William Johnstone - Phoenix Rising

That was exactly what was happening now, though many wondered if there was some sort of mistake. Retreat was at the end of the duty day, not at the beginning.

On the parade ground as Retreat sounded, a soldier slowly, and stately, lowered the Stars and Stripes. Then, very deliberately, and with as much dignity as could be mastered, two soldiers folded the flag into a triangle shape, so that only the blue field showed, without even a trace of the red. The flag was presented to a sergeant, who then presented it to General Clifton von Cairns. After presenting the flag, the sergeant took one step back and saluted. Von Cairns stuck the folded flag under his left arm, then returned the sergeant’s salute.

“Sergeant, dismiss the detail,” the general ordered.

“Shall we hoist the new flag, sir?” the sergeant replied.

“No. Dismiss the detail.”

A broad grin spread across the sergeant’s face. “Yes, sir!” he said, proudly. Then he did a smart about-face and called out, “Retreat detail dismissed!”

General von Cairns walked back into the headquarters building and into his office. Once inside his office, he closed the door, opened the drawer of his desk, took out a bottle of whiskey, removed the cap, then turned it up to his lips. He had long ago quit using a glass.

Base hospital, Fort Rucker—Wednesday, June 28

Colonel Ruben Sturgis, MC, the hospital commander, called his staff together. At one time there were twenty doctors, forty nurses, and sixty enlisted personnel on duty at the hospital. Today there were two doctors, three nurses, and one sergeant present for the meeting.

“Dr. Urban, you are the chief surgeon now, so this comes under your bailiwick. Effective immediately we are to provide no more care to retired personnel, nor to those who are qualified under VA,” Colonel Sturgis said.

“What are we to do with those we have now?” Dr. Urban said.

“Discharge them,” Sturgis said.

“Colonel, we have three in intensive care. If we discharge them immediately, they will die before nightfall.”

“What is their prognosis?” Sturgis asked.

“I’ll let Dr. Presley answer that,” Urban said.

“Not good,” the younger of the two doctors said. “The truth is, I doubt any of them will live to the end of the week. They are all three in extremis, and we simply don’t have the medication to treat them.”

Colonel Sturgis drummed his fingers on the table for a moment, then nodded. “Alright, keep them. Discharge the ones that we can, and admit no one new.”

“Colonel, we have no orderlies left,” Julie said.

“How many enlisted personnel do we have left?” Colonel Sturgis asked.

“I’m the only one.”

“It isn’t just the enlisted personnel,” Karin said. “As far as I know, we are the only nurses left.” Karin took in the other two nurses with a wave of her hand.

“How many patients do we have now?”

“We have seven,” Julie said. “Four retired, two VA, and one active duty.”

“What is the condition of the active-duty patient?”

“I took out his appendix yesterday,” Dr. Presley said. “I was going to release him this afternoon.”

“Release everyone, except the three who are in ICU,” Sturgis said.

“Alright,” Dr. Urban said.

Sturgis pursed his lips, then let out a long breath. “Just so you know, I have submitted my retirement papers. That was just a formality, I don’t expect DA to act on them. Hell, I’m not even sure there is a DA anymore. I’m leaving tomorrow morning, no matter what. And if I leave, I don’t intend to hold any of you here. Chances are we aren’t going to even have an army within another month, if we last that long.”

“We were going to ask you about that,” one of the nurses said. “Linda and I were planning on leaving tomorrow.”

“I’m going as well,” Dr. Presley said.

“Will no one be here for the three ICU patients?” Sturgis asked.

“I’ll stay until the end of the week,” Dr. Urban said.

“I’ll stay as well,” Karin said.

“I’m not going anywhere,” Julie said.

“Look, I’ll stay too if you need me,” Sturgis said. “I feel bad about deserting you at a time like this.”

“We can handle it, Colonel,” Dr. Urban said. “Hell, there’s nothing to do but watch them die anyway.”

Sturgis looked at what was left of his staff, then nodded. “I don’t know where we are going from here,” he said. “But it has been a privilege to work with you. All of you.”

CHAPTER TWELVE

Wednesday, July 4

Hello, Americans.

Today is Independence Day. For two hundred and thirty-four years, our nation honored this historic occasion. Even when our country was young, it was a cause for joy and celebration. In the great cities and small towns, parades were held, patriotic music was played, there were barbecues and fireworks, and baseball games.

When you think about it, Baseball was America, wasn’t it? Babe Ruth, Stan Musial, Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, Derek Jeter.

George Gregoire paused for a long moment, his voice choking. He wiped a tear, then continued.

But—those days are no more.

It isn’t just no more barbecues, no more fireworks, no more baseball. America itself, is no more.

When I first warned you of the danger we were facing under the evil, and yes, evil is the only word I can use to describe this tyrant, this evil Ohmshidi, I prayed long and hard that I would be wrong. But I wasn’t wrong. In fact, if I made any mistake, it was in not being forceful enough.

Thomas Jefferson once said: “The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.” Winston Churchill said: “If you will not fight for the right when you can easily win without bloodshed; if you will not fight when your victory will be sure and not too costly; you may come to the moment when you will have to fight with all the odds against you and only a small chance of survival. There may even be a worse case: you may have to fight when there is no hope of victory, because it is better to perish than to live as slaves.”

My fellow Americans—yes, I said Americans, not World Collectives—that time has come! I am calling upon all Americans to rise up against the despot Ohmshidi!

The Stars and Stripes appeared on screen, with the music of “The Star-Spangled Banner.” The flag was replaced with scenes of U.S. Air Force jets flying in a diamond formation; that was replaced with a Navy destroyer at sea; and that was replaced with Army tanks rushing across a desert.

Then, suddenly the music stopped and the screen went black. After a moment, a placard was placed on the screen.

By order of Mehdi Ohmshidi,

Supreme Leader, New World Collective,

Broadcasting on this network has been

suspended for engaging in acts of sedition

Fort Rucker—Monday, July 16

Although it had been some time since the president ordered a seventy-five percent reduction in force, no RIF orders had come down. That was understandable as there was almost a complete breakdown at all levels of the military, and the Pentagon was no longer issuing orders. Fort Rucker was a mere shadow of itself, practically a ghost town now, with only a few hundred soldiers still present for duty.

At this point, “Present for duty” was nothing more than an entry in the morning report, or it would have been if company clerks were still filing morning reports. But morning reports were no longer being filed because there were very few company clerks remaining and many of the clerks who did remain had no first sergeants or company commanders to validate the reports. Four fifths of the buildings on the base stood vacant, the classrooms and training facilities were empty, entire companies of the TO&E units were gone, and the base headquarters was just a shell with no more than two or three officers and NCOs still reporting for duty.