Planning

Alpha Platoon, Romeo (Recon) Company, 2nd Battalion

197th Infantry Brigade (Mechanized)

“Blake’s Raiders”

Captain Kemp Blake, Commanding

Memphis, Tennessee

3 July, 2030

The platoon wasn’t particularly excited when I got back from the Civic Center with our new orders, but they weren’t particularly surprised, either.

We had been pulling roadblock duty on the south side of Memphis since the 197th had arrived in the area from Vicksburg late last year.  We had started out conducting anti-picket raids against the outlying positions of the self-styled "Warlord of Memphis".  They never did figure out that mounted snipers had an advantage against patrols on foot...  Once we rolled their outer pickets back, we supported 2nd Batt’s tanks in the attacks their heavier units.  

As the siege dragged on, we stayed put as the tanks were dispersed in order to tighten the noose around downtown, and especially covering the river on the west side to keep that asshole from getting supplies, or worse, escaping into Arkansas.  Other units swung around to the east and the to the north side of the city to stop the "Warlord" from fleeing up into Kentucky.  

I guess the old man got the idea to lay siege to Memphis from time we spent resting and refitting in Vicksburg, which had been under siege during the old American Civil War in the 19th century.  Here we were in the 21st century, doing the same thing all over again, with pretty much the same result - lots of civilians dying of starvation.  History may not repeat itself, but it sure does freaking rhyme.  At least we weren’t fighting CivGov forces, so it wasn’t ‘technically’ a civil war.  Yet.

Because we had been mostly stationary for several months, our HumVee was in pretty good shape, courtesy of Specialist McCarthy's efforts.  We had patrolled, mostly on horseback to save wear and tear on the HumVee, for about  eight to ten klicks out in an arc to the south, scavenging everything of value and making sure all the buildings in the area were vacant.   In fact, the G-3 said that our platoon having kept our horses alive and in good shape was one of the reasons HQ picked us for this mission.

Alpha Platoon of Alpha Company had the sector next to ours.  They had already gotten the orders to expand their coverage west to relieve us. Some of their people showed up not long after I got back from downtown and Sergeant Whitehead and Specialist McCarthy began showing them the lay of the land around our position.

I told Staff Sergeant Ruiz that once the handoff to Alpha Platoon was complete, she was to stand the platoon down until Saturday morning, when we would start serious preparation for the mission.  Hearing that lifted everyone’s mood, especially when I mentioned the bottle of moonshine that the G-3 gave me for the “platoon’s 4th of July party”.

Of course, I didn’t mention that the G-3 gave me TWO bottles of hooch...

SSG Ruiz and I sat down in my office and began making serious plans.