Long?” snickered his XO, a good-natured first lieutenant from Idaho.

“You guys are just out of shape, that’s all,” Long replied with a grin. He pulled out some ibuprofen from a bottle on his desk and tossed four tablets down his throat and then passed the bottle to his lieutenants. As he chased the pills down with water, they all broke out in laughter, though the new guy stayed relatively silent. Captain Long realized that he was the odd man out. The rest of the officers had all fought and bled with each other, but the newbie would still be unsure of where he fit in.

Checking his watch, Long turned serious. He took a seat and stared briefly at his platoon leaders. “Today is the start of day three we’ve been back in camp,” he began. “We have a lot of work to do to get ready for what may be coming next. First, I need you to get on your NCOs to submit any award packets they want to write up from the Taiwan campaign. I also want the squad leaders and you platoon commanders to get me your AARs by the end of the day. During the regiment meeting last night, I was told the award packets from the Philippine campaign had all been approved and will be handed out in a ceremony on Monday by the division commander.”

A few of the men smiled at the news. They were glad to see their Marines being recognized.

Captain Long looked down at his notes and then back at his lieutenants. “We have fourteen guys receiving the Silver Star, and two of them had their medals upgraded to Navy Crosses. Fifty-two Bronze Stars and sixty-seven Purple Hearts as well. Sadly, twenty-three of these medals will have to be awarded posthumously. Here’s the official list of those receiving an award; make sure everyone knows who’s getting what. Before I hand this out, I want to let each of you in this room know you’re being awarded Silver Stars. That was a hard-fought campaign and we lost a lot of guys, but you held your platoons together despite some terrible losses. I want you each to know that I went to bat for you guys to get those awards, and every one of you earned them. You brought great honor to yourselves, this unit, and the Marines. Those paratroopers fought like demons.”

Sighing, he passed the list over to his XO and then continued, “We’re still short nine Marines. I was told the replacements should be arriving today, so when they do, make sure your sergeants get them integrated into their new fireteams and squads ASAP. Figure out with your NCOs what you want to do for team building exercises next week. We have a lot of new faces in the company, and we need to get them synced up with our veterans, so everyone starts to work as a team.”

The leaders nodded.

“Today is Friday,” Captain Long continued. “At 1800 hours, you’re to dismiss your platoons until 1900 hours on Sunday. If they want to sleep in, go to the MWR, gym, or whatever else they want to do on base, let them. These guys need some downtime. Come Monday, we’re going to be right back at it, training for the next mission.”

First Lieutenant Buck Conlon, his XO, asked the question that Long realized must be on all of their minds. “Do you know when the mission is? Are we going to invade the Mainland?”

The others sat silently, waiting to see what Long would say. “I’m supposed to meet with Colonel Tilman tomorrow. Hopefully, I’ll know more after I see him. What I can say is we are most certainly invading the Mainland. Shoot, the Army’s already invaded the Mainland in northern China — us Marines can’t let the Army get all the glory.”

Looking at his newest platoon leader, Second Lieutenant Miles Johnson, Long asked, “So, Lieutenant, why don’t you give us the ten-second version of who you are and how you ended up in the famed Echo Company, 2nd Battalion, 6th Marines?”

Lieutenant Johnson stuck his chest out. “I’m from Atlanta, Georgia, and I joined the Corps right after graduating college. My brother served in the 2/3 Marines in Korea before he was killed. I asked to join Echo Company because I was told this unit saw more action than any other unit in the brigade.”

“I’m sorry to hear about your brother, Johnson,” Captain Long said. “I was in Korea when it all started, though I was in a different unit. Right now, Second Platoon is missing an officer, so that’s where I’m going to stick you. You have an outstanding platoon sergeant, so basically listen to what he tells you as you get your bearings. We’re going to run through a lot of drills and exercises the next few weeks, so that’ll be a good time for you to learn how to lead the platoon before we’re thrown right back in the fire. Just don’t try to rush things right away; take your time to get to know your men and your sergeants. You’ll do fine. If you have any problems or questions, ask any of these guys for help, or you can ask me.”

With the company business out of the way, Captain Long passed things over to his XO while he and the first sergeant got caught up on the few remaining details — mostly promotions and award packets that had to be finalized for the battalion.

“There may be a war going on, but by God, your paperwork had better be in order,” Long thought, nearly laughing out loud at the absurdity of it all.

The following evening, Captain Long found himself sitting next to Lieutenant Colonel Noble, his battalion commander. Colonel Tilman had invited his battalion commanders and a couple of captains to come along with him to a newly opened restaurant just outside the camp, and he’d reserved a large table for them in a private room, his treat.

