Command Sergeant Major Jonas Turner listened to his wife explain what happened to his nephew Ike Jr. A domestic violence call was received by the DC police, about a couple having disputes and possibly fighting. The first responders who arrived to the urban upcrop say they saw what they believed to be an assailant fleeing the scene. He appeared to run with a limp injury, his shirt was ripped half way off and he had obvious lacerations and swelling on his face from a recent struggle. Seeing him as a threat and fearing for their lives, the officers discharged their weapons.
No criminal background, a proud serving member of the armed forces for 8 years, veteran of two wars, honours for valour in combat and special forces operations. Yes, Serena Tyson surely had a distinctive record. She was the other party involved in the quarrel with Ike Jr and she had come through without a scratch or hair out of place. Her fiance (Ike) had just returned from active duty and tried to surprise her. She wasn't expecting him for another week.
It was his fault that he caught her webcam striptease show taking place in their bedroom. He got worked up for nothing, she tried explaining to his family, and we argued, that was all. It only got physical because he ruined her session. She lost money and took it out on Ike Jr the only way she knew how. But she hadn't meant for him to... The police shooting Ike wasn't her fault, she tried to get them to understand.
A military family since the time of The Civil War, these Turners, although some distant relation to the prophet Nat, put all of their frustrations about inequality into showing what they could do. And doing it better than any non-black soldier ever could. Northern Volunteers, Buffalo Soldiers, Tuskeegee Airmen, every major conflict or theatre of combat, you can bet there has always been a Turner in the ranks.
This piece of saddening news came to Jonas just when he was about to let his wife know that he was the newest appointee to the cabinet of the Joint Chiefs. Ike Jr was a low ranking potato peeler on a Navy weather boat. Nothing like his father, Big Ike, who was still MIA somewhere in the jungles of Southeast Asia. Nevertheless.
Jonas's appointment came at a special time in American military history. For the first time, since its making in the late 40s, all of the Joint Chief of Staff cabinet seats were now occupied by Blacks, Latinos, Asians and Natives. A true testament to the evolution of the Pentagon and the shared honours of the American people. He was proud to be there regardless of how deeply sad he felt inside. It was a day of ups and downs. The incident never made it to the news, and the officers were of course exonerated from prosecution by the justice department.
The Joint Chiefs post, although a decisive and coveted step towards Secretary of Defence, might not entail all the powers of authority and military might that one might think. For one, they have to jockey for approval for any idea about defense, from the rest of the executive branch's chain of command. And then contend with other defense agencies for everything from budgets and office spaces to shoulders to cry on. What Jonas Turner needed was a lot more fire power and a lot less hand holding in order for the circumstances of today's America to sit right with him. He would make it all make sense. He was TW!TFW.
Jonas's boss, the Secretary of Defence, was leading one meeting, during the run up to two important events: the defence budget proposal, and World War 3. The boss outlined the serious problem that would probably put America on the losing side of the next big conflict. To fight a war on multiple battlefronts, it takes money to afford the manpower, weapon machinery and logistics. They needed a bigger portion of the national spending to ensure that the freeworld stays just that. And the obstacle blocking the way to them defending the country was the damned justice department. America was spending more on crime at home than on defending it. Both quite a priority; however, only one was essential to the people in that closed think tank.
The meeting was brief, for no one there could come up with any information that would be of value about how to get around the country's self inflicted stumbling block. The Defence Secretary was quite the statesman, no military service, he'd been appointed so because of politics. It reminded Jonas of when he was coming up as an enlisted man in Korea and Nam, and how his commands came from the college rotc graduates he had to babysit. And on more than one occasion, he had to teach those tenderfoot tacticians a thing or two. Returning to his office to brood through the ideas he was entertaining, he considered that he might have to do it again.
