The Rag Page 8

  They saw ten federal guards in the area, but it was a very relaxed atmosphere with most of the guards lounging around with their weapons leaning against sandbags instead of in their hands. There were only two of them actually on alert at the gate. They were obviously not expecting any trouble. In fact, they seemed more interested in keeping an eye on the Texas side of the Sabine River instead of the Louisiana side.

  The patrol was being led by George Carson, accompanied by Tim Johnson, Juan Gonzales, Sam Bennett, and Jamie. Jamie had no formal military training, but his father had taught him to shoot and to move quietly through the woods. He had begged Ray to allow him to participate in this operation, and Ray had reluctantly agreed. Jamie had been a part of the team that had escaped, so Ray believed he was entitled to be a part of this.

  After their recon, George reported to Ray, and the plan was put into operation. The three Humvees that were captured from the federal forces were standard issue, but one of them was equipped with a top-mounted M2 machine gun. That had been the lead vehicle in the federal convoy, and that would be the case when they approached the federal guard post.

  It was just after dark when Ray’s disguised team pulled up toward the gate. The guards had the area well lighted since the river was fairly narrow at this point, and people could try to swim across instead of using the bridge. This lighting set the guards up clearly for George Carson’s team that had moved into the nearby woods. When the fake convoy approached the guard post, the guards were all outside waiting to be relieved, and George’s team opened up first, quickly taking out several guards. At the same time, Magee opened up with the M2, and Ray’s team poured out of the Humvees. The combined firepower of Ray and his men disguised as federal troops and the patrol killed the remaining guards in a matter of seconds.

  Ray then ordered two of the three Humvees to be driven back down the road to bring up the Louisiana National Guard unit survivors. Since there were a total of fifty-four people, the children were loaded in the three Humvees that Ray’s team had originally used, but the rest of the men and women had to walk, so the progression had been slow. Now at least, the rest could ride in either the additional vehicles or on top and could get to the river faster.

  However, before they arrived, Ray had to make contact with the East Texas militia across the river. He knew that they would not just allow anyone into the counties they controlled. They did not want to turn away refugees, but because of limited resources such as food and housing, they had no choice. They were only allowing families into the area if they were related to the people in the counties, had a family member with a military or first-responder background, were other members of the medical profession, or had other special skills that could benefit the militia.

  Ray knew that everyone with him fell into those categories; but he had to convince the Texas militia leaders of that fact and also to get them to accept the fact that many more families would be arriving with the helicopter, infantry, and armor units that were to follow. While he thought about all this, Ray was also carefully watching the west side of the river across the Sabine River Bridge. He didn’t see anybody, but he knew the members of the Texas militia were there somewhere because they had to have heard the gunfire and sent out a patrol to investigate.

  Ray knew they were probably suspicious since he and some of his men were still wearing the federal uniforms. He felt that changing out of the uniforms with the militia watching would just increase their suspicion. He decided to make his move before the National Guard members and families showed up. He laid down his M16 rifle and removed his belt and holster that contained his Glock 19 pistol. He then raised his hands and began moving through the bridge lights toward the west end of the bridge. He had ordered his men to stand down, so there were no weapons being pointed toward the west side, although the men had their weapons at the ready.

  When Ray reached the end of the bridge, he still saw no movement ahead of him, so he yelled out to the darkness, “I am Lieutenant Colonel Raymond Thibodeaux, formerly of the US Army Special Forces. I have recently escaped from a federal detention center in New Orleans with other former inmates that are with me. We also have some survivors of the Louisiana National Guard and their families coming up behind us. We want to join up with the Texas militia.”

  For a few moments, there was no response, and Ray was wondering if he had been mistaken and no one was out there. Then someone in the darkness responded to him, and he immediately recognized the voice of the man that said, “Hell, Colonel, aren’t you way too old for this type of crap?”

  Ray breathed a sigh of relief, lowered his hands, and answered the inquiry, “Is that really you, Sergeant McElroy? I can’t believe the Texas militia is so desperate that they would accept a lowlife SOB like you.” Ray heard a chuckle as the former first sergeant of his Green Beret Company, Greg McElroy, emerged from the darkness. They shook hands and embraced, and Ray saw that his friend and former senior noncommissioned officer of the company he had commanded now wore the insignia of a major in the East Texas militia. McElroy was a handsome redheaded Irishman with a quick temper and outspoken nature that did not endear him to others. However, he was a great soldier, and he and Ray had quickly bonded when they served together and become a successful team. This was the first time they had seen each other in many years.

  They were glad to reunite, but both knew that this was not the time or place to swap war stories and reconnect. Ray told McElroy about his team’s escape and how they had stumbled into the fight between the federal relief convoy and the members of the Louisiana National Guard. He said that the National Guard group should at the bridge within an hour. He also wanted to know if they would all be allowed to join the Texas force.

