Operation Red Dawn and the Siege of Europe

Raptor Rapture

The 3^rd Marine Expeditionary Force (3^rd MEF), were finally relieved of their position in Damascus following the IR surrender. The entire 3^rd Marines had been selected to stay with General Gardner’s Army and rotate back to the US for a rest and refit before moving north to attack the Chinese and drive them back to the sea. For the men of the 3^rd Marines, this decision could not have come at a better time. They were tired, dirty, beat up and downright ready for a long-overdue break. They had been fighting for nearly a year, first in Mexico and then rapidly deployed to the Middle East for an incredibly fast and intense war, resulting in several million people killed in direct combat.

1^st Lieutenant Thornton had started the war as an E5 Sergeant; he was given a battlefield promotion to E7 Gunnery Sergeant, and then given a battlefield commission to 1^st Lieutenant as the leadership in his battalion had been nearly wiped out. He had just gotten done with a staff call with Major Lee, the battalion commander (well, technically, he was now Lieutenant Colonel Lee, since he had just recently been promoted).

“Thornton, I know that you are getting ready to have some time off, and it is well-deserved, but we are going to need for you to complete an officer familiarization course after your leave. Lest you think we are singling you out, all of the battlefield-promoted officers and NCOs will be attending one of these courses. Even though the 3^rd MEF may only be returning home for a short time, now we need to normalize some of our more traditional training.”

“Also, congratulations are in order. You are being promoted again, this time to Captain; your new rank will be more befitting of your position as Company Commander. With the Corps still dangerously short on officers and senior NCOs, you are also going to be functioning as the battalion executive officer (XO) in case something happens to me or I need to be taken offline.”

“Yes sir, thank you sir,” replied Captain Thornton. He had made the mistake of making a less-than-grateful response to a promotion once before; he wouldn’t make that error again.

Once he digested his own promotion, Captain Thornton had to pass along some news to the rest of the company.

“Listen up ladies and gentlemen. You all know that we are going to be headed out of this hole and headed home for some R & R.”

Whoops filled the room.

Thornton signaled for the room to quiet down. “Well, we are all getting 30 days at our homes of record. Following the R & R, we will reform up and start attending two weeks of various professional development training courses. Then we have four weeks of intensive training on the new Raptor combat suit, and finally a two-week field training exercise (FTX) in the new suits. From there, the 3^rd MEF will continue to train at our home station for another month before deploying forward to California to await further orders.”

The men of the Company were excited; they had just survived a horrific year. Many of their friends and comrades had not been so lucky, and now it was time to return home, rest and recuperate before preparing for a new fight. This fight would be different from the others; it was a fight to defend the actual homeland on U.S. soil. Many of the Marines were ready to go fight the Chinese now; the adrenaline junkies inside them were chomping at the bit to get back into the fight.

Most of the longer combat veterans, however, knew the war would still be there waiting for them after their leave, so they were more focused on enjoying the downtime before the killing began again in earnest.