The Annual Budget for the Pentagon arrived and it was hundreds of billions of dollars less than what was needed to get the various divisions ready for the looming threat our great nation faced. The lion's share of the national budget was put mainly into the justice department for more cops, prisons, guards, courts, lawyers and to take care of more prisoners. That same justice department that denied justice for people like his nephew and the millions of blacks (and other Americans) when it came to dealing with the system, simply had to go. War was on the horizon, there was no time to philosophise about true justice. If justice wasn't going to exist, well neither should any part of the government that only pretended it did, for most of the real money.
This papertician boss was on a one way trip to the pineapple lounge. A special honor, held only by those in charge of operations that needlessly costed American lives. For his entire military career, Jonas had made a hobby of collecting some very special battlefield souvenirs. Not the enemy firearms and swords of the days of old, he had a special key chain made of a rope climbing clip. On it though, were about 50 grenade pins, pulled from live explosives during field combat.
Years ago, when white officers intentionally abused their privileges of command, sending black troops to a slaughter, Jonas strongly disagreed. Whenever any cowards were thinking that they would get away with not being men on the field of battle, black, white, what have you, Jonas strongly disagreed. Fact is, he was the suspect in a great many fragging incidents. Never proven, he advanced through the ranks, for the respect he exerted into everyone and everything in his charge or over him. When at first denied an officers commission based on his race, Jonas never again accepted nominations. When in later years, they begged to commission him, he was the highest ranking, most highly decorated NCO in the service. Riding the Pentagon desks seemed a better outlet. Here he would sit among Generals that hadn't half of the experience he toted. A quiet anecdote in itself.
This was a little more complicated than simply rolling one or two poppers into the tents of some ivy league, armchair commanders. This time it wasn't just his squad, it was his country that those stiff suits were tactlessly endangering. Not just the paper pushers either, there was a much longer list and not enough time. TW!TFW.
World War Three started on American soil before any formal declarations of war by congress could be made. Although no other countries claimed credit for the massive attack on America's prison institutions, the government pointed the finger in every direction and congress declared war on the world. That's right, the world, meaning whatever nations that had the capability to use stealth infiltration and simultaneously destroy thousands of holding facilities. American allies were the prime suspects as the government pulled out of NATO and put all forces' divisions on high alert.
All the ally, neutral and enemy nations and every terror organisation in the world must have all got together and organised this, was the official assessment that the Joint Chiefs described in their memo to the Secretary of Defence. The Federals with the help of the intelligence community were coming up with answers and leads to tracing the origin of the powerful explosives that completely demolished and vaporised all the country's various prison systems and prisoner populations. The death toll was well into the millions and the damages were irreparable.
The investigators were only so happy to be on camera in every instance; looking important and smart, only disclosing information on a need to know basis, making the public feel safe. Their findings were checked, double checked and still kept under wraps until the Pentagon could also make an additional validation of the facts. Hence the memo.
Every single one of America's most trusted NATO allies was accused of having participated. The evidence pointed to them all. The missing munitions in their stockpiles told the other half of the story. What was lacking was the motivation for the attack, and that particular part was left wholly up to the imaginations of the politicians.
One ally was accused because America prefers coffee, to their tea. Another was said to be involved in it because the US lets Mexican immigrants have a free passage to their borders, as long as they didn't stop in America. The accusations were wild and unfounded. Because we invented french fries before they did. Because the average American can't afford one of their overrated autos. Because Most Americans don't even know where some of their nations are on the world map. Because that's where their naturalised children will wind up after they cross the borders illegally. Because Americans think that everyone from there is like Crocodile Dundee. Because the majority of Americans think all Asians are the same thing...Twice.
Whilst the diplomats went embarrassingly on angering their foreign counterparts, the real enemies on the other side of the world, who were supposed to be at war with America, had put everything on hold. They were sitting back, watching the show. Someone else had done their work for them. A couple of them even went as far to claim credit for the attacks and were having parade celebrations for their leaders.
It took months for the nation's fifty states to all come to grips with the matter. The losses were staggering for states that relied on prison-industry revenues from the slave-like labour's goods and services. On a social scale, it hit families and friends all kinds of ways. Individuals were of different opinions about the government letting this happen; about the relief that it was only the prisons; about an opportunity to sue the state for their losses; about many other personal or selfish trivialities.
America's allies continued to hold the line that they had no involvement. The enemies went on playing themselves up. The world waited to see who America would attack first, surely they would respond with a new crusade. The American public however sank back into its preoccupied frenzy of shutting the rest of the world out. Those that did open one eye wondered why we weren't atleast attacking the ones that said they did it. But that's another story about doing more for less.
Jonas and the Chiefs were ducking the madness and only pushing memo after memo to their boss. No new actionable activity behind enemy lines, routine movement reports, military intelligence observations, troop readiness statistics.
Of course this was insufficient. The Secretary of Defence was under all kinds of fire for the break down of the nation's security. He was on the chopping block from POTUS; however, no one else would take the job in a time of crisis. The Pentagon was unforthcoming with any other details about how this could have happened. The Chiefs in unison stonewalling the boss and the rest of the government, held the line about their duty, to protect against enemies foreign and domestic. Allies attacking us was just plain bad luck, and sometimes friendly fire. Sounds like a job for the clandestine services, not us. And the vague memos continued to flow.
The next wave of attacks took place when supposed terrorists were conducting guerilla warfare in cities up and down the eastern seaboard. The first and second RPG drive-by shootings were at arrest scenes where officers were placing suspects under custody. Then a the roadside bombings started to happen, and always when there were criminals in the backseat. Twenty times in one week. The lives of officers, civilians and those being transported were lost in these systematic hunts for law enforcers, law breakers or both. They weren't sure. Most people just kept on with their lives if it wasn't them that the terrorists were after.
A large scale coordinated car bombing campaign rocked a dozen cities in the next week, targeting criminal court houses. Casualties for these terrorist activities were piling up in the thousands and it was dangerous time to have anything to do with breaking the law or the justice system. The swathe of violence moved across the country quickly, when later in the same week, combinations of attacks took place in every large metropolitan city, fitting the same pattern. No suspects were captured, they were invisible, blending in perfectly with the everyday public. Yes The National Guard can help if the feds can identify the threat. Our hands are tied on this one. And this was the truth from the Pentagon, for the armed forces had been forbidden to operate inside of America for a century. The American public began to wake out of their fantasy land dependence on security and started to realise that their own behaviours might for once have real world consequences.
Crime was down nationwide. When someone threatened to call the police, situations improved and cleared up right away. For once, it wasn't just how black people felt, now everyone ran or got out of the way when they saw a patrol car or uniform. True, the cops were afraid to go out on patrol or to respond to calls. They even tried letting crooks get away. No luck. None escaped.
In a month's time federal investigators were confirming with intelligence services that the attacks were emerging from overseas in third world, war-torn conflict regions. All of them: from Asia, The Middle East, Eastern Europe, Africa and South America. Discarded weapons, forensics, shell casings, descriptions of the terrorists' clothes. They were definitely from everywhere. Please refer to the first memo. Thanks for thinking of us. See you soon. It's WW3...What do you need, a ppt? Call 911, JK?
These insurgents were targeting sectors of society that the government hadn't thought would ever be this endangered. Cops were leaving the job without hesitation, the government couldn't protect them. People were way to scared to do crimes, those jobs would be gone in the long run. Might as well live to see it. If WW3 was starting here, and no one could stop it, writing tickets would probably get them killed pretty soon too.
On the diplomatic front, the politicians and intelligence services were in a frenzy. Those who claimed that they attacked America, didn't. Those who the evidence pointed to, either say they didn't or were so far away and incapable of doing so, that they couldn't have.
A war where America couldn't hit back, was how it all looked.
To be continued...
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Posted By: Clint X
Wednesday, January 7th 2015 at 6:14AM
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