  McElroy said that was not his call. The commanding general would have to decide that, but in the meantime, they had to prepare themselves to defend against a possible incursion by federal troops. McElroy explained that the enemy rotated their guards at the bridge once a week. He believed that the main base where the guards came from was only a few hours away. When the relieved unit did not show up, the feds would assume something was wrong and send out a heavily armed patrol to find out what had happened.

  The major also explained that he was in charge of all the militia guard posts along the Sabine River that formed much of the eastern border of the counties controlled by the militia. He just happened to be checking on this particular post tonight when they heard the firing break out. Each guard post had one squad of eight men assigned to it, and there were platoon-strength reinforcements scattered along the areas behind the border. They were each assigned to move to one of four posts if necessary. The one assigned to this particular post had been immediately alerted by McElroy and was on its way, but it might take as long as ninety minutes to get there.

  The commanding general had also been alerted, and two special operations teams had been dispatched from his headquarters in Canton, Texas. However, they were also several hours away; and unfortunately, McElroy had no way of knowing how quickly a reactive federal force would arrive. He told Ray that as soon as the National Guard unit came in with their families, Ray’s team would join with the soldiers of the Texas militia and the guardsmen to establish a defense perimeter while the families were moved to the rear.

  The major was worried because he did not know how the feds would react when they discovered that their guard detachment had been wiped out and he did not know how large the federal force would be. They might decide to immediately launch an assault into Texas or wait for further reinforcements, but the militia could not take any chances. They had to prepare to defend against an all-out attack.

  The concern was legitimate since the federal forces arrived at the bridge just thirty minutes after the Louisiana National Guard unit and families had moved across it. The families were packed into two of the Humvees recently occupied by Ray’s team, plus the three liberated federal Humvees. Two of the Humvees had a mounted machine g
un and would have to be part of the bridge’s defense. The other vehicles would take the families to a rear position while some of the National Guard troops were deployed to defend them.

  Ray and his former first sergeant were close enough to the bridge to see the federal unit approach it. The force appeared to be about forty men, which made it approximately platoon strength. That meant that when it came to manpower, the patriot strength was equal to that of the federal troops. The feds had three armored Humvees and two large troop transport trucks. What was most worrisome to McElroy was that they also had a Stryker assault vehicle that was a heavily armored infantry transport unit mounted with a remote-controlled 50-caliber machine gun.

  That was heavier than anything that the militia had, and the standard grenade launchers they had were not capable of penetrating the Stryker armor. They could not destroy it or even slow it down. If it was used to lead a federal attack across the bridge, the militia would be basically defenseless. Then Ray told McElroy that this was not necessarily the case. Among the items seized from the hidden location in New Orleans were several RPGs and some C-4 explosives. Ray told McElroy his plan, and the major readily agreed.

  Chapter XVIII

  Ray got two of his men to grab some RPGs and C-4 from the Humvees. As a Green Beret, John Magee had been trained in several specialties, and one of them was disarming improvised explosive devices (IEDs). That specialty meant that he could also create and deploy IEDs, but there was not much time. Ray and McElroy had seen a heated discussion going on near the bridge between two federal officers. Obviously, nothing could be heard of the conversation, but one of the officers was pointing across the river toward the militia position. He clearly wanted to attack across the bridge, and by the time Magee had retrieved the explosives, the feds were preparing to move.

  They lined up to cross the bridge, and as expected, the Stryker was in the lead with the Humvees following and the infantry behind them. They were moving slowly because they had no idea what the strength of the Texas militia was. This allowed Magee to quickly rig several IEDs alongside the road where the militia roadblock and guard post were set up. It was similar to the federal position in that there was a small guardhouse and two bunkers to allow the men to have secure firing positions. When the feds reached the militia guard post, they would find it abandoned, but lights would be left on so the militia could see the attackers while hiding in the dark woods themselves.

  McElroy had deployed Ray and his men in the thick woods to the right of the guard post and his militia on the left side. The Louisiana National Guard unit was deployed farther down the road from the guard post as a blocking force to prevent the feds from getting past them to their families. They were also prepared to move forward to support the militia if necessary.

  Magee and his men had hidden the hastily rigged IEDs in weeds on the side of the road, but they did not have the time or equipment to set up remote detonations by radio. Instead, they used the command wire devices that had been seized with the C-4. This allowed them to run a cable from the IEDs into the thick woods so they could detonate the devices from a safe and covered position. The heavy armor of the Stryker made it immune from anything but multiple RPG strikes, but the wheels were vulnerable to an IED explosion, and RPGs could then be used to knock out the turret that housed the remotely fired 50-caliber machine gun.

  In a few minutes, the entire federal column had moved across the bridge and the Stryker remained on the point. As it approached the IEDs, Magee was watching closely and set off the explosives at just the right time. The wheels of the Stryker were seriously damaged, and the vehicle came to a halt. At the same moment, two other members of Ray’s team fired RPGs at the Stryker and took out the machine gun. Then the rest of the militia and Ray’s team opened fire on the two Humvees and the supporting infantry. They were laying down heavy fire, but the federal troops were also replying with heavy fire, and the one Humvee with a machine gun was spraying the woods. The feds could not see the men shooting at them, but they could see the muzzle flashes from their weapons, so the militia and Ray’s men were taking casualties.