“Gentlemen,” Colonel Tilman began, “we’ve gone through hell together and lost a lot of friends along the way. I wanted to take some time out of our busy schedules to just relax, eat, and drink some beers together before we worry about the future. Right now, just enjoy this moment and the comradery we have with each other. When this war is over, these are the memories you’ll look back on and long for again.” He raised his beer, taking a very long chug before he sat down and joined his men as they broke bread together.

Long wasn’t sure how it had happened, but he’d ended up being seated opposite Colonel Tilman. He tried not to overthink the seating arrangement and downed a beer like everyone else. After some good grub and another beer, he was starting to have a great time, just like everyone else. Then Tilman suddenly leaned forward. In a very serious tone, he asked, “Captain, do you plan on making the Corps a career, or are you going to get out at the end of the war?”

Judging by the seriousness of the colonel’s question, Long knew his immediate future probably rested on his answer. He’d been thinking about that very question for a few months now. He was on year eight in the Marines, and usually at year ten you had to make a firm decision as to whether you were going to stay in until retirement or get out. This conversation felt like it was speeding up his timeline a bit.

“At first, I planned on getting out when the war was done,” Captain Long admitted. “However, I’ve given that a lot of thought, and I think I want to stay in and see where my career takes me.” The colonel’s demeanor immediately changed from serious to happy, and he knew he’d given the right answer.

“Glad to hear it,” said Tilman. “With your record and all those medals, you’ll go far. As a matter of fact, I’m going to promote you to major. I’m short staffed officers right now, and I need some people I can trust to take command of a new battalion we’re forming up. As we near the final stage of the war, the size of the Marines is still growing. All the Marine divisions are being given a new regiment, and the regiments are being given a new battalion, and the battalions are getting another company. It’s all part of this massive buildup leading to the invasion of China. I’m sure once this is all over there’ll be a huge demobilization like they did at the end of World War II, but for the time being, this is a great chance for you to get some higher-level command experience. When the time comes, I’ll do my best to shield you from any demobilization.” Tilman spoke like a father whose son had just joined the family business.

“Until the men for the new battalion start to arrive, I want to move you to my staff so we can spend some time getting you ready to take command,” Colonel Tilman explained. “You know the field side of command, but we need to get you up to speed on the garrison side of running a unit. We’ll be back in combat by spring, but until then, you’ll be spending a lot of your time getting your new unit ready to fight.”

Captain Long’s brow furrowed as a reflex as he thought about the enormous weight of responsibility. Tilman must have seen the change in his expression. “Listen, Tim,” the colonel said, “I know you’re nervous, and rightly so. But I’m going to take care of you. I’m going to give you your current battalion sergeant major to help you run things. I’m also going to make sure you are assigned half of your officers from those who fought in the Philippine or Taiwan campaigns, so you won’t have an entirely green command structure. This position is definitely going to force you to grow, but we need competent combat veterans in command, not guys who have the right rank but have never seen battle. My regiment is the toughest, most combat-tested regiment in the Corps right now, and I want to keep it that way.”

Captain Long nodded. If the colonel was going to look out for him, then he knew he’d be OK. “I heard a rumor that you might be taking over the division. Is there any truth to that Sir?” he asked.

Tilman snickered for a second, then leaned in closer. “Between you and me, it’s true. They aren’t certain on the timing just yet, but yeah, I’ll be taking over the division for the invasion of China. I still have no idea when or where we’ll be fighting, but I do know this next round of fighting is going to be bloody, probably bloodier than anything we’ve seen up to this point. That’s why I’m going to need commanders who know how to fight and win when the time comes.”

President Hung Hui-ju was horrified as she walked along Bo’ai Road toward the capitol building. The glass windows of nearly every edifice nearby had been shattered, and the shards lay on the ground below. Debris from the torn and blown-out buildings was also strewn about, littering the sidewalks and street. Seeing such destruction was unnerving. As she thought about all that had happened to her beloved city, she could not help but cry. She could only hope the other parts of the city and the rest of the country had not sustained such appalling devastation as well.

Even now, crews of waste management workers were out doing their best to clean up the debris. Several large trucks had dropped off enormous dumpsters at varying intervals to give the work crews somewhere to collect the debris. As she observed a few more moments, President Hung was reminded that the cleanup effort was in fact an international one.

With Taiwan’s economy in tatters, many of the government services were in complete disarray. Tens of thousands of contractors from the US, South Africa, South America and many other countries had been being flown in to help stabilize the country and get it back on its feet. The US, for its part, was providing a steady supply of food, fuel, and other support to aid the remaining people still on the island.

Despite the devastation around her, there was still hope. Many of Taiwan’s citizens who had fled prior to the fighting were starting to return, bringing with them their intellectual capital and know-how to get parts of the country running again. It would be a slow process getting the country moving again, but many nations had pledged support, and in time, it would happen.

Wiping away her tears, President Hung stood up tall. She resolved herself to rebuild the country and prepare to become the eventual leader of a unified China once the communists had been defeated.