  The tide turned quickly in favor of the militia when an RPG took out the Humvee with the machine gun. The intense fire had also killed the federal officer who had ordered the attack, and the remaining officer signaled his men to withdraw along with the last Humvee that could not go forward in any case with the two disabled vehicles blocking the road. With the Louisiana Guard members not directly involved in the fight, the feds outnumbered the militia and Ray’s men, but the federal officer knew that he was facing highly trained troops. He also knew that his own men were mostly new recruits who had received minimal training and were not really prepared for a sustained firefight.

  That was the problem for federal forces all around the county. Very few American military veterans had gone over to the new federal government that had abolished the Constitution that the veterans had sworn to defend. That meant that the feds had to get its fighters from the dwindling number of true believers in the progressive cause. The other recruits were brought in by using a combination of material inducements such as more food for their families or by essentially being drafted and threatened with imprisonment or death if they refused to serve. This did not make for a reliable military, and that was the reason that the strong force built up in New Orleans consisted mostly of foreign fighters, many from Middle Eastern countries.

  The surviving federal officer realized he was in a fight he could not win, so he decided to cut his losses and retreat back across the river to wait for reinforcements. However, before they arrived, the relief militia platoon came in to join McElroy’s men and was soon followed by the two special operation teams dispatched from Canton. This meant that even when a platoon of federal reinforcements arrived at the river, they would be outnumbered by the augmented militia force.

  The lieutenant in command of the relief federal platoon had been ordered by his superiors not to move across the river and was appalled that the now-deceased commander of the platoon that had arrived before him had made such an attack. The lieutenant had just been ordered to reestablish and reinforce the river guard post and do nothing else. This was because of the fact, unknown to the lieutenant, that the large column of tanks, artillery, and infantry being assembled in New Orleans would be ready to move out within a week.

  It was now dawn on the Sabine River, and McElroy had received reports form his scouts that while the feds were reinforcing their guard post, there were no indications that they were going to try to cross the bridge into Texas territory again. This was good news for Ray and his former first sergeant because it meant they had won a decisive victory. However, it had not come without a price. Two members of the militia had been killed and three others wounded. Ray’s team had also taken a hit. Jason Arnaud, the coast guard veteran who had guided them up the river, had been killed by machine gun fire from a federal Humvee, and Tim Johnson, one of Magee’s men who had helped the team escape, had been badly wounded when a hand grenade thrown by a federal soldier had exploded near him. Tim and the other wounded were treated by the medic that was with the Louisiana National Guard and then transported by Humvee to the nearest medical center in Longview, Texas.

  Fourteen of the enemy had been killed and six more wounded. McElroy sent an envoy across the river with a white flag and had him tell the federal commander that he could come collect his wounded and dead. This was done, and the men on both sides of the river settled into an uneasy temporary truce. Neither commander knew what the other side might do, so both sides were setting up defensive positions on their side of the river. Ray and his men did what they could to help but had McElroy send a message to the commanding general to let him know what Ray and the Louisiana National Guard had to offer to the East Texas militia. Ray also had McElroy inform the general that he had some important intelligence info for him and that his son Jamie was one of the inmates that had escaped with the team.

  Cha
pter XIX

  Ray soon learned from McElroy that the general was already on his way with a full company of reinforcements. He wanted to check out the situation at the border crossing himself. Ray had heard this was usually the case with General Donnelly; while he trusted his commanders in the field, he was hesitant about making some decisions that would send his troops into harm’s way without personally making an assessment.

  Donnelly had become a legend among the resistance in Texas and the surrounding states because they had nothing but respect for his leadership and what he had accomplished. He and his wife had been relative newcomers to the Canton, Texas, area when the EMP attack had occurred. Chaos had reigned for several weeks with residents emptying the shelves of local stores and the Van Zandt County and local city government trying to continue to provide basic services to their citizens and also prepare what they knew might be a major influx of refugees from Dallas.

  The city and county leaders also knew that they would need organized defensive help, so they decided to form city and county militias. They went to the local VFW and American Legion posts to recruit their members to be the backbone of the militia and hopefully provide militia commanders. Ben Donnelly had become a member of the Canton VFW and quickly had gained the respect of the other members. As was the norm for veterans, they did not talk about their awards for heroism, but they would share war stories.

  In Donnelly’s case, one of the members of the VFW had served under his command during the war on terror and knew his history. Donnelly had been an infantry battalion commander and had served several tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. During that time, he had distinguished himself both for his tactical expertise and his devotion to his men. He had earned two Silver Stars, a Bronze Star, and a Purple Heart. He was always on the front during battles, personally leading